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In Revelation 19:11-16 and 19-21, Christ is revealed as the Word of God — King of kings and Lord of lords — who returns to defeat and destroy Antichrist and the false prophet. After His wedding feast, Christ will come as a fighting General with His bride, the overcoming believers who are His army, to fight Antichrist, the kings under him, and their armies at Armageddon. These three will continue to oppose Him. Under the instigation of Antichrist, man will even wage war directly against the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Antichrist, the false prophet, and the ten kings and their armies will make war against the Lamb. This war will be a fighting of the earth against the heavens, of man against God. Christ’s enemies will become all the more evil, even declaring war against Him. It is indeed astounding that man could actually declare war on God. Therefore, Christ, the Bridegroom, will come with His bride to fight against them.
In 19:11-21 we see that the Bridegroom comes to fight against His enemies with the help of His bride. The Bridegroom is the Commander-in-chief, and the bride is the army. This will be a honeymoon for the newlywed couple. During His honeymoon Christ will clear up the universe. Antichrist and the false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire (v. 20), and Satan will be bound and cast into the abyss (20:1-3). At that time Christ will be happy, and we, His bride, will also be happy as we enjoy a wonderful honeymoon with our Bridegroom.
The war at Armageddon will remove all the obstacles to the coming millennial kingdom. Before we can have a feast, we must clean up the feasting room. In the millennial kingdom the entire universe will be the feasting room, and Christ and His bride will work together to sweep away the dirt, which will be put into the “trash can,” the lake of fire. God’s sweeping in the universe began in Genesis 1. First, God swept the dirt into the sea (v. 2); at that time the sea was the trash can in this universe. Eventually, all the dirt will be put in the ultimate trash can, the lake of fire. In Matthew 25:41 the Lord Jesus said, “Go away from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Because the “goats” followed the devil, they will be cast into the lake of fire prepared for him and his angels. God has prepared the lake of fire as a “trash can” to dispose of all the trash in the universe. Antichrist, the false prophet, and their armies will be swept into the “dust pan” and then dumped into the lake of fire. After the millennium Satan himself will join them there. After the judgment at the great white throne, all the dead unbelievers will also be cast into the lake of fire. From that time onward, there will be no more dust. In the New Jerusalem there will be only gold, pearl, and precious stones. The Lord’s fighting in the war at Armageddon will actually be a sweeping of the dirt into the universal trash can. Antichrist’s declaration of war on Christ will give Him the perfect opportunity to sweep Antichrist away, and the bride of Christ will cooperate with Him in doing this.
We should praise the Lord that we are not trash; rather, we are a treasure. Instead of being cast into the lake of fire, we will be gathered into the New Jerusalem. In order for the Lord to enjoy a pleasant honeymoon and the thousand-year kingdom, all the trash must be swept away. We should look forward to participating in this cleaning work. How pleasant it will be!
Revelation 19:11 says, “Behold, a white horse, and He who sits on it called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.” Faithful and True will be a title of Christ. Christ is faithful both to God and to those who believe in Him. In His faithfulness He defeats and destroys those who oppose God and persecute the believers. He is true in carrying out God’s economy and in caring for those who believe in Him. He is trustworthy, and with Him there is no falsehood.
Christ is God’s faithful and true Witness who sits on a white horse, judges in righteousness, and makes war. Christ will come back to fight against Satan’s power of unrighteousness, which today operates in the world as the mystery of lawlessness and which will issue in Antichrist, the man of lawlessness (2 Thes. 2:3, 7-8). The entire earth is under the satanic power of unrighteousness. In righteousness Christ will return to make war against the unrighteousness practiced by Antichrist and all his partners.
Christ will not only judge in righteousness but also fight in righteousness. He judges by fighting. Even today, no wrongdoers would accept the judgments of our courts if the government had no police force to back up these judgments; judgment can be executed only by police power. When Christ comes to judge Antichrist, Antichrist will be utterly rebellious. Thus, there will be the need for Christ to fight to subdue this rebellion and to judge these rebels in righteousness. His judging by fighting is not only according to righteousness; it is also to maintain righteousness.
In Revelation 19 Christ, the Bridegroom as the Commander-in-chief, appears riding on a white horse. The horse of the first seal in 6:2 is also white and signifies the preaching of the gospel. Thus, both Christ and the gospel ride on a white horse. In the book of Revelation, white indicates being clean, pure, just, and approvable. This is vastly different from what is indicated by the colors of the other three horses in chapter 6—red, black, and pale green. Even today we are riding on this white horse. Our preaching of the gospel is clean, pure, just, and absolutely approvable by the Lord. Christ will ride on this horse as He fights against His enemy.
