Introduction
All of the apostles were dead and the only one remaining was over 90 years of age or more. He was a prisoner on the island of Patmos, a Roman penal colony because of his loyalty to the Word of God and because of the testimony he maintained concerning the Lord Jesus. The faithful Body of the Messiah (the faithful Church) throughout the pagan Roman Empire were being persecuted, imprisoned and martyred. The New Covenant believers throughout the Roman Empire needed an encouraging word from the Lord Jesus. John himself freely confessed that he was their brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance in Jesus (Revelation 1:9).
The Lord Jesus gave a new revelation to John His beloved disciple to encourage all of the New Covenant believers corporately. The revelation of the Lord Jesus to John begins with a vision of the Risen and glorified Messiah our Lord Jesus and ends with the establishment of His Kingdom on earth that ultimately ushers in the final and eternal state.
In Revelation chapter 19:11-21 we see the Messiah our Lord Jesus, not being revealed as a servant but as the king of all kings riding the white horse of a conqueror and destroying all of his enemies. We know that the Lord Jesus will come again in the same way He ascended to heaven in the clouds (Mark 14:62) (Matthew 24:30) (Acts 1:11). This time when He descends every eye on the planet will see Him (Revelation 1:7) All those who are not saved will seek to hide themselves from His presence, His power and from His righteous wrath (Revelation 6:12-17).
Now let’s look at the text of Revelation 19:11-21
Exposition:
(Vs.11) “And 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.”
When the Lord Jesus returns the heavens will be opened and rolled back like a scroll physically revealing the realm of God’s invisible kingdom in the heavens but first and foremost revealing the glorified resurrected Messiah our Lord Jesus coming in the clouds of heaven with all of His holy angels. Not only will He come to judge the world in righteousness and justice but to gather to Himself His bride, being faithful New Covenant believers who have kept themselves clean and pure ready to meet their bridegroom. These are clothed with the very righteousness of the Lord Jesus Himself and the deeds that accompany that righteousness (Revelation 19:7-8).
A conqueror in ancient times always rode a white horse. It was an outward sign of victory and pointed to the victor. The rider Himself, being the Messiah our Lord Jesus, is titled “faithful and true and in righteousness He judges and makes war.”
He is faithful in all He says and does and especially to those whom he has redeemed by His atoning blood and sealed or marked as His own possession with the Holy Spirit of promise. As we read in Ephesians; “And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth— the gospel of your salvation— you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).
He is true and no falsehood at all resides in Him and He always maintains the truth because He is the full embodiment of truth, being in Himself the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). He is in fact truth itself and it floods His very being.
He has “a righteous judgment.” When He judges it is a righteous judgement that is always according to truth, as it is written, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! (Romans 11:33).
The Lord Jesus Himself is the wisdom of God because He Himself is God and He is our wisdom, our righteousness our holiness and our redemption which are found only in Him (1 Corinthians 1:24) As the apostle Paul writes; “It is because of Him (God) that you are in the Anointed Messiah Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:30). If we would enter God’s kingdom then we need to be clothed with the very same righteous nature that the Lord Jesus has Himself.
As Paul also writes; “More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them excrement that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death” (Philippians 3:8-10).
This righteousness can only be bestowed upon and breathed into us when we place our entire trust in the Lord Jesus to save us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness that results in receiving His righteousness (Romans 3:21-26). If we are not clothed with the garments of salvation and with the robe of His righteousness we will not be able to attend the wedding feast but find ourselves on the outside confined within the realm of outer darkness.
Our Lord Jesus alluded to this when He dealt with the man who came to enter the wedding feast but was cast out because he was not dressed for the wedding feast. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless. Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:11-13).
We cannot be saved by works but if we are saved then we will have the same works of righteousness that the Lord Jesus Himself possesses. As it is written, “For by grace (God’s unmerited and unearned favour) you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Notice also that “He makes war.” He is depicted as the all-conquering warrior Messiah. When you read through the Book of Revelation it is clear that we see the war with Satan being waged on earth and in the unseen spiritual realm. The wars we see on earth between wickedness and righteousness reflects the war being waged in the unseen spiritual realm. The angels of God are fighting the angels of Satan, a conflict we see illustrated in the case where Daniel’s prayers were hindered for 21 days by Satan (Daniel 10:12-14).
