STUDY THEME: VICTORY IN JESUS--NOW AND FOREVER. 3-26-00 "WHAT ABOUT CHRIST'S RETURN?" REV. 19: 6-9, 11-16, 19-21. PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO REVELATION 19. In last Sunday's lesson we learned that after the church was caught away and the saints were with the Lord, Satan will raise up a world dictator who will succeed in a measure and for a brief time in making the nations and the world believe that the second beast in Revelation is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, and will convince the multitudes who have rejected Jesus Christ that Jesus was a fraud, and an impostor, and the world will largely follow the advice of the first beast, the political dictator and ruler of the earth, and receive the second beast (the Antichrist) as the Messiah. Remember, the supreme mark of all antichrists from Judas on is the denial of the incarnation of the eternal Son of God. At the close of Ch. 13, halfway thru the Tribulation period, the replica or image of the AntiChrist was set up, and all would worship the image of the beast or be killed. He then abolishes the former world religion and demands that people worship him alone as God. The mark of the beast on the right hand or forehead will permit one to buy and sell. The number of the beast is 666. Revelation now carries us to the end of the thousands of years of human history. God has allowed an unseen power, Satan the devil, to influence a world willing to be deceived. That epoch is almost over. God is about to shatter the tool of Satan--the political and religious power that has dominated the world. It is with sincere regret that we skip over the l4th thru 18th chapters of Revelation. You will want to read of the horrendous series of natural catastrophes from the hand of God that fill those chapters. The plagues in the seven vials of God's wrath described in Rev. 16 follow closely the pattern of the 10 plagues of Egypt. When the final vial of God's wrath is poured out, we will have reached the Battle of Armageddon of which you will want to read. May I suggest that before we complete our study of Ch. 20, 21, and 22 in the three lessons in April you study carefully Chs. 14 thru 18 of Revelation which we are skipping over. In Ch. 17-18 you will read of the rise and fall of Babylon. In Scripture, Babylon represents the program of Satan as opposed to the program of God. It began with Nimrod, the rebel, of whom we read in Gen 10 & 11, when he built the first Tower of Babel. It was a religious and political federation of all nations of the world in opposition to God. I believe there is today a revival of the spirit of Babylon. Not knowing or believing that the only hope for world peace is the coming of the Prince of Peace, the world leaders are seeking to bring about peace by their own methods: one global policy, one global church, one global speech. Then will follow the catching away of the church, and for a brief time Satan will rapidly attempt to fulfill his plans which we studied last Sunday. When the terrible tribulation was occurring upon the earth to prepare the earth for the saint's reign, the saints themselves are in heaven being prepared to reign upon earth. Today's lesson in Rev. 19 does not describe everything that will happen when Christ returns, but it does tell us that He will claim His own, conquer the world, and crush the Antichrist. We will be focusing on three aspects of Christ's return: His union with His people, His worldwide dominion, and His victory over evil. 1 PLEASE READ REVELATION 19: 6-9. This passage opens with the sound of a mighty chorus of praise. This is the song of victory for God who reigns over heaven and earth. The Bible does not give dates for the climax of world history, but it surely does provide the key for understanding. That key is found in the sovereignty of God and the Lordship of Christ. Ch. 19 is one of the greatest chapters of the Bible. It deals with three of the most important events in our lives. (1) The marriage supper of the Lamb; (2.) the return of Christ with his Church and (3) the final triumph over the Antichrist and the False Prophet. The climax of the entire Revelation is reached in this dramatic and exciting chapter in which Christ returns as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The second coming of Christ to earth is the most anticipated event in known history. It is the ultimate fulfilling of all biblical prophecy. The return of Christ is the final apologetic! Once He returns, there will be no further need to debate His claims, or the validity of the Christian message. The King will come in person to set the record straight. Rev. 19 is probably the most dramatic chapter in all the Bible. In this chapter the living Christ returns to earth to crush all Satanic opposition to the truth. He established His kingdom on earth in fulfillment of the O.T. prophecies and of His own promise to return. You will remember that just prior to the crucifixion, the disciples asked Jesus in Matt 24:3 "What shall be the sign of thy coming?" Our Lord replied in Matt. 24: 29-30 "Immediately after the tribulation of those powers--the powers of haven shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." As Jesus looked down the corridor of time to the end of the present age, He warned in Matt. 24: 5-28 of "a time of great tribulation that will come upon the whole world." In Matt. 24: 22 our Lord went on to explain that the devastation of the Great Tribulation will be so extreme that unless those days were cut short, no one would survive. You will notice that the church is not mentioned from Ch. 4: thru 18 because the church is not on earth during