Deeper Commentary
CHAPTER 19
19:1 After these things I heard what
seemed to be a great voice of a great crowd in heaven, saying: Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power, belong to our God- John is seeing the
Angelic representatives of the believers in his vision of the heavenly
throne room. This is the same "great crowd" of 7:9 (s.w.), those who had
endured the tribulation of the beast's domination. But the lives of
believers are hid with Christ in God; the Lord is in the bosom of the
Father. Therefore those 'in Heaven' don't refer to the departed souls of
believers, but rather to the believers who are in heavenly places in
Christ. This is a common NT theme. By contrast, the earth dwellers of
Revelation are those who suffer the latter day judgments. The believers
are here spoken of as praising God because the literal articulation of
salvation in Christ is now clearly about to be revealed. It could be that
the whole metaphor of believers 'in Heaven' is used in Revelation because
it is their guardian Angels who are in view, who represent them before
God, individually and as collectives, of ecclesias and groups throughout
history at particular points and circumstances.
19:2 For true and righteous are His judgments- The awful loss of
life and gross destruction is recognized by them as not only necessary but
righteous. For we have noted how often the Babylon system was given the
chance to repent.
For He has judged the great prostitute,
she that corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged the
blood of His servants shed by her-
It's hard to imagine any single entity corrupting literally the whole
planet, right into the jungles of Amazonia and onto every island of the
Pacific. The more natural interpretation is that the earth refers to the
land, a more limited area of the planet's surface- the land promised to
Abraham. The behaviours of the whore are either throughout all history, or
at a more limited period of time. That period of time is more naturally,
within the context of Revelation, the last days. The kings of the earth /
land who were influenced by the whore would then refer to the kings of the
land area promised to Abraham, influenced by the wine of her jihadist
teaching.
"He has avenged the blood of His servants"
shows that the cry of those persecuted in the last days within the land of
Abraham (Rev. 6:10) has now been answered.
19:3 And a second time they said:
Hallelujah! And her smoke goes up for ever and ever- The impression is
of a sacrifice being offered, although the allusion is to the rising smoke
of Sodom. Even in the destruction of the wicked, God is glorified. His
judgments are a way of glorifying the principles of His Name, and not the
lashing out of an offended Deity. The "great crowd" are as it were
watching this, and thus are to be connected with faithful Abraham watching
the smoke of Sodom arising.
19:4 And the twenty four elders and the
four living creatures fell down and worshiped God that sits on the throne,
saying: Amen. Hallelujah!- See on :1. The Angels join in with the
same praise which their human charges are also making. Thus believers and
Angels are presented in parallel. For the Angels in Heaven represent
believers on earth. It is in this sense, in a practical, mechanical sense,
if you like, that truly, man is not alone, but God is with us. But now at
this juncture, Angels and believers are united together in praise by the
resurrection.
19:5 And a voice came from the throne, saying: Give praise to our God
all you His servants, you that fear Him, the small and the great- We
have just read of the elders, living creatures and the "great crowd in
heaven" doing just this. This appears therefore to be an appeal to others,
on earth, to do what the Angels of Heaven are doing. This is a theme of
Revelation- that those who believe are in league with the Heavenly Angels,
who are fellow servants with them. Or it could be that again, Revelation
is simply not chronological, but a kaleidoscope of images. We would then
have explained here in :5 how the situation in :1 [praising God] came
about.
19:6- see on Rev. 6:9.
And I heard what seemed to be the voice of
a great crowd, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty
thunders, saying: Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns-
This is surely the crowd of :1,
referring to the believers. But their voice is mixed with the voice of
waters and thunders, the voice of God, which speaks of the intensest
manifestation of God through the Angels. Again the impression is given of
believers and Angels united, their sounds and voices mingling together as
they see the end coming which they both so earnestly desire. God of course
reigns now, so their praise that "He reigns!" is therefore a re-statement
of what they already believed in their mortal lives, but with so much more
power and insight. And this will be so true of much of our talking and
praising in the Kingdom age.
