(Revelation) the Day of Vengeance Fully Come — Willie Mullan

Number eight hundred and seventy-one, please. Eight, seven, one. I've found a friend, oh, such a friend. He loved me ere I knew him. He drew me with the cords of love, and thus he bound me to him, and round my heart still closely twine those ties which not can sever.

Revelation 19 and the Supper of the Great God

For I am his, and he is mine, forever and forever. Eight, seven, one, please. Chapter nineteen this evening, the book of Revelation. Chapter nineteen. And we're going through from verse seventeen this evening to the end of the chapter.

Verse seventeen, right through to the end of the chapter. And we'll read this paragraph together, verse seventeen. And I, that is John, I saw an angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great gods, that ye may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captives, and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast.

And them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant which flamed was the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

May the good Lord bless to us the reading of his own word, for his name's sake. You know, this brings us to what I've called the day of Jesus, who returns, as we've gone through these last chapters of the book of the Revelation, especially 16 with the battle of Armageddon, and 17 with the doom and judgment of the Scarlet Woman, and 18 with commercial Babylon being judged by God.

And on down through this chapter 19, where we saw the Lord himself coming back to earth the second time. That's what we were at last Tuesday. And we took note of what he came to do on earth the first time.

Came to save sinners. Came to declare God. Came to lead us footsteps. Us believers, of course, that we should follow. And then we differentiated between the first coming to earth and the second coming, because we took time to explain the coming to the earth, which is in between.

But we saw the Lord coming to earth last Tuesday. And all this was bringing to us this day of vengeance. And here it is now. It has fully come. You know, this word vengeance is a great word. It's right through the scriptures.

Sometimes it's rendered by the English word wrath, the day of wrath. For the day of his wrath. It's funny, it's the same word, you know. Of course, you can see vengeance and wrath all together, can't you?

Sometimes this word is rendered punishment. It's what the government's supposed to be doing. That's what the state is all about. For the punishment of evil doers. Why the man or men or boys or whoever it may have been who murdered this little lad, they would need to be punished.

I would think wrath would need to come upon them. And the men who go around blowing up chapels, I would think they would need to be taken in hand with somebody. It's time that the government got about punishing evil doers.

This is what this word is all about, wrath and punishment. Vengeance. It's a word, you know, that we would need to pay attention to in the scriptures. Let's have a look at it as we see it in Psalm 94.

Vengeance Belongs to God

The 94th Psalm. And it's good to note David praying at times. That's what we're doing in the prayer meetings, just taking out some of the phrases that David used in prayer and having a second look at them.

Psalm 94, verse 1. O Lord God, you can hear David pleading here, to whom vengeance belongeth. You see, that's the truth that David had got into at very heart. You know, you know about the times when he came to the king Saul who hunted David upon the mountains like a partridge.

You know, David had a chance to say them again and again. But there's a lesson, you know, that David learned somewhere. That vengeance belongeth unto God. O God, to whom vengeance belongeth. I wish we could learn this.

Oh, I know you were the father of the little boy. There must be something moved within you. But if the father of the little boy belongs to God, he would have to know that vengeance belongs to God. It's a great thing, you know.

Here's what God teaches the saints. Have a look at Romans chapter 12 again. How many times this comes to my heart in these dark, desolate, diabolical days in which we're living. Here's Paul writing to believers.

Verse 19. You can see it's believers because he says,. And then he pleads with them. You know, you can leave the rebels in the hands of God. You don't need to avenge yourselves. We need to get the hold of this, that vengeance belongeth unto God.

We need to hear God say, Vengeance is mine. I will repay. And I can assure you that it will come to pass. But I'm thinking tonight about the day of vengeance. That's a special period that's marked off by God in this world's history.

Isaiah's Prophecy of the Day of Vengeance

Let's go back to the prophecy of Isaiah. Chapter 61. You remember we looked at this the other evening, but we'll look at it again. The prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 61. When the Lord Jesus stood up in the synagogue to preach one Sunday, one Sabbath day, which was Saturday, you remember there was handed to him the book of Isaiah.

