revelation 19 explained verse by verse revelation 19 explained verse by verse

These are the faithful. Thus the divine testimony is not confined to the gospel or the church, but the prophetic Spirit which characterizes the Revelation as a whole, after the church is translated, is equally a testimony of Jesus. (ii) A Greek came into the Church from a world of thought which made angel worship a real danger. . That is to say, the heavenly saints are viewed still as the heads of the glorified priesthood, and also the executive in the administration of God's judgments. THE ALMIGHTY AND HIS KINGDOM ( Revelation 19:6-8 continued). 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 11:25-27). - WG, and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty . No doubt all this may seem to some a little difficult, but it is no use evading what is hard. Lastly was the wedding ceremony during which time the vows were exchanged. It is by his word that God created the earth and the heavens and everything in them. Gods communion with His people (verse 7). Thus the attempt to apply it during the pagan period is altogether futile on the face of the matter. Paul, the apostle said as he was recounting to the Philippians his past credits as a Jew, "Hebrew of the Hebrews, circumcised the seventh day, the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, concerning zeal persecuting the church", but he said, "Those things that were gain to me", those credits that I had, those brownie points, "I counted loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, for whom I suffer the loss of all things and count them but refuse that I may know Him and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which was of the Law", circumcised seventh, eighth day and so forth, not having that righteousness which was of the law, "but now having the righteousness which was of Christ through faith" ( Philippians 3:5-9 ). 1-3), and does not appear again until (Revelation 22:16), emphasizing the righteousness of the church, which has now been judged and purified at the He was a divine person, whatever new position He assumes for the world. The surest way to have our deliverances continued and completed is to give God the glory of what he has done for us. all there is about us already. We know that the change of all those caught up takes place in the twinkling of an eye. Revelation 19:1 "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God:" In the last chapter, we saw the terrible destruction of commercial and political Babylon symbolized by its capital city of Babylon. (1) This shout of rejoicing begins with Hallelujah. There was the sad register of undeniable sin on the one side; there was no writing of the name on the other side. Even man himself when he was innocent in Eden was not called. the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath 11:25-27). believers lives, i.e., the outward manifestation of inward virtue. 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. The gospel had been preached there, as she of Chaldea was not without law and prophet. Babylon must hear, I do not doubt, the final testimony of God the gospel of the kingdom that is to go forth in the last days; but she loves her pleasure and power, and refuses truth. church. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great ( Revelation 19:5 ). STUDY NOTES--Revelation 19:11-16 --THE CONQUERING CHRIST. This testimony here is not Jesus giving it, but we believers who testify of the Why then is the book of life mentioned? There were two particular effects of her evil: the one, illicit commerce with the kings of the earth; the other, intoxicating the inhabitants of the earth with the wine of her fornication. No. Revelation 19 The people in heaven praise God 1 After these things, I heard a sound like the voices of a great crowd of people in heaven. Who does not see that this is precisely analogous to the verse which opened the description of Babylon? to Top, Other Books of the Bible the wilderness, the High Priest wore a very ornamented robe with a breastplate Then the angel quickly tells John not to worship him. [3] In this chapter, heaven exults over the fall of Babylon the Great. "The woman" is the more general symbol designating her as the great imperial city; "the harlot" is her corrupt religious character, embracing papal Rome, but not ending with Popery as it is. [Note: Ladd, pp. He accepts us plain and simple. What does this particular rendition of God mean? In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. 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. The marriage of the Lamb: The wife or bride of Christ is the He will destroy His enemies with inflexible righteousness that the iron shepherds rod that will serve as His scepter pictures (cf. understand the testimony of Jesus, then you must preach and prophesy so that . Over and over we will find this repeated as we approach the end of the book, these are the true sayings of God. The visions of this prophetic book open, not with the rapture of saints to heaven, but the sight of saints already raptured, often before the seer in the visions, but seen always in a complete condition without addition to their number. 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. wedding garment ready for the wedding. Thus the second beast is no longer seen as an earthly power, but as a prophet-of course a false prophet. The two of them were cast alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone; and the rest were slain with the sword of him who rides the horse, with the sword which comes out of his mouth; and all the birds were glutted with their flesh. Here we have the purely Jewish idea of the Word of God. On these I may say but a very few words. If some few have joined on one side, some are sure to help the other, because they are jealous of any one acquiring such a preponderant authority: and power as to govern the rest. They received their power as kings when the beast ceased to exist. 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 21:22). 4:6). Revelation provided a message of hope: God is in sovereign control of all the events of human history, and though evil often seems pervasive and wicked men all powerful, their ultimate doom is certain. sounds like a massive crashing of waves. Then again the character of it, as derived from Christianity having already taken its place, is asserted. Peculiar energy indeed attaches to symbolic language. absence of the Church from the earth during the judgments of (Rev. Revelation Commentary : Chapter Nineteen persecution are made the beasts provoking sins. ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.". i. With this agrees His coming out of heaven in judgment of the earth, described inRevelation 19:1-21; Revelation 19:1-21. It is derived from halal ( H1984) , which means to praise, and Jah ( H3050) , which is the name of God. That an openly heathen metropolis, devoted to the worship of Mars, and Jupiter, and Venus, and other wicked monstrosities of pagan mythology should be irritated with the gospel which exposes it all, and should consequently seek to injure the faithful, was to be expected, and a necessary result, directly that the uncompromising spirit of Christ was known. 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). Fell at his feet: Overwhelmed by the grandeur of the vision, John collapsed in And God said, "Let the water bring forth and let the earth bring forth." Ruling includes destroying as well as reigning over (Psalms 2:9). And here is John falling on his knees before the angel that is giving him all of this revelation and he is so overawed and thrilled with what is in store for him he falls at his feet to worship him. When the hour comes that is spoken of here, it is not for us, but for those who will be found after we are gone. When its own season arrives, as it surely will, the divine hindrance is to be removed, and the devil then is allowed to do his worst. The verse numbering in . The word "church" (Greek ekklesia), appears nineteen times (in Revelation And they said Alleluia a second time; and her smoke goeth up unto the ages of the ages." "* There is no thought of making such a paradox to perplex the mind. And then we come to a most cheering disclosure: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of those beheaded on account of the witness of Jesus, and on account of the word of God: and those who had not worshipped the beast, nor his image, and had not received his mark upon their forehead, and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." The church cannot hear of Him as the bright morning star without at once desiring that He should come. The fact is, in the very best authorities it does not exist at all. It begins with the shout of a vast multitude in heaven. First, there are his servants. 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and, behold, a white horse, and he who is mounted on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. (verses 1-10), and returns with Christ in His Triumphal Second Coming (verses "Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him: for the ___________ of the _______ is come". As any dream or vision has to be interpreted, so does Revelation. God is praised because salvation, glory, and power belong to him. union of the church with Christ following the Rapture (see 1 Thess. 18:20. "And he saith to me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." This chapter explains how it was that Babylon was so offensive to God, and wherefore He judged her thus sternly. *It is the more strikingly characteristic, because of such language as Psalms 149:6-9, which speaks of all the saints contemplated on earth for the day of Jehovah. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. Who were they? Scripture records no name whatever among those judged written there. Although the words are the same as in the first chapter of the Fourth Gospel, the meaning is quite different and much simpler. It will be remembered that it was said to them that they must wait. Verse 1 of the Revelation already shows God's intention: ".to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass". That is worship of God in unprescribed ways. I agree with the majority. It is simply said that the glorified are to follow the Lord in victorious power, and nothing more, "clothed in fine linen, white, pure." Thank God. II. Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.". But what is also of consequence to observe is, that John saw souls the souls of those beheaded on account of the witness of Jesus, and on account of the word of God. This also is a no less important element for understanding the chapter. That is what history is about. They are joined by the twenty-four elders (Revelation 4). 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. The betrothal takes place on earth during the church age; The presentation will take place in heaven following the Rapture (verse 7); and. The application to old pagan Rome is harsh and purposeless enough; but the attempt to refer it to Jerusalem is of all schemes the most absurd; for, far from being borne up by the imperial power, Jerusalem was trodden down by it. Thus, whether the books or the book be examined, all conspire to declare the justice, the solemn but most affecting righteousness, of God's final irrevocable sentence. Like a novel, the storyline builds from front to back, with the characters, themes and plot elements introduced early and developed across many chapters. The Revelation: Verse by verse study Kindle Edition And He Himself treads . For her sin., have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." We have already come upon two vast multitudes in heaven, the martyrs in Revelation 7:9 and the angels in Revelation 5:11. Let us look at the different groups that are seen to have part in the first resurrection. ", 2. T. S. Kepler comments: "The moral law can no more be broken than the law of gravity; it can only be illustrated." Note that there is no fighting or conflict of any kind in view here. Many scholars think the name should be Y-A-H-W-E-H. others may live (see article About This is predicted in Numbers 24:17 and on account of this the nations will be angry under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, with which this vision is contemporary, Revelation 11:18. I don't know exactly what He will say. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, beholding the beast that he was, and is not, and shall be present." I believe that religion is man's endeavor to reach God. That picture stands for the final union between Jesus Christ and his Church. When you couple that with "Lord", which means It is not therefore his final judgment. The fine linen the bride is clothed in represents the righteous acts of the A mysterious lawlessness inherits the well-known name of Babylon when Rome is brought forward; and it does not merely embrace Christian times, but the end of the age after the church has gone, when the course of divine judgment comes. "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast." In him was light; and that light was the life of man. The meaning is no more than this, that in the great battle of Armageddon, which was for the destruction of all the remainder of the enemies of the church, whether papists, or atheists, or Turks; men of all sorts and orders should be slain, and their dead bodies made meat for the fowls of heaven . VERSE BY VERSE MINISTRY . Patience or endurance of hope is what becomes us. (a) He is faithful. Jer. He is, as H. B. Swete puts it, "a royal commander followed by a dazzling retinue." He guards his people, allowing the wicked to exercise their power only within the limits that he has set according to his eternal plan. But he tells us further that the Spirit of prophecy, who prophesies in this book, is the testimony of Jesus. Help us purchase electrical generators for churches. Thus such as were in the separate state were reunited to their bodies, and lived and reigned like those who were already on the thrones. The Sinai MS. has both. Revelation 19:11 (KJV) - Forerunner Commentary - Bible Tools frequently (4:8, 11; 5:9-12, 14; 11:16-18). Not only are they supposed to be coexistent, but united in their change of feeling against Babylon. It is an evident contrast with the state supposed in the wheat-and-tare field of Christendom which is found at the end of the age. 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. We shall find that the scripture affords much light to decide the true bearing of the prophecy, and that no application to the past can possibly satisfy the conditions satisfactorily. So, He is coming to bring an end of man's rebellion. 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. The Jews had the idea that, when the Messiah came, God's people would, as it were, be entertained by God to a great Messianic Banquet. Accordingly, "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me." The beast is Nero redivivus; the false prophet is the provincial organization which administered Caesar worship; those who have the mark of the beast are they who have worshipped at the shrine of Caesar; the kings of the earth and their armies are the Parthian hosts, which Nero was to lead again against Rome and against the world. * Let us be glad and exult, and give the glory to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." actual ceremony. But no; it was an absolute decree that went forth, and this indisputably, from a single head of the undivided empire. "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." 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). It was but an imperfect view they got even of justification; a far scantier perception, if they could be said to have had any, about Christ's Headship of the church, His priesthood, or almost anything else. Especially they will be now, when the nation of the Jews shall be born at once, When the Lord takes His own throne, they take theirs by grace. 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. Accordingly the resuscitated Roman empire will carry men away by a storm of wonder at its revival. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war with him who rides the horse, and with his army. There is going to be another supper, a supper prepared by God for all the birds. In ancient times, a marriage was the single greatest celebration and social It is not the magnitude of each voice. I admit that there may be something more in the symbol than the literal hills of Rome, because they are said to be also seven kings. That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and those that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast [that is the antichrist], and the kings of the earth [which have been drawn by the demonic forces], and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army ( Revelation 19:18-19 ). He shall destroy the pride of the sinner as a potter's vessel. First, he is remembering Psalms 97:1: "The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice." If my righteousness were dependent upon my keeping the Law, or keeping rules or regulations-Let's say that we said that every day you should be reading five chapters out of the Bible. . But is there any reason why we should content ourselves with the measure enjoyed of old? He comes to execute vengeance, and with a sign of death for rebels. His attributes: he is faithful and true to his covenant and promise, he is righteous in all his judicial and military proceedings, he has a penetrating insight into all the strength and stratagems of his enemies, he has a large and extensive dominion, many crowns, for he is King of kings, and Lord of lords. Link with Johns vision of Revelation 19:11-16 a meditation on the Hymn "Crown Him with many crowns" and also the stirring Hymn "Onward Christian soldiers." God wants a loving relationship, not religion. And again they said, Alleluia. He has a name known to no one but himself. white, represents the righteousness of the church, which has now been judged and In verse 1, this great voice from heaven was whom? on the other, she had, when she could, gone on increasing in both, until at last the blow of divine judgment came. God in His providence did sanction the great empires of old; and the principle continues as long as the church is here below. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." Gods sovereignty (verse 6); and. Revelation 19:15 - Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary - StudyLight.org Revelation - Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary - StudyLight.org (compare 1 Thess. "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The question is, why is she thus designated? 19:2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. To a Jew a word was not merely a sound; it did things. The great harlot is judged because she corrupted the world. 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. he will rule them with a rod of iron . Christ is the Bridegroom at the marriage and his Church is the Revelation 19:5 (1) And a voice came from the throne, saying, (2) "Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great." 