The context in Daniel chapter 10 is set in the latter days or the time of the end when the battle is raging over Israel and by extension and inclusion the faithful Church, the offspring of the woman being Israel (Revelation 12: 17). As the battle comes to its peak for three and a half years, being 42 months, a time, times and half a time, Michael the Archangel of war goes to Israel’s defence (Daniel 12:1) In Revelation Chapter 13:5-7a we see this same scenario lasting for 42 months.
When Israel looks like it is finished and her offspring, being New Covenant believers who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus, have almost been wiped out by persecution, God Himself will cut those days short. This time of tribulation unequalled in past history and never to be equalled again will be suddenly and swiftly terminated by God and Satan’s time on earth will be up!
As our Lord Jesus said; “For then there will be a great tribulation (Greek-thlipsis), such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” (Matthew 24:21-22). So when the Lord Jesus comes back He will unleash retribution on those who have persecuted His elect people! (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10) (Joel 3:1-3).
When the Lord Jesus opens the fifth seal in Revelation Chapter 6 we see the souls of the martyrs who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained crying out to the sovereign Lord who is holy and true, how long it would be before their martyrdom was avenged. They are given white robes of righteousness (Revelation 19:8). They are robes of honour and privileged royalty and authority (Revelation 4:4). They were persecuted on earth and rejected but in heaven they are accepted in the beloved Jesus. Their righteous cry for justice is assuaged. They are told to wait a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and brothers were to be killed as they had been killed was completed (Revelation 6:9-11).
In the gospel of Luke Chapter 18:1-8 we see the Lord Jesus relating the account of the persistent widow pleading with an unjust judge who neither feared God nor man, but persistently pleading with him to exercise justice against her adversary. Because of her persistence, even though that judge was not a righteous judge, he gave her what she wanted.
Then the Lord Jesus referred to His Father in heaven who is the supreme, sovereign and righteous judge who will always bring about justice for His chosen ones, afflicted by the adversary Satan, who cry to God day and night. He will not keep putting them off but avenge them speedily. He also added that when He comes back will he find such persistent faithfulness from His chosen ones. God is never too early and never too late but always on time. He will not allow us to be tested beyond our capacity to bear it.
As we read in God’s Word; “No temptation (test) has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
And then we read…
(Vss. 12-14) “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. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
We notice that “His eyes are a flame of fire” that can burn through the fabrication of lies, spiritual deception and wicked thoughts and actions and that His gaze can penetrate even the very deepest and darkest thoughts and intents of the heart. What has been thought and done secretly will be open for all to see.
As our Lord Jesus Himself said; “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, and nothing hidden that will not be made known. What you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the housetops” (Luke 12:2-3).
We may be able to hide things from others but we cannot hide anything from the Lord. He sees all of our ways and knows everything about us and even more than we know ourselves (Psalm 139). When He returns He will come with a fiery judgment upon all and everything that is wicked and corrupt in this world and against all institutions that man has set up that is an affront to God.
All will be burned up and laid bare before Him with whom all of us must stand and give an account for what we have thought, said and done in this life. “It is written: “As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before Me; every tongue will confess to God.” So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:11-12) See also (2 Peter 3:10).
The Lord Jesus will come in flaming vengeance to pay back wicked and unprincipled people who have made life ‘hell’ for faithful New Covenant believers. As it is written; “For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marvelled at among all who have believed” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).
We are told that when He arrives that men and women from every level of society and every walk of life will hides in caves and among the rocks and the mountains and call to the mountains and the rocks to fall on them and to hide them from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb because the day of their wrath has come! (Revelation 6:15-17).
Notice that “on His head are many diadems.” These multiple diadems are not just crowns but jewelled crowns denoting royalty. They are multiple and beyond numbering because He is the king of all kings and all the kings that have come and gone in history can never even equal His royalty which is far above anything man can produce on earth.
