A Commentary in Simple English on Revelation

CHAPTER 19

Christ comes at last!

Soon now we shall move on. We shall forget all about Babylon. Christ comes and He quickly ends the work of the two 'wild animals' and the work of the kings of the earth. The dragon, which is the devil, is not quite finished yet, however.

So this chapter has two main parts. The first part from verse 1 down to verse 10 is full of the worship of God. At first, this praise is because of the fall of Babylon, the 'harlot'. But soon this changes to praise because the pure Bride of Christ, the Church, is ready to be married. The change comes about verse 5. Then the second part of the chapter is from verse 11 to verse 21. This is about Christ's coming (verses 11-16) and then about the last fight (verses 17-21).

Verses 1-4: Praise because Babylon has fallen.

In verse 1, John hears a loud voice from a great crowd in heaven. (7:9). They shout 'Hallelujah'. This is a Jewish word, which means 'Praise the Lord'. This is the only place in the New Testament where we find this word. (verses 1,3,4 and 6). Of course the Old Testament uses it many times. [19.1] And we often use it in our worship. God saves His people. They give honour and glory to Him. And He still has power to do all He wishes to do.

Verse 2 gives the reason for heaven's praises. God has judged Babylon, the great 'harlot', because she spread idolatry through the world ('her adulteries') and it was like poison. When God judges, He is right.

Now the ideas that we have about God as Judge may not be wrong. But often they are not full and complete. They lack balance. So let us look at some of what the Bible teaches about God as Judge. This will help us to understand both this chapter and Chapter 20.

1 In Genesis 18, God comes to Abraham. God tells him that the next day He will destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He will do this because their way of life is so wrong. There is so much sin there. So Abraham prays to God about this and in verse 25 he says to God: 'Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?’ And this is what Christians believe. God is the Judge of all men, and He will do what is right. Human judges do not always do what is right. Our laws may be bad. Our judges may not know all the facts about a case. They may not have the authority to put right what is wrong. In some parts of the world, rich people may pay the judge to give a wrong decision. Or the judges may listen too much to clever lawyers. Or in some places, the judges may simply not be fair. Human judges may be wrong: God will never be wrong.

2 In 1 Kings 3:16-28, there is a famous story about King Solomon. Two women came to him. They were both bad. They were both 'harlots'. Each of them had given birth to a baby. One baby had died. One baby was still alive. Solomon had to decide which woman was the mother of the baby that was alive. He had to judge between the two women.

Now much of what judges do is like that. They judge between two parties. They decide in favour of one of them. And that idea is in Revelation. The two parties are God's people and their enemies. And God will decide in favour of His people when He judges.

3 Sometimes, when a person feels that what has happened to him in a court of law is wrong, he has a right to 'appeal'. That is the right to have a higher court look at their case again. Paul appealed to Caesar (Acts 25:11). His case in the Roman court at Caesarea had gone on too long. He did not expect a fair decision. So he 'appealed ' to the Caesar, who was Nero.

Now we know that the Roman judges badly wronged many Christians in the time of John. These Christians can 'appeal' from the Roman Court to God's court of law. The Roman judges shame the Christians and kill them. In God's court, they will be given life for ever and eternal glory.

4 So this is another thing about God as Judge. He puts right what is wrong. He does not just punish those who do what is wrong.

5 All this should help us to understand what the Bible means by 'justification'. See, for example, Romans 8:30-33. We are sinners. We know that we are sinners. We know that it would be right for God to be angry with us. God could give a decision against us. But we can go to God and say: 'Jesus died. He died to take away my sins'. And because of what Jesus has done, God will give His decision in our favour. We do not try to hide our sins from God, and He forgives them.

6 In old Israel, each man had his own land. On this he grew food for his family. If he died, his widow and her children had to keep that land. If they lost their land they had nothing. Often they needed a good judge to stop greedy neighbours from taking their land away from them. A good judge like that stood up for the rights of the weak and needy. And the Old Testament often says that this is what God does (Exodus 22:22-24; Psalm 146:9). [19.2]

7 It is still true that God will punish in hell sinners who do not turn in faith to Jesus (14:9-11).

So John says: 'God has judged the Harlot'. He knows all the facts about her. He has made His decision. She ought to be punished. Babylon must be destroyed. That is God's 'verdict'. And he has carried out his verdict. Babylon poisoned the world with her idolatry. So God has 'avenged on her the blood of His slaves'.

There is a picture for us in these words. In Rome, rich men and slaves mixed in the crowded streets. But if a rich man pushed a slave out of his way, the slave could not do anything about it. If the rich man hit him or kicked him, the slave could not hit back or kick the rich man. Hungry lions were waiting to eat slaves who did things like that! There was only one thing that the slave could do. He could go back to his master. He could tell his master what had happened. If his master cared about the slave, he would speak to the rich man about it. The slave would never know what his master did or said. He would just have to trust his master to put it all right.

