Revelation 19:4

“After these things” points back to Revelation 17 and Revelation 18, where Babylon the Great, the great whore, is judged and destroyed. In chapter 18 the kings and merchants of the earth weep over her. Here John hears heaven, and heaven rejoices. The same event that ends the world’s trade and pleasure brings joy before God’s throne, because there it is seen for what it is, God setting right a long wrong done to his people and to the earth. The angel had already cried that Babylon the great is fallen (Revelation 18:2), and these verses are heaven’s answer.

Revelation was written to churches suffering under the Roman Empire, likely during the reign of Domitian, around AD 95. Early Christian writings often called Rome “Babylon”, so John’s first readers would have heard in this chorus that the power pressing on them would answer to God. The throne in these verses speaks to them too. Rome had its emperor, its idols and its demand for allegiance, and heaven has the one God who sits on the throne and receives all worship.

The praise rises in three waves. A great company in heaven sings first (verses 1 to 3), then the twenty-four elders and the four beasts nearest the throne (verse 4), and then a voice from the throne itself calls every servant of God to join in (verse 5). The song goes on after our passage, with another Alleluia in Revelation 19:6 and the announcement of the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:7.

Allēlouïa is a Hebrew word carried over into Greek letters. It joins hallel, “praise”, with Yah, a short form of God’s covenant name, and so it means “Praise ye Jah” or “Praise ye the LORD”. It is a command and a shout of joy at once. In the Psalms it calls God’s people to praise him for his mighty acts, and the Psalter closes by calling every thing that has breath to praise the LORD (Psalm 150:6).

In the whole New Testament the word stands only in this chapter, in verses 1, 3 and 4 and once more in verse 6 (Revelation 19:1–6). It comes here because the long contest between God and the powers that opposed him has reached its turning point. Heaven greets that moment with the old praise of Israel, and its repetition carries the joy, the unity and the vindication that fill heaven as God’s plan of salvation and justice comes to its end.

The “great voice of much people” is a vast company sounding as one. The word for voice, phōnḗ, is a sound that carries speech, and here it is “great”, loud enough to fill heaven. John leaves the singers unnamed, and they are most likely angels and redeemed saints together, like the great multitude before the throne in Revelation 7:9–12 and the countless voices of Revelation 5:11–14.

Their song gives four things to God. Salvation, sōtēría, is rescue and safety, and it comes from the word for a saviour. Here it is the deliverance God has just worked by judging the power that oppressed his people. Glory is his majesty and splendour, honour is the esteem he is worthy of, and power is his might to do all that he wills. The repeated “and” (Greek kai) lets each word land by itself and builds the praise up to its height. The elders had sung, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power” (Revelation 4:11), praising God as Creator, and now heaven gives him the same honours as he brings his judgment to its close. “Unto the Lord our God” names him as the God of his people, theirs by covenant.

Salvation and judgment stand side by side in this song. The act that destroys Babylon is the act that rescues God’s people from her. Deliverance from sin, death and all evil is God’s own work, begun by him and finished by him.

Verse 2 gives the reason for the praise, and it starts with who God is: “For true and righteous are his judgments.” True, alēthinós, means real and genuine, judgments that hold good and agree with his nature. Righteous, díkaios, means equitable in character and in act. Every sentence God passes is upright and fair by his own perfect standard, even when it is severe, and heaven praises it because heaven sees that he has done exactly what is right. The verb “hath judged” (ekrinen) speaks of a judgment carried out and finished. Her doom is sealed.

“And again they said, Alleluia.” The same company praises a second time, and now they look at the ruin itself. The word for smoke, kapnós, is ordinary smoke, here the smoke of the burned city. To John’s first readers a city smoking after fire and war was a familiar and dreadful sight, and the prophets used it for God’s lasting judgment on nations. Isaiah said of Edom, “It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever” (Isaiah 34:10). Jude speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah suffering the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 1:7), and Revelation has already spoken of the smoke of the torment of those who worship the beast (Revelation 14:11).

“For ever and ever” is in Greek eis tous aiōnas tōn aiōnōn, “unto the ages of the ages”. Aiṓn is an age, and by extension perpetuity, and eis means “into”. Doubled this way, the phrase speaks of time without end. Babylon’s ruin is permanent. The power that oppressed God’s people will never rise again, and her smoke stands as a lasting memorial of God’s victory over evil.

