Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #11 of Revelation, chapter 17, and we are going to be reading Revelation 17: 14-15:

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

I will stop reading there.  In our last study we saw that the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, comes in His wrath as a wrathful Lamb.  This is language God uses in a few places, like Revelation, chapter 6 and other Scriptures.  It is the Lamb in whose presence the wicked are being tormented in Revelation, chapter 14.  He is making war and Judgment Day is pictured as a battle between Satan and his kingdom and the Lord Jesus Christ and His kingdom.  It is the last and final battle that will take place in this world.  In some ways, all through history spiritual warfare has been waged, as God ransacked the kingdom of Satan in order to deliver those elect people He had predetermined to save and to translate into the kingdom of His dear Son.  But on May 21, 2011, that spiritual warfare ceased because everyone that was to become saved had been saved and it was only a matter of the final battle.  This is what we are reading about in our verse in Revelation 17:14: “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them.”  That is why it goes on to say in the middle of our verse in Revelation 17:14:

… for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings…

This is a tremendous and glorious statement that captures the moment of the final victory of Christ over the kingdom of Satan.  Remember, Satan had defeated mankind in the Garden of Eden by deceiving Eve and Adam into disobeying God and obeying a lie rather than the truth and man became subservient to him.  Therefore, Satan ruled over the kingdom of unsaved mankind throughout the history of the world, until May 21, 2011 when Christ took the kingdom of Satan. 

It is really a wonderful picture that God gives when He gave us the picture of the kingdom of Babylon which typified the kingdom of Satan and of the king of Babylon who is a type or figure of Satan.  God gave us this historical picture of Judgment Day in the Book of Daniel, chapter 5.  In that chapter, it is the end of the seventy year period, the year 539 BC, and the king of Babylon and his lords are having a celebration; they are having a feast and drinking wine.  They were the great kingdom and they were the rulers over all the surrounding kingdoms.  They have gotten “lazy” and they had let their guard down and in that night the king of Babylon saw writing on the wall that greatly troubled him; it troubled him so much that his knees began to knock.  Finally, Daniel is called in to interpret the writing on the wall and the interpretation is that the king of Babylon’s kingdom is numbered and finished and he is “weighed in the balances and found wanting.”  It says in Daniel 5:28:

PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Still not comprehending what was going on, the king made a proclamation in Daniel 5:29-31:

Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

This is a picture of Christ coming as “a thief in the night.”  King Darius is also known as Cyrus and God says of Cyrus, in the Book of Isaiah, that he is “my shepherd” and God also calls him “the anointed,”  which is the word for “Messiah,” so Cyrus, the king of the Medes and the Persians is a picture of Christ.  Cyrus comes and takes the kingdom of Babylon at exactly the end of seventy years (from 609 BC to 539 BC) just as God had prophesied that at the end of seventy years He would punish the king of Babylon.  This pictured Judgment Day and the king of Babylon is a type of Satan and the Lord Jesus, typified by the King of the Medes and the Persians, takes Satan’s kingdom and puts down Satan.  Historically, the king of Babylon is slain, but, spiritually, Satan is cast into the lake of fire alive, because he will continue to exist over the extended period of spiritual judgment, which will very likely last a total of 1,600 days.  But, for all intents and purposes, he has been slain – he has been put down from all rule and authority and deposed from his throne where he ruled over the churches and the nations of this world.  Christ took the kingdom. 

Spiritually, what happened at the beginning of Judgment Day on May 21, 2011, is also pictured in 2Chronicles 36:22-23:

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of JEHOVAH spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, JEHOVAH stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath JEHOVAH God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? JEHOVAH his God be with him, and let him go up.

