The description of the great Commander, 1. As Dr. John Paterson puts it in The Book that is Alive: "The spoken word in Hebrew was fearfully alive. Besides the bride thus arrayed, "He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage-supper of the Lamb." From his mouth there comes forth a sharp two-edged sword, so that with it he may smite the nations, and he will control them with an iron rod. T. S. Kepler comments: "The moral law can no more be broken than the law of gravity; it can only be illustrated." In it, the Church, And He Himself treads . He with the glorified saints will have their home on high, but none the less shall they reign over this very world for the allotted time. understand the testimony of Jesus, then you must preach and prophesy so that Therefore says the angel, "I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, that hath* the seven heads and the ten horns. Revelation 19:4 "And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down Then the angel quickly tells John not to worship him. see that it is in connection with the foregoing not merely His coming for us who will keep the sayings of it, but for those whom He will find here below "to give to each as his work is.". It is the "Word of God" that will conquor nations, not physical armies using force. That is why religions fail. I think that it might be just, "hey, you've had it." "The ten horns which thou sawest AND the beast" would give unquestionably the right form of the verse. If a person drew from this, for instance, that the boast was to carry the woman, Babylon, when it had as a fact all that is meant by the seven heads and the ten horns, it would be an error. that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright the morning star. which will take place on earth following the return of Christ (20:4; Matt. union of the church with Christ following the Rapture (see 1 Thess. "All three of the figures in this verse are representations of the word of Christ, by which he executes with indisputable authority the judgment of God. That was Jesus looking forward to the great Messianic Banquet. 4:17). Then there was a time of preparation as the 21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. sounds like a massive crashing of waves. It is for your sin that He is dying. These both [the two of them, the antichrist and his false prophet] were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone ( Revelation 19:20 ). The marriage feast will take place on earth following Christ's return with the Even man himself when he was innocent in Eden was not called. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God ( Revelation 19:10 ): Now, John like so many people, we want to worship the instrument that God uses to bring His knowledge or love or grace to us. And if you try to worship God in an unprescribed way, setting up little idols or whatever, which God has forbidden, that is spiritual fornication. Man converted will then not merely reach the natural term if I may so say of a thousand years, but pass that bound. John was forbidding angel worship; and that was a very necessary prohibition, for in the early church there was a well-nigh inevitable tendency to worship angels, a tendency which has never wholly disappeared. Verse 1. It is "His story". union of the church with Christ following the Rapture (see 1 Thess. In Revelation 16+, John was shown the pouring forth of the final seven bowls which contained God's wrath. The relationship of the Christian and Christ must be the closest in all life. Revelation 19:13; Revelation 14:8; Revelation 14:10; Revelation 14:19-20; Revelation 16:19; Isaiah 63:1-6). But now there is but one throne: Christ judges the dead. Zerubbabel displays a plan of Jerusalem to Cyrus the Great by Jacob van Loo. 8:38, Paul often used some of the most extreme things such as life and death to make a point. I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. From the manner in which resurrection is referred to in scripture, does not God leave room for this? This destruction of the last, most powerful empire in history marks the end of Again, to my mind it seems demonstrably true that the relation to the beast here brought before us must in all fairness be allowed to look onward to a later stage of Babylon. Nothing more is to be done. But no believer comes into judgment. Help us purchase electrical generators for churches. If you understand the testimony of Jesus, what must you do. It is a precisely similar case here. What is it? Jewish dreams were full of the warrior Messiah, who would lead God's people to victory and smash his enemies. "Faithful" is what belongs to a man. He had His own self interest at heart when He told Eve not to eat of the tree. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 Commentary. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament, Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. 