Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #21 of Revelation chapter 19 and we are going to read Revelation 19:16:

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

This verse is describing the Lord Jesus Christ as God reveals Him in the Day of Judgment.  This is the picture and image that God wants to relay to us concerning Christ in the time of the final judgment of mankind.  He is coming victoriously and triumphantly.  He has won the war and defeated Satan and his kingdom of this world, as typified by Babylon.  The unsaved inhabitants of the earth have been conquered and destroyed and it is just a matter of time until the prolonged period of judgment reaches its final day and they will be utterly annihilated and gone forever, along with this sin-cursed world and universe.

Here, the Lord Jesus is seen and God says, “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written,” and we saw earlier in verse 13 that God spoke of Christ’s vesture and of his name.  It said in Revelation 19:13:

And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

Here, the vesture is said to be “dipped in blood.”  We discussed that when we saw that this identifies with Isaiah, chapter 63; Christ shed His blood while under the wrath of God at the point of the world’s foundation.  God forsook God – God put God to death.  And we cannot understand that or explain that.  How can God die at the hand of God?  But that is what the Bible says and we know it is true.  Christ was the High Priest, Melchisedec that put the Lamb (also Christ) to death and, in doing so, His vesture was “dipped in blood.”

Also, in Isaiah 63, there is a dual picture of Judgment Day for the world.  Christ is treading the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of God and, according to Revelation 14, the blood is overflowing and coming out of the winepress.  We can see how that would also involve blood on His vesture.

So it says in our verse in Revelation 19:16:

And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written…

In all likelihood the name is the “The Word of God,” as it says in verse 13, but it could be a name that God does not tell us about.  But we see that He has a name written on “his vesture and on his thigh,” and we should not overlook the name that is written: “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”  We know why that particular name is written on “his vesture and on his thigh,” and that is because it is the battle between the Lord Jesus, the King of the Jews, and Satan, the ruler of the unsaved of the world.  When the Lord Jesus put down Satan and all the nations, then Christ becomes “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”  It is especially at the time of Judgment Day that this glorious name is revealed by God.  It is a most appropriate point for Christ to be exalted and lifted up: “Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”  Remember that we read this earlier in this chapter.  Praise JEHOVAH for He is “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”  He is the Almighty, the Omnipotent One.  It is Judgment Day and the time when the might and power of God is being shown forth like never before in history.  There had always been Satan’s assaults and Satan’s attacks against Israel of old or against the churches and it seemed for a while during the Great Tribulation that Satan had won.  He had been loosed in order to accomplish God’s purposes, but from the world’s perspective, it certainly did appear he had won – his deadly wound was healed.  But it was only to serve God’s purpose to use Satan as an instrument of judgment against the churches and as a means of preparing the nations of the world for their final judgment.  Now all those purposes had been served and it was time to put him down and on May 21, 2011 he was put down and defeated.  It was a great day of victory for the kingdom of heaven and for the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. 

But why does God tell us that this name is on “his vesture and on his thigh”?  We can understand why the name might be on His vesture, since that is clothing and it is a covering.  The breastplate or covering in the Bible identifies spiritually with righteousness and it is Christ’s righteousness that ultimately won the war because His righteousness has been imputed to the great multitude that was saved out of Great Tribulation and completed the body of Christ.  But why was it written on His thigh?  The Greek word translated as “thigh” is only used here in the New Testament.  You cannot find this word anywhere else; it is only in this verse and that is always a problem when we are trying to understand a word.  But we can go to the Old Testament and see how God uses the word “thigh” there.  It is used several times and it is translated a couple of different ways and we will find that it does help us understand the word, which we can then take and apply to our word here in the New Testament.

