Chapter 19
THE WEDDING
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse… and on his thigh a name written KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Rev.19: 11-16)
“Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously.” (Ps.45: 3,4)
INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER 19
We have already observed that the vision of the redeemed in chapter 15: 3-4 was proleptic of what is actually described in this chapter. It is based on the Passover Hallel and is an expansion of the events that happen during the sixth and seventh vial at the return of Christ (see chapter 15 page 5).
THE WEDDING IN CANA
Although none of the others recount the event, the Johannine gospel places the wedding at Cana at the commencement of Jesus’ ministry. It is significant that a wedding feast marked the start of his public ministry, as it was symbolic of his work, namely the calling out a bride community. In order to do so he had to transform the old covenant (water for purifying the Jews-John 2: 6) into the wine of the new covenant.
The “seed” of this new community were the “six waterpots” – John, James, Peter, Andrew, Phillip and Nathaniel (all mentioned in John chpt.1). They were the only ones aware of the miracle, as they were serving at the wedding (2: 5; 2: 9).
The origin of the new wine was a mystery to the other guests for, “they knew not whence it was” (v.9). This is a theme that reoccurs constantly in John’s gospel – they did not know the origins of Christ (they presumed they knew) 1 nor did they know where he was going.2
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)
“Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.” (John 8:14)
As with the master, so also with the servants, the world is oblivious to their origins and to their future destiny. It is fitting therefore, that the book of Revelation concludes with a “wedding feast.” This is the culmination of all the work and suffering done by Christ thousands of years before.
“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” (Isa.53: 11)
It is also the culmination of all the faithful suffering of his fellow servants, some of whom have offered their very lives in the course of their witnessing.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Rev.21: 4)
No more will the last supper (marriage feast) be remembered as a time of sorrow, heartbreak and betrayal. But, the very disciples who sat at his table (including you and me) will drink new wine, “new with him in his kingdom.” This will be an occasion of ecstatic joy and sublime insight into the wondrous love of God. For God keeps the good wine for serving last. (2: 10)
It is the power of God that takes the ignominy and shame of the cross and turns it into the victory of love.
REVELATION 19 PSALM 22
4. The four and twenty elders.
And four living creatures.
22: In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
21. Thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns (the cherubim in the sanctuary).
5. Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
23. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
6. The voice of a great multitude.
25. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows (marriage vows?) before them that fear him.
6. Hallelujah, for the Lord God Almighty reigneth.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren.
7,9. The marriage supper of the Lamb.
26. The meek shall eat and be satisfied…your heart shall live forever.
The Lord recited Psalm 22 as he hung on the cross, it is fitting therefore that it forms the basis of the eulogy encountered in Revelation 19. Crucified as KING OF THE JEWS he returns as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, for his followers are now themselves elevated to the status of king-priests.
The marriage of the Lamb is based on the song of loves (Psalm 45), a Korah Psalm, which is itself drawn from the Song of Songs. The Korah Psalms are contemporary with Hezekiah. The author believes that this Psalm celebrates his marriage after his
miraculous recovery from death (and Judah’s deliverance from Assyria). Hezekiah would otherwise have died childless, but now he would, “see the travail of his soul.”
Despite the references to Solomon, it is also the author’s belief that the Song of Songs was written by Hezekiah. The bride of Hezekiah, Hephzi-bah, was probably a Tyrian princess (Ps.45: 12), just as Solomon’s wife was an Egyptian princess (2 Kgs.3: 1). Hezekiah named his son Manasseh (2 Kgs.21: 1), which means forget your fathers house:
“Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house.” (Ps.45: 10)
Hezekiah (strengthened of Yah) represents Christ, Hephzi-bah (my delight is in her) his Gentile bride, and Manasseh (forget your fathers house) the Jews. Consider the following:
“Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Ammorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols.” (2 Kgs.21: 11)
“Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.” (2 Kgs.21: 16)
Jewish legend tells us that the prophet Isaiah was sawn in half at Manasseh’s behest and this is confirmed by Hebrews 11: 37. Manasseh represents the harlot-city for it was also full of abominations and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus (17: 5, 6). It is the place where the “image of the beast” will be worshipped.
The story of Manasseh has a wonderful outcome, for in the end he was repentant:
“And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.” (2 Chron.33: 12-13)
The origin of the tribe of Manasseh was Egypt, and it is only through the chastisement of the Lord that the nation of Israel will stop hankering back to Egypt – they will forget their father’s house and remember the mercy of their God.
The background of the Hezekiah (Korah) Psalm, the song of loves is therefore very appropriate to Revelation chapter 19.
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.” (Rev.19: 7)
REVELATION 19
4. Ride prosperously.
7.Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
3.Gird thy sword on thy thigh, O mighty one.
16. The name on his thigh, LORD OF LORDS AND KING OF KINGS.
5.Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
15,21. Sword and rod of iron… which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
Song of Solomon 3:8; They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.
14. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
8.All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
13. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
6.Thy throne, is the throne of God, is forever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. (RV)
17.I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
5.And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
13-14: The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.
8. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
14-15: She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace.
Rev.21: 2; And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
10. Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house.
Rev.21: 4; And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
11. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
10. And I fell at his feet to worship him. 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: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
(Rev.22: 9; Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not… worship God )
Song of Solomon 7: 10; I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.
9. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Song of Solomon 3:11; Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.
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.
