Revelation 19:11-21 (The Second Coming, Jeff Kliewer)

The Coming Judgment and Our Call to Bless the Lord

The world is coming, but he has no power over me. That's what Jesus says. Now we do know that we're talking about Satan. You can go into Philippians 1, the prince of the power of the air. When the ruler of this world comes, but he will have no power over me.

Now the context, the direct context, Jesus is about to be betrayed. He is about to be taken in trial. He is going to have the passion. He is going to go to Calvary. He is going to hang on a cross, and he is going to die.

And my imagination has Satan fist bumping the other demons that he has won. But you know, the promise was made way back in Genesis that he will bruise my heel, but I will crush his head. And so what really happened at the cross was although the ruler of the world came, he had no power over Jesus.

There's another application, and that's to us here and now. The ruler of the world is here, and he is all about promoting things that are against.

God.

He is all about the evil of the world. But I'm here to tell you right now and right here that although the ruler of the world is here, and he thinks he has power, he does not have power over you. We have a Lord and Savior.

He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. And so we can say, I will bless the Lord at all times. Amen to that. So I'm going to give you a couple of challenges. Set your heart on God. There are going to be reasons for you to not do it.

And quite frankly, one, because things are going easy. And so you forget to give credit to God, or you forget to turn to Him. More often times are hard. It seems difficult. But I'm telling you that through Him you will experience victory in the good times, in the bad times.

You will experience life and life more abundant. So have a heart that always proclaims, I bless the Lord at all times. Amen to that. Couple of announcements. This coming Friday, a great event for the children of our church.

There's going to be a one-day VBS. We weren't able to do the normal schedule where we would have a week-long VBS and all sorts of activities. But Ben and Jen Naviger, Carrie Meyer have gotten together and they have put together a one-day event.

It will be Friday. Do you have any quick words you want to say about that? If you have questions, if you want to get signed up, see Pastor Ben, call Carrie, call Jen. I'm sure if you talk to Mike, he can help you out also.

For your family, for your neighbors, for your friends, a great event. On a sad note, a member, a long-standing member of our church, Dottie and Ollie Perry. Ollie's sister has gone home to be the Lord, to be with the Lord.

And while it's difficult and it's sad, when a loved one goes, there's rejoicing knowing that she is in the very presence of the throne of God. And so we do want to hold the Perry family up. I got a question for you.

Who knows what the parousia is? Ben, if you don't raise your hand, you're out of here. Who would like to learn what the parousia is? Jeff is about to give you an indication of one of the most amazing events that's been foretold and that is the solid, solid foundation of our hope.

The parousia. That's a tease. He's going to take you there. So now let's pray. Lord, today, today our hearts need to respond to things that's going on in the world, but we need to respond in blessings to you.

We need to know that in all things we should see God and we should bless him. We should not be distracted or discouraged by what goes on in the world. Today Lord, we pray for our country and for those who are led astray into bad directions.

We pray for their hearts, that they might turn and see you. We pray that you would give them the grace that the eyes of their hearts would be opened and that they would turn from wicked ways and turn down the path where they would also bless the Lord.

And so Father, give us the opportunity to be light and salt. Let us be that pure light and salt. So Lord, we do rejoice in the hope that all things, although things are weird now, we rejoice in realizing that your kingdom will prevail.

Father, we pray for the Perry family. As Rosie has gone home, the family is left behind. Be their close comfort, we pray. And now Father, give Pastor Jeff your words as he takes us into Revelation 19, as he will talk to us about the parousia.

Pray that your Holy Spirit would strengthen him and open the eyes of our hearts. We pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

Sing two songs together before Pastor Jeff comes.

Older than the ages, there is a promise of things yet to come. There is one born for our salvation, Jesus. There's a light that overwhelms the darkness. There is a kingdom that forever reigns. There is freedom from the chains that bind us, Jesus.

Like a lion, there's a song that hides. There's a voice that calms the storm that rages. You're my rocket.

Singing about the name of Jesus. Blessed be his name. His name is powerful, so powerful that even Satan trembles at the name of Jesus. Let's sing this next song as a prayer. Your prayer.

And glory. Your name. He's a strong and mighty tower. Your name. He's a shelter like no other. Your name. Let the nation sing it louder. Nothing has the power to save but your name. The strength and glorify your name.

Your name. He's a strong and mighty tower. Your name. He's a shelter like no other. Your name. Let the nation sing it louder. Nothing has the power to save.

