Revelation 19 Part 1

Revelation 19 Part I Understand that in this section from chapter 12 onward, we have seen the fury of the devil, the rise of the great beast, the rider and great whore, and the false prophet, that lamb-like beast, all arrayed in their allegiance, alliance, and making themselves drunk together in their pleasantries and abominations, as well as the blood of the saints. With that said, we find in the last chapter the harlot's end, finished here at the fist of this chapter with a look to the true bride and her blessedness. Next comes the beast and his demise in the rest of this chapter, and then finally Satan, the last portions to come in chapter 20 until the end. Observations 1. And after these things...this is the second time this phrase has been used since the beginning of the eighteenth chapter. The first time what followed was the ruin and desolation of the woman and beast heard in several successive taunts of no more. Now comes four shouts of hallelujah! The phrase merely introduces what John saw next. 2. Of much people in heaven...heaven and all its inhabitants are heard now declaring what the Lord has done. 3. Alleluia...here is the first of four shouts of hallelujah. The word means praise the Lord and is found here only in the New Testament. See Psalm 150. Here, the Lord's salvation, honor, and power are praised in his victory over the great harlot. 4. For true and righteous are his judgments...this is proven and known. This is His glory and praise, He is faithful, just, and glorious in His execution of injustice and those guilty of it. 5. He hath judged the great whore...He does, has, and continues to do so, and shall unto the end and her end, where she shall be judged, and He praised. In the Lord's justice and salvation He is greatly praised. 6. Hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand...Let us not forget that vengeance and recompense play a part in the Lord's justice and our salvation. She that persecuted and chased the Lord's own bride, is in the end judged. Remember that she corrupted the whole earth with her harlotries. "Self-exaltation and leading people farther and farther away from God had been her chief delight (Hendriks)." 7. Again they said, Alleluia...a second shout of acclamation affirms what has been said. Now is restated that God's glory is great as though they cannot constrain their delight. 8. Her smoke rose up for ever and ever...an interesting footnote to her demise, as an everlasting reminder is given to all forever of her end. Not only is her ruin complete, but the lasting echo of her ruin is forever remembered, almost like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose sins and punishment rise as ashes from the flames of God's wrath forever and ever. 9. Amen; Alleluia...now join in all those representing the woman of heaven, the bride of Christ, Israel, both of the past and of the present, the Lord's elect, as they join the shout of affirmation and praise. 10. A voice came out of the throne...another voice comes from the recesses of God's glory, the temple of heaven, the throne of our Lord, perhaps a cherub or angel, who joins the chorus of the saints and the representatives of them, so all heaven joins the chorus of praise the Lord! 11. Praise our God...now we have the praise rendered to He that sits upon the throne. It is the Almighty, the Creator, and the covenant God of the bride. 12. The voice of a great multitude...John's attention is now drawn away from the praise to God and the Lord, as now breaks for a heavenly chorus of all angels and men, so great and so monumental that it is distinct. 13. Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth...as we see the hallelujah's are not over. Here is yet another. Here is wonder is that the Lord God omnipotent is on His throne. 14. For the marriage of the Lamb is come...we see here the introduction of a concept that culturally we have lost. In the ancient tradition, first came the betrothal, a period of which the couple were as married, a dowry was paid, and a woman prepared herself, or was prepared for marriage. They, in the sight of God and witnesses, were as married. As Paul said to the Corinthians, For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Following the betrothal was that period of preparation, where the dowry if necessary was paid or service rendered for it. Then came the procession, the bride prepared and adorned, the groom also readied comes with torches and an entourage to fetch the bride, returns her to his or his father's house, and often a feast was prepared if the journey was far. It is with this imagery that John is shown the Lord's preparation and calling of the woman, His chosen bride, the elect, whom He had set His love upon from before the foundations. They were like Ruth and Naomi, Jew and Gentile, desolate, forsaken, forlorn, and destitute, in need of redemption, by the strong Man who has come. The dowry was His blood, the interval this age, the wedding is that day to come. 15. His wife hath made herself ready...we see the two women set side by side, the one whose ruins remain and whose embers arise forever, and the other prepared and readied for her Groom. The one like Jezebel, the other like Abigail, of the Lord's mercy. Thus this portion continues the theme of the two women begun in the twelfth chapter, one chosen, one a harlot, one betrothed, one in fornication judged, one of grace, mercy, and heavenly adorning, the other in foul and harlot attire, one chaste and clothed in borrowed robes of righteousness, another foul and clothed in stains and bloodletting. 16. To her was granted that she should be arrayed...while one is judged another is presented. One is no more, the other brought and redeemed. That she is made ready speaks to the great work of grace that had set love upon her, sanctification that the Spirit had washed and clothed her in His righteousness by faith alone, and the divine call of sovereign grace. 17. Is the righteousness of saints...see how her linen is granted of the Lord, those which before was shown to John, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:13ff). The contrast again is shown between the great whore judged and the blessed chosen bride made ready through the tribulations of this age. 18. Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb...it is this day that we long for, look for, anticipate, as a bride in waiting. So, remember that what we see is summary, not chronological, in that we are seeing contrast and comparison, not events in sequence. The day is coming when these shall be done. 19. These are the true sayings of God...all of course rests upon Him, His mercy, His plan, His power, His holy glory, and His love, by which we declare God to be true and every man a liar. 20. See thou do it not...a note of reminder given to the apostle and us, that we not be enamored by the events and the participants but be reminded Soli Deo Gloria! To God alone is all the glory. 21. The testimony of Jesus...we are once more reminded that all is about Him. That He truly is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, that For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven (Col. 1:16ff). 22. Is the spirit of prophecy...a reaffirmation that He is what all prophecy entails, as He is the sum of all things, Solus Christus, Christ alone. Hendriks sums up this section with these words, "The harlot Babylon, having been disposed of, we now turn our attention to the beast and false prophet. What happens to them? From the hallelujahs at and after the judgment day we return to the moments just preceding the final judgment." "We have seen the end of the men who bear the mark of the beast (Rev. 15:16), we have also witnessed the fall of Babylon (17:1f). We have read the description of Christ's victory over the beast and the false prophet (19:11f). All go down in defeat. Their discomfiture is not complete until the day of Christ's coming in judgment. Then all go down together, even though their histories have been presented under different symbols and in separate paragraphs. One foe remains. It is the dragon, Satan. His ruin is described in the final section of the Apocalypse (Hendriks)." Doctrines I. Election 1. God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. 2. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath he not decreed anything because he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions. 3. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death. 4. These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished. 5. Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will, hath chosen, in Christ, unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving him thereunto; and all to the praise of his glorious grace. 6. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath he, by the eternal and most free purpose of his will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore, they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by his power, through faith, unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only. II. Eternal damnation 7. The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy, as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious justice. III. Redemption We talk about God's grand scheme and plan, we do so in terms of redemption, and always in the scope of covenant. Ruth stands out as the book of redemption. It declares it, portrays it, teaches it, all to the glory of God; for at the end, one desolate and one accursed both are brought into the covenant fold of redemptive grace in Christ. It looks beyond Boaz to His coming seed. When we talk about redemption, we talk about a covenant, for as our confession says: 1. The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant. 2. The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised to Adam; and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience. 3. Man, by his fall, having made himself uncapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace; wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life his Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe. 4. This covenant of grace is frequently set forth in Scripture by the name of a testament, in reference to the death of Jesus Christ the Testator, and to the everlasting inheritance, with all things belonging to it, therein bequeathed. 5. This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the law, it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all foresignifying Christ to come; which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation; and is called the old testament. 6. Under the gospel, when Christ, the substance, was exhibited, the ordinances in which this covenant is dispensed are the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper: which, though fewer in number, and administered with more simplicity, and less outward glory, yet, in them, it is held forth in more fullness, evidence, and spiritual efficacy, to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles; and is called the new testament. There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same, under various dispensations. "The covenant of redemption is intimately concerned with God's eternal plan. It is called a "covenant" inasmuch as the plan involves two or more parties. This is not a covenant between God and humans. It is a covenant among the persons of the Godhead, specifically between the Father and the Son. God did not become triune at creation or at the Incarnation. His triunity is as eternal as His being. He is one in essence and three in person from all eternity. The covenant of redemption is a corollary to the doctrine of the Trinity. Like the word trinity, the Bible nowhere explicitly mentions it. The word trinity does not appear in the Bible, but the concept of the Trinity is affirmed throughout Scripture. Likewise, the phrase "covenant of redemption" does not occur explicitly in Scripture but the concept is heralded throughout. Central to the message of Jesus is the declaration that He was sent into the world by the Father. His mission was not given to Him at His baptism or in the manger. He had it before His incarnation." Uses 1. For our anticipation let us ready ourselves for the Lord. 2. For our chastity let us live ready for our union. 3. For our hope let us know all will be set right. 4. For our direction let us give to the Lord all praise and glory. Page 2 of 2