HALLELUYAH
“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: 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.” (Rev.19: 1-2)
God has now passed sentence on the great whore, the martyrs have given in their sacrificed lives the evidence that secured her conviction. In the description of the total destruction of Babylon, come the words; “Rejoice over her, O heaven, O saints and apostles and prophets, for God has passed your sentence (the sentence she passed on you) on her” (18: 20 see previous chapter). Here now is the rejoicing that was called for.
The ten kings destroyed the harlot-city, but it is God’s judgment nonetheless. That was the way God dealt with harlot Israel in the past, through the Assyrians, Babylonians and Romans.
He hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. (v. 2) It is a dog’s death that the harlot died, like the death of Jezebel her prototype, “And I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets…shed by Jezebel.” (2 Kgs.9: 7 NIV) The other enemies of God yet to be dealt with, the beast, the false prophet, and the dragon itself, will all in due course come under direct judgment of the quick and the dead, and end their activities in the “lake of fire” (19: 20; 20: 10; 14-15).
The author has already indicated that this celebration is based on the feast of Passover (see the introduction to Revelation). The series of Psalms from 113-118 were called the Hallel, the Praise God, and were part of the essential education of every Jewish lad.
Hallelujah literally means Praise God, it is derived from halal, which means to praise, and Yah, which is the covenant name of God. Outside the Hallel the term is also found in other groups of Psalms.
(a) Psalm 105 and 1061
(b) Psalm 111-118 (includes the Hallel)
(c) Psalm 135
(d) Psalm 146-150
These Psalms have the following themes; (1) Praising God for his deliverance. (2) Praising God for justifying them and upholding his cause. (3) Praising God for his creation, which in the poetic idiom is often expressed as praise of God by the creation (Ps.147: 8; 148: 3-10) in this context it is the new creation that praises God.
The following verses from these Psalms of praise are particularly appropriate to the scene in chapter 19.
Psalm 105:14-15 He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
Psalm 105:19 Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.
Psalm 106:4-5 Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation; That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance. Psalm 111:7-8 The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
Psalm 112:8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.
Psalm 113:9 He maketh the barren woman (Rachel) to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 114:1-2 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
Psalm 115:3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
Psalm 116:14-18 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,
Psalm 117:1-2 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 118:7 The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.
Psalm 118:17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.
Psalm 118:26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
Psalm 135:14 For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants.
Psalm 147:2-3 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
Psalm 148:5 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.
Psalm 149:6-9 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 150:1-2 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
God is praised because salvation, glory and power belong to him. Each of these three attributes of God should awaken its own response in the heart of man. 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. Gratitude, reverence, trust- these are the constituent elements of real praise.
God is praised because he has exercised his just and true judgment on the great harlot. Judgment is the inescapable consequence of sin. The moral law can no more be broken than the law of gravity; it can only be illustrated. It is said that the judgments of God are true and just. God alone is perfect in judgment for three reasons. First, he alone can see the inmost thoughts and desires of any man. Second, he alone has that purity which can judge without prejudice. Third, he alone has the wisdom to find the right judgment and the power to apply it. The great harlot is judged because she corrupted the world. The worst of all sins is to teach others to sin. There is one other reason for the rejoicing. The judgment on the whore is the guarantee that God never in the end abandons his own.
HER SMOKE ROSE UP FOREVER
“And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.” (Rev.19: 3-5)
The many verbal similarities between this passage and the seventh trump (11: 15) make it clear that this is a detailed exposition of the same theme. The servants….who fear him, both great and small (11: 18), the peals of thunder (11: 19), and above all the declaration of divine sovereignty (11: 15,16). Then it was the choir of heaven that sang: “the sovereignty of the world has passed to our Lord and to his Christ” ; now the vast throng of martyrs joins the Hallelujah chorus, because it is through them that God has broken down the last resistance to his universal and eternal reign. Then the elders declared; “Now is the time… for rewarding your servants the prophets…for destroying the destroyer of the earth,” and these are the two themes that the chapter proceeds to develop.
The host sings a second Hallelujah. Their praise is that the smoke of Babylon rises forever and ever. This verse is an allusion to Isaiah 34: 10;
“It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.”
Isaiah 34: 10 and Rev.19: 3 share the same hyperbole, which portrays the destruction as lasting forever i.e. emphasising the finality and totality of the destruction. It also draws on the destruction of Sodom (Gen.19: 28), which is fitting, for this city is spiritually Sodom (11: 8). As the hymn of triumph rises up, so also does “the smoke of her burning.” In contrast New Jerusalem will be shrouded in the shekinah glory; the pillar of cloud and fire (Ex.14: 20,24);
“And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.” (Isa.4: 5-6)
The whole of creation prostrates itself before God, in praise to him. The twenty four elders (see chapter 4 page 12) represent the “heavenly priesthood” they are symbolic of the old and new covenant – they are the twelve patriarchs (21: 12) and the twelve apostles (21: 14). They are joined in their adoration by the four living creatures, respectively lion, ox, man and eagle. We have already observed in chapter 4 that they represent God’s glory in the natural and spiritual creation. He is the “living God” because his throne is in the midst of the “living creatures”, for in him everything lives moves and has it’s being. He is a God of the living not of the dead – and all his creation, both old and new, natural and spiritual will join in their praise of him – Hallelujah!!!
The voice that comes from the midst of the throne is that of Jesus Christ, for “thy throne is the throne of God for ever and ever.” (Ps.45: 6) and also Psalm 22:22-23;
“I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.”
