Final Justice: The Return of Christ, Part 2

it has been pretty obvious to me over the last number of months that the Church of Jesus Christ at least as far as I can discern on a public level has become preoccupied with the issues at hand and has allowed itself to be sucked into the vortex of the world's problems and is making an effort to be a friend of the world which as we read in James is a very dangerous thing to do as I assess some of the reasons for this one glaring reason for the church to be preoccupied with the world is the absence of any vibrant expectation for the return of Jesus Christ weak eschatology leads to worldly church when people lose sight of the fact that this is a fallen world careening ever deeper and deeper into sin disintegrating continuously toward more and more evil and when the church thinks that its role in the world is to stop that it is living with a delusion our hope is not in fixing the world our hope is in the return of Jesus Christ I want to speak to you again this morning on that subject and even for the next few weeks and I want to draw your attention to the 19th chapter of Revelation revelation chapter 19 this is really where we need to place our eyes and our minds and our hearts and find our hope revelation 19 and I'll read the opening verses down through verse 16 after these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying hallelujah salvation and glory and power belonged to our God because his judgments are true and righteous for he has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality and he has avenged the blood of his slaves on her and the second time they said hallelujah her smoke rises up for ever and ever in the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying amen hallelujah and the voice came from the throne saying give praise to our God to all you his slaves you who fear Him the small and the great then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints then he said to me write blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb and he said to me these are true words of God then I fell at his feet to worship Him but he said to me do not do that I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy and I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and wages war his eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadem's and he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself he is clothed the robe dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God and the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean were following him on white horses from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nation's and he will rule them with a rod of iron and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written king of kings and Lord of lords that is a stunning vision it marks the end of man's day will things in the troubled world ever be better will there ever be an end to war and hostility and inequity and crime and chaos the answer is a resounding yes when Jesus Christ comes to rule when he returns to be king we've been waiting for this event all our lives and all the history of the church has looked forward to this and the brighter this hope has shined in any generation of the church the greater the church's joy and ability to endure the difficulties in the world Jesus is coming this is the culmination of all human history and as we learn through the book of Revelation this glorious event does not happen without great preliminary judgment great preliminary hostility the Antichrist will by this time have gathered all his forces inspired by satan and hells demons they will have gathered together to fight against the returning christ they will engage in a final fury of battle at armageddon as the darkness tries to stop the king of light from establishing his kingdom at the head of that unified force that world army will be the Antichrist who marches in hostility against God's anointed in the sixteenth chapter of the book of Revelation the scene is described with these words verse 17 then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying it is done and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and there was a great earthquake such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth so great an earthquake was it and so mighty the great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nation's fell Babel and the great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath and every island fled away and the mountains were not found and huge hailstones about a hundred pounds each came down from heaven upon men and Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail because it's plague was extremely severe where did the horrors of that happen back to verse 16 they gathered together to the place which in Hebrew is called har Megiddo in the valley of Megiddo Megiddo the Beast as chapter 19 verse 19 says and the kings of the earth and his armies assembled to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army this is the final conflict as the Anti Grice than his demonic and earthly forces fight against the returning Christ the prior passage as we read verses 7 to 10 describes the wonderful marriage of the Lamb that's an event that takes place in heaven the church is raptured into heaven prior to these events meets with the Lamb the bridegroom establishes the marriage a wonderful time of blessing and joy and reward but before the bridegroom can take his bride to the new earth to dwell as her dwelling place with the saints of all the ages there has to be a great battle the bridegroom becomes the warrior king he can't fulfill his marriage promise until he returns in victory and faces the greatest battlefield ever the daring challenge of the Antichrist is accepted as the heavens opened and Christ in flaming fire comes to take vengeance Babylon by now has been destroyed Babylon is a term that speaks of the final form of the world system described in chapter 17 in its religious character in chapter 18 in its economic character Babylon has been destroyed the world's economic and religious systems devastated the seven seals have been opened and out of the seventh seal seven trumpet judgments have been broken and delineated basically horrific death all across the planet at the seventh trumpet seven bowls of rapid-fire Wrath were poured out the final one I just read you in chapter 16 everything