In the Old Testament the Hebrew word translated as “thigh” is Strong’s #3409.  We find it used in Genesis 24:1-9:

And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and JEHOVAH had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: And I will make thee swear by JEHOVAH, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. JEHOVAH God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again. And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

This is rather unusual to us.  We do not have that custom where someone would put their hand under your thigh.  This practice is also found later in the Book of Genesis when Jacob was on his deathbed and used that same kind of language.  Here, in Genesis 24, Abraham is sending his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac, the son of his old age, born when Abraham was 100 years old.  Abraham did not want just any woman to be Isaac’s wife, but it must be someone from his own family and that would require sending his servant to Haran in order to find a wife.  This is a wonderful parable in which Abraham typifies God the Father and Abraham has a son and Abraham had taken his only son to offer him as a sacrifice on Mount Mariah.  It was a picture of God the Father offering up God the Son, so we have the same spiritual identification here with Abraham and Isaac.  The servant is a picture of the true believers that are given the mission to find God’s Son a wife.  Remember earlier in Revelation 19, the bride or Lamb’s wife made herself ready.  We discussed how the sending forth of the Gospel by God through the true believers is how the true believers helped make “herself ready” until all the believers had been found and the woman was “complete” when the last of the elect became saved.  Likewise, in this parable, the servant represents the true believers that go into the world with the Gospel, seeking out the bride of Christ.  When the Word of God would save each one, the “bride” was coming together and when the last one was found whose name was recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life, the “bride” was complete.  That is the picture.  The servant goes to find the bride and he does find her.  But, first, he swears by putting his hand under Abraham’s thigh.  Notice in verse 7 that the “seed” is mentioned.  The servant took an oath that he would do as Abraham had commanded and go to seek the bride.

The Hebrew word for “thigh” is Strong’s #3409 and it is also translated as “loins” in Genesis 46:26:

All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were threescore and six;

The word “loins” is the same Hebrew word, but it would not sound right to say they came out of his “thigh,” so the translators translated it here as “loins,” and it is speaking of the “seed” or descendents of Jacob that came forth from his loins.  We do use that kind of language even today when we have a child or a grandson or great grandson or other descendent and we say they came from the “loins” of a person and God is using the word to say the same kind of thing.

It says in Judges 8:30:

And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives.

Here, the Hebrew word is translated as “his body.”  Gideon had seventy sons of his “loin” begotten or his “thigh” begotten, but we can see how it is being used concerning children that issue forth from an ancestor.

So, this word translated as “thigh” is being used to swear that the servant will find a wife.  It is not the case historically, but it is the case spiritually that the word “seed” points to Christ when it is used in the singular, but the elect are “in Him” and, therefore, they are also part of that “seed,” as it says in Galatians 3:29:

And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

So putting the hand under the “thigh” really points to the “loins” because the spiritual picture is, “I have my son Isaac and I want a bride for him,” or “I have my Son Christ and I will send my servants to gather His bride.”  They are the “seed” that will come forth.  Christ came forth through Israel and we are all “in Him,” and that is how it ties together.

In Numbers, chapter 5, we read of a very strange Law that God instituted concerning a woman that is suspected of adultery.  She could be “tested” by drinking bitter water and if she were guilty, then her “thigh” would rot and her belly would be made bitter; if she were innocent, her “thigh” would not rot and her belly would not be made bitter.  It would have no harmful effect.  We read in Numbers 5:20-22:

But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband: Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, JEHOVAH make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when JEHOVAH doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.

Then it says in Number 5:28:

And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

So her “thigh” would not rot and this means she would conceive “seed.”  If it did rot, there would be no “seed” and she would have no children or offspring.  Again, if she were innocent, she would have “seed.”  It is a picture of God trying the churches to see if they are faithful and if they are not faithful, there is no more “seed,” or no more “salvation.”  That is exactly what God did when He ended the church age.

But notice how all of these references relate the “thigh” to that which comes forth from a man.  At this point in our verse in Revelation, chapter 19, it is the time when the bride has already come together – there “she” is and everyone to become saved has been saved.  This means the “seed” that was “in Christ” has been found.  It was promised to Abraham that his seed would be as numerous as the stars and now they have all become saved and, therefore, Christ has on his “thigh” a name written: “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”  It is really from the “thigh” or “loins” of Christ that the entire company of the elect (that great army that is following Him) has come forth from Him.  So it is a very fitting place to put this glorious and holy name, saying that Christ is “KING OF KINGS.”  Yes, He is King of all the evil kings He has conquered, but He is also King of all the true believers that have been made “prophets, priests and kings” because of Him, as a result of what He did for them. 

We cannot put one name of God above another.  All of God’s names are great.  His name “Word of God” is great.  The name “Righteousness” is great and so are the names of “Wisdom” and “Faith,” but this is certainly one of the great names of God: “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”