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2. The Victory of Christ over Antichrist and his Army (Revelation 19:17-21)
REVELATION 19:17-21
17 I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the sky, “Come! Be gathered together to the great supper of God, 18 that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, 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 and slave, and small and great.” 19 I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse, and against his army. 20 The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with 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 that burns with sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword of him who sat on the horse, the sword which came out of his mouth. All the birds were filled with their flesh.
How can an ant risk attacking an elephant? How can a wren try to overcome an eagle? Such a fight is already decided before it will begin. The Almighty alone is the Almighty. All created beings are counted before him like evaporating drops in an emptied bucket.
John did not hear of the place where the battle between heaven and hell, between the Son of God and Satan's son should take place. Some interpreters think of Armageddon, the hill of Megiddo with the Carmel Mountain in the back and the valley of Jezreel in the front. At this crossover of the military roads of ancient times from east to west and from north to south numerous judgments of God took place in form of battles (Joshua 12:1.21; 17:11; Judges 5:19-20; 1 Kings 9:15; 2 Kings 9:27; 23:29-30; Zechariah 12:10-11; Revelation 16:13-14.16; and other verses). However, John does not name any special place for this decisive battle.
Indications of the Defeat of the Satanic Trinity Even Before the Battle Begins: The angel in the sun, a messenger coming from the glory of God, called in all vultures circling in the sky so as to gather for feeding innumerable dead bodies, even before the decisive battle had begun.
The bible reports several times on a mass of deaths of the enemies of God. When Hezekiah in his great affliction in Jerusalem, which was at that time compassed with armies, called upon the Lord of Hosts for immediate help, then the angel of the Lord killed one hundred eighty-five thousand soldiers of the Assyrian army all in one night, presumably by pestilence. And in the following morning the whole camp was full of dead bodies (Isaiah 37:16-20.36).
Jesus himself saw in his spirit the great field with dead bodies of his enemies at the time of his coming and the flying vultures and said, “Wherever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” (Matthew 24,28; Luke 17:37).
In the epistle of Jude, Jesus' brother (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3; John 7:1-5; Acts 1:14; 1 Corinthians 9:5) we read as follows, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 1:14b-15).
In the Book of Revelation the angel of the Lord called out of the glaring sun to the vultures to feed the flesh of kings, commanders, captains, the flesh of men, both free and slaves, as they all together were misled, possessed and rebellious and had thought of fighting directly against the Almighty (Revelation 6:15; 13:16). The coming destruction disaster was called by the angel “the great supper of God", the funeral feast for all scavenging birds in midair.
John the seer saw in this vision clearly the person of Antichrist, a man becoming a beast, together with his ten kings who had ruthlessly deprived Babylon, the prostitute, of power and destroyed her. Their obvious “success” had induced other kings on the earth to go together with them to the last battle against the Son of God so as to receive their part of fat spoils. They assembled their armies and special units in order to begin deliberately the war against the coming Lord; for they knew and believed that the Lord is coming! This mystery they had pressed by torture out of His killed followers.
The Appearance of Christ as Victor: Suddenly the divine judge, the Lord of lords, appeared riding on a white horse, together with his army and his angels being eye-witnesses. In order to conquer the enemies who are bristled with weapons, it was sufficient for the holy Lord to look on them with his fiery flaming eyes. His glare penetrated into the depths of everybody’s heart and rebuked immediately each of their wicked thoughts and made lame their tongue. If already John the apostle, when he saw his glorious Lord and judge, fell to the ground as though dead, how much more will the enemies of the Son of God at his Coming be horrified. The visible presence of the Lord is solely decisive of the victory in the battle.
The battle itself is not described in the Book of Revelation in detail. Perhaps a prophesy of the prophet Zechariah will be fulfilled here who describes in a horror vision a battle which is similar to a limited nuclear strike with the effect of a neutron bomb.
And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor (….) And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague. (Zechariah 14:12-15; cf. Jeremiah 25:30-38; Zechariah 14:3-5 and other verses.)
Antichrist and his minister of information, the false prophet, will have tried with power and cruelty up to the time of this battle to rule the world from Jerusalem. However, with all apparent success neither they nor their followers will find an inner rest neither in this world nor in the world to come. For the spirit in them is a rebellious spirit blaspheming God and his Lamb, “They have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name”. (Revelation 14:11)
The unclean spirit from the depth will the ungodly crowds fill with enthusiasm and stir up against the Lamb of God, the challenger of the beast, so that they try in blindness to destroy the coming Lord. But the evil spirit knows well that he has already been judged and will soon be condemned for ever (Mark 1:24-27; 5:7; Luke 10:18; John 12:31; 16:11; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8 and other verses).
