Revelation Study 23 Chapter 19

Review

Let’s look back over the last two chapters

What was happening in chapter 17??

The great prostitute was shown to us, described.

Revelation 17:1–2 ESV

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”

Verse 2, “With her the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the earth dwellers have become drunk.”

Revelation 17:6 ESV

And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

Again, she is representative of the system, the empire of Rome

What about chapter 18?

Fallen Fallen is Babylon the Great

Revelation 18:3 ESV

For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”

Remember 18 verse 4

Revelation 18:4 ESV

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;

She is going to pay, her run is coming to an end

Do you remember who sung the dirge’s for her, the funeral songs of mourning? The Kings of the earth v.9,

Revelation 18:9 ESV

And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.

the merchants v.11,

Revelation 18:11 ESV

And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore,

every sea captain v.17,

Revelation 18:17 ESV

For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off

Why? Remember v.3 they grew rich from the power of her luxurious living.

Who is rejoicing? The heavens and all who dwell there, the people of God, the apostles, and prophets, all who have been persecuted, judged, killed, by the Babylon’s in which they lived.

End of 18, “Your merchants were the world’s important people. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people, of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.”

Chapters 17-18, John has just witnessed the destruction of the earthly center of all satanic activity, where the beast, the dragon, and the false prophet found easy access to the world.

They were the summary of the downfall of evil on the earth and the vindication of God for His people.

We’ve seen this before in chapter 6:12-17, the opening of the 6th seal

In chapter 11:15-18, the blowing of the 7th trumpet

The casting out of Satan in chapter 12 verse 10

The harvesting of the earth in 14:14-20

The pouring out of the 7th bowl in 16:17-21

Now the evil is gone, the prostitute, the beast, Babylon the Great, drunk with blood, is done.

Well, we’ll see one last perspective in 19:11-16 & 17-21

But first, Chapter 19:1-5

English Standard Version Chapter 19

Rejoicing in Heaven

19 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

“Hallelujah!

Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

2  for his judgments are true and just;

for he has judged the great prostitute

who corrupted the earth with her immorality,

and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

3 Once more they cried out,

“Hallelujah!

The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And from the throne came a voice saying,

“Praise our God,

all you his servants,

you who fear him,

small and great.”

Quote from a commentary.

Michael Gorman, “Calling Revelation resistance literature is appropriate because one of the primary prophetic purposes of Revelation is to remind the church, both then and now, not to give in to the demands or practices of a system that is already judged by God and is about to come to its demise. But Revelation is not just a document that stands against something. Like all biblical prophecy, it promotes true worship of the One True God, expressed not merely in formal liturgy but also in faithful living, the practice of having no other gods before God. Put more positively, then, Revelation is a summons to first-commandment faithfulness, a call to faithful witness and worship in word and deed. In other words, its character as resistance literature is actually secondary to, and derivative of its more fundamental character as worship literature, as a liturgical text.”

The Threefold Hallelujah Over Babylon’s Fall

In chapter 18 there were three 3 laments, here 3 Hallelujah’s

Chapters 17-18 were focused on earth here the focus is in heaven.

Every act of series of acts by God in Revelation is accompanied by rejoicing in heaven.

The great multitude first, a glimpse of all the redeemed

What is ascribed to God here in verse 1? Salvation, glory, power, and justice, all or His and no one else’s

Let’s look closer at verse 2

Revelation 19:2 ESV

for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

Again we see His judgments are true?? To his character and His word.

They are just-lex talionis, just retribution, fair, equitable

He has judged the system, the current figure heads, and the ultimate force behind it.

Vengeance is the Lord’s, He will deal with evil with justice and righteousness.

Human beings could not be trusted with this responsibility

Romans 12:19 ESV

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

Jeremiah 46:10 ESV

That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes. The sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

Now on to verse 3

Revelation 19:3 ESV

Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

Isaiah 34:10 ESV

Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.

God has done this before, to all previous Babylon’s when a “global” kingdom falls, it never rises again to what it was.

verses 4-5

Then the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures join

Then in verse 5 an invitation goes out to us as well.

Are we going to be one who mourns or sings??

Now verses 6-10

English Standard Version Chapter 19

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God

the Almighty reigns.

7  Let us rejoice and exult

and give him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his Bride has made herself ready;

8  it was granted her to clothe herself

with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

God reigns, let us rejoice and give Him glory.

For the marriage of the Lamb has come.

It was not uncommon in the OT for Israel to be spoken of as God’s wife.