He has returned to claim His kingdom and to make the kingdoms of this world His kingdom! We read about this elsewhere in the Book of Revelation; “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet (this is the last trumpet), and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).
He is going to put everything that is upside down right side up and root out of His kingdom now on earth everything that is wicked, unprincipled, offensive, rebellious, hypocritical, tyrannical, unjust, unrighteous, immoral, including sodomy, homosexuality, licentiousness and everything that is spiritually deceptive and contrary to the Word of God.
As the Lord Jesus Himself said; “As the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness. And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:40-42).
Let wicked and unprincipled politicians of this world gang up on God and trample on His word in perpetrating their wicked legislation in the Parliaments of this world and oppress faithful believers, they will be forced to their knees and in fear and trepidation face Him and receive their due justice at His hands! Many politicians and leaders of nations will ultimately go down into the pit of hades when the Lord Jesus comes back to judge the earth and its rebellious inhabitants who have sought to defy the Living God!
Now we also notice that; “He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.” Who can really know God’s name. When He was asked by Moses what was His name God told Him that He was known as “I AM” The Lord Jesus Himself is God and equal with God and His knowledge and wisdom is unfathomable by the human mind. His name is above all names. We know that when the invisible God, the second member of the Trinity, became flesh and tabernacled among us that His name was Jesus. However, in eternity only He and the Father and the Holy Spirit know the name of God because they are one God and know everything there is to know and beyond that. When God revealed to Isaiah the coming Messiah God did not give a name but gave divine titles to Him which expressed the nature of his character and His ministry (Isaiah 9:6-7).
The fact that His name is not known reveals He is far above all in the universe and way beyond the mind of man. His ways are not our ways or His thoughts our thoughts. As God says through the prophet Isaiah; “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). Even in eternity in our glorified bodies we will know as we are known but even there will we know His name?
And then we are told that, “He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood” His garments are splattered with the blood of His enemies. This corresponds to Isaiah Chapter 63:1 where we see His garments splattered and stained with the blood of his enemies that He has been fighting in Edom. In the Old Testament Edom was Southern Jordan but swept down into Saudi Arabia. Bozrah was located in Southern Jordan and was the main gateway to Israel from Saudi Arabia, the heart of the Muslim world. Bozrah then was the city by which one entered Israel from Audi Arabia.
When the Messiah our Lord Jesus comes back He will fight Islam. Also we need to keep in mind that at the cross it was the pure atoning blood shed for sin and sinners that broke the power of Satan forever! As we read; “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15). Spiritually speaking His shed blood is the means by which we overcome Satan. We are told about how to overcome Satan when he attacks us and how to defeat him when the time of great tribulation really kicks in. As John the beloved apostle of our Lord Jesus writes; “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of the testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death” (Revelation 12:11).
When we speak with our mouths what the Word of God says the blood of Jesus does for us, we run Satan out of our affairs every time! He hates the blood of the Messiah and even the mention of it aggravates him beyond measure because it reminds him of his defeat and ultimate destiny being the lake of fire. In witchcraft in the Witches covens they mock the blood of the Messiah yet by it they are tormented and even mocking it does not diffuse its power that has defeated them forever and they know it!
And then we read; “And His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.” This is the same Word of God about whom John writes in his gospel, the one who was in the beginning and was with God, and who was God and who was with God face to face from the beginning and the one who is the Word of Life and through whom and by whom everything was created. This is the same eternal Word of God Himself who became a flesh and blood man and tabernacled among us! (John 1:1-4, 14) (1 John 1:1)
Also the fact that He is the Word of God means He has the final say in everything and when He speaks things will happen in the visible natural world and the unseen spiritual world. He upholds everything in the whole universe by the power of His Word. As we are told; “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3).