And when he had found the plate, this is what he read. Verse 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. And that was very true, just literally true, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.

And he certainly did that. He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. And you know he did that. To proclaim liberty to the captives. And the man in the tombs knew all about it. And the opening of the prisons of them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

And then he shut the book. Why the Lord stopped in the middle of a verse. Yeah, he did. Because he knew all about dispensation. They argue with me about dispensation at times. I'd be amused at them. You see, the Lord knew.

He had come the first time to preach the gospel. He had come to bind brokenhearts. He had come to set the captives free. He had come to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he can't go any further.

Because the next day belongs to the second coming to earth. And the day of vengeance of our God. Wasn't it really wonderful that he stopped? Oh, he didn't come the first time to take vengeance. He came to save sinners.

He came to bind up brokenhearts. Ah, but when he comes the second time to earth, friends, it will be the day of vengeance. He's coming to take vengeance. Let's go back to Isaiah 34 for a moment. The prophecy of Isaiah 34.

Listen to the prophet talking here for a moment. Verse 1, Come, ye nations, to hear, and hearken, ye people, let the earth hear, and all that is therein, the world, and all things that come forth of it.

For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies. He hath utterly destroyed them, he shall deliver them to the slaughter. And then he has said all he wants to say about it.

It says, verse 8,. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. Oh, let's get this quite clear this evening. That God says, vengeance is mine. God says, I will repay, and you can bank on it.

He will repay. And this will come for this old world, a period that is marked out and called the day of vengeance of our gods. What a day it will be. Yes, you know, it was the day that John saw. Are you looking at your notes?

John sees this day here in Revelation 19, and you'll take every detail just in the moment. But remember, it was the day that Paul saw. Let's go back to 2 Thessalonians, and we're at the first chapter.

Paul's Vision of Christ's Vengeance

Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians, and it's the first chapter. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1. Paul is saying, verse 3, We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren of us, because your faith grows exceedingly.

It's lovely to thank God for somebody's faith that's growing. And the charity of every one of you, all toward each other, aboundeth. It's great when your faith and your love grows together, so that we can thank God for your faith and your love growing, so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith.

It's great, you know, when your faith and your love and your patience is all manifested in all your persecutions and tribulations, even when you're suffering. This is what we were up on Sunday morning, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye ought to suffer.

That's what we were up. Seeing it is the righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and He most certainly will, and to you who are troubled, rest. He's going to give you rest.

He's going to recompense tribulation to them when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance. Oh, that's it all right, isn't it? That's what we're talking about.

We're talking about Him coming to earth the second time, not of the babe of Bethlehem, of the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, coming to trample the nations beneath His feet. It will be the day of the Lord's wrath.

He's coming to punish. Oh, it's marked out on the calendar of God. It's good to be saved, you know, because being saved means that you're saved from the wrath to come. Yes, if you're looking at your notes, you can see that John saw this day, and Paul saw this day, and you can see from what we have already said that Isaiah saw this day.

Jude's Prophecy of the Lord's Coming

I want you to get a hold of this, that Jude saw this day. Let's have a look at the little epistle of Jude just before you go to the book of the Revelation. There's only one chapter in it. Chapter 1, verse 14.

Jude's talking about Aaron's Enoch also. That's going back a bit in Bible history, isn't it? The seventh from Adam. That takes you a long way back. Prophet God. He was a prophet, you know. Wonderful what these old fellows knew, you know.

They hadn't much scripture behind them. They just got a few chapters there. But there he is, you know, walking with God. You can learn, you know, walking with God. And he prophesied. Watch what he prophesied.

He prophesied of these things. Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints. That's what they were thinking about, you know, the Lord coming the second time. If he's coming with his saints, he must have come for them before that, because he had to come for them before he could come with them.

Now, that's where he came to the air for the saints. Now, what's what he's coming with the saints for? Verse fifteen. To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Come in to deal with sinners, you know. My, they have blasphemed his name. They have spat in his face. They have rebelled. They have been enemies. They have said, godly deeds will not have this man to reign over us.

