After these things I heard as a loud voice of a great multitude in the heaven, saying, Hallelujah the salvation and the glory and the power of our God
Two chapters of Revelation have just described the fall of Babylon, the corrupt system that ruined the earth. Earth's merchants and kings have wept over her. Chapter 19 now looks up. The same event that empties the earth of song fills heaven with it, and heaven's word for it appears nowhere else in the New Testament.
The opening phrase marks order, and the order matters. One writer explains why: the true bride cannot appear while a counterfeit holds her place.
It is clear that as long as Babylon was left unjudged, the true bride could not be brought out and shown in her beauty and crowning robes. She stays hidden in Heaven until the one who has seized her place on earth is destroyed and put out of sight. The harlot and the bride cannot exist side by side… Her presence on earth had always been the main thing blocking the display of the glory of God, and an offence to Heaven as well. Now, though, Babylon is wiped out completely. That makes room and opens the way for the Lord God to be openly acknowledged on His throne, and for the Lamb to take His bride — the two great subjects of praise.
The shout itself is a Hebrew word, and it has a long history in Israel's songs.
This beautiful Hebrew word appears four times in these songs of praise (vv. 1, 3, 4, 6), and nowhere else in the New Testament. It is a common word in the book of Psalms. It opens and closes each of the last five psalms — psalms which, taken together, express the praise Israel will bring in the millennial kingdom. Hallelujah means "Praise the Lord," or "Jah," a shortened form of Jehovah.
That note does not stay in heaven. One writer looks ahead to the day it spreads:
What a day that will be! Hallelujah will first echo through the whole of heaven (Rev. 19:1, 3-4, 6). Then earth will take up that joyful note, and everything that has breath will praise Him.
Where the ESV has "a great multitude," older translations read "much people" — and one writer sets earth's crowd beside heaven's.
Nothing marks God's hatred of counterfeits in the things of Christ more solemnly than this repeated joy over the judgment of the corrupt system. That system takes the name of the Lamb's wife while contradicting her character. Much people on earth think only of their own imagined interests, and they weep over her fall. "Much people in heaven," mindful of Christ's glory, give praise to God for avenging the blood of His servants and judging the corrupter of the world.
Three things are named, and each had been claimed by the system just destroyed.
Babylon had claimed that salvation was found only in her false system. She had taken glory and power to herself. As we read, "She has glorified herself," and said in her heart, "I sit a queen." Heaven, with one voice, ascribes "salvation," "glory," and "power" to God.
Each of the three words carries its own weight here:
The first of the three terms means deliverance. The second means God's moral glory in judgment. The third means His might shown in carrying out the judgment on the harlot. This praise is given to "our God."
Who makes up this crowd? One writer marks them off from the elders and from the church already taken up to heaven, and points to what they have been through:
In Revelation 19, for the first time, I find a reason for praise given by someone other than the elders — other than the body of saints, the church called up on high. Here it makes sense, because they praise God for judgments He has carried out, judgments in which they are avenged… They have suffered, and they are in the place to celebrate the avenging of the blood of God's servants.
Can a believer praise God when judgment falls? One writer answers by separating that day from this one.
However evil men may be in this day of salvation, it hardly suits a saint to shout "Hallelujah" when he sees judgment fall on anyone. But here we are looking at the day of judgment. We are to praise God's acts of judgment then as much as we praise His acts of grace now.
- Timing. The false woman must go before the true bride appears; heaven sings the moment God removes her.
- Word. "Hallelujah" means "Praise the Lord" — a Psalm word, found in the New Testament only in this chapter, and sounded four times.
- Reversal. Salvation, glory and power were exactly what Babylon claimed for herself; heaven hands all three back to God.
- Contrast. A great crowd on earth weeps over her fall; a great crowd in heaven praises God — one event, opposite hearts.
- Reach. The note starts in heaven and spreads to earth, until everything that breathes praises Him.
for true and righteous [are] his judgments; for he has judged the great harlot which corrupted the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his bondmen at her hand.
Heaven has just watched Babylon fall, and now a great crowd sings the reason: God's judgments are true and just. The verse brings two charges against the great prostitute — the great harlot in older translations — and raises the question of who she is and whose blood God is avenging.
This praise is aimed at God's judgments, not at His ways in general. The same word pair appears twice earlier in the book, and commentators note that the order changes with the subject in view.
The ground of their triumph is next stated. "For true and righteous are His judgments." In chapter 15:3 the harpers on the sea of glass sing "Righteous and true are Your ways"; while in Revelation 16:7 the altar says "True and righteous are Your judgments." In the first, God's ways are in view. In the second, and in our verse too, the subject is God's judgment on His enemies. Scripture teaches a basic truth, and we must hold it firmly: all God's dealings with His creatures are marked by truth and righteousness, in grace and in judgment alike. Now the judgment of the "great harlot" puts these essential attributes of God on open display. Her two great sins are named once again, and for the last time.