The voice instructs the congregation to praise our God. Some commentators consider this inappropriate, and suggest that the voice could not be that of Christ otherwise the phrase “my God” would have been used. The sonship of Jesus is, after all, distinct from that of his disciples:
“Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” (John 20:17)
While it is true that the sonship of Jesus is unique, in the kingdom age the saints will be “like him” - immortal beings, they are joint-heirs with Christ, they suffered with him and they are glorified with him (Rom.8: 17). It is therefore an honour for them to be addressed by their Lord in this manner, and it emphasises a great truth – “they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” (21: 3)
Two sets of people are called on to praise God. First, there are his servants. In Revelation two kinds of people are specially called the servants of God; the prophets (10: 7; 11: 18; 22: 6), and the martyrs (7: 3; 19: 2). First, then, this is the praise of the prophets and the martyrs who have witnessed for God with their voices and their lives. Second, there are the small and great. The praising of God involves all his servants, those of low and high status. God is no respecter of persons, so what does this mean? The gospel teaches that “he that is least among you all, the same shall be great” (Lk.9: 48) and “he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve” (Lk.22: 26). This reverses human notions of “greatness.” The apostle Paul, whose name means little or small, saw himself as the “least of all saints” (Eph.3: 8), and the “least of the apostles”(1 Cor.15: 19). If Paul considered himself the least, then who is the greatest? His zeal for God was unmatched, and his ministry unsurpassed. Paul himself reminds the Corinthians that the least honourable members of the body often perform some of the most important functions, and therefore require our lavish attention and protection. God, “gives more abundant honour to that part which lacked.” (1 Cor.12: 24) Who then is small and who is great in the kingdom of God? It was a question that exercised the mind of John the recipient of the apocalypse, and his brother James. Their mother requested (no doubt on their behalf) the honour of sitting on his right and left hand. Jesus asked them if they could drink from his cup and be baptised with his baptism (suffer martyrdom like him). When they answered positively, Jesus acknowledged that they would indeed suffer martyrdom. But even this could not guarantee high status in the kingdom, for, “It is not mine to give, but it shall be given them for whom it is prepared of my Father.”
God is not “beholden” to any man and it is his gift to grant high status in the eschaton. We should be content to take the lowest seat at the wedding feast.
“When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Lk.14: 8-11)
There are those, who now in the present have already exalted themselves in the household of God, they will find out their true worth when Jesus returns. Being a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord is better than dwelling in the tents of the wicked (Ps.84: 10).
ALLELUIA: FOR THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH..
“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” (Rev.19: 6-8)
Psalm 22 made the prophetic pronouncement that Christ would declare God’s name to his brethren, and that they in turn would also praise God. All the significant names of God are mentioned in this Te Deum of the redeemed. Hallelujah (the covenant name) Lord (Hebrew Adonai) God (Hebrew Elohim) Omnipotent (Hebrew Ts’baoth). The RV renders Omnipotent as Almighty. The Greek word is pantokrator, literally the one who controls all things. The significant thing about this great word is that it occurs ten times in the New Testament. Once it is in an Old Testament quotation in 2 Cor.6: 18; the other nine times are all in Revelation. The word pantokrator was introduced as a translation of, “Lord (or God) of hosts,” in the Septuagint (Hebrew Yahweh Ts’baoth) i.e., Jer.5: 14 and Amos 4: 13. There was never a time in history in which such forces were drawn up against the ecclesia as when the Christian was called upon to undergo such suffering and to accept so continually the prospect of a cruel death. Such was the Nero persecution. And such is also the future ordeal of the saints. And throughout all this time John sees God called the pantokrator. Here is faith and confidence; and the whole point of this passage is that faith and confidence are vindicated.
REJOICE
The final shout is the praise of the host of the redeemed. John goes out of his way to heap up similes to describe its sound. It was, like the din of a vast concourse, the roar of a cataract, the roll of thunder. Once again John finds inspiration in the words of scripture. In his mind are two things. First, he is remembering Psalm 97: 1; “The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice.” Second, he says: “Let us rejoice and exult.” There is only one other place in the New Testament where these two verbs (chairein and agallian) come together – in Jesus Christ’s promise to the persecuted: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Mtt.5: 12). It is as if the multitude of the redeemed sent up their shout of praise because the promise of Christ to his persecuted ones had come abundantly true.
“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” (Isa.61: 10-11)
THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB
The servants of God are rewarded by an invitation to the wedding of the Lamb. At this point John weaves together no less than three strands of Old Testament thought, all of which have been used before in Christian literature, but not in a single context. The first is the picture of the reign of God as a great feast, which is first found in the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah (Isa.25: 6; Mark 2: 19; Mtt.22: 1; 25: 1; Lk.14: 15). The second is the idea of Israel as the bride of Yahweh (Hos.2: 5; Isa.1: 21; Jer.2: 2; cp.Eph.5: 32). The third is the use of clean garments as the symbol of sanctity (Gen35: 2; Isa.52: 1; 61: 10; Zech. 3: 4; Rev.3: 4; 6: 11; 7: 14). Jesus had turned the messianic banquet into a wedding feast, but in his wedding parables the central figure was the bridegroom. Here attention is focused on the bride. The wedding day has come because the bride has made herself ready, and her readiness is symbolised by her wedding-dress.
This dress is not of her own making; like the white robes of the martyrs to which it is closely related, it is given to her (cp.6: 11). It is made of linen which signifies the sanctity of God’s people, a sanctity achieved in the great ordeal by those who “washed their robes and made them white in the life-blood of the Lamb” (7: 14). It is martyrdom that has provided the prothalamium to the wedding of the Lamb.
