This past Christmas season was filled with all kinds of
anticipation: seeing loved ones, opening gifts, witnessing performances,
getting time off work, etc. However, many this holiday season also anticipated
the release of certain motion pictures like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” How
do I know this? The numbers don’t lie. This single movie has already brought in
over $1 billion dollars and has broken nearly every box office record
imaginable. In fact, just recalling these facts makes me wonder if I’m not the
only one who hasn’t seen this motion picture.
Although I haven’t seen the movie myself, I am one of the
near-82,000,000 (as of Dec. 30, 2015) to have watched the trailer on
youtube.com. Nearly every movie nowadays puts out a trailer months before the
picture hits theatres to give people a taste of what is to come and gin up as
much excitement as possible. I’d say that Star Wars did a bang up job doing
just this with its own 2-and-a-half minute preview.
However, I don’t want to spend much more time talking about
a galaxy far, far away. In the spirit of blockbuster season, I want to draw
your attention to a far greater trailer observed by a far wider audience that
has existed no just for a few months, but for nearly 2000 years. This preview
forecasts something more magnificent than anything you will see in the theatres
this season, or in any other season for that matter, and its implications are
of eternal significance. I am speaking of John’s preview of the end times via
Revelation in general and Revelation 19:11-16 in particular. Today, as we kick
off a new year, I’d like to take a moment to share with you a preview brought
to you by this passage that I hope will fill us with great anticipation,
encourage our hearts in an ever-darkening world, and inspire the kind of
confidence that I pray will lead us not only into 2016, but for the rest of our
lives. In this trailer we will hear three names for Jesus uttered—each with
their own corresponding descriptions that speak of the end of the greatest
story ever told.
I. NAME #1: Faithful
and True-19:11-12
The
immediate context of Revelation 19:11-16 finds itself in the denouement of the
prophetic action described in Revelation 4-22:5. What is clear about 4-22:5 is
that the distress witnessed and the acuity of the wrath poured out upon the
world in the end seems to increase as the text progresses. The book reads like
a piece of music that includes one large crescendo toward a climactic
fortissimo. Here, the fortissimo is the victory of the Lamb in chapters 17-21
and the implications thereof (Babylon’s fall [18:1-24], and the celebratory
worship of Christ [19:1ff], etc.). As when a dissonant chord resolves, this
large section turns up the tension, only to have the Lamb of God resolves this
tension in a way that puts the reader in a state of peace and hope. Revelation 19 begins the peaceful closure
following the rising tension and climax of the entire book and directs the plot
toward the conclusion and applications found in Chapter 22.
This
passage is introduced with “after these things” (Μετὰ ταῦτα) and breaks
up the rising action culminating in the climax and the falling action that
leads to the resolution and conclusion of the entire book. Though what follows
Revelation 19:11-16 eventually describes the bliss and long-awaited peace that
many in the believing community are anticipating now and will on day
experience, this peace must be brought about by means of a final and ultimate
victory. This victory is portrayed in vivid Technicolor in verses 11-16 of
chapter 19—introduced by “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white
horse, and He who sat on is called Faithful and True,…”(19:11a).
The
opening line of the passage portrays Christ as seated “on a white horse”
(suggesting purity), and calls Him “Faithful and True.” In the first coming,
Jesus’ ministry culminated in the Passion set in motion after He entered into
Jerusalem on a young donkey—a beast of burden (humble, submissive, and a
willing sacrifice). Here, in the description of His Second Coming, Jesus’
present ministry is predicted to culminate in a procession in which Jesus is
seated on a pure white war horse (brilliant, victorious, and regal). Other
horses were used in the book of revelation to describe coming plagues (white,
red, black, pale green); however, this horse is superior by means of its
rider—“Faithful and True”—who is Jesus Christ who brings about peace for His
own.
“Faithful and
True” riding on this white war horse is next said to, “in righteousness,…judge
and wage war,…” (19:11b). Though in the world at present wars are fought for a
whole host of unjust and immoral reasons, there is coming a war, perhaps the
shortest war of all, in which one will fight against legions and in the
struggle judge the wicked and battle against the corrupt. It will, be a war
that will, once and for all, end all wars. This is the war Jesus will fight and
win and this statement is as faithful and true as the name He is given in this
verse!
Next, “Faithful and True” is described with the following,
“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,…” (19:12). Equipped with
the piercing perception afforded Him by his omniscience (the flaming eyes) and
marked with the emblems of absolute authority and power (the many diadems),
Jesus is no longer shown to be an ordinary man from Nazareth in Galilee, but an
all-knowing warrior King named Faithful and True.
II. NAME #2: Word of
God-19:13-15
As the
description continues, we are introduced to another, more familiar name
attributed to the coming Christ—“the Word of God.” However, this name is not
without its own accompanying description. “He is clothed with a robe dipped in
blood and His name is called the Word of God” (19:13). The graphic details of Jesus’
“robe dipped in blood” indicate that Christ is not above getting His hands
dirty in bringing about the final victory envisioned in this passage (v. 13).
However, while in His first coming Christ’s own blood was spilled, in His
Second Coming, it will be the enemy’s blood that is spilled, thereby staining Jesus’
heavenly robe. Though in Jesus’ first coming the “angry fury of God” was
directed at Him on the cross, in the Second Coming this same wrath will be
directed on an unbelieving world that has not accepted the cross.
