Angelic Conflict part 330: Future work of Christ –Rev 19:6-14; Isa 64:1-2; 25:6-8.
length: 64:17 - taught on Jun, 3 2014
Class Outline:
Title: Angelic Conflict part 330: Future work of Christ -REV 19:6-14; ISA 64:1-2; 25:6-8.
The future word of Christ is also dependent upon His resurrection.
In a number of particulars, the work of Christ yet to be fulfilled in keeping with the prophetic Scripture also depends upon His resurrection.
1. The resurrection of all men.
2. The marriage of the Bridegroom and the bride.
At the time Christ comes for His church at the rapture, He will be joined to the church in heaven in keeping with the figure of the Bridegroom coming for the bride.
This figure in the Scriptures speaks of the eternal union and fellowship of Christ and His church and is an important aspect of His future work, logically depending upon the fact of His resurrection from the dead.
The church in the present age is a bride waiting for the coming of her Husband.
For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.
After we enter the Father's house, our dwelling places in the New Jerusalem, then the wedding feast of the Lamb will commence.
REV 19:6 "Hallelujah! [Praise the Lord] For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.
REV 19:7 "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready."
REV 19:8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
In preparation for the marriage, the Savior died on the cross for His church and became the sacrifice for her sin. This led to the present work of sanctification unto every person who believes through the baptism of the Spirit. All members of the church are clean through positional sanctification. In time the Church can purify her thinking through the word of God and thus prepare herself for her future role as an ultimate witness to the grace of our Lord by walking in that witness through His grace in time. And although not all the Church takes advantage of their position through experiential or practical sanctification, the third phase is a future certainty, which is the ultimate sanctification at the rapture when the bride is presented in her perfection.
In ultimate sanctification there is no stain or discoloration, no wrinkle, no blemish, but in every respect the bride is holy and blameless.
REV 19:9 And he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" [OT and Tribulational saints] And he said to me, "These are true words of God."
A distinction is made between the bride and those who are invited to the wedding feast. These would be the resurrected OT saints and Tribulational saints.
REV 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
The last sentence can be passed over easily. It is a priceless identification of our Lord.
Prophecy at its very heart is designed to unfold the beauty and loveliness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In the present age, therefore, the Spirit of God is not only to glorify Christ but to show believers things to come as they relate to His person and majesty, JOH 16:13-15. Christ is not only the major theme of the Scriptures but also the central theme of prophecy.
Christ in the book of Revelation: Returning in triumph, glory, sovereignty, and majesty.
Christ of the gospels: rejection, humiliation, suffering, and death.
The revelation of Jesus Christ presented in the book of Revelation is in contrast to the Christ of the gospels where He is revealed in rejection, humiliation, suffering, and death. His return is to be one of triumph, glory, sovereignty, and majesty.
REV 19:11 And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
Christ in contrast to the false ruler of this world,
And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown [stephanos, Christ wears the diadema in 19:12] was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer.
Christ is presented in REV 19:11 as the true ruler.
Christ here fulfills ISA 64:1-2.
Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down,
That the mountains might quake at Thy presence — As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil — To make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Thy presence!
REV 19:11 And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
The titles given here to Christ are in keeping with the divine judgment which follows, which is in pure righteousness.
He is declared to be faithful and true, and to judge and make war in righteousness. This is to be the demonstration of the sovereignty and righteousness of God even as Christ in His first coming demonstrated grace and truth.
These are anticipated in the prophecies of Isaiah:
And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; [not empirically, not about sin, but in reference to perfect righteousness]
But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
Rev 19 marks a dramatic change in the tone of Revelation. The destruction of Babylon, the capital of the Beast's kingdom, marks the end of the Great Tribulation. The somber gives way to song. The transfer is from darkness to light, from black to white, from dreary days of judgment to bring days of blessing. This chapter makes a definite bifurcation in Revelation, and ushers in the greatest event for this earth, the second coming of Christ. It is the bridge between the Great Tribulation and the Millennium. [J. Vernon McGee; Reveling Through Revelation]
/Names given Christ in Rev 19:
Lamb (7); Faithful and True (11); name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself (12); The Word of God (13); KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (16)\
When it comes to Christ, to the most extreme extent, there is something in a name.
