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.
And I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and one sitting on it, [called] Faithful and True, and he judges and makes war in righteousness.
The book has been moving toward one moment: heaven opens, and the Rider comes out. Everything hangs on who He is — His name, His horse, and the way He now deals with the world.
Heaven had opened before, and this time is the last:
The heavens had already opened at His baptism by John, when He began His public ministry as God's anointed Servant. They opened again so that the dying Stephen might see the Son of Man in the glory of God. Now they were opening for the last time. The mighty Conqueror on the white horse returns to earth, no longer as the lowly Nazarene, but to claim His right, and to "strike down the nations, and rule them with a rod of iron."
This opening is for the world to see:
But now heaven is opened for far graver facts, of immeasurable weight for man, for the universe, and for the enemy. It is Christ Himself about to be displayed in His rights as King of kings and Lord of lords, and this in the face of the world.
The horse is a picture, not a prediction about cavalry:
The horse is always the symbol of power connected with the earth, and it has the colour of prosperity: it is a white horse. I trust no one would be so foolish as to imagine that, when this scene comes, it will be about literal horses. It is the symbol that passed before the prophet's eye, used to show certain realities that will take place later on... In the next chapter he does not see a white horse, but a throne, a symbol of an altogether different character. The throne is for rule, not conquest; the horse is for conquest, not a reign.
A rider on a white horse also appears in chapter 6. Commentators keep the two apart:
This horse does not come out of heaven, as the one in Revelation 19 does. Next, nothing said about the rider in Revelation 6 has to mean Christ. In Revelation 19, though, He is called Faithful and True, and He judges and makes war in righteousness. Of whom could this be said except One?
These names are not new titles. They describe what He had always been:
There was one seated on it called "Faithful." That is what He had always been, at any cost, to God, in the testimony of righteousness. He glorified God even to death, so that His name might be made good. He was obedient until it was given Him to rise up and take the power. He is also "true," so that the witness He gave of God was a perfect witness of all God was and all His thoughts.
Two comings, two very different errands:
Now notice the contrast with the purpose of His first coming. Then, "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:17). Now, "in righteousness He judges and makes war." Grace marked His first appearing in this world. Righteousness, and therefore judgment, will mark the second... for the day of grace will have closed, and the era of righteous government will have begun.
His war is not one more war among many. It carries out the verdict:
He is called "Faithful and True," and everyone can see that this is what He is. In righteousness He judges and wars: His warring is itself a judgment. For this, His eyes pierce like a flame of fire; nothing escapes them.
The judgment here differs from the one in the next chapter:
The word mentions two kinds of judgment. One is the warrior judgment. The other is the judgment where the Judge sits as supreme and recognised authority. So Revelation 19 is the warrior judgment. In chapter 20 the judicial session begins. It is held when the power of the King has established His throne, and He sits there to judge.
The Rider does not come alone. Who rides with Him matters:
In the vision the prophet saw armies following Him out of heaven, clothed in fine linen. They are not angels. The text says that the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints... So they were in heaven before the way opened for Christ to come out in judgment. They had been caught up to meet Him earlier.
- Opened — Heaven opened at His baptism and for Stephen; here it opens a final time, and this time He comes out.
- Faithful — The names are earned, not awarded: He was faithful to God at any cost, even to death, before He ever rode out.
- Righteous — He came the first time to save, not to condemn. He comes now in righteousness, after the day of grace has closed.
- Warrior — Chapter 19 is judgment by conquest, a horse; chapter 20 is judgment from a seated throne. Conquest first, reign after.
- Followed — The armies behind Him wear the fine linen of saints. So they were in heaven before the heavens opened.
And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head many diadems, having a name written which no one knows but himself;
A rider comes out of the opened heaven, and this verse describes Him before He acts. It gives three details: burning eyes, many crowns, and a name no one else can read.
The same picture of His eyes appears at the start of the book. One writer points to a small change here.
Revelation 1:14 and Revelation 2:18 say that Christ's eyes are "as a flame of fire," but here the "as" of comparison is left out. "His eyes are a flame of fire." That is the divine omniscience which observes everything and searches out every hidden evil. In the earlier passages, that omniscience and the piercing judgments He carries out are attributes that describe Him. In our text they are in exercise. The action is here more intense.