Calling a verdict "true and righteous" only means something if there is a standard it could fail. Human verdicts fail it.
Men's judgments are never fully true or righteous in themselves, because selfish motives can never be completely shut out of them. What men's judgments are not, God's judgments are. The great harlot had corrupted the earth, and heaven's pure and holy judgment had fallen upon her.
Commentators read this Babylon as a false church, not as the ancient city.
Babylon was the false church as long as the church was in question. When churches were no longer there, she became the final corrupter, and God's closing testimony of judgment on the world came out. There was an unclean form of open heathenism, in connection with the Jews in times past. Then it was the literal Babylon, of course; here it is symbolic.
The first charge is corrupting the earth. Scott says she morally blighted and ruined the whole scene, "where once the truth was known and God worshipped." Heaven's reaction to her fall is the opposite of earth's.
Nothing marks God's hatred of counterfeits in the things of Christ more strongly than this repeated joy over the judgment of the corrupt system. That system takes the name of the Lamb's wife while contradicting her character. Many people on earth are mourning her fall, thinking only of their own imagined interests. But "much people in heaven," mindful of Christ's glory, are praising God for avenging the blood of His servants and judging the corrupter of the world.
The second charge is blood. Earth mourns her fall, but heaven is called to rejoice.
Heaven does not share the mourning. There the call is to rejoice together with apostles and prophets, for this is God's answer to the cries of His oppressed people. In righteousness He avenges His beloved saints: He destroys without mercy this harlot who destroyed others.
Scott traces that cry back further than this book's martyrs. It is the cry "of the martyred band, from Abel downward."
Who is this crowd? Dennett rules out two groups before naming a third.
It is an interesting question who these are that, with "a great voice," raise this song of praise. They clearly form a group outside the twenty-four elders, and they are just as clearly not angels. So the conclusion is that they are those who were martyred on earth after the church was taken away, and who have been called up on high. They celebrate their God because of the character of His judgments. Those judgments are "true and righteous," as seen in the destruction of the great corrupter of the earth, and in avenging the blood of His servants at her hand.
- True — heaven praises God's judgments, not only His ways. Human verdicts always carry some selfish element. God's judgments never do.
- Righteous — truth and righteousness mark every dealing of God, in grace and in judgment. Her fall puts both on public display.
- Corrupted — the first charge is corrupting the earth. A counterfeit wore the name of Christ's bride and contradicted her character.
- Avenged — the second charge is blood. Here God answers the cry of the martyrs, a cry that reaches back to Abel.
- Divided — earth mourns Babylon and heaven sings over her. One event: loss on earth, and God's answer to His oppressed people in heaven.
And a second time they said, Hallelujah. And her smoke goes up to the ages of ages.
Babylon, the corrupt religious system that stole the name of Christ, has fallen. This verse holds two things at once: heaven's shout of joy, and smoke that never stops rising.
The cry is a Hebrew word carried straight into the New Testament from the Psalms.
"Hallelujah," they say. This beautiful Hebrew word appears four times in these celebrations of praise (vv. 1, 3, 4, 6), and nowhere else in the New Testament. It comes up often in the book of Psalms. It opens and closes each of the last five psalms. Taken together, those psalms express the praise Israel will bring in the Millennium. Hallelujah means "Praise Jehovah," or "Jah," a shortened form of Jehovah.
The repetition is not filler. It answers a long stretch of history in which God appeared to do nothing.
We also remember the persecutions. The false woman has shed the blood of millions of God's people, and God seemed not to step in at all. Seeing this, we might think that God has been indifferent to the evil of the world and the sorrows of His saints. But the day will come when everyone will see the truth. God's patience does not mean He is slow to keep His promise. It does not mean He has failed to see the sufferings of His people, or to hear their cries. In righteousness He will judge all the corruptions and avenge the blood of His servants. This intervention of God calls forth a second "Hallelujah" from the hosts of heaven.
Commentators differ over who this crowd is. One writer takes them as believers killed for their faith after the church left the earth.
So we conclude that they are the ones who were killed for their faith on earth after the church had been taken away, and were then called up on high… In the intensity of their joy, they repeat their Hallelujah.
Another writer keeps those martyrs apart from the elders and reaches a wider conclusion.
The various groups of martyrs — those of the coming crisis — stand apart from the elders. So we gather that the "great multitude" is all the saints then in Heaven.
The rising smoke is all that will be left of a system that looks impressive today.