19:7 Let us rejoice and be exceedingly
glad, and let us give the glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb
comes, and his wife has made herself ready- The collapse of time
around the Lord's return means that it is unwise and impossible to
construct chronologies of events around His coming. But the decorum of the
symbol here means that the judgment of God's enemies slightly precedes the
marriage of the Lamb; His wife is now described as putting on her wedding
clothes (:8), and the invitation of guests (:9). But some texts read "Has
come".
If this voice includes that of those who
endured the beast's domination and abuse during the tribulation (see on
:1), how can they refer to the Lamb's wife as if this is an entity
separate from themselves? Perhaps they now behold the resurrection of all
the faithful from history, and realize that the bride has now been fully
assembled. Or again, we should just not let such chronological issues
disturb us; for this is apocalyptic, a merger of various images, and not a
timeline of events.
We note that the bride makes herself
ready, but with the gift of fine linen clothes of imputed righteousness
(:8). Her part in all this is to believe in the imputation of His
righteousness and white garments to us in Christ.
19:8 And it was given to her that she
should dress herself in fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is
the righteous acts of the saints- In contrast with how Babylon
likewise was dressed in "fine linen" (see on 18:16). The suggestion
therefore is that Babylon is quasi-religious and appears highly moral,
when actually it is morally delinquent. This is exactly what we see in
Jihadist Islamism. There is clear reference to the Jewish priesthood, and
the description also connects with the white clothing of Islamic religious
leaders. The fine linen is given to her- it speaks of imputed
righteousness (see on :7). The “righteous acts” of the saints will be
publicly arrayed before all (Rev. 19:8)- by none other than the Lord. All
their good ‘acts’ will be revealed to all. And yet that righteousness is
what they are clothed with by Christ- perhaps suggesting that their good
deeds will be presented in a heightened form, as imputed righteousness,
which would explain why the righteous will be shocked that the Lord could
speak so highly of them (“When saw we thee…?”). But the work of God, the
action He requires, is to believe in His imputation of righteousness (Jn.
6:29).
19:9 And he said to me: Write, Blessed are
they that are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb- See on :7.
There seems a difference in category between those destroyed by judgments,
the Lamb's wife, and the invited guests. Presumably the guests are those
who are not believers but are not destroyed in the judgments; and these
are now invited to participate in the Lamb's wedding. And who amongst
those who survive Armageddon would not attend? This may speak of the
conversion of the remaining population of planet earth.
T
And he said to me: These are the true
words of God- This recalls how in Jn.
19:35 John struggles to get over the utter truth of the words. This is all
so wonderfully true.
19:10 And I fell down before his feet to
worship him, and he said to me: You must not do that! I am a
fellow-servant with you, and with your brothers that hold the testimony of
Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy-
The Angels are right now serving the same Lord we do; our work for Him is
done in invisible partnership with them. The preaching or testimony of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, says Rev. 19:10. I understand this to
mean that our testimony to Jesus is in the spirit of the Old Testament
prophets. For Rev. 22:6 associates the God of the holy prophets [a phrase
referring to the Old Testament prophets in Lk. 1:70 and Acts 3:32] with
the same God who is with us in our witnessing to Christ. And Rev. 18:20
speaks of those prophets rejoicing in the last day together with all
preachers of the Gospel. This is why incidents from the lives and teaching
of the Old Testament prophets are repeatedly alluded to in the New
Testament and applied to all of us. James 5:10 puts it bluntly- the
prophets are to be taken by us as our examples. Jeremiah was warned: "Be
not dismayed of them, lest I dismay you" (Jer. 1:17 RV).
This is alluded to by the Lord when He tells us that if we are ashamed of
Him and His words, then He will be ashamed of us (Lk. 9:26). The
connection surely indicates that the Old Testament prophets and the spirit
of their commissioning is intended to apply to us today in our fulfilling
of the great commission. Thus the prophets become our pattern for witness;
they are our “brethren the prophets” (Rev.22:9). And so an understanding
of them becomes programmatic for our witness today. Our audience, the
world in which we live, is in essence that in which the prophets lived.
Isaiah was up against the attitude that “Let us eat and drink; for
tomorrow we shall die” (Is. 22:13)- and Paul quotes that passage as
relevant for all Christians who hold the hope of resurrection amidst a
world that does not (1 Cor. 15:32).
