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JESUS CHRIST

"And He Was Clothed With a Vesture Dipped in Blood"

by C. H. SPURGEON

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." — Revelation 19:11-16

C. H. SPURGEON
Spurgeon: John, gazing still into the open door, saw a little — not much — of the person of his blessed Master. And, of course, he looked, first, into those eyes, those dear eyes which had so oft been filled with tears, and that at the last were even red with weeping. John gazed into them, or wished to do so, but he had to cover his own eyes, for they were dazzled. He says, "His eyes were as a flame of fire." Think of your Master on the white horse with such eyes as these tonight. Why are they like flames of fire? Why, first, to discern the secrets of all hearts. There are no secrets here that Christ does not see. There is no lewd thought, there is no unbelieving scepticism, that Christ does not read. There is no hypocrisy, no formalism, no deceit, that He does not scan as easily as a man reads a page in a book.

His eyes are like a flame of fire to read us through and through, and know us to our inmost soul. Oh, think of this, and if ye have ought of deceit tremble before Him in whose spirit there is no guile. Those eyes like a flame of fire belong to our Champion that He may understand all the plots and crafts of all our foes. We are sometimes alarmed; we say that the machinations of Rome are very deep, and that the plots of infidelity dive very low. But what mattereth it? His eyes are like a flame of fire: He knows what they are at. He will confound their politics, He will expose their knavish tricks, and still lead on His host conquering and to conquer. Let us never fear while He is on the white horse with such eyes as His.

It was natural that John should carry his glance from the eyes to the brow; and as he looked at our champion on the white horse he saw that on his head were many crowns. The last he had seen there was a crown of thorns; but that was gone, and in the place of the one crown of the briars of the earth he saw many crowns of the jewels of heaven. There rests the crown of creation, for this Word made heaven and earth: the crown of providence, for this man now rules the nations with a rod of iron: the crown of grace, for it is from his royal hand that blessings are bestowed: the crown of the church, for be it known to all men that there is no head of the church but Christ, and woe unto those who steal the title. He is head over all things to his church, and king in the midst of her. Yes, on his head are many crowns, placed there by individual souls that he has saved. We have each one tried to crown him in our poor way, and we will do so as long as we live. All power is given unto him in heaven and in earth, and therefore well many multitudes of diadems fillet that august brow which once was belted with thorns. Glory be unto thee, O Son of God! Our hearts adore thee tonight as we contemplate thee on thy white horse.

[Emblem Info below]

 Looking at him still, John saw one thing more, namely, his vesture. He says that his vesture [a garment or robe] was dipped in blood. Oh, but this is the grandest thought about our Master whereever he may be, that he is ever a red man wearing the bloody garment. As the atoning sacrifice he is at his best. We love him as we see the while lily of his perfect nature, but the rose of Sharon is the flower for us, for its sweet perfume breathes life to our fainting souls. Yes, he bled, and this is the greatest thing we can say of him. His life was glorious, but his death transcends it. A living Christ, a reigning Christ — we are charmed as we think of this; but oh, the bleeding Christ, the bleeding Christ for me! As the blood is the life, so is his blood life to us — the life of the gospel, the life of our hopes: and one delights to think of him that, though he rides the white horse, he has never stript off the bloody shirt in which he won our redemption. He looks like a Lamb that has been slain, and wears his priesthood still. Whenever he goes out to conquer it is with this harness on, this vesture dipped in blood. Oh, preach him, ye his servants, preach him in his blood-red vesture. Ye shall never see souls saved if ye portray him in any other kind of coat. Ye take his own garment from him, and put on that of another, and ye pretend that ye are making him more illustrious as ye put on him a scarlet robe; but his own blood is his beauty and his triumph. Let him come before us in that, and our hearts shall crown him with loudest acclaim.
One other thing John saw, and that was his name. But here he seems to contradict himself. He says that he had a name which no man knoweth; yet he says that his name was the Word of God. Oh, but it is all true; for in such a one as our Master there must be paradoxes. No man knoweth his name. None of you know all his nature. His love passes your knowledge; his goodness, his majesty, his humiliation, his glory, all these transcend your ken. You cannot know him. Oh, the depths! If you plunge deepest into the mystery of the incarnate God you can never reach the bottom of it. "No man knoweth the Son but the Father." And yet you do know his name, for you know that he is "the Word of God." And what means that? Why, when a man would show himself, he speaks. "Speak," said the philosopher, "that I may see you." A man's speech is the embodiment of his thought. You know his thought when you hear his word, if he be a truth-speaking man. Now, Christ is God's word. That is his heart, spoken out to you. His inmost thoughts of love are printed in great capital letters, and set before you in the living, loving, bleeding, dying person of the incarnate Son of God. Thus is he called the Word of God, and in that capacity it becomes us to delight ourselves exceedingly in him, and to exult because he is now riding triumphantly upon his white horse.

May you and I have a white horse each with which to follow Christ. But we never shall, unless we are his followers here. We must put on the snow-white garments now. Here they are ready for you. The righteousness of Christ will be given to any man who accepts him and believes on him; and when your snow-white garments once are on, he will give you the horse of his sacred strength, and you, even you, following in the track of your gallant leader, shall ride on shouting "Victory, victory, victory, through the blood of the Lamb." The Lord bless you, for Jesus's sake. Amen.
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EMBLEM Note: C. H. SPURGEON's ministry was grounded in the scripture of 1st Corinthians 1:23-24 — "But we preach CHRIST CRUCIFIED, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." Based on the Biblical declaration of John 3:14, "And As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up," the striking emblem [above] was the motto of his ministry, and appeared on the cloth-binding spines of the original New Park Street & Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermon Series.

— Excerpted from C. H. Spurgeon's sermon #1452

"The Rider on the White Horse and The Armies With Him"

MTP Vol 25, Year 1879, pgs. 20-22, 24, Revelation 19:11-16

"Behold, at this hour our moral history is being preserved for eternity.
Processes are at work which will perpetuate our every act and word and thought.
Not alone the last page, but every line and letter of our actual history, is being
stereotyped for the world's perusal in the day which shall reveal the secrets of
men. We are not writing upon the water, but carving upon imperishable material.
The chapters of our history are "graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock

forever." — CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON  (Life and Labors of C. H. Spurgeon biography)

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Author: C. H. Spurgeon

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