“KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Revelation 19 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying,

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; ² because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her.” ³ And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever.” ⁴ And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” ⁵ And a voice came from the throne, saying,

“Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” ⁶ Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

Marriage of the Lamb

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.” ⁸ 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.

⁹ Then he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he *said to me, “These are true words of God.” ¹⁰ Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But 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 Coming of Christ

¹¹ And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. ¹² His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. ¹³ He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. ¹⁴ And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. ¹⁵ From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. ¹⁶ And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

¹⁷ Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, ¹⁸ so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.”

¹⁹ And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

²⁰ And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. ²¹ And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

Over the past few days and even weeks, we celebrated the Christmas season, a time to, as much as our culture allows, celebrate the birth of Jesus. Jesus was born a baby, like any other baby, vulnerable and dependent on others. Even this baby has become offensive to many. In our culture we celebrate the lives of many people, some good and some villains. Yet this baby is offensive.

How then can we expect that when we speak of Jesus return it will not be offensive to many? The Jesus who will return is no longer the vulnerable baby born in a stable. Neither will the Jesus who returns be the meek and mild humble servant, the one who willingly went to the cross, sacrificing Himself to redeem and reconcile man and creation to God. When Jesus returns, He will return as “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

The vision and the images John saw and describes may not completely accurately tell us how things will look in the physical realm. It is difficult to describe spiritual things in our limited finite understanding and language. One thing that we see though every time there is a description of a scene in heaven is praise and worship of God. Today’s text says: “I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God;  because His judgments are true and righteous”; “And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”  And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.”  Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

Philippians 2:10 says: “at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth” God created every person with a free will, an ability to choose and make decisions about how they will live, what they will believe. When Jesus was born the shepherds and the wise men believed the word of God they had heard and they sought, found and worshipped the child who would be king. Herod on the other hand chose not to worship Jesus, his efforts to find Him were fruitless.

Jesus says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  (John 14:6), that too is offensive to many. Each one can choose. On the cross, as Jesus paid the price for all sin He said: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34). The cross too is offensive to some. Each one can choose.

Every person, even the agnostic or the atheist believes in something regarding this life and how and why we are here. Everyone believes something and because of that belief, in their life, they serve that belief system. In Joshua 24:15, Joshua is leading the nation of Israel and he presents them with a choice. He says:           If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”         We too, everyone, has a choice, if it is disagreeable, offensive to serve and worship the Lord, the one who came as a baby, lived as a man, died for our sins, was resurrected and sits at the right hand of God the Father, you can worship the god of your own choosing. But, like Joshua,  as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

In this time Jesus says:  Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)      

Today’s text says:     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.” ⁸ 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.

⁹ Then he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he *said to me, “These are true words of God.” ¹⁰ Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But 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.”

Jesus knock is the invitation to attend the marriage supper of the lamb. Each one can choose. There is another supper spoken of in today’s text, the great supper of God. It’s your choice.

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God;  because His judgments are true and righteous, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Amen. Hallelujah!”