The Returning Christ Is Faithful, True, and Just

THE WORD

There is a Jesus being preached in many pulpits and platforms today who bears almost no resemblance to the Christ of Revelation 19. This domesticated Jesus — patient to the point of permissiveness, loving to the point of endorsing everything, comforting to the point of never confronting, relevant to the point of reinvention — has been carefully constructed to maximize cultural acceptability and minimize attendance disruption. He does not judge. He does not make war. He does not return on a white horse with eyes like flames of fire and a robe soaked in blood. He is perpetually gentle, perpetually affirming, and perpetually non-threatening. This Jesus fills seats. And this Jesus does not exist. He is a theological fiction built to serve institutional goals, and those who preach Him are giving people a Savior who will not appear when history reaches its climax.

The Jesus of Revelation 19 is called Faithful and True — meaning everything He has spoken, including the difficult parts, including the exclusive claims, including the calls to repentance and holiness and self-denial and sacrifice, is absolutely reliable and will be absolutely fulfilled. He judges in righteousness — meaning there is a divine moral standard by which all human actions and choices will be evaluated, and He is the one doing the evaluating. He makes war — meaning there is an enemy, a real and active spiritual adversary, and Christ is not merely a peace facilitator. He is a Warrior King who comes to destroy that which has opposed His rule. His name is the Word of God — meaning the Bible you have been tempted to soften, to reinterpret for cultural palatability, or to silence on the hard subjects is the very identity of the returning King. Every word of it. Including the parts that make people uncomfortable. If you preach Jesus, you must preach this Jesus. If you teach about Christ, you must teach this Christ.

Revelation’s warrior imagery belongs to the returning Christ, whose judgments are faithful and true. Christians cannot borrow His eschatological authority to baptize political rage, vengeance, or violence. The church follows the Lamb through truthful witness, holiness, patient endurance, love of enemies, and protection of the vulnerable while awaiting the Judge who alone sees completely.