begins to disintegrate everything has come apart under the force of this judge and after all of this divine wrath there is one last effort of the blaspheming world against Christ man's day is about to end by the way this has been the plan from the beginning this has been God's plan all through redemptive history that he would bring back his son the great King King of Kings Lord of lords to take back this earth lest you think this is something that finds a place only in the book of Revelation let me take you back to Isaiah chapter 11 the prophet Isaiah 700 years before Christ came the first time listen to the 11th chapter of Isaiah a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse a branch from his roots will bear fruit Jesse was the father of David the Messiah will be a son of Jesse through the line of David and then it describes him the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and strength the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord and He will delight in the fear of the Lord and he will not judge by what his eyes see nor make a decision by what his ears hear no superficial judgment but with righteousness he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth and he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked also righteousness will be the belt about his loins and faithfulness the belt about his waist and the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the young goat and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and the little boy will lead them all so the cow and the bear will graze their young will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like the nursing child will play by the hole of the Cobra and the weaned child will put his hand on the Vipers den but they will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea then in that day the nations will resort to the root of Jesse who will stand as a signal for the people's and his resting place will be glorious then it will happen on that day that the Lord will again recover the second time with his hand the remnant of his people enough to say that Isaiah saw the coming of the Messiah in judgment and establishing his kingdom and his kingdom would reverse the curse so that children could play in snake dens no one needed to fear wild animals the character of life on this earth would change dramatically again Isaiah in the 63rd chapter verse 1 who is this who comes from Edom with the garments of glowing colours from Basra Edom stands for the world Basra once a capital of Edom Edom is a symbol of paganism who is this who comes from Edom with garments of glowing colours from Basra the one who is majestic in his apparel marching in the greatness of his strength it is I who speak in righteousness mighty to save why is your apparel red and your garments like the one who treads in a winepress i have trodden the wine troff alone and from the peoples there was no man with me I also tried them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath and their life blood is sprinkled on my garments and I stained all my raiment for the day of vengeance was in my heart and my year of redemption has come I looked and there was no one to help and I was astonished there was no one to uphold so my own arm brought salvation to me and my wrath upheld me I tried down the nations in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth this is the picture of exactly what we read in Revelation chapter 19 the bloody judgment at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ one more Old Testament prophet to look at is Zechariah and Zechariah prophesied the first coming of our Lord in Chapter 9 verse 9 he said this rejoice greatly o daughter of Zion shout in triumph o daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you he is just and endowed with salvation humble and mounted on a donkey even on a Colt the foal of a donkey and that is how he came the first time the first time the next time he comes it'll be very different over to chapter 10 in verse 6 I will strengthen the house of Judah and I will save the house of Joseph and I'll bring them back because I have had compassion on them and they will be as though I had not rejected them for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them Ephraim will be like a mighty man and their heart will be glad as if from wine indeed their children will see it and be glad their heart will rejoice in the Lord I will whistle for them to gather them together for I have redeemed them and they will be as numerous as they were before when I scattered them among the peoples they will remember me in far countries and they with their children will live and come back and I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria I will bring them into the land of Gilead in Lebanon until no room can be found for them and they will pass through the sea of distress he will strike the waves in the sea so that all the depths of the Nile will dry up and the pride of Assyria would be brought down in the scepter of Egypt will depart and I will strengthen them in the Lord and in his name they will walk declares the Lord God says someday in the future I'm gonna bring Israel back to the land I'm going to be their Savior go to chapter 12 verse 1 the burden of the word of the Lord concerning israel thus declares the lord who stretches out the heavens lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him behold i'm going to make jerusalem a cup that costs is reeling to all the peoples around and when the siege is against jerusalem it will also be against judah it will come about in that day that i will make jerusalem a heavy stone for all the nations all who lift it will be severely injured and all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it that's Armageddon in that day declares the Lord I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness but I will watch over the house of Judah while I strike every horse of the nations with blindness this is judgment go down to verse 8 in that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the one who is feeble among them and that day will be like David and the house of David will be like God like the angel of the Lord before them in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication so they will look on me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son and they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn in that day there will be mourning in like the morning of Haddad Ramon in the plain of megiddo the land will mourn every family by itself the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves family of the shimmie i'ts by itself and their wives by themselves and all the families that remain every family by itself and their wives by themselves chapter 13 and that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for impurity in the end when the world comes to fight against Jerusalem God will redeem his people Israel defeat the nations and establish his kingdom on the earth look at chapter 14 Zechariah chapter 14 behold a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city will be captured the house is plundered the women ravished and half the city exiled but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in a day of battle in that day and here's the second coming his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which is in front of Jerusalem on the east and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large Valley so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south literally the splitting of that mountain you will flee by the valley of my mountains for the valley of the mountains will reach two Iselle yes you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of judah then the Lord my God will come and all the Holy Ones with him in that day there will be no light the luminaries will dwindle we see that in the book of Revelation when all of the stars and the and son go out it will be unique day which is known to the Lord neither day nor night but will come about that at evening time there will be light and in that day Living Waters will flow out of Jerusalem half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea it will be in summer as well as in winter verse nine and the Lord will be king over all the earth in that day the Lord will be the only one and his name the only one mazing prophecies Isaiah said it chapter 9 the government of the world will be on his shoulders before the Lord establishes his kingdom he will have redeemed Israel and he will have necessarily defeated the forces of hell at Megiddo the battle is identified at Megiddo but it also encompasses Jerusalem and essentially runs the full length of the Land of Israel how did all this come about the Antichrist has established himself in Jerusalem and he endeavors to become the dictator of the world he accomplishes that by making a pact with Israel which he violates and breaks and by allowing himself an alliance with Satan and demons that gives him control over the world that is to say that the state of the world now is bad but it isn't as bad as it will be it's that it's worse then the conflict is set by the time you get to this hour all golden eras of human history are long gone long gone the Antichrist has fully established himself it's described back in chapter 13 the dragon stood at the sand of the seashore verse 1 I saw a beast coming up out of the sea this is the Antichrist having ten horns and seven heads and on his horns were ten diadem's and on his heads were blasphemous names he is multiplied as a blasphemer and as a king he is a blasphemous King that has had no equal in human history he is described as being like a leopard like a bear and like a lion and the dragon who is Satan gave him his power and throne and authority and I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain and his fatal wound was healed and the whole earth was amazed and followed after the Beast apparently he pulls the false resurrection they worshiped the dragon Satan because he gave his authority to the Beast they worshiped the Beast saying who is like the Beast and who was able to wage war with him so the whole world vows to Satan and his Antichrist there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for forty-two months that's half the seven-year tribulation three and a half years he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name his tabernacle that is those who dwell in heaven it was given to him to make war with the saints to overcome them authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him so this Antichrist is the final global world ruler and he is successful because of his demonic power verse eight all who dwell on the earth will worship Him everyone whose name is not written and from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain your name is not written in that book you're gonna follow him you're gonna worship Him Antichrist will operate in full power openly blaspheming blatantly defying God the whole world will be worshipping Satan worshipping Him all men and all women will have survived unbelievable indescribable carnage for forty-two months three and a half years as the judgments of God blast the earth on top of the horrors of Satan and his demons but in the process of all of that there would be people saved from every tongue tribe people a nation and Israel will be regathered to salvation that all leads up to the final end in some 83 we read this and perhaps as the very some that people in Israel may quote in this future a moment of history keep not silent O God do not remain quiet do not be still for behold your enemies make an uproar and those who hate you have exalted themselves they make shrewd plans against your people they conspire together against your treasured ones they have said come and let us wipe them out that the name of Israel be remembered no more so they have conspired together with one mind against you do they make covenant that would be a description of the final covenant that the world makes under Antichrist to blaspheme God and to win a victory over the returning son of God the martyred Saints are pictured in the book of Revelation chapter 6 verse 10 and they're saying this how long O Lord holy and true will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood how long is this going to go on how long are you going to allow efforts against the king how long are you going to allow blasphemy in the little epistle of Jude verse 14 behold the Lord came with many thousands of His Holy Ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him ungodly ungodly ungodly people will feel the fury of final wrath now all of that leads us to verse 11 where the scene opens and I saw heaven opened this is that moment speedily and triumphantly the gates of