Translations differ at this point. The ESV keeps the comparison — "like a flame of fire" — while others drop it and read "his eyes are a flame of fire."
Those eyes reach further than deeds:
The Warrior's eyes are like a flame of fire. In burning holiness they see into the character of every work, every motive, every secret thing.
The New Testament uses two different words for "crown." One writer separates them.
The New Testament shows us two kinds of crowns. First there is the monarch's crown (Greek, diadeema). Only the Lord Himself has the right to wear it. Then there is the victor's crown (stephanos). The Lord Himself wears this one too; He earned it as a Man who depended on God. The stephanos is also given to the Christian who is faithful.
Two other figures in Revelation wear diadems, and the numbers matter.
The saints in heaven have crowns (Rev. 4:4, 10), which express their royal dignity. But on the head of Christ rest diadems, showing His absolute and supreme authority. The dragon has diadems on his seven heads (Rev. 12:3), and the beast has diadems on his ten horns (Rev. 13:1). So both the dragon and the beast lay claim to supreme authority... Seven diadems on the dragon, and ten on the beast. But the "many" on the head of the conqueror Christ show that every form and kind of government belongs to Him.
Another hand once offered Him these kingdoms. One writer tells that history.
Satan had offered Him the power and glory of the kingdoms of the world. When He refused, Satan later handed them to his servants and slaves, the beast and the antichrist. The true Heir waited until the time set by His Father. Now, after sitting a long time at the right hand of God, He comes out, crowned with the many crowns, to take His inheritance.
One writer contrasts this hidden name with the name God gave Him as a reward.
It is quite true that He has a name given to Him, as we see in Philippians 2: "God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name." But here it seems not to be that name of Lord which we all confess. It is one "that no one knows but himself." He has a glory that is His very own. It is not the glory given to Him as His reward, and it cannot be shared with others. He has it in His own right as a divine person. This name seems to express what He really is in His own nature.
The name is written down, and one writer says that is the point:
In His humiliation His divine glory was still there, in depths of His person no one could measure. Now He is revealed in glory. But there always remained what no one could search or enter into — His own Person and nature. As revealing God, in grace or power, so as to make Him known, we know Him. But His Person as Son always remains unsearchable. His name is written, so that we know it is unknowable — not unknown, but unknowable.
One writer looks at the many crowns and names the qualities they answer to.
Blessed Lord, the only perfect display of the perfection of a man, dependent on God, was seen in You... We can place the crown for each of these on Your head alone: lowliness, patience, meekness, long-suffering, self-control, goodness. Has many a poor saint in his trials displayed some measure of these? Yes; and yet You excel them all.
- Eyes — what chapter 1 described as His character is now at work, reaching every deed, every motive, every secret thing.
- Crowns — the word is diadem, the monarch's crown. Only He may wear it. The victor's wreath is a different crown, and faithful believers receive it too.
- Many — the dragon wears seven and the beast ten; "many" means every form of government belongs to Him alone.
- Waited — He refused these kingdoms from Satan's hand. He waited for His Father's time, then came out to take His inheritance.
- Unknowable — the hidden name is not a reward. It is a glory His by right, written down so we know it cannot be read.
and [he is] clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the armies which [are] in the heaven followed him upon white horses, clad in white, pure, fine linen.
Heaven opens and the King rides out. Verse 14 pauses on the company riding behind Him. Who are these armies? And why do they carry no weapons?
Their clothing tells us who they are. Revelation uses a different word for what angels wear.
The horse is a symbol of power, and the white horse of victorious, successful power. These armies that follow Him out of heaven, clothed in fine linen, are not angels. This very chapter says that the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And here is the remarkable thing. Revelation 15 describes angels as "clothed in pure and white linen," but the word there is a different one. So the armies of heaven in Revelation 19 are the heavenly saints. I do not doubt that angels are in His train too, as other texts show, but this passage does not appear to speak of them.
An earlier verse describes those with Him as "called and chosen and faithful," and each of those three words points away from angels.
Angels are never "called," though they may be "chosen." Scripture calls them holy, but never "faithful." "Faithful" is a word that belongs to a man of God. It assumes he has faith and an object for that faith. "Called" does not fit an angel at all. Calling means that God brings a person out of one condition and raises him into a better one. This is never the case with an angel. Calling is the fruit of active grace on God's part toward man, and only toward him when fallen.