They have cursed the Christ of God. You're going to have to deal with them, won't you? My, when he comes, you'll hear the clobbering. I've seen them scared when he didn't even come. During the last war, you know, when the Jews came over Belfast some nights, you, some of you remember this quite well.

You see, I wasn't on the fire service or on any service. I was on the Lord's service. I just used to go out in the dark with my Bible and walk into an air raid shelter. It would be packed, absolutely full.

And you know, you could hear the old drone, drone, drone, drone of the German plane. You could tell this thing if you'd never seen it at all. And you knew they were just over there. And then you would hear the whistle.

This whistle would come right across the rooftops, and somewhere nearby would be lifted out into the sky. These were horrible nights, you know. And the old air raid shelter with maybe a hundred people packed tight in would move like that and back again.

And I'd stand in the dark and say, Does anybody here object to me praying? I'm a preacher. Never was anybody that I ever had objected. And I used to pray for all of my shepherds. And I used to preach Christ to them in the dark.

And the big men down at the dock were broad shoulders, you know. Men who would coach Christ day and day. I could feel them standing beside me, shaking in their hands. I've seen big men shake before now, you know.

What a breadth of your shoulders that makes them honor you, you know. You could be a big fool. I've seen big men tremble, you know, before now. And I'll tell you this, when death comes near and the cold, calming hand is not far away, they're not as big as we think they are.

But wait! Take vengeance! The world will tremble. By the glory of the Lord, the Son, and the angel of the heavens, come to the nations beneath His feet. We begin to know who He is as He's coming to take judgment.

And when the day of vengeance is fully come, just like the day of Pentecost was fully come, I'll tell you it'll be a day for this cruel world. Let's go back to the chapter now. Revelation 19. And you'll find that in this day of vengeance, when it is fully come, that verse 20 says, and the beast was taken.

You know, he thought himself a big man. This is the Antichrist. Oh, he thought he was some boy. And the Lord just left him like that, and put him in the hell. No nonsense with him. Not even dear Christ, our Lord, may appearing at two or three sizes, you know, just left him in the hell, in the depths of it.

Lord, do not argue with him. Take no nonsense with him. The unclean beast will just be taken like that. And then it says, and within the false prophets that there are miracles before him, and you can put a line under the miracles, can't you?

I hope you don't be deceived by so-called miracles. Yes, well, he'll be taken too. And he thought he was a big man too, because he deceived the whole world, you know. And he must have run swinging about for three and a half years, appearing on every television screen.

Let the whole world worship the beast. Oh, Lord, we'll lift him and damn him. Mind you, the Lord can lift you and pitch you into hell righteously just now. Won't you forget that? Just lift you and damn you tonight.

He that believeth not, said Jesus Christ, shall be damned. This is language, not mine. The beast will be taken. And you'll find that vengeance will come upon the ungodly nations. See verse 19, I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and there is an S there, the kings of the earth, and their armies.

Boy, they think they're some folk, the Americans and the Russians. They think they're the Hortis. I tell you, the Lord will fix them. What a day it'll be. It'll be fully come now. It's worldwide now. The beast, the prophet, the kings, their armies.

Oh, let them drop their tanks first. The Lord's going to upset things, isn't he? My, he's wonderful. All power in heaven belongs to him, and he's a friend of mine. See that? And you can see that the on-prepared Israelite will be taken.

The remnants, oh yes, there's going to be the five wise and the five foolish. And the five wise are Jews that have turned to the Lord in the tribulation. And the five foolish are those that have stood beside the Antichrist, and they'll be taken.

And you can see this when we go to the next chapter, next week, you know. The old devil will be taken. That'll be a mighty moment. You know, he thinks he's a big sorrow. My, he's strutted around for a long time, going about like a roaring lion.

He thinks that nobody can touch him. The Lord will lift him and pitch him into hell too. Gotham was pit for him. Yes. My dear friend, what a day it will be. Yes. I think you can see the portion this evening.