14:1-3; 1 Thess. The guests also will include tribulation saints this great multitude begin to praise God, the volume would be so great as to article . And I think that this has been declared all the way through, because this is one of the areas that Satan constantly challenges concerning God, the fairness of God's judgments when he deals and meats out His judgments upon man. 31:31-34; Zech. (ii) It can equally mean the witness which Jesus Christ gives to men. Although the words are the same as in the first chapter of the Fourth Gospel, the meaning is quite different and much simpler. "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.". No one can soberly deny that Babylon in some sort had a place then; but that the special, and above all, the full character of Babylon was manifested as here portrayed is another matter. And it is pretty well ascertained that there was a discussion among them, even to the suggestion by one of the most wicked of their emperors, whether Christ should not be owned and worshipped in the Pantheon, hundreds of years before Constantine, indeed from the earliest epoch of the gospel. He knows It is reigning. Certainly the ascription to the Lord of the fierce struggles of a human warrior is markedly avoided. Patience or endurance of hope is what becomes us. 9:7; It should not be "and which had not," but rather, "and those who had not worshipped the beast, nor his image, neither had received his mark upon their forehead, and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." (ii) There is intimate communion, so intimate that man and wife become one flesh. This is what drove men to the idea of making the pope to be the beast. They were judged every man according to their works. Man has always sinned in one or other of these two ways, looking now at sin in its broadest forms. They are not seen here as the bride. A further account of the triumphant song of angels and saints for the fall of Babylon, ver 1-4. Christ will come in glory to judge and rule. All is opened, and this because we have the Holy Ghost dwelling in us; "for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." He has with him the armies of heaven. This is in total contrast to the harlot Babylon. 13:9; Rom. Bride. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. And he said to me: "These are the true words of God." And there are times when the angel appears to John. Again and again the prophets thought of Israel as the chosen bride of God. (v) It may be that we shall never know the symbolism of the unknown name but H. B. Swete has the very fine idea that in the essence of the being of Christ there must always remain something beyond man's understanding. In one sense it would be an eighth, and in another sense it would be of the seven; the eighth perhaps because of its extraordinary resurrection character, yet one of the seven because it is outwardly old imperialism again. On His robe where it spreads out at His waist HIS TITLE is inscribed. It is written to be believed, not to be ignored or explained away. Gods deliverance of His people from their enemies (verse 1); Gods permanent crushing of mans rebellion (verse 3); Gods communion with His people (verse 7). The account given of Babylon inRevelation 17:1-18; Revelation 17:1-18 does not follow Revelation 14:1-20 or Revelation 16:1-21 in point of prophetic time, but differs from them in structure. The same was in the beginning with God. Leaving behind the subject of the power of evil in the world, the visions now move on to their climax. That kings had dallied with her, that the beast had once borne her up, will only turn to gall the more bitter to her, who, faithless to God, had staked the usurped and abused name of Christ to win what was now lost for ever. It stands for the consuming power of the victorious Christ. Never worry about the righteousness of God's judgments. - CBSC, a sharp sword . They themselves were to judge. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword ( Revelation 19:15 ). Only the Son of God can understand the mystery of his own being. "Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out" ( John 6:37 ). The elders do show us the heavenly heads of priesthood (embracing, as I believe, the Old Testament saints and those of the New); i.e., they are not limited to the church, Christ's body. willing to be his in the day of his power. Revelation 29 Lessons. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. "I heard a great voice of much people in heaven": The people are the same with unrighteousness. And again they said, Alleluia. (19:6-9), are evidence of the Church being in heaven prior to the return of The salvation of God should awaken the gratitude of man; the glory of God should awaken the reverence of man; the power of God is always exercised in the love of God and should, therefore, awaken the trust of man. he will rule them with a rod of iron . 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God ( Revelation 19:1 ): The judgment of the earth, as far as God's wrath being poured out, has been completed on Babylon. This city is seen now as the holy vessel of divine power for governing the earth during the millennium, "having the glory of God: and her brightness was like a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.". After a thousand years then they will be joined by Satan and the rest of the satanic beings or the angelic beings that joined with Satan in his rebellion against God. "Yet is" is a most unfortunate expression. But when Christ and the church peacefully reign, such is the imagery that suits "a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Polyglot, and all editions of the least critical value. H. B. Swete says that this comprehensive phrase embraces "Christians of all intellectual capacities and social grades, and of all stages of progress in the life of Christ." The pronoun he is emphaticHe Himself, by Himself, as is there expressed. When the thousand years expire, Satan reappears on the scene to the sorrow and ruin of the Gentiles who were not born of God. 244.]