Earlier in the chapter the saints appear as a bride. Here the picture changes.
Here the saints in a glorified state follow the Lord out of heaven. They are not seen now as the bride. That would not have suited such a march. The King rides out to victory in the judgment of the wicked of the world, and there the saints follow Him as armies, not as bride. No doubt they include the guests as well. All the glorified saints of the Old and New Testaments take their place in His train.
The bride's linen and the armies' linen are the same, and that answers an objection.
Without it, someone might have said to the Lord, "Produce practical righteousness in your church, your wife, before you try to establish it in the world." The fine linen will be the evidence that He has produced it in the circle nearest to Him. And these same saints, who are the wife of the Lamb, will come out in this same "fine linen, white and pure" when He comes to judge and make war in righteousness.
They ride out with Him, but the text gives them nothing to fight with.
Scripture does not present them as executors of judgment, as Christ is. God has given all judgment to Him — not necessarily to us. So no sword comes out of our mouth. Scripture does not describe the saints or the heavenly hosts as dressed the way the Lord is. It says only that the glorified follow the Lord in victorious power, and nothing more. What makes this more striking is that the rod of iron is promised to us — not the sword.
Their white clothing still speaks, even though their hands are empty.
The text does not give these armies any weapons as they ride with the Lord of glory. But their white clothing reminds the world of the testimony they gave to the truth of God. That leaves the world no excuse when judgment falls.
A company cannot follow Him out of heaven unless it is there first.
The elders represent the saints as leaders of the royal priesthood. Revelation 4 to 19 shows them on high. There they first appear as the bride at the marriage of the Lamb. Then they go with Him as armies when He comes out from heaven to judge and make war in righteousness. So Scripture rules out the idea that we will be on earth, watching Him appear as the glorious Son of Man who comes to judge the living. On the contrary, we will appear together with Him when He appears in glory.
Riding in that train is a high honour, yet one writer refuses to make it the highest.
The saints come with Him when He comes to execute judgment. They are associated with Him in the glory He brings, and in something much better — the Father's house. While He is on the Father's throne, the church has no throne, but suffers with Him. When He takes His own throne, we shall be with Him, and share His glory when He appears. It is wonderful to be associated with Him in His glory, but better to be associated with Himself.
- Called — the riders are people, not angels. God's call lifts a person out of one condition into a better one, and no angel needs that.
- Clothed — their fine linen is the bride's linen. Christ produces practical righteousness in the circle nearest to Him before He establishes it in the world.
- Carried up — they follow Him out of heaven, so they were there first. We will not watch His appearing from earth; we appear with Him.
- Constrained — the text names no weapon in their hands. The rod of iron is promised to us; the sword stays with the Rider.
- Companions — sharing His glory that day is wonderful. Sharing Himself in the Father's house is better.
And out of his mouth goes a sharp [two-edged] sword, that with it he might smite the nations; and he shall shepherd them with an iron rod; and he treads the wine-press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
This verse tells us what Christ does when He comes in judgment. Three pictures fill it — a sword, a rod, a winepress — showing how He strikes, how He rules, and how far His anger goes.
The verse is not repeating itself. Each image carries a different weight:
There are three symbols of judgment in verse 15 of our chapter. (1) A sharp sword for immediate, judicial punishment, probably death. (2) A rod of iron for righteous, inflexible government. (3) The winepress of wrath for the guiltiest of all. This last one is the expression of "the most extreme wrath." The Almighty God is roused.
Notice who acts. The saints ride with Him, yet the judgment is His alone:
Saints may accompany the Lord but it is He, Himself, who will execute judgment. It is His mouth that will speak the word that, like a sharp sword will destroy the wicked. It is His hand that will wield the rod of iron... And His feet will tread "the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty" in unsparing judgment.
The weapon comes out of His mouth, not His hand. He strikes by speech alone.
First, there is the word of power set forth by the sharp sword going out of His mouth. If any must be destroyed, it is enough for the Lord Jesus Christ to speak. "He spoke, and it came to be." The judgment was executed.