The Angel had made prophecies, and John felt
that this was something so wonderful that it separated him from the Angel.
But John like us was bearing “the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:9). The same
essential spirit which was in the prophets is in all those who in
their spirit or attitude bear the witness of Jesus. Hence the
prophesying Angel encourages John not to worship him, but rather to
recognize that he is John’s “fellow servant, and of thy brethren the
prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book”, i.e. all
believers (Rev. 22:9). And again, this was radical stuff for the initial
audience of the Apocalypse. They were being told that they had the
prophets as their brethren, and on account of their spirit / attitude of
bearing the testimony of Jesus, the same spirit which was in the prophets
was in them. The very act of bearing witness to Jesus in our spirit /
disposition is in fact to have the same spirit in us which was in the
prophets and was the basis of their prophetic witness. This makes the
prophets our “brethren”, not distant white faced ‘saints’. See on Mt.
8:22.
19:11 And I saw the heaven open- This introduces the seven final
visions. One of the keys to understanding Revelation is to realize that it
is structured as a series of visions based around the number seven. It
must also be understood that as with many Old Testament prophecies, the
book of Revelation is not strictly chronological in its fulfilment.
Sometimes we read something which is actually the final picture, and then
we read how this situation came about. At other times, we find a series of
visions give us as it were 'snapshots' of different aspects of the same
process. The seven final visions are introduced by the rubric "And I
saw...". It is my suggestion that they each show different aspects of the
process of setting up the Kingdom. All references are to Revelation unless
otherwise stated. The thoughtful student of the final chapters of
Revelation will realize that there are difficulties in 'fitting in' the
usual view of the Millennium as a thousand year reign with the information
presented there. The suggestion is made in these notes on chapter 20 that
the "thousand years" simply means 'a very long time', and refers to
eternity. This solves the problem that a rebellion at the end of the
'Millennium' would contradict Is. 9:7; 60:18; Jer. 3:17 and other passages
which teach that "they shall learn war no more" after the Kingdom is
established. The wrath of God is finished when the seven last
plagues are poured out (Rev. 15:1 RV), at the Lord's return, i.e. at the
beginning of the 'Millennium'. At the coming of Christ, the
powers represented by the dragon and beast are defeated and chained up.
The dead are raised and judged. The rejected join the dragon in the
'bottomless pit', an area on the borders of the land of promise, i.e. the
initial geographical extent of the Kingdom. Here they are
restrained, but once the Kingdom is established, perhaps after a period of
7 years or so, they 'attack' the land of Israel, where the Kingdom of God
has been established. They are then destroyed. The Kingdom then continues
eternally. The descriptions of a judgment seat in these final chapters are
all related to the same judgment seat, i.e. that when Christ returns. The
OT prophecies of a 'Millennium' with mortal people in it either apply to
the setting up period of the Kingdom, or they are to be read in a more
figurative way.
And beheld a white horse, and he that sat
thereon was called Faithful and True-
A clear reference to the Lord Jesus, who will now bring about the true,
faithful fulfilment of God's promises (Rev. 3:14). He was "the faithful
witness / martyr" (Rev. 1:5) in that He suffered at the hands of a beast
system, and can thus especially identify with those believers slain by the
beast in the final tribulation. John has been allowed a peek into the
heavenly throne room. But now heaven itself opens, and the Lord Jesus
emerges from there to return to earth.
And in righteousness he judges and makes war- The same
presentation of the Lord Jesus as both a warrior and a bridegroom are
found in Ps. 45:3-6. There He is pictured as going forth to make war in
all His glory for the sake of "truth, humility and righteousness" (Ps.
45:4). There is a powerful juxtaposition of ideas here- He goes forth in
glory on behalf of humility. It is the humble believers who will have been
persecuted and slain, and now the Lord of humility goes forth in all His
glory for their sakes.
19:12 And his eyes are a flame of fire,
and upon his head are many diadems- The seemingly invincible beast
with his seven diadems now seems so puny compared to the Lord.