. The worst of all sins is to teach others to sin. Verse 4. I take it, therefore, that God intended this analogy to be noted by us; that it is not a pursuance of the prophecy, but a description of the holy city previously named, just as the other was a description of the corrupt city, whose judgment had been announced. I agree with the majority. It is plain that what the verse contemplates is neither the Roman power when there was one head of the empire, nor the eastern or Byzantine part of it after that partition, nor the western state of division under the kings who succeeded the deposition of Augustulus; for in the medieval state there may have been ten kings (in contrast with the ancient state of the beast without them but no beast or imperial system with its chiefs. The multitude in heaven praises God for judging the great whore (Babylon, the chapters It will be interesting to find out. They were caught in flagrant treason and rebellion: what further need of any process of judgment whatsoever? on the other, she had, when she could, gone on increasing in both, until at last the blow of divine judgment came. Blessed are those that are called to be a part in this. purified at the judgment seat of Christ (1 Cor. They will probably number into the hundreds of millions. God is going to be fair and just. But it is blessed that He says, "I come quickly;" and it is only Christ who in scripture ever says so. By the seat of his empire; and that is heaven; his throne is there, and his power and authority are heavenly and divine. Hence this certainly must be future. Verse 2. Raphael tells Tobit that he is the angel who brought his prayer before God ( Tob_13:12-15 ). With this we may compare Jesus' words at his arrest, when he said he could have had twelve legions of angels to fight for him ( Matthew 26:53). In verse 1, this great voice from heaven was whom? This may seem to us a strange metaphor. Here is a grim picture of birds of prey being invited to come from all over the sky to glut themselves on the corpses of the slain. "Praise our God," it said, "all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.". The four living creatures, respectively like a lion, an ox, a man and an eagle, stand for two things, for all that is bravest, strongest, wisest and swiftest in nature--and for the cherubim. The angelic host sings a second Hallelujah. We desire that He should come quickly, but we leave this to Him, because we know His love, and can trust Him. At the end of the millennium the righteous and the wicked form two distinct arrays, though even then there would appear to be a line drawn between the surrounding camp, and the beloved city Jerusalem on earth, where the Jews were. The glorified saints are to administer power in a way far beyond angels. We had Babylon with a spuriously ecclesiastical but a really murderous character, and at the same time guilty of corruption with the kings of the earth. From the beginning, the church of God has been blessed with prophecy. Spirit of prophecy: The person and message of Jesus is the There is therefore much to be said for the ]Protestant application of the chapter as compared with the Praetorist theory of pagan Rome. In the midst of the broadway of it, and of the river, on this side and on that, [the] tree of life," bearing not merely as the original one did, but now according to the fulness of the provision of God's grace for man, for man in glory first, but for man on the earth also, but for man in glory "producing twelve fruits, in each month yielding its fruit: and the leaves of the tree for the healing of the nations." The unrenewed of the nations are now compassing them with their countless hosts, as if to eat them up like grasshoppers. In the first eight verses of Revelation 21:1-27 we have the new heaven and the new earth, but besides, awful to say, the lake of fire. Then follows a description of the wall, gates, foundations, and general position. And the marriage is the eternal "And he saith to me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." God said, "Light be," and light was. This is the He has reserved the matter, though not without enough to guide our thoughts, as we have seen. this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?" Further, a negative point of great importance is presented by the seer, "And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God the Almighty is the temple of it, and the Lamb. This is the meaning of "one hour with the beast.". For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of God's dedicated people. Angels we know from other scriptures will be there, but of this we hear nothing here. When any wrong is done, it will be dealt with. here. "And so here we see Him, clothed in a vesture dipped in blood. "Upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth.". Tribulation saints. There was a Jewish belief that no man could know the name of God until he had entered into the life of heaven. He treaded the winepress As the grapes are trodden to express the juice, so his enemies shall be bruised and beaten, so that their life's blood shall be poured out. At the end of this time he will be released for a short while (20:1-3). Next they will seize her resources. Christs Coming Kingdom). But in this is shown what it is of importance to see the true nature of the kingdom or millennial reign. Now the Lord in the end here is really putting a lot of emphasis upon the fact that these are true sayings. All the sufferers, either in the early persecutions of Revelation 6:1-17, or in the later persecutions (see Revelation 15:1-8) up to Babylon's extinction, were now raised from the dead. And to her [that is the bride of Christ, the church] was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints ( Revelation 19:8 ). Revelation 19:10 "And I fell at his feet to