seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 19:1 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
3 And again they shouted:
“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”
4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:
“Amen, Hallelujah!”
5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying:
“Praise our God,
all you his servants,
you who fear him,
both great and small!”
all you his servants,
you who fear him,
both great and small!”
6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)
9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”
11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”[a] He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
king of kings and lord of lords.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”
19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army.
20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
a. Revelation 19:15 Psalm 2:9
This is the commentary from the easy English site.
God had now destroyed all the power of evil things. God has always controlled history. But he allowed other people to rule for a time. Now God had begun to rule as king over all.
The wedding of the Lamb has come. The bride of Christ is ready for the marriage. She has prepared herself for him. The bride means the true church. So, this is a description of the unity of Christ and the church.
When John wrote, marriage was in two parts. The first part was the agreement to be married. When the man and the woman made their agreement, they became husband and wife. But until the actual wedding, they did not live together and they did not have sex. The second part was the wedding itself. The bridegroom went to the house of the bride. He then took her back to his own house. There they had a great meal and they were married.
The church is like the bride of Christ. She belongs to him now. But the church waits for the Lord Jesus to come. He will take her and they will be together. In that day, the marriage of Christ and the church will be complete. It will then be like a great wedding meal.
The angel so impressed John that he (John) fell down to worship him (the angel). But the angel told him not to do it. Such worship would be wrong. Angels are servants of God. Christians are also servants of God. We should only worship God.
Heaven opens and there is a white horse. The description of the rider tells us who will win the last battle. The rider will fight the last war. He will bring to an end this present age. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
In this verse, the name that he has is ‘Loyal and True’. He is right to fight against his enemies. He will be the judge of all who are on the earth.
The eyes of the rider shine like flames of fire. The rider’s eyes are special in this description, because the Lord sees all things. Nobody can hide anything from him.
He has many crowns on his head. This means that Christ is the ruler over all other kings. He has all authority in heaven and on the earth.
The rider also has a name that only he knows. It is a secret name. We can know the Lord but there will always be more to know. He is so much more than we shall ever be able to understand.
In this strange description, blood covers the clothes of Christ. It is the blood of his enemies. As Christ goes into the battle, blood splashes his clothes.
The rider on the white horse has a sharp sword. It seems to come from his mouth. This description shows us the power of his words. They are like a sword that cuts his enemies to pieces. He will speak and, by his words, he will defeat the nations. Christ overcomes all by the words of his power. This is what Isaiah the prophet said. ‘He will strike the earth with the bar of his mouth. With the breath of his lips, he will kill the wicked people.’ (Isaiah 11:4).
The rider is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The Lord Jesus is the king over all the nations. There is nobody on earth or in heaven like him. He alone has all power and he alone rules over all.
There will be many dead bodies on the ground. So, the angel calls out with a loud voice to the birds. He calls to the birds that fly high in the sky. These birds feed on meat. He calls them to come and eat. This is the great supper of God for the birds. It is called the supper of God because God provides the food.
The ranks of the enemy include all kinds of men. Among the dead persons, there will be kings, officers and their armies. The horses and those who rode them will be dead. The bodies will include free people and slaves. All of these will be food for the birds to eat.
John saw the two sides. They were preparing to fight. On one side was the beast (the Antichrist). The kings of the earth and their armies were with him. On the other side were Christ and his army.
The place of the battle will be Armageddon. The demons had already called the kings to that place (Revelation 16:16).
This battle is the defeat of Antichrist by the real Christ. The Lord took hold of the beast (Antichrist) and the false prophet. He threw them alive into the lake of fire. A fire that burns with sulphur is extremely hot. And sulphur burns with an awful smell. This is a description of a terrible place of pain and trouble. Those who are there will always suffer.
