Revelation Chapter 19

Revelation 19:1

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

Back in chapter 7 we saw a multitude of people in heaven from every nation, tribe, and language holding palm branches in their hands and praising God. In those scriptures that group of people was complete, or at least nearing completion due to it taking place toward the end of the opening of the seals. Scripture is not real clear if this multitude is the same as that one but they iterate almost the exact same message, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Whether they are the same group or not, it is obvious to everyone who witnesses the power of God that salvation belongs to Him. He saves those He chooses to save and destroys those He chooses for destruction. And for this we are supposed to praise His Name.

Revelation 19:2

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

As gloomy as Revelation can seem to be, we haven’t really spoken in great detail about judgement. Judgement of course means all the things we associate being judged with including a pronouncement of right and wrong and the punishment that would follow. One thing we don’t necessarily associate with judgement is the right and privilege of God, which is choice. It is God’s right to separate, pick out and choose those who are called for His glory and those who are destined for destruction. When we think about eternity matters we tend to think that salvation is offered to everyone openly and those who reject it are subject to judgement. However scripture spells out very clearly that those who are saved are first called, then chosen, and then faithful followers. If this is true of the saved why can we not accept that He also chooses to condemn certain people? I dare to say Babylon never had opportunity for salvation because God had chose her to be destroyed. This is a hard teaching, that someone could be created for the sole purpose of being crushed. She never had a chance and there is nothing we can say about it. As bad as that may seem, we cannot talk back to our Maker for these decisions. He makes some vessels noble and make others for refuse and that is His business and His business alone.

Revelation 19:3-5

Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.” And the twenty- four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”

We haven’t seen the living creatures and elders in quite a while, and now we see them praising in agreement with a great multitude in heaven. Their posture stands out and that is something we can learn from. They are often seen in a state of prostrating themselves before the Lord. The act of falling to the floor is one of vulnerability and of servitude, being totally unworthy to be in the presence of the Almighty. I can’t help but think that this is why their words are usually short rather than lengthy. They do not think they are to be heard for their many words but rather a simple yet profound worship of God. Then a strange thing happens; a voice comes from the throne with a great command, to praise God, our God. We’ve seen the throne earlier in Revelation having flashes of lightening and thunder proceed from it, but now the throne seems to talk to us. “Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, small and great.” It sounds crazy that a throne would proclaim that it too has a God, we are coming very close to the time where the One who sits on the throne is going to begin His judgment; so I feel we are going to see many objects we normally consider inanimate or “lifeless” begin to act in a way not quite understood in our normal world. Fear is beginning to grip all aspects of creation as the time draws near for judgement, and rightly so.

Revelation 19:6

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

In six verses we have seen the praise hallelujah go forth 4 times. The first preceding salvation, glory and power; the second preceding the smoke from Babylon going up forever and ever. The third time is in agreement from the elders and living creatures in heaven, and now here. What I find incredibly interesting is that outside these four times, this word is not exclaimed any other place in the new testament and in the old testament it is only found in the psalms. This is something we don’t usually think about, especially with such a church familiar word such as this being used in just a handful of places. One of the first things that we notice when we look at the usage of the word is that while it is a praise to God, it is also a call for praise to others. Another aspect of the hallelujah being used is that it is often in relation to God destroying our enemies (or more specifically the enemies of Israel) and/or in relationship with Him providing salvation through His power. Embedded within that is that this salvation, glory and power is everlasting; that we should realize that even when our very lives are at stake that praise is due Him simply because He exists.

Revelation 19:7

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. ’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? ’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ’ For many are called, but few are chosen.’”

In this passage, Jesus described His coming in a way we don’t like to think of and in a way that is sometimes hard to accept. The marriage of the Lamb has come and those that were invited paid no attention to Him and went off to do various things. Then the King told His servants go out and gather all who you can find, both good and bad. God has mercy on whom He will have mercy and decides to show it here in the last days, choosing those of whom we deem not worthy to eat at the wedding feast. In some form many of them have made themselves ready, most likely through the trial by fire that will overrun the earth during the 3 ½ years. So they go into the wedding feast but there are apparently some that get in who have not made themselves ready and are found with no wedding garments. Can you imagine making it all the way to the wedding banquet, sitting down ready to sup with the Lord and all of a sudden the Father (first calling you friend), has you removed and thrown into outer darkness. God calls many but few are chosen. It is up to God and is His prerogative to choose those He allows into His kingdom; the called, chosen, and faithful followers.

