May the Spirit of God take away the veil from our eyes while we read what
was revealed to the beloved apostle John! Here we have the prophecy of the
destruction of the great anti-Christian system of Babylon, which, being
interpreted, is and can be none other than the apostate church of Rome.
Revelation 18:20-24. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and
prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a
stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with.
violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no
more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and
trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of
whatsoever craft he be, shall he found any more in thee; and the sound of a
millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; tend the light of a candle
shall shine no more at tell in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of
the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the
great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And
in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that ere
slain upon the earth.
Now, after the false church is put away, the true Church of Christ shines
out in all her glory and purity.
Revelation 19:1-4. And after these things I heard a great voice of much
people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and
power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments for
he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt thee earth with her
fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And
again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the
four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that
sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
Heaven and earth are equally glad, and they unite to adore the living God
when the great apostasy, that has so long cursed the nations, is hurled into
the sea.
5, 6. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his
servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were
the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the
voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth.
And his great power is never better seen than in crushing the powers of
darkness, and putting the hosts of evil to the rout.
7-10. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of
the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the
fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write,
Blessed are they, which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And
he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet
to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow
servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God;
for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
All worship, therefore, of saints and angels is a gross error, not to be
tolerated for a moment. John was mistaken in falling down to worship the
angel; but he was speedily rebuked, and his mistake was quickly corrected.
There is no doctrine that needs more to be preached just now than this
message of the angel, “Worship God.” Neither crosses, nor crucifixes, nor
holy wafers, nor anything that can he seen or handled, must be worshipped:
“Worship God.” We need still to hear God’s mighty voice proclaiming from
mount Sinai the great law. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that
is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth: thou shalt not how down thyself to them, nor serve them:
for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that
hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my
commandments.”
11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon
him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and
make scar.
Behold your Savior, the Champion of the cause of truth! His war is not that
of the carnal weapon and of garments rolled in blood. It is a spiritual
warfare; but he wins a more glorious victory than ever sword or gun could
gain.
12-14. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns;
and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was
clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of
God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
All his true ones, all his faithful ones, all his saints, whether ministers
or not, the heavenly armies, “followed him upon white horses, clothed in
fine linen, white and clean.” Holiness is their armor, light is the panoply
that they wear as they go forward to this holy war.
15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,
He puts down vice, and evil of every kind, not with the sword of steel, but
with his word: “Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,”-
15, 16. That with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them
with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and
wrath of Almighty God. And he hath o his vesture and on his thigh a name
written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
For this Son of God whom we worship, this Jesus of Nazareth, is Master of
all. All power is in his hand, he is, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
17, 18. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud
voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and
gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat
the flesh 9/kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men,
and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all
men, both free and bond, both small and great.
By this highly figurative language, we are to understand that, when Christ
goes forth to war in battling for the truth, and his true followers come
after him, their victory will be certain, and the slain of the Lord will be
many. We look not for carnage and bloodshed to establish the kingdom of
Christ in the earth; but this revelation gives us a picture of the utter
overthrow and destruction of all forms of error through the power of the
everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen, so let it be! Would God that the
King of kings would mount his white horse at once, and that all his people
would follow him! He will do so at the right time, and then the victory
shall be unto God, and to the truth, and to love, and to peace and holiness,
for evermore.
In Celebration of Life in Him,
Dr. Jim DeBruhl, gembeaux@bellsouth.net
" Everything is wrong until God makes it right. "
