Revelation 19:11–21 - Our Divine Warrior

In the first half of Revelation 19, John saw a vision of a heavenly celebration. The saints and angels, with all creation, rejoice when Babylon falls. All the wicked seductions and persecutions of the world have been put down forever, and they praise God. In those verses, Jesus is depicted as a groom returning for His bride — the true Church. And in verse 10, John states that all of Scripture is about Jesus Christ, and He is the worthy object of our worship.

Christ is many things to His people: Savior, Lord, King, Shepherd, Groom, Friend, Brother, Redeemer, Comforter, and Example. He is God in human flesh. He is the second person of the triune God. He is the second Adam. He’s the head of the Church. He’s the Creator – along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit – for He was there in the beginning, and all things were created by and for Him.

Christ is our humble servant, giving His righteous life as our ransom and payment for sin. He’s our great High Priest who brings us to God, and our great Prophet, who by His Word and Spirit revealed to us the will of God for our salvation. Those who are born again died with Christ and we were raised with Him, and so He is our life.

And along with all of these, Christ is yet something else.

The OT book of Exodus says that when the Israelites were finally free from slavery in Egypt – when they had made it across the Red Sea safely and the Egyptian soldiers who chased them were drowned – “Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, “I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a man of war.”

Jesus Christ is our divine Warrior.

This second part of Revelation 19 describes Him as such for our understanding and benefit. As I've said before, throughout Revelation we see the same events from various angles, each one intended to teach, or encourage, or warn us. Notice the outline for you on page 6. On the last Day, with divine authority and righteousness, our Warrior will appear, and with divine justice and power, He will avenge.

Christ will do battle on behalf of God and His people, and to truly know Christ is to know HIm as this divine Warrior. So let’s look at this together.

John sees the white horse again. Back in Revelation 6, the white horse symbolized the gospel of Christ going forth – God’s Word galloping onward. Later on in that chapter, Jesus breaks the fifth seal, and John sees the martyrs of the faith – those who died at the hands of the unjust for being faithful to Christ and His mission. There, John says, “They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Now, in Revelation 19, the Avenger appears.

And to understand who He is and what He will do, these symbols help us. Verse 1, “Behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.” What is this war?

Well, this is Armageddon – the final confrontation between the spiritual forces of good and evil. Armageddon is an OT reference to a battle that God’s people cannot win on our own. We must have God’s help, and God will appear to fight and win.

Look at verse 12, “His eyes are like a flame of fire.” Christ is also described this way back in Revelation 1. Jesus sees everything, and He judges all that He sees.

“On his head are many diadems.” These are individual bands tied around the head of a king. They seem to symbolize Jesus’ kingship over every area of life – a crown for every sector over which He is Lord.

“And he has a name written that no one knows but himself.” There are so many names by which we know Christ, but there remains a name we don’t know, perhaps just as there remains many things we know and many we don’t regarding God’s will.

Verse [13] “He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood.” Now whose blood could this be? We should remember the winepress of Revelation 14. That chapter pictures Christ crushing  His enemies, and the blood runs down like wine in the press. In Isaiah 63 in the OT, God says to the Messiah, “Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?” “I have trodden the winepress alone…I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel.”

The wine press is a symbol of God’s wrath against His enemies.

“And the name by which he is called is The Word of God.” In both John 1 and 1 John 1. Christ is referred to as “the Word.” This means that Jesus is the revelation of God. As one scholar puts it, the title speaks to how God the Son “expresses or reflects the mind of God” and “also…reveals God to man.”

Then in verse 14, John sees an army with Christ. They are in fine white linen as well, and so this probably includes both angels and saints. But it’s interesting that they don’t have weapons.
And that’s because this isn’t going to be a fight.

Picture a boxing match, where two opponents come at each other, fists raised and ready,
and one boxer throws a single punch that lands just right, with all the power necessary to knock out his opponent cold. And one punch is all it takes. One punch and the fight’s over! That’s how it will be on the Last Day when Christ returns. But nonetheless, John sees Christ bringing along all of heaven to watch.

Now look at verse 15, “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.” Obviously this is symbolic, like so much of Revelation This is apocalyptic literature. The OT prophet Isaiah described the Messiah in a similar way. He wrote, “the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him…he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”

The triune God created the heavens and the earth by simply speaking. He said the word, and it was so. The Father, Son, and Spirit did this together. And here, the Son returns to strike down His and our enemies with His divine command. It’s over – literally – when Christ says it’s over. Evil is done for good when he says so. His word of judgment is sharp like a sword and strong like “a rod of iron.”

And the rest of the verse brings back the imagery of the winepress, “the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” This is the final judgment. And verse [16] “On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” This title was given for Christ back in Rev. 17. The meaning is that Christ truly is the Greatest Of All Time. All kings bow to Him as their king. All lords are subservient to His lordship. As far as it being written on the thigh, the sword is naturally worn on the thigh. Christ has all power and ability to conquer. He simply cannot lose.