This false prophet had power from the beast. The false prophet forced all who live on the earth to worship the beast. And the false prophet did great acts of power. He made fire come down out of heaven to earth. By these acts, he caused the people who lived on earth to believe lies. He ordered that all people must receive a mark. This mark was on their hands or on the front of their heads. Everyone, famous and unimportant people, rich and poor people, free people and slaves had to have the mark. That mark was the name of the beast or the number of that name.
The Word of God (Christ) defeated the armies of Antichrist. He killed all the soldiers with the sword of his mouth (that is, by his word). Their dead bodies lay on the ground as the angel had said. The birds came. And they ate as much of the dead bodies as they could.
In the last chapter, the wicked city of Babylon was obliterated. That made the souls under the altar cheer.... and the multitude too numerous to count to cheer.... and it must have made the impeccable virgins who made up the 144,000 cheer too. After all there are three cheers for the demise of Babylon.
John had an Angel assigned to him as interpreter. I don't have that Angel... but I do have the Spirit. See, being a Southern Baptist does have some perks..... The Southern Baptists believe that the Spirit of God interprets for us. The commentaries say that the description of Jesus is "strange". So.... it must have been really hard to interpret in human language. So.... say a prayer....
In this chapter Jesus appears on a white horse..... with an army of Believers too numerous to count.... and His army is also dressed in white riding a white horse. Jesus is described as wearing white linen.... stained with blood. Back in chapter 14 there was a horrible slaughter.
Revelation 14:20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.[c]
I figure.... although it wasn't Jesus who trampled in the winepress.... the blood on His clothes must have been from slaughter. Jesus is after all God. John after all had to have an interpreter. God knew that Battle was going to happen..... and God knew Jesus would be wearing white.... So the blood on His clothes would be from the wrath..... naturally. And now... He's coming to finish that battle.
This chapter talks about the marriage of the Lamb. The commentary says that back in the days of John.... people weren't engaged first.... when the intent to marry was agreed to.... they were considered married.... they just couldn't live together or have sex until they actually went through with the wedding ceremony.... and apparently our modern day version of the Wedding Reception was what they considered to be the Wedding Party. Apparently.... after the big party... the groom would go get the wife... and move her into his home. So... all this marriage of the Lamb stuff.... well it's a way for John to interpret what was going to happen when the mild mannered Jesus of Nazareth got on His white horse and gave the order to his army to "mount up". Jesus was going to make things ready for His humans. Jesus is coming to take the "bride" to His house. First.... He needs to make earth ready for them.
Up until this time... Jesus has only fought with Satan through temptation. There hasn't been a physical altercation. He threw around some tables when He got angry with the money changers.... but Jesus was peace loving on His first visit to earth. When an ear got caught off of one of the soldiers who came to arrest Jesus.... the arrest was put on hold while Jesus picked up the ear and put it back on the soldier. Jesus was kind... the first time. This time.... He's coming as a Warrior King with an army too big to count. He's been hung on a cross and survived.... so this battle doesn't worry Him at all.
In this chapter.... Jesus wages war against the Red Dragon [Satan] and his cohorts the Beast [Anti-Christ] and the second beast [fake prophet]. In this chapter... Jesus has captured the Anti-Christ and the fake prophet. Jesus wants them to hate life as badly as they made their fellow humans hate life. So they are imprisoned in a burning stinky sulfur pit..... nothing to eat... nothing to drink.... nothing to do.... just sit around the pit all day and burn baby burn..... they can't burn up... they can't put the fire out.... and they can't die.
There are humans in Heaven stuck under the altar.... they are the humans who were martyred because of they are Believers. They are humans like Stephen the disciple who was murdered by Paul's cohorts before Jesus knocked some sense into Paul. They are kids like the little girl at Columbine who was shot because she "believes in Jesus". They are the people who were murdered at a prayer meeting by a man they invited in to pray with them. Those are the humans who have been longing for revenge. And now... the revenge is beginning.... I know they are smiling.
Jesus is coming... on a white horse. Not a pale horse.... a white horse.
