Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #13 of Revelation chapter 19 and we are going to be reading Revelation 19:11-15:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 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.

I will stop reading there.  Here, we are presented with an image of the Lord Jesus Christ that is unlike the typical image that many churches seek to portray.  Many people have an image of Him as a “gentle man” who is calling children to Him or healing the sick and showing forth mercy upon all those that came to Him to be healed of their diseases.

This is not that picture and this is not the picture of Christ as He was entering into Jerusalem.  Remember what it said in Matthew 21:4-5:

All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

When Jesus entered into Jerusalem riding upon a donkey, it was a very lowly illustration.  It was a meek picture of Eternal God and a humble sight to see Christ riding an ordinary donkey into the city Jerusalem.  Of course, when people go forth into battle and when warriors enter into the fight in a war, they normally do not ride donkeys.  In the verses we just read in Revelation 19, it is illustrating Judgment Day, the battle at the end of the word and the final battle between the Lord Jesus Christ and His kingdom and Satan and his forces of the kingdom of darkness.  It is the last battle of Judgment Day, so the image is of Christ on a horse and He has a sword protruding from His mouth to smite the nations.  He is going forth to destroy. 

This is an image of Christ that is really not put forth all that much by the churches and it is an image that the world does not hear about very often.  Instead, they hear about the meek and lowly Jesus and they hear about how God loves everyone.  In contrast to the Law of God, they are shown pictures of this kind looking man that the churches say is Jesus, but, of course, they have no idea what Jesus looked like and it is a violation of Scripture to make an image of God.  But they have that picture in their mind of a man with the long hair and the beard and He is smiling warmly at people and He loves everyone.  The Muslims hear that Jesus loves them.  The Hindus hear that Jesus loves them.  The atheists hear that Jesus loves them.  Everyone hears this and Jesus is just “love.”  And it is true that “God is love.”  So Christ is loving, kind, gentle, compassionate, merciful and loving.  Yet, it is not true that God loves everyone.  That is not true at all – it is a big lie that has been put forth as though it were true.  God says He loves His elect people, insofar as salvation is concerned and He hates those that are not His elect people.  So God does not love everyone.  The same kind and gentle Jesus who did heal the sick and forgave the sins of those He saved is, according to the Bible, the Judge of all the earth.  We read in John 5-26-29:

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

God has given the Son authority to execute judgment or to carry it out.  This is the reason why in the time of Judgment Day, the picture is of Christ seated upon the clouds and coming in judgment and sending forth His sickle to reap the earth, in Revelation 14.  The Son is the One who is actively involved in Judgment and that is why in Revelation 19, it is Christ, the Son of God and the Son of man, who is seated upon the white horse and the armies in heaven following Him on white horses; they are going forth to battle in the Day of Judgment because He has been given authority to execute judgment.  It says in 2Corinthians 5:10:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

It is the judgment seat of Christ.  The plural pronoun “we” is referring to the elect and I would encourage anyone to read the entire chapter and notice how often the plural pronoun “we” is used.   Also, notice that in every verse in the chapter it refers to the elect, just as it does here in verse 10: “For we must all appear,” and the word “appear” is the same word that is translated as “made manifest,” just as Christ made manifest what He had done from the foundation of the world when He appeared on earth to demonstrate the things He had done.  So, too, now the elect that had been judged in Him from the foundation of the world, are alive and living on the earth in the Day of Judgment and making “manifest” our judgment in Christ. 

But, again, the key thing we want to note here is that it is the “judgment seat of Christ.”   God is specifying that Christ is seated as the Judge. 

It says in Romans 14:10:

But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  

Again, when it says, “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ,” it is also referring to the elect, because Psalm 1:5 tells us, “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment.”  They cannot stand because to “stand” means to endure or to abide through it and it is only the elect that are able to “stand.”  Remember what it said in Revelation 6:17 in a passage that describes Judgment Day? (I am sorry to refer to Judgment Day so often, but God writes about it very often.)  Let us read this starting in Revelation 6:16:

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

Let us just stop and notice how often in all these passages it refers to the judgment “seat” of Christ; He is seated upon the clouds; and, here, He is seated on the throne.  And who is the “Lamb”?  As he saw Jesus approaching, John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”  Jesus, once again, is in view as the Judge.  It goes on to say in Revelation 6:17:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

This is the question: who will stand?  Psalm 1:5 tells us it is not the ungodly – they shall not stand in the judgment.  Therefore, when Romans 14:10 says, “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ,” it is declaring that the true believers will endure to the end. They will go through the prolonged period of Judgment Day without being destroyed and at the end, they will be exalted unto the heavenlies to enter into the new heaven and new earth because the judgment of God regarding them will be, “I find no fault in them.  I see no sin in them that I should destroy them.”  Because their sins have been paid for and they are gone, they are qualified to endure or to “stand” at the end.  That is what the Bible really has in view when it speaks of the “armour of God” in Ephesians, chapter 6.  The “armour of God” is that which accompanies salvation and God equips everyone He saves with the “armour of God” and it is that which permits the child of God to endure to the end.  Let us look at the language of Ephesians 6:10: 

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Then it says in Ephesians 6:13:

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

What is the “evil day”?  It is Judgment Day.  Remember the Lord’s Prayer says in Matthew 6:13:

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…

The “evil day” is Judgment Day.  It was the prayer of salvation that we would not enter into the judgment of God and be destroyed in the “evil day.”  Yet, if we are equipped with the “armour of God” (the “helmet of salvation,” the “shield of faith” and the “breastplate of righteousness,” which things point to Christ and His saving work), we will “withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

Well, we are getting away from the verses we were looking at in Revelation 19.  Let us go back to Revelation 19:11:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

There is a lot of information in this verse.  God identifies Christ as “Faithful and True,” but God also emphasizes that Christ’s judgment is a righteous judgment: “and in righteousness he doeth judge and make war.”  I want to spend a little time on this because it is very important and it has been one of the charges against the Bible’s teaching that God has shut the door of heaven and ended His salvation program.  The accusation has been: “That is not fair.  That is not right.  You cannot have children born after God shuts the door and there is no possibility of salvation.  It is not just and it is not a proper and right thing for God to do.”  They are making the claim that God would not bring judgment that way.  They are really trying to say it is an unrighteous judgment: “You are saying that God shut the door to heaven on May 21, 2011 and ended His salvation program, but there are millions of people that have been born into the world since that day and where is the possibility of salvation for them?  That is not fair,” they charge.

We are going to spend a little time looking at this accusation.  When we get together in our next study, we will see how often God ties together His “judgment” and “righteousness.”  It is a right thing; it is according to the Law of God.  There is no violation of the Law in the final judgment of the world.  God would never violate His own Law and, ultimately, it would be injustice if a Judge did not follow the Law.  God is the Judge of all the earth and He follows His Law perfectly and He is letting this be known in regard to Judgment Day.