And it is not a new word. He will judge by the same message He once spoke in grace:
The Lord's testimony was of grace, expressive of all that God was in grace to sinners. And when He comes again, He will come judging by it. Having given the mind of God, He returns to heaven; and then He returns as King to judge by the word which He had spoken.
The word behind "rule" means to shepherd. The iron rod is hard, but He holds it for the sake of the flock:
"And he will rule them with a rod of iron" — "shepherd" them, to use an expression that is hardly English. This is, of course, the fulfilment of the prophecy of the second psalm... It is the shepherd's rod — this rod of iron, used on behalf of the flock.
Christ promised this same rod earlier to believers who hold out. That tells us who rides behind Him:
To the church at Thyatira, Christ had said: "The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron"... So those who overcome — real believers, as distinct from people who only claim to believe — are joined here with Christ Himself in the judgment of the nations foretold in the second psalm. The armies of heaven... are no other than these overcomers.
A harvest sorts the good from the bad. A winepress sorts nothing — it crushes. And it falls hardest on religious evil:
This is not the picture of the harvest, where the good is separated from the bad. It is the vintage — unsparing vengeance on evil, on religious evil that has grown into an open falling away from God... Again, the personal pronoun marks off the judgment as the work of the Lord alone. "I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me" (Isaiah 63:3).
Some have read the treading of the winepress as a picture of the cross. One writer rejects that, and gives a simple reason:
Would you believe that some commentators have applied this to the cross, and to the Lord's own sufferings there? Yet they have. And this in spite of the iron rod, which is linked here with the treading of the winepress, and which He promises to the overcomer in Thyatira.
The verse is terrifying, but it is not an ending. It clears the ground for a kingdom.
These few short sentences hold it all: the coming of Christ in judgment, the carrying out of God's vengeance, the setting up of His throne, the submission of all kings and all nations to His rule, and His supreme exaltation in the earth. It is the complete fulfilment of the second Psalm... Because of what man is, it is through judgment that the Lord will establish His kingdom and sovereignty over the whole earth.
- Word — the sword comes out of His mouth; He has only to speak, and it is done.
- Warning — the words He spoke in grace are the very words that will judge those who refused them.
- Rod — "rule" is a shepherd's word; the iron rod is unbending government held on behalf of the flock.
- Shared — Christ pledged that same rod to the overcomers at Thyatira, so the armies riding with Him are the saints.
- Winepress — not a harvest that sorts but a vintage that crushes. He treads it alone, and it opens the way to His kingdom over all the earth.
And he has upon his garment, and upon his thigh, a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, Come, gather yourselves to the great supper of God,
Revelation 19 has just shown heaven opened and the rider on the white horse going out to judge. Now a single angel takes his stand in the sun and calls the birds to a meal. Why does a chapter that began with a wedding feast end with a feast of a very different kind?
Commentators read the angel's place in the sun as a picture of authority, not a detail of geography.
The angel, standing in the sun, acts in the power and supreme authority of God. He acts in judgment against the one who stands in opposition to God.
The open setting matters too:
An angel speaks, obedient to His word and the instrument of His power. He stands in the sun — the symbol of supreme authority. For it is not now a thing done in a corner. There are no terms of forbearance: all must be thoroughly open. Nor is it now a partial, but a complete and final judgment.
Older English versions read "the supper of the great God." Commentators question that wording.
We have had the joyous marriage supper of the Lamb; here we have the great supper of God. The word great is attached to the supper, not to God.
The ESV follows this reading.
Grace spread a table first. This second supper follows the refusal of the first.
God prepared a great supper before, a banquet of grace and love. He sent out His servants to call those who were invited. For nearly two thousand years the table has been spread. Still men turn a deaf ear, and go, one to his farm, and another to his business... But God will not be mocked forever. The day of judgment has now dawned... And now another supper is spread, the supper of the great God. The flesh of kings and captains, the despisers alike of grace and judgment, is the dreadful meal.
The two tables also differ in their guests:
There was an invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb. But there is another and very different supper, the great supper of God. Here it is not the blessed whom God's grace invites.
The summons comes before the fighting starts.
The supper to which he invites the ravenous birds of prey comes after the battle. But the birds are summoned in vision before the fight. The great supper is of the dead. Kings, captains, mighty men, horses and their riders, free and bond, small and great, lie in the silence of death. Their bodies are a prey to the birds of Heaven. They have been slain by the one sharp sword in the heavenly army. Christ speaks, and at once judgment overtakes the gathered opposing hosts.