Powerful even we don't understand. We pray, Lord, that every day we will look to you. Remember the power of your name to save. You are a strong and mighty tower. You're a shelter like no other. We pray that not only us, but the nation will come back to you and sing your praises louder and louder.

Because nothing has the power to save like your name.

Your name. He's a strong and mighty tower. Your name. He's a shelter like no other. Your name. Let the nation sing it louder. Nothing has the power to save but your name.

Christ in Revelation 1, 2, 3, 5, 12, 13, and 14

Good morning.

Let's pray.

God, our prayer this morning is that you would make our hearts to burn for you. We think of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were discouraged and walking along the way. And you came alongside them and you opened the scriptures to them.

That they would see Christ in all the scriptures. And afterwards they reflected and said, did not our hearts burn? And so, Lord, our prayer is that you would make our hearts to burn. That we would see Christ in the scriptures.

We would long for Christ. We would look for his coming. We pray then that it would inspire us to go out in the name of Jesus. Preaching the good news. And this prayer is offered in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Many of you probably know the name A .W. Tozer. Anybody familiar with Tozer? He's famous for his book, The Pursuit of God. And many other wonderful works that help us to walk with Christ and know him more.

Well, not a lot of people realize that Tozer not only didn't go to college. Tozer didn't finish high school. And at 17 years old, he was saved at a Methodist camp meeting. And then he began to preach.

The Methodists wouldn't let him preach. And so he joined the CMA, Christian Missionary Alliance. And went to West Virginia to pastor a church. Then he went to Chicago's Southside and preached there for many, many years.

One of the things I love about Tozer is that he had in his heart a burning desire to know Christ. He would study the scripture on his knees. He would open the word of God and learn from the scripture.

And his heart burned to know Christ more. And so he took to calling others like himself who loved Christ and wanted to know him and make him known. He took to calling them the Fellowship of the Burning Hearts.

I love that description. The Fellowship of the Burning Hearts. That should be a description of all of us as Christians. A fellowship of those with burning hearts. To know Christ. To make him known. We've been looking at the book of Revelation.

And it's been almost a year. And so some of you had said, Boy, I wonder, are we still going to be studying the book of Revelation when Jesus comes back? It seems like he's going to preach until Jesus comes back.

Well, today I'm going to preach until Jesus comes back. Why? Because he's coming back in the text today. Revelation 19 verses 11 to 21. But before we take this look at Christ and see his glory and all of his splendor at the parousia, at the second coming of Christ when he is revealed in all his glory, coming from heaven.

Before we do that, I want to take a few minutes to review what Revelation has already said about Christ. Because, to be frank, Revelation 19, when you take it in context, is terrifying. It is a terrifying passage about the judgment of God.

And Christ is presented here as a judge. But it's in the context of the book of Revelation. So let's take a look at the presentation of Christ in the book of Revelation. The first place we see him described, Revelation 1, 5 to 8.

And this is a presentation of Christ as the lover of our souls. He doesn't come here in judgment. It's how John describes his savior. When you think of Jesus Christ, and if you wanted to describe him to a friend, how would you describe him?

John here uses nine descriptors. Follow these.

Number one, a faithful witness.

A witness you can trust. Not as one who's from earth like the rest of us, but as one who comes from heaven. And speaks of realities beyond us. He is, first of all, a faithful witness. Second, he's the firstborn from the dead.

He is one who has conquered death and risen. The third descriptor in Revelation 1, 5 to 8, is the ruler of kings. He's the ruler of kings. Fourth, John says he's the one who loves us. He is the picture of love.

Perfect love that lays down his life for his friend. And so, fifth, he's one who frees us from our sins by his blood. Sixth, he's the one who made us a kingdom and priests. Seven, he's the one who's coming on the clouds.

Eight, he's the Alpha and Omega. The one who is and who was and who is to come. And finally, John describes him as the Almighty. Those nine descriptors, that's how John thinks about Jesus. That's how he presents Jesus to us.

And so, Revelation 1 is rich with the description of who Jesus is. But we're not done yet. There also, in Revelation chapter 1, John sees Jesus and describes him as a holy champion of the church. Verses 12 to 18.

Remember these descriptions? John turns and looks and what does he see? The Son of Man. That is a description from Daniel chapter 7. The one who is man, he's the Son of Man, and yet to him is given a kingdom.

He is the Messiah. And he stands among the lampstands. So the second description there is he is the head of the church. The lampstands represent the seven churches of Asia. Typifying all of the churches, Christ is the head of the church.