Ref: Matthew 22:1-14

Revelation 19:8

it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

“And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? ’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ’ For many are called, but few are chosen.’” So it seems that the great tribulation takes its toll on those who were invited to the marriage of the Lamb. They found themselves wrapped up in worldly things and are now too entangled in life to bother themselves with showing up for Jesus’ return. So God had to send His servants throughout the earth gathering all they could find both good and bad. Now it has been granted to the tribulation saints that were beheaded to wear fine linen, bright and pure, for they have already been seen under the altar and have made themselves ready by dying for the testimony of Jesus Christ. These are examples of the righteous acts that are worthy of fine linen. Also in this group are those saints who did not worship the beast or its image and didn’t receive its mark or its name. But how on earth will some make it into the banquet without wedding garments and later be thrown out? In Matthew 13, Jesus tells what we call the parable of the weeds where one of His servants asks if they should go gather up the weeds that have grown with the wheat. Jesus tells them no since they will probably gather up some of the good when they gather the bad. All of a sudden it doesn’t seem so far fetched that these same servants when told to gather people for the wedding supper, may accidentally gather up some people not prepared. And the reason he is cast into outer darkness is found in this verse, because he had no righteous acts. Everyone else in the dining hall was found clothed in fine linen, which are their works. This man, who God called friend, found out the hard way that faith, without works, is indeed dead. In the end, everyone gets vetted by God, for He knows whom He has chosen.

Ref: Matthew 22:1-14; Matthew 13:24-44

Revelation 19:9

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited (called) to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

“A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready. ’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. ’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused. ’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. ’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. ’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room. ’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

I wish I had better news for us on this day. John writes, “blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Then we read the words of the Lamb, and He basically says that because those invited are too busy, “none of those men...shall taste my banquet.” This gives us a whole new perspective on what blessed means. The simple definition is happy. As the last couple of lessons showed, I’m certain the man at the banquet was happy as well for being in the banquet and yet got thrown out because he had no works. Now we read those who are invited, though they chose not to go, were indeed happy to receive the invite. These are the true words of God. The invited are blessed. But then the servants went out and gathered in the poor, crippled, blind and lame. When that wasn’t enough they were made to go out and compel people into the house so scripture could be fulfilled. These groups of people are both blessed AND chosen. This word compel means to force or threaten. So while the blessed were invited and invited freely, in order that God’s house be made full, in the end the chosen are forced into the kingdom and “none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.” If this does not convict us into being better than we are then perhaps we should take a good look at ourselves to determine if we are chosen or blessed.

Ref: Luke 14:16-24

Revelation 19:10

Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The angel stops John from worshipping him because he is also a fellow servant along with our brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Jesus is the cornerstone, the foundation on which everything else rests and we must hold to His testimony.

So what is that testimony? Because whatever that is, contains the spirit of everything else we can learn about Him, His second coming, and about the One who sent Him and how it pertains to us. In John 5, Jesus speaks to the Jews (and us) about His testimony and those testifying for Him. He points out that there was one who bore witness to Him, that being John the baptist, and for us that was a burning and shining lamp of which they enjoyed for a time; but Jesus does not accept the testimony of man. He brought up John because He explained to them that He Himself bears witness about Himself, but if that was the only testimony, it would not be true. Think about how powerful and submissive that statement is. Jesus, being the truth; if He testified about Himself, it would not be true. There is one who testifies about Him and His testimony is true, but He was not speaking of John. Then He takes a brief moment to describe something profoundly true. “For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.” Want proof that faith without works is dead? Jesus just said that if He Himself testified alone it would not be true and then says that the works He is doing bear witness about Him. I wonder if we could ever be that bold. Later He would say, “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” If Jesus says don’t believe me but believe the works, what amount of arrogance do we possess that we are able to excuse away what we are commanded to do by our Savior in the same way He received commands from His Father? When we do the things he commands us, through faith, then we have an advocate with the Father. This is the same Father He spoke about saying, “And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.” “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” This is how we know we have an advocate, keeping His commandments, the same way as Jesus did.

And now for the spirit of prophecy. Jesus went on to declare to the Jews about prophecy saying that He is not the one who accuses before the Father, as He’s the defense and not the prosecution; but rather the accuser is Moses. “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words.” How can we excuse away the things Moses said? How powerful a statement that is to make! How can we believe Jesus’ words if we do not believe in what Moses wrote about? Keeping the commandments has a history with Moses, Jesus and later with the new testament writers and yet we believe we can simply profess the name of Jesus alone and think that is sufficient. If we testify ourselves our testimony is not true (for Jesus does not accept the testimony of men), there must be another that testifies for us, one whose testimony is true.