The Supper of the Great God

We'll just start now. Have a look at the portion. I want you to notice this, that while I have called it the Day of Vengeance, it gets another name in our portion this evening. It gets the name of the Supper of the Great God.

Now, the truth is we're looking at all the great suppers in this book. The gospel supper. And the last, you remember how we went through them all. And we found out so many suppers. That great supper that the maiden offered Bethany when Martha was pleased to serve and Mary worshipped at his feet and Lazarus just sat staring at his face.

Here's another supper this evening. It's called the Great, the Supper of the Great God. My God is going to spread carcasses across the face of this palace. What a table of legends. The Great, the Supper of the Great God.

Now, we'll go down the verses quickly. You know, there's an angelic invitation to the supper. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come.

It's what you call an angelic invitation to the supper. He's talking to the fowls. And in the graphic vision of the supper, the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men. I wonder what he'd do there.

And most of the figures, I think they are, they're just doffed panaches I wish they would learn. All England's in an uproar now, isn't it? They're away at Parliament today asking for the death penalty to drop back again because they've had a couple of scoops.

If any one of us in Ulster had asked for the death penalty, you would have heard all England in an uproar. And he has spread out from the table. The day's not far away, mind you. I'm sure it's not far away.

And that means the coming of the Lord for us. I'll be leaving this place one of these days. What I'm longing for is to walk out upwards. What a table it is. What a graphic vision of the supper we're getting.

The flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, the flesh of men that sit on men, the flesh of all men, both free and bound and small and great. You can see the historic occasion of the supper. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse.

Well, fancy this, you know. You know, men are marginal than you think. You know, the Antichrist and the false prophets and the kings of the earth and the mighty men and these chief captains who know so much, you know, they're going to venture out at last against the Lord of Glory.

Don't go to war against the Lord of Glory. And that's the historic occasion. That's the moment, you know. You can see the majestic conclusion comes through. The beast's taken, the kings are taken, the false prophet is taken, the remnant is taken and all the rest of it.

But I don't think that although I put it out like that just for your clarity that we should stop with that. I think, you know, we need a specific exposition of the passage. I've only gone over it like that so that you would get it in your mind.

The Audacity of Wicked Leaders

I think if I were expanding it, I would have to talk about the audacity of wicked men. You know, for the march out against the king of kings and lord of lords. My dear friends, what cheek is he, what sinful cheek is he.

I'm calling it the audacity. And then I think we would have to underline this because in this passage not only do we see the audacity of sinful men and leaders, but we're bound to note the ability of the king of kings.

None of you can just lift the false prophet, just lift the armies of the king. Oh, what a burden, my dear friends. It's good to gaze at the lord's power in this passage. And then I think that we must note this as we're going to expand this, not only the audacity of these wicked leaders and the ability of our wonderful lord.

The Individuality of the Beast and False Prophet

I think we must mark tonight forevermore the individuality of these two characters, the beast and the false prophet. Let's get these words cast alive. These are individuals, you know. Try to tell me sometimes that the beast is the Roman Empire, casting it alive.

His number is 666 and the book tells me it's the number of a man. That's not an empire. That's a man. That's the devil's man. He's told in 2 Thessalonians, the man of sin, son of perdition. And he's different from the other one, isn't he?

And the beast was taken and with him the false prophet. You're bound to differentiate now between them. I think you can see the audacity of these leaders and the ability of Christ and the individuality of these two men.

The Capability of Evil and the Gullibility of Men

Then you must be able to see the capability of evil because evil can work miracles that can deceive folks. I think we need to underline that, you know. Why there are some folks I meet that are always raving about miracles.

How will the devil can work miracles, you know, and work miracles to deceive folks? Did you get that? That's what it says. Have another reader just to make sure you've got it. I see some of you squinting.

Verse 20, The beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast. I think you're bound to see the capability of evil.

We must always remember that. It's something to underline. You know, these days they can put things on screens and print pictures and papers and I can tell you, you can do anything with a camera. I saw a fellow on the TV the other night walking up the wall and over the roof and down the other side.

