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Revelation 19–20
Coming of Christ, the millennium, and the last judgment (Matthew
24.27–31)
Seven Visions of the Last Things (19:11 - 22:5)
The Coming of Christ, the Word of
God (19:11-16)
The Invitation to a Great Banquet
(19:17-18)
The Final Battle (19:19-21)
The Binding of Satan (20:1-3)
The Millennial Reign (20:4-10)
The Final Judgement (20:11-15)
The New Heaven, New Earth, New
Jerusalem (21:1-8)
An Elaboration on the New Jerusalem (21:9 - 22:5)
John Sweet
5. Rejoicing in heaven (19:1-12).
a. God is praised and the 24 elders and the heavenly host
worship God (19:1-6).
b. The marriage of the Lamb (19:7-9).
c. John forbidden to worship the angel, who is a fellow-
servant (19:10).
6. The glorious victor (19:12-16).
a. The white horse and his kingly rider coming forth in
victory (19:11-13).
b. He is followed by a heavenly army on white horses
(19:14).
c. The King and Lord of all comes forth in majesty to claim
a final victory (19:15-16).
7. The great supper of God (19:17-21).
a. The birds of prey feast on the flesh of kings, captains, and
mighty men (19:18).
b. The beasts and the kings of the earth attempt to resist
(19:19).
c. The beast and the false prophet cast alive into the lake
burning with fire and brimstone (19:20).
d. The rest were killed and the birds were filled with their
flesh (19:21). H. Buster Dobbs
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Fifth of seven sections ends 16.21
(NRSV) 7 Plagues
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| VI. Fall of Babylon, Great whore 17: seven heads
interpreted as kings, ten horns as kings; Nero "was, is not, and is
to come"); note inverse of Christ: is, was, is to come 1.8: could
this be temporal versus eternal?
19 Praises in heaven; announcement of marriage of the Lamb 19.7;
John falls down to worship but is told by the angel, "You must not do
that! I am a fellow servant with you."
19.11 Rider on white horse: victorious Christ (Faithful and True,
judges righteously and makes war, eyes like fire, head with
diadems, inscribed name unknown, robe dipped in blood, Word of God,
followed by armies in white, sharp sword from mouth strikes down enemies,
rules with rod of iron, treads the wine press with the fury of God
Almighty Angel stands in the sun 19.17 and calls to birds in midheaven to
come the the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, captains,
mighty, and their riders. Beast and deceiver with mark thrown into the
lake of fire; followers are killed by sword. |
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Sixth of seven sections ends 19.21
(NRSV)Final Battle |
Revelation 19 consists of two parts:
praises in heaven for the destruction of Babylon and for the marriage of the
Lamb; the second part reveals a victorious Christ and heavenly army. With the
first verse, John reports hearing the "loud voice of a great multitude in
heave, saying, 'Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power to our God, for his
judgments are true and just; he has judged..." The reader is to see as
those in heaven see: God's righteousness has overcome rebellion and oppression
on earth. For human beings, God's judgment is, in many ways, terrible: the
great and awful day of the Lord: "Woe to you who desire the day of the
Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light... Is
not the day of the Lord darkness and not light, and gloom with no brightness in
it?" (Amos 5.18) In the light of God's glory, all must in some way stand
liable to judgment. "The great day of the Lord is near, near and
hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter... 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..." (Zephaniah 1. 14-18). How naively sometimes people see
themselves before a holy and just God!
The great multitude in heaven rejoicing is the
great multitude of chapter 7 "from every nation, from all tribes, and
peoples, and languages" (9). Here, the perspective is God's salvation,
glory, and power (1). The vision is the end: "he has avenged,"
(2) answering the early call for vindication on the part of the martyrs
(6.10). One notes the admonition that salvation, glory, and power belong
to God. God acts swiftly within eternal time. From the throne comes the
command, "Praise your God, all you his servants, and all who fear him,
small and great" (5). In this day of judgment, God reigns supreme:
"For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns" (6).
The metaphor for rejoicing is the wedding.
"'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; to her it has been granted
to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure'--for the fine linen is the
righteous deeds of the saints" (7,8). One notes that divine order has been
restored and that it has been granted to the bride to be "clothed with fine
linen, bright and pure":
Throughout the Bible reference is made to a system of ritual
purity that had both social and theological significance for the Israelites...
While the regulations concerning ritual purity may be clear,
their significance has been variously interpreted. The Hebrew words ‹Œhôr
and ‹ŒmÙ<
are commonly translated "clean and "unclean" respectively,
renderings which imply associations with dirt or hygiene not present in the
original. Additional confusion results from the fact that while in our culture
the difference between the human and the divine is often identified with the
difference between the material and the spiritual, that was not the case in
early Israel. Ritual purity and impurity could be considered spiritual states,
yet they are inextricably linked to physical processes. In turn, physical acts
such as sacrifice and sprinkling are used to alter relationships with the
divine.