The metaphor of Christ as the bridegroom and the people of God as the bride was quite widespread in early Christianity. The ecclesia is a chaste virgin betrothed to Christ – Paul says of the Corinthians; “I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin [virgio intacta] to Christ.” (2 Cor.11: 2) The betrothal presumably occurred with the conversion and baptism of the Corinthians, while the presentation to Christ will presumably occur at his coming; during the interim the ecclesia, like a betrothed virgin, must maintain her purity and faithfulness to her one husband. The use of wife at this point fits Jewish marriage customs in which engagement was a legally binding initiation of marriage consummated by the wedding (see Deut.22: 23-24; Mtt.1: 18-25). This metaphor is developed further in Eph.5: 25-32, where the archetype for the appropriate relationship between husband and wife is the self-sacrificing love Christ had for his own. This may seem to us a strange metaphor. But it conserves certain great truths. In any real marriage there must be four things which must also be the relationship of the Christian and Christ.
1. There is love. A loveless marriage is a contradiction in terms.
2. There is intimate communion, so intimate that a man and his wife become one flesh. The relationship of the Christian and Christ must be the closest in all life.
3. There is joy. There is nothing like the joy of loving and of being loved. If Christianity does not bring joy, it does not bring anything.
4. There is fidelity. No marriage can last without fidelity, and the Christian must be as faithful to Jesus Christ as Jesus Christ is to him.
THE ONLY WORSHIP
“And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. 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: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev.19: 9-10)
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. Isaiah speaks of God preparing for his people “a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined” (Isa.25: 6). Jesus speaks of many coming from the east and the west and sitting down with the patriarchs in the kingdom of heaven (Mtt.8: 11). The word used for sitting down is the word for reclining at a meal. The picture is of all men sitting down at the Messianic Banquet of God. Jesus at the Last Supper said that he would not drink of the cup until he drank it new in his Father’s kingdom (Mtt.26: 29). That was Jesus looking forward to the great Messianic Banquet. It may well be from that old Jewish idea there came the idea of the marriage feast of the Lamb, for that indeed would be the true Messianic Banquet. It is a simple picture, not to be taken with crude literalness, but simply saying very beautifully that in his kingdom all men will enjoy the bounty of God.
“As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.” (Song of Songs 2:3-4)
Jesus enacted the Messianic Banquet during his ministry, eating and drinking with those who were social outcasts, the despised publicans and the unclean whores – they were willing to listen and repent. At one such meal one of the guests uttered the following beatitude: “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” (Lk.14: 15) The phraseology of this beatitude has close parallels in the verse we are now considering- Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Jesus responded with a parable about a man that made a great supper and issued invitations. All the invitations were rejected with excuses. One man needed to break in his new ploughing team, another had just married (they planted…and married...Lk.17: 27,28). The master of the house responded by dragging in the despised elements of society, and adamantly refusing to ask (again) those who had rejected the invitation. Jesus concludes the parable with some very significant remarks directed to his prospective disciples.
1. They must hate their close relatives and even their lives for his sake.
2. They must bear their own cross.
3. They must be aware of the cost before they start – forsaking everything.
4. A disciple that cannot do this is like salt that has lost its taste. Good for nothing (especially not for seasoning the sacrifice).
These are very “hard sayings”, what does Christ mean, when he instructs his disciples to hate father and mother etc? Jesus had previously said, “that he had not come to send peace but a sword” (Mtt.10: 34). Allegiance to Christ would cause division, even within families. These sayings are based on the golden calf incident in Exodus 32, where Moses issued the rallying call; “Who is on the Lord’s side? Let him come to me? Put ye every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.” (v. 26,27)
This incident finds its parallel in verses 11-21 of chapter 19 where Christ, “doth judge and make war.”
EXODUS 32 REVELATION 19
v.15. Moses descends the mount.
v.11. I saw heaven opened…a white horse.
v.19. The people worship the golden calf.
v.20. Worshippers of the image of the beast.
v.10. Worship God.
v.26. Who is on the Lord’s side?
v.14. The armies in heaven followed him.
v.27. The Levites strap every man his sword on his thigh (RV).
v.15. Out of his mouth a sharp sword.
v.16. On his thigh a name written.
v.29. The Levites blessed for their action.
v.9. Blessed are those called to the marriage.
v.33. Sinners blotted out the book of life.
20: 14. Those not in the book of life thrown into the lake of fire.
The children of Israel did not believe that Moses would return, and soon fell into apostasy. The worship of God was substituted with the ox-cherubim (golden calf).
Similarly, we find John prostrating himself before the angel (19: 10) he is told not to do so, but does it again in 22: 9. This was to serve as a warning to the early ecclesia not to indulge in angel worship, a legacy of Judaism. Idolatry is more than burning incense before a man made image. It is to accord anyone or anything other than God an absolute worth and a controlling significance in the life of man. The angel’s protests to John is a salutary warning to all crusaders not to mistake the cause they champion for God.
When Christ and his saints “make war”, it is not just in a military sense. Christ is a warrior priest in the same sense as the Levites of Exodus 32. After this incident service in the Tabernacle was idiomatically referred to under the phrase- “to war the warfare in the work” 1
In conclusion, the parable told at the meal table – about the invitation to the Messianic Banquet (wedding feast), involves hard choices. It can mean forsaking everything near and dear, it must mean self-denial; for some it will mean martyrdom. The greatest warfare to be fought is with our own flesh.
“Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Lk. 22: 28-30)
THE TRUE SAYINGS OF GOD
The word true does not mean veracious in contrast to that which is false, but instead means reality in contrast to that which is type or prophecy. (i.e. John 6: 32; 15: 1; Heb.9: 24; 1 John 2: 8). Thus the angel signified that even though the figure of marriage was being employed and the words of Psalms and prophecies were being woven together in the vision presented to John, it was imagery behind which a sublime reality was to be discerned.
THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy – We take this phrase by itself, because it is both ambiguous and important. The ambiguity springs from the fact that the testimony of Jesus can bear either of two meanings.
(1) It can mean the witness that the Christian bears to Jesus.
(2) It can equally mean the witness that Jesus Christ bears to men.
This is the kind of double meaning of which the Greek language is capable. It may well be that John intended a double meaning; and that we are not meant to choose between the meanings, but accept both of them. If so, since true prophecy is the witness to Jesus, any witness to Jesus can be identified as prophecy, and thus prophecy is not limited to those who are designated “prophets” in a special sense. It is therefore the word spoken by God and attested by Jesus that the spirit takes and puts in the mouth of the Christian prophet. At the end of the first century there were many charlatans about, like the Jezebel of Thyatira, who claimed to speak with authority in virtue of their prophetic gift, and the ecclesia was under the necessity of devising tests to distinguish the true from the false. John insists that his friends shall “test the spirits (those who claim the spirit of prophecy) to distinguish the true from the false” (1John 4: 1). The test he proposes is a double one: a belief that Jesus Christ bore human nature, and conduct conforming with that belief. As we have seen in each of the letters to the ecclesias, the spirit speaks to the ecclesias in the accents of the crucified and risen Lord, summoning them to become conquerors in the name of him who has conquered. It is the gospel of the cross that gives to the prophets the assurance of their mission and its ultimate success (cp.10: 7). To be a prophet in the streets of the great city is to follow in the steps of the master (11: 3, 10). And it is the spirit who introduces the harvest and vintage with the benediction on those who “die in the Lord” (14: 13).
THE LORD IS A MAN OF WAR, THE LORD IS HIS NAME (Ex.15: 3)
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 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. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Rev.19: 11-16)
The picture of the warrior-priest, warrior-king is drawn from the Psalms and also from the prophetic books of the Old Testament. Psalm 18, which had a messianic application1 to the crucifixion is also appropriate to the eschatological “day of the Lord.” Without the victory of the cross the martyrdom would have been meaningless and the final battle of Har- Megiddon unachievable. The crucifixion Psalms (18, 22) feature largely in Revelation 19 because all subsequent victories depend on, and flow from the “war” fought on the cross.
PSALM 18 REVELATION 19
And he rode on the cherub and did fly (v.10).
Rider on a white horse (v.11).
The word of the Lord is tried, he is a buckler to all those that trust in him (v.30).
The WORD of God (v13).
He teacheth my hands to make war (v.34).
Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle (v.39).
In righteousness he doth judge and make war (v.11).
Thou hast made me the head of the nations (v.34).
He shall rule them with a rod of iron (v15).
Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me (v.35).
All the birds were filled with their flesh (v.21).
The one who “rules with a rod of iron” is the Melchizedek figure of Psalm 110, it is said that, “His people are freewill offerings in the day of thy power” (v. 3 RVmg). This is another indication that martyrdom is inextricably linked with the return of Christ. Making war with the enemy entails more than a military rout, as the lesson of the cross teaches so poignantly. The deliverer will come, and the people that dwell (Zebulun) in the land of wrestling (Naphtali) will see a great light (Isa.9: 1-2).
ISAIAH 9 REVELATION 19
Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. (v.9)
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come..(v.7)
For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. (v.5)
VESTURE DIPPED IN BLOOD (v.13)
The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. (v.8)
THE WORD OF GOD (v.13)
The government upon his shoulder (v.6)
He shall rule the nations with a rod of iron (v.15).
His name shall be called…(v.6)
His name is called..(v.13)
Mighty God (El Gibbô r) –mighty warrior (v.6).
He doth judge and make war (v.11).
Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. (v.14,15)
The false prophet that wrought miracles before him (v.20).
For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother. (v.18,19)
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (v.20)
These verses (19: 11-16) are interwoven with Old Testament imagery and even draw inspiration from the apocryphal book of Wisdom (18: 15). This should not surprise us, for the verse under consideration is part of a poetic description of the destruction of the firstborn in Egypt, and is itself an illusion to Old Testament texts including Exodus 15: 3-4.
“Thy all powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne into the midst of the land that was doomed, a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword of thy authentic command, and stood and filled all things with death, and touched heaven while standing on earth.” (Wis.18: 15 RSV)
Since the context of Wisdom 18:15-16 is a poetic description of God’s slaying of the firstborn in Egypt during the tenth and final plague, it is of some interest that the Hebrew term dbr can mean both “word” and “pestilence.” This personification of plague as a messenger of God has a canonical parallel in 1 Chr.21: 16;
“David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem.” (NSRV)
The double meaning of dbr is also reflected in a striking error in translation in the LXX version of Hab.3: 5. The Hebrew text reads ; “Before him (the Lord) went pestilence (dAber) and plague followed closely behind,” LXX Hab.3: 5 mistakenly has, “Before his presence goes the word, and his feet will follow with plagues.” A passage emphasising divine judgment has been changed into one in which the word arrives in advance of God’s punishment. The Exodus motif runs through the book of Revelation. The Lord is indeed, the “Prince of Peace” (Isa.9: 6), but he is also a “man of war” (Ex15: 3).