And God will have a lasting witness to the overwhelming judgment of this false church, for we read, "The smoke from her goes up forever and ever" (v. 3). The Papal church looms large in the eyes of men today. But in the years to come, the only trace that she ever existed will be the smoke of her torment. Through the ages of the Millennium that smoke will bear witness to her doom, which can never be reversed, and to God's holy hatred of her corruptions.
How long is "forever and ever"? One writer answers by listing what else Scripture measures with the same words.
Notice the weight of the words "forever and ever." Every honest soul must admit they mean absolute eternity. Scripture speaks of three things in this absolute class. (1) The life of God (Rev. 4:9-10, etc.); (2) The smoke of Rev. 19:3; (3) The torment of Rev. 20:10. So God's eternity, the judgment He carries out in wrath, and the judgment felt by the one who suffers it are all eternal in the fullest sense.
One event brings tears on earth and joy in heaven. The difference lies in what the fallen system had pretended to be.
Nothing marks God's hatred of counterfeits in the things of Christ more solemnly than this repeated joy. Heaven rejoices over the judgment of a corrupt system that stole the name of the Lamb's wife while denying her character. Many people on earth think only of their own imagined interests, and they weep over her fall. But "a great multitude in heaven" thinks of Christ's glory, and gives praise to God for avenging the blood of His servants and judging the corrupter of the world.
So what does real love do in the face of a doom like this?
No true love can soften the terms of the divine judgment announced here. Real love will instead echo the call of mercy in the meantime: "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues."
- Praise named. "Hallelujah" means "Praise Jehovah." It is a word from the Psalms, and this chapter is the only place it appears in the New Testament.
- Praise repeated. The second Hallelujah answers the long years when the false woman shed His people's blood and God seemed to do nothing.
- Praise shared. Commentators differ on the singers — martyrs of the coming crisis, or all the saints then in heaven.
- Praise permanent. The smoke is a lasting witness: the same phrase measures God's own life, His wrath, and the doom of those under it.
- Praise applied. No one may soften a judgment this final. Until it falls, the call still stands: "Come out of her, my people."
And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and did homage to God who sits upon the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah.
Heaven's answer to Babylon's fall narrows from a great crowd to a smaller circle: the elders and the living creatures fall down and say two Hebrew words. Who are they, why do they worship God and not Christ here, and why are the elders never seen after this?
Each group stands for something, and their order here is not the order used earlier in the book.
The elders stand for the redeemed and enthroned saints. The living creatures are the symbols of God's government in creation. Both "fell down and worshiped God." How profound the worship! How fitting the action! It is God, not Christ, Whom they honour. It is God Who has judged Babylon, so they give their worship to Him. Besides, Christ has not at this point taken up the government of the earth. God is the Judge of Babylon... In Revelation 5:8 the living ones come before the elders. Here the elders are named first, because they are more closely concerned in the judgment of the prostitute.
One of their two words comes straight from Israel's songbook.
"Hallelujah," they say. This beautiful Hebrew word occurs four times in these celebrations of praise (vv. 1, 3, 4, 6). It appears nowhere else in the New Testament. It appears often in the book of Psalms. It opens and closes each of the last five psalms. Taken together, those psalms express Israel's praise in the millennial kingdom. Hallelujah means "Praise Jehovah," or "Jah," a shortened form of Jehovah.
Their other word, "Amen," is agreement. Heaven signs its name to what God has done, and so it stands against what people on earth feel.
Heaven is of one mind, both in praising God and in rejoicing over the vengeance that has overtaken Babylon. That mind is in full communion with the mind of God — indeed, it is the expression of it. And that same mind, let it be said again, stands in direct opposition to the mind of man. God and all heaven rejoice over that which man considers his greatest disaster.
The larger company praises God for judging Babylon. The smaller circle has something else in view.
All heaven responds to the call to rejoice over the fall of Babylon. Then a more limited circle — the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures — take up the praise. They say nothing of the judgment of the great prostitute. It is true they add their "Amen" to all that God has done, but they are occupied with God Himself. So they fall down and worship God who sits on the throne, saying, "Amen; Hallelujah."
One writer connects the vanishing of the elders to the marriage of the Lamb.
Now we can see why the twenty-four elders are never seen again after the rejoicing over the fall of Babylon. They represented the redeemed. That group was made up partly of "the Church of the firstborn" — believers baptized into one body with Christ, His bride — and partly of the "just men made perfect," the saints of earlier ages. Until the marriage of the Lamb these formed one company. But now that His wife has made herself ready, they must separate.
The scene is still future, but one writer turns it on the reader today.
