As you read this Scripture, let it happen to you. Revelation 19:11 saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
This is the emphasis in the book of Revelation—He judges and wages war.
Verse 12 And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.
War is really the theme of the book of Revelation. All eschatology is involved with Christ’s aggressive warfare, with the victory that He brings ultimately to the earth and over the great satanic hosts, bringing them down into final judgment.
To see this we have to understand that Christ is coming to remove the curse from the earth and to clear the heavens of all the filthiness in them, spiritual, as well as any other kind of wickedness. It must be brought down.
In Genesis, the third chapter, you read the story of the fall of man and how Satan (the serpent) was put under the curse. Then God turned to Eve and put upon her many restrictions. Notice the difference. Man was not placed under a curse. He sinned and death was pronounced over him—judgment, but not a curse. It is the earth that was cursed.
The earth was cursed for their sake. The Woman was not cursed, but she lives with definite restrictions and judgment is upon her. The Man lives with restrictions, and judgment was upon him. He was told that by the sweat of his brow he would earn his living because of the curse upon the earth. The earth would not yield its vitality to him. Thorns would grow and choke out what he tried to till and tried to grow.
We do not find any real promise or description of how that curse is to be released until we read the book of Romans. In the eighth chapter, we find that God is concerned about the processes by which that curse is going to be lifted off of all creation.
Romans 8:19–23. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Therein the death sentence is upon us. Judgment is upon the physical body, and even those who have come into the redemption of their spirit in the sight of the Lord, are still groaning within themselves, and waiting for that redemption of their physical body.
Now, there must be some order in what God is doing. He’s working with us now. He’s bringing forth the new creation of male and female sons. Sons are to come to birth.
The purpose of the sons then is that they should turn and loose all creation from its curse. And yet at the same time, we read in the book of Revelation that the ones who follow the Lamb sit upon thrones, that the future judgments on the whole human race and the whole course of things—angels, principalities, and powers—are going to be laid in the hands of those who have come into ressurection life and sit upon the thrones.
Two things lie before us: the release of creation—the creative work that God wants us to perform—and the judgments that He will minister through us.
It’s a ministry of grace and it’s a ministry of judgment. God is moving in two directions. He is judging the old order of things and bringing it down. But He’s ready to cause His sons, as they come into these glorious experiences in Christ, to go through the land and begin to release it, to release creation from its futility, from the curse that it is under. This is a heritage that God has ordained we should fulfill.
Every one of us who comes into a real walk with God is aware that the satanic assault against us is so tremendous. We get into warfare that makes us wonder what on earth is happening, why the battle is so vicious.
As we come into a walk with God we became aware of a spirit world of activity, of warfare that we had never realized before.
We can say, “What is the key to it? What are we to do? We don’t have the natural senses or faculties to understand a world that is invisible and incomprehensible to us. How do we know why we’re being hit or how we’re being hit?”
God is bringing forth a people that are more and more perceptive, until we can tell what kind of spirits are coming against us, as well as when they come, how they come, and why they come. We’ve reached the place that Paul spoke of when he said, “We’re not ignorant of Satan’s devices” (II Corinthians 2:11). We are not ignorant of his devices. God is bringing forth a people who are growing in their perception and in their discernment.
The rest of the Christian world may sit back and say, “They’re mystics. We don’t want anything to do with them.” That’s too bad, because Satan is raging because he knows his time is short (Revelation 12:12), there must of necessity be a people who know what it’s all about.
There must be some who will know what they’re doing because this is in the will of the Lord. You may say, “Well, God will protect us; He’ll take care of us. We don’t have to worry about the Devil.” But we do have to be concerned about aggressively manifesting Christ’s victory in and through us. That is exactly what God is concerned about, that you be aggressive in manifesting Christ’s victory, because He’s allowing these forces to come against you.
In the book of Revelation you read that Christ slays them by the sword that proceeds out of His mouth; but notice that all of those who are following Him on white horses and who enter into the battle, have judgment given to them, and they enter into it. I want you to see clearly the picture of Revelation. It is not one of Christ sovereignly bringing this victory and defeating Satan. Romans 16:20 says, The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly—very soon. This was the plan of God.