The other motif we encounter is that of the cherubim we have already commented on this in ch.16pg.15. His eyes were a flame of fire (v.12) and his tongue a sharp sword (v.15) – this is because he discerns the intents of the heart (Heb.4: 12). Like the cherubim he divides the joints and marrow (of the sacrifice). This is appropriate for two reasons.
(1). The cherubim “keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen.3: 24) and the next few chapters elaborate on the restoration of paradise (22: 2).
(2). The sacrifices provided by Adam and Eve were obviously consumed by the flaming sword at the entrance to Eden – which was a type of the sanctuary. In Revelation chapter 19 we also read about a great sacrifice – the great supper of God (19: 17), this is the counterpart of the martyrdom, a different kind of sacrifice.
The first thing we are told about the Rider is that his name was Faithful and True. He is thus identified with the heavenly Son of Man in his address to the Laodicean ecclesia, “the Amen, the faithful and true witness” (3: 14), and consequently also with the faithful witness of the opening salutation (1: 5). In turning warrior he has not deserted his original function of witness-bearing, on which all his other achievements are founded. He is armed, with no other weapon than the good confession (the word v.15) that he witnessed before Pontius Pilate (1 Tim.6: 13). This was not some supernatural figure from the fantasies of Jewish apocalyptic, but the Jesus of history, whose final victory in the battle to come serves only to make plain to the world the victory seen by faith from the beginning in the cross. Although the battle he fights is described for the most part in military imagery, it is also, as befits the faithful witness, the wordy battle of the law court: with justice he judges and makes war. In the Old Testament the locus classicus for this mixture of legal and military metaphor is Joel 3: 1-16, where all nations are summoned to battle in the Valley of Verdict; and this is a passage to which John has alluded more than once. But a closer parallel is the war in heaven between Michael and Satan, which turned out to be a legal battle between defending and accusing counsel (12: 7-12). It may seem illogical to us that the witness should be said to judge, but there are two reasons for this. One is that John is preparing the way for a reinterpretation of Isaiah 11: 1-5, where it is said of the Messiah that “he shall judge the poor with righteousness and give a verdict that is fair to the humble folk.” The second reason is that the verb krinein (judge) and even katakrinein (condemn) are used elsewhere in the New Testament to denote the part played in the lawcourt by the witness. When Jesus says that at the last judgment the Queen of Sheba and the population of Nineveh will condemn “this generation”, he does not mean that they will have a place on the bench, but that their evidence will secure a conviction (Mtt.12: 41-42; Lk.11: 31-32 cp. also Lk.11: 19 –“therefore they shall be your judges”). Similarly, when Paul says that Gentiles who keep the law will judge Jews who possess the law of Moses but break it, he means that they will provide the necessary evidence to refute Jewish claims of superiority (Rom.2: 27). This usage probably goes back to the legal practice of the small town in ancient Israel, where disputes were settled before an assembly of townsfolk in the gate and every speaker was entitled to give his verdict. So here the witness judges because it is on his evidence that the legal victory turns.
Every phrase in the description of the Rider adds something important to our understanding of his character and function. If we have any doubts that the name Faithful and True was a deliberate cross-reference to the letters, they are removed when we are told that his eyes flamed like fire (cp.1: 14; 2: 18). This is the Son of Man who was first seen walking among the seven lamps, with a vigilant care for his people and an omniscient knowledge of what they were doing. To this extent he is the same, but in the meantime something has been added to his dignity, for on his head were many diadems.
There is a contrast intended between the seven diadems of the dragon and the ten diadems of the monster on the one hand and the many diadems of the Rider on the other (12: 3; 13: 1). Here is royalty far surpassing any earthly sovereignty. In the last vision of the Rider on the white horse he had only one diadem (6: 2), the vital fact is that he has acquired the many diadems in the meantime. When he ascended to heaven he was already king, he had conquered and sat down beside his Father on his throne, and was ruler of earthly kings (3: 21; 1: 5). Whence then come the diadems? They signify, no doubt, that “the sovereignty of the world has passed to our Lord and to his Christ” (11: 15), but this does not tell us how he came by them. They are his neither by virtue of the initial victory on the cross nor of the final victory over the monster which is still to be recounted. They must therefore be the token of the victory he has won through the conquerors. “To the conqueror I will grant a seat beside me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down beside my Father on his throne” (3: 21).
They have conquered the dragon by the life-blood of the Lamb (12: 11), have been made “a royal house of priests to his God and Father” (1:6; 5: 10), have won the freedom from the monster and his image (15: 2); and now all the diadems of their newly won empire meet upon his brow. He is in fact a representative figure, incorporating his faithful followers in his own inclusive person; for they have died “in the Lord” (14: 13). They have come to know him more intimately than others, for they have been entrusted with his new name (3: 12), a name which no one can learn except the conquerors who receive it, because it embodies the secret of his suffering (2: 7). They have learnt the victory song of heaven, which none can learn except those who die for their faith (14: 3). Yet there are depths of his being which pass even their comprehension, for he has a name written on him known to none but himself. When they have joined all the glorious names that adoring wonder can ascribe to him, he still confronts them with an ultimate mystery.
