Revelation 19

 

 19:1 After these things I heard what sounded like the loud voice of a vast throng in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

After the literal city of Babylon is destroyed, there will be four hallelujahs from heaven. The Greek Ἁλληλουϊά (hallelujah), which comes from the Hebrew  הַלְלוּ־יָהּ, (hallelujah), means to praise Jehovah. Hallelujah is used 24 times in the Old Testament, all in Psalms. It is used only four times in the New Testament, all in this chapter. Most of the time, it is used in judgement of evil.

The voice is loud, meaning that God may need to give everyone supernatural hearing to process and understand the praise.

There are three things listed in this verse that belong only to God, but not the devil or anyone else. Salvation is the atonement of Christ. The Shekinah Glory is the visible presence of God. God has the power to control every little detail of His sovereign plan. God will be praised for these three divine attributes that only He possesses. According to Jonah, "salvation comes from the Lord". 

19:2 because his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!”

The judgments of God will be true and just. When God disciplines a believer, brings him home, or sends an unbeliever to hell, these people will be receiving what they deserve. God is always right in what He does. When God sends 19 judgments upon the earth, the Christ-rejecting world will receive what they deserve.

The city of Babylon is the Great Prostitute. She corrupted her city with false religion. After the Tower of Babel, this mystery religious system spread throughout the whole world. She will be judged and destroyed by God for two reasons. First, as the spiritual, political, and economic power of the world, she will corrupt the earth by selling herself into spiritual adultery. Spiritual adultery is worshipping Satan, the created angel rather than God, the Creator of all things. Second, she will be judged and destroyed for attempting to commit genocide on the saints. Instead, she will be exterminated.

God is avenging the blood of the servants.  The Greek word for "servants" is doulas, meaning the servants are those who are doing the work of God. Both Peter and Paull called themselves doulas of God. 

The judgements of God are truth and righteous. What is truth? Truth is reality. If one distorts the truth, then they are distorting reality.

Who is righteous. Only God is righteous. Jesus said, "Why do you call me good" Only God is good"" Therefore Jesus is God. He was teaching his audience that man is totally depraved and evil and only God is good. If you call Jesus good, then he must be God.

19:3 Then a second time the crowd shouted, “Hallelujah!” The smoke rises from her forever and ever.

The crowd in heaven will shout their second hallelujah. When Babylon is destroyed, the smoke will rise from Babylon for the full 1000 years of the Millennial Kingdom. At the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom, the earth will be populated with only Christians. They will not have any travel restrictions. These Christians will be able to travel to Babylon and observe this memorial.

The Millennial Kingdom is not a new creation, but a renovated creation. Sin is present but  restrained. Mortals and saints will populate the kingdom. This kingdom lasts for 1000 years.. There will be sin and death

19:4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures threw themselves to the ground and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne, saying: “Amen! Hallelujah!”

The 24 elders were first mentioned in Revelation 24. Angels do not wear crowns nor do they lead churches, so the 24 elders are humans who lead the church.

The four living creatures should be translated as four living beings. They were first mentioned in Revelation 4. They are probably four special angels, similar to the cherubim in Ezekiel 10 and the seraphim in Isaiah 6. They possessed six wings. They were crying "Holy, Holy, Holy", perhaps three times for the Triune nature of God. "Amen" means "Let it happen". "Hallelujah" means "Praise Jehovah".

The Antichrist will demand worship. God will never demand worship. He will allow His people to worship him because of their own love for Him. He will never force anyone to worship Him. He will never trick anyone into worshipping Him.

Satan is the opposite. He craves worship. He demands worship. He deceives others into worshipping him. He will force others to worship him.

19:5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God all you his servants, and all you who fear Him, both the small and the great!”

A voice came from heaven asking everyone in heaven and earth to Praise God for what He had done. The identity of this voice is not identified,  All servants are commanded to continually praise and fear God. The Greek word for servants is doulas, meaning those who are happy to serve God. To "fear God" means to respect the authority of God. God does have the sovereign power over everyone's life. He decides your eternal location and your position in the next life. This voice  is all a prelude to the Second Coming of Christ.

The Wedding Celebration of the Lamb

19:6 Then I heard what sounded like the voice of a vast throng, like the roar of many waters and like loud crashes of thunder. They were shouting: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the All-Powerful, reigns!

This is the third hallelujah.  John hears a loud Hallelujah, sounding like the roar of many waters and the crash of thunder.

19:7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

There are four stages to the Jewish wedding ceremony,

First, the father of the groom chooses the bride and arranges the wedding by paying a dowry for her.  If the bride is very beautiful or from a prominent family, her father receives a large dowry. If she is not from a prominent family, or not very beautiful, then her father would receive a cheap dowry. Often, the groom and bride did not even meet until their wedding night. For this wedding God the Father chose the bride. He arranged the date of the wedding. He paid the dowry, which was the blood of His Son.

Second, the groom would sneak into the bride's house and snatch her away during the middle of the night. This will be a complete surprise to the bride. She never knows on which night her lover will come.  Neither does the groom know the date. He can only go fetch her when the father gives the command to do so. Only the father knows the day and the hour of the snatching. The snatching away of this bride by her groom will happen at the rapture.

Third, there will be the wedding ceremony. Only the close friends and family will be at the wedding ceremony. At this time, the marriage will be consummated. This marriage ceremony will happen in heaven, after the Rapture, and simultaneously at the time of the Great Tribulation. The Groom will snatch His bride away from the judgments of the Great Tribulation. He does not want a battered, bloody bride.