Heaven takes a remarkably deep interest in the fall and judgment of Christendom, or the apostate church... One day with the Lord is as a thousand years; but this terrible overthrow in judgment must come. May the Lord use this searching truth to separate us more to Himself! What an end of all human boasting! — the end of the period we live in, and so near! If we believe all this, it must separate us from all around to God Himself.
- Who — the elders stand for the redeemed, seated and crowned. The living creatures stand for God's government in creation. Here the elders come first, as the ones most closely concerned in the prostitute's judgment.
- Amen — heaven's signature on God's act. The same event that earth calls its worst disaster, heaven calls right.
- Hallelujah — "Praise Jehovah." It comes four times in this chapter and nowhere else in the New Testament. It opens and closes each of the last five psalms.
- Whom — not Christ, who has not yet taken up the government of the earth, but God on the throne, because God judged Babylon. They are taken up with Him, not with the ruin.
- Then silence — this is the elders' last appearance. Once the Lamb's wife has made herself ready, the one company they pictured must separate.
And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his bondmen, [and] ye that fear him, small and great.
Babylon has fallen, and Christ is about to take His throne. In between, a voice from the throne itself breaks in — not to announce judgment, but to command praise.
In earlier scenes the altar stood out. Here the call comes from somewhere else.
Here the throne itself speaks. In some of the past scenes a body of witnessing and suffering saints was in view, and the altar came into prominence. But here it is direct judgment on evil on the earth, for God is on His throne, as Christ is about to sit on His. The very throne is moved to speech (symbolic, of course). So a call to "praise" goes out from the centre and source of government — the terror of the wicked, the joy of the saints.
The verse does not name the speaker. His words give one clue.
It is a "voice" that gives the command. Whose voice is not said. But it carries the authority of the throne. And the speaker joins himself with those he addresses, since he uses the words "our God."
The order of events matters. The call comes only after something has been cleared away.
Babylon was judged — removed out of the way with her corruptions, which corrupted the earth; and the blood of the servants of the Lord God was avenged. The way was now clear, and a voice comes out of the throne calling for the voice of praise from all God's servants. His sons could always praise Him in spirit. But here evil no longer prevails and there is "delay no longer." So they, in their character of servants, and all that feared God, can praise Him; for He now reigned as the Lord God Almighty.
Judgment and the call to worship come from the same throne.
A voice comes out of the throne, the throne of judgment on which God is sitting, claiming worship from all His servants, and all that fear Him. His judgments are now visiting the earth. They bring both the solemn destruction of His enemies and the vindication of His own holiness.
Commentators differ on how far this call reaches. One says angels may be included; another takes in every soul in heaven.
The character in which those called to worship are viewed is worth noting. They are simply "His servants, and you that fear Him" — terms which would therefore include all the saints of all dispensations, as well as perhaps all the angelic host. There will not be one among all the multitudes of heaven who is not included under these names.
This is not a summons that has to overcome reluctance.
All who serve and all who fear Him, small and great, are invited to join in the glad song, which is a relief after the dark picture unfolded on earth. Here the terms are wide enough to take in every soul in heaven — angels, servants, and every redeemed one. Nor is it a call addressed to an unwilling congregation. All are ready, but a new cause of joy is to be supplied, a new ground of praise. The marriage of the Lamb is about to be announced.
Both words describe standing, and God-fearers are found at both ends of it.
There are those who fear the Name of the Lord in every rank and class of society. The technical expression "the small and the great" marks the respective standing of each in the world and before God.
One writer finds comfort in Noah's ark.
The small and the great had been in it, and the small were as safe as the great... Precious mystery! We may be little, and we are little, as the heart knows full well. But heaven, the coming system of glory, has fitted itself like the ark, to receive the small as well as the great... We may be calm, though we know ourselves to be "small" in every way.
This is not the first call to praise in the chapter.
The first call to praise had been to "saints, apostles and prophets." They were to rejoice over the judgment of the great prostitute. This second call is to all heaven: "Praise our God." There had been a glad response to the first call. But the voice from the throne calls out an overwhelming volume of praise that far exceeds it.
- Cleared — God judges Babylon and clears her corruption away. Only then does the way stand open for this call to praise.
- Commanded — the call carries the throne's own authority. Yet the speaker says "our God," putting himself beside those he calls.
- Included — two marks are named: serving Him and fearing Him. They reach across all the saints of every age.
- Small — "small and great" makes the least as welcome as the greatest, so the one who knows himself little can be calm.
- Answered — no one needs persuading. The praise outstrips every earlier burst, and the marriage of the Lamb is next.
And I heard as a voice of a great crowd, and as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of strong thunders, saying, Hallelujah, for [the] Lord our God the Almighty has taken to himself kingly power.