The heart of the mystery is that he wore a garment sprinkled with blood (RV). This is the second time that John has drawn his imagery from the gruesome vintage scene of Isaiah 63. There the vintager is God himself, who comes from treading the winepress with his garments stained with the blood of his enemies. It has commonly been assumed that John must have kept close to his model, and that the blood here is the blood of the Rider’s enemies also. In that case the winepress in verse 15 is a symbol for divine retribution synonymous with the symbol of annihilation in battle; and this interpretation must be adopted also in the parallel passage (14: 18-20). The obvious and insuperable objection is that the Riders garment is already sprinkled with blood before the battle begins. Some commentators have seen this difficulty and have unsuccessfully tried to find a way around it. The present author believes that the blood sprinkled garment draws us to the dedication of the Mosaic priesthood in Lev 8: 30, where the garments of Aaron were sprinkled with the blood of animal sacrifices. Now, however, the garments of the Melchizedek High Priest are sprinkled with the blood of the martyrs. John has used the garment to make a profound disclosure about the great martyrdom, to show that the persecution, which might appear to be the total defeat of the ecclesia, was to the eyes of faith the ingathering and dedication of the king-priests, and the means whereby the Son of Man would turn the slaughter of his saints into the downfall of his enemies. The Rider bears on his garment the indelible traces of the death of his followers, just as he bears on his body the indelible marks of his own passion (1: 7; cp. John 20: 20-27).
The title given to him was the word of God. This title appears at first sight to have only a superficial likeness to the Logos of John’s gospel. The Rider more closely resembles the personified Word of the Wisdom of Solomon, leaping from the royal throne like a relentless warrior into the doomed land of Egypt, bearing the sharp sword of God’s inflexible commandment (Wis.18: 15-16), or that living, active word of God which cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword (Heb.4: 12). But we must recall the charge laid upon John according to the title of his book – to bear witness to all that he saw, the purpose (or word) declared by God and attested by Jesus Christ (1: 2). Because Jesus in his earthly existence had been the faithful witness to the divine purpose, he had won the right to open the scroll of destiny, and so both to disclose and to achieve the purpose written in it. But the final disclosure and achievement are no different in character from the earthly life in which they were already anticipated. The word to which Jesus bore testimony in his life and death is now recognised to be indistinguishable from the person of the witness: he is the Word of God. The difference between the gospel and the Apocalypse, is that one looks back at the origins of the word, and the other looks forward to the end manifestation of the word.
We normally think of the armies of heaven as consisting of legions of angels (cp.Mtt.26: 53), but here they are the conquerors. They follow the Rider now, just as on an earlier occasion they followed the Lamb wherever he went (14: 4). Like his horse, their white horses are the token of victory. They have “washed their robes and made them white in the life-blood of the Lamb” (7:14; cp.6: 2; 19: 8). Their pure white linen is in striking contrast to his blood sprinkled garment. His blood has made their robes white, and theirs has made his red. In this respect, as in the secret name he bears, he remains unique, even when surrounded by those who have also undergone martyrdom.
The description of the Rider continues with a catena of Old Testament references: to the Davidic king who is to judge the poor with justice and smite the earth with the rod of his mouth (Isa.11: 4); to his anointed king who is to smash the nations with an iron bar (Ps.2: 9); and once again to the vintager (Isa.63: 1). But none of these references can be taken quite at its face value. The Davidic king was expected by the prophet to be a person of such authority that he could redress the grievances of the poor and break the power of the unscrupulous “by the rod of his mouth”, i.e. by the mere pronouncement of a judicial verdict; but here the rod has given place to a sharp sword.
Now the sword as a symbol of judicial authority is a Roman metaphor, not a Jewish one. It is possible that the vision has done nothing more than substitute the Roman symbol of autjority for the Old Testament one, in order to assert, as the letter to Pergamum does, that Christ, not the Roman proconsul, held the ius gladii, the ultimate jurisdiction over life and death. But it is more likely that the full significance of the sword is to be found in the Old Testament, the source of most of the apocalypse’s figurative language. There the tongue, because of it’s shape is a metaphor for a two-edged sword, and the “mouth like a sharp sword” is the symbol of a prophet, whose utterance has a cutting edge to it, because he speaks the word of God (Isa.49: 2; Heb.4: 12; Eph.6: 17). Thus the only weapon the rider needs, if he is to break the opposition of his enemies, and establish God’s reign of peace, is the proclamation of the gospel. The quotation from Psalm 2 does not need any further reinterpretation here, for the reader is expected to remember that John has already done this on two previous occasions. In the promise to the conqueror at Thyatira (2: 27) and in his extended comment on the psalm in chapters 11-14. The only iron bar God needs to reduce the rebellious nations to submission is the cross of his Son and the martyrdom of his saints.
The winepress of the wine, i.e., the place in which the wine of the fury of the wrath of God Omnipotent is prepared. “The two ideas of the winepress and the cup of wrath,” writes one commentator, “are here combined, and mean that from the winepress trodden by Christ flows the wine of the wrath of God, of which his enemies are to be made to drink. It is a case of mixed metaphors.” But it is a case of mixed metaphors only if we jump to the conclusion that winepress and cup both denote divine judgment. If we study the present passage without prejudice, we shall certainly conclude that the wine of the fury of the wrath of God is a symbol for judgment, and that the winepress represents something quite different, namely the means by which the wine of judgment is prepared. When we remember that the cup of wrath is the cup which Babylon herself mixed (18: 6), and that she was seen drunk with the blood of the martyrs (17: 6), it becomes reasonable to suppose that the winepress, like the cross, is a place where God has turned the murderous acts of men into the means of their own judgment. This is confirmed by the fact that the garment is already sprinkled with blood before ever the judgment of God’s enemies has begun.
