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KING OF KINGS
&
LORD OF LORDS
Lesson # 27
Revelation Chapter 19
Blessed is he
that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and
keep these
things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev. 1:3
A promise from
God. And the more we study prophecy, the more we will not
only be blest,
but amazed at the hundreds of prophecies made thousands of
years ago, and have,
or are being fulfilled to the very letter. The Bible is the
only religious
book that foretells the future. And what blessings await us as
we study
the final few chapters of the book of Revelation, the Apocalypse.
In chapter 19,
there are two suppers, one of great joy as Jesus takes His bride,
the church,
and the other of extreme horror, as vultures come to feast on the
bodies of
slain soldiers and their horses, killed in the great battle of Armageddon.
But first, great rejoicing!
| Verse
1 |
And
after these things I heard a great voice of many people in heaven,
saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory , and honor, and power, unto the
Lord God. |
Again, after
what? After the destruction of both the religious and the commercial
wicked city of Babylon. This causes great joy and praise from "many
people in
heaven." These include not only angels, but the saints of
old, church-age saints
and tribulation saints.
|
Verse 2 |
For
true and righteous are His judgments: for He hath judged the
great
whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and
hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hands. |
And
they continue to praise God for His righteous judgment on the
destruction
of the false religious system of Babylon. And
they also are praising Him as He
takes His rightful reign over
the earth, as Lord of lords and King of kings.
Verses
3 & 4 |
And again they said,
Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and
ever. And the four and
twenty elders and the four beasts fell down
and worshipped God that sat on the
throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. |
This
is the greatest praise session ever held. Back in chapter
4 we saw these
twenty-four elders, "clothed in white
raiment; and they had on their heads
crowns of gold."
These are those that did not follow Satan, but worshipped
God. The four beasts are those mentioned in Chapter 4:6-11
"full of eyes before
and behind," and they "gave
glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on the
throne." Christ is returning to earth to take up His
righteous reign. They are
singing and praising Him as He
is the only One qualified to judge and rule the
earth as Lord of
lords and King of kings.
| Verse
5 |
And
a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God,
all ye
His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small
and great. |
This
is a call from the throne itself, for universal praise to all
that love the Lord.
And I emphasize ALL.
| Verse
6 |
And
I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and
as the
voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty
thunderings,
saying, Alleluia; for the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth. |
It
is difficult for us to imagine the tremendous praise session of
millions of
voices praising and shouting Alleluias to Jesus,
like thunderings. Compare this
to His first coming to
earth when the shouts were angry, "Crucify Him!"
Thank
God for His patience and His forgiveness for those who ask
for it. He is so
loving to those who accept Him, and so
patient to those who at first turn away.
But do not put it
off if you haven't already accepted Him.
Now is the day of
salvation!
Verses
7 & 8 |
Let
us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him:
for the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath
made herself ready. And to
her it was granted that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and
white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of
saints. |
One
of the most exciting, and probably the most expensive part of
the wedding
to the bride, is her wedding gown. Can you
imagine what a beautiful robe this
will be, designed by the
Master, of purest white linen? Will you be wearing this
gown? As mentioned earlier, the church is the Bride of Christ.
We are now
coming to the long awaited for event for which God,
the Father, Jesus the Son
and the Holy Spirit have waited
for. This is the longed for and waited for event
of the
ages. In II Corinthians 11:2 we read, For
I am jealous over you with
Godly jealousy: for I have
espoused you to one husband, that I may present
you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. And
in Ephesians 5:25 & 27.......
Christ also
loved the church, and gave Himself for it; That He might present
it
to Himself a glorious church, not having a spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without
blemish.
Yes,
the church, first begun at Pentecost, up to the time of the
rapture, will be
the bride of Christ. Oh, the saints of
old, prior to Pentecost, and those saved
our of the great
tribulation period will also be in heaven, but we will see what
part they play in this glorious wedding as we proceed in the next verses.
| Verse
9 |
And
he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are
called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb. And
he said unto me, These are
the true sayings of
God. |
The
guests called out to attend the marriage supper will be those
already in
heaven, but not of the church. These will be
the prophets and saints of old,
prior to the time of Pentecost,
and those who have suffered through the
tribulation period and
died for their faith in Christ, after the rapture. We are
not sure when or where this supper will take place, but we have
one clue in
Matthew 26:29 at the last supper with His disciples,
when Jesus said,
I will
not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day
when I drink it
new with you in My Father's kingdom. This
kingdom will be the thousand year
reign when Jesus sets up His
kingdom on the earth at His second coming.
We are taught
to pray, Thy
kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in
heaven. Matthew
6:10.
| Verse
10 |
And I fell at his feet to worship
Him. And he said unto me, See thou
do it not: I am thy fellow
servant, and of thy brethren that have the
testimony of Jesus: worship
God: for the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy. |
John
was rebuked for attempting to worship this angel. This
happened
previously to Peter in Acts....And
as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him,
and fell down at his
feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying,
Stand up; I myself also am a man.
I
would like this to be a lesson to all those who tend in a way to
worship their
pastor or priest. They are human and as
humans, make mistakes.