Ref: John 5, 1 John 2, John 10:38

Revelation 19:11

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

“You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” What would the marriage supper be without the bridegroom! Not often do we see heaven opening up but when we do what follows is glorious to some and a stumbling stone to others. When Ezekiel saw it he exclaimed, “the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” When Stephen saw it he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God”; and then they stoned him. When this event happens it is cause for a division in humankind. Some will give honor and some will gnash teeth but all will have fear on this day. And there stood a white horse, not a rainbow horse like the one falsely described in “Heaven is for real”. “His majestic snorting is terrifying. He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons. He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword. Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin. With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet. When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha’. He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.” I don’t know if God was describing all the horses when He was speaking with Job but He certainly described Jesus’ horse. Jesus is the Faithful and True one seen on the horse. Both He and his horse are ready for battle righteously. He spoke of this moment on His first coming but we did not see it. And again, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.” “And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.” The day of the Lord has come upon us at last. “The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.”

Ref: John 1:50-51, Ezekiel 1:1, Acts 7:56; Job 39:20-25, Matthew 10:34; John 5:22-23, Isaiah 11:3-5, Zephaniah 1:14-16

Revelation 19:12

His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.

“The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.” It was once said of Jesus that He “had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him...and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed him not.” We know this to be true because even His disciples did not recognize Him after His resurrection and even John earlier in Revelation did not notice Him in the midst of all the beings in heaven. Oh but now that time has changed. His eyes are like fire and is showing Himself as ruler of rulers, the King of kings who judges and makes war. And He has a name written that no one knows but Himself. This is a very interesting concept and of course because we can’t know it, makes us all the more intrigued to want to find out what it is. We saw a glimpse of a similar idea back in chapter 2 when those who conquer are given a white stone with a name written on it that no one knows except those who receive it. That being said, I cannot offer any sort of reliable insight into what this name is without a lot of speculation.

Ref: Revelation 2:18; Isaiah 53:2-3

Revelation 19:13

He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.

“Then the glory of the God of Israel rose from above the cherub where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. He called to the man clothed in linen with the writing equipment at his side. “Pass throughout the city of Jerusalem,” the Lord said to him, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the detestable practices committed in it.”

He spoke as I listened to the others, “Pass through the city after him and start killing; do not show pity or spare them! Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, as well as the older women and little children, but do not come near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple. Then He said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out killing people in the city.” Jesus is wearing a robe dipped in blood and most times when we associate blood with Jesus, it would be His own; but in this instance that is not the case. Before we get to this point He has already gathered up the remnant of Israel and have taken them to the wilderness so that they may be taught by Him. No longer will they say “know the Lord”, for they will all know Him, but first the temple must be defiled with the slain Israelites who fail to weep over Jerusalem. So it is possible that this is leftover blood from that encounter. Another more accepted possibility is that He is just being revealed to us but has already begun taking vengeance on those enemies of Israel. We’ll cover it more in depth in a few lessons but the blood may be of those that are trampled under the feet of Jesus in the winepress of the wrath of God. In the previous lessons we discussed in part reasons why we know that this person is Jesus and this verse gives us another solid reference, the Word of God. This is the name by which He is called. He was with God in the beginning and speaks only those things He hears His Father speak. To those that have ears, let them hear the Word of God.

Ref: Ezekiel 9:3-7

Revelation 19:14

And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” In righteousness Jesus judges and makes war. Here He is seen commanding the armies of heaven and those armies are seen arrayed in white and pure linen, riding white horses. It is their apparel that causes some confusion to who this army may be. Earlier we saw in heaven those who had been beheaded given fine linen, bright and clean. But while it may seem that it could possibly be them for they are already in heaven, there is a flaw in that they are not yet resurrected. Scripture clearly states that these dead will rise first and after that be caught up to meet Jesus in the air. So this is an actual army that the Lord has always been commander of made up of heavenly beings of which we would mostly agree would be angels. This would seem to agree with what Jesus spoke of, “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.” It is the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man just as was seen by Jacob as he was fleeing from his brother in Genesis and was prophesied by Jesus to Nathanael. It would seem that no longer does Jesus have to call upon His Father to put angels at His disposal as He said in the garden but He leads them with great power and glory ready to take on the armies of the world.

