Skip to content

Commentary

Revelation 19:9

And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Revelation 19:10 · 3 passages

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Who hold the testimony of Jesus. After the Lord Jesus elevated the assumed man above the heavens, the angel feared being worshipped by a man, evidently worshipping the man-God above himself, which we read was done by men before the Lord's Incarnation and was not forbidden by angels.
See that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren. He had said earlier: I am the first and the last (Rev. 1). Therefore, he shows that the angel was sent in the figure of the Lord and the Church. For at the end, he also says: I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches (Rev. 22).
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. For whatever the spirit of prophecy said is the testimony of Jesus, who has the testimony from the Law and the Prophets. Therefore, he says, do not worship me as God, since I have come to bear witness to His virtues. Thus far concerning the fall of Babylon, henceforth concerning the future glory of Jerusalem.
Revelation 19:11 · 2 passages

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.

And in righteousness he judges and makes war. He judges as the King of the ages. He makes war because he always fights, sharing the struggles of his members.
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, etc. The Lord, who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14), and to whom it is said through the prophet: For you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure (Isaiah 25), ascends a white horse, that is, the seat of an immaculate body, to defeat the aerial powers.
Revelation 19:12 · 3 passages

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.

He has a name written that no one knows but himself. He says, no one knows but himself, because all the Church is in him. The perfect knowledge of the Word of God is revealed to those who have deserved to be the body and members of Christ. In the same way, the Lord says: No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man (John 3).
His eyes are like a flame of fire. Sometimes the eyes of God are called his commandments, sometimes the spirit. Your word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord (Psalm 119). And of the Spirit: I came to cast fire on the earth (Luke 12).
And on his head are many diadems. In him we find our strength; in him, the multitude of saints is said to be adorned with a crown.
Revelation 19:13 · 2 passages

And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

And his name is called the Word of God. Because he who appeared as a man to suffer for a time was in the beginning with God (John 1). He is called the Word because there is nothing visible or corporeal in the substance of his nature, or because the Father created all things through him. The complete knowledge of whose nature, as he said above, is known only to himself and the Father. For the peace of God surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4), that is, the peace by which God himself is at peace transcends all the understanding of creatures, whether human or even angelic. For his wisdom is without number. What is said: And no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him (Matt. 11), refers to the manner of the creature.
He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. The robe of Christ should be understood according to the context. Here, it seems to indicate the very work of the passion, so that on the white horse signifies the incorruptible birth, and in the blood-stained robe, the innocent death.
Revelation 19:14 · 2 passages

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

And the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses. That is, the Church in pure bodies imitates him, which, because of the struggle of its contest, rightly receives the name of army.
Clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Which he previously explained to be the righteous acts of the saints, as the Psalmist says: Let your priests be clothed with righteousness (Psalm 132).
Revelation 19:15 · 2 passages

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 treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. He treads now also, until he treads it outside the city.
And from his mouth proceeds a sharp sword. Thus Isaiah says: And he made my mouth like a sharp sword (Isa. 49). And the Apostle: And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. 6).
Revelation 19:16

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

And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the name that none of the proud know. But it is inscribed on the Church not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, on the tablets of the heart (2 Cor. 3). For the thigh signifies the progeny of the seed. Hence, Abraham used his thigh as a third witness between himself and his servant to ensure his progeny would not intermix with foreigners. About this, the Apostle, like raising seed to a deceased brother, says: For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the Gospel (1 Cor. 4). It can also be understood that the Church reigns in Christ through service, and dominates the rulers. The same name is written on the garment because the majesty and kingdom are revealed to us through the mystery of his birth and the work of his passion. He explains in the following what this garment and the king’s army signify, namely the labor of the last battle and the glory of the ensuing kingdom.
Revelation 19:17 · 3 passages

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

And I saw an angel standing in the sun, etc. That is, the proclamation in the Church, which the more it is oppressed, the more it shines clearly and resounds more freely.
Come, gather for the great supper of God, etc. Come, he says, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt. 5), to the feast of the coming kingdom, where, with the fury of the proud subdued, you may be satisfied with the light of divine justice.
Saying to all the birds, etc. He calls the saints birds, living in the life of heaven: Wherever the corpse is, there the eagles will gather (Matt. 24). Bringing them together into one body, he referred to them as an eagle flying in mid-heaven.
Revelation 19:18

That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

And the flesh of horses and those who sit on them. I think these are the riders he described as coming against the white horse of the Lord during the opening of the seals.

All writers