heaven burst open and the Lord appears a catastrophic collision is about to occur when he arrives on the earth market history market does not quietly gradually merge into some environmental meltdown history does not quietly and gradually merge into the kingdom of Christ as the post tribulation lists the reconstructionists the Theon amidst sand kingdom Thea logs would like us to believe the kingdom comes with fury and viciousness in a cataclysmic divisive intervention from heaven that happens in split seconds the end of human history will come with violence fiery judgment the whole earth bathed in blood on that great day of God Almighty the prophets called the day of the Lord the last blow to a world already experiencing slaughter murder bloodshed violence satanic presence sin has run rampant and the prophets agree that the main battle will be in palace although it surely may extend far beyond that because the Lord will slay his enemies over the whole earth but the final battle the main battle focuses in Palestine in the Land of Israel and particularly from Jerusalem north to Megiddo Megiddo has very significant history their barrack and Deborah fought Sisera there Gideon fought the Midianites there Saul was slain by the Philistines their pharaoh Necho slew Josiah etc blood bathe valley in history and through the years every battle fought there even since biblical times whether it was fought there by the armies of Napoleon or by the Turks is only a harbinger of the final battle the great day of the Battle of God Almighty this is the end of man's day the glorious return of Christ this is by the way the same Jesus who ascended in x-1 this same Jesus says x-111 whom you've seen going to glory will so come in like manner as you've seen him go despised rejected spit on mocked and ridiculed from that treatment he ascended but he returns to reign now I want you to look at this passage before us verses 11 to 16 the whole picture seems like it was based on Isaiah 11 particularly verses 3 to 5 in Isaiah 63 that I read to you earlier this isn't the first mention however of the second coming in the book of Revelation or in the New Testament in the Olivet discourse our Lord said much about his second coming Matthew 24 and 25 but in the book of Revelation I want you to notice the text that anticipate chapter 19 go back to chapter 11 the seventh angel sounds the seventh trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying and here is the hallelujahs anticipated that we see realized in chapter 19 the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our lord and of his christ and he will reign for ever and ever in the 24 elders who sit on their thrones before god fell on their faces and worshipped God saying we give you thanks O Lord God the Almighty who are who were because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign and the nations were enraged and your wrath came and the time came for the dead to be judged and the time to reward your slaves the prophets and saints and those who fear your name the small and the great and destroy those who destroy the earth and the temple of God which is in heaven was opened and the Ark of the Covenant appeared in his temple and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm the the return of Christ is being anticipated the war machine in heaven is cranking up right there in Chapter 11 if you go to chapter 14 you see in verse 14 I looked and behold a white cloud and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man having a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand he's ready to reap go down to verse 18 another angel one who has power over fire came out from the altar called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle saying put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth because her grapes are ripe so the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth and threw them into the great winepress of the wrath of God and then over in chapter 16 verse 13 I saw coming out of the mouth of the Dragon and the mouth of the Beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs there are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them together for the war of the great day of God the Almighty in verse 16 they gathered him to her Megiddo so even in the book of Revelation this is being anticipated and finally in chapter 19 we arrive at John's vision of this future event I just want to point out three things here number one the return of the Conqueror the return of the conqueror verse 11 I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and wages war so the doors of heaven swing open it is the last time for the full glorious revelation of Jesus Christ on this earth the very point of the book of Revelation has been reached the judgment has reached its final act and the Lord will judge and then he will establish his everlasting sovereign rule and his earthly Kingdom listen to what our Lord said about this back in Matthew chapter 24 verse 27 just as lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west so will the coming of the Son of Man be when heavens opened this is how fast he comes like lightning verse 29 immediately after the tribulation of those days the Sun will be darkened the moon will not give its light stars will fall from the sky the powers of the heaven will be shaken so this is the picture everything is gone black with the final seventh Bowl darkness covers the earth and then there's a flash of lightning and then that flash of lightning verse 30 says the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory and he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds to gather into the kingdom from one end of the sky to the other he comes he comes first to gather his own down in verse 42 our Lord said be on the alert you don't know which day your Lord is coming be ready if you're not ready you have a description of that the master of the slave will come in a day when he doesn't expect him in an hour which he doesn't know verse 50 verse 51 and cut him in pieces assign him a place with the hypocrites in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth if you're a believer you look for this glorious hope if you're an unbeliever you are warned so as believers we fix our eyes on this majestic regal mighty Rider and we note some details about him heaven opens Jesus ascended into heaven seated at the right