TITLE: HOPE ON A HORSE.
SCRIPTURE: REV. 19:11-16
Michael Parks
Dry Run Baptist Church
2109 Cincinnati Pike
Georgetown, KY 40324
drbc@bellsouth.net
INTRODUCTION:
Some pastors were discussing the second coming of Christ.
The Episcopalian priest said, "well he would come to the episcopal church first, because of our long line of apostle succession."
The Holiness preacher said, "No he would come to us first because of our enthusiasm."
The Baptist preacher said, "No, he will come to us first, why should He change after all these years."
The second coming of Jesus is the culmination of history. We look to it as a point of hope, but also with some confusion. The book of Revelation is a book of grand visions that can and are interpreted in many ways. This sermon is not going to clear up all of the confusion, nor will you walk away from it with a sense of what events are going to have to happen in order for Christ glorious return. Eschatology is the study of the "last things," we are not here to discuss the "last things," but instead the hope that this wondrous vision holds for us.
In your daily lives think of the things that you see and hear both in the news and from those around you. We hear and see far to much in the ebb and flow of life. There is talk of a recession. We see the ACLU attacking the right to pray and post the Ten Commandments. We hear of a nation that is divided over an election. I don’t mind telling you that all of this terrifies me. I look into the face of my child and I can’t image what the future holds for him. This is the Christmas Season and we don’t need to be concerned with this, do we?
I recently heard of a grisly event in Russia. A man and his mother were selling his five-year-old for his organs, mind you his organs! The police arrested the man and his mother, as the child was crying and screaming for his dad and grandmother. We need hope. We need assurance in a world like this. When Robinson Crusoe’s man Friday asked why God won’t destroy the Devil, Crusoe finally said "God will destroy the Devil." This is the victory that this majestic vision holds for us all. That God WILL DESTROY THE DEVIL.
I. TRIUMPH OF CHRIST.
This victory ride of Christ had humble beginnings. The song that sings out "Away in a Manger, no crib for his bed" certainly is no battle cry for the fiery eyed Savior we see in Revelation. For it was patience and humility that won out. As Christ was a lamb to slaughter, God’s plan had to unfold. He told Peter the night of His arrest that there was legions of angels that He could call down, but he chose the path to the cross. Not an easy path but a journey that must be taken. For it was on this journey that Christ’s work was completed. The atonement that a creation gone wrong, needed. Tis, true that Christ had those angles and a saddled horse ready to ride through history to destroy the devil, but without the cross this act would have been senseless. God’s plan has to unfold and it does, even in the atrocities of our world.
For victory is given in this world through hope, hope in a final victory. We watch a war or a western movie and inevitably the battle is won in the end when someone finds courage, or the long awaited backup arrives. We have but to point to the scriptures and say. "My Savior is coming. My savior is coming."
In Julian’s march to Persia his army captured a Christian believer and tormented him. After they had become tired of this ghastly sport they looked down at their bloody toy and said. "Where is your Carpenter God now?" This Christian believer looking through the blood and pain said "He is making a coffin for your emperor!" Julian only ruled two years. Life’s situations call out to us Where is your Carpenter God. Our response is one of certainty, no matter what evil haunts us. You can call out to Christ and He will construct the coffin. Won’t it be a magical time when we can lay down those things that burdens us and all the evil that encompasses life, in that coffin?
That simple course goes through my head:
Our God Reigns, Our God Reigns, Our God Reigns.
Christ is saddling the horse. I believe, like every generation before me, that the victory is close at hand. He has defeated death for you and me as well as giving us a tremendous way of life to live. Our God Reigns, there is no problem that you cannot give over to Christ, one in which He will not construct a coffin for.
