Revelation 19 - The Lamb Victorious

Revelation 19

The Lamb Victorious

In chapter seventeen John was given a vision of the false teaching church riding on the back of antichristian government. There the images expressed the fact that throughout the New Testament period these two enemies of God will continuously persecute God’s people. Each time a mighty ruler falls, another will rise up to fill the void.

In Chapter eighteen John was given a vision of how the false teaching church will finally be destroyed. Though she arrogantly lived in luxury, claiming she would never fall, her destruction comes upon her in one day. At her sudden and total destruction all who grew wealthy by her lies mourn her fall.

VERSES 1-4

Babylon Destroyed

In the beginning verses of chapter nineteen the great multitude of God’s people in heaven praise God for justly destroying the false church figuratively called, “Babylon”. Finally God has avenged the murder of His prophets and people.

“Her smoke rises up forever” At the end of their first round of praise the great multitude of God’s believers in heaven shout, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever” (Revelation 19:3). Where there is smoke, there is fire. Here the eternal smoke emphasizes the terrible reality that the enemies of God will not be cease to be when God destroys them, but in just retribution for waging war against God they will suffer for all eternity. This most vivid and horrible image is a message of law and punishment. As is written in the book of Hebrews,

“It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31 NIV).

VERSE 5

“A voice from the Throne” But the image of the destruction of the false church is a source of great joy for those who fear the Lord and worship Him in awe. A voice from God’s throne sounds out telling all God’s servants to praise Him for His vengeance, for it is just.

VERSE 6-8

“A roar of praise” At the command from the throne, the voice of the crowd in heaven reaches a crescendo. John describes the sound of their praise as being like the rushing of many waters and like peal of great thunder.

As loud as this sound is, the words of their praise are comprehensible to John’s ears. Their first word is “Hallelujah”, the Hebrew word meaning, “Praise God!”

The Wedding Feast of the Lamb

“The Wedding of the Lamb” The crowd declares that now is the time for happiness and praising God because finally the wedding of the Lamb has come. This wedding is the joyful and final uniting of Jesus the Savior to His Church.

“Fine linen, bright and clean” The Church is described as having put on bright white clothing that has been given to her to wear. Both the NKJV and the NIV translate that, “Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.” While this translation is grammatically possible, we know from the rest of scripture that it cannot possibly be suggesting that the Church has made herself acceptable by her righteous acts.

There are two possible interpretations of this white garment that the Church wears to the Wedding of the Lamb.

1) It is the garment of good works which Christians do which show in a visible way the faith in Christ that sits invisible in their hearts (Ephesians 2:10).

2) It is the garment made up of the “not guilty” verdicts that God has pronounced on Christians because of Christ (Revelation 7:14, Isaiah 1:18, 61:10).

In view of passages like Isaiah 64:6 and Romans 3:23, it is clear that any purity that mankind might put on like a garment must come as a gift from God. Perhaps the best passage which helps us to correctly interpret this image comes from Ephesians. There the apostle Paul speaks of how Baptism washes the sinner clean by connecting him to Christ by the bond of faith.

“²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:27 NIV).

See also Matthew 22:1-14.

VERSES 9-10

“Happy are the invited” After John has heard the praise of Heaven’s crowd and angel commands him to write,

“Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:9 NIV)

Of course, the invitation to salvation goes out to all sinners. But those who toss it aside feel no happiness because of it. Only those who trust in Christ look forward to being united to Him forever with great expectation and joy (Proverbs 1:20-33).

“The heart and soul of prophesy” Overwhelmed by the message of the angel, John falls down to worship him. We might assume that John thought this was actually God in the form of an angel. But the angel quickly clarifies that he is only an servant of God, just like John and all who hold to the teaching of Jesus. Then the angel makes a sublime statement:

“…the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10 NIV).

In other words we might say, “the message of Jesus is the heart of all true prophecy”. Without the message of Jesus, the laws of Moses only bring sadness. Without the message of Jesus, the New Testament directions for living have no power to be done. The message of sins forgiven through Jesus stands not only as the centerpiece of the Bible, but the very soul of the Bible.