Cyrus said that God had given him rule over all the kingdoms of the earth and, of course, he did rule over a vast empire.  But, technically, he did not rule over all the kingdoms of the earth because there were kingdoms elsewhere that were not under his rule.  Spiritually, however, it was a correct statement because Christ rules over all the kingdoms of the earth.  Remember that statement that Satan made to the Lord Jesus when Christ was being tempted in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights?  It says in Matthew 4:8-9:

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

You see, it was within his power and authority because he had won the kingdoms of this world when he defeated mankind in the Garden of Eden.  Yet, at the end of the Great Tribulation and the beginning of Judgment Day, Christ takes the kingdom of Babylon, just as Cyrus took Babylon long ago, historically.  Just as Cyrus can say, “All the kingdoms of the earth hath JEHOVAH God of heaven given me,” so, too, the Lord Jesus Christ can make this claim at this time in the Day of Judgment.  He is King of kings and Lord of lords. It is amazing that we read this here in Revelation, chapter 17, but that very truth is also found in 1Timothy 6:14-15:

That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

Christ would show “in his times” and that would be at “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and He appeared in judgment when He shut the door of heaven, put out the light of the Gospel, ended His salvation program and began to pour out His wrath upon all the unsaved inhabitants of the world.  He conquered Satan and took his kingdom and now the Lord Jesus rules with a “rod of iron,” which is what it says in Revelation 19:15:

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 Almighty God.

The ruling with “a rod of iron” is also the Word of God, but notice how it is joined with the statement that “he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”  In Revelation, chapter 14, He treads the winepress and the blood comes out for the space of 1,600 furlongs, which identifies with the 1,600 days of judgment, and this very likely gives us the period of His rule over the nations of the world which He has conquered and rules with a “rod of iron.”

It goes on to say in Revelation 19:16:

And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

Here, He is as the all glorious One, the Mighty God, the great Potentate, the everlasting God.  He has finally defeated the foe that dared to rise up against Him and come against Him in battle.  Christ put Satan down and will, ultimately, destroy him.   Satan had ruled over the kingdom of this world and had been a king over the kings of this world.  Daniel recognized that in regard to King Nebuchadnezzar, when he said that God had made him a king over kings.  Satan had ruled over the kings of this world and then Christ took Satan’s kingdom and became the greatest of kings.  He is King of all kings and Lord of all lords.  It points to Jesus alone as the spiritual ruler and spiritual authority of all the earth in all areas that had been Satan’s domain.  Christ now rules over all as the Supreme Ruler.  This is the point that God made in Daniel, chapter 7, where we find the context of Judgment Day.  It says in Daniel 7:9:

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit…

So God cast down all other kings and then He took His seat as King of kings.  It goes on to say in Daniel 7:9-14:

…whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.  I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Here, we can see the picture that God is revealing of Satan, the beast.  Remember, the name “the beast” identifies primarily with his rule during the Great Tribulation.  It says the beast is slain and his body destroyed, but it is saying there are “other beasts.”  With that statement, God is saying that Satan, for all intents and purposes, was slain spiritually, but continues to exist, just as Haman was slain, but his ten sons continued to live for a time, but without power or dominion because Mordecai took all that had belonged to Haman and, yet, the ten sons continued until the actual date of Purim when they were put to death.  Likewise, Satan will continue to exist until the actual final day of the prolonged period of judgment and then he will be destroyed.  Now is the time that Christ has taken the kingdom of Satan and God is lifting Him up and exalting Him as the Supreme King of all.  This is why the Lord says of the Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians 2:6-11:

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Of course, Christ would have all His elect people bow the knee and make that confession to Him.  He will forcefully put down all others – all other kings, all other lords, and all the unsaved people of the earth.  He will finally destroy them all, leaving a kingdom that is in submission in total obedience to Him and we will recognize Him and serve Him as King.  What a wonderful thing that will be.  Have you ever read in the Bible about a good king of Judah, like David or Josiah, and thought that they are kings you would not have minded serving?  To be able to serve a king that was a man after God’s own heart or to serve a king that desired to please God would be a good thing, but we have it much better than that because we have the greatest, the most glorious King of kings and Lord of lords that we serve, knowing that He is a just King and a right King.  Everything that He does would be for the benefit and welfare of His kingdom and it is perfect and pure and holy.  We never have to doubt, even for a second, His motives or anything like that.  For evermore we can serve this great King.