Behold the Victory
Revelation 19:1-21
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About 50 years before Jesus was born a Roman general called Marcus Licinius Crassus (that's him above) led an army into the east with the aim of defeating the Parthian kingdom (modern Iran). Crassus was the wealthiest man on earth – his net worth estimated at $169.8 billion in today’s money. He was defeated, and the Parthian commander had him executed by pouring molten gold down his throat. But Crassus’ defeat shook the Roman world to the core – soon it was firmly believed that Roman legions simply could not defeat a Parthian cavalry. The mythical skill and toughness of the Parthians were always on their minds. The prospect of the Parthians invading their eastern borders was a constant nightmare for Romans in the seven cities of Revelation.
The Parthian king rode on a white horse and his formal title was “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”, now let’s read John’s vision through the eyes of his first readers:
Revelation 19:11-16
John is delighted to announce Rome’s worst nightmare; they are going to be attacked by an invincible cavalry – but its Commander will not be the king they failed to conquer, but the carpenter they crucified! Here he is, coming to lay waste to earth’s godless people. Think of your worst nightmares, they are as nothing compared with the day when God moves against our godless culture in his just and reasonable wrath (11b).
We will reflect on this a little more, but first we must back-track to the previous vision...
Triumph!
This chapter begins with an explosion of praise; God’s people are caught up in worship. They are triumphant over the fall of Rome, and they are not singing... they are shouting!
Do you find that offensive? Or perhaps you prefer not to think about it? Perhaps it comes as a surprise – something of a shock – to see God worshiped here for his destructive judgement of Babylon/Rome? Is it embarrassing to see the multitudes of heaven shouting their heads off in exultation that the Roman beast has been punished and their brothers and sisters have been avenged?
Here are three things we need to remember:
First, judgement is part of salvation (1b-2). Read Jesus’ parables in Matthew 13 and you see that he does not pull his punches; the weeds are pulled and separated; they are burned. God is gracious and he is patient but eventually his patience is exhausted and he moves in judgement of those who will not accept his rule.
Second, judgement is part of God’s character (4-5) - If I am uncomfortable with God as the decisive judge of history, how comfortable would I be with a God who never judged at all?
When the Serbian army attacked the town of Srebrenice in 1995 their commander ordered the bus station to be shelled with airburst shells – people shredding devices that rained mayhem on innocent civilians. Larry Hollingworth, one of the UN staff interviewed shortly afterwards said, “I hope he burns in Hell for what he did today”. What an embarrassing thing to say! But what would you think of a God who did not hold that commander to account? The only God worth worshipping is one who will hold sinners accountable for their actions. Judgement is part of his wonderful character.
Thirdly, judgement proves God’s covenant bond with his people (2c) – God shows his faithfulness to his people by avenging their blood. People who make life difficult for Christians are courting disaster – God is gracious and patient and he will give those individuals time to repent, but if they do not God will exact vengeance.
Invitation
He does not want to do this. We can choose a different future (6-9). God is inviting you to a wedding!
Cathie and I are working with three couples who are planning to get married this year. They love each other and can’t wait for the big day and we’re helping them to prepare for it. The purpose of the church through history has been to prepare itself for its big day, the moment when we are united with Jesus and begin a new future with him. We prepare ourselves for this by the way we live here and now – our appearance then will reflect our performance now (8).
When two people look forward to getting married all kinds of things are going on in their minds – Cathie and I encourage them to grow their friendship. It is the same with Christ, as we prepare for the big day our friendship with Jesus needs to grow.
Sometimes we miss the point of it all: we get to the end of a worship service, sit down and think, “How did that go... how did we do... was that any good?” We get so concerned with the presentation and performance that we completely forget who it is we are worshipping! About a month ago I sat down at the end of a service and thought, “Wow, isn’t God good! Then I realised how long it had been since I had felt that way on a Sunday. How tragic if our worship and preaching become an extended exercise in missing the point! We are here to delight in him!
