The lesson this morning will
be taken from the last 11 verses of Revelation chapter 19. All of the events being pictured
in these verses are concerning Armageddon. That's what the Spirit
of God inspired John to write and it has a long history. If
you follow the word back And it's always, he set the precedence
way back in the Old Testament in the books of Moses. And then,
all down through time, that battle has been seen when the case was
absolutely hopeless. And the Lord would come in and
the battle would be the Lord's. So, This is what's being pictured
in the verses concerning Armageddon, and it's a mistake to think about
this great battle as some kind of military conflict. I've been
hearing since back in the fifties, back when I was raised in religion,
and we had that Cuban Missile Crisis, and they started talking
about Armageddon as some kind of nuclear holocaust. But I think
it's a mistake to think about this great battle as any kind
of military conflict. Armageddon is a spiritual battle. And this battle's been raging
since the garden. This battle of Armageddon. You
see, that battle is a conflict in which we're hopeless. But
God in mercy comes in and gives us the victory. And that's the
way it's always been. That's the way it always will
be. And its final culmination will be here in these verses
of what he's talking about. It's a spiritual battle. And
it continues on until this day, and it'll go on until its final
consummation at the second coming of Christ. Now let's see if I
can, by the scriptures, set a stage for this battle. Our Lord describes what precedes
this great battle, first of all. He tells us in Matthew 24 verse
three, and this is what people, I could hang a sign out there
that I'm gonna be preaching a series of messages on the second coming
of Christ and the battle of Armageddon and the great tribulation, and
this place, it wouldn't hold the people. People just, they
want to know, they want to know. And his disciples wanted to know.
It says in Matthew 24, 3, his disciples came to him privately
and asked, when shall these things be? When are these things going to
come to pass? And what shall be the sign of
thy coming and of the end of the world? And first of all,
he tells them in Matthew 24, verse 5, that many shall come
in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. Now this may be talking about
such men as the Pope, claiming to be God's ambassador, but also
Christ's representative in the earth, able to correct and establish
scripture. and in authority over all God's
church. Or it could equally be talking
about people like Father Divine and Jim Jones and Joseph Smith
and on and on the list goes who come and by private vision say,
I'm the Christ. I'm the Messiah. But most of the writers believe
that this is those who say, I am of Christ. I'm of Christ. I'm his ambassador, his messenger. And do so by their own deception. Do so because they went to a
seminary and somebody gave them a diploma. And the first thing
they do when they get a church and they get a little office
or a study in the church is they get that diploma framed and hang
it on the wall. False prophets. The world shall
be full, our Lord says, in that day of false prophets. And many
shall come in my name, he said. Secondly, he said, you shall
hear wars and rumors of wars, rumblings of great nations. We
hear it from North Korea, and we hear it from Russia, and you
hear it from the United States, and you hear it from the Arabs.
Rumbling, rumbling, rumbling, rumbling. All the time, wars
and rumors of war. These great nations rumbling
and threatening to destroy all who resist them. I can remember
growing up during that Cuban Missile Crisis, and I remember
mom and dad talking about building a bomb shelter in the basement.
We didn't understand anything at all about nuclear weapons. All my young life we were in
a cold war between the United States and Russia and everybody
just walking on pins and needles hoping that that wouldn't come
to pass. And these wars are always, these
wars and rumors of wars, they're always under the pretense of
good and evil. Always. Always. And then verse seven, Matthew
24, for nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
And then thirdly, there should be famines and pestilences and
earthquakes in various places. These are but the beginning of
sorrows. The day is not yet. For they
shall deliver you up to be afflicted. You that are chosen of God, you
that are enabled of God to preach the gospel, they're gonna deliver
you up to be afflicted. They're gonna deliver you up
and publicly whip you before men, imprison you, make false
accusations against you, and you'll be hated of all nations
for my namesake. Verse 37. This is what I want you to see.
I'm trying to set for you in the scriptures the stage just
before this great battle takes place. He says in verse 37, but
as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. For before the flood came, they
were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage
until the day Noah entered into the ark. and knew not until the flood
came and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. Everything shall go on the plane
of what this world calls normal. There's not going to be a nuclear
holocaust. There's not going to be a melting
down of the earth. There's not going to be any of
these things. things are going to go on just
as they did in the days of Noah on the plane of what this world
calls normal, just normal. They'll say in their twisted
hearts, when is the promise, where is the promise of his coming? All things continue the same
since the fathers fell asleep. So what is the setting of this
great battle? Just like it is today. It'll
be a day just like today. Sun will be out. People will
be planning their marriages. People will be thinking about
their jobs. People will be going to their
synagogues and churches and cathedrals all over the world to worship
what they believe is God. Life will go on. It'll be a day
just like today. And suddenly, and let me say
this, only a handful in that day, a small remnant, will be
contemplating His coming, will actually be looking for Him,
patiently looking for Him, longing for Him. And suddenly, heaven is open. You see, I need to set the stage
so you can understand what John's saying in these verses. Heaven's open, not by revelation
to a chosen few as it's been open to us through the preaching
of the gospel, through the teaching of the Word of God, but open
to all. Revelation 1-7. This is talking about that day.
Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. And they also which pierced him,
they're gonna see him too. Oh, but they're dead. They won't
be in that day. And all the kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him. As I thought about this, I thought
about how many have lived their whole lives and never seen him. Never seen him. They saw religion. They saw men who were morality
teachers They listened to the self-righteous men tell them
what they had to do, even though they themselves couldn't do it. They lived their whole lives
and never saw him, never knew him. Depart from me, you workers
of iniquity. I never knew you. They only dreamed of some sensual
and superstitious place called heaven. but not on this day. Heaven's open this day. Now there's
some men around, and I don't want to give them any notoriety,
and I won't even mention their names, but they're arguing on
a soapbox about a flat earth, and this is one of the scriptures
that they use. The earth has to be flat, otherwise
every eye couldn't see them when heaven's open. My friend, he's
God. Wake up, he's God. He stretches
out the heavens like a tent. If he wants you to see him, you
couldn't miss him. And if he wants to open heaven
on the north side, the south side will be open too, I guarantee
it. heaven was opened and every eye
beheld him, every eye saw him. All this darkness and shadows
and deception and everything's gone now. And we're not talking about one
preaching mercy here, we're talking about a battle. We're talking
about a judgment. We're talking about victory over
the lying uh... of satan and his deception and
his armies his followers every eye and I'll tell you this every
knee is going to bow in that day because they're going to
see him and know him as he is they're all going to bow and
they're all going to confess him to be lord now listen to
the glory of god that's what we do now ain't it? huh? sure it is But we see that Lordship through
the mercy and grace of God, and that day they're just gonna see
the truth. He's Lord to the glory of God. All right, heaven opened. What
did they see? When God opens the heavens in
that day, what are they gonna see? John said he saw a white
horse, and him that sat on it was called Faithful and True. Faithful to the character of
God and faithful to the purpose of God and faithful to the covenant
promises of God and faithful to the law and justice of God. Faithful to all his appointments. Faithful as God's one mediator. Faithful as God's high priest,
God's prophet and king. Paul said of him, of him, that's
one who's faithful and true. Of him are you in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Every eye shall behold him and
every tongue shall confess that he's Lord to the glory of God
the Father. I wonder how often the great
denominations laughed at the preaching of the God-man and
the glory of his sovereignty and the glory of his redemption
and the glory of his intercession. But they're not laughing now.
God is. The heathen raged, David said. They raged because they imagined
a vain thing. They imagined a maggot like themselves
exalting their will over the will of God. Their vain imaginations imagined
their decrees over God's decrees, their will over God's will, their
power above that of God. Even the kings of the earth and
the rulers of men took counsel together against the Lord and
against his anointed, saying, let's break their bands. We're
not going to have this man to rule over us. We're not going
to have this man reign over us. God's not going to tell me what
to do. I'm going to do what I decide to do. Are you? Let's break his bands asunder
and cast his cords from us. Listen to this. He that sitteth
in the heavens will laugh. He'll laugh. You laughed at him
once, but you ain't laughing now. Not when those heavens are
open, not when you see with your own eye. All of the powerful, influential
men of authority Imagine that. Imagine all these
great men, presidents and kings and emperors and potentates and
all these powerful, influential men of authority. And imagine
the great men, the great princes of religion, the Billy Grahams
and the popes and the priests and all this. And all of them now crying for
the rocks and the mountains to hide them from the face of him
with whom they have to do it. Now they can see him as he is,
faithful and true, going forth to judge and make war. Revelation 19, verse 12. This one who sat on the horse,
whose name is faithful and true, his eyes were as a flame of fire, the zeal of his father's house
burning within him. And these are not the same eyes
that were filled with tears over Jerusalem. These are not the
same eyes filled with tears with the questioning of his love of
Lazarus and his sisters. These are not the pitiful eyes
that melted the heart of Peter. These are the eyes of judgment
and justice. And they're a flame of fire.
Flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns. what are these crowns? crowns
of creation crowns of providence, crowns
of his appointments crowns of his faithfulness but especially on this day he
has these crowns because he shall show all who is the blessed and
only potentate and king of kings and lord of lords and he had
a name written And they looked up, and they could see that name
written. He had a name written that no
man knew. No man knew. We know his name. His name was
revealed through the Son to us by the Holy Ghost. We know who
he is. We know why he came, what he
did, and where he's at, and what he intends to do. He's the God-man. He's as much God as if He were
not man, and as much man as if He were not God. He's God-man
and one glorious person. And it says, He was clothed with
a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of
God. His blood's not talking about
the blood of His fallen enemies, but His own blood. by which God
can be just and justifier, by the blood of the martyrs who
died preaching His name, by the blood of the everlasting covenant,
the blood by which He obtained eternal redemption for us, but
especially of those who become martyrs for the gospel's sake
and for the salvation of God's elect. and his name, the word
of God, everything God does is according to his word. Somebody
starts ranting and raving about this and that and the other,
just turn them off, tune them out. When God speaks, he'll speak
through his word. He said of his prophets, if they
speak not according to my word, it's because there's no light
in them. he said i'm the way i am the
truth i'm the truth he tells us that his name is the word
of god he tells us that in john chapter one in the beginning
was the word and the word was with god and the word was god
and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us his name is the
word of god and no man cometh unto the father but by me He tells us in Ephesians 1, 11
and 12 that God first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted
after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
God trusted in His Son with all His eternal purpose of grace,
His covenant promises, His name and His glory. And even so it
is in the judgment of this world. He said, the Father judgeth no
man, but hath committed all judgment unto me. The judgment of God's elect,
which he bore in his own body on the tree, and the judgment
of this world, which he shall carry out from the judgment seat
of Christ to which he's been appointed. God hath appointed
a day in which he'll judge this world by that man. the armies which were in heaven
followed him scripture says riding on white horses he's on
a white horse they're on a white horse they're one with him they're
identified with him and they're clothed in linen you know that's
an odd way to dress when you go into battle isn't it? if I
was going to battle I wouldn't go on and put some linen on and
climb up on my horse then that's a mod he tells us in this world
put on the whole armor of god talks about the helmet and talks
about the shield the breastplate and all that we put it put on
the armor of god so you can withstand these fiery darts of the enemies
you you you put on the whole armor of god but now here they
go into this great battle of armageddon and they're wearing
linen you know why Because now they're eternal and their enemies
can't touch them. That's why. It's that way now. It's that way now. My friend,
we're immortal until God takes us out of this world. You believe that? We are. He said, not a sparrow can fall
to the ground without your father. He said, now did he say that
because he loves sparrows or did he say it all together for
your sake? But in this day, mounted on white
horses in the priest's uniform, linen, linen, clean and white,
the righteousness of saints. These are all the saints of God
clothed in His righteousness. Another reason they don't wear
any armor is because the Lord is going to have the glory of
this day. And nevertheless, He lets them follow on those white
horses. Verse 15, and out of his mouth
goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations
and shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And I
could borrow some eloquent statements of some of the writers that I've
read on this, and there's plenty of them. But I don't believe
any man can really enter into this except Christ. who trod
the winepress of God's wrath alone when he bore our sins in
his own body on the tree. I've never experienced the unmixed
wrath of God, but he did. He did. And as this battle draws
to a close, God's messenger stands in the sun And he calls for the
buzzards to come and feast on the carcasses of his enemies. He said, just like he did Peter,
he told him, he said, come up here. He had some fishes on the
fire. He said, come and dine. And now, in this day, he calls
for the buzzards. And he points to the battlefield,
and he says, come and dine. Come and dine. This great battle of Armageddon
is short and quick, and its victory is uncontested. Verse 20, and
the beast was taken with him and 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. Now if that don't make you happy,
they weren't cast in dead. He didn't take their corpses
out of the ground, those old rotted corpses, and cast them
into hell. They were cast in alive. Ain't
that what that says? Men like to imagine people, once
they die, they're just, they're gone. They're like the beast,
they're gone. But your soul's eternal. It's eternal. And they were cast
alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone, 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." He tells us that the beast and
the false prophet should be taken first. These are the governments
and religions of Antichrist. And in this judgment shall men
finally see the uselessness. God judges these nations. They're
going to see the uselessness of their intellectualism, and their materialism, and their
freewillism, and their ritualism, and their legalism. It's going
to be useless in that day. And they're going to be trying
to argue on their own account and say, have not we done many
wonderful works in thy name? And haven't we done? We've sacrificed
unto you. We've done all these things.
We've preached in your name. He said, depart from me, you
workers of iniquity. That's what it was in reality.
I never knew you. And then those who followed them
and would not obey the gospel. they're next and cast them alive
into the lake of fire and now the only enemy remaining the
only one left standing is the devil himself and we'll get into
that next week in chapter twenty