Read that way, the call itself settles the contest before it starts:
There is no doubt as to the issue. The call of the angel to the birds of heaven declares it in no uncertain terms. There may be kings and captains and mighty men and horses, but all of them will be but food for vultures.
The supper spares no rank, from kings down to slaves. One writer sets that end against the age it closes.
A sad and humbling end for human pride at any time. It is saddest of all after the corruption of the church and the turning away from law and gospel, when modern civilisation will have proved itself faithless and hostile to God and His Son.
One writer points to the prophet Ezekiel, where the account does not stop at slaughter.
The prophet Ezekiel refers to it. Like other prophets, he shows us that judgment comes before Israel's blessing on the earth. He first tells us that the birds and the beasts of the field will eat the flesh and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. Then he adds, "I will set my glory among the nations... and have mercy on the whole house of Israel... neither will I hide my face from them any more."
- Two tables. One chapter holds two suppers: the marriage supper of the Lamb and the great supper of God. The same word covers the highest joy and the deepest horror.
- One invitation refused. Grace spread its table first, and men made excuses. Judgment spreads the second table, because "God will not be mocked forever."
- Announced from the sun. The angel stands in the seat of supreme authority, in the open — nothing partial, nothing hidden, nothing done in a corner.
- Settled before it starts. The angel calls the birds before the battle, because one sword in the heavenly army leaves the result in no doubt.
- No rank exempt. Kings and slaves, small and great, share one end — human pride finishing as food for vultures.
that ye may eat flesh of kings, and flesh of chiliarchs, and flesh of strong men, and flesh of horses and of those that sit upon them, and flesh of all, both free and bond, and small and great.
Revelation 19 sets two feasts side by side: one where the redeemed are guests, and one where the birds are. This verse names the menu of the second: kings, commanders, riders and slaves. Why should God's final judgment on human power look like a meal?
The chapter has just described a wedding banquet in heaven. This second supper is its opposite.
Revelation 19 sets out two suppers: the supper of "the Lamb," and the supper of "the great God." The supper of the Lamb is a scene of joy in heaven. Blessed are those who are called to it. It is a marriage supper. The supper of the great God is the fruit of the solemn, terrible judgment that closes the history of the earth as it now is. It is the judgment of this present world in its revolt against God. The bodies of the Lord's allied enemies become food for the birds of the air.
The pairing is not isolated. The whole chapter is built on opposites.
This chapter is full of contrasts. Here are two women, two suppers, two armies, and two kings. The great prostitute stands in contrast with the Lamb's wife, the supper of the great God with the marriage supper of the Lamb, the armies of heaven with the armies of the beast, and the beasts and kings of the earth with the King of kings, and Lord of lords.
Translations differ over one word here: does "great" describe God, or the supper?
We have had the joyous marriage supper of the Lamb; here we have the great supper of God. The word great is attached to the supper, not to God.
The invitation comes from an angel standing in the sun.
Here it is not the blessed whom God's grace invites. An angel speaks in obedience to His word, as the instrument of His power. He stands in the sun — the symbol of supreme authority. For it is not now a thing done in a corner. There are no terms of forbearance: all must be thoroughly open. Nor is it now a partial, but a complete and final judgment.
The verse runs down the social ladder deliberately, from crowns to chains, and writers read that as the collapse of human self-importance.
A sad and humbling end for human pride at any time; saddest of all after the corruption of the church and turning away from law and gospel, when modern civilisation will have proved itself faithless and hostile to God and His Son.
One word repeats through the verse, and the end of the chapter shows the result.
Five times we read of "flesh" as the food of the birds of heaven. What a humiliating end to the pride, pomp, strength, and chivalry of Europe! The vulture, eagle, and other birds of prey feed on the great and mighty. Their very names may fill the history books of that time. "All the birds were gorged with their flesh" (v. 21), filled to the full. How awful the slaughter! How immense the number of the slain!
God had sent out invitations to a very different supper long before.
God prepared a great supper before, a banquet of grace and love. He sent out His servants to call those who were invited. For nearly two thousand years the table has been spread. Still men turn a deaf ear, and go, one to his farm, and another to his business... And now another supper is spread, the supper of the great God. The flesh of kings and captains, the despisers alike of grace and judgment, is the dreadful meal.