Romans 3:23 tells us that all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God.
It is well to
appreciate all your Christian brothers and sisters, but not to
put
them ahead of Jesus. And Exodus 20:5 tells us, Thou
shalt not bow down
thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the
Lord thy God am a jealous God.
| Verse
11 |
And
I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He
that
sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in
righteousness He
doth judge and make war. |
Earlier
in Chapter 4:1 "a door was opened in heaven...Come up
hither." In that
verse, we are called up to heaven
through that open door, and now, the heavens
are opened again as
we will be following Jesus to return to the earth as His
army.
Will Jesus actually return to earth? Acts 1:9
says, And
when He had spoken
these things, while they beheld, He was taken
up. And
then to continue in Acts
1:11, Ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This
same Jesus
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come
in like manner as ye
have seen Him go into heaven.
Yes,
Jesus will return, and soon.
Verses
12 & 13 |
His
eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many
crowns, and He had a name written, that no man knew, but
He
Himself. And He was clothed in a vesture dipped
in blood; and
His name is called The Word Of God. |
Jesus
is wearing many crowns, indicating that He is supreme in all
things. And
His clothing is stained with blood of His
enemies, as explained to the prophet
Isaiah in Isaiah 63:3,
I have
trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none
with me:
for I will tread them in My anger, and trample
them in My fury; and their blood
shall be sprinkled upon My
garments, and I will stain all My raiment. And
His
name, "Word Of God." John in his gospel
explains what this means in John 1:1,
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was
God. and
in John 1:14, And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.
| Verse
14 |
And
the armies which were in Heaven followed Him on white
horses,
clothed in fine linen white and clean. And
out of His mouth goeth a
sharp sword, that with it He
should smite the nations; And He shall
rule them with a
rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the
fierceness and wrath of the Almighty God. |
What
a contrast this is to the first coming of Jesus when they mocked
Him, put
a crown of thorns on His head, pulled out His beard and
spat upon Him. Now
He comes as a fierce warrior, executing
judgment upon those who have
rejected Him. But there will
still be those who scoff. II Peter 3 & 4 tells us,
there
shall come in the last days scoffers, and saying, where is the
promise of
His coming? For since our fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the
creation.
However, in Matthew 24:29 & 30 we read,
Immediately
after the tribulation of those days........shall appear the sign
of the
Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, and
they shall see the Son of man coming in
the clouds of heaven with power
and great glory. Note,
"the armies which were in heaven." These are all
the
redeemed in heaven, wearing pure white linen robes of some
kind, and riding
white horses. The redeemed, saints of
old, the raptured church, the martyrs
who suffered the great
tribulation period. We will be a vast army, but Jesus
will
destroy the enemy with the Word of His mouth, as a two edged
sword.
Hebrews 4:12, For
the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than
any two
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit,
and of the joints and the morrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and
intents of the heart.
| Verse
16 |
And
He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name
written,
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. |
This
phrase is used three times in the Bible, twice in the book of
Revelation
and it means what it says. Jesus is King above
all other kings, and Lord over
all other lords.
HE IS SUPREME!
Verses
17 & 18 |
And 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 God;
That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and
the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them
who sit on them,
and the flesh of all men, both free and bond,
both small and great. |
Remember
in Revelation 14:20 where the blood flowed for 200 miles to the
depth of the horses bridle? The greatest battle of all
time, where old enemies,
the armies of the antichrist and the
false prophet along with the huge Asian
armies, unite to fight
against Jesus Christ. Of course, with this much blood,
there will be tons and tons of flesh, both human and
animal. And the angel is
calling all the vultures to come
and feast, and help clean up this mess. We can
never
imagine how horrible this will be, but the Bible records this terrible
war,
and Jesus will be the Victor! Remember, the
antichrist had won a great deal
of popularity by offering world
peace. We read in 1 Thessalonians 5:3,
For when they
shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh
upon
them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not
escape.
Verses
19 & 20 |
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 the
lake of fire burning with brimstone. |
And so this mightiest war of all time comes to an end and JESUS
IS THE
VICTOR!! The antichrist and the false prophet who mesmerized the whole
world, are immediately judged and cast into the lake of fire,
for all eternity.
After disposing of these two, Christ
turns to judge those still alive on earth
who have rejected Him
as told in Matthew 25:31-46. However, Satan, the old
dragon, will be placed in the bottomless pit, a temporary jail,
so to speak, for
a thousand years, to be judged after the
thousand year reign of Jesus on earth.
| Verse
21 |
And
the remnant were slain with 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. |
For over 2000
years, man has been warned about what will happen to those
who
reject the love and saving grace of our Lord Jesus, and the
patience of
God has been almost unbelievable, when we see the
things going on today.
Rape, abuse of children,
murders and blasphemy against God, even in some of
our
churches. But God's patience must eventually come to an
end. Are
you ready to meet the Lord? Will you be one of those
arrayed in pure white
linen, riding a white horse as you follow
Jesus as He returns. Or will you be
one on which the
vultures will feed at the end of the great battle?
There
is no other choice. God
Bless You All!
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