Now we are God's slaves. People wrong us at times. We must never wrong them in return. We must tell God what has happened and then leave it to Him (Deuteronomy 32:43). So in verse 3 there is a second shout of 'Hallelujah'. Perhaps it is the crowd in heaven which shouts that the smoke from burning Babylon rises into the air ' until the ages of ages' (Isaiah 34:10). (There was very different smoke in 8:4.) But this may not be part of their song at all.

Then in verse 4, John hears a cry of worship from the four living beings and from the twenty-four elders. (4:4-8).

Verses 5-10 A great cry of praise

God has destroyed the bad woman, the Harlot. Now John is ready to hear about the pure woman, the Bride of Christ. The great crowd in heaven praised God for what He had done in the world in verses 1-4. Now it seems that another great crowd on earth praises God for what happens in heaven.

First, in verse 5, John hears a voice, which comes out from the 'throne' of God. This does not seem to be the voice of God Himself. Perhaps it is one of the four 'living beings'. The voice calls for all God's slaves to praise Him. God's slaves also fear Him. This does not mean that they are frightened of Him. This fear is like the fear of a true child with the most loving of all fathers. It is not fear of what God might do to us. It is fear of the hurt that we might do to Him if we do what is wrong.

The voice calls to 'both small and great'. (See Hebrews 8:11 and Psalm 115:13.) The New Testament usually puts the 'small' before the 'great'. And of course, 'small and great' means everyone in between as well. (See 11:18; but when God judges, it is the other way round. See Chapter 20:12.) God does not measure people in the way that we do.

So next in verse 6, John hears what sounds like a great crowd (14:2). This is like 14: 2 and seems to be on earth, not in heaven. Here is the last of the four 'Hallelujahs'. God, who is the Ruler of All, rules as King. Babylon did not obey God the King; but now she has fallen.

Verse 7 begins with more praise to God. Then John hears the voice say: 'The time for the marriage of the Lamb to take place has come: and His wife has made herself ready'. The Lamb, of course, is Jesus. The time that has come is the time for His marriage. 'His wife' is the Church, which is made up of His faithful people from every age.

We need to remember that faithful Christians are not only 'The Bride'. They are also those 'guests' who are invited to share in the joy at the marriage supper. (verse 9).

Now marriage customs are not the same in different times and in different countries. So to understand what the Bible says, we need to know what happened then when a man and woman married each other. So we should remember these things: -

1 The first stage in the marriage between a man and woman was the 'betrothal'. The father of the future husband (the 'bridegroom') and the father of the wife ('the bride') made an agreement with each other. This was probably done at the bride's home. (See Matthew 1:18.)

2 The 'bride' was now in law already the wife, although the couple did not yet live together. So we find that John calls the Bride of Christ 'the Wife of the Lamb'. If the 'bridegroom' died, then the 'bride' was a widow (2 Corinthians 11:2).

3 It was the work of the friend of the bridegroom (John 3:29) to sort out any difficulties. These might be to do with money matters. The bride's parents or family would have to give money to her on her marriage as a 'dowry'. In Luke 15:8, the ten silver coins are likely to be the woman's 'dowry'.

4 It is likely that the terms of the agreement would be written down before the marriage took place. But there was no service of worship with prayers. And the law and the government had nothing to do with the marriage.

5 A date would be set for the marriage. This would be some months after the 'betrothal'. The bridegroom's parents would then send out invitations to the family to come to the marriage.

6 When the day of the marriage came, the bridegroom would go with his friends and some of the family to his bride's home. They would both be dressed up in fine clothes. (See Isaiah 61:10.) He would bring her back to his own home. No doubt her family and friends would join the crowd.

7 The people who had already been invited to come would now be called to come to the marriage feast.

8 The 'bridesmaids' (Matthew 25:1-12) would wait at the bridegroom's home. When they heard that he was nearly home, they would go out and join the happy crowd to come back to the house.

9 The bride and bridegroom then really became husband and wife. There would be a week of joy, when everyone would eat and drink at the new husband's home. (See John 2:1-11.)

10 We do not know that the bride and bridegroom made promises to each other. But if you look at Hosea 2:19 and 20, you will find some words which might have been used at such a time. [19.3].

Now Christians are already 'betrothed' to Christ. But we still have to wait until Christ comes for the ‘marriage’. So here in verse 7, we read that the Church, the Bride of Christ, has now made herself ready. She has dressed in fine clothes for the marriage. John here calls her 'The Wife', not 'The Bride'.