Harry Ironside wrote:
"A Name written that no man knew but He Himself" [19:12] speaks of His essential glory as the Eternal Son, concerning which He declared that "no man knows the Son but the Father." [MAT 11:27] ... The second name is "The Word of God."[19:13] [The third title is] King of kings and Lord of lords."[19:16] In these three names we have set forth, first our Lord's dignity as the Eternal Son. Second, His incarnation - the word became flesh. And, lastly, His second advent to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. [H. Ironside, Lectures on Revelation]
Then we have a description of His appearance.
REV 19:12 And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself.
REV 19:13 And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God.
These attributes are demonstrated in the appearance of Christ as described:
"eyes a flame of fire" - righteous judgment.
"many diadems" - sovereignty.
"dipped in blood" - the bloodshed yet to come.
"I have trodden the wine trough alone,
And from the peoples there was no man with Me.
I also trod them in My anger,
And trampled them in My wrath;
And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments,
And I stained all My raiment.
The name given that is "word of God" also refers to Christ as Creator in JOH 1:3.
REV 19:14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
Though the Church is mentioned as being clothed in white and clean there is no scriptural reason to exclude angels from also returning with Him, which is expressed in other passages.
they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. "And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
The true issue is the spectacle of Christ on a white horse with a vesture dipped in blood accompanied by innumerable heavenly beings clothed in fine linen is a demonstration that now at long last the filthy, blasphemous situation in earth is going to be wiped clean with a divine judgment of tremendous character.
Since the marriage feast is mentioned here as being consummated with the second coming, it has led some to believe that the feast is on earth. Most believe it is in heaven and as our citizenship and kingdom are heavenly I would agree that the feast is a heavenly one. Some believe, of who I respect greatly, that this is not a literal feast since millions would be in attendance and that it is symbolic of the real joining of the bride-groom to the bride.
Nothing is impossible with God and so I don't think the numbers pose a problem, nor do I see a problem with a literal feast. Yet, either way, the most important thing is our final and eternal union to Christ which is celebrated at this feast. Some verses to consider in connection with a literal feast.
"But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."
ISA 25:6 And the Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain;
A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow,
And refined, aged wine.
ISA 25:7 And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples,
Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.
ISA 25:8 He will swallow up death for all time,
And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces,
And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
The mountain is Zion and thus this may refer to a lavish banquet at some point in the Millennial kingdom of Christ, of which the Church would certainly be in attendance. Yet Zion is also a term connected with the Church, HEB 12:22 in which Zion is called the heavenly Jerusalem, and since our wedding feast is directly linked with the second coming which begins the Millennium so it could also be simply calling into one marvelous prophecy about the victory of our Lord and His deliverance of the Church as well as Israel.
What is most important is our marriage and subsequent wedding feast and our returning King who is faithful, true, and sovereign.
3. The judgment of all classes of moral creatures (angels and men).
In addition to His present work of administering chastening and disciplinary judgments in the life of the believer, Christ will also be the final Judge of all moral creatures, whether men or angels.
These judgments can be itemized as referring:
a. The church:
1CO 3:12 Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
1CO 3:13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.
1CO 3:14 If any man's work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward.
1CO 3:15 If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.
2CO 5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2CO 5:2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven;
2CO 5:3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked.
2CO 5:4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
2CO 5:5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.
2CO 5:6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord
2CO 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight —
2CO 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
2CO 5:9 Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
2CO 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat [bema] of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
“judgment seat” - Bema = a step, a footroom, a raised platform reached by steps. The believer is never judged, but his deeds are evaluated as either divine good or of the flesh.
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