The praise that began in verse 1 has been building, and now a summons comes from the throne. What answers is a voice like many waters and thunder, and it celebrates God taking the government into His own hands.
The word that opens the shout is Hebrew, not Greek, and it appears in this chapter alone in the New Testament.
"Hallelujah," they say. This beautiful Hebrew word occurs four times in these celebrations of praise (vv. 1, 3, 4, 6), but nowhere else in the New Testament. It occurs often in the book of Psalms. It is the opening and closing word of each of the last five psalms. Those psalms, taken together, express the praise Israel will bring in the millennium. Hallelujah means "Praise Jehovah," or "Jah," a shortened form of Jehovah.
The crowd is larger than the one heard earlier, and its sound comes as a single voice.
The "great multitude" here probably includes all the redeemed in Heaven, except the bride. If so, it is a larger and wider company than the one in verse 1… John hears a voice like the sound of "many waters" and "strong thunders," that is, majesty and power combined. The summons has come from the throne, and now the mighty choir takes up the song in a voice of majesty and power — not voices, for the mind of Heaven is one. We now hear what fell on John's delighted soul, and the last "Hallelujah" sounds. The object of praise now is not Christ, but God on the throne in holy and righteous action.
God has always been almighty. The shout marks the moment He stops holding that power in reserve.
It is not, of course, a simple exhortation to what in heaven can need no prompting, but a preparation of hearts for what will supply fresh material for it. The response of the multitude shows what it is: "Hallelujah! for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns." The power that was always His He is now going to put forth. Judgment is to return to righteousness. Man's day is at an end, with all the confusion that his will has produced.
Where the ESV has "the Lord our God the Almighty," older translations read "the Lord God omnipotent." Either way it is not one name but three, and each has its own history.
The first is that the Lord God omnipotent reigns, showing that the kingdom is regarded as already established. The names under which God is celebrated here are remarkable. They include the several characters in which He showed Himself to the saints of old. Jehovah is the self-existent One, the One who is, and was, and is to come — the name in which He was pleased to reveal Himself in relationship with Israel. God is the expression of all that He is in His own being, taken by itself; He is the One with whom man has to do as a responsible creature. And finally, Almighty, or Omnipotent… The reigning celebrated here is connected with His kingdom shown on earth, not in heaven. It is, in fact, putting God's power in this world in the place of man's power, and so bringing in the era of righteousness, peace, and blessing.
Earlier in the book heaven sings to the Lamb. This shout has a different subject.
But let us not mistake the character of the praise. It is not that Christ reigns, but that "the Lord God omnipotent reigns." The Lord Jesus will come forth as the King of kings and Lord of lords. But here it is God who reigns. This is not a song of praise for the triumphs of grace through the death and resurrection of Christ. It is praise for the righteous vengeance of God upon Babylon, the mother of harlots. So it is not "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain," but "Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigns."
Human history explains the volume. Power has been in the wrong hands for a very long time.
Think of the past or the present, in Scripture or in ordinary history. Consider how men have abused power. Then we cannot wonder at the joy heaven shows, and at the song of praise bursting out when God takes the government: "The Lord God omnipotent reigns!" Trace it back to the flood… What a change, when God shall take the power into His own hands, and we can sing, "The Lord God omnipotent reigns!"
The note is struck above before it is ever heard below.
What a day that will be! Hallelujah sounds first through the whole of heaven (Rev. 19:1, 3-4, 6). Then earth will take up that joyful note, and everything that has breath will praise Him.
- Called. Heaven does not begin on its own. A summons comes from the throne, and the great multitude answers at once.
- Loud. Many waters and thunder mean majesty and power. Yet it is one voice, for heaven has one mind.
- Named. Jehovah, God, Almighty — three names by which God made Himself known to His people of old, gathered into one shout.
- Crowned. "Reigns" does not mean God gains power He lacked. The power always His is now put forth, man's day ends, and righteousness, peace and blessing come in.
- Shared. The Hallelujah sounds first in heaven. Then earth takes it up, and everything that has breath praises Him.
Let us rejoice and exult, and give him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.
Heaven has just watched the judgment of the false church. Now its voices turn from the fall of the false to the joy of the true, and the call goes out to rejoice: the marriage of the Lamb has come. Three questions follow. Why now? Who is the wife? And what does it mean that she has made herself ready?
The order of events matters. One writer links the fall of the false church to the marriage:
On earth that evil system had long carried the name of the Lamb while denying His character. God has judged it at last, and heaven rejoices over its fall. But the destruction of that false church on earth makes way for the true church to be presented to Christ in glory. The judgment of the great prostitute leads to the marriage of the Lamb.