worship him. The final supper will signify the end of the "He has a name inscribed which no one knows but Himself." persecution are made the beasts provoking sins. Such is God's account of Babylon the great. As far as the display of government goes, it is according to God morally, and for His glory, though I deny not for a moment that there are elements of evil which are never allowed, but kept under if not expelled. It was, as H. B. Swete puts it, like "the din of a vast concourse, the roar of a cataract, the roll of thunder.". again. There was not yet fairly out before men what God foresaw as that which must finally provoke His judgment. It is to be supposed that it will far exceed anything yet seen on the face of the earth. The battle is through. "Your Maker is your husband; the Lord of hosts is his name," says Isaiah ( Isaiah 54:5). So, Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. When we come to the full application of the prophecy, we must look onward to the latter day. The word of God, said Jeremiah, is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces ( Jeremiah 23:29). "Having a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel." In two Old Testament stories, the wrestling of Jacob at Peniel ( Genesis 32:29), and the appearance of the angelic messenger to Gideon ( Judges 13:18) the divine visitor refuses to tell his name. The picture is of the warrior Christ trampling the grapes so as to produce the wine of the wrath of God, which his enemies must drink to their doom. If Christianity does not bring joy, it does not bring anything. It is the way to all, if it be not the actual entrance into and enjoyment of it. ", This chapter is one of the most dramatic in all the Bible. That is not at all the way in which the guests are spoken of. occasion and the downfall of Rome, is said to be "great" partly because of their It has been suggested that the name is either embroidered on his girdle or engraved on his sword hilt. We shall find, on the contrary, its aspect is toward the universe, yet is there the special place of Israel; and quite right it is that it should be so. The mighty angel. On him the blow comes, not on the wretched parent. To this earth He is coming, and not merely to the new earth in the eternal state. This is the Messiah of Jewish apocalyptic expectation far more than the Messiah whom Jesus claimed to be. 14:8-11). And God said, "Let the water bring forth and let the earth bring forth." corrupted and destroyed them in soul, body, and estate. But the prophecy shows us the beast revived and the separate kings reigning for the same time, before divine judgment destroys them at the coming of Christ and His saints. 19:9-10a And he said to me: "Write! A loveless marriage is a contradiction in terms. ( Revelation 18:20). the church is the bride during the presentation feast in heaven, then comes to She will despise everything really divine; she will only use whatever of God's word she can pervert for increasing her own importance, and gaining a greater ascendancy over the consciences of men, and enjoying herself more luxuriously in this world; for she will go far to obliterate all remembrance of heaven, and to make this world a kind of paradise which she embellishes, not with pure and undefiled religion, but with the arts of men and the idolatries of the world. "True and righteous are thy judgments, O Lord." The seventh bowl contained under it the fall of Babylon, which "was remembered before God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.". We usually pronounce it JEHOVAH; but the vowels in Jehovah are really those of the Hebrew word 'Adonay ( H136) , which means Lord, the name by which the Jews called God in order to avoid pronouncing the sacred name. It is altogether unfeasible, and it shows how carelessly we read the Bible that people are not stopped by such an expression. His grace be with all! "* There is no thought of making such a paradox to perplex the mind. Whoever this angel is, he too had the testimony of Jesus. He guards his people, allowing the wicked to exercise their power only within the limits that he has set according to his eternal plan. Lord. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever" ( Isaiah 34:9-10). The verse numbering in . Unlike the kings of the earth who wage war in selfishness, "in righteousness He judges and makes war.". (i) There is love. Not that any of those judged (and the scene described is solely a resurrection of judgment) are said to be written there: we are shown rather that they were not found in that book. "righteousness" was not ours until we received the Lord Jesus into our lives and The picture is not of an "iron rod" he uses to "club" or beat his sheep! 2 Everything that he decides is right and fair. In general this has been either passed over in the chapter, or some unsatisfactory inference has been flung out, which can only embroil the prophecy. "And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white, pure.". Meanwhile the armies of the antichrist perish in battle (19-21).With the antichrist and the false prophet destroyed, only the first member of the evil trinity remains to be dealt with, Satan himself. That is what history is about. almighty: having unlimited power. These remain as yet in the condition of separate spirits. Many scholars think the name should be Y-A-H-W-E-H. I am accounted righteous by God because I believe and trust in Jesus Christ. Of course the application to the Roman empire would be immediately in the mind of any Christian at Rome. Begin by reading the Introduction first. Then there is the reigning power, but not the execution of judgment in this awful fashion which is attributed to the Lord Himself. At the moment of this vision, the conflict is already over; only the judgment remains to be executed; the issues which were long ago determined are here to be revealed and executed in the final judgment of all people. The word "rule" is "to shepherd" them, and the rod of iron is the club the shepherd used to fend off the wolves, bears, lions, etc. This is what nations have been constantly occupied with, lest any one power should become the beast. Nor is there any real reason to wonder at their deriving help from partial light. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for night shall not be there. For there follows another company of martyrs who suffered when the beast set up his worst and final pretensions. come (verse 15; 2:27; 12:5). Then you may be very good all week long, and you put your little star behind each of the categories each evening. But that the heart of man even so is not renewed becomes manifest, when Satan at the close deceives all that are not converted; and these, as we are told, are countless "as the sand of the sea.". The Lord is not so interested in telling you who you are going to marry or what is going to happen to you next week, the spirit of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. We do not mend matters by hasty conclusions, we only complicate the truth. He just said it, "Let there be light," and light existed.And in the Hebrew it is even more intensive. 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath 7 made herself ready. judgment. The principle upon which this verse-by-verse study of Revelation proceeds, is that the contents of the book are, in the main, yet future and that the fulfillment of the greater part of Revelation cannot take place as long as the Church remains here on earth. You can be worried about the righteousness of my judgments. Hence arose the prominence of angels. And he said unto me, It begins with the shout of a vast multitude in heaven. It calls God the Almighty. I find no fault in Him" ( Luke 23:14 ). Yet to this heavenly city, after Christ comes, the kings of the earth bring their offerings and their homage; but there is no excitement of the nations, no filthiness of fornication, no abominations, no blood-guiltiness. Where Hallelujah occurs in the Old Testament it is translated by Praise God, but here in this chapter the original Hebrew form, transliterated into Greek, is retained. And he says to him not to do that because he is a fellowservant, but to worship God.You see it is a apart of man to need and want to worship something, and man seems to find it easier to worship an object that he can see rather than an object that he cannot see. harlot), and avenging the blood of the martyrs (7:9-17). . This Thus (without speaking of the resurrection of the wicked at the close) there were certainly more acts than one, not to speak of the two witnesses put to death and caused to rise after three days and a half, when the spirit of life entered them, and they not only arose, but went up to heaven, as we know. Rabbi, Jehudah, actually gave the odd instruction that men ought not to pray in Aramaic because the angels did not understand Aramaic! Then the word is, "Award her even as she awarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. At the same time we are not at liberty to eliminate such a feature out of the description. Biblical references. "For God put [it] into their hearts to do his mind, and to do one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled." It is the divine judgment of man eternal judgment. In the . These were simply the characters of provisional judgment that filled the interval after the church was gone, and before the reign with Christ. would even have us. Verse 7. These are the martyrs of Revelation 6:1-17, those long since seen under the altar, poured out like burnt-offerings to God. There is no lack of precision, but the very reverse. Then and thus is aggravated guilt in the case of this wicked son. The great city was either guilty Jerusalem or Babylon. It is not for His crime or guilt. 135:1; 146:1). That righteousness that God puts on my account because I believe in Jesus Christ. cum cdd. Consequently Christianity, as being directly aggressive on the falsehood of heathenism, was of all things the most offensive to Rome. And so it is with this very Babylon that comes before us here. It is true, the beast's judgment is only referred to as a defeat under the hand of the Lamb. Only God is Revelation chapter 19, beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God". "And fire came down out of heaven from God, and devoured them. on Line Judas returned the money to the priests saying, "I betrayed innocent blood" ( Matthew 27:4 ). This rider is called "FAITHFUL AND TRUE"--"faithful" because we can depend on His promises. Isa_1.20; Isaiah 49:2; Isaiah 66:16; This is the weapon God uses to conquor the nations! In the Ascension of Isaiah ( Isaiah 9:5) there is a saying: "Thou canst not bear his name until thou shalt have ascended out of the body." Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, Jesus describes it as a place of outer darkness where he said there will be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.Hell or Hades is located in the center part of the earth. 19:6-8 And I heard a voice which sounded like the voice of a vast multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty crashes of thunder. Verse 19 Revelation 19:19 Study .
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