Third, he is described as a high priest. Because what does he wear? A robe with a golden sash. That's the high priestly vestment. He's dressed as the high priest because he comes to offer a sacrifice that can finally take away sin.

His own body and blood. Fourth, he's described as wisdom. Wisdom personified because his hair is white. As white as my beard is becoming down here. Only his whole head and hair is white. It represents his wisdom, crown of glory.

Proverbs 16. He's described fifthly as holiness. Because his eyes are a flame of fire and his feet are burnished bronze. He is holy. The ground on which he walks is holy because he is holiness personified.

Sixth, he's described as the word of God. His voice is like roaring waters. He holds the messengers in his hand and from his mouth comes a sword. He is the word of God. Seventh, he is the glory of God because his face shines like the sun in all its brightness.

He is glory. And John falls down at his feet in terror because Jesus is the fear teacher. He teaches us to fear but Jesus lays his hand on John and says fear not, I died and yet I rose and I hold the keys of death and Hades and so he takes our fear away.

All of these descriptions are there in Revelation chapter 1. Glorious savior. In chapters 2 and 3 we have a repetition of those descriptions, right? Each letter to the churches is introduced with one of those descriptions.

He is the faithful and true witness to Laodicea. He is called the amen which amplifies that concept. So 2 and 3 reinforce these descriptions of who Jesus is. And then we come to a glorious high water mark.

The scene in heaven. The throne room. The father and the spirit are there. But there is no one worthy to open the scroll. And so in chapter 5 we have three more glorious descriptions of who Christ is.

He is the lion of the tribe.

Of Judah.

The almighty power.

Of God.

The king who comes from the tribe of Judah. But this great king who descends from Judah is also the root of David. Meaning he was there before David or any other king ever reigned. He is the root of David.

And then.

We see him as.

The lamb who was slain. A lamb.

The sacrificial animal who goes quietly without objection to the slaughter. To be a sacrifice not for his own sins but for ours. He is described as the lamb of God. And so in response to the slain lamb the multitudes sing.

Holy, holy, holy. Worthy are.

You to take the scroll. So Jesus is presented as the lion, the root of David, and the lamb. But there are a few more descriptions before we get to chapter 19. Do you remember Revelation 12, 5? Jesus is described as the male child who will rule the nations.

The woman who represents Israel is giving birth and she gives birth to a male child. And so we see from that description that he is the humble child. We celebrate this at Christmas time. The incarnation.

He is the one who took on flesh. The word became flesh. Revelation 12, 5. Do you know him in that humility? Revelation 13, 8 presents him again. This time he is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

In God's plan A, he is the chosen one. The predestined one. The foreknown. Slain from the foundation.

Of the world.

Do you know him as the chosen? Revelation 14,.

1.

He stands on Mount Zion.

With the.

144 ,000. These are the ones who refuse to take the mark of the beast. And so they will be persecuted. They cannot buy or sell without the mark. They are willing to suffer with Christ rather than to enjoy the pleasures of this world.

And Christ does not stand with the world. He stands with the 144 ,000. And so he is the help to those in trouble. He stands with the persecuted. Every martyr who ever laid down his life knew the presence of Jesus in that suffering.

He is the one who is there to hear the cries of the hurting. He is the help for any of us in our time of trouble. This is the Christ of Revelation.

Finally.

One more image is in Revelation 14 verses 14 to 16. There we see him seated on a cloud.

With.

A Stephanus on his head. The laurel crown which represents that he has run the race and he has won. He is the victor. And in his hand he holds a sickle for harvesting and he swings the sickle over the earth and the earth is harvested.

And I think the picture there is the harvesting of souls. He tells us that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. The power to harvest souls does not come from us. It comes from him. So we must know him as the one who redeems and brings in the harvest of souls.

The Second Coming of Christ in Revelation 19:11-21

Finally now we come to Revelation 19 .11. I wanted to set that backdrop because if we just jump in at chapter 19 we would be left with nothing but terror. But the good news is this is the Jesus revealed to us.

The one who loves us. Who laid down his life for us. If only we'll come in repentance and faith and follow the lamb. We'll be saved. But here, Revelation 19 .11 through 21 you'll notice that every image in here is judgment.

He comes this time as a judge to execute justice on earth.

Let's read it.

Revelation 19 verses 11 through 21. Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges.

And makes war.

His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called is the word of God.

And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron.

He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written. King of.

Kings and lord of lords. Then I.

Saw an angel standing in the sun and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead come gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings the flesh of captains the flesh of mighty men the flesh of horses and their riders and the flesh of all men both slave and free both small and great.