God calls us to intimacy but how do you grow this? You can’t turn intimacy on like a light – it has to be built gradually, day after day. How do I do that, what do I do if my love has gone cold and my joy gone? Here’s some practical advice:
· Pray – even if you don’t feel anything
· Read and reflect on God’s word [psalm 103]
· Meet with someone and help one-another
· In the dark times, don’t stop doing the right things
Intimacy is the greatest casualty of a busy life? Intimacy takes time. It grows like a plant; you put the seed in and do the right things. For a while nothing seems to happen; then one day you see the fruit.
So you are invited to join the preparations for the big day (9)! Like any invitation, this one has ‘RSVP’ written in the bottom left hand corner. You need to tell him you are coming!
Overwhelmed
Have you ever been so carried away that you really embarrassed yourself? Well John does that here; he is so overwhelmed that, in the heat of the moment, he loses his cool (10). The angel is appalled! “We are fellow servants”, he says – It may have felt right but it was wrong.
I came across a book recently, “Your Angel Astrology Love Diet; How Your Guardian Angel And Star Sign Can Work Together To Make You Slimmer And Happier”. (I can imagine its companion volume, “How Your Guardian Angel and Star Sign Can Work Together to Make Me Richer”). People buy this stuff – because it feels right for them – but it is not right, it is defying God’s law.
Christians are always being tempted to lose the plot. The Angel reminds us that, “The spirit (or essence) of prophecy”, is to give a clear witness for Jesus and nothing else.
How do you tell an excellent church? (Nice building: great preaching: lively worship: warm welcome: clean toilets: comfy seats: beautifully designed leaflets?[1]). The greatest compliment I have ever relieved was from an American couple who visited Bethany a few years ago – they wanted to tell me that they felt that Christ was at the centre of everything we did. Now if this is true, that is an excellent church!
So don’t worship angels, don’t worship the church. Worship this...
I saw heaven opened...
Here is another wonderful portrait of Jesus – today we are going to look at the unique details of this portrait:
He is faithful and true – he has endured terrible persecution and he remained true to his people and faithful unto death. If you have ever been clobbered for being a Christian, he has been clobbered too.
He makes war with justice – Jesus judges, he makes war, he strikes down the nations. Contrast this with those Muslims who deal violently with every slight, every question and every perceived insult. Allah’s foot soldiers who think they are going God a favour by being brutal. Compare the Islamic reaction to the Satanic Verses with the Christian reaction to the DaVinci Code: interesting?
Crowned with many crowns – when Christ returns there will be no disputing his lordship. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow... you will bow now, or you will bow then, but bow you will.
A secret name – in the ancient world it was believed that if you knew the name of a god you could control it. This is a neat way of saying that no-one can control Jesus, he is un-tameable.
A sharp sword comes from his mouth – although he leads an immense army, it is almost as though they are there for decoration, like a guard of honour! They do not attack the nations; the word from his mouth does that. John expects God’s word alone to subdue the nations and render them powerless. Do you have the same confidence?
His robe is dipped in blood: whose blood? It could be the blood of those who are facing the wrath of God (15b) – it could be his own blood, because he died for the very people he is judging. This is an intriguing ambiguity. The people he will judge do not need to be at the receiving end of his wrath because he died for them. He died for you.
Keep this in mind because things are about to get very dark...
Evil’s last stand
There are two banquets in this chapter and here an angel issues an invitation to the second – crows, vultures and carrion-birds are summoned to feed on the dead.
Incredibly, the powers that be on earth are still holding out, actually gathering to make war on the King of Kings. Evil is tenacious, it does not give up without a fight and even when crushed it remains dangerous – like a python wrapped ‘round a child’s body, you cut off its head but it keeps on squeezing.
Finally, they are defeated. The beast and false prophet are cast into the lake of burning sulphur; their armies are fed to the birds.
Two feasts... the wedding banquet of the Lamb of God, and the carrion feast of the dead.
In the great clash of spiritual kingdoms this is not time for apathy or indifference. There can be no neutrality; you are on one side or the other. There will be one Victor, one looser. Today we choose which it is to be. Some people look at Christians and say, “What a bunch of losers!” Well there is one thing worse than being a loser, it is being and eternal loser. Do you want to be an eternal loser? The Lamb has shed his blood, now he invites us to his wedding party.
People need to know this - “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb: these are the true words of God”. We are sent with the invitation.
[1] All helpful but not vital to an excellent church!