Antichrist and his Prophet are Seized and Judged: In the vision of John we read next to nothing about the clash of the armies of heaven and hell. We only learn that suddenly, without striking a blow and without resistance, Antichrist and his lying prophet are being captured. All brilliant miracles, which the lying prophet had worked like a magician, turn out to be hanky-panky with the final purpose to deceive the crowds. In the vision of John we are also not told about the identity of whom that captures the son of the Evil One and his influential charlatan. Perhaps a nameless angel may bind the son of the Evil One and his helpmate in answer to a sign of the Lord.
According to the revelation of Christ to John the coming Savior does not kill Antichrist (the beast), neither with the breath of his mouth (2 Thessalonians 2:8) nor with the edge of his judging sword, but he commands an angel to bind and throw him into eternal torment. There he is to suffer together with his magician a double measure (Revelation 18:6) of what they had harmed to the bodies, souls and spirits of millions of martyrs who had remained faithful to the Lamb of God.
The punishment that Jesus will pour out on the leaders responsible for the worldly rebellion will not be in the form of a corporal death, but rather in the second death, where one is in the state of constantly dying but cannot die. (Revelation 1:18; 9:6; 20:14; 21:8). This second death is unlike the first, physical death (1 Corinthians 15:26.54-55; Revelation 21:4) not an enemy of God, but a just sanction (Matthew 25:41), which Jesus often speaks of in the gospels seriously, e.g. “there shall be (terrible) weeping and gnashing of teeth,” (Matthew 8:12; 13:42.50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30) “..., where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48; cf. Matthew 3:10-12; 5:22.29-30; 7:19; 10:28; 13:30.42.50; 18:8-9; 25:41). Additionally, there it will stink of brimstone and smoke breathtakingly (Revelation 14:10-11; 19:20c; 20:10; 21:8).
The Righteousness of Christ: The righteousness of Christ and his judgment are imperative, holy and faultless. Whoever did not accept the justification granted through the blood of Christ and does not live solely from the right of pardon, must be judged and punished according to his own deeds, words and thoughts (Matthew 12:36-37; John 5:29; Romans 2:6.16; 2 Corinthians 5:10 and other verses).
Whoever deliberately denies or mocks the sacrificial death of Christ becomes doomed to the second death (Matthew 25:41; John 3:18; Revelation 21:8 and other verses). Solely through the crucifixion of Jesus we receive eternal live, he is the bubbling spring of live, he is the unchanging law. Christ is the only way, no one comes to the father except through me (John 14:6). That applies not only to all men from the unclean nations but also to all Jews and Muslims. Apart from the cross of Christ there is no other open door to God (1 Corinthians 1:18.23-24; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; Galatians 5:11 and other verses). Wherever the refusal of Christ is developing to an antichristian state, as it turns out in the Middle East clearly, there the judgment will come inescapably.
When the armies of heaven and the armies of hell stand against each other in the last decisive battle, then the striking evidence against the lying arguments of the antichrists and their followers will be the sacrificial blood-red-colored robe of the rider on the white horse (John 19:1-5). This royal robe of Jesus Christ, soaked in his sacrificial blood, will stomp in the bud every critic and every accusation against God's judgment, and hell will instantly recognize its guilt and be damned by it. Without any words, the blood of Jesus Christ speaks deafeningly loud. Salvation has been accomplished! Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the high priest who offered himself. He is also the Word of God of which he had borne witness faithfully. The presence of the one riding on the white horse and wearing a bloody robe will decide the final battle without any fight and word. The blood of Jesus Christ triumphs over the lying power of Antichrist and his followers.
The Word of Christ Will Bring the Battle to an End: Antichrist has incited the people to presumption. In the morass of the humanistic ideology he has choked the repentance of individuals as well as of whole people. But whoever refuses impenitently God's Lamb is already condemned (John 3:18.36; 15:22.24; 16:9 and other verses). Only those who will have themselves judged in advance together with all their intentions and desires, words and deeds as well as their resentment against God by the two-edged and sharp sword coming out of the mouth of Christ and live from the granted grace of Christ will not come into condemnation, but will remain standing on the side of the victor.
The immense armies of Antichrist will be judged, pierced and killed by a single word of Christ coming out of his mouth like a sword. The word of the rider on the white horse heals and saves those who love and trust him. But the same word will kill and condemn everybody who hates him (Exodus 20:5-6; Matthew 18:18; 25:34.41; John 20:21-23; and other verses).
The armies of the Evil One are infected, depraved and possessed by the spirit of Satan. As they do not want to repent any longer, they all must be killed. Not the angels will strangle or gas them, but the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider who sits on the white horse and wears a blood-red-colored robe. The Lamb is Savior, king and judge alike (Zephaniah 1:14-18); and the saints, the righteous, the called and the angels are witnesses of his omnipotence.
PRAYER: We worship You, Jesus Christ; You are the Lamb of God and the Righteous Victor. Please help us that we may put our past, present and future completely under Your love and pardon and that we will be found always on Your side, the side of the Victor. Save our relatives and friends that they may repent and accept Your salvation thankfully and full of praise. Amen.
QUESTION:
- Why will the glory of Christ automatically destroy those who reject Him and follow the antichrist?