erceness and wrath
of Almighty God.

16. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written,
KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

That the person described in this vision is Christ is questioned by no
one. He is the same one who appeared to John in the beginning. Then he
stood in the midst of the seven golden candle-sticks, the sure defense
of the churches, holding the seven stars in his right hand. Now,
however, he appears from the opened heavens on a white horse, his
mission "to judge and make war." The description of his person, his
names, and his attributes, unmistakably proclaim him the Son of God. He
is the "faithful and true," the name by which he made himself known to
the churches of Philadelphia and Laodicea. "His eyes as a flame of fire"
denotes omniscience; and as a searcher of all hearts he made himself
known to the church of Thyatira. "Many crowns" are a symbol of supreme
sovereignty and doubtless signify his many victories. "And he had a name
written which no man knew but he himself." He had names by which he
might be known to mortals; but he had one name that no created
intelligence could understand: it was known only to him. What that name
was, of course, is not given; it could not be. If the human mind could
not conceive it, human language could not convey it. We can know him as
the Faithful and true Witness, as the Word of God, and as King of kings
and Lord of lords; but there is one name that we can not know. His
"vesture dipped in blood" refers, not to the blood of atonement, but to
the blood of his enemies sprinkled upon his raiment in treading the
winepress of God's wrath, and denotes that he was going forth to the
dread work of vengeance. To this I shall refer more fully hereafter. His
name is also called "the Word of God," which, when used as a personal
appellation in the Scriptures, always signifies Jesus Christ.

Before considering his mission further and the armies that accompanied
him, I wish to call special attention to the nature and the chronology
of this event. If the present series of prophetic symbols (which begin
with chap. 17) is a narrative of continuous events reaching to the end,
then the vision before us is a description of the second coming of
Christ, the event which was just previously announced and for which the
bride had made herself ready. The usual interpretation given it is, that
it is a sublime description of the servants of Christ going forth under
hi