Revelation 19:13 - Homilies By D. Thomas

Intense earnestness of being.

"Clothed in a vesture dipped in blood." What was the "blood" that dyed the robes of the illustrious Chieftain? Not that crimson fluid that streams from the veins of slaughtered men. It may be regarded—

I. AS A SYMBOL OF HIS OWN AGONIZING EARNESTNESS . In Gethsemane it is said that he "sweated great drops of blood." It was earnestness. The man who wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of those who have not resisted unto blood, "striving against sin." There is moral blood—the blood of intense earnestness.

II. AS A SYMBOL OF THE MORTAL ENMITY OF HIS FOES . During the three years of his public ministry they thirsted for his blood. "His blood be upon us." It is characteristic of the enemies of the Church in all ages that they seek his destruction—the destruction of his character, his influence, himself.

Our great Leader does not prosecute his grand campaign against evil in a cold, mechanical, professional manner, but with the earnestness of "blood."—D.T.