This blood-stained warrior on the horse is called in verse
13 “the Word of God.” Sound familiar? It should, for in John 1, the same author
of this vision described Jesus thusly, “in the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God,…and the Word became flesh, and dwelt
among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father,
full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14). In John, the Word of God spoke heaven
into existence and proved the character of God through His presence in the
world. Here, the Word of God is the commander of armies, bringing about total
victory. This particular name of Jesus brings continuity to His office as
creator, redeemer, and vindicator. He is present at the beginning, middle, and
end of history and plays the most crucial role in it all. Jesus is the Word
which spoke the heavens into existence, redeemed the world after it fell. He is
the same Word that will usher in a new world to replace the present world as
predicted here in this little preview.
Jesus was, is, and will be not just any Word, but the Word “of
God.” The phrase, “of God” is especially loaded with theological importance as
its function grammatically is not to describe what kind of word Jesus is, but to
rename Jesus altogether. Properly translated, this phrase reads, “His name is
called the Word who is God.”
As such, Jesus leads the armies of heaven which are described
as “clothed in fine linen, white and clean,…following Him on white horses,…”(19:14).
Though this description of the heavenly ranks tells us something of the holiness
and purity of the forces represented, what is perhaps most significant about
this description is what is not present. This heavenly army, unlike any
well-prepared legion, has no swords or spears. This could only mean that this
army, though present, takes no part in the coming action of military/spiritual victory.
“They are noncombatant supporters of the Messiah as He wages the war
single-handedly (Thomas, 387).
Now this is a battle in which I look forward to being a
part. All of the glory of riding into victory
without having to risk life and limb and take up the sword in a bloody battle
is what is promised for the saints.
The only member of the brigade fixed with a weapon is the
Word who is God riding on a horse, “from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that
with it He may strike down the nations” (19:15a). The same Word of God that
spoke the heavens and earth into existence will bring an end to this world of
corruption and pave the way for a new world in its place—this, He will do by
striking down the nations that are bent against them.
Just as the Word of God was stained with blood in His first
coming to bring salvation on the cross, so too will His robe be stained with
blood when He brings about total victory in the end. Just as Jesus provided
righteousness to the lost who could do nothing for themselves, so too will He
usher in heaven for the righteous who will do nothing to earn it and are yet
present to receive it. The same Savior who saved believers totally in the past
and sustains believers in the present, will usher believers into glory.
2 Cor. 2:14-“But thanks be to God, who always leads
us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the
knowledge of Him in every place.”
Once this victory is sure, the Bible continues to reveal
that, “He will rule them with a rod of iron and He treads the winepress of the
fierce wrath of God, the Almighty,” (19:15b). This image furthers the theme of
total and complete victory over the enemies of God. God’s fierce wrath must be
appeased and Jesus is the One to accomplish it.
While
Christ was God’s agent of discrimination (that is between good and evil) in His
first coming, He will prove to be God’s agent of condemnation in His Second Coming—literally
carrying the sword of God in His mouth and yielding the rod of iron in His
hand.
Jesus is the Faithful and True Word of God who was and is,
and is to come and bring about the victory we know now in part now but will one
day enjoy in full—no thanks to us! Now THAT is something worth getting excited
over.
III. NAME #3: King of
Kings and Lord of Lords-19:16
These two names already given of Christ in this passage
together lead to the third name. In fact, they almost act as qualifications for
the third title he is said to possess in verse 16, “and on His robe and on His
thigh He has a name written, ‘King of Kings, and Lord of Lords’.” This title’s
unique placement on the part of the robe covering Jesus’ thigh, given that Jesus
sits atop His horse, makes it noticeable to all who see Him. The importance of
this title is further reiterated by its placement at the very end of this
passage.
This final name attributed to Christ celebrates His
sovereign rule over every geo-political, spiritual, economic, personal, and
present ruler on the earth. Though many have claimed and still claim ownership
and authority in this world and of this world, only one King, only one Lord
will be standing in the end—His name is Jesus and He is the faithful and True
Word of God who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
So What?
Is He the King and Lord of your life? Is His Word something
you have accepted? Do you know of His faithfulness and truth? If not, then this
motion picture is not going to be something you are eager to see played out on
the silver screen of this world. If not, this trailer you have witnessed today
is understandably frightening. There are only two kinds of people in this world—those
who will meet Jesus head on, (experiencing the tip of His sword), and those who
will follow Him in total victory. The difference is faith in Jesus and the work
He accomplished when He first came to the earth (what we celebrated this past
Christmas)—(His birth, death, and resurrection).
For those who read this and are a part of the “Lord’s army”,
are you living a life of anticipation for the glory that is to come, or are you
so bothered by what you see around you that you have forgotten that the sweet victory
described in this passage is as good as done? This same Jesus who is predicted
here as faithful and true—the Word of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords—is
the same Jesus who chose you, loves you, walks with you, and is leading you. Although
I can’t wait to see this movie when it finally hits the box office in the eschaton, I also can’t wait to see what
God’s people are capable of when they fully appreciate and embrace what this
trailer teaches while the world waits. May we, as disciples today, apprehend
this preview of the end and in response may it fill us in the present with the
kind of anticipation that longs to live rightly, share eagerly, give of
ourselves generously, and grow accordingly. This preview was brought to you by
Revelation 19:11-16.
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