1. There will be no time for seeking mercy, as it were: whatever the state in which the Lord at His coming will find us, all is closed up and fixed. (iii) It may be that the name is one which can be revealed only at the final union of Christ and the Church. These remain as yet in the condition of separate spirits. 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. It was, as H. B. Swete puts it, like "the din of a vast concourse, the roar of a cataract, the roll of thunder.". "And to the bride was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of saints." "And the angel said unto him, Wherefore didst thou wonder? Just like, as many other places That is, it is simply an expression of the homage that they pay. These compose the same group as (in 7:11), and are associated with worship And of course all of our finest scientific equipment could not locate such a thing there in the heart of the earth. This is accordingly traced in our chapter with considerable detail, and with the sorrow and vexation of all the different classes who on the fall of Babylon groaned over her destruction, and the loss of their wealth and enjoyment. This is saying that this judgment is permanent and is like the language that God God will judge Israel, namely, Jews living when He returns (Ezekiel 20:33-38), and the Gentiles living then (Matthew 25:31-46). There is therefore much to be said for the ]Protestant application of the chapter as compared with the Praetorist theory of pagan Rome. 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. "Yet is" is a most unfortunate expression. are the ones who are praising. Bride. pl.") and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God; the fierce wrath of God against sinners is compared to a winepress; and the wicked antichristian party are likened to clusters of grapes; who being ripe for destruction, are cast into it, and pressed, squeezed, and trodden down by the mighty power of Christ, the Word of God, whose vesture is therefore before said to be dipped in blood; the same metaphor is used in Revelation 14:19 the allusion seems to be to Isaiah 63:3. The Sword--The Word of His mouth--is now wielded in judgment. 2 Everything that he decides is right and fair. Armies of angels are with him, but his conquest is not by armies or weapons. For a short time (what a mercy that it must be only for a short time!) 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. He is no longer to be allowed to prowl about the world ensnaring and destroying. The true reading here is neither hard nor doubtful save to unbelief. The word used here for crown is diadema ( G1238) , which is the royal crown, as opposed to stephanos ( G4735) which is the crown of victory. 14:8-11). This scene Here it is the positive worship of the creature besides the Creator, yea, and notoriously more than He. Beyond controversy, however, it is a most unusual and abnormal reappearance, which is altogether exceptional in the history of the world. We must face difficulties; we must bow to the word; we must seek to learn through all. This is just a statement telling us it will never be built Then, as we have seen, comes the final test of the nations of the earth after that kingdom has run its course, and the devil let loose once more deceives flesh and blood after the analogy of all other dispensations. God. He is coming to trample the wine vat. Even the worst of governments is better than none. which sword proceeds out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh ( Revelation 19:21 ). If you'd like to financially support VBVMI, please do so here. This symbolic meal will take place at the establishment of the The wrath of God is fierce! As noted in the commentary on Rom. Now there was nothing more repulsive and fatal to paganism in every form than the truth revealed in Christ, which exposed every thing that was not itself not the truth, definite and exclusive. ages, which becomes clear in the remainder of the book. With that love of freedom which they carried from their German forests, they would not allow the one iron rule of the ancient empire to subsist longer, but set up each their own kingdom in the different fragments of the dismembered empire. Thus the difference is complete between past history (if we look at the extinction of the empire and the rise of the ten kingdoms) and the certain fulfilment of the prophecy in the future, when we look at what God has really told us. He is coming forth in indisputable human glory, but the greatest care is taken to let us know that He had that which was above man above the creature; for "no man knoweth the Son but the Father." A mystery clearly points to something undiscoverable by the natural mind of man a secret that requires the distinct and fresh light of God to unravel, but which when revealed thus is plain enough. Thus everything implies their simultaneous presence for the same time and common action with the beast, in plundering and then destroying Babylon. 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. Take notice of this (which confirms the application just now contended for), that when John saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, he wondered with great wonder. faith during the Tribulation (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Zech. Stephen Armstrong. Many suggestions have been made. "And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is near." He remains in that condition of readiness from the time when He sat at God's right hand till the present. A fourth century A.D. (iii) There is joy. "The nations shall walk in the light of it," Any one of spiritual judgment can see that it should not be "nations of them which are saved." From Rome saints had suffered; and it was easy to see that the revealed persecutress is called Babylon, and identified with the governing city of Rome. It is no longer a question of sustaining His saints in grace, but of sovereign power for judging the earth. There is a reassuring tone here telling the Lord that He was justified in His It clearly contrasts this mystery with another. 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." It is certain that we ought to read (not "upon" but) "and* the beast." reign with Christ in the millennial kingdom. . Again the righteousness of His judgment attested to. The temple would suppose a medium. Here is seen the holy city coming down out of heaven from God, which is declared to be the bride, the Lamb's wife, in the plainest contrast with the great harlot.