If His Word upholds everything in the universe then by that same word He will most assuredly uphold us when we are fighting with rulers and principalities and with the powers of wickedness in the unseen fallen spiritual realm. It is that same word that was spoken and slung into being the whole universe. When God spoke, it happened! The three powerful spiritual weapons we have are the blood of the Messiah, the Word of God, the Bible, and the Spirit of God (1 John 5:7).
Added to this of course we have prayer. Every day, we need to put on the whole armour of God piece by piece (Ephesians 6:10-18). When the rider on the white horse speaks a command His power breaks the power of his adversaries and that big time! At His word we see the armies of heaven riding forth to decimate and ultimately destroy all resistance! Those clothed in fine linen, white and clean following Him on white horses are His bride whom He has raptured and resurrected at his Second Coming. They are the ones who have been gathered around Him to meet Him in the air and to welcome his return to earth to establish his Kingdom. We are told in the Bible when the Lord Jesus comes back to earth that He will be accompanied by His holy angels and by His redeemed saints clothed with the robes of His righteousness. Together they will judge the ungodly! (Matthew 25:31) (Jude 1:14-16). Now let’s read on…
(Vs.15) “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 winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.”
Notice that “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.” In Psalm 45 we read a description of the Messiah’s return to earth. The psalmist writes; “Strap your sword at your side, O mighty warrior; appear in your majesty and splendour. In your splendour ride forth in victory on behalf of truth and humility and justice; may your right hand show your awesome deeds. Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; the nations fall beneath your feet” (Psalm 45:3-5). The Messiah our Lord Jesus is the Commander in Chief of the armies of heaven and our Commander in Chief as well as the one who through His Spirit “trains our fingers for battle and enables our arms to bend a bow of bronze!” As it is written; “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze” (Psalm 18:34). No man by his human strength can bend a bow of bronze but with God all things are possible because we do not fight with human weapons but with spiritual weapons that pull down spiritual strongholds in our lives and in the lives of others.
As we read; “For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
Only God can teach us how to do this and the instrument He uses to teach us is the blessed Holy Spirit who uses is the Word of God which is the Sword of the Spirit! (John 16:13) (Ephesians 6:17). When the Lord Jesus comes back His word of command will destroy the man of sin and all who follow him. As we read in 2nd Thessalonians; “Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
At His command the nations in rebellion will be struck down and after He has destroyed all opposition He will rule the surviving nations with a rod of iron. In that day His law will be the only law and will be obeyed! By His righteousness, holiness, justice, peace and by His love He will rule this planet! The earth will become what it was originally created to be before the fall of man. We are told in the Word of God that in that day “the law (Torah) will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3b).In that day “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
Now also notice that “He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God” No wonder His robes are stained with blood in the same way the winepress splatters the wine onto the garments of the one treading the grapes. This winepress of God’s wrath is also mentioned elsewhere in the Bible and it is the same winepress of God’s wrath mentioned here in Revelation Chapter 19. If we turn back to Isaiah Chapter 63 we not only see the garments of the Messiah spattered with the blood of His enemies but that their blood has been spattered as they have been trodden down as crushed grapes (Isaiah 63:11-3).
It is literal blood that flows outside of the city of Jerusalem rising as high as a horses bridle and flowing for a distance of 180 miles (Revelation 14:19-20). The armies that attack Jerusalem and that have divided up the Land of Israel and treated the Jewish people as they would prostitutes will also be in that same winepress of God’s wrath (Joel 3:1-3, 13). The context of all of these passages of God’s Word is the Second Coming of the Messiah and the wrath of God that will precede it. These are also the bowls of God’s wrath poured out, boiling over, from which there is no reprieve. Where there is judgement there is an escape route through repentance. Where there is wrath there is no escape but an eternity in the lake of fire from which there is no escape (Revelation 20:15; 21:8). Now let’s move on…
(Vs.16) “And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
A Commanding officer always has an insignia marking his rank. In the case of the Messiah our Lord Jesus has the rank of Commander in Chief clearly marked on His Robe and on His thigh where His sword hangs in its scabbard (Psalm 45:3). His rank is no ordinary rank but a rank that elevates Him to the rank of being the supreme King of all Kings and the supreme Lord of all Lords. Everything in the heavens and on earth and under the earth is all subject to His rule.