The text does not say the marriage of the bride. One commentator presses that point, and says where and when the marriage happens:
This great event is the crowning joy of Christ as man. It is not said the marriage of the bride, but the marriage of the Lamb. His joy is what is in view here, not ours. No details of the marriage are given. It takes place in Heaven, just before the Lord returns in power — at least several years after He comes to take His own... Not Israel, but the Church of the New Testament is the bride. Israel has her place and blessing on the earth. The marriage of the Lamb is in Heaven, the Church's proper home.
Believers already belong to Christ, but the wedding day has not yet come. This verse closes that gap:
We have seen (Eph. 5) that the Church is called the bride of Christ. The marriage has not yet taken place. It will happen when Christ presents her to Himself as a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or anything like it. Right now she is promised to Christ as a pure virgin (2 Cor. 11:2)... The Church, then, is made up of all believers from Pentecost until the coming of the Lord.
Being promised is not the same as being married. Another writer says why love could not stop there:
The close love between the bride and the Lamb is precious, but love is not content until it has the one it loves. The bride speaks of love; the marriage speaks of having the one who is loved.
Older translations read "his wife has made herself ready" where the ESV says "his Bride." The commentators here work from that older wording and find meaning in the word "wife." One reads it as pointing to what she will do beside Him:
The Bride is the fruit of His love but the Wife is the fruit of His work... We understand that the word "wife" has in view someone made fit to share with Him in His rule in the world to come. That is why in Rev. 19 it is the wife who has made herself ready. That fitness is being formed in us today. It is the fruit of all our growth and progress under the ministry of our gracious Lord from heaven.
Commentators differ on how much of this readiness is hers. One takes it as a review of our lives, where everything is put right before the marriage day:
There are two kinds of fitness, and the Church has both. First, God in His sovereign grace makes a person fit for heavenly glory... Second, believers have to make themselves ready before they enter their eternal glory. Our lives have to be reviewed at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). The puzzles of life will be explained, unsolved problems cleared up, and every mistake and misunderstanding put right... What if in glory we remembered one painful thing that had never been set right? That thought would be unbearable.
Another resists any suggestion that she contributes something of her own:
We read "His wife has made herself ready." This does not mean any human fitness of her own, which could have no place in heaven. We take it to mean that she has put on the clothes which divine grace has provided. Out of His riches in glory God gives all of it, so that the heavenly Bride may be a fitting companion for the Lamb.
The gladness is not the wife's alone. All heaven joins in:
The marriage of the Lamb therefore stirs the wondering worship of heaven, of all the servants of God, and of those who fear Him, both small and great... So it is a day of unbroken joy — joy to the heart of God, joy to the Lamb and His wife, and joy to all who are allowed to see this wonderful scene.
- Cause. The false must fall before the true appears. God's judgment on the false church clears the way for the marriage of the Lamb.
- Joy. The text says the marriage of the Lamb, not of the bride. His joy is in view, just before He returns in power.
- Gift. Love that only promised now has its own. The promise becomes marriage, and grace provides the clothes she wears.
- Readiness. Commentators differ. Some read it as our lives reviewed and put right at the judgment seat. Others read it as grace alone clothing her.
- Result. As "wife" she is made fit to share His rule in the world to come, and all heaven, small and great, is glad with Him.
And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright [and] pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.
The scene is heaven's wedding day, and attention falls on what the bride is wearing. The verse explains its own symbol. But the explanation raises questions. Whose righteousness is this? When was the robe made? And how can a gift end up being the deeds of the saints?
The verse explains the linen with a plural noun. That plural rules out one common reading:
Notice, first, that the verse calls it the righteousness "of saints," not of God, but of His people. Second, it is not exactly their righteousness, but their "righteousnesses." We cannot fairly take this to mean the righteous standing that is made ours in Christ. God's righteousness in Him is the same for all saints. But each saint here will have his or her own righteousness.
The same writer adds that the white robes of Revelation 4 and the fine linen here are not the same thing. The first is pure grace. The second looks ahead to "our appearing with Christ before the world," when all the righteous results of the saints' ways will be shown.
One writer sets this picture beside the robe in the Lord's parable, and says the two do not clash:
The robe is still the symbol of righteousness. But in view of the reward that awaits us, "the fine linen" the bride wears "is the righteousnesses — the righteous deeds — of the saints." Practical righteousness is what is in question here — not something worked out by another for us, but worked out by our own hands. It is a completely different thought from the one in the Lord's parable. Being so different, it does not contradict it.
The verse does not say she bought the dress or earned it. One writer sharpens the point by comparing her with the false woman of this book:
The false woman got her fine linen by "merchandise"; the Bride's fine linen was "given." The Bride's adornment speaks of her own acts, yet they were all the outcome of grace given. On the outside, many acts of righteousness may look alike, whether done by believers or unbelievers, and yet the motive can be very different. The acts of righteousness of the false woman had a legal and selfish motive. The righteousnesses of the saints are acts done for the love of Christ.