Ezekiel 39 records a similar summons. One writer notes a difference in the guest list.
If the Lord invites the creatures of prey to a great sacrifice, will He not make good His word! A similar call is made in Revelation 19:17-18, but there only to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven. It is in view of the slaughter that is to fall on the armies of the west at the end of this age. I suppose only the birds are named there, in keeping with the judgment of those who have abandoned the heavenly testimony of Christianity.
Another writer points to what comes next in Ezekiel:
He first tells us that the birds and the beasts of the field will eat the flesh and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. Then he adds, "I will set my glory among the nations, … and have mercy on the whole house of Israel … neither will I hide my face from them any more."
- Two suppers. One chapter holds both: the marriage supper of the Lamb, and the supper of the great God — joy above, judgment below.
- Two invitations. Grace called first, and men refused for centuries. Those who would not come to God's table became the food at another.
- Two lists. One list is of guests called blessed. The other is of kings, captains, mighty men, horses and riders, free and slave, small and great.
- One levelling. The roll-call from crown to chain is the humbling end of human pride. The birds are filled, and the slain rise again a thousand years later to face the throne.
- One outcome. In Ezekiel's parallel the slaughter is not the last word. God sets His glory among the nations and shows mercy to Israel.
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse, and against his army.
Here is the last stand of human power: earth's rulers gather their armies against the Rider on the white horse. Who are these enemies, and how do men ever come to think they can fight the King of kings?
Commentators identify the three groups from earlier chapters of the book.
Remember that the beast is the head of the revived Roman empire, as Revelation 13 and Revelation 17 have shown. The kings of the earth will include the rulers of the ten kingdoms, banded together under the beast's leadership — and other sovereigns too, if there are any. So we can see at once what a huge host the beast and his vassal kings will bring together, a host that looks unbeatable.
Walter Scott notes the order of the names:
The Beast is named first, as the centre and soul of the movement. The word Beast covers all the material strength and resources of the mighty revived empire. Then we are told of "the kings of the earth" — the very kings who wailed over the destruction of Babylon. The political and social authorities of Christendom join the Beast in this senseless war.
The verse says they were gathered. It does not say who gathered them.
Someone may suppose that human hands bring this almost worldwide gathering of powers together. But no Caesar or Napoleon could produce such a vast combination, and for such a purpose as we have here. Satan is behind the movement. Revelation 16:13-14, 16 lifts the veil and exposes its true character. Three unclean spirits, satanic in source and character and given miraculous power, "go out to the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle (war) of that great day of God Almighty." It also names the gathering place: Armageddon.
Yet Satan's plan and God's plan run in the same channel. Dennett notes that the men had aims of their own, but Scripture names the gathering by its true end:
Human thoughts, prompted by Satan, ruled the aims of this vast army. But God, working behind the scenes, had His own thoughts. So Scripture describes the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies as gathered together to make war against the King of kings and Lord of lords, and against His "called, and chosen, and faithful" followers. What daring audacity! And what a display of the corrupt depths of man's heart — matched only by what was seen in the crucifixion of Christ!
English versions of Revelation translate the Greek word here in different ways.
It would be more correct to translate it "war" in every place, while a different Greek word means the actual clash of "battle."
So the verse describes war, not a single clash. Scott presses how absurd it is:
Can history show anything like this? The nations of Europe, and of a wider area too, educated and christianised, are so deluded by Satan that they dare to take the field against "The King of kings and Lord of lords!" What madness! What folly! Who owns the earth is the real question of that day, and the coming battle settles it for ever. They aim their hatred at the Rider on the white horse, the Lamb and King. The first title speaks of sacrifice, the second of rule. Whether as the Lamb slain or as the King to reign, Christendom hates Him.
His army is a target too. Earlier verses show them on white horses in fine linen. One writer argues from the wording that they are not angels:
These armies that are seen following Him out of heaven, clothed in fine linen, are not angels. This very chapter says that the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And here is the remarkable thing. When Revelation 15 describes angels as "clothed in pure and white linen," it uses a different word. It is the heavenly saints who are thus spoken of in Revelation 19 as the armies of heaven.