As it is written; “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).
This is the Messiah our Lord Jesus, who by His pure and untainted shed blood that has atoned for sin and redeemed His people, has shaken them loose from enslavement to the power of sin and to Satan (Ephesians 1:7). As John exclaims; “To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood” (Revelation 1:5b). Make much of the blood of the Messiah! There is nothing else that can cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:7-9). The blessed Holy Spirit takes that blood and through an inner spiritual work applies it to the doorposts of our hearts cleansing us and preserving us from experiencing the wrath of God to come. (Romans 5:9).
How He does this work we cannot know humanly speaking. It is a spiritual process, but when He does cleanse us we feel the benefits of that cleansing within the deep recesses of our soul and affirmed in our spirit by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:15-16). Experientially it can be likened to when you come in from a hot and dusty day feeling dirty until you have a shower and after you have been washed clean by the shower you feel refreshed and renewed. This inner cleansing is a spiritual experience; man cannot produce this divine work deep within the human soul! This is the power of the Blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus! Make much of the blood! Now let’s move on…
(Vs.17-18) “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.”
In Matthew Chapter 24:27-28, in its context of the end of the age, the Lord Jesus said; “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” Vultures feed of the carcass of the dying and the dead. When the Lord Jesus spoke about this He had in mind that spiritual rottenness that would exist on earth just before His Second Coming. It would be exactly the same conditions on earth that existed in the time of Noah before the flood came and swept away the wicked (Matthew 24:37-41).
Also we can apply this corpse to the armies of the antichrist that will fall on the mountains of Israel. It is the great supper set up by God for the vultures and birds of all types to gorge themselves on the rotting flesh of all who have dared to confront the Lord and His Messiah. The prophet Ezekiel affirms this when he writes; “You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field. You will fall on the open field; for it is I who has spoken,” declares the Lord God” (Ezekiel 39:4-5).Notice also that even the beasts in the field will join the supper.
This whole event will be the wrath of God poured out without restraint upon the multitudes that He has brought down into the valley of decision for judgement because of the way they have treated Israel (Joel 3:12-16). This rotting flesh the Lord Jesus mentioned in Matthew Chapter 24 will be the result of the fiery plague of God’s wrath. It will see the rotting of their flesh and the eyes in their sockets melting in the heat and their tongues rotting in their mouths (Zechariah 14:12). It will be akin to a nuclear detonation, the splitting of the atom unlike any nuclear explosion that man can produce. They Say that when the atom bombs were detonated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that the eyes literally melted in the sockets of people.
When the apostle Peter wrote in his second letter about the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus and the wrath preceding it he mentions that “the elements will be destroyed by fire and that the elements will melt in the fervent heat” the Greek text actually describes the splitting of the atom. What would a first century man know about the splitting of the atom causing a nuclear detonation? He couldn’t know but the Holy Spirit does because He is God the Spirit and knows everything there is to know and even beyond that!
When considering how the prophet Ezekiel and Zechariah describe the fiery judgment producing rotting flesh it is clear that God’s firepower is awesome in its delivery! We are also told in the Word of God that “His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, And there is the hiding of His power” (Habakkuk 3:4). How awesome is that! When He speaks men tremble! Indeed it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God! Now let’s read on…
(Vs.19-21) “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”
In Revelation Chapter 16:12-16 we see the armies of the beast kingdom of the Antichrist preparing for their final campaign against Israel. Satan is present in the Antichrist and empowering this army and also you have the false prophet, the religious leader or component of the beast system of the Antichrist. It is a satanic trinity. Satan is the Commander in Chief. He now dwells in the Antichrist who is an incarnation of Satan and the false prophet the one who carries out the orders of the Antichrist. This is a demonic army gathered on the plain of Megiddo.
This satanic trinity empowers the kings of the East which will be an Islamic army because they come across the dried up Euphrates River. This army will have 200 million soldiers in it primed for action. We are also told that all of the kings of the earth will be gathered for this battle, so other nations will also be gathered there including China. In both passages of scripture in Revelation Chapter 16 and in Revelation Chapter 9 the River Euphrates is mentioned in both passages of scripture.
