Joy in heaven and the reason for it
19
📚After these things I heard a loud voice of many people in heaven saying,“Hallelujah 📖! Salvation and glory
and honour and power belong
to the Lord our God 📖,
2 📚for his judgments are true
and righteous 📖,
because he has judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth by her adultery 📖
and has taken vengeance 📖 on her
for the blood of his servants she shed”.
3 📚And again they said,
“Hallelujah! And smoke from her rises up
forever and ever 📖”.
19:3 They praise God because mystery Babylon will be destroyed forever. Never will she rise again to corrupt the earth or persecute true believers.⚜
4 📚And the twenty-four elders and the four living beings 📖 prostrated themselves and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne, and said,
“Amen 📖, Hallelujah!”
5 📚And a voice came from the throne 📖, saying,
“Praise our God 📖, all you his servants,
and you who fear him 📖,
both small and great”.
6 📚And I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty thunderings, saying,
“Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns 📖!
7 📚Let us be glad and rejoice,
and give him honour,
for the wedding 📖 of the Lamb has come
and his wife has made herself ready 📖.
19:7 “The great prostitute” has been judged and destroyed. Now, in great contrast to all that she was and did, the bride of the Lamb appears.⚜
8 📚And to wear she was given fine linen,
clean and bright; for the fine linen is
the righteous deeds 📖 of the saints”.
John and the angel
9 📚And he said to me, “Write: Blessed 📖 are those who are called 📖 to the wedding supper of the Lamb”. He also said to me, “These are the true words of God 📖”.
10 📚And I prostrated myself at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, “Look, do not do that 📖! I am a servant together with you and with your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy 📖”.
19:10 If this angel was the one in Rev 18:1 perhaps John was overcome by his splendor and his words of authority and blessing, and mistook him for Christ.⚜
Christ returns in power and glory
11 📚And I saw heaven opened, and there appeared 📖 a white horse 📖 and he who sat on him. He is called Faithful and True 📖, and in righteousness he judges and makes war 📖.
19:11 The great prostitute has been judged. Now the evil triumvirate – the dragon, the beast and the false prophet – must be defeated to redeem the earth from its enslavement to wickedness. This Christ will do at His return (v 20; Rev 20:1-3). The picture in this verse is of Christ’s sudden coming to earth again. Believers from the first century onwards have looked forward to this great event. See references at Rev 1:7.⚜
12 📚His eyes were like a flame of fire 📖, and on his head were many crowns 📖. And he had a name written that no man knew except he himself 📖. 13 📚And he was dressed in a garment dipped in blood 📖. And his name is called The Word of God 📖. 14 📚And the armies in heaven 📖 followed him on white horses, dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 📚And out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which he should strike 📖 the nations. And he will rule them with an iron rod 📖. And he tramples the wine press of the fierceness and wrath 📖 of Almighty God. 16 📚And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS 📖.
A great feast for the birds in the air
17 📚And I saw an angel standing in the sun. And he shouted in a loud voice and said to all the birds that fly through the sky, “Come and gather together at the supper of the great God, 18 📚so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of their riders and the flesh of all kinds of people 📖, both free and slave, both small and great”.
19:17-18 The reference to birds, flesh, horses and men suggest a literal battle with many killed. This “supper” is in great contrast with “the wedding supper of the Lamb” (v 9). That one is for Christ’s righteous people; this one for Christ’s opponents. God provides this supper for the vultures who feed on the dead. Compare Ezek 39:17-20.⚜
19 📚And I saw the beast 📖 and the kings of the earth 📖 and their armies gathered together 📖 to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army.
The punishment of the beast and false prophet
20 📚And the beast was captured and with him the false prophet 📖 who performed signs 📖 in his presence, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into a lake of fire 📖 burning with sulfur. 21 📚And the rest of them were killed by the sword of the one who sat on the horse, the sword that came out of his mouth 📖. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.