No More Suffering Servant

Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war.  Revelation 19:11

The time has finally come! The church has been "raptured", or "harpazo"(ed) as we see in the Greek; for seven years, the bride of Christ, or the church, has been fellowshipping with Jesus at the marriage feast of the lamb and has been awarded many crowns for their service to the King during their time on earth; during the same seven years, the rest of the world has been experiencing the most horrendous time of tribulation on earth from the terrifying reign of the Antichrist as well as the outpouring of the full and final wrath of God on an unrepentant world. Now, we are going to see the end of Satan's reign on earth and the return of Jesus with us, his bride...

When Jesus came the first time, he came as a small child, humbled by the human experience, being fully God, yet fully human. He suffered, he served, he was mocked, he was spit upon, he was beaten, he bled, he died so that we wouldn't have to, and then he rose from the dead. And this time, he is not coming back as the suffering servant; this time, he is coming back as the conquering king!

Revelation 19 continues to describe him for us... "His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God." (v.12-13)

And we, his bride, are not far behind...

The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. (v.14)

Jesus has finally drawn the line in the sand. He has waited ever so patiently for as many people as possible to let down their pride and come lay at his feet. And finally, he has said, "enough is enough."

From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords. (v.15-16)

Of course, Satan will not give up without a fight...

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. (v.19)

...though it will not be much of a "fight" to speak of...

And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet... Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Their entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the white horse. And the vultures all gorged themselves on the dead bodies. (v.20-21)

It's a gruesome scene to be sure, and one that our gracious God would desire no one to experience. He calls us NOW to repentance. He calls us to stop, recognize the sin in our lives, beg for forgiveness, and come running back in the opposite direction, straight into his open arms. But we have to make the choice now.

And what of Satan?...

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon-- that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan-- and bound him in chains for a thousand years. The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Revelation 20:1-3

Finally, Satan has been put where he belongs and will stay there for 1,000 years. In the next post, we'll take a look at what those glorious 1,000 years hold for us...