When considering the triumphant return of Jesus in Rev 19 when He comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to judge and make war, I have already shared how at this stage the Bride is in Heaven, which necessitates an earlier rapture. This is a key point of the Bridal Perspective on the End Times. Remember we must keep the Bride in full view, because that’s our blueprint to help us piece together the various pieces of the jigsaw. I believe the return of Jesus in Rev 19 is not the same event as the coming of Jesus on the clouds in Matt 24. To help bed this down a little further, that Revelation 19 is not synonymous with the gathering, I want to make some comparisons between the Warrior return in Rev 19 and the gathering of the Elect in Matt 24. So here are the two passages: Matt 24:30,31″Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Rev 19:11-16 11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
On closer study of these two passages, there are some very noticeable differences:
- In Matthew, Jesus is coming on the clouds,
whereas in Revelation, He is coming on a white horse - In Matthew, Jesus is coming with angels to gather the elect, whereas in Revelation, He is followed by His armies (who are the elect, His Bride) to make war
- In Matthew, Jesus is named the Son of Man, whereas in Revelation, He is named Faithful and True, The Word of God and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords
- In Matthew, Jesus has no weapon described, whereas in Revelation, He has a sharp sword coming out of His mouth
- In Matthew, Jesus has no crown described, whereas in Revelation, He is crowned with many crowns
- In Matthew, the emphasis is upon gathering the elect, whereas in Revelation it’s upon judging and making war
- In Matthew, there is the element of surprise, for He will come like a “thief in the night” (Matt 24:43), but in Revelation, there is no element of surprise, in fact the Kings of the earth go to make war with the Lamb Rev
As we can see, there are numerous differences in these two passages. The key to understanding what is taking place is by looking at the name of the Lord. For He has many names, but a biblical principle is that each name of God, reveals an aspect of who He is. For example, when the Israelites came out of Egypt after three days in the wilderness they were desperate for water, but the waters at Mahra (ma-rar) were bitter, so the Lord healed the waters to reveal to them that His name was Jehovah Rapha (ra-far) meaning “I AM the Lord who heals you”. The names used of Jesus in the two passages of Matt 24 and Rev 19 reveal to us in what capacity He is coming. The title King of Kings and Lord and Lords in Revelation 19 is used because He is returning to reign. Whereas the title Son of Man used in Matthew is primarily because Jesus is returning as the Saviour.
