The Pictorial Attributes of Jesus Christ
- THE MOUTH -
"...And Out of His Mouth Went a Sharp Two-edged Sword" - Rev. 1:16
John saw it! The Sword of the LORD. Prostrated at the vision, John said, “I fell at His feet as dead” (Rev. 1:17). The Sword is a form of divine judgment throughout all ages. A single glimpse of the divine being of God would unveil this to the beholder (Josh. 5:13-15). This is a coveted sight by holy men (Ps. 35:1-3)! Do you know why? Church History bears witness. Our Lord doesn’t bear the sword for nothing (Rom. 13:2-4).
Have you ever encountered an armed warrior with his sword drawn? Maybe not… but you know what it feels like to encounter someone who poses a threat to you. Everyone knows what it feels like to be in danger. Even so, there is real danger in the presence of divinity (1 Cor. 10:9)! The Church of Pergamos came to this realization when our Lord demanded that some of them would repent of their sins and get right with God.
Have you ever encountered an armed warrior with his sword drawn? Maybe not… but you know what it feels like to encounter someone who poses a threat to you. Everyone knows what it feels like to be in danger. Even so, there is real danger in the presence of divinity (1 Cor. 10:9)! The Church of Pergamos came to this realization when our Lord demanded that some of them would repent of their sins and get right with God.
“Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” – Rev. 2:16
The Israelites were commissioned to enforce the sword upon those who were divinely chosen to die among the heathen (Ps. 149:6, Josh. 10:40, Judges 7:18, 20). Israel was compelled to do the same with backslidden Jews (Ex. 32:27; Deut. 13:1-11, 17:8-13). If judgment was slacked, then the sword would come one way or another. It is inevitable. If Israel didn’t do it, then God would even commission the heathen to do it (Ps. 17:13, Jer. 48:10)! If the heathen weren’t doing it, then Angels would come bearing the sword against Israel (1 Chron. 21:12, Num. 22:23)! At last, if ordinary divine chastisements did not bring correction to the backslidden Church, then even greater measures would be undertaken.
“God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.” - Psalm 7:11-13
The threat given to the Church of Pergamos should be of grave concern to Christians everywhere. Do you know what it means for the Sword of the LORD to be turned against the Church? We all know that the sword of the LORD is coming for the world. Clearly, this is the vision presented to us in Revelation 19:11-16. The same awful things are described in many places throughout Holy Scripture (Deut. 32:39-43, Isa. 34:1-10, Isa. 66:15-16, Jer. 25:16-31). Nevertheless, have you ever read that Judgment must begin at the House of God?
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the House of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” - 1 Pet. 4:17-18
According to the Book of Revelation, who comes first the Antichrist or the Christ? Who is judged first: the Church or the World? Judgment must begin at the House of God! Therefore, let the eyes of the Church be fastened upon Babylon. What do you see? Now let the divine person of Jesus Christ brandish His sword before your very eyes!
“Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish My sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall. For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee.” - Ezek. 32:10-11
Do you understand the vision? Babylon is an instrument of divine judgment upon the backslidden Church (Hab. 1:5-10). This is especially true when the Antichrist is crowned as the King of Babylon! Many other nations will come under the stroke of judgment in the process. I’m sure you’ve read about “the Beast” in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 11:7, 13:1-18, 14:9, 11, 15:2, 16:2, 10, 13, 17:3-17, 19:19-20). This prophetic entity is “Babylon” during the Antichrist’s reign of terror in the Great Tribulation (Rev. 14:8, 16:19, 17:5, 18:2, 10, 21). The Prophets of old compelled the Jews to look beyond the visible presence of Babylon, as God said, "I, even I, am against thee" (Ezek. 5:8, 13:8), speaking on behalf of what God was doing to the backslidden Church through Babylon.
“And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth My sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more…” – Ezek. 21:3-7
“...I myself will FIGHT against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.” – Jer. 21:4-10
“...they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt” - Ezek. 30:24-25
The chaos of seemingly uncontrollable Battle is a divinely set stage of God’s judgment (Ezek. 5:13-15, 7:3-4). Who could doubt the marksmanship of the Sword of the LORD? Herein, God is the one doing the fighting & smiting (Jer. 21:5-6, 10, 13, 14)! Resistance is futile. The LORD renders the backslidden Church helpless and gives it into the hands of Babylon (Jer. 20:4, 21:7). Marvelously, what Babylon does then is in accordance with the judgment of God who is directing its hands (Jer. 27:8). Literally, God is actively strengthening the arms of Babylon and breaking the arms of resistors (Ezek. 30:24-25). Meticulously, in the very throes of warfare, God is turning back the weapons of war in the hands of resistors who fight against Babylon (Isa. 13:5, Jer. 21:4-10) while placing the Sword of the LORD into the hands of Babylon (Ezek. 30:24-25, 32:10-11; Jer. 47:6-7).
Therefore, when Babylon breaks the bones of the backslidden Church (Jer. 50:17), we are to understand that God broke the bones (Lam. 3:4, 16). Babylon’s forces will not deviate from the divine targets (Ezek. 3, 18, 33, Zeph. 2:2-3). Babylon’s Army is God’s purifying apparatus and through them the divine saying is fulfilled, “I will search” (Zeph. 1:12, 2:1-3, 11, 15, 3:11-13, 17-20). Backslidden Christians hide from Babylon hoping to escape all in vain (Jer. 43:10-13, 44:11-14, 26-29). Babylon is God’s net or snare (Ezek. 12:13-14, 17:20-21) that’s alive like a “ravenous bird” - it lives and breathes to execute, God said, “My Counsel” (Isa. 46:11), and the LORD is in hot pursuit of Church Purity (Ezek. 20:33-44)! Through the tribulation, and not without it, the Bride will be purified and made ready for the coming of the Bridegroom (Rev. 7:14).
Therefore, when Babylon breaks the bones of the backslidden Church (Jer. 50:17), we are to understand that God broke the bones (Lam. 3:4, 16). Babylon’s forces will not deviate from the divine targets (Ezek. 3, 18, 33, Zeph. 2:2-3). Babylon’s Army is God’s purifying apparatus and through them the divine saying is fulfilled, “I will search” (Zeph. 1:12, 2:1-3, 11, 15, 3:11-13, 17-20). Backslidden Christians hide from Babylon hoping to escape all in vain (Jer. 43:10-13, 44:11-14, 26-29). Babylon is God’s net or snare (Ezek. 12:13-14, 17:20-21) that’s alive like a “ravenous bird” - it lives and breathes to execute, God said, “My Counsel” (Isa. 46:11), and the LORD is in hot pursuit of Church Purity (Ezek. 20:33-44)! Through the tribulation, and not without it, the Bride will be purified and made ready for the coming of the Bridegroom (Rev. 7:14).
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