the outpouring of the judgments recorded. During the entire Tribulation Period the church was in heaven with Christ, being made ready to come back with Him to reign upon the renewed earth. While God is preparing the earth for the Saints, He will also prepare the saints for the earth. The great praise of the multitude in Rev. 19:6 sounds like a massive crashing of waves. Following the pattern of a Hebrew wedding the church was betrothed to Christ by His sovereign choice in eternity past, and will be presented to Him at the RAPTURE. The final supper will signify the end of the ceremony. This symbolic meal will take place at the establishment of the millennial kingdom and last throughout the 1,000 year period. While the term "bride" often refers to the church, and does so here, it ultimately expands to include all the redeemed of all ages, which becomes clear in the remainder of the book. In Vs. 8 the bride's wedding dress has been woven out of all those truly Christian acts in which the Lord himself take pleasure. "The righteous acts of the saints" refers not to Christ's imputed righteousness granted to all believers at salvation, but the practical results of that righteousness in believers lives, i.e., the outward manifestation of their inward virtue. "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." (2 Cor. 5:10.) In Vs. 9 "those who are called" is not the bride (the church) but the guests. The bride doesn't get invited but invites. These guests are those saved before Petecost, all the faithful believers saved by grace thru faith to the birth of the church in Acts. 2. Though they are not the bride, they are still glorified and reign with Christ in the millennial kingdom. The guests also will include tribulation saints and believers alive in earthly bodies in the kingdom. The marriage will take place after judgment. It takes place in heaven. 2. PLEASE READ REVELATION 19: 11-16. Perhaps the most striking statement in this description of Christ in the glory of His Second Coming is this: "He was clothed with a vewture dipped in blood." His garments are bloody as He comes from heaven. Men in all ages have tried to escape the blood of Christ but a Christ without blood cannot be a Saviour. That blood which flowed is the cleansing blood in which He died but by which we live. That blood cannot be evaded. You may reject it, ridicule it, tread it under foot and despise it, but that blood remains the witness of God either for or against you. If you, by faith receive Him, that blood will cleanse you from all sin and save you forever. If you reject that blood now, you will have to face it later, for note well the fact that when He comes again He will come clothed in a vesture dipped in blood. Either you must accept the blood of Christ or He will require your blood. Though we cannot know all the details of God's plan, we can rejoice in knowing that God in Christ ultimately will triumph over the forces of evil. This 19th Ch. describes one of the most important events events of human history. It is the coming of the Messiah or Christ to reinstate God's government on this earth and to reward God's faithful people. Rev, 11:15 foretold this event "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" The honeymoon of Christ and His bride, the church, of course follows the wedding, and the record which follows immediately in Rev. 19: 11 is the account of the coming again of the Lord Jesus with His Bride to put down His enemies, to bind Satan, to destroy the Antichrist and the False Prophet, Satan's two henchmen, to reassemble Israel to the land of Palestine, and then establish His kingdom on earth and reign with His Bride for a thousand blessed years. 3. PLEASE READ REVELATION 19: 19-21. In Ch. 16 we were introduced to "Armageddon." The word Armageddon is found only once in the Bible, in Rev. 16:16 "And they (the demons) gathered them (the kings and their armies) together to the place called in Herew Armageddon." Armageddon refers to the hill of Megiddo. It lies in the modern state of Israel, about 55 mi. N. of Jerusalem, and about 15 mi. inland from the Mediterranean Sea. Megiddo itself is a huge mound with a commanding view of the long and fertile valley of Jezreel Armageddon will merely be the staging area for these immense armies. The Bible does not say that a battle of Armageddon is to be fought. The actual war will be fought farther south, in the valley of Jehoshaphat. Today it is called the Kidron valley. This valley borders Jerusalem on the east. . When the King comes to earth at the end of the Tribulation Period He will not come alone: He will be attended by the redeemed company of resurrected and redeemed saints as well as the hosts of angels who constantly attend Him. This army has no weapons, no swords, no shields, no armor. They are merely clad in the righteousness of the saints. They have not come to fight, but to watch. They have not come to assist, but to celebrate. The Messiah-King will do the fighting. He alone will win the battle by the power of His spoken Word. The supernatural Christ will lead His army of resurrected saints to total victory. So great will be slaughter on that day that the Bible tells us seven months will be required to clear the battlefield and bury the dead. (Read in Zechariah 14:1-15; Joel 3:1-2, 9-14 for details of this climatic battle.) This is the order: First, the rapture, then, the Tribulation, then, the Second Coming, and, then, His glorious, millennial reign. Until you learn to use this key the Book of Revelation defies intelligent opening. NEXT WEEK FROM REVELATION 20 LET'S SEE WHAT IS INVOLVED IN THE FINAL JUDGMENT? A.V. DAUGHERTY 3-26-00.