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.