Translation
The rest were killed by the sword which
comes out of the mouth of the one sitting on the horse;
and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
Paraphrase
The rest were brought to an end by the instrument of punishment which is the words of truth spoken by the one who is decisive and powerful, who cannot be avoided or turned back; their ruin brought a level of shame and disgrace that is beyond our ability to comprehend.
How Christ and the Church Conquer their Enemies
At the first glance, Revelation 19:20 does not appear to answer this question clearly, however the rest of this passage sheds considerable light on the matter. In Revelation 19:15 we read about the sword that comes from the mouth of Jesus and how it will be used to bring ruin to all types people (to bring judgement), and it is the instrument of the wrath of Almighty God. Revelation 19:19 tells us that the Beast and those that follow him prepared themselves and gathered together to make war against Jesus, but then there is never a battle as we understand warfare. The Beast and the False Prophet are rendered powerless to deceive any longer and are placed in a situation of continual punishment from God. Finally, everyone else is judged by the words (sword) that come from the mouth of Jesus.
From Revelation chapters 2 and 19 we gather that the tool Jesus uses for all judgment is truth. His words alone are enough to judge because they reveal the heart and divide between the righteous and the unrighteous. His words of truth are also enough to produce judgment. This stands in contrast to Satan who is the great deceiver and is always telling lies. Jesus will destroy those who oppose Him with His words, His truth. Jesus will not fight against Satan in the way we traditionally understand warfare, rather Jesus will put Satan in his place and remove his ability to continue deceiving.
From other parts of the New Testament we know that Jesus has already dealt Satan a death blow by dying on the cross and rising from the dead, but we must also admit that there is a battle that still continues. When I speak here about “conquering Satan” I mean to finally, and conclusively render Satan powerless and nonthreatening, incapable of carrying out his desired goal of deceiving mankind. Therefore, according to Revelation, Satan’s primary tool is deceit; Jesus defeats him with truth.
Likewise, the saints will prevail and be victorious, but not in the normal human fashion. They will not conquer by killing their enemies, but by being killed (martyrdom), just like the Lamb was killed and through His death He triumphed over the demonic powers and selfish human authorities, making a “public spectacle” of them (Col 2:15). Just as the Lamb conquers with His words of truth, so also the believer conquers Satan using words of truth, not his own truth, but the truth of God found in the Bible. We do not conquer Satan by destroying him but by putting him in his place and rendering fruitless his attempts at deceiving us.
There is a difference in how we deal with Satan and how we should deal with unbelievers around us. We should not seek to conquer unbelievers, but to win the over. For this task we must also follow the example of Jesus, and use love, a good testimony, and truth to convince them to also become followers of Jesus. We cannot use truth alone against the unbelievers or we will turn our Christian witness into one big argument. Love convinces when words cannot.
Self-centeredness is a key human problem. God-centeredness is the key that drives how we fight Satan and how we convince our neighbors to follow Jesus. If we talk the Christian talk but are still self-centered, we are no different than the rest because we are wanting what we want, not what God wants. (Politics will never be the complete answer because politics is usually characterized by the acquisition and retention of power, which are almost always selfish acts.) To point people to God we cannot be self-centered, or we will only be pointing them to ourselves; likewise, to defeat Satan with truth, we must use God’s truth for God’s glory, not our own aggrandizement, or our enemy will take our weapon from us and bludgeon us with it.
HOWEVER, before we can fight Satan with truth, we must know the truth, and for that we must know God’s word very well. I am constantly amazed at how well the Jews of the New Testament era knew the Old Testament (their Bible). The population in general was expected to catch references to things said in the Psalms, the prophets, and the Torah. I gather that most good Jews memorized the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), but they also had committed most of the psalms and much of Isaiah, Jeremiah and other prophets to memory. Notice how Peter, a fisherman, heard the sound of rushing wind, and immediately thought of a passage in Joel. I know many Christians who can’t even find the book of Joel, much less quote it. Peter did this without a copy of the Old Testament in his pocket and without a Bible app on his phone.
We should not take a stand and speak what we think is biblical truth; rather we must saturate our minds with God’s word, and then speak what we are sure is truth. Just like becoming fluent in a foreign language requires saturation of the mind with that language, so being ready to fight the enemy’s lies requires saturation of our minds with God’s word. Satan knows the Bible very well. In order to fight him with truth, you will need to know the Bible very well also.
So read, study, and pray, then stand and speak truth and defeat Satan just like Jesus does!
As a way to apply this to our lives, I ask you this question:
What should be our attitude be toward the following?
-God’s word
-what you hear on the news or on social media
-politics
-other people who focus on politics
-people who are not following God
-fear vs. faith
-martyrdom