hand of the Father to receive the kingdom promise however he has to come back he has had the marriage supper with his bride the redeemed Saints are with him he is now married he leaves his father's house to come down and establish his rightful dominion and his kingdom back in Chapter five you remember don't you that we were taken into heaven and when we got to heaven we heard this we heard that there was praise praise offered to the Lamb verse nine worthy are you to take the book and break its seals for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood meant from every tribe and tongue and people and nation you have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they will reign on the earth way back in chapter 5 the hosts of heaven were readying for this moment when the Lord comes back really this is a prayer that was first prayed in Isaiah 64 Isaiah 64 1 and 2 says oh that you would rend the heavens and come down that the mountains might quake at your presence that nations may tremble at your presence that was the prayer of Isaiah 64 it'll be fulfilled when the event of Revelation 19 takes place it shows him surprisingly that's why the word behold is there on a white horse he's not a lamb he's not riding the foal of a donkey he's not coming in humility he's coming as a conquering general and the white horse was a symbol of a conquering Roman general a general returning from triumphant war would ride a white horse leading his legions up the via sacra in Rome the main street of Rome to the forum to the temple of Jupiter on Capitoline Hill where everyone would hail him as the conquering hero he would be followed by all his troops and so we see the Lord coming riding on a white horse white is not only the colour of war Chargers but it's a symbol of purity and the word white here is Lukas which means brilliant or dazzling it's not a flat white it's a dazzling white like light he comes now to destroy at what is left of the world's demonic wickedness the horse is symbolic the coming is real as the psalmist wrote of his return in Psalm 45 and your sword upon your thigh o most mighty with your glory and Your Majesty your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies whereby the people fall under you your throne O God is for ever and ever some 45 even anticipating this he comes in glory the Son of man in glory he comes visibly revelation 1:7 every eye will see him he comes powerfully we read here he comes to judge and make war just a brief note there is an event promised to believers called the rapture of the church we read about in 1st Corinthians 4 sessile onehans john 14 it's different than this event it's why we believe that the church will already be removed by this time why because that the rapture Christ meets his own in the air here he brings them with him to the earth at the rapture there is no judgment here it is all judgment the rapture is a time of blessing this is a time of cursing the rapture takes his own to heaven this event brings his own to earth the rapture has no preliminary signs this event is preceded by carefully revealed signs from chapter 6 to 19 so we believe that the church will have been taken out and this is what will be left for the world many will be saved during that period as well who will then enter into his kingdom from Israel and the nation's the coming king is identified as faithful and true because he keeps his word and he always speaks the truth his name by the way is in vivid contrast to Satan the liar the deceiver and to demons and to those who follow them Jesus he tells the truth he is God who can not lie he is faithful and true the dragon is a deceiver the Beast is a false Christ the second beast is a false prophet the earth is filled with false worshippers but Jesus is faithful and true and he comes in righteousness righteous reaction against sin that is to say he reacts rightly to sin and sin has taken over the world in a way that is beyond anything in human history before this and so his righteousness leads to this final judgment and John writes he judges once a savior now a judge when he was here wicked people judged him then he will judge them the people were the judge and executioner but when he returns he will be the judge and executioner the apostles warned about this in their preaching an illustration of that is found in the 17th chapter of the book of Acts and verse 31 God has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead who is the judge the one whom God raised from the dead and back in verse 2 of this chapter his judgments are true and righteous true and righteous too late for rejecters who have already given final blasphemy secondly it says he comes to make war wage war Paulo may present active to go to war once he came to feed the hungry minister to the needy heal the sick cast demons from the oppressed give peace to troubled hearts not this time at the Red Sea remember when Jehovah destroyed Pharaoh and his hosts Israel saying in Moses song in Exodus 15:3 and what they said is this the Lord is a man of war the Lord is a warrior 11 Alexander White wrote the Lord is a man of war in righteousness he judges and makes war the judging has been going on throughout the breaking of the seals the blowing of the trumpets and the pouring out of the Bulls now he makes war he who for long centuries has endured patiently is scoffing the insults the bad manners of men who for ages have contemplated Calvary and all that it displayed a human hatred and contempt and who through the millennia has made peace through the blood of that cross now makes war over that blood for human sin has reached high-water mark and must be put down by force of arms but there will not be much fighting when the battle is joined it will all be over in a flash heaven cannot be a peace with sin iniquity cannot be tolerated you think because God hasn't acts acted by now he's tolerant no he's just patient not willing that any of his own should perish but that all whom he has chosen should come to repentance as Peter put it he is waiting until he has gathered his redeemed together when sin reaches the final in courage of incurable moment it and all who participate in it will be destroyed mercy abused brings the executioner here comes the sword of insulted majesty the wrath of rejected grace and this conqueror comes not like other conquerors out of covetousness pride ambition power but in