Fourth, there will be the wedding feast. This event will happen after the marriage ceremony. All of the other friends and relatives will celebrate the marriage feast. Sometimes the event will last up to seven days. This wedding feast will occur at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom. John the Baptist and all of the Old Testament saints and Great Tribulation saints will attend this feast during the opening days of the Millennial Kingdom.

This verse deals with the third stage of the marriage. The bride will be made ready by snatching her up to heaven via the Rapture and giving her a new glorified body that can never sin again. The Lamb will be the groom. The Lamb and His bride will return to earth on the last day of the Great Tribulation.

19:8 She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints).

The bride will be dressed in bright clothing, possibly similar to that of the light of the Shekinah Glory. It is possible that Adam and Eve were clothed with light before the fall, since they were created in the image of God. However, they lost the light after the fall and found themselves naked.

19:9 Then the angel said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

This is the fourth stage of the wedding. The wedding feast will occur on earth. Many will be invited, but many will refuse to attend. Those who take the mark of the Beast will refuse the invitation. All of the saints throughout history will accept the invitation. 

19:10 So I threw myself down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “Do not do this! I am only a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

John knelt down to worship the angel, but he was commanded not to do so. The spirit of prophecy is the Word of God. This would be all of the prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments which pointed to Christ. Jesus is a testimony that these prophecies were fulfilled. Jesus had to be virgin born, born in Bethlehem, suffer on the cross according to Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, and then be resurrected from the dead. He had to fulfill every detail of all of the prophecies about not only His first coming, but His second coming as well.

 The Son of God Goes to War

19:11 Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse! The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war.

The man on the first white horse of the first seal judgment was the Antichrist. The man on this white horse is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is returning to earth at His second coming so that He can fulfill "the spirit of prophecy" which was just mentioned to John.

19:12 His eyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head. He has a name written that no one knows except himself.

The Greek word for "diadem crown" is διάδημα (diadayma), meaning the royal crown of a king. The Antichrist wore a (στέφανος) stephanos crown, meaning a crown of one who conquers. The Lord Jesus Christ wears a διάδημα (diadayma), the crown of a king. Therefore, these are two different personalities.

The Lord Jesus Christ was a prophet while He was on the earth. He is currently a priest in heaven, interceding for the saints. He will return as a King.

19:13 He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God.

It was the blood of Christ which was the dowry price of God the Father. Christ returns to the earth at His second coming with His bride, wearing a robe dipped in His own literal blood. Jesus is the Word of God, because when He speaks, His words are that of God.

19:14 The armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses.

There are two armies with Christ. There is an army of angels and an army of the saints.

19:15 From his mouth extends a sharp sword, so that with it he can strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful.

The seven kings of the Antichrist will gather all of the nations of the world at Armageddon under the leadership of the Antichrist. This includes the United States, if they still exist at this time. These armies will march to Petra to destroy the Jews.

The armies of Christ will return with the Lord Jesus Christ in the air.  However, they will not fight the Antichrist. They will be there to observe the fight, making them two groups of witnesses. The Lord Jesus Christ will fight the Antichrist alone. The battle will not last very long. Jesus will say one word with his mouth and the battle will be over. All of the Christ-rejecters of all of the nations will be ripe, meaning that they have reached their full maturity of their totally depraved and evil natural state. These Christ-rejecters will be stomped like grapes in a winepress at the geographical area of Petra. The details of this battle were given prophetically in Isaiah 63.

19:16 He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

At his first coming, the Lord Christ Jesus came as the Prophet. Currently, He is serving at the right hand of the Father as the Priest to the Nations. The Lord Jesus Christ will relinquish His current position of priest and begin His new position as the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

This title is a superlative, meaning the highest Lord and the highest king. This title was coveted by the Antichrist, but this was a satanic coup and not part of God's sovereign plan. Three other superlative examples in Scripture are the Song of Songs, Holy of Holy, and Vanity of Vanities.

Why is the name on his thigh? When a person is riding a horse, then the thigh is the most conspicuous part of the body and visible to all.

19:17 Then I saw one angel standing in the sun, and he shouted in a loud voice to all the birds flying high in the sky: “Come, gather around for the great banquet of God,

There will be two feasts on earth. First, all of the Christ-rejecters will be invited to the feast of the birds. However, the Christ-rejecters will be the menu.

The second feast is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, which is for all believers.

19:18 to eat your fill of the flesh of kings, the flesh of generals, the flesh of powerful people, the flesh of horses and those who ride them, and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, and small and great!”

The birds of the heavens will be called to feast upon all of the Christ-rejecters.

19:19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army.

Those who are totally depraved and evil hate the Lord Jesus Christ. The beast and all of the kings of the earth will attempt to battle Christ.

19:20 Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.

The beast and the false prophet will be the first two people thrown into the Lake of Fire. At this time, all of the other Christ-rejecters will be kept in Hell.  The beast and false prophet will be alone in the Lake of Fire for the entire 1000 year time period of the Millennial Kingdom.

19:21 The others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh.

All of the Christ-rejecters on earth will be killed instantly by Christ. Their bodies will be stomped like grapes in a winepress. They will have no burial. Birds will eat their flesh. Jesus will purge every evil person out of this world.