The Return of the King of Kings. Revelation 19:6-8
Chapter nineteen focuses on the Lord Jesus Christ coming and defeating the cosmic system, which is the devil's system which he has used to rule over the human race ever since the fall of Adam. As its crystallized form in Babylon as a thought system that comes out of the rebellion of Nimrod (Gen. 11)—antagonism to God and arrogance—it comes to its final and most horrible and tyrannical form in the kingdom of the Antichrist, and it is depicted as being centered in the rebuilt Babylon in the end times. Also this Babylon in the end times has a tremendous economic influence over the world and because of it the money leads, as it so often does, to spiritual slavery.
In verses 11-16 see the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and really on six verses are given to that. To flush out all of the details we have to look at a number of other passages in the Old Testament. He begins to descend from heaven in v. 11 NASB "Now 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." He continues with the description in vv. 12, 13 but these give more of a physical description whereas v. 11 focuses on more of a character description in terms of His qualification to be the one who judges and makes war in righteousness. He is going to return on a white horse. Remember in Revelation 6:1, the first seal judgment, a rider goes forth conquering and to conquer and he is riding a white horse. That is the Antichrist who is acting as a substitute or pseudo messiah. This is not the same white horse in chapter 19 or same rider as in the seal judgments. It is the same kind of thing that we see in Revelation chapter one which is a picture of purification and is an emphasis that He is righteous and holy. It is a physical picture of the kind of statement that John makes in 1 John 1 that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. So from the very beginning to the end of Revelation we see this depiction of Jesus, that He is the righteous and true judge. This is what is described by His character when we read Revelation and the title that is given to Him: "…He who sat on it {is} called Faithful and True..." He is qualified to judge. "… and in righteousness He judges and wages war." The Greek uses the preposition en [e)n] which frequently has an instrumental idea—e.g. by means of righteousness he judges and by means of righteousness he makes war. So righteousness is going to characterize the judgment of all mankind and the war that He brings against the earth dwellers and the kings of the earth, the Antichrist, the false prophet and the dragon and his fallen angels.
Revelation 19:12 NASB "His eyes {are} a flame of fire, and on His head {are} many diadems; and He has a name written {on Him} which no one knows except Himself." Cf. Rev. 1:14. Now He is depicted as a ruler. Revelation 1:12, 13 depicted Him more as a priest-judge. He hadn't been crowned yet; He had not received the kingdom. Remember that in Daniel chapter seven it is the Son of Man who comes before the Ancient of days and is given the kingdom, and then it is the Son of Man who comes to establish His kingdom. So the Lord isn't given His kingdom until the end of the Tribulation period. He is now depicted as having many crowns; He is the sovereign ruler. The idea of naming in Hebrew culture and in the Bible is the idea of describing character. This shows that there is some aspect of His character related to what will happen when He returns, something we are going to learn that is new. The statement "His eyes are like a flame of fire" always emphasizes the knowledge of God. Eyes are often used in Scripture to depict the omniscience of God. It indicates His piercing vision into all aspects of human culture and history. He sees everything, He knows everything, and the flame of fire indicates that it is a purifying judgment. Cf. 2 Chronicles 16:9; Proverbs 5:21. Then in a passages that connects the eyes of the Lord to the final judgment, Amos 9:8 NASB "'Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Nevertheless, I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob,' Declares the LORD." This shows the contrast between the sinful kingdom, meaning the kingdom of man (kingdom of Babylon ultimately), and Israel. The remnant of Israel will survive; the kingdom of man will be destroyed.
Revelation 19:14 NASB "And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white {and} clean, were following Him on white horses." Not only is the Lord riding a white horse but those in the armies coming with Him are on white horses. At the very least this implies that at the very least there are some animals in heaven. We are told here that there are two armies at least coming with the Lord when He returns. The use of the word "linen" here takes us back to other passages in the New Testament. In the letters to the seven churches those who are overcomers will be clothed in white linen, referring to the church. The resurrected and rewarded church will be accompanying the Lord, as well as an army of angels. Matthew 16:27 NASB "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS." The phrase "every man according to his works" is referring to the judgment that comes on the nations (Gentiles) and the believers in the nations at the end of the Tribulation period. This is not talking about the judgment seat of Christ. Jude 14, 15 NASB "{It was} also about these men {that} Enoch, {in} the seventh {generation} from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,
It is interesting that when He returns at the second coming He is going to be fighting and he alone is going to be the one to fight. Isaiah 63:3 NASB "I [Jesus Christ] have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment." We are going to be there as witnesses. Revelation 19:13 NASB "{He is} clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God." That is a reference to the first part of Isaiah 63.
Isaiah 63:1 NASB "Who is this who comes from Edom" … in the south eastern part of Israel… "With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? 'It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save [deliver].'" This emphasizes righteousness and physical deliverance again. The Lord comes to Bozrah to rescue the remnant of Israel and then He is going to lead them with Judah out in front, just as when they marched through the wilderness, and He will lead them from Bozrah to Jerusalem.
Isaiah 63:2 NASB "Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?" We have seen in Revelation 15 the imagery of the treading of the grapes in the wine press as a very visual image of the judgment, the horrors of all of the bloodshed and violence that will occur, in the destruction leading up to and including the whole Armageddon campaign. So the reference in Revelation 19:13 picks up on these other allusions in Isaiah 63. "…His name is called The Word of God." Cf. John 1:1. This is the title for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God or the incarnation and revelation of God.
