After the judgment of Babylon the Great in chapters 17-18, John hears the voice of a great multitude in heaven praising God for the manifestation of His glory on the earth. These heavenly voices are then joined with the celebratory voices of the saints on earth, declaring the arrival of the marriage supper of the Lamb. This joyous vision is then followed by a vision of heaven opening up with Christ appearing on a white horse, as the messianic, conquering king, who has come with His army to execute judgment on His enemies and to establish His righteous reign on earth.
John then proceeds to give us a description of His fierce appearance, the names by which He is called, and the purpose for His coming. This purpose is summarized for us in verse 15: “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” And in the next vision, John sees the beast with the kings of the earth and their armies assemble to make war against Christ and His army. Christ defeats them by the sheer power of His word; and the beast and false prophet are captured and thrown alive into the lake of fire.
One of the titles that Jesus is referred to in this passage is “King of kings and Lord of lords.” This means that He has sovereign control over all things in heaven and on earth. He is sovereign over the nations and over all the circumstances of our lives. And in Eph 1:22 we read, “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church.” Jesus exercises power over all things for the good of His church. It is most comforting to know that our lives and our times are not in the hands of any politician or human being, but in the hands of our loving, righteous, all-wise, and all-powerful Savior. And because of that, we can rest and not fret over our future and the future of this nation and the world, even though there are many things that are troubling and perplexing in the world today. One thing we can be certain of, and that is: Christ is coming back to reign and rule as the Messiah-King, and we shall reign with Him. Therefore we can say with the Apostle Paul: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39).