righteousness and strict accord with every holy interest to do what is right his eyes are a flame of fire as they were way back in chapter 1 in chapter 2 we saw his eyes as a flame of fire as he looks at his church and discerns the reality of the condition of his church it speaks of his omniscience and when he comes he will see things the way they really are his eyes now flash with fire penetrating burning eyes to judge rightly he must see all nothing can escape him he also comes with many crowns many diadem's royal rank and regal authority this is the symbol of his sovereignty he is a warrior he is a judge he is an executioner and he is the sovereign king earlier we saw crowns on the head of the Antichrist crowns on the head of the Dragon now they are vanquished like David when he conquered the ammonites back in 2nd Samuel but the crown of the vanquished King on his head in addition to his own crown or when Ptolemy conquered Antioch he set two crowns on his head the one of Asia and the one of Egypt to show that he had conquered both the dragon had seven crowns in Revelation the Beast had ten when Jesus comes he has all the crowns all the crowns fair exchange for a crown of thorns this is something that the prophet Ezekiel saw back in Ezekiel and I'm only giving you samples of what the prophets say about this event the back in Ezekiel chapter 21 a couple of verses verses 26 and 27 thus says the Lord God removed the turban and take off of the crown this will no longer be the same exalt that which is low and a base that which is high a ruin a ruin a ruin I will make it this also will be no more until he comes whose right it is and I will give it to him take off your crowns they all belong to Christ Ezekiel even anticipates that day listen to Psalm 45 verses 3 and 4 gird your sword on your thigh o mighty one in your splendor and your majesty and then your majesty ride on victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness let your right hand teach you awesome things your arrows are sharp your peoples fall under you your arrows are in the heart of the king's enemies your throne O God is for ever and ever a scepter of up rightness is the scepter of your kingdom unassailable sovereignty no more Kings now it says he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself can't tell you how many times people have asked me what is that name it is a name that no man knew well what is that saying to us we think we know everything there is to know about Christ we think that because we know what is told to us about him in the Old Testament and what is told to us so completely in the New Testament that we fully understand him that is far from the reality say he has a name that no man knew is to say that there is about him an incomprehensible 'ti about which we know absolutely nothing which is to say that he is far beyond what we imagine him to be there are unknowable realities in his nature we could never fathom the full mystery verse 13 he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood the blood of his enemies the blood of his enemies the blood we saw in Isaiah 63 these are battle clothes and they are blood-stained this is not his first battle who but he cut Rahab and wounded the dragon who fought for Israel in the days of Joshua who fought the kings of Canaan in Tanakh by the waters of Megiddo who vanquished all the world powers of the past and all the nations that have fallen it is the same almighty Conqueror who battled sin at the cross who shed his blood on that cross who will again be blood-stained only it won't be his blood it'll be the blood of his enemies on his battle clothes back in chapter 14 verse 20 when he treads the winepress the blood came out from the winepress to the horses bridles for a distance of 200 miles when Jesus comes back the slaughter will run for 200 miles north and south east and west a bloodbath of eternal judgment says that he will come from heaven second Thessalonians 1:7 with his mighty angels in flaming fire dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus and they'll pay the penalty of eternal destruction final judgment is a bloodbath we'll see more about that next week when we get to verses 17 and following his name verse 13 is called the Word of God the Word of God we know who that is john 1 and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us john 1:14 and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth his name is called the word of god it means he is the one who is the word whom John introduces to us he is the divine one so he has a name that no one knew that's his in comprehensive ility he has a name that we can know the Word of God which speaks of his comprehensibility because he's revealed himself in his word and he is constantly given the name at the end of verse sixteen king of kings and Lord of lords and so we we see the return of the conqueror verse 14 we see the regiment's the regiment's of the Conqueror and the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean were following him on white horses who are they the hosts of heaven the church because it says they were clothed in fine linen go back to verse 8 the marriage of the Lamb the bride the bride is the church in the New Testament verse 8 it was given to her to clothe herself in fine symbol of perfect righteousness so we know the church is there clothed in fine linen white and clean we know the tribulation Saints are there because those who died in the tribulation have been glorified we know the Old Testament Saints are there because they too have been gathered into the presence of the Lord and we know the angels are there from Matthew 25:31 that he returns with his angels so he comes with saints and angels and all the hosts of heaven coming down to earth at the moment of judgment and the establishment of his kingdom to reign with him on earth for a thousand years they're all on white horses they're all part of his triumph the great warrior is mounted and so are all his armies so all the hosts of heaven come down for his glorious reign some 149 five let the godly ones exult in glory let them sing for joy on their beds let the high praises of God be in their mouth and the two-edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance on the nation's and Punishment on the people's to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters fetters of iron to execute on them the judgment