Jeremiah 31:32 ESV

not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.

This is carried forward into the NT

2 Corinthians 11:2 ESV

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Not to mention the wedding parables in the Gospels.

Evangelical Commentary on the Bible A. The Multitude of Heaven Rejoices (19:1–10)

The wedding of the Lamb is the union of Christ with the believers in eternal love and fidelity. The image of a wedding supper (Rev. 19:9) with all of its joy, hope, and promise is a beautiful image that describes the union of Christ with his people in the glory of heaven. John continues the imagery of the marriage and pictures the bride wearing fine linen (Rev. 19:7–8). The mention of fine linen or robes occurs often in Revelation (3:5, 18; 4:4; 6:11; 7:9, 14; 19:14) and here John interprets it as meaning the righteous acts of the saints. God’s people are not those who speak about living lives that are pleasing to him, but those who are actually doing it. It is not those who say “Lord, Lord” who enter the kingdom of God, but those who do God’s will on earth (Matt. 7:21).

So in chapter 17 the offer from the prostitute was to commit sexual immorality with her, here in 19 the invitation is to the wedding supper of the Lamb.

The unfaithful and the faithful, two invitations, two destinations

Revelation 19:9–10 ESV

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The invitation here is more along the lines of being called to gather, for more on this study Jesus parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22:1-14

In both, the invitation to attend goes out to all, as many as can be found, but the “invitation” to come gather is only accepted by a few, and one isn’t clothed in fine linen, wedding garments.

In chapter 18, the “blessed” ones from a worldly perspective would have been the kings, the merchants and the sea captains who all got rich with the prostitute. temporal “blessing”.

But here, the blessed ones are those called into the marriage supper of the Lamb, an eternal blessing.

Why John falls down in worship of this messenger angel is unknown, we can speculate, but we have no certainty. It happens again in chapter 22 BTW.

Now on to Verses 11-16

English Standard Version Chapter 19

The Rider on a White Horse

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Verse 11 starts with what phrase? Then I saw, which means? This is a new vision.

We are going to see this phrase 7 times in the next 2+ chapters starting here and going into chapter 21:8

19:11-16, 19:17-18, 19:19-21

The seals, the trumpets, the bowls were all in 7’s, they started with activities on earth and in history 1-4 or 5, and then transitioned to events at the end of history 6-7 and sometimes 5.

So verse 1, what does John see? Heaven opened, God is going to act. Then he sees a white horse, conquest and victory, and it’s rider

Who is the rider? Jesus

What 7 titles/characteristics descriptions are attributed to Him?

Faithful and True—How is Jesus faithful? Faithful witness, faithful to His word, to His people. True to His character and His promises

The Warrior Messiah—He judges justly and righteously makes war

As Judge and Divine Warrior—His eyes like blazing fire, He sees all and will judge and dispense justice properly.

Royal Messiah—many diadems, royal crowns, not the victors crown here, the ruling reigning crown, King of Kins

A name that no one knows--

His robe is dipped in blood—the martyrs robes were washed in the blood of Jesus, here the blood is that of His enemies as He conquers

He is called the Word of God—the logos, He is the living revealer of God, the authoritative word from God, the proclaimer of truth from God, of salvation and of divine judgment.

4 Things He will do from this passage

The armies or host of heaven follow Him, angels, in triumph

The sharp sword proceeds from His mouth—the truth, judgment and execution of judgment

He will rule with an iron scepter—destroying the earth dwelling nations,

He will tread the winepress of God’s fury—He will exact and execute the sentence

So we talked about the wedding banquet of the Lord and His bride. Here we will have another feast

17-18

English Standard Version Chapter 19

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”

Then I saw, another vision, (#2) in this chapter.

An angel, doing what? Calling all the flesh eating birds to a great supper, a feast of flesh of all the defeated, human and animal, great and small.

This is happening, these birds are being called before the slaughter, it is inevitable.

English Standard Version Chapter 19

19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

And I saw, #3, another vision, the gathering of the great army against the Lord.

There doesn’t seem to be any fighting, no action, they gather and the beast and the false prophet are captured.

They are cast alive into the lake of fire, conscious torment.

Why are they being punished?

had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image.

The armies gathered were slain by the sword that came from Jesus mouth, He speaks and they were slain.

Some questions for reflection:

Which feast will you be a part of?

Do we need to “pull out” of Babylon?

Does this stir up in us hope and also a desire to be a witness, to evangelize?