The Victorious Christ

KEY VERSE: “He hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.” —Revelation 19:16

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Revelation, chapters 19 and 20

THE MANY EVENTS described in the book of Revelation, between chapters 7 and 19, from the time that the seals are opened on the scroll and the angels hold back the four winds from the destruction of this present evil world, are in some cases flashbacks to the early days of the Christian era. During this entire age the process of selecting the bride of Christ takes place. In the 19th chapter, that class has been completed and the time for the marriage of the Lamb has come. A marriage is a time of rejoicing, and this is especially true of this marriage. We read: “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 the saints.” (Rev. 19:7,8) The bride is arrayed in fine linen because the bridegroom provided the ransom for her. Everything she possesses comes from him.

Prior to the marriage of the Lamb, false religious worship under the symbol of Babylon is destroyed. Thus in the beginning of the 19th chapter there is great rejoicing because of the great judgments pronounced by God, the Father, and executed by his Son, the glorified Christ. We see the four beasts and the twenty-four elders doing obeisance to God and saying, “Amen; Alleluia.”—Rev. 19:4

A great change takes place in earth with this destruction of false religious worship, and Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords, rides forth on a white horse with the ‘called, chosen and faithful’ following him on white horses as an army to conquer those who control the nations of earth.—vss. 11-16

The three great enemies of God are described symbolically as the ‘beast’, ‘the false prophet’, and the ‘Devil’. In the warfare that follows, the beast and the false prophet are destroyed. (Rev. 19:19,20) The Devil is captured and bound for a thousand years.—Rev. 20:1-3

The 20th chapter of Revelation further tells of the Millennial reign of Christ who, as King of kings and Lord of lords, together with his bride, shall raise all the dead an bring fulfillment to the Abrahamic promise of blessing all the families of the earth.

Everyone will have an opportunity to learn righteousness, and to obey God’s law. This is the express purpose of the thousand-year reign of the victorious Christ. With Satan bound, and all the enemies of righteousness destroyed, there will be no interference to this reign.

The final test will then occur when Satan is loosed after having been bound a thousand years. He will be successful in influencing some again, as at the first, in what is called ‘a little season’ of testing. This rebellion against righteousness will be put down, and at that time the Devil, as well as any who follow him, will be destroyed.—Rev. 20:7-10

The final victory of our Lord over death and the grave will be complete when, as we read: “Death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire [the final destruction]. This is the Second Death.”—vs. 14

Then ages of glory will follow.

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