Why is it that Christ cannot lose the final confrontation? Well, it’s because He appears with all the authority and righteousness of God. Those who try to side step the authority and righteousness of God in this life can only do so for a little while. Now, for a short time, it appears that they are successful. But they are only storing up wrath for themselves.

In this next section, now Christ carries out the task. An angel announces it, “standing in the sun.” This seems to be the highest place above all the birds. This angel is directing these birds to feast on flesh. The OT prophet Ezekiel described something similar.

You see in verse 17 the angel calls this “the great supper of God.” Well, the first part of Rev. 19 referenced the marriage supper of the Lamb. It’s a feast for Christ and His true church. This supper is the antithesis of that – the opposite. The first is the feast for those who are born-again; this is the feast on those dead in sins.

And of course, both are symbolic. One is the consummation of redemption; the other is the pouring out of judgment. The symbolism speaks to the severity. It will be terrible. These birds are told to eat the flesh of all who are about to be slain. So, there is no proper burial, and there is no honoring of the dead. This is death and disgrace.

Now look at verse [19] “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.” Earlier John saw Christ the Warrior and His armies; Satan arrives with his forces as well. This beast is the “first beast” from previous chapters. We identified that beast as anti-Christian governments that persecute the body of Christ.

Notice verse [20] And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet.” This false prophet is the “second beast” from previous chapters. This beast is the anti-Christian religions and philosophies. These two beasts work together. Religion and philosophy don’t ever really rule the world, but they play a key role. Politicians – government leaders – command armies and drop bombs and fight wars. But anti-Christian government is propped up by anti-Christian systems of belief.

Obviously, this is the Last Day, and we’ve seen previous depictions of it. But a new wrinkle is added here, and it’s related to verse 15, “from His mouth will come a sharp sword” and verse 21, “the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse.” What is this new wrinkle? What is this additional aspect that we should understand about the Last Day?

It’s one that we have not yet explored, and it’s related to what the apostle Paul describes in 2 Thessalonians 2. Paul tells the church that the Last Day “will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, [4] who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship.”

This “man of lawlessness” seems to be the same person that John writes about in 1 & 2 John. John calls him “the antichrist.” Interestingly, the term “antichrist” is never used in the book of Revelation – not even once. However, John uses the word 4x in his other letters, and Paul is apparently talking about the same person in 2 Thess. So, who is this person?

Well, first let me read for you how Paul says this person will meet his end. Paul writes, “the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.” This is what John sees in Rev 19. So who is this person? Listen to what Paul says next. “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” This is a government figure supported by false religion.  So, who is this person?!

Just before those words, Paul writes this: the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.” Now, John talked about something similar in 1 John 4. He wrote, “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”

In every age there has been an underlying movement of antichrist, as well as key figures of those movements who were antichrists. In fact, John says as much in 1 John 2, telling the churches, “It is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.”

The spirit of antichrist is at work in our world today.

The mystery of lawlessness is at work in our world today.

It is “the activity of Satan,” which could also be translated “energy of Satan” or “working of Satan.” And this has been the case since in every age. As Revelation has told us, things will get increasingly worse as history moves toward its finale. And there will, at the time Christ returns to earth, a severe antichrist movement and an awful person at the helm. This is a person who is guided by Satan, which is exactly what Revelation has described all along: worldly entities with Satan as the puppetmaster pulling the strings.

But look again at what happens when our Divine Warrior appears, verse [20] “And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.”

Christ tosses these antichrist entities and their leaders into hell forever. And all those whose minds were blinded by Satan are slain.

Now, we shouldn’t read too much into the symbols. We understand that all souls apart from Christ are banished to hell. This is imagery to help us understand. Christ and Satan will not go back and forth. Christ will defeat them all with a word. In a breath it will be over. Such is His great strength. After all, He created the universe by just His powerful word. And all who endure that punishment will deserve it.

You see, just as with divine authority and righteousness our Warrior will appear,
with divine justice and power, He will avenge.

Do you know Jesus, the divine Warrior? He fought sin and death for His people, and He won. He conquered the grave for those He came to save. Jesus is a fighter.

And so His people must fight. The apostle Paul, near the end of his life, told his pastoral protege  Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

What is this fight we must fight? It’s the fight to love the triune God and obey His commands. It’s the fight to follow Jesus, to bring Him glory and be unstained by the world. Paul also told Timothy, “Fight the good fight of the faith.” How can we fight?

Colossians 1 helps us understand. There Paul speaks about Christ. He writes, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” That could be translated as “fighting with all His energy.” The power of Christ makes us strong to love and obey Him.

And of course, in Ephesians, Paul tells us to “put on the whole armor of God.” We are in a fight! It is a spiritual battle. We have the weapons we need close at hand: truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace. And we have faith. We have the knowledge of our salvation. We have God’s Word and Spirit. And we have prayer. And these are absolutely effective for those who fight with the power of Christ in them.

If you trust in Christ, you have “Christ in you.” He is with you and He will sustain you. Trust and rest in Him today. Leave your sin. Put that behind you and move forward with Christ. Humble yourself before Him, and He will fight your battles.

Let’s bow in prayer.