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Revelation 19

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Heavenly Hallelujahs for God's Judgment 1–5

1
And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: ​
2
For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. ​
3
And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. ​
4
And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. ​
5
And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb 6–10

6
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. ​
7
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. ​
8
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. ​
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. ​
10
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. ​

The Rider on the White Horse Appears 11–16

11
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. ​
12
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. ​
13
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. ​
14
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. ​
15
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. ​
16
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. ​

Final Defeat of the Beast and His Armies 17–21

17
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; ​
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. ​
19
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. ​
20
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. ​
21
And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Revelation 19

Verse 1

Alleluia — Allelouia is the Hebrew for ‘Praise ye the LORD’, the opening of Ps 106:1. The Greek form occurs in the New Testament only in this chapter, at vv.1, 3, 4 and 6. The praise ‘Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power’ echoes the heavenly cry of 7:10, 12, and here it is given ‘unto the Lord our God’ after Babylon’s fall.

Verse 2

true and righteous are his judgments — The words answer the cry of 6:10, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?’ ‘Avenged the blood of his servants at her hand’ repeats the charge brought against Jezebel in 2 Kgs 9:7, ‘that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets… at the hand of Jezebel’, and Deut 32:43.

Verse 3

her smoke rose up for ever and ever — The second ‘Alleluia’ follows ‘And again they said’. The smoke is that seen by the kings and shipmasters in 18:9, 18. Isa 34:10 says of Edom, ‘the smoke thereof shall go up for ever’, and Abraham saw ‘the smoke of the country… as the smoke of a furnace’ over Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:28).

Verse 4

fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne — This is the last time the ‘four and twenty elders’ and the ‘four beasts’ appear in Revelation. ‘Amen; Alleluia’ is the pair of Ps 106:48, ‘let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD’. In 5:14 they had also said ‘Amen’ and worshipped.

Verse 6

the Lord God omnipotent reigneth — Pantokrator, ‘ruler of all’, the title that runs through Revelation (1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:15; 21:22). ‘The voice of many waters’ is the voice heard in 14:2. Ps 97:1 has ‘The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice’, and 11:17 had said, ‘thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned’.

Verse 7

the marriage of the Lamb is come — The ‘wife’ is the same as the bride of 21:2, 9, ‘prepared as a bride adorned for her husband’. Isa 62:5 says, ‘as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee’, and Paul speaks of having ‘espoused you to one husband’ (2 Cor 11:2). The bride answers the harlot of 17:1.

Verse 8

the righteousness of saints — Dikaiomata, plural, ‘righteousnesses’. The word is used in Rom 5:18 of Christ’s one act and in Rom 8:4 of the law’s requirement fulfilled in believers. The linen ‘was granted’ to her. Isa 61:10 speaks of ‘the robe of righteousness’, and 7:14 of robes ‘made… white in the blood of the Lamb’.

Verse 9

Blessed are they which are called — The fourth of the seven beatitudes of Revelation (1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14). ‘Supper’ is deipnon, the word of Luke 14:16, ‘A certain man made a great supper, and bade many’, and of the ‘supper of the great God’ in v.17: two suppers are set against each other. Isa 25:6 has the feast on the LORD’s mountain.

Verse 10

See thou do it not — The same refusal and the same words recur in 22:8–9. ‘Fellowservant’ (sundoulos) is used in Revelation only here, in 6:11 and in 22:9. He gives the reason for the command: ‘the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’. John himself was on Patmos for ‘the testimony of Jesus Christ’ (1:9).

Verse 11

Faithful and True — The name recalls 3:14, where Christ is ‘the faithful and true witness’. ‘Heaven opened’ now shows a rider on a white horse who judges ‘in righteousness’, the manner given in Isa 11:4, ‘with righteousness shall he judge the poor’, and in Ps 96:13, ‘he shall judge the world with righteousness’. The same verse says he also makes war.

Verse 12

many crowns — Diadema, the royal diadem, which occurs only in 12:3, 13:1 and here: the dragon and the beast wear diadems, and Christ wears ‘many’. ‘His eyes were as a flame of fire’ is from 1:14. The ‘name written, that no man knew’ recalls 2:17, ‘a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it’. A name that all can read is given in v.16.

Verse 13

clothed with a vesture dipped in blood — Isa 63:1–3 shows one from Edom with ‘dyed garments from Bozrah’, who says ‘I have trodden the winepress alone’ and ‘their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments’. ‘The Word of God’ is the name John gives in John 1:1, ‘the Word was God’, and 1:14, ‘the Word was made flesh’.

Verse 14

the armies which were in heaven followed him — They are ‘clothed in fine linen, white and clean’, the dress of the bride in v.8. 17:14 says ‘they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful’, and Jude 14 ‘the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints’. No weapon is described for them; the sword is in his mouth (v.15).

Verse 15

out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword — It is the sword of 1:16, and Christ had said he will ‘fight against them with the sword of my mouth’ (2:16). Isa 11:4 says he ‘shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth’. ‘Rule’ (poimaino, shepherd) with the ‘rod of iron’ is Ps 2:9, as in 2:27 and 12:5, and the winepress is that of 14:19–20.

Verse 16

KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS — The title is given to the Lamb in 17:14, ‘Lord of lords, and King of kings’, and in 1 Tim 6:15 to ‘the blessed and only Potentate’. It draws on Deut 10:17, ‘God of gods, and Lord of lords’, and Dan 2:47. ‘On his vesture and on his thigh’ places it where it can be read, against the ‘name… that no man knew’ of v.12.

Verse 17

the supper of the great God — Against the ‘marriage supper of the Lamb’ (v.9) is set this feast, both called deipnon. The angel calls ‘all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven’, where the angel of 8:13 also flew, and the call follows Ezek 39:17, ‘Speak unto every feathered fowl… gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice’.

Verse 18

the flesh of kings — The list follows Ezek 39:18, ‘Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth’. The classes are those who hid at the sixth seal in 6:15: kings, chief captains, mighty men, ‘every bondman, and every free man’. Here it is ‘both small and great’, the two groups who praise in 19:5.

Verse 19

gathered together to make war — The gathering is that begun by the spirits of 16:14, 16 and spoken of in 17:14, ‘These shall make war with the Lamb’. ‘The beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies’ stand against ‘him that sat on the horse, and against his army’ (v.11). No battle is described; the verses that follow tell only of its result.

Verse 20

a lake of fire burning with brimstone — The first of five mentions of the lake of fire (21:8 has ‘the lake which burneth with fire’). The beast and the false prophet are ‘cast alive’ into it, and 20:10 says the devil joins them ‘where the beast and the false prophet are’. Dan 7:11 tells of the beast ‘slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame’.

Verse 21

the sword… which sword proceeded out of his mouth — The ‘remnant’ are the rest who followed the beast and the kings, and they are slain by the sword of v.15. ‘All the fowls were filled with their flesh’ completes the call of vv.17–18. The one who ‘doth judge and make war’ (v.11) wins with his word, as 2 Thess 2:8 says: ‘the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth’.