They are called an army, but nothing is put in their hands:
Scripture does not say that these armies with the Lord of glory carry any weapons. But their white clothing reminds the world of the witness they gave to the truth of God, so the world has no excuse when judgment falls. Only their great Leader has a weapon, a figurative sharp sword going out of His mouth.
The verse ends with the war declared. What comes next is not a war at all.
There is no campaign here. There is no long, doubtful struggle, with victory leaning first to one side and then to the other. Isaiah says this, when he describes how the Lord's coming destroys another enemy: "Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire."
Baines quotes Isaiah 9:5 in an older translation.
- Gathered — the beast heads the revived Roman empire. The kings of the earth join him, and together they look unbeatable.
- Gathered by Satan — no Caesar or Napoleon could build such a coalition. Unclean spirits go out to the kings of the world and bring them to Armageddon.
- Gathered under God's hand — the men had aims of their own. Scripture names the gathering by its true end.
- Gathered against the Lamb and King — Christendom hates Him as the sacrifice and as the ruler alike. That hour settles who owns the earth.
- Gathered to nothing — His army carries no weapons and needs none. There is no campaign, only the sword from His mouth.
And the beast was taken, and the false prophet that [was] with him, who wrought the signs before him by which he deceived them that received the mark of the beast, and those that worship his image. Alive were both cast into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone;
Christ appears in power at the close of Revelation 19, and He singles out two men from the whole rebel army. Who are they, why does He take them alive rather than kill them, and what does the lake of fire mean?
Commentators read the two as real men, each holding a different kind of power.
The False Prophet is the Antichrist, the embodiment of religious apostasy. His partner, the Beast, is the leading Gentile ruler, and Satan gave him almost unlimited political power. Scripture uses the title "the False Prophet" of the Antichrist three times, describing his seductive teaching in Judea and across the professing Christian world. That he was with the Beast indicates the two were acting together. The Beast supplied the strength, the False Prophet the counsel.
The name changes for a reason. By the end the second beast has lost his worldly power.
At the end this second beast appears not as a beast but as a false prophet. All his worldly power will be gone. He will no longer be a beast that seizes and devours; that side of him will be wiped out. People will see him as the false prophet, and they will recognise him as the second beast already spoken of, because his character matches it perfectly.
The verse does not merely name them; it recalls what they did. The signs were the machinery of a worship campaign.
The Beast is cast alive into the lake of fire — a man, of course, yet called "the Beast", the usual name for the empire... The False Prophet deceived those who received the mark of the Beast and those who worship his image, and he did it by the miraculous signs he worked. His great aim was to win world-wide worship for the Beast. The Beast held more worldly power than he did, but less cunning and less malicious satanic influence.
Verse 19 gathers armies for war. Verse 20 records no war at all.
Notice that there is no conflict with almighty power. Christ "takes" these two godless instruments of Satan and judges them at once, casting them alive into hell. Two men in the Old Testament, as people often note, passed alive into heaven. These two arch-enemies of God and His Christ are cast alive into the lake of fire.
Writers also explain why the two get no trial.
No trial is necessary. Where they stand and what they have done are enough to justify judging them on the spot, in righteousness. They are cast at once, alive, into the place prepared for the devil and his angels.
The word "alive" cuts out what everyone else goes through: death, and the resurrection that follows.
The Beast and the false prophet are the personal enemies of Christ. So on the day of battle the Lord meets them in person, and casts both alive into the lake. They never die the death common to man, so there is no resurrection for them. Death does not separate soul from body; they go into the lake alive. All who are in the graves shall come out... But the lake of fire never opens its gates except to receive the judged.
Their followers face a different judgment, later on.
The Lord judges their followers too, but not with so terrible a doom. They wait to be judged another day — they must stand and appear before God... But as for the two, God required, in a sense, nothing more. They were the worst leaders of the world's lawlessness, so judgment takes its course at once and for ever. I know of no judgment in Scripture so terrible: these men are thrown into hell untried, and before Satan himself!
The phrase first appears here. Writers stress that it names a place, not a state of mind.
They do not walk there, and no one drives them on to their fearful doom. They are thrown into it alive, the way you throw away something worthless. A thousand years afterwards Satan joins them in the same awful place... The lake, not of water, but of fire, is the eternal place of punishment for the devil and for lost men and fallen angels. It is a place, and not a condition. And is it not significant that the phrase... should be mentioned here for the first time?