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his.

Army. And the.

Beast was captured and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him.

Who was sitting on the horse and.

All the birds were gorged with their flesh. It's a terrifying image isn't it? Let's look at it one by one to see this revelation of Jesus at his second coming because again here I see nine more descriptions of Christ.

The first is that he rides on a white horse which means he is triumphant. The image of the white horse comes from the Romans. The generals would return from war and ride on a white horse with the captives trailing behind them and all the booty from war and all the people would come out to the Via Sacra, that main road into Rome and the general would ride in on a white horse.

Well we saw in Revelation chapter 6 verse 2 that the Antichrist when he established his worldwide kingdom was riding a white horse.

He had a bow.

Instead of a sword from his mouth so you know he's a pretender to the throne. He's only bent on conquering and conquest, that's all he cares about but he rides on a white horse. Here the true king is pictured triumphant.

He's riding on a white horse which means he's conquered every enemy. He is a triumphant king. I like the words of John Walvoord at this point. He points out the contrast between the Jesus of the Gospels and how Christ is presented here.

But notice it's the same Christ. Different aspects we need to understand both. Walvoord says this, the revelation of Jesus Christ presented in the book of Revelation is in contrast to the Christ of the Gospels where he is revealed in rejection, humiliation, suffering.

And death.

His return the parousia is to be one of triumph, glory, sovereignty, majesty. You see when Christ came the first time he came humble born as a baby laid in a manger. He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey.

He comes back riding on a white horse to conquer. A very different image. There's a contrast here. So then look at verse 11 again. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true. And so that's the second description to take note of.

Faithful. Faithful to what? Faithful.

To every promise he.

Ever made.

True to his word. Back in Zechariah chapter 14 we were told that God himself, Yahweh will come and conquer the enemies. And when Yahweh comes he will set his foot on the mount of olives and the mount of olives will split in two and a river will flow from the east to the west.

That never happened. Is it true? Will Yahweh come for Israel? Or will they always be persecuted?

We will see.

That he is faithful to that promise when Christ himself comes and he sets his foot on the mount of olives and the mountain itself will split in two. Jesus ascended from the mount of olives. Remember that?

And what was the promise made in Acts chapter 1 verse 11 and 12? Why do you stand there looking into the sky? This same Jesus that you saw rise will come the same way you saw him go. That promise will be fulfilled.

Jesus will set his foot on the mount of olives. Every promise that God ever made is yes.

And amen.

In this world you will have trouble but he has overcome the world.

Take heart.

Hang on to the promises. Believe in his coming. Look to the skies in your suffering. Sometimes all we have left is what he's promised because we're not seeing it with our eyes. We're not feeling comfort.

Everything isn't just going well in our lives but one thing that is steady and sure the anchor for our soul are the promises.

Of God.

He is faithful.

Third,.

Passion.

I want you to see this. Look at verse 12. When you look into the eyes of Christ he is not indifferent about the suffering of this world. He's not indifferent about the sin of this world. Look at his eyes.

His eyes are like a flame of fire. That's a picture of passion. I remember watching John Piper preach back in the late 90s and this sermon gripped me. I remember Piper he preached don't waste your life.

He had these big nerdy glasses. Anybody ever seen this? He's preaching out in a field and there's all these young people just kind of sitting there listening to him preach and he's beginning to age a little bit at this time and people are barely listening at the beginning but as he goes on to tell about two women in his church who in their upper 70s going on 80 were in Cameroon preaching the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Their car got out of control on a mountain and careened off and they blew up to their tragic death but he said is that a tragedy? Piper said no it's more of a tragedy to give up your life and do nothing for the kingdom than to die like these women.

He said that's not a tragedy. They spent their lives for Christ.

And they died.

Reaching people with the gospel. But the thing that caught my attention and that seemed to catch the attention of all the people in that field was that as Piper told this story you could see fire in his.

Eyes.

Behind those glasses there was a passion. In all of Piper's preaching you see that. This is what Tozer meant by the fellowship of the burning hearts. Like the passion in Christ's eyes the flame that should mark us in our lives.

When the fire fell in Acts chapter 2 it rested on the disciples and there was fire in their hearts. When Jeremiah.

Couldn't preach.

He said it was like fire in his bones. Unless he spoke the word of God it would consume him.

There.

Should be a passion in our eyes just like we see in Christ. An urgency.

A love for him.

It's not just indifferent. We don't go through the motions as.

Christians.

If we want to be like our savior we need fire in our eyes. Fourth, look at this one. He's central. On his head are many.