Following the lead of anthropologists such as Mary Douglas,
many contemporary biblical scholars consider the status of being ‹ŒmÙ<
as one of pollution resulting from a disruption of divine order...
... Another
possibility is that ritual purifications served as a consistent reminder that
the power of life and death is not human but divine.
Drorah O’Donnell Setel Oxford Companion to the Bible
Certainly, the bride here stands
out in strong contrast to the whore clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned
with gold and jewelry and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of
abominations and the impurities of her fornications (17.4).
John is reassured that the
message he has received from the angel are the "true words of God"
(9), for these are the words that have instructed him to write, "Blessed
are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (9).John mistakenly
falls down to worship the angel but is instructed not to do so: "I am a
fellow servant... Worship God" (10). John must be a somewhat slow
learner, though, for he does exactly the same in chapter 22 and receives the
same gentle reprimand. One must empathize with John's mortal frailty in
presence of this resplendent intermediary
The second section of this
chapter continues John's vision: "I saw heaven opened, and there was a
white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness
he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire,
and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows
but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is
called the Word of God" (11, 12). Interestingly, John seems to set up a
self-contradiction with "a name inscribed that no one knows but
himself" and "his name is called the Word of God;." But
then one might ask, does not the full Word of God surpass human knowledge even
as must the greatness of God surpass human limitation? John is afforded
only a vision of the full glory of God; for the one who reads Revelation, indeed
the completed canon, what will be found will remain a vision of God's completed
acts within history, an interlude in eternity itself.
1. 14: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
1.15: John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
16: And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
17: For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18: No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
In both the Gospel of John and
again in Revelation, Jesus is the Revealer of God. As John's description
continues, this Word of God reveals Himself to be "King of Kings and Lord
of lords" (16). His many diadems (crowns) suggests He receives
universal allegiance, surpassing the dragon's seven and the imperial
beast's ten.
One will want to compare the
vision of the conquering Christ with the vision of the exalted Christ in the
first chapter:
| Conquering Christ 19 |
Exalted Christ 1 |
| judges and makes war (11) |
in the midst of seven lampstands (12) |
| He has a name inscribed that no one knows (12); his name
is called the Word of God (13) |
like the Son of Man |
| He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood (13). On his robe
and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, 'King of kings, Lord of lords'
(16) |
clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his
chest (13) |
| His eyes are like a flame of fire; on his head are
many diadems (12) |
His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as
snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire; his feet were like
burnished bronze, refined in a furnace (15); his voice was like the
sound of many waters |
| rides a white horse (11) |
In his right hand, he held seven stars (16) |
| From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike
down nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread
the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God (15) |
From his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword (16) |
| is called Faithful and True (11) |
his face was like the sun shining full force (16) |
Similarities are great, but the
roles are different: the conquering Christ is the executor of judgment with a
robe dipped in blood; He is the warrior on a white horse followed by his armies
from heaven, "wearing fine line, white and pure, following him on white
horses" (14). In both situations, He wields a sword--"sharp,
two-edged" and in the conquering it becomes a weapon "with which to
strike down nations."
John next sees an angel
"standing in the sun, and with a loud voice, he called to all the birds
that fly in midheaven, 'Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the
flesh of captains, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and their
riders--flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great" (17, 18).
The reader must remember that
John's vision of the multitude rejoicing in heaven follows God's avenging
judgment (19.2). Now, John returns to the moment of judgment, the time of
God's wrath. This is the image of treading the wine press, the Sovereign
God ending absolutely godless rebellion:
Psalms 2
1: Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2: The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3: Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4: He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
5: Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6: Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7: I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
8: Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9: Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10: Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
11: Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12: Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
This Conquering Christ confronts "the beast
and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against
the rider and his army (19); the beast will be captured, as well as the false
prophet (the second beast of chapter 11), and together they are thrown into
"the lake of fire that burns with sulfur" (20). The rest are killed by
the sword of verse fifteen. The birds of prey called from midheaven now
swoop down and gorge on abundant flesh.
Even following this announcement that God is
avenged, another interlude of one thousand years precede the culmination of
human time signaled by the final judgment. Is this theology? or is
it merely John depicting once again the incredible slowness with which God moves
to anger? "A jealous and avenging God is the Lord, the Lord is avenging and
wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and rages against his
enemies. The Lord is slow to anger but great in power, and the Lord will by no
means clear the guilty" (Nahum 1.2-3) The reader will remember that in the
long hour of God's mercy, Jonah has gone to Nineveh and become angry when they
repented and God did not destroy them. In Nahum, the Lord is the avenger
of cruelty and immorality; Assyrian domination of the Near East ends with the
fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C.E.,, quite some time after Jonah, an obscure Galilean
prophet who counseled Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.E.). Indeed, God's mercy is long
(in human terms) and His judgment slow, even if certain! Habakkuk understands
the message to endure in faith:
1: The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
2: O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
3: Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
4: Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
5: Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.
6: For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.
7: They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
8: Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
9: They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
10: And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.
11: Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.
12: Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
13: Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
14: And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
15: They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
16: Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.
17: Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
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