Here we have a continuation of verse 20 in chapter 18, where it says to rejoice over the destruction of Babylon. We see here the four Hallelujahs.
This chapter is famous because it will deal with Jesus’ return to Earth.
Verse 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:”
The first thing to notice is the phrase “After these things”, which is the Greek phrase “meta tauta”, it appears 4 times in Revelation - beginning of Chapters 4, 7, 18 and here at the beginning of chapter 19.
The people that are in Heaven are saying Alleluia, this is the Greek form of the word Hallelujah. This is an Old Testament term, it only appears 4 times in the New Testament, but in the Psalms alone it appears 24 times. It means “Praise the Lord”
Verse 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.”
Here we are talking about the woman that rides the beast, here we see rejoicing at her destruction. God has judged her and conquered her.
Verse 3
“And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.”
This is much to give praise for, we see another Alleluia to emphasis the greatness of this judgment.
Verse 4
“And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.”
We haven’t heard from the elders for quite a while and this is the last appearance of them. Most scholars believe that when we see them next they are referred to as the Bride.
Verse 5-6
“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.”
“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.”
The whole of Heaven rejoices.
This is the fourth and final Alleluia.
Verse 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.”
This leads us to the Bride. We are arriving at the marriage supper.
These are two suppers in this chapter, the first one is joyous, the second is anything but joyous.
This reference to the wife or bride is used throughout scripture. Israel has been portrayed as the wife of God throughout the Old Testament, but is also portrayed as a harlot. Israel is also spoken of as divorced.
In contrast to this the Church is spoken of as a virgin, pure.
We do know who the Bridegroom is, John 3:22 - Jesus Christ.
The question is, who is the Bride?
It is interesting to look at the tradition of an ancient Jewish wedding.
The first thing that happened was that the groom to be travelled from his father’s house to the home of his prospective bride and there paid the purchase price and therefore establishing a marriage covenant. It was binding and could only be broken by divorce. Any unfaithfulness during this period of “engagement” was considered adultery. The groom then returned to his father’s house and remained separate from his bride, during which time be prepared the living accommodation for his bride, in or near his father’s home. When this was completed, it was an unknown period of time for this, even unknown to the bride, the groom came for the bride, it was always at a time which was a surprise. She lived, during this period, in expectation of that surprise. She lived, during this period, in expectation of that surprise and his returning. He then takes her to his father’s house for the wedding ceremony which is celebrated for the next seven days.
Who is the bridegroom? - Jesus Christ. Who is the bride? - The Church.
Verse 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.”
We are still referring to the bride.
Throughout the scriptures clothing is used to represent our righteousness.
Notice that the righteousness here has been granted and not earned. It is not what we can do, but what God does in us and has done for us.
Verse 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.”
Verse 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.”
John here falls at the feet of the angel that is sharing all this with him. This is surprising as John would have known better than to do this. The angel corrects him and tells him not to do it. Worshipping angels is wrong.
Verse 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.”
Here we see the start of the event which is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It is not to be confused with the rapture, Jesus comes back twice, once for the Church, once for Israel, this time He comes to Earth, in the rapture He meets us in the sky.
This rider should not be confused with the rider in chapter six. It is Jesus Himself that is riding this horse. We will see that this rider wears different items than the previous rider. Notice also the title used for Him “faithful and true” is the same title used to describe the last of the seven churches.
Verse 12
“His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he has a name written, that no man know, but he himself.”
The word crowns here is not distinguished in English, but in the Greek it does. The previous rider (the false christ) wore a victors crown, which was a temporary crown. This rider wear a ‘diadem’ crown showing he is a king or kings.
What the secret name is no-one knows, but we could maybe guess, or wonder is it associated with the book of Luke. The king of kings label is like a Matthew label which refers to Christ’s kingship. The term faithful and true is a servant phrase, which would tie in with the book of Mark and the title we see in the next verse “the Word of God” ties in with John.
Verse 13
“And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”
The vesture here is in translation really “sprinkled” with the blood. It is not His blood that we are talking about, but the blood of His enemies.
Verse 14
“And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”
The army here that accompanies Jesus not only includes angels but includes the church as well, we see the reference to being clothed in white linen, meaning pure and righteous as seen previously. The real question here is - What are the armies for? There is no struggle, a word from His mouth and the battle is over. The armies do not seem to be required to do anything.
Verse 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.”
The sword here is not literally a sword, but refers to the Word of God, the Bible. It has a piercing effectiveness. Old paintings often show Jesus with a flame of fire coming from His mouth.
Verse 16
“And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
This title we find throughout Scripture.
Why on His thigh, when we look at a mounted horseman one of the obvious places to be seen is the thigh.
Verse 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;”
This is the second supper that we come to, it is not to be confused with the marriage supper we seen earlier on in the chapter. It is quite different.
We have here and in the verse following a collection of reference which take us back into the Old Testament references of the battle of Armageddon.
Verse 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.”
Many are going to die at this time. All that oppose Christ shall be killed.
Verse 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.”
Why would they do this, they are knowingly going to make war against God, it is hard for us to understand. Surely they know it can only lead to destruction. After all it has all been foretold right here in revelation.
There is a view that is held by some, that here is a condition set down by God before He will return. This is hinted at in Hosea 5:15 where it says God will not return until the Jews seek after God and ask Him to come. It is thought that Satan in a last desperate attempt, is attempting to get to the Jews before they can call on God.
The nations are after Israel, but Satan is after the Jews.
Verse 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.”
The two figures - the beast and the false prophet are taken and cast alive into the lake of fire, we will see later that one thousand years later they are still alive and being burned in this fire. We are eternal.
Verse 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.”
The remnant here is simply those who were left from the battle that had taken place between the armies of the earth at Armageddon.
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