If the robe is made of works, those works must be assessed before it can be worn. One writer says when that happens:
This could not happen until the judgment seat of Christ, because it is there, where we must all appear (2 Cor. 5:10), that we shall receive the things done in our bodies, according to what we have done, whether good or bad. Christ Himself is our righteousness before God, or we could have no title to be in His presence. But the righteousnesses of the saints cannot be known or declared until Christ Himself has reviewed and valued the things done in our bodies by His unerring estimate.
If the linen is made of deeds, then the smallest deed matters:
How happy to realise that every act we do out of love to Christ is a stitch in the robe. We shall appear in that robe in glory, for the delight of the heart of Christ. What a joy to know this. We may count for nothing in the world, unnoticed, despised and misunderstood. Yet every little act done out of love to Christ will at last come into display in a day of glory. Not a cup of cold water given to one of His little ones will be forgotten by Christ.
One writer traces every such act back to one question:
First of all, and behind every such act, and without which there could be none of them, comes the thought: "What will please Him?" How would He who is my Lord as well as my coming Bridegroom want me to appear? Such a question could only arise in a heart that loves Him.
- Given — the linen is granted, not purchased; the false woman bought hers, the bride receives hers as grace.
- Grown — a gift, yet not passive. The plural "righteousnesses" means acts: each saint's own, not the one standing all believers share in Christ.
- Graded — Christ first reviews the works at His judgment seat, valuing them by His unerring estimate; only then can the robe be worn.
- Gathered — nothing genuine is lost in the sifting; a cup of cold water given in love is a stitch in the robe.
- Growing now — the wedding dress is being woven today, by the heart that keeps asking what will please Him.
And he says to me, Write, Blessed [are] they who are called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb. And he says to me, These are the true words of God.
John is told to write down a blessing on the guests at the Lamb's wedding feast, and God calls the words His own. Two questions follow: who are the "invited," and why does heaven's brightest scene get just one word?
The wedding language marks out two groups. The difference lies in how each one stands to the Lamb.
"Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." The bride and the guests are two distinct companies. The bride stands, of course, in closer relation to the Lamb. The bride is wed; the guests sup.
One writer puts the reason in plain, everyday terms.
No one thinks of inviting a bride to her own marriage feast; others may of course be invited there. It seems to me, therefore, very plain that others are to be at the marriage supper of the Lamb besides the bride.
Most writers identify the guests as believers who lived before the church began.
At this great marriage feast, the guests surely represent the great host of the Old Testament saints. They form no part of the church called out from Jew and Gentile during the Christian period between Pentecost and the Rapture. Yet they will share in the resurrection of the saints… All the long line of saints from the Garden of Eden to the cross of Christ, who have walked the path of faith, "both small and great," of whom the world was not worthy, will be there.
One writer settles the question from a single word. Older translations read "called" where the ESV has "invited."
Who are these? Not angels, for they are never said to be "called." The term is only used of the objects of redeeming grace, that is, of men. Are these not the friends of the Bridegroom, as John the Baptist said in his day? (John 3:29.)… They will share in the common joy of the wedding day, though they are not among the great number who form the Bride.
Not everyone accepts that the guests are a separate group. One writer reads the plural as covering everyone at the table, bride included. He also presses the invitation into today.
"And he says to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" Blessed indeed are those who are invited now! Sadly, they may despise the invitation. But how blessed are those who are found among the invited when that day comes!… The Bride certainly sits at the marriage supper, and the plural here is the only thing one could expect in such an exclamation. So there seems to be no ground here for making the Bride and the "friends of the Bridegroom" separate companies.
The verse gives the invitation but no picture of the feast itself. That silence is deliberate, and it fits the character of the book.
The marriage scene of the Lamb is only hinted at here, and not described. The purpose of Revelation is not to show us the Father's house, nor its inner scenes. In this book God is never even called our Father. Revelation does not open up the intimacy of His love to us. It opens up the righteous ways of God — the setting up of the kingdom, and the end, when He is all in all.
Another writer looks ahead to the day believers will sit down at that table.
We shall sit down by and by at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We have no description of this scene. The Holy Spirit uses only one word to describe it: "Blessed!"
The closing clause is not decoration. It answers the question of whether any of this can be relied on.
These messages come from God, whether an angel speaks them or John sees them in a vision. They carry all the weight and authority of God Himself. "These are the true words of God." The basis of our faith is not guesswork, but the certainty that God has spoken. God Himself has confirmed the truths stated in the first nine verses of this chapter.