The Rider has a second title, King of kings and Lord of lords, and this one is written on his garment and on his thigh. The title is ambiguous, perhaps deliberately so; for it may refer to his sovereignty either over the rulers of the earth (1: 5) or over those whom he has made a royal house of priests to his God and Father. For a reason which will appear shortly it is likely that it was the second of these ideas that is expressed. But whichever explanation we adopt, the title is the ground, not the result, of the coming victory; he will conquer the monster and the kings because he is already King of kings and Lord of lords (cp.17: 14). The warrant for the title is the initial victory of the cross. It is natural therefore that the title should be written on his thigh. All the readers of the Apocalypse, Jewish, Greek or Roman, would readily understand that the thigh was the place where the sword hung. It is also an allusion to Exodus 32: 27 a chapter we have already discussed. Since in this picture there were reasons why the sword should not be in its usual position, the thigh must do service for the sword, the weapon with which the victory and the title had been won. But why was the title written also on his garment? Surely for exactly the same reason: the garment, sprinkled as it was with blood, was the symbol of that other victory by which the conquerors had taken their seat beside Christ upon his throne, yielding up to him their many diadems and so constituting him King of kings.
We have already associated the sprinkling of garments with the inauguration of a new priesthood, the title on the garment is also the symbol of brethren dwelling together in unity, for it is like the precious anointing oil at that dedication of Aaron, running down his beard onto his garments. (Ps.133: 1-30) The newly dedicated King-Priest is therefore crowned with the diadems of their victory, sprinkled with the blood of their martyrdom and anointed by the unity of their witness to him (the word). This is truly the manifestation of the body of Christ, he is one in them and they in him. None of this would have been possible without his initial conquest of sin.
THE GREAT SUPPER OF ALMIGHTY GOD
“And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 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 of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. 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.” (Rev.19: 17-21)
The summons to the birds has a fourfold significance. God’s great feast, to which they are invited as guests, forms a grim contrast to the wedding feast of the Lamb. It is the first part of the double fulfilment of Ezekiel's prophecy about the defeat of Gog and his armies (the other is in 20:7-11). It is also reminiscence of the saying of Jesus which concluded his discourse on the day of the Son of Man: “where the carcass is there will the vultures be gathered together” (Mtt.24: 28; Lk.17: 37). This event will be unmistakable and distinctive, even from a distance one can see the vultures circling the dead carcass even if the prey itself is out of view. But more important is the cross-reference, which picks up a vital thread in Revelation – the invitation is to the birds that fly in mid heaven. This curious phrase has been used before to characterise the eagle or vulture whose screech gave warning of the three woes (8: 13), and although the woes steadily intensified, the third woe was never actually depicted (11: 18). Instead the seventh trumpet called forth a jubilant paean on the establishment of God’s sovereignty and a promise that the time had come to reward God’s servants and to destroy the destroyers of the earth. It appears, then, that now at last we have reached the third woe. The birds that fly in mid-heaven, come to make good the threat of the eagle that flew in mid heaven. This reminder of the eagle and its three woes helps us to answer the next question as well. Who are these armies marshalled to do battle with the Rider? They are those who would “destroy the earth” a metaphor for the land of Israel (11:18). The kings of the earth are the ten kings that we encountered earlier, who destroyed the harlot. All classes of men are punished for they were all involved with the worship of the beast and his image (cp.v.18 with 13:16).
THE FATE OF THE BEAST AND HIS FOLLOWERS
The protagonists suffer a similar fate to Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who were swallowed by the earth and descended alive into Sheol. The phrase “the lake of fire burning with sulphur” occurs with variations six times in Revelation. (here; 20:10,14-15 [3x]; 21: 8) In chapter 20: 14 the second death is associated with the lake of fire. It is instructive to note that the lake of fire occurs in ancient Egyptian texts, it is instructive to note that another Egyptian underworld myth, “the second death” is also closely connected with the lake of fire in the book of the dead. (cp.20:12) It is appropriate to the Exodus motif that those who refuse to leave Egypt suffer the fate proscribed by Egyptian mythology. Jesus himself used a current underworld myth to illustrate a hyperbolic point, in his parable about Lazarus and the rich man (Lk.16: 19-31). In Greek mythology as many as four rivers were connected with Hades (1) Styx or Acheron (which separates the realm of the dead from the world of the living) (2) Phlegethon or Pyriphlegethon [meaning blazing] (3) Cocytus (in Latin literature), and (4) Lethe [forgetfulness]. The four rivers of the lake of fire are obviously the counterpart to the four rivers of Eden (Gen.2: 10). Those who choose not to be part of the restored Eden described in the following chapters, end up in hell. (enduring destruction). These verses should not be approached with over literalness, but a shift in the topography of the land may well result in an actual lake of fire (magma) on the surface.
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NOTES
1 John 7: 27; 9: 29 etc.
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2 Both his birth and his death were shrouded in mystery.
NOTES
1 It is generally agreed that the hallelujah at the end of Psalm 104 belongs to Psalm 105: 1
NOTES
1 See the RV margin for Num.4: 4, 23 , 30; 8: 23
NOTES
1 For example: Reference to Jesus crying on the cross -”In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears” (v.6). Reference to the darkness at the crucifixion -“He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies” (v.11). God is depicted as riding the storm clouds (the cherubim often associated with a storm or whirlwind). Jesus “made war” against sin in the flesh, his hands were nailed to the cross – “He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms”(v.34)
