Revelation 19:15 Commentary and Bible Study

Nowhere in the gospels do we have a description of the physical form of Christ. Here in the Book Revelation we have the most detailed description found anywhere in Scripture, but it is not a description of the flesh, which counts for nothing, but of the spirit, which gives life. He is known by us wholly in terms of his spiritual attributes. John uses phrases taken from a number of Old Testament passages, which are gathered up and woven into a single picture. From his mouth proceeds a sword, an image already used in the opening vision of the book. The organ of his speech is represented as a sword because of the power of his words. His words address the greatest of subjects, heaven above and hell below. He speaks of the glory of God and of the sin of man, of the curse and of redemption. His words are a weapon which his enemies are unable to resist; they are weapon to deliver his children from the power of death. He does not need to pick up a literal sword, for he can accomplish all things through his word. All must instantly obey his command. By this word he will strike the nations for his word is employed in judgment. Although the elect will be called out from every nation of the world, the nations are rightly characterised as united against him. He will not send another in his place; he will come himself. Unlike us, God has his wrath in perfect control at all times. They are never an overreaction; they are never hasty; they are never irrational. They are always consistent with all his other attributes. When he is angry, it is the response of his perfect justice and truth to sin. God is slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ will rule them with a rod of iron. This description has already been used in Revelation 2:27 and 12:5. The expression indicates his stern rule over his enemies and comes from Psalm 2. He will slay those who did not want him to reign over them, as the parable says (Luke 19:27). They have opposed him and therefore they will suffer personally at his hand. No man can rebel against God without drawing the attention of the eternal Son of God upon them. Woe to those who do so!He comes to tread the winepress of the wrath of God. The metaphor of the grape harvest links this passage to the very end of the world. The fall of Babylon described in the previous two chapters is to be concluded by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when he will trample them in the winepress so that none will escape. The gruesome imagery pictures blood instead of wine coming out of the vat, an image used in Isaiah 63. There will be no mercy offered in that day, no hesitation on the Lord’s part in acting, since men will have had long enough to repent and will have shown their utter intransigence. Now they must face the fierce anger of God, which will hold within it unexpected terrors and relentless punishment. It is Christ who is the member of the Godhead to whom judgment has been committed (John 5:22-27). He feels a personal sense of outrage at what has been done to his people. He has listened to the prayers of his children in their need and suffering and has stored all their tears up in his bottle and written their sorrows in his book (Psalm 56:8), and now he acts.