Verse 4 brings in those nearest the throne. The four and twenty elders have sat around God’s throne since Revelation 4:4, clothed in white with crowns on their heads. The “four beasts” are, in Greek, zōon, “living creatures”, the majestic, cherub-like beings full of eyes and wings in Revelation 4:6–8. All through the book these two groups lead heaven’s worship, and they give glory to the One on the throne who created all things (Revelation 4:9–11).

They “fell down”, from píptō, a posture of full humility, “and worshipped”. The verb proskynéō means to bow down in homage, to prostrate oneself in reverence and submission. Strong’s traces it to a root meaning to kiss toward someone, like a dog licking its master’s hand. Here it is the humble adoration of God by those who have just seen his judgment. They worship “God that sat on the throne”, the King whose rule has stood unshaken through all that Revelation has shown.

Their words are two Hebrew words. Amḗn is a strong affirmation, “verily” or “so be it”. Spoken in answer to the praise before it, it is their assent to the multitude’s song and to God’s judgment, their agreement that all heaven has said of him is true. Then comes Alleluia, the shout of praise. The two together join full agreement with God’s justice to joy in it, and with this Amen heaven is of one mind about what God has done. His justice moves heaven to praise, and the elders and beasts give that praise their solemn seal.

Then a voice comes “out of the throne”, the seat of God’s rule. The speaker is left unnamed. It may be God himself, an angel sent by him, or one of the living creatures or elders who stand closest to the throne (Revelation 4:6–10). Since the voice says “our God”, the speaker stands among those he addresses as one who worships the same God. Whoever speaks, the command comes from the throne John first saw set in heaven (Revelation 4:2), and it carries God’s own authority.

“Praise”, ainéō, comes from aînos, a word of praise, and is used for praising God. Here it is a command, because praise is what God is due and what his acts call for. The voice names those it calls in two ways. They are “his servants”, doûlos, a word that comes from déō, “to bind”, and means a bondservant, one who belongs to a master. God’s servants belong to him wholly and serve him willingly, out of love and loyalty. And they are “ye that fear him”, from phobéō, which can mean to be afraid and here means the reverence and awe that God’s holiness and power call out.

“Both small and great” names the two ends of human rank to take in everyone between them, the least regarded believer and the most honoured. All are called alike, and earthly standing counts for nothing here. A psalm speaks of the same people in the same words: “He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great” (Psalm 115:13). Small and great will also stand together before God at the last judgment (Revelation 20:12). The call reaches toward the day when all God’s works praise him (Psalm 145:10) and every creature in heaven and earth gives blessing to him that sits on the throne and to the Lamb (Revelation 5:13).

The praise in these verses goes to “the Lord our God” and to “God that sat on the throne”, and the New Testament shows how it is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The salvation heaven sings of is his work, for he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). God’s glory shines in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6), who is “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person” and who by himself purged our sins (Hebrews 1:3). All power in heaven and in earth has been given to him (Matthew 28:18).

The judgment is his as well. The Father has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22), and at the cross Christ triumphed over principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15). He holds the keys of death (Revelation 1:18), and a few verses after this passage he rides out as King of kings and Lord of lords to carry out the justice heaven has just praised (Revelation 19:11–16). He is the Lamb who was slain and redeemed his people by his blood (Revelation 5:9–10), and the great multitude cries that salvation belongs to God and to the Lamb (Revelation 7:9–10). He is the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 22:13), and the only begotten Son has declared the Father (John 1:18), so the reverence and praise of these verses go to the Father made known in the Son.

Babylon’s fall clears the way for the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21:1), where God wipes away every tear and death, sorrow and pain are gone for good (Revelation 21:4).

These verses let suffering believers see the end of the story from heaven’s side. Evil may prosper for a while and the faithful may suffer, but God’s judgments are true and righteous, and the blood of his servants is precious to him. The cry of the martyrs under the altar is answered, and the power that persecuted them is gone for ever.

The passage also shows who God is. He judges rightly, he remembers the humble, and he keeps vengeance in his own hands, so his people are free to wait for him. His throne stands when every rival power has fallen into smoke. And the call that comes from that throne is addressed to every one of his servants, small and great, so the least regarded believer is named in it beside the most honoured.

When God’s people sing Alleluia now, they join a song already sounding in heaven, and one day all creation will sing it with them. Babylon’s smoke is also a solemn warning against every power, and every heart, that gives itself to her ways, for the God who is praised here is both just and merciful.