The King is Coming

Revelation 19:11-16

Growing up in the fifties my hero’s were cowboys and the Lone Ranger and many other good guys rode white horses; looking back it seems like the bad guys wore black hats and the good guys wore white hats.  Do you ever wonder where they came up with black was evil and white was good?  As we began to grow and got street smart, we understood that it was not what a man wore externally but who he was internally that made the man.  In fact it was not based on what we saw as much as how the man acted when no one but God and he were watching, and a man who passes that test is called a man of integrity.

The eleventh verse begins; “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse!  The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.”  Often I’ve heard it said that life was just uncomplicated in the fifties and there is some truth to that, but on the larger scope it was a time of stronger families that played together, went to church together, worked together, and had a clear understanding of good and evil.  The writer of the westerns had an understanding of right and wrong, and they knew that in the end good would overcome evil.  It so important to remember that God is the Creator, and that he is not limited by time or controlled by time, so what the apostle John is seeing is the future, and he sees Jesus coming back to earth on a white horse.  Jesus came first as a servant and a redeemer, that was not what the chosen people were looking for, but this time He is coming as judge.  Picking back up in verse twelve; His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.  He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.  In the gospel of John 1:1-4, it is clear that John is calling Jesus the “Word of God” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”  In John 1:14 it states, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is not only the “Word of God” He is life and the great news is that we have been invited into that life.  Back to verses 14-16;  “And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.  From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.  He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Jesus is coming back, this time as the King who will rule the nations, this time his chosen people will understand whom he is but they will have some questions; in Zechariah 13:6, “And if one asks him, “What are these wounds on your back?’ he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends!”  The one on the white horse with the army dressed in white on white horses, whose name is King of kings and Lord of lords is coming back with a spirit of grace for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  Zechariah 12:10 gives this account; “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”  The King is coming and God gave Zechariah the prophet, little is known concerning him, but God chose to let him see down through the ages, the coming of the Messiah King.  Zechariah is being shown much of what the apostle John is now telling us.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice