The Rider on the White Horse: Our Victorious King - Revelation 19

Summary
Pastor Jeremy preaches out of Revelation 19, declaring the victorious return of Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords, riding in glory to judge and make war in righteousness. He calls the Church to live with urgency, worship with reverence, and intercede boldly, knowing that Christ’s second coming will bring both final justice and eternal hope.

Transcript
We are gonna be in Revelation 19 this morning, Revelation 19. Hear the word of the Lord? - [Congregation] Right here is our open. - Then I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse, the one sitting on it is called faithful and true. And in his 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 as the word of God. And the armies of heaven are raid and fine linen, white and pure, we're 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 wine press of the fury of the wrath of God, the almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh, he has written, "King of kings and Lord of lords." That is the word of the Lord. - Thank you. - Take your seat, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We ask you to speak to us that we would align our hearts with yours in every way. Speak to us through your word, may your word speak and not mine, that your mind would be on display and not mine, that your heart would be on display and not merely mine. Father, we ask you to speak in the name of Jesus, amen. - Amen. - What practices, what behaviors, what things do you do to keep your heart aligned with God? What do you think about? What do you pray about? What do you do to keep your heart aligned with God's heart? (sighs) Over the last few weeks, our pastors have decided to go through a sermon series looking at the lamb who was slain in the book of Revelation to align our hearts with God. And as we've looked at the lamb who was slain, we've seen different parts of who this line of Judah is and who this lamb who was slain is. We've seen his humility, his kindness, his compassion. We've seen him open the scroll that no one can open and unlock its seals. We've seen all of heaven shout for joy and say, "Worthy are you who is on the throne and to the lamb who was slain, glory and power and honor and blessing and might." We've seen all these things. We've seen the sides of Jesus, the various sides. There are parts of Jesus that we will never see. Today we are gonna see Jesus as the lion of Judah. (audience murmuring) The second coming, the lion of Judah who comes back again to do what he has always planned to do. I must admit, I was just on the way to church this morning and my daughter, Rowan, said, "What are you preaching on today, Dad?" I said, "The second coming." She goes, "I love that story." (audience laughing) And something in me was like, "Interesting." I don't know if, I believe we pray for the second coming, but I haven't heard a child say, "I love that story before." 'Cause there's something in this story that's terrifying, but yet glorious. So when I heard her say that, it just kinda gripped me. So I'm like, "Oh my goodness, does she really love this story? Do I love this story?" My prayer today is that by the end of my message today, you will be reminded of the fact that the second coming of Christ is one of the practices in your memory that you better keep before you. Because this memory will help you pray for people. It will help you keep your life holy. It will help you keep your lamp lit. The second coming is a real event and it is cataclysmic. The world is a dark place. If you didn't know that, you know, I think about the darkness in this world. There's a few events that come to mind. I think about 9/11. I think about three, really 2,900 people were killed innocently. They were murdered. And they were brothers and they were fathers and there were sisters and mothers and sons and daughters that were killed in innocence. I think of October 7th of 2023 where Hamas comes into Israel, wounds 3,600 people, kills 1,200 people, 40 of which are children, 800 of which are civilians. I think of all these countless stories of people dying every day, wickedness taking sway every day. And it's dark. There's reason to grief. There's reason to mourn until the second coming. In the book of Ecclesiastes, it says that there's more reason to mourn. Like it says, there's like under the sun, there's under the sun and above the sun, kind of a view in Ecclesiastes. And below the sun, it says there's more reason to mourn than to feast. In fact, in Ecclesiastes, it says this, it says, where does it say that? Where we at? It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting. So I bring all these things up because I wonder for you as we start this message today, how often do you mourn for the death of someone that you do not know? How often do you mourn for someone falling into sin and losing their way, someone that you do not know? How often do you lose sleep about people turning away from God and joining darkness? Are we so caught up with entertaining ourselves and watching the world go by that we've forgotten? That Christ is going to return and that our minds and our lives must be oriented toward that end. There's so much going on. I look at looking at all these families raising you, all these kids and all the practices and all the events and all the work that needs to be done and the stock market going down and all the pressures of parents you have to care for and all the things that are going on in our lives we could forget that we must keep our lamp lit for Him. Again, my hope today is that by the end of this message you'll be praying for the lost. You'll be asking God to remove anything in your life that's not of Him. You'll be asking God to help you hate what He hates. You'll be asking God to help you love what He loves. There's so much to say. Let's get into our passage. Revelation 11. 