That is evil. You don't think I believe that, do you? No, I didn't believe it. They can do these things. Why, they can make these cartoons. The missus is a simple woman. She says to me, How does that wee dog do that now?

You're bound to see this. Can't you see the audacity of these leaders going to war? Can't you see the ability of our wonderful Lord, how he can just lift them? You see the individuality of these two, can't you?

Can't you see the capability of evil? Can't you see the gullibility of men? ...easily go. ...about the man who came to London not so long ago and said he was Elijah. Big beard on, down to here, long coat, walk around London.

No time at all, he had poisoned the false. Dr. Arden's side was preaching in London at the time and somebody went in and said to them, Is this Elijah real? And the old doctor looked over the glasses and said, When Elijah was here it was the ravens that fed him, but now these are the ghouls.

And you can see the gullibility, can't you? Now the fact that these two, these both were cast alive into the lake of fire, you can see the humanity of them. You know, what a thing this is, you know. These fellows don't die at all.

Two men in this book who went to heaven without dying, Enoch and Elijah, they went right up without dying. How are those two men going to go right down into the pit without dying? Struttin' along, you know, with the metal from the chest, and Elijah's abdomen, BAM, shows you that it's human beings we're talkin' about.

You can see the audacity, can't you, and the ability of Christ and the individuality of these boys and the capability of evil and the gullibility of fools. The humanity is here. I think that I must wait and see about the ferocity of fear.

The Day of Grace Before Eternal Judgment

Glory to the Lord! Take no mansions now. Tonight the Lord's standing at some of you centers, at your heart's door, and He's patiently waiting. It's not waiting on you, waiting on a fool like you. He could turn away and let me go to hell, you know, but this is the day of His grace.

And it's patience, and it's love, and it's mercy, and it's grace that waits. Christ is outside your door. Ah, but the tables will turn on you if the Master rises tonight and shuts the door. He will deal with you in a different way, sir.

Lift these two boys and put them into hell, and His complimentation is beneath His feet. You're going to see all this in this passage, the audacity that goes against Christ and the ability of the Lord and the individuality of these people and the capability of evil and the gullibility of men and the humanity of these two and the ferocity.

The Eternity of the Judgment

You know, I think the thing we've got to get the hold of tonight is the eternality of the judgment. Watch what it says here now in case we make any mistakes. At the end of verse twenty, these both, the beast, the false prophet, were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

You're quite sure of where they are, aren't you? Just lifting, as they were in the march, lifted and pitched into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone, they died. Now, when we start the chapter next week, just take your time with it now.

I'm not taking any out of it because I want to come to it very carefully. It talks about the old serpent, verse two of chapter twenty. The angel did hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil in Satan.

You can't make any mistake about this. Bound in a thousand years. You know, they just want to bind the devil up in the bottom that's pit for a thousand years. You know, the wonderful thing about it is that at the end of the thousand years he'll be let loose, you know.

It says in verse seven of chapter twenty, when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed. It's going to let him out again. Then he'll start all this deceiving all over again. But he'll be taken again, see verse ten.

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire the next time, not the bottomless pit. Where's the beast and the false prophet are? They've been there for a thousand years, you know. They were put in at the beginning of the thousand years and then he was in the bottomless pit for the thousand years.

And when the thousand years are up and they let him out and he starts this nonsense again, you know, the Lord will take him and take him into the lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet are.

And you go and tell this, what's the like of that? Because they're not annihilated. A thousand years have passed. And they'll be there when ten thousand years have passed. Mind you, eternal torment is a dreadful thing.

And God has bound you. And the love of God will never reach you again and the grace of God will never plead with you again. Not only do you have that eternality there. And so next week we'll get round to this.

The Lord bless you. We're singing two verses. 1 -7 -6 please. 1 -7 -6. Our Lord is now rejected, and by the world is torn, by the many still neglected, by the few enthroned. But soon he'll come in glory.

The hour is drawing nigh, for the crowning day is coming by and by. We're singing the first and last verses. 1 -7 -6 please. 1 -7 -6. And with thy blessings, take us to our homes in safety, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.