Ref: Joshua 5:13-15; Mark 13:26-27

Revelation 19:15

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two- edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” We’ve already established that His name is the Word of God and now we learn that Word is sharper than any two-edged sword. The word coming from Jesus’ mouth is sufficient enough to strike down the nations. He can simply speak and the nations will be made low but that is not the only weapon we must pay attention to, for He also holds a rod of iron. “The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.” On what world do we imagine that the kingdom of God will not have rules? Even if we’ve never contemplated fully what may be going on when Jesus reigns it is important to realize that He is the King and we will have to follow His instruction or else be struck with that rod of iron and crushed...and He has asked for this. It is clear that Jesus delights in the law of God and as King He sets out to enforce it. One of the first ways we experience this on earth is the treading of the winepress. “Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger

and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.” The terror of the Lord cannot be made more clearly than that. This passage also sheds light on why all nations will mourn on account of Him. He comes to Earth and looks for someone to support Him in His endeavors but finds no one. But Jesus has never needed the approval of man for His actions. Angels will literally gather up people and He will stomp them to death with His feet. This is difficult even to imagine much less to have to witness. This great God from heaven comes down and one of His first acts is to trample people to death, with blood splattering and blood flowing out as high as a couple of feet for a couple of hundred miles. This is not something we are likely to celebrate but rather will wonder when this will stop. The amount of blood it would take to be a few feet high for almost two hundred miles is something difficult for us to comprehend and I imagine will not be a very quick ordeal but likely will drag on for some time bringing attention to the seriousness of this new King that we must serve.

Ref: Hebrews 4:12; Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 63:1-6

Revelation 19:16

On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

His robe and thigh has His name written on them. First, and briefly, it is crazy how we use scripture to justify the actions we are not supposed to be doing. Christians will actually use this verse to justify getting a tattoo. The Levitical law states, “You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves:I am the Lord”; but rather than simply obey we would rather throw this verse out saying, “but Jesus has a tattoo.” Understand that Jesus can do things that we simply cannot and this is why He is Lord of lords and King of kings. He can pick heads of grain on the Sabbath because He is Lord over the Sabbath. He can make the beast rise to power in order that Babylon can be destroyed because He is King over these kings. And if He so sees fit to get a writing on His thigh, He can do that because He is able to back up the claim of being King of kings and Lord of lords and has told us not to and reiterated the reason: “I am the Lord.” In the meantime we get a tattoo reading, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, which includes being able to do everything with the exception of actually obeying Him. Also it is just as likely that this writing on His thigh is on a garment found on His thigh.

Next, we’ll put this in context, “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” This verse is speaking of the beast making war against Jesus and Jesus conquering because He is Lord and King. I think it’s important to note that He is already Lord of lords and King of kings before this battle takes place. This is not a title pronounced to Him because He defeated them but rather they are defeated simply because He is King and Lord.

And finally this is not an honor that stops at this particular moment but will move forward through eternity. What I mean by that is He is not just Lord and King but rather Lord of lords and King of kings. Later, when the new Jerusalem is established scripture says, “By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.” I think we have a somewhat misguided notion of what God’s kingdom will be like but apparently there will still be kings upon the new earth that will rule in actual kingdoms. Much like the festivals God gave to Israel and told them these were everlasting ordinances, the kings of the nations will bring offerings to the Holy City. In this way it can help us understand that the principles given to us in the bible are not haphazard events but an actual teaching of how the world is supposed to behave, being subject to rulers and authorities who are themselves under the highest authority.

Ref: Revelation 17:14; Leviticus 19:28; Jeremiah 33:20-21

Revelation 19:17

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God,

“Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field, ‘Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood.” When I was young I used to watch a lot of Alfred Hitchcock, and I remember watching “The Birds”. I remember thinking to myself, this is dumb how people could be scared of birds to the point where someone would make a horror film about it. Only now do I realize that to many, there may be something to be frightened about. Gather around for a feast prepared for the birds by God. The language used by John in this section should be eye opening, “the great supper of God.” By the time Jesus arrives He has grown tired of watching the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel. “You consider yourself a lion of the nations, but you are like a dragon in the seas; you burst forth in your rivers, trouble the waters with your feet, and foul their rivers. Thus says the Lord God: I will throw my net over you with a host of many peoples, and they will haul you up in my dragnet. And I will cast you on the ground; on the open field I will fling you, and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you, and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.” He is coming to protect His heritage and to punish those who have trampled the Jerusalem. The time for Him to redeem has come and He is making a very public spectacle of those who have done this and given them up as food for the birds of the air. “Is my heritage to me like a hyena's lair? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the wild beasts; bring them to devour. Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my portion; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.”