The messenger who brings these words points past himself.
The angel was only a servant. He came to announce the true sayings of God, and so to lead us to worship God — the end of all true service… The great end of "the true sayings of God" is Jesus.
- Called. The word marks out people saved by grace, not angels — heaven's guest list holds redeemed men and women.
- Blessed. The invitation is the blessing; the bride is wed, the guests sup, and God calls both happy on the same day.
- Wide. Most writers see the guests as believers of earlier ages, from Eden to the cross. Others read the plural as covering everyone at the table. Commentators differ here.
- Hidden. Revelation announces the supper but never describes it. This book unfolds God's righteous ways, not the inner scenes of the Father's house.
- Certain. God seals the whole announcement as His true words. Faith rests not on guesswork but on God's own speaking — and every such word points to Jesus.
And I fell before his feet to do him homage. And he says to me, See [thou do it] not. I am thy fellow-bondman, and [the fellow-bondman] of thy brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Do homage to God. For the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.
John has just heard heaven announce the marriage supper of the Lamb, and the weight of it drives him to his knees — in front of the wrong person. The angel refuses him, and the reason he gives is one of the Bible's clearest statements about who may receive worship and what all prophecy is about.
The mistake was not made in a moment of carelessness. It came at the height of spiritual feeling, which is exactly what makes it a warning.
Here we are warned of the mistakes that may be made by the holiest of men when they are most deeply taken up with heavenly things. John falls at the angel's feet to worship him; but the angel refuses it, claiming no higher title than to be a fellow-servant with John himself, with his brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. And he adds, "Worship God" — worship, that is, no creature.
That refusal marks the gap between a holy angel and a fallen one. It also raises a question about Jesus, who did accept worship.
Being a holy angel, he refused it instantly. Only the fallen angel, Satan, aspires to divine honours; indeed it was in aspiring to such that he fell... God alone is worthy of worship. Our Lord Jesus accepted the worship of men, and that is a tribute to His Deity.
Commentators are careful here. This verse does not forbid all honour to people in higher positions.
You may show honour to a creature in a higher position, but worship belongs to the Creator alone. The angel checked John at once: "You must not do that!" To worship even the highest of God's creatures is idolatry. Later John was about to do the same thing again (Revelation 22:8-9), and the angel stopped him once more.
The angel calls himself a slave, and John too. Both belong to God, but on different grounds.
A slave is bound for life to the service of his master. In the same way, angels and saints are bound to the everlasting service of the blessed God — His glad and willing slaves. Every intelligent creature stands on this ground. For angels, God's right rests on their creation and place; for saints, it rests on His buying and redeeming them.
Commentators differ on how wide this phrase reaches. Some keep it to this book.
The meaning is not that all prophecy refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, though in a certain sense that may be true. It means that the witness of Jesus which this book contains — what Jesus testifies in the Revelation — is the spirit of prophecy.
Others take it as a rule for reading every prophecy anywhere in Scripture:
If we do not discern in every prophecy a real connection with the testimony of Jesus, then we have no proper perception of it.
Commentators draw a line here. The Spirit who foretells is not the Spirit given after redemption.
We must distinguish the prophetic Spirit from the Spirit sent from heaven. In the first case, it is the Spirit who declares things beforehand. In the second, it is the Spirit given after the work of redemption is finished, as a seal of that work. This is important to distinguish, because the testimony of Jesus is not always the gospel.
So does a prophetic book like this one fall outside Christ's testimony?
God's testimony is not limited to the gospel or to the church. The prophetic spirit that marks the whole of the Revelation, after the church is taken up, is just as much the testimony of Jesus.
"Spirit" here means what gives a body life.
The spirit of a man gives life and force and direction to his body. In the same way, this is the life of the whole body of prophecy. And as a body is one, so all prophecy is one, from the earliest predictions of the Old Testament to the latest prophecies of New Testament writers. All are one, and the ultimate supremacy of Christ is the end and theme of all.
So this verse also tests how we study the future.
Some study prophecy to learn about coming events. You may study prophecy with that aim and be as dry in your soul as the desert... but if Christ gets His place in your heart, you will read the Scriptures to learn about Him.
- Fall — even the holiest man can aim worship at the wrong place at his highest moment. John's impulse was right; his object was wrong.
- Refusal — a holy angel refuses what only Satan craves. Jesus accepted worship, and that marks Him out as God.
- Fellow servant — angels belong to God by creation, saints by redemption. Both serve Him; neither may take worship.
- Reason — the angel gives one reason only: Christ. The prophetic Spirit is His own witness, not the gospel, yet no less His.
- Life — Christ's coming supremacy is to prophecy what the spirit is to the body. Take Him out, and study of the future runs dry.