Added to this In Revelation Chapter 9 the sixth trumpet is blown and in Revelation Chapter 16 it is the sixth bowl of wrath poured out. The sixth trumpet and the sixth bowl are linked together. The sixth trumpet announces the impending wrath which is poured out from the sixth bowl of God’s wrath. This also links up with the winepress of the wrath of God. Together they all point to the Day of the Lord culminating in the Second Coming of the Messiah!
Conclusion:
When the seventh trumpet is blown we see the Kingdom of the Messiah announced where the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Anointed Messiah and He will reign for ever and ever (Revelation 11:15). This is the last trumpet which will also see the rapture and resurrection of the faithful Church that will occur immediately after the time of Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31) (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
In Revelation Chapter 16:17-21 when the seventh bowl is poured out we see the last great earthquake unequalled in past history and never to be equalled again. As for Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet and their demonically empowered army, their time is up and their retribution imminent! A loud voice from the throne of God cries out “It is done!” It’s all over! It is finished! The war has been won and the victory assured!
Accompanying this voice we see flashes of lightning, rumblings shaking the earth, peals of thunder and that last earthquake. The great city, being the Babylon of this world is split asunder into three parts, a judgement on Satan, the antichrist and the false prophet. Notice that God gives them the cup filled with the wine of the fury of His wrath. This corresponds to the winepress of the wrath of God. Both describe the one and the same event. We are also told that every island fled away and that the mountains could not be found. Everything that God has not established will be shaken and topple! As Isaiah writes; “it will be when in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall.” Can you imagine great skyscrapers around the world collapsing? What we have seen depicted in disaster movies will actually happen on a global scale!
This seventh bowl of God’s wrath will also see from the sky huge hailstones weighing about 100 pounds each falling upon men. And they curse God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. However, their cursing will be replaced by sheer terror. In the sixth seal we see this wrath preceding the Second Coming of the Messiah in Revelation Chapter 6:12-17.
The Earthquake occurs! The sun turns black! The moon turns blood red! The stars fall to the earth (a meteorite shower)! The sky is rolled back like a scroll! And every mountain and island moved from its place! The military world, the political world, the Royalty world, the business world, the domestic world and the rank and file of unsaved humanity will hide in caves and among the rocks of the mountains calling to the rocks and to the mountains to fall upon them and to hide them from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand! Can you imagine an angry lamb?
The only ones who will be protected will be those New Covenant believers who are by faith sheltering under the protection of the Messiah’s blood (Romans 5:9) (Exodus 12:13). They will be experiencing tribulation (Greek-thlipsis) in this world but when the wrath comes (Greek-Orge / thumos) they will never experience this wrath having been caught up to meet the Lord Jesus in the air as He returns to this earth to establish His Messianic Kingdom (Matthew 24:29-31) (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). Faithful New Covenant believers are destined for tribulation in this world but never destined for wrath! (John 15:18-21; 16:33) (1 Thessalonians 3:3) (Acts 14:22) (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9).
This world today is a dark place and getting darker every day and the only hope for the world’s survival is the return of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! He is coming back! This time not as a suffering servant but as the all-conquering king to rescue us as New Covenant believers, to rescue Israel, to destroy all opposition and to establish His Messianic reign on earth. This is our blessed hope as New Covenant believers, sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of our full redemption (Ephesians 1:13).
As His bride, waiting for the wedding and the wedding feast, let us keep on keeping on to prepare ourselves to meet Him when He comes back, having on the garments of his salvation and clothed with the robe of His righteousness. As the prophet Isaiah exclaims, “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).
As we also read in His Word; “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, the Anointed Messiah Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds! (Titus 2:11-14)
Let’s all be ready for when He comes back and He is coming back soon and His reward will be with Him and He will give to everyone according to what he or she has done! He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:12-13) What He starts He intends to finish! He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:20).