And he has a name written which no one
knows but him- We likewise will have
a unique name known / appreciated only by us (2:17). No-one can enter into
the Lord's personal sense of resurrection and reward; there will always be
an unreachable, untouchable element in Him throughout eternity. Surely
this makes our relationship with Him the more appealing.
19:13- see on Heb. 12:24.
And he is dressed in a garment sprinkled
with blood- This alludes to Joseph’s
blood drenched coat and Is. 63:2; the basis upon which the Lord executes
judgment is that He died for us, and His garments were literally blood
sprinkled at the crucifixion. He Himself said that His qualification as
judge is because He is "son of man".
And his name is called The Word of God-
John reminds us of this title for the Lord because in His actions at the
time of judgment and establishment of the Kingdom on earth, He will be the
full manifestation of God's word, a word which shall then come to its
final climax. Note that "the word [logos] of God" is a title of
the Lord Jesus. So many misunderstand Jn. 1:1-3 by failing to realize
this. That word is God, etc.; but it is a title of the Lord, His
"Name", rather than he Himself personally.
19:14- see on Mt. 24:28.
And the armies which are in heaven
followed him upon white horses-
Remember that the Lord returns to earth with the Angels, and not alone.
However the armies in Heaven also refer to the faithful, who are presented
as with God, their lives hid with Christ in Him who is in the bosom of the
Father. John has seen them represented by Angels in his visions of the
heavenly court room.
Clothed in fine linen, white and pure-
In contradistinction to the white clothes of the jihadist sheikhs of
18:16, whose white linen was not pure but mixed with all the trappings of
materialism.
19:15 And out of his mouth proceeds a
sharp sword, that with it he should strike down the nations; and he shall
rule them with a rod of iron- The language of the Lord Jesus at His
return (Ps. 2:9); and yet it has already been quoted in Revelation about
how we shall do the same (2:27). See on 12:5. All that is true of the Lord
Jesus personally shall be true of us who are in and with Him.
And He treads the winepress of the
fierceness of the anger of God-
Anyone doing this would have red clothes, spattered with red grape juice.
The connection is with His appearance at the crucifixion; see on :13. The
cross was "the judgment of this world", and now that judgment is
articulated. He judges because He went through the tribulation of the
cross.
19:16 And he has on his garment and on his thigh a name written-
A reference to His sword, through which He has become Lord of all human
lords and kings (Ps. 45:3)? The allusion is to the way in which names were
inscribed on the hilts of swords. His thigh is therefore put for the sword
which is on His thigh. For He is presented here as a horseman.
King of kings and Lord of lords-
As with many aspects of teaching and language, it is often difficult for
us to appreciate how radically revolutionary they were in the first
century context; and in essence they should lose none of their radicalness
with us. David Bosch observes: "Christians confessed Jesus as Lord of all
lords- the most revolutionary political demonstration imaginable in the
Roman Empire". Philip Yancey likewise: "As the church spread throughout
the Roman empire, its followers took up the slogan "Christ is Lord", a
direct affront to Roman authorities who required all citizens to take the
oath 'Caesar [the state] is Lord'". It hurt, it cost, to recognize Him as
Lord. And so it should with us. Men and women died for this; and we
likewise give our lives in response to that very same knowledge. There is
a tendency, which the Lord Himself brought to our attention, of calling
Him Lord but not doing what He says. To know Him as Lord in truth is
axiomatically to be obedient to Him (Lk. 6:46). The reality of the
Lordship of Jesus is used in Revelation (19:12, 16) to encourage the
brethren to continue fearless in their witness despite persecution. Jesus
is Lord of the kings of the earth; He has control over the world;
therefore, no human power can harm us without His express permission and
purpose. The exhortation of Ps. 110 is powerful: because Jesus is now
seated at the Father's right hand, His people offer themselves as freewill
offerings in this, the day of His power. They are arrayed in “holy attire"
because He has been made the Priest after the order of
Melchizedek- they share in the work which His exaltation has enabled (Ps.
110:1,3,4 RVmg.).
19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the
sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying- The Angel represents
someone or some body of persons standing within the sun of the Lord Jesus,
the sun of righteousness which has now arisen. The appeal is made on His
behalf by some others- maybe us, or natural Israel, appealing to the
nations who have survived Armageddon.
