For centuries, believers have been awaiting Christ’s return with great anticipation. “Lift up your hearts! Our King shall come!”—preached Clarence Edward Noble Macartney in a classic sermon—“When the world sky is darkest with clouds of unbelief, behold the glory of the coming of the Lord…you shall hear floating down from heaven the notes of that distant triumph song whose sweet melody shall one day encompass the heavens and the earth.” Today’s reading in Revelation 19 describes Christ’s Second Coming and His victory at Armageddon. The forces of evil have gathered for a final battle. But it’s not much of a battle when the opponent is all-powerful.

Christ the Messiah arrives on a white horse leading the “armies of heaven” (vv. 11–16). Since they’re “dressed in fine linen,” in this case the army is the church (v. 8), including believers raptured prior to the Tribulation. Christ is wearing a golden crown, because He’s the “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Out of His mouth is coming a sword (as in Rev. 1:16). His robe is “dipped in blood,” foreshadowing His victory and fulfilling Old Testament imagery of God as the Divine Warrior (for example, Isa. 42:13). Christ is the One who actually “treads the winepress” (Rev. 14:19) of God’s righteous wrath. The Lamb’s victory is absolute. Both beasts (Revelation 13) are captured and thrown into a “fiery lake of burning sulfur,” that is, hell (vv. 19–20). (What about the dragon? See Rev. 20:7–10.) An angel had invited birds to a grisly feast on the dead bodies of God’s defeated enemies—an ironic contrast with the wedding supper of the Lamb—and indeed the birds “gorged themselves” (vv. 17–18, 21).