Why does He return? And why does He return like this? Revelation 19:11 answers that question for us when it says that He comes for two things: He comes to judge and to make war.

Let’s take war first. It is for battle that He returns, first of all – battle against the nations that had made up the anti-Christian kingdom.

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. Revelation 19:19, KJV

The battle for which Christ returns, you might say, is part two of the battle of Armageddon. How is it that in Revelation 19:19 the world is already arrayed for battle when He returns? Well, the answer is (remember from last time) that back in Revelation 16:1–21 it was revealed that Jesus returns the second time right in the middle of the battle of Armageddon. That battle was the great civil war in the anti-Christian kingdom. All the nations of the world – the kings of the East too – had gathered with the Antichrist under his rule and joined his kingdom of man. But once God's judgments in the first four vials begin to break into that worldwide, depraved, man-centered utopia that attempts to overthrow God and His law in the midst of His own world, God breaks into that kingdom of man. The kings of the East rebel and the whole world erupts into great civil war. Interjected into that description of that battle in Revelation 16:1–21 was Revelation 16:15a: Behold, I come as a thief. He comes right into the middle of that, surprising – no one ever knew. And now in chapter 19 that coming is described for us in greater detail

So Revelation 19:11–21 is taking place as man is currently destroying himself, showing that he cannot establish a kingdom of lasting peace apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. And though man is fighting against each other, the anti-Christian kingdom is breaking up. When Christ returns unexpectedly on the clouds of glory, they all turn from fighting against each other and fight Him. When there is a common enemy, enemies become friends. They see Him approaching on the clouds. Remember that the Scriptures say that every eye will see him and they gathered together to make war against him (Revelation 19:19b). After all, to overcome Him was the point of them coming together in the first place!

But as they turn to face Him, there is not much of a battle. Don't think here, beloved, that Jesus now has to literally go around with that sword coming out of His mouth and slay the people of the anti-Christian kingdom, and that the angels and the souls of the saints are engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the rebellious world of men. These are symbols here in Revelation 19:1–21. That sword that proceeds out of the mouth of the King is the symbol of the Word of God that comes forth out of His mouth. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). The word of his power (Hebrews 1:3). The same Word that had once called the world into existence at the beginning. The same Word that had calmed the storm when He was upon the earth. He simply speaks and His enemies are vanquished.

The power of that Word is borne by the Holy Spirit, for Spirit and Word always go together. It is no surprise, then, that 2 Thessalonians 2:8 says that the returning Lord shall consume the Wicked one (the Antichrist) with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. The Spirit and the Word are presented together as sent forth out of His mouth to defeat the foe. It is not a great climactic battle, really. It is no fierce war. There is no ebb and flow here to this battle, as though the powers of rebellious men first are getting the upper hand and then Christ comes along at the flank and takes them by surprise. The King has been in control of all things the whole time! It is absolutely nothing for Him to defeat His foes. He doesn't even have to lift His pinkie finger. He simply speaks the Word as the Word of the Sovereign of heaven and earth, and the Spirit takes that Word and binds the Antichrist and the false prophet. Do you remember what Martin Luther so eloquently taught us?

The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For, lo! his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.¹

The roundness of this victory of the King of kings is pictured in the supper of God that is prepared for the birds:

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. Revelation 19:17–18, KJV

Always after a battle there is the gruesome reality of the birds who come now to feast upon the dead and decaying corpses. And at the end of the battle of Christ against the anti-Christian kingdom, all of the unrepentant are pictured (this is a symbol, of course) as dead on the battlefield, decaying and being eaten by the birds. So complete is Christ’s effortless victory.

All the unrepentant are brought down, beloved. Revelation 19:18 calls the birds to eat the flesh of kings and captains, but also of men free and bond, small and great. No one escapes. The text here is making a very striking contrast between the marriage supper of the Lamb that is presented in the first part of the chapter and now this supper of God prepared for the birds in the last part of the chapter. The point is that all men upon the face of the earth – no matter if they are rich or if they are poor, if they are lowly or if they are great – are going to end up in either one of two places. Either they are going to be eating at the marriage supper of the Lamb or they are going to be eaten at the supper of the birds.²

Cory Griess