Verse 8 tells us that these clothes were made from 'fine linen'. (3: 18). It shone, and it had no dirty marks or spots on it.' It was given to her to wear'. Only God could give it to her. He gave it to her because of His grace. Then in the second part of the verse, we are told what the 'fine linen' means. We remember 14:13. There we read that all the hard work Christians had done would follow them when they die. All the good they had done for others would go with them when they go home to God. And now these 'good works' make up the 'fine linen' which the Bride wears. [19.4].

So in verse 9 the angel speaks again to John. He tells him to write down another of the great 'Blessing' sayings of Revelation. But he does not go on to say anything about the marriage 'feast'. A feast is a time of joy when there is plenty to eat and drink. The Bride is in heaven for the Feast until she comes out again in 21:2. She is still dressed in her beautiful clothes as she comes out from the Feast. Other things happen in the world while this goes on in heaven. We have to remember what Jesus said. (See Luke 14:15-24; Matthew 22:1-14; but also Isaiah 26:6-9; Matthew 8:11; 13:43; 26:29 and Mark 14:25; Luke 13:29 and 22:29,30). But in verses 17 and 18 of this chapter there is a picture of a very different feast.

Then in verse 10 John fell down in front of the angel. (John fell down at the feet of Jesus in 1:17.) Now John was ready to worship the angel. John found the message wonderful. But we may only worship the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The angel brought a wonderful message. But even angels are servants of God, just as we are. And the angel kindly says more. Even the other prophets in the churches in Asia are servants of God, just as the angel is. They are not famous. They are not great people. But they share with the angel this greatest of all honours: they serve God. The most urgent call of Revelation to its readers is that we must not worship false gods, angels or the government. We must worship God and the Lamb.

The last words of the verse are not easy. Probably what they mean is this. The Spirit of God worked in the prophets; and the prophets spoke in the name of God. Then also John and the angel spoke about Jesus. Some of the Christians in Asia had spoken about their faith in Jesus in the Roman law courts. This was their 'witness' or 'testimony' to Jesus. These two things, the prophecy and the witness, are the same thing. [19.5]

Verses 11-16 Christ on a white horse

In these verses there are four great names for Jesus.

1. Faithful and True (verse 11)

2. A name that no one knows but He Himself (verse 12)

3. The Word of God (verse 13)

4. King of Kings and Lord of Lords (verse 16)

There were four 'Hallelujahs' in verses 1-6 of this chapter. In 20:8 we shall read again about 'the fours corners of the earth'. (See 7:1.) We would speak instead about 'the four points of the compass'. (See 21: 13.) In 5:9, John wrote about 'every tribe and language and people and nation'. There are six other times when he writes like this. He does not use the same words each time, but there are always four words. John speaks of the one Holy Spirit as the 'seven Spirits' four times (1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6). Then in 4:6, we read about the four living beings that are at the base of God's 'throne', the seat from which He rules all things as King.

Some people think that ‘four is the number of the world’. Now I am not sure that it is true. [19.6] But we can think about these four names or 'titles' of Jesus together. Jesus is 'faithful and true' when He speaks against sin. He is God: we do not know everything about Him; so He has a Name which no one knows. He is the Word of God (John 1:1). God speaks to men through Him. He is Lord and King, and we must obey Him. This book is the Revelation about Jesus Christ. We must read it and look for what it says about Him. If we do not look for Jesus, we shall get lost in the talk of 'plagues' and strange beasts.

So in verse 11, John sees heaven wide open. In 4:1, he saw a door open in heaven. This door to heaven was open so that John could go in. But now heaven itself is open. Then John sees a white horse. John saw a white horse before in 6:2. Then we were not sure who the rider was. There is no doubt this time. Jesus Himself is the rider. John gives the first name or title, which is 'Faithful and True'. (3:14) [19.7]. God the Father has given to Jesus the authority and power to judge men. (John 5:27; Acts 17:31). And when He judges, He does it ' in righteousness' or justly. We have seen that the Bible idea of a judge is not only that he is a person who says that what someone has done is wrong. A judge has to put right what is wrong. And this Christ will do when He judges men.

So now John really tells us about the Second Coming of Jesus. John gives us several pictures of the Second Coming. They are not different from each other. They are all true. The pictures all agree with each other. But there is so much truth for us to be told that we need to look at it in different ways. One picture was the one of the 'Bridegroom' of the Church, which is the Bride of Christ. But the Bridegroom is also the 'Victor'. He is the one who has won the war. (See Psalm 45.) And He is also the Judge. So He both judges and also makes war against the 'wild animals'. In verse 12, John says that the eyes of Jesus are like fire (1:14 and 2:18; and Daniel 10:6). The crowns which kings wore in those days were rings made from gold. A king could wear more than one at the same time. The biggest would be put on his head first. Then a smaller one would fit on top. 'Many crowns' would be too heavy to wear. But John means that Jesus is the king over heaven and over all nations.