This is why our worship services must never lack the message of Christ. A worship service might be full of truths taken from God’s Word, but if those truths are not joined with the Gospel they will be as lifeless and ineffectual as a body without it’s soul.

VERSES 11-16

The White Rider

“The White Rider” Next John is given a vision of Jesus. That the “white rider” is Jesus is indicated by calling Him, “faithful and true” (Revelation 3:14) and describing His eyes as being like blazing fire (Revelation 1:14). We are reminded that those fiery eyes will cast light on all men’s secrets (Romans 2:16) when Jesus comes to judge the world.

In Revelation 6:2 John saw an image of a white rider going forth into the world. There the rider was described as having been given a “crown” and as going forth to conquer. The Greek word for crown there was, “stephanos”, the victor’s crown. Here in chapter nineteen the white rider is said to have many “crowns”. Here the Greek word for crown is “diadema”, the crown of high authority.

In chapter six we concluded that the white rider must either be Christ Himself, or the Gospel which went out into the world in the first century AD as the apostles and early Christians spread the word of salvation abroad.

“Crowned with many crowns” Here in chapter nineteen we see Christ crowned with many crowns, expressing His divine authority over all kings. He is, as His inscription declares Him to be, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS”.

Since first riding out at the beginning of the New Testament period, He has gained many for His Kingdom of peace through His message proclaimed. But here, King Jesus rides with a different purpose in mind - judgment of the wicked.

“His robe dipped in blood” His robe is dipped in blood, but not His own blood. It is the blood of His enemies (Psalm 2:8-12, Isaiah 63:1-6). We remember the vision of God’s final judgment on the wicked from Revelation 14:19-20. There the wicked were pictured as a harvest of grapes gathered together to be crushed. It is the blood of those grapes that now colors the robe of the conquering King.

While the vast angel armies of heaven had a part in helping the people of God in their struggle against God’s enemies (Hebrews 1:14), the final vengeance upon the wicked is done by the Lord’s own hand (Romans 12:17-21).

VERSES 17-21

The great supper of God

“The great supper of God” Next John sees an angel standing in the sun. But more important than the angel’s appearance is his words. With a loud voice the angel in the sun calls the birds of the air to gather for the “great supper of God.”

For the believers, the return of Christ signifies the long awaited “wedding feast of the Lamb”. This will be a time of great joy for all God’s people.

But for the wicked, the return of Christ signifies the dreaded arrival of the supper at which they are the meal. A grizzly image of the fate of all who oppose God, to be sure. And to solidify this interpretation, ten (a symbolic number associated with completeness) different menu items are presented for the birds called to this feast: 1) kings, 2) generals, 3) mighty men, 4) horses, 5) riders, 6) flesh of all people, 7) free men, 8) slaves, 9) small, 10) great.

In Revelation 16:12-16 John saw Satan, the Beast of antichristian government and the false prophet all joining their forces to gather the kings of the world to do battle against God on “the great day o f God almighty”.

But here in Revelation 19:19-20 we see no description of a battle. They have banded themselves together against God only to be destroyed together in the storm of His righteous wrath.

“Into the lake of fire” The great and powerful Beast of antichristian government and the false prophet who seemed so unstoppable are dispatched by God like a man brushing crumbs off a table. Into the fires of hell the Beast and the false prophet are cast to suffer forever.

The remaining army is destroyed by the sword which comes out of the White Rider’s mouth (Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12). In the beginning, God spoke and thus created the universe. Here, God’s powerful word brings destruction instead, and the birds receive their meal.

As has been the case in so many other cycles of visions in the book of Revelation, this one ends with another vision of the final judgment.

The visions that began in chapter seventeen might be titled, “Christ’s victory over Antichristian Government and the False Church”. With the end of these who enemies of God’s Church thoroughly described, Christ’s victory over Satan is taken up in chapter twenty.

-Pastor Caleb Schaller

References:

Revelation: The Distant Triumph Song, Siegbert W. Becker

Concordia Self-Study Bible