We look at the rider. We soon discover that sheep persona is gone. That the very vision predicts a powerful and swift blow to Satan. Gone is the crown of thorns and in its place many crowns. Gone are the eyes which looked upon betrayal, in their stead fire. Gone is the robe which was ripped from his beaten back and in its place a robe of glory dipped in blood. Gone is the silence before the accusers and in its place the tongue of a sword. It all adds up to one thing, the inscription on His thigh "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
Until the time we see the coffin for the evils of the world, until the time of this great white horse, what are we to do? We are not to give in to apathy. We must care and stay focused. We have got to be the messengers both to ourselves and to others of this miraculous victory to come. We have to be proclaimers of this present victory. The hope of all the world, that "God so loved the world that He gave His only son . . . " In essence we must hold the fort in a world on the attack.
II. HOLD THE FORT.
In December 1944, the Germany army made a last assault, in the Ardennes Forest. They caught the allies off guard. The commanders of the US Forces left the Forrest lightly guarded. The 101st Airborne took a heroic stance and frustrated the German time lines and thus allowing the Third Division to catch up and stop the German aggression, this was the beginning of the end of the Germans. The 101 held the fort. They did not give into the overwhelming odds of defeat. The odds are overwhelming for us anymore. We have to hold the fort, make a stand for what is right. In the face of persecution we mustn’t give in, in the face of pain and suffering we mustn’t give in. We have a victory in Jesus to proclaim and we will be proclaiming it until the Rider comes with His glorious armies from the sky for the final victory. Oh, it is so important to hold the fort, oh, it is so important to take a stand and look with anticipation at victory.
P.P. Bliss, an evangelist and composer, was inspired by the story of another evangelist, a Major Whittle in Sherman’s army during the Civil War. It seems that John B. Hood from the Confederate Army was trying to stop Sherman’s march. Hood’s army went to attack the communications in Nashville and Chattanooga, to draw Sherman away from Georgia. They attacked a post at Allatoona Pass, under command of General Corse. Sherman had come back to the Kennesaw Mountain, and heliographed to Allatoona Pass, "Hold the fort! I am coming!" This was the inspiration for his famous hymn, "Hold the Fort."
"Hold the fort, for I am coming
Jesus signals still;
wave the answer back to heaven,
By thy grace we will."
Have you waved back to God those words in a stormy night in your life, "by thy grace [I] will?"
The Nation’s Capital Building has this inscription etched upon it, "One far off divine event which the whole creation moves." We stand here today waiting that event. We live our lives in the hope of a returning Christ. One who is victorious. We share something with the people at the time of the birth of Jesus. That something, is hope. Hope on a horse. Hope made its appearance in the world to a non-descript town on a non-descript donkey, and will make His final appearance on a great white horse with more power, majesty and glory then ever before. We can endure the battles of life with the hope that is promised we can hold down this fort because of the life given to us.
In Matthew Jesus tells us "But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved." The news does its best to draw us down into a cynical view of life. Stormy times will cause us to sink into an abyss of doubt. We have to endure this life, but not alone. The Christ Child grew to be that Savior that we so desperately needed. We are not alone here. We are not alone to fight the battles, we have a living Savior who is saddling a horse to defeat the Devil and all the evil that attacks us. "Hold the fort, for I am coming."
CONCLUSION:
For it is true we have a great horseman that is waiting til it is time to ride into history and defeat the Devil. He has prepared a coffin for all that has hurt us and all that have taken wind from our sails. We will one day meet this rider, are you prepared for that glorious day when the Savior meets the saved?
Perhaps it is significant to see the difference in Christ before the cross and after. The difference between that child in the manger and this fiery warrior is the victory of the cross. That cross, and the salvation it represents will give you victory in your life. A victory that no matter how hard the world tries. It cannot destroy this victory.
In 1992 the Chinese state-run press noted that one of the reason that Communism fell was due the work of the church and its important role in the change. The paper went on to warn China that "If China does not want such a scene to be repeated in its land, it must strangle the baby while it is still in the manger."
The world has tried to strangle Christianity, and it has not succeeded! The problems in your life and the storms that come into it, try to strangle you. Don’t let it. "Hold the fort, for I am coming." Hope on a horse will rescue you.