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. The last time we saw heaven opened was in the earlier in Revelation. In fact, it's Revelation 4. John looked up and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here and I will show you what must take place after these things." So only one time we see John going up to see what's gonna happen. But now it's totally different. Now heaven's opened up and God is coming down to the earth. Heaven opens up and this one who is coming, he's on a white horse. White is thematically through the book of Revelation as an idea of purity, of righteousness. He's coming and he's called faithful and true. He's faithful because he's the lamb who was slain. We know what he did in his faithfulness going to the cross. We know what he did in his faithfulness to rise from the grave. We know what he did in his faithfulness to open the scroll and begin breaking those seals and releasing judgment on the earth. You see, God sent prophets and priests and mothers and fathers and grandmas and all these people to share good news with the world, to bring them to Christ. God also sent those same people to warn the world that Christ is coming. And so he's been faithful in helping all that work, cultivating all that work, sending his spirit because they had to tell the truth and he's the true one. They could tell no lie. They had to tell the truth, even though the truth would cause people to change their entire lives. He had to do it. So he's the faithful, true one that leads the true ones and he's in righteousness, he judges and makes war. He judges and makes war, makes war. For some reason inside of me, I just, I think part of us, because we are, most Christians, I won't say all of us, but I would say, most Christians spend so much time thinking about, come to me all who are heavy laden. I will give you rest for your souls, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm humble and lowly. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. We see the Lamb who is slain, but we don't often reflect on the judge, Jesus. There's this interesting dynamic that we have to be in touch with as Christians in the world today. And it really, I think we get that from Romans. I'm just gonna go there real quick. You don't need to turn there. But in Romans, it says these interesting words that are so important for us to pay attention to. Beloved, never avenge for yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. So there's this part of us being believers that we, we have a role right now to be those who are not bringing about vengeance, but there's a day coming where the Lord's gonna initiate the vengeance with us. But it's all under his plan and purpose. So back to Revelation 19. So we have this one who's on this horse. And I think it's important for us to recognize, I think David touched on it last week, Pastor David touched on it last week, is that we have to be very good Bible readers when we get to the book of Revelation. And when I mean a good Bible reader, what you do is you read the scriptures literally, right? But you have to understand the genre. This is an apocalyptic genre. This is a vision of John. This is the best version of what he could explain. Is Jesus actually on a horse? Right? I don't know. But what I do know is that the vision that John needed to see was Jesus on a horse to communicate something to us. So let's just take it at face value and keep moving. So here we go. He's faithful and true, righteousness. He judges, he makes war. The war that he's doing right now, there's actually a war right now. And the war right now is between the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. We see in Galatians, it says this very clearly, that the flesh is warring. In fact, it says that they're contrary to each other. And the flesh is evident, sexual morality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. This spirit is warring even now. But when the second coming happens, it'll go kinetic. You know what that means, kinetic. It's otherwise, it's no longer just actions and feelings that you might have, but it's actually a war that's literally happening between God and wicked people. It's a war. And he's waging war in the spirit and also with lives. Real lives are at war with the Lamb who was slain. Real lives were at war with the Lion of Judah. His eyes, it says, are like a flame of fire. We see the eyes metaphor throughout scripture and the eyes is just simply, this is, I mean, it's really simple is that God is seeing everything on this planet and his eyes are a flame of fire. Now, flame is the idea of judgment, it's a refining, it's a wrath that he's looking at everything with that look in his eyes, that it's time now to make it all right, to judge it according to God's ways. He then says on his head are many diadems. What are diadems? What are diadems? Diadems are crowns, they're crowns, okay? Last time we saw crowns was in a revelation, what was that? Revelation, believe it was in 13. Why don't you guys go there real fast? Go to Revelation 13 real quick. These diadems, he's wearing these crowns, many crowns. So in 13 verse one, it said, and I saw a beast rising out of the sea with 10 horns and seven heads with 10 diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its head. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it, the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. And one of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed. And the whole earth marled as they followed the beast and they worshiped the dragon for he had been given his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast and they said, listen to these words. This is why Jesus is coming again. They said, who is like the beast? Who can fight against it? So the beast is wearing these diadems to show its authority. But then when Jesus comes, he's wearing many diadems to show his authority to take out the beast. He's wearing these crowns. And on his name is written, and here we go, and it says, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. I've had a lot of people ask me what this name means. But it says here that no one knows it but himself. We don't know what the name is. We know that John could see it. Maybe it was written. We're not sure how he knew, but whatever it was, no one knows but himself, Jesus. He was on to say, he is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. The blood here is not the blood of redemption. This is the blood of vengeance, the blood of wrath. And the name by which he is called is the word of God. Another affirmation of who this one is. The word was in the beginning, right? The word was with God, the word was God. This word of God, Jesus, is the one leading this charge. Doing the work. It says he comes here with armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure. We're following him on white horses. So he's not the only one on a white horse, but you have a whole army. And I believe this is an angel army that's following him from heaven down to earth. And they're arrayed with fine linen, white and pure. This speaks to their righteousness, to their holiness as they work with God in this judging, vengeance, wrathful work of God against the nations. The angels. And so I want to just kind of, I want to kind of take you on a little detour, just to try to tell you why I think it's the angels. I think it might be helpful as you're reading this. If you would go down to chapter 20, go to chapter 20, verse four. So I think it's important that we try to get as precise as we can about this passage, about the second coming of Christ. So verse 20, it says, "Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or on their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." Let me keep moving past that. And then the rest of the dead did not come to life until a thousand years had ended. This is the first resurrection. And so if you think chronologically, the first resurrection hasn't happened. And so if the angel armies would come with, if there were humans or saints with God coming back, the resurrection would have already taken place. But in this case in verse 19, the armies are coming out of heaven to reign and to work with Christ, but then a chapter later we have the resurrection of all the believers. So it's important for us to see, I believe, that the angels are coming with Christ to do this work. And then from his mouth comes a sharp sword, which he will strike down the nations. Strike down the nations means that he is going to strike down the nations. This is a literal, all the nations that have now had opportunity to hear the warning, respond to the prayers, turn from their sins. It'll be too late. They have no more time. He's striking down the nations and then he's going to, it says, rule them with a rod of iron. With his mouth, he has a sharp sword, which is the word of God. It controls, it corrects, it rebukes. It does all these things. And then with his rod, he's now sovereign in his kingly role overseeing the nations. And he will tread, it says here. He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God almighty. So a wine press is like a circular object where you put grapes inside the bottom of the wine press, like kind of like a holding tank. And then you put a stone on this wheel that you roll the wheel around to smash the grapes. And so the idea of turning this wine press that he's turning the wrath of God on all the people and all the works and all the darkness, he's unleashing it all and completing it all in this wrath, this fury. He's working it. He is putting his hands on the wine press and he is treading it. What a scene. And on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This scene is between two important moments, very important moments. All of this work he's doing here is an initiate, is a step in a process. And the step before this, if you look with me to Revelation 19 verse six, it says this, we're gonna hear about this. This is, I'll just read it. Here we go. "I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, 'Hallelujah for the Lord our God, the almighty reigns, let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen and bright and pure." And so this supper of the Lamb where the Lamb who was slain is now gonna be reunited with this church. That's what it's about to happen. That's why the return of Christ is so important for this process. But there's a statement it says here in verse 10. I want you to see actually verse nine. It says, "Write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." So the invitation has gone out, but the RSVP is closed. The invitation has gone out, but you can't get into the party unless you receive the invitation. 'Cause now he's come. Now he's done his work. And there's another scene coming that I want you to see. That's her with me to Revelation 20, verse 11. 