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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Christ
the Conqueror
By Karl J. Forehand
The tribulation is
over…Babylon has been destroyed…the wedding feast has been promised. The time has come for the 1000 year reign
with Christ; but one more thing has to be done – some foes have to be
vanquished, namely the beast and the false prophet and al their armies. It isn’t really much of a fight
(vv.19-21) It seems that they “go
down” as fast as they rose to make war against Christ. But in order that they be totally
defeated, Christ the Conqueror comes to do battle for us.
1. The
character of the conqueror.
and He who sat
upon it is called Faithful and
True; and in righteousness He
judges and
wages war. (Rev. 19:11)
Don’t miss this part of the
Scripture, for it is foundational. The
conqueror is “faithful, true and righteous.”
This makes him capable of waging war.
What makes war valid
or acceptable? Many times we
rationalize war based on the character.
We would say Sadaam Hussan has no right to wage war on anyone. Why?
It is because of his character.
In the United States, we rationalized war against the Indians by
devaluing their character. We called
them “savages.” The time for war is
not when we are angry. The time for
war is not when our commerce is threatened.
There is a time for war, but why be so concerned about it? Because:
War takes us outside
the boundaries or everyday law. When
militia groups disagree with a government and wage war against it they are
taking themselves outside the boundaries of the law. When some anti-abortion groups decide to
go outside the law and kill doctors they are in a very serious
predicament.
In some 6000 years,
God has waged very few wars. The
flood to destroy the world and the battles for the Promised Land are examples
of when God said “something must be done.”
I would suggest that many of the wars fought around the world were not
fought because God said so, but to protect commerce and because of the pride
of the leaders. My grandpa and my
uncle both fought in major wars, and I would fight for my country, but I
would suggest that many have died in vain because we have often fought wars
for the wrong reason. Listen, very
carefully:
Only God has the right to say
“enough!”
Because of His
character, He is the one that can say (as He did in this passage), “I’m
through with you – it’s over – no more chances.” We have no right to wage war, even in our personal life, unless
God says so. We fight too many wars
and too many personal battles over petty things. We don’t have the strength of character to righteously judge;
therefore our character is best when we let God do the conquering.
What battles are you
currently fighting that you need to let go of?
2.
The Clothes of the Conqueror
on
his head are many crowns…He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood…and his name
is the Word of God….And he hath on his vesture
and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Rev.
19:12-16)
Many crowns
It was customary for a king
that ruled more than one nation to wear multiple crowns. I can’t imagine that he could do anything
useful while balancing those crowns.
Jesus wears many crowns because He is coming back to rule everyone. He is not just going to rule the
Israelites, as He did before. The
conquering Christ is coming back to destroy the enemies and rule for the rest
of eternity.
The big question is:
“Doe He rule in your life?” When He
comes back to conquer, your will be subject to Him. Why not submit to His Kingship now? As a pastor, I know whether my members are submitted to the
Lord. I don’t find out in church,
rather I find out the level of my members submission from people outside the
church. They are glad to tell me. They say, “So and so is a member of your
church – let me tell you about them…”
You may fool a few people at church, but you’re not fooling the people
you are trying to witness to. They
know if you truly worship the King you talk about.
Cloak
dipped in blood
Notice a couple of
things about this cloak. It is not
splattered or stained with blood. It
is not stained from the battle. It is
before the battle that we see the blood.
And, it is dipped in blood, meaning it was made that way
willingly. Christ willingly gave His
blood for you. The simple question
is: “Are you washed in the blood of the
lamb?”
Name
Tag
Word of God – This is
the conqueror’s identity. John,
chapter 1, and other passages speak of Jesus being the Word, the logos, that
came to dwell with us. He IS God’s
Word that dwelt with us and spoke to us straight from the follower. Notice also that there is a name that
“no one knows except himself.”
(v.12) There is still some
mystery to our God. We can’t boil Him
down to a formula. He is still God
and we are not. Praise the Lord that
we have a God that is still beyond our understanding.
King of Kings / Lord
of Lords – This is His position. He
is not just the commander of you local church. He is not just the commander of your denomination. He is not even just the commander of
conservative Christians. He is the
supreme commander – the Lord of all.
His name and his
clothing should teach us about His attributes. How does that help us?
It helps us worship. The book
of Revelation is sometimes confusing and we often get lost in the
interpretation. But, verse 10 tells
us that “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” The main function of prophecy is to say
“Thus saith the Lord” and help us worship and lift up Jesus Christ. This book is not about the Beast or the
Anti Christ – it is all about Jesus Christ.
He is our ruler, our
Savior, our Lord and He is clothed to conquer.
3. The Weapons of the Conqueror
…And
His eyes are a flame of fire….Out
of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.
"He will rule them with an iron scepter." (Rev. 19:12-16)
Flaming Eyes
The nearest to flaming eyes that I have ever seen is when I
made my wife mad. Christ’s flaming
eyes are symbolic of how His glance can penetrate and pierce even into the
hearts of men. This is one of the
reasons people avoid church. Youth
have told me, “We like come to church; but we get convicted there…” I tell them, “That is what is supposed to
happen.” God knows you deeper than
anyone else. He looks into the hearts
of men and see His enemies and His friends.
We avoid this because it is painful. We don’t even want to look in there, much let someone else
expose those things.
Sword
Of course the Sword of the Lord is the Word of God. This is how God wins His battles – by His
Word. It is how Jesus defeated Satan
when He was tempted. He spoke the
Word of God. The only offensive
weapon listed in the Armor of God (Eph. 6) is the Word of God.
Jesus’ conquering power will be overwhelming when He puts an
end to the old order of things; but I want you to understand something very
powerful:
This same conquering power is available to you
If Jesus can conquer death, He can certainly help you with your
problems. His power is available to
you. You may say, “But, I don’t feel
the power.” Actually, it has little
to do with feeling. Many times we are
at the end of our rope and we trust God because we have run out of
options. We trust Him, by faith, and
He is able to work – not by feeling but by faith. It is often looking back that we understand and see the
demonstration of God’s conquering power.
We day, looking back, “Wow, look what God did!”
We may say, “But, I have never experienced the conquering
power…” It may be because we haven’t
let go and let God work. If we stay
in control and trust in our own power, God’s supernatural power can’t be
demonstrated. I’m not saying that
life is not going to be tough. After
all, we are in a war and you con’t go through a war without getting some blood
and dirt on your shoes. You will cry,
you will struggle, you will anguish – with God’s help you will also WIN!
Karl J. Forehand
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