Revelation 19:15 NASB "From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty." There are three elements in this verse that refer to different aspects of what is going on here. The sword is not the machaira [maxaira] sword, the short sword, that the Roman soldiers carried with them that was both a defensive and an offensive weapon, a weapon that was used in close quarters combat; this was a rhomphaia [r(omfaia] which was a long broad sword. This is not the first time we have seen a reference to a rhomphaia in Revelation. In the description of the Lord Jesus Christ when He appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos, we read in Revelation 1:16, "In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword [rhomphaia]…" That is used for bringing about judgment. It is referred to again in Revelation 2:12 in the letter to the church at Pergamum where the emphasis is on their disobedience and on the Lord's discipline on that church if they don't repent. This is repeated again in 2:16.
The phrase "striking the nations" in Revelation 19:15 leads naturally into the next phrase, "and He will rule them with a rod of iron." That phrase comes right out of Psalm 2, as does the imagery of Him coming to do war against the nations. Psalm 2 is one of the most quoted Psalms in the New Testament and it is a prophecy looking forward to the time of the Battle of Armageddon and the events that led up to it. David writes this in anticipation of the war between God and His anointed, the Messiah, and the kings of the nations. So the question is asked at the beginning: "Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing?" The idea of vanity is that it is something like smoke, something that doesn't last and is of no significance. [2] "The kings of the earth [representing the nations] take their stand And the rulers take counsel together"… a conspiracy to overthrow the rule of God… "Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, [3] 'Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!'" This is the mindset of man in rebellion against God: he sees God's authority as simply something that is restrictive, something that keeps him from doing what he wants to do. But what is God's response? [4] "He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. [5] Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying,
Then there is a public proclamation of a previously established decree. And this is the Son speaking, verse 7 NASB "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.'" This is not referring to the birth of the Messiah, it is referring to the Lord in eternity past making a decision related to the role and destiny of the second person of the Trinity. [8] 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the {very} ends of the earth as Your possession.'" It is at this point when the Son is coming back that the Father says to the Son, to ask for the nation as His inheritance. This connects to Daniel chapter seven. The Son of Man comes to the Ancient of days and is given the kingdom at that point, just at the end of the Tribulation. So the Son is not the King yet. The Son of Man asks the Father and the Father gives it to Him, and then He returns to the earth and establishes His kingdom.
Think about it this way. The picture that we have historically in the Old Testament to communicate this is the picture of David and Saul. Saul is anointed the king of Israel and he reigns for forty years. Somewhere about fifteen years before his forty years are up he has become so disobedient and rebellious toward God that God says He is going to take the kingdom from him (it hasn't happened yet) and is going to give it to someone else. Saul, even though he is a believer, is a type of Satan at this point and God is going to give the kingdom to His ruler. But Saul continues to reign for approximately another fifteen years or so until it is time for David to become the king. At that point when God told Saul He was going to take the kingdom from him he sent Samuel to the house of Jessie and he anointed David to be the king. Was David the king? Was David called the king? No! David was still taking care of the sheep and nobody really knew what he was doing until the Goliath episode occurred, and after he killed Goliath he apparently went back into obscurity for a while. But he is not called the king. Finally there is the Battle of Gilboa where Saul and Jonathan are killed and only at that point does David actually become the king, and is called the king. He is never called the king during that interim period between his anointing and the crowning. The same thing is true about Jesus. He is sent to the earth, there was the announcement and offer of the kingdom during the period when He was on the earth during the incarnation, but then he is rejected. During the period of His rejection the church is like David out in the wilderness and on the 'outs,' and it is not until the king of the earth (Satan) is defeated and destroyed that Jesus then take the crown and becomes the King.
Psalm 2:9 NASB "You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware." The phrase "rod of iron" is a key phrase for understanding the role of the Lord Jesus Christ when he establishes His reign over the nations. Then in the next three verses of the Psalm there is instruction to the human race.
Psalm 2:10 NASB "Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth." David is now taking a present application in light of their future destiny. [11] "Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. [12] Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish {in} the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!" So Psalm 2 comes to fulfillment at the end of the Tribulation period when the Lord returns and establishes His reign with a rod of iron.
Revelation 19:15 NASB "From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty." This picks up that same imagery that we saw in Isaiah 63. Then the response, Isaiah 63:3 NASB "I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. [4] For the day of vengeance [Just retribution for sin] was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come." When is that? When the Lord comes back at the second coming, so this passage in Isaiah 63 has to be speaking about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. [5] "I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. [6] I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth." That is the same imagery that there is with the kings of the earth, the rulers of the earth, raging against the Lord and against His anointed in Psalm 2.
But it never stops with just the justice of God, the Scripture always goes on to speak of the grace of God. Isaiah 63:7 NASB " I shall make mention of the lovingkindnesses [chesed] of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, According to all that the LORD has granted us, And the great goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has granted them according to His compassion And according to the abundance of His lovingkindnesses. [8] For He said, "Surely, they are My people, Sons who will not deal falsely." So He became their Savior.
Revelation 19:16 NASB "And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.'" This pictures Him in terms of His role and who he is. This is the first time we see the Lord depicted as the reigning King in the Scripture.
There are other passages that describe how His appearance will take place. Matthew 24:30 NASB "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then 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." Acts 1:11 NASB "They also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way [not place] as you have watched Him go into heaven.'" He went in the clouds. Clouds in Scripture are often associated with the Shekinah presence of the Lord. All who see Him will grieve because they are lost and their judgment has drawn nigh to them.
Illustrations