Some say the fire ends existence. One writer answers from those thousand years.
If the lake of fire means extinction, how do two men stay in it a thousand years without being destroyed? And why are we then told that they face still more torment, for eternity?... For if a man could live there a thousand years, why not many thousand more?
- Deceived — the false prophet's signs pushed the world into taking the mark and worshipping the image.
- Taken — the armies gather for war, but there is no fight; Christ seizes the two leaders.
- Untried — what they have done needs no trial; they are sentenced before Satan is.
- Alive — they never die and never rise; body and soul go in whole, and the lake never releases what it receives.
- Still there — a thousand years later they are still not consumed, so the fire does not end existence.
and the rest were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which goes out of his mouth; and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
Revelation 19:21 closes the battle in one sentence. The leaders are gone, and the armies that followed them fall where they stand. Two questions remain: what sword kills them, and is death the end for them?
The verse ends a clash that has been building for chapters. One writer sets the two sides side by side:
The King of kings comes to earth followed by the armies of heaven. In answer, the devil gathers "the kings of the earth and their armies" to make war against Him who sits on the horse and His armies.
The weapon comes out of His mouth, and commentators take this to mean the sword is not a physical one at all.
The pride and armies of Europe lie in the silence of death, killed, but not by a literal sword. The angry voice of the King of kings will strike through the packed ranks. In a moment it strips them of their two great chiefs. Then comes death on the spot — the awful portion of a host that has rebelled and turned away from God. It is a terrible story, told in few words.
Heaven's armies ride with Him, yet the verse gives them nothing to do:
The great host of the armies of the Beast will meet the judgment of death by the sword of the Lord, the Word of His mouth (v. 21). While the armies of heaven accompany Him, He alone strikes down His enemies. The birds of prey eat their fill.
"The rest" means the followers who are left once their two leaders are gone:
In chapter 19, "the rest" is what remains of the beast's armies. The beast himself and the false prophet have already been cast alive into the lake of fire. What remains is a living remnant, and it is then slain.
The followers die. The two leaders never do. One writer links that difference to who these two are:
The Beast and the false prophet are the personal enemies of Christ. So on the day of battle the Lord meets them in person, and both are cast alive into the lake. They never died the death other people die, so there is no resurrection for them. Death never parted their soul from their body. They went into the lake alive.
No one reads charges over these armies. One writer explains why, and what still lies ahead of them:
Taken with weapons in their hands, in open rebellion, there is no need of judicial inquiry in such a case. But with the "rest of the dead" (Rev. 20:5) they certainly await the judgment of the "great white throne" and the award measured out to them. That judgment goes by their works, so the whole record of their lives comes into account. They have no part in the "first resurrection," the "resurrection of life," so the company they belong to is already settled. The only question left for them is how heavy the punishment will be.
Another writer gives the length of the wait:
These slain rise again to meet their Lord once more. This time He is not on the horse of victorious conquering power, but on the throne, where condemnation follows judgment at once (Rev. 20:11-15). Their resurrection takes place one thousand years after their punishment on earth.
The verse ends with birds feeding. The order that called them came before the fighting began.
The beast and the kings of the earth are still gathering their armies. They do not know that heaven has already sent out the command to gather the birds to feast on their flesh.
The chapter holds two meals, and this is the darker one:
Rev. 19 sets two suppers before us — the supper of "the Lamb," and the supper of "the great God." The supper of the Lamb is a scene of joy in heaven. Blessed are those who are called to it. It is a marriage supper. The supper of the great God is the fruit of the solemn, terrible judgment that ends the history of the earth as it now is.
- Gathered — the devil pulls the kings of the earth and their armies together to make war on the Rider.
- Spoken — the sword comes out of His mouth. His word alone kills. Heaven's armies ride with Him, but they strike nothing.
- Slain — the followers die on the spot. The two leaders never die at all. They go into the lake of fire alive.
- Served — the birds' feast is the second of the chapter's two suppers. Heaven sent out its invitations before the battle began.
- Summoned — death here is a sentence, not an ending. These same slain rise a thousand years later before the great white throne, judged by their works.