20 verse 11. And then I saw a great white throne and he moved seated on it. From his presence catch this, the earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them. They're gone. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and the books were opened. All the books, every deed, every lie, every sin, they were opened. Then another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the book, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. And death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged in each one of them according to what they had done. And so everywhere someone has died in the sea, Hades, death, everyone's now brought before this throne. And all the deeds they've ever done wrong before God, all the unholiness, all the sinfulness, all the wickedness, it's opened up. And it doesn't say that he reads it. All we know is that they know what's there and that God knows what's there. And it says here, "The death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The second coming of Christ with the lamb was slain in the line of Judah. This is the work that must happen. So a question for you. Who are you praying for right now? That you're praying, you're asking God, may their name be written in the Lamb's book of life? May their name be written in the book of life? You're praying for that? Or maybe you're praying for someone that you just see them living a wicked life and you wanna make sure that their name is not in the other book? Are you praying for that? Is anyone in your mind right now that you've been praying for? That they would not end up at this place before this throne to be thrown in that lake? If your answer is no, that you don't have someone in mind right now, I wanna encourage you to go home today. Get your notebook out, get your favorite pen, and start adding names. John, Robert, Linda, Becky, whoever, whatever names you need to add down, but write those names down and start praying for them that they will not end up at this throne. Because when the time comes, it'll be too late. (congregation sighs) This is the supper of the Lamb that's coming. And to leave you on that note, because I think we have to get there if we're gonna talk about the Lamb who was slain and what Jesus is coming to do, we have to get to this place where as soon as that verse is over in 20, 20, verse 15, it goes right into verse 21. And I'm gonna read this here. Then I saw it, new heaven, new earth, and the first heaven and earth, the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. And neither shall there be any mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. And then he was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I'm making all things new." This is what we pray for. This is what we long for. We long for the work that the Lamb who was slain will complete when he comes again. You see, when the Lamb came the first time, there was no room in the inn. When he comes back the second time, he will inherit the earth. The first time he came, he rode in to Jerusalem on a lowly donkey. The second time he comes back on a white steed as a conquering commander and chief. The first time he had a crown of thorns the second time he comes back with many diadems and many crowns to be named King, fit for a King. The first time he came as a lowly servant. When he returns, he will come as a sovereign Lord to rule the nations with a wrought iron. The first time he came, he went to the cross with sneers and slaps. When he returns, he comes with a coronation and a crown and claps and cheers and shouts. The first time he was executed as a suffering servant. When he returns, he will be exalted. In fact, the first time he was executed as a suffering servant. When he returns, he will be exalted as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The first time he stood before Pilate. When he returns, Pilate will stand before him. (congregation murmuring) So at church every single week, we come to this table right here. And at the very end of going through the table, we have a moment where the pastor says, "As long as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns again." We say it every single week, "But this week when you hear it, I want you to remember what we're praying for, that we would remain holy, we would remain faithful, and that we could reach the nations as disciples of Jesus Christ, helping them see what no one else wants to talk about." Nobody wants to talk about this. When I hear a child say, "I love that story," I say yes and amen. Because the Lord wants us to love this story because it's the end of our story, not the end, but the continuation of our story with our reigning King, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. Pray a blessing on this time today that you would bless us. And Lord, that you align our hearts with yours, that there are still time. There's still time, Father, there's still time. Help us to not get lost in the entertaining focus of this age and all the shallow things that quickly pull us away. And we start to focus on eating, drinking, being merry and living our best life and all those things that can be so prominent in our culture. But help us to find joy, contentment, peace and gratefulness in cherishing what you cherish, which is the lives of people who have not yet heard the gospel, who have not yet become disciples, children that have not yet been built up and raised up in godly homes. Lord, help us to keep your kingdom first in our lives. I pray for our church that we would always remember the second coming as a key part of what is initiated on the cross, the first and the second. Lord, help us to do that, we pray. In the name of Jesus, amen.