Diadems.

This is a different word than Stephanos earlier in chapter 14 where he had run the race and he had the victor's crown. This is the kind of crown worn by kings to glorify and exalt the king.

He.

Wears these diadems on his head without shame. The ugliest thing that we can see in this world is an arrogant man. Amen to that? When someone draws attention to themselves it is just ugly and it's repulsive because there's something in us that knows that we don't deserve glory.

There's one who deserves glory and it's God himself. Glorify God. Christ is right to accept the crown. For us to glorify ourselves is ugly because we are delighting in something that's meant to give glory to another.

But Christ is the high point. He is the author. He is the one for whom and to whom and through him whom all things exist. Does that make sense? So it's right for Christ to glorify himself. When he wears that crown he does so without shame.

It's right for him to wear it. I got a really encouraging email a couple days ago. A lady said that one of the books that I wrote Faith is Not Blind was taken to a prison and a prisoner had come to Christ and was kind of connected the dots for him and he was so encouraged.

And he's getting out of prison and so he's able to come and visit and he wanted to come and meet the author of the book. So my response to this woman who told me this story to say back to him, he wants to come.

Meet me, was this.

Prepare.

For a letdown. Prepare.

For a letdown. You want to meet the author of that book? You're going to be letdown because there is nothing special.

About me.

All that I did was write the words of the scripture and point how it reveals Christ and lifted him up. Glorify.

Christ.

We have nothing. We are dust.

But.

We have a treasure.

In these jars of clay. Christ in us, the hope of glory. Colossians 2. He is our treasure. He is the one who wears the crown and so we should live our entire lives every day for the glory of another. Not for our own glory.

Next.

Number 6. No, number 5. He has a name written that no one knows but himself. Think about this one for a minute. Why is that in there? When I first saw it I thought, well if we don't know what the name is why are we being told he has a name that we don't know?

Because it doesn't reveal what that name is. I think the point of including this sentence is to remind you and I that we cannot.

Contain him.

The secret things belong to the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. Deuteronomy 29. We are to know what we're told but remember our place. That for however much we get to see Christ, this glimpse that we see of him, he is so much bigger than we imagine.

We still see through a glass dimly then we will see face to face. We need to be reminded that he's bigger than all that we could imagine. I never stop marveling at these scholars who write books as opposed to Tozer.

Tozer wrote books from the passion of his heart to know Christ, to reveal Christ, make him known. But did you know that in the academy.

In.

Biblical scholarship. A majority of those who are writing these religious tomes don't believe in the Christ that they write about. They have doctorates, some of them multiple PhDs next to their name and they write theological works.

Union Theological Seminary. Highly educated.

People write thousands.

Upon thousands of words without believing in Christ. I wonder why they do that. Why not devote yourself to something else. But I think I have an answer for why.

They do that. They're not running.

To him, they're running from him and they write books to try to contain.

Him. They think if they.

Can figure everything out and explain.

Everything away, they have.

Him in a box and they're safe. And they devote their lives to trying to contain Christ rather than simply believing who he is and remembering their place and our place. At the foot of the cross prostrate crying out have mercy on me the sinner.

You see he has names and a name that we don't even know. He's so much bigger. He's uncontained. Number six he's clothed in a robe dipped in blood. This description is interesting. At first I thought well this must mean his blood because he died for us but that blood was shed once and for all.

The commentators I think are right in saying that the blood here is anticipatory of what he's coming to do.

Dipped.

In blood means he's going to.

War.

He's coming as a judge. So his robe is dipped in blood. And what we're about to see here. What he does when he arrives.

Is.

Judge. John Walvert says the scene of awful judgment which comes from this background is in flat contradiction of the modern point of view that God is dominated entirely by his attribute.

Of love. Let me repeat.

That in simpler words. When you see his robe dipped in blood it flatly contradicts what this world says and every other religion about Christ.

Regarding.

His attribute of love. The world would like to flatten Jesus out to nothing but love and indeed God is love but you cannot contain him under the title of that one word. This robe dipped in blood flatly contradicts that assessment.

He is love but he is also.

Just.

He is also holy and powerful and the robe dipped in blood says he will come and judge the ungodly. We need to be reminded of that. Number seven. The name by which he is called is the word of God. Here then we see a sword coming from his mouth.

It says here that the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen white and pure were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with the rod of iron.

Again that's that Psalm chapter 2 imagery. He has a rod of iron to smash his enemies but the sword coming from his mouth represents his word going forth. Jesus is the word of God. He is the revelation of God.