Ref: Ezekiel 39:17; Ezekiel 32:2-4; Jeremiah 12:9-10

Revelation 19:18

to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”

“Wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will gather.”

-Jesus-

“You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of he- goats, of bulls, all of them fat beasts of Bashan. And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. And you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all kinds of warriors,’ declares the Lord God.” When Jesus comes it will be just as is prophesied earlier, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.” No longer will we imagine the meek, powerless Jesus that we have portrayed in our churches for generations but see a mighty king setting up His Father’s kingdom on earth. He shows no partiality for race or social status. He cares nothing about your occupation or about your particular form of subjection to either nations or to men. At this point it seems the only bit of saving grace displayed on the earth is having not received the mark of the beast that He had sent. All others are open game for this slaughter of which every type of person is a part of.

Ref: Luke 17:37, Ezekiel 39:18-20; Revelation 1:7

Revelation 19:19

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.

“For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement.” God has instituted the kingdom of the beast for the task of destroying Babylon. He has instituted the kings of the earth, some to give their power to the beast for this purpose. Although He has made these things to happen, they now stand with their respective armies ready to make war against the Lamb and His army, but this is not a coincidental event. “And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” They have been assembled in Megiddo to prepare for battle. Then the seventh bowl is poured out and Jesus is revealed from heaven. Jerusalem is split into three parts when Jesus sets foot on the Mount of Olives as it is written, “On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. This creates the newly formed Valley of Jehoshaphat or the valley of the shadow of death as described by David in the Psalm. And while we think that this will be a battle for the ages Jesus simply defeats them because He is King of all of these kings and Lord of all of these lords.

Ref: Romans 13:1-2; Joel 3:2; Revelation 16:13-16; Zechariah 14:4; Psalm 23

Revelation 19:20

And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

“Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin. He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee; for him sling stones are turned to stubble. Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins.”

How did we expect his fall to happen? God had already warned us that conventional weapons of death won’t work on the beast because He had made him so great. Leviathan was created in such a way to instill terror to those he comes across. Normal people would have no hold or power over him by shear design, but God also had a plan. “No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?...Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.” Jesus is still the creator of everything. God had warned Job about how fierce a foe Leviathan is for the simple comparison that if the beast is that great, just imagine how great the beast’s Creator is. The beast and the false prophet are captured and thrown alive into the lake of fire. If God is able to accomplish this, then who can stand before Him?

Revelation 19:21

And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

“The one who rejects Me and doesn’t accept My sayings has this as his judge: The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.”

-Jesus-

“Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two- edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” The type of disobedience seen in this Hebrews verse was quoted from the Psalms saying, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways” This is important for us in this lesson because we think it is this great sin that would lead us away from being slain by the Lord’s sword but really it can be as simple as us allowing our hearts to deceive us and not having an understanding of God’s ways. “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” It is He whom God sent that we see in this scene with a sharp sword coming out of His mouth dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow. No creature is hidden from His sight but are exposed, even to the point of our thoughts and intentions. We often think that we have good intentions in the things we do but when we couple intentions with not knowing the ways of God, we end up with something that is possibly an abomination to the Lord. Of course we use it as an excuse saying that God knows our intentions, as if those intentions are good. We can look to an example in scripture to what seems like good intentions coupled with a lack of understanding of God’s ways destroys a man eternally. Saul shortly after becoming king was told by Samuel to wait for him before he was to make any moves. Saul became impatient as he saw his people scattering and decided to force himself to offer the burnt offering to the Lord. Good intentioned as it was Samuel showed up immediately after and saw good intentions turned into an abomination. It was not for Saul to offer up those sacrifices. And what was God’s response to good intentions? God stripped him of his kingdom forever, found a new king, along with the Spirit (who had filled Saul) leaving him and being replaced by an evil spirit from the Lord. This is the kind of disobedience that would cause us to leave the Lord and fall into the army of the beast to later be destroyed by the Rider on the white horse.

Ref: John 12:48; Hebrews 4:11-14; Psalm 95:10; John 6:29; 1 Samuel 13