written this is an honor for all his godly ones praise the Lord what is that saying we're gonna be there all the godly ones are going to be there we're coming to reign with him we're coming to reign with him we'll see more details of that in chapter 20 so we see the return of the Conqueror we see the regiment's who were with him and finally the rule of the Conqueror verses 15 and 16 from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nation's and he will rule them with a rod of iron and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty this is graphic from his mouth comes a sharp sword we saw that back in chapter 1 and chapter 2 as the sword that defends his church now it is the sword of judgment he comes with the sword to strike down the nation's John wrote that the Son of Man was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil and that's what he will do remember what I read in Isaiah 11 he will smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked smite the earth rule them with a rod of iron in his kingdom with precise justice Psalm 2 to come familiar with that tells us what he's going to do with the nation's why are the nation's in an uproar and the people's devising a vain thing the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed he who sits in the heavens laughs he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury saying but as for me I've installed my king upon Zion my holy mountain when God installs Christ on the holy mountain he'll scoff at the nation's who defy him I will tell the decree you're my son today I have begotten you ask of me and I'll give you the nation's as your inheritance the very ends of the earth is your possession you shall break them with a rod of iron you shall shatter them like clay pots he treads the winepress of the wrath of God that was described and I won't take time back in chapter 14 he crushes The Grapes of Wrath to produce the cup of wrath that the sinners must drink and establishes his rule he will rule them with a rod of iron having crushed them under his fierce wrath and then finally on his robe and on his thigh he has a name what is it king of kings and Lord of lords all foes are vanquished a massive global slaughter mercy abused grace rejected a murderer preferred over the Prince of life and Satan preferred over the Son of God through human history God openly blaspheme even under judgment after judgment after judgement after judgment and the preaching of the gospel during the time of the tribulation the world ends up blaspheming his name and so he comes I think a fitting way to end this is to end where we begin go back to Isaiah chapter 32 Isaiah chapter 32 verse 1 behold a king will reign righteously and princes will rule justly who are the princes that's the believers first Corinthians lets us know that we come back to reign with him so does revelation 20 as we'll see a king will reign righteously and princes will rule justly each each one who rules will be like a refuge from the wind and a shelter from the storm like streams of water in a dry country like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land look at chapter 33 woe to you o destroyer while you are not destroyed and he who is treacherous while others didn't deal treacherously with you as soon as you finished destroying you will be destroyed as soon as you cease to deal treacherously others will deal treacherously with you O Lord be gracious to us we've waited for you be their strength every morning our salvation also in the time of distress at the sound of the tumult people flee at the lifting up of yourself nations disperse your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers as locusts rushing about men rush about on it the Lord is exalted for he dwells on high he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness and he will be the stability of your times a wealth of salvation wisdom and knowledge the fear of the Lord is his measure behold their brave men cry in the streets the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly the highways are desolate the traveller has ceased he has broken the Covenant he has despised the cities he has no regard for men the land mourns and Pines away Lebanon is shamed and Withers Sharon is like a desert plane in bation and Carmel lose their foilage now I will Rhys says the Lord now I will be exalted now I will be lifted up you have conceived chaff you will give birth to stubble my breath will consume you like fire that's a prophecy that ties so beautifully with the 19th chapter of Revelation just a couple verses to finish at the end of that chapter or near the end verse 21 there the majestic one the Lord I love this will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals on which no boat with oars will go and on which no mighty ship will pass for the Lord is our judge the Lord is our lawgiver the Lord is our king he will save us that's the believers hope and that is the promise of the word of God our Father your word exceeds all that we could expect in its consistency and clarity and power as it reveals the absolute truth not only when it speaks of what has happened in the past but when it speaks regarding what will happen in the future we want to live in the light of your return we don't want to put our hope in this world we don't want to be seduced by trying to fix a world that is careening at warp speed toward divine judgment we just want to be faithful to preach the gospel to all we meet so they can escape the wrath to come as a church we are looking for in hastening the glorious return of Christ we are waiting for your son from heaven who delivers us from the wrath to come let the world be the world let it go on in its death dive may we keep our focus on the glorious promise that our Lord will return and we with him to reign in truth and righteousness and may we do all we can to proclaim the gospel so that many through our influence and faithfulness will be a part of the glory of that return we ask these things in his name and for his owner amen

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Views: 157,780

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Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, Grace to You, rapture, tribulation, eschatology, end times, pre tribulation rapture

Id: iZcvS268WXU

Length: 69min 30sec (4170 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 07 2020