Those who preach the gospel become the riders of the white horse. According to the Bible, we should preach the gospel to lead sinners to salvation. We all need to bear fruit. Although we may admit that this is scriptural, we may not be bearing any fruit. This means that we are not on the white horse. If we are preaching the gospel, our interest on the earth is in God’s kingdom. We should be those who are laboring to help people to be saved in order to build up the Body of Christ for the kingdom of God. Most of us need to work to make a living, but all of us can separate a certain amount of time to the Lord for His interest. The unbelievers can always spare time for their amusement and entertainment, but we believers have God as our amusement and entertainment. We have no excuse for not preaching the gospel. We must be on the white horse for the spreading of the gospel.
The white horse includes not only preaching the gospel but also having home meetings, feeding the young ones, holding group meetings for perfecting, and prophesying to build up the church. If we do not preach the gospel to save sinners, feed, nourish, and cherish the young ones, gather the new ones together for a group meeting, or have the capacity and ability to prophesy for the building up of the church, we are not on the white horse. We need to take this way; we must not stop the white horse.
Revelation 19:12 goes on to say, “His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written which no one knows but Himself.” Christ’s eyes being “a flame of fire” signifies His judging eyes. He will judge according to what He sees. His flaming eyes will carry out His judgment. As the Warrior, Christ has many diadems on His head. Every kind of glory is a diadem. Christ is crowned and glorified. Because He has been crowned with many kinds of glory (Heb. 2:9), He wears many diadems.
As the One on the white horse, the Lord has “a name written which no one knows but Himself.” This indicates that there are certain aspects of Christ that we have not experienced and that only He Himself knows. These are secrets concerning Christ that He keeps within Himself. Even though we may experience and enjoy Him to the uttermost, there will still be aspects of Christ that will be kept secret from us; they will not be known even by His closest overcomers. This indicates that the Christ whom we experience is inexhaustible.
When we experience Him, we come to know a particular aspect of Him. However, there are certain aspects of Christ that will not be experienced by us. Only He Himself knows what these aspects are. Because we have experienced His redemption, we know Him as the Redeemer. Because we have experienced Him as light, life, manna, power, strength, holiness, and comfort, we know Him in all these aspects. We have experienced so many items of Christ’s riches. But because there are some items that we have not experienced, He still has a name known only to Himself. Therefore, we do not know this name. No matter how much we have experienced Christ, there is still something about Him that remains unknown to us.
Revelation 19:13 continues, “He is clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and His name is called the Word of God.” This indicates that the Lord Himself is the Word of God. The Lord is clothed with a garment dipped in blood because of His fighting at the battle of Armageddon. The garment of Christ is dipped in blood and becomes red by His treading the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God (v. 15; Isa. 63:1-3) at Armageddon (Rev. 16:14, 16), where the blood will rise up to the bridles of the horses (14:20).
That the Lord’s name is called the Word of God means that He is the expression, the testimony, and the speaking of God. The Word of God is the definition, the explanation, and the expression of God. In order to know God, we need to read, study, behold, contemplate, and gaze on Christ as the Word of God.
In Revelation 19, as the Word of God, Christ speaks for God by executing God’s judgment upon the rebellious people. Even as the Lord fights, He speaks for God and expresses God. The fighting of Christ is the speaking of the Word of God. God is righteous and sovereign. He is also a God of order, and as such He cannot tolerate disorder and rebellion. As Christ fights against the enemy, He will speak that God is sovereign, righteous, and orderly. He will declare that God is the God over everyone and that He does not tolerate rebellion against His authority. Hence, the Warrior is the Word. His fighting is the speaking of God’s Word. The Lord’s fighting in the war at Armageddon will be a powerful speaking. It will tell Satan, Antichrist, the false prophet, and the entire universe that God is sovereign and that no one can rebel against Him. God is not a God of confusion; He is the sovereign God, a God of order who does not tolerate rebellion. The God of order will sweep away all rebellion.
The Word of God is mentioned both in the Gospel of John (1:1) and in the Revelation of John. In the Gospel of John the Word of God does not speak of anything related to fighting; rather, He speaks of redemption, light, life, and building. In the Revelation of John the Word of God speaks not only of life and building but also of fighting. Before God can have the building He desires, He must first clean up His universe. In this book Christ’s fighting is also His speaking for God. As the Word of God, His fighting proclaims to the whole universe what kind of God He is. In the Gospel of John, the Word of God is for the impartation of life into us, but in Revelation the Word of God is for fighting against and defeating God’s enemy.
In Revelation 19 the Lord Jesus who comes down out of heaven appears as a General fighting a battle. He is riding on a white horse, and His name is called “the Word of God” (vv. 11, 13). The word of God that we speak today is the Lord Jesus. Eventually, as we continue to speak, our speaking will cause the Lord Jesus to come forth. When the Lord comes, He will come as a Warrior, a General. He will fight for His kingdom. In the warfare for the kingdom of God, Christ is the Word of God, speaking for God’s purpose. In His fighting against God’s enemies for the kingdom, Christ is God’s speaking.