To all the birds that fly in mid heaven-
I have suggested on :9 that the guests invited to the marriage are not the
same as the Lamb's wife, and these guests refer to the unbelievers in the
world who are not destroyed in the judgments upon the world. They are here
described as in mid heaven, between earth and heaven. The "earth" dwellers
are judged; those "in Heaven" are the believers, their lives hid with
Christ in Him who is in the bosom of the Father. Those in between these
groups would then appropriately refer to unbelievers who have not heard
the Gospel and who are spared the latter day judgments upon the earth. But
now they are invited to take their place at the Lord's table.
Come, be gathered together-
I have suggested above that the birds could refer to the Gentile nations
now invited to the marriage supper as guests. But birds of prey being
gathered together is the language of Ez. 39:17-20, where they are invited
to assist in the destruction of the ten nations led by Gog who come up
against Israel.
To the great supper of God-
This Messianic banquet is prefigured in the breaking of bread. We should
invite unbelievers there, just as unbelievers are invited to the ultimate
banquet (see on :9 and :17). To exclude people from it is serious indeed.
It is a means of witness and invitation to participation.
19:18 Eat the flesh of kings, and the
flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses
and of those that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and
bondservant and small and great- "Small and great" is the same
language used about those who accepted the mark of the latter day beast in
Rev. 13:16. The allusion is clearly to the similar scene in Ez. 39, where
the victims in view are the Islamic host of Israel's neighbours led by
"Gog". These are the same group who are pictured in Revelation as the
kings of the land promised to Abraham, who come forth to dominate God's
people and land in the last days. The emphasis upon "flesh" suggests this
is to be viewed as a sacrifice- the great sacrifice which Yahweh has in
the Muslim territories of "Edom" (Is. 34:6). The connection with the
marriage supper of the lamb (:9) is perhaps in that the believers have
their supper, as the Lamb's wife, and those who are not judged to
destruction are invited to theirs as wedding guests but not as the bride;
or it could be that these are in fact aspects of the same supper. The
Messianic banquet is therefore an open table to those not yet believers,
in order for them to come to faith. The Lord's table should be used in the
same way today, for it is a foretaste of the Messianic banquet of the last
day.
The kings refer to the kings of the earth / land who have given their
allegiance to the beast / Babylon. Those invited to eat their flesh are
clearly a different category to those who have been slain, and I suggest
they refer to the unbelievers left on planet earth who have not yet sided
with Christ and yet are not part of the Babylon system.
19:19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies
gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse, and
against his army- We have already had several visions of the total
destruction of the beast; this may be another one, going back to explain
how the blessed situation spoken of earlier in this chapter has been
achieved. Or it could be that Babylon has been destroyed, but the beast
apparently still exists; just as the dragon loses power in chapter 12 but
re-emerges in the form of the other beasts. It could be that her capital
city is destroyed but the wider system still exists. Or it could be that
such a reading is still too much within space-time constructs, and it
seems these dimensions will be somewhat collapsed in the events around the
Lord's coming, making chronological sequences of events worthless to
predict.
The horns on the beast are “the kings of the
earth”, but these kings and the beast arise out of the earth and the sea
[the nations around the earth]; and in line with Daniel 7, this is the
land promised to Abraham. The connection with 2 Chron. 20 and the other
references to Israel's neighbouring enemies 'gathering together' invites
us to see the beast as a primarily Arab organization. If there is a
detailed allusion here to the 2 Chron. 20 scenario, Jehoshaphat (against
whom the opposing kings initially gathered together) would represent
Jesus, and Jehoshaphat's army would tally with the resurrected saints.
In this case, the final onslaught will be after the return of Jesus. We
saw this in chapters 11 and 12; the dragon is cast out of political power,
but with just a short time left, goes forth to make war with the woman. In
passing, note the differentiation between the leaders in this conflict and
their armies: "The kings of the earth, and their armies... him that
sat on the horse (Jesus) and against his army". This would suggest a
specific hatred of the Lord Jesus which is separate from, although in
addition to, their antipathy towards Israel and the Christian
believers. It may also be possible to see in the separation between "the
kings of the earth, and their armies" a certain degree of coercion, or
difference of motivation, between leaders and people.
Christ goes out to make war (:11), and the
Beast and his armies go out to make war against Him- head on conflict. We
have gone back in time, as it were, to have another vision of the final
conflict, although this has been presented in various ways in earlier
visions. This is war with Christ- He is already crowned, 19:12. Likewise
the invasion of Ez. 38/9 is after Christ's return, when Israel dwell
safely, and we have the Psalm 2 scenario of the Lord enthroned in
Jerusalem being attacked by armies. Perhaps the revived beast wants to
recapture Babylon-Jerusalem from Him after it has been destroyed (see on
16:19). In this case, we see the limited value of visible miracles; they
will have seen plenty of them, but are so blinded by materialism that they
wish to still defy the Divine and attempt to recapture Jerusalem.
The beast, the kings of the earth and their
armies 'gather together' to fight against Christ. This may be the
gathering of 16:13,14; they are gathered together by the power of the
false miracles despite all the evidence of true miracles before their
eyes. Thus v. 20 mentions how "the false prophet that wrought miracles
before [the beast]" is captured with the beast- the scene of 16:14.
19:20- see on :19 and Rev. 13:17.
And the beast was captured, and with it
the false prophet, who in its presence had done the signs by which he
deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who
worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire
that burns with sulphur- There are
many connections between Revelation and John's Gospel. These miracles are
imitations of the miracles of Christ, for which John uses the same phrase
(Jn. 2:11,18; 3:2; 4:54; 6:2,14,30; 7:31; 9:16; 10:41; 11:47; 12:18,37;
20:30). Thus the false prophet is an anti-Christ, a fake Christ with fake
power and fake validation. Despite the presence of Divine miracles at the
time, as there have been for three and a half years from the two witnesses
of chapter 11, people believe what they want to believe. Visible miracles
are not conclusive nor bound to elicit true faith; as our Pentecostal
friends need to take note.
The destruction of the beast by fire is
Babylon's destruction too by the same method; it is that spoken of in Dan.
7:11; Is. 30:30,33. The beast and false prophet are cast into the lake of
fire. This is the lake of 20:14,15; 21:8- where the unworthy one time
believers are thrown. Thus the punishment of the rejected and that of the
world is the same; and therefore there must be a separation now,
lest we be "condemned with the world" (1 Cor. 11:29). "Burning with
brimstone" / sulphur recalls Sodom- where the unworthy believers shared
the same fate as the 'world' around them. Lot's wife was turned into salt,
as was the surrounding country (Lk. 17:29). "The lake of fire" will be in
the presence of Christ (14:10)- not underground. "Cast alive" suggests
torture; cp. 14:10 "tormented". Others are simply killed outright by
Christ's word of command (20:21). This would suggest that even among the
unresponsible there are degrees of punishment. Casting into a pit and fire
as punishment compares with Babylon's persecution of Daniel and his
friends. What Babylon does to others shall be done to it. Note too how the
Assyrian is described in Is. 30:31-33 as being thrown into a lake of fire-
just as the future beast will be (Rev. 19:20). See on 2 Thess. 2:8.
19:21 Slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was
sitting on the horse- The Lord's destructive power will involve words
of command rather than He literally, personally slaying the wicked. We
need not therefore imagine us personally killing the members of the beast
system. And we have noted several times that their destruction is largely
at the hands of each other. Even the coming down of fire and sulphur may
be due to their own nuclear weaponry backfiring upon them. The "all men"
whose flesh is to be eaten by those in mid-heaven, the Gentile world, are
the remaining followers of the beast and false prophet. This eating by
fowls is equated with burning in the lake of fire, or Gehenna (Rev.
19:20,21). Several passages in Jeremiah associate the mauling of carcases
by fowls with destruction in Gehenna. This creates the image of the beast
being ravaged by the 'fowls' of either natural Israel (as they represented
in David's speech to Goliath) or the nations once confederate with
'Babylon', as they seem to represent in Daniel.
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