People who believed in magic thought that if they knew someone's name, they had power over him. There was the same idea in heathen religion. Some 'gods' had secret names. If you could pay a priest enough to let you know that 'secret name', then you had power over the 'god'. You could make the 'god' do what you wanted him to do. Jesus has a secret name, which no one knows. No one has power over Him. No one can make Jesus do what they want Him to do. (See 2:17 and Matthew 11:27.) God has His secrets. Do not believe anyone who thinks that they know it all! (See Deuteronomy 29:29.)

In verse 13, John tells us that Jesus has a 'robe' or 'cloak' which is thrown round Him. This is clothing which does not fit tightly. But it is covered in blood. [19.8] John here takes a picture from Isaiah 63. There we find someone whose name we do not know. (verses 1-6). In verse 2, Isaiah asks him: - 'How do you explain this red colour, which is soaked into your clothes?' And he explains that He has walked on and crushed the grapes in the winepress. And he has done it alone. The picture of the winepress was one that we had in 14:19. So here we have a picture of Jesus. It is Jesus who crushed the grapes in the winepress. The grapes were the nations.

For 'His name is called the Word of God' see John 1:1. It is through Jesus that God speaks to men. 'The armies of heaven' (verse 14) followed Jesus. They are the angels. (See Matthew 13:41; 24:31; 25:31; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26.) The 'armies' are not made up of Christian people. They are 'the armies of heaven.' These armies follow the Lord Jesus. They do not have to be called together like the armies of the devil. (16:14; 20:8). Jesus, their great Leader, has clothes 'soaked' in blood. The clothes of the angel armies are pure white. So are the horses that they ride. Jesus was alone when He won the fight. Some people may feel that the blood that covers His clothes is really His own blood. It is the blood that poured from His wounds when He died for our sins.

The picture of the 'great sword', which comes out of the mouth of Jesus (verse 15) is one which we have had before (1:16; 2:12). It means that Christ is the Judge of men. It means that He speaks God's word. That is the way in which He will rule all nations. These words are important. We must not forget that although John speaks about war, yet Jesus can rule by His Word. John then adds some words from Psalm 2:9. (See 2:27 and 12:5.)

In the last part of the verse, John explains what we said about verse 13. Then in verse 16 John sees the fourth great name or 'title' of Jesus. It is written where everyone can see it as He rides the white horse. Perhaps John means that it is in the place where his sword would hang.

He is the King who rules all other kings: He is the Lord who tells all other Lords what to do (Deuteronomy 10:17; 17:14; Daniel 2:47).

Verses 17 - 21: Armageddon

These verses are like a very bad dream or 'nightmare'. There does not seem to be a real fight. It is a horrible picture. But there are some things we can say which may help us to understand it.

In verse 17, John sees a single angel. He stands in or on the sun. Perhaps John means he stands in the light of the sun. Heaven is open so it is not easy to imagine. He may be a single angel because all the other angels follow the Lamb (verse 14). He shouts in a loud voice to the birds, which fly across the sky. This does not mean the small birds, which do not fly high or very far. The birds are to come together for the great supper which God will provide for them (Ezekiel 39:4 and 17-20). So in this chapter we have two great suppers. This one is horrible. The other (verse 9) was the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is full of beauty. Here we have to think of birds like the 'vulture'. This eats the flesh of dead animals and men. So in verse 18, the angel gives a list of the kinds of men and animals who will die in the fight.

John has already told us that the kings will gather for war (16:16; 17:14; Psalm 2:2).

Verse 19 tells us that the armies are with the kings and with the first 'wild animal'. The Rider on the horse is Jesus (verse 11) and His army is the angels (verse 14) There is no fighting. Perhaps it is the angels who take the first 'wild animal' (verse 20) and the false prophet, which is the second 'wild animal'. (See Chapter 13 and 16:13,14.) John adds some of what he had said in Chapter 13. 'The lake of fire' must mean hell. (See 20:14,15.) The angels threw the two 'wild animals' into it to be punished. [19.9]

Verse 21 adds that 'the rest' - that is, the armies, - were killed and the birds ate their 'fleshes' in a greedy way. But remember that the sword killed them. This is God's Word, which Jesus speaks. So the picture of a war is really about Jesus and God's Word. He speaks God's Word to men, and John may not mean any more than that these men now obey Him. [19.10] Jesus is not a cruel 'War-Lord'.