CHAPTER NINETEEN

The scene changes to events in heaven again. There is a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power unto the Lord our God. The reason they rejoice is that God has judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.

So again, in the end of this age, God is going to avenge the blood of His prophets and saints at the hands of that great city Babylon. That seems to include the martyrs during the centuries since the fall of Jerusalem. God has not forgotten the blood of even one of His saints.

This nineteenth chapter of the Book of the Revelation in some way becomes the more ominous for the world than did some of the earlier chapters. That is because the Lord Jesus is about to be revealed as the Righteous Judge, to execute the destruction of the antichrist and his armies, and to take over the kingdoms of this world.

But first, the saints in heaven rejoice over Babylon's doom and her smoke rises up for ever. That rejoicing is acclaimed by the 24 Elders and the four Living Creatures. Then comes a voice out of the Throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great. The response to that voice sounds like a great multitude, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. What a glorious moment that is going to be for all who are privileged to be there, through faith in Jesus Christ.

Now in verse 7, attention is drawn to the marriage of the Lamb. it is a time of rejoicing and giving honor to God. At last the wedding of His Holy Son Jesus Christ shall have come. His wife has made herself ready. This multitude of the redeemed have deliberately chosen to unite with Christ before they left this world. There are no conscripts there, they shall all be volunteers, by the grace of God.

They believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, became born again, and consecrated themselves to Him and to God through faith, and by right doing. Many of them have been martyred for their faith in the Lord. All of their suffering will be 'worth it all' when they are privileged to be among that vast throng.

Thus, he puts special emphasis on this event we are considering. There is going to be a wedding: a heavenly wedding. Jesus is the heavenly Bridegroom, and He is going to have a Bride, composed of all the saints of the ages who have received immortal, glorified bodies, like His. His bride will be a class of bings like Him.

Believers in this world in their mortality are espoused to Christ through faith. 2 Corinthians 11:2. Our relationship with Jesus will be consummated by the redemption of our body at the Rapture, when we shall become immortals with Him in heaven. We will then go to the Judgment Seat of Christ to receive the things done in our body, and finally receive our rewards as in Revelation 19:8. The marriage of the lamb is the consummation of our salvation, to be ushered in by the Lord's appearing in the air, as in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, NOT when He come sin Revelation 19:11.

Then John is so overcome by what is before him that he falls at the feet of the angel to worship him. This should tell us something of the absolute GLORY of that event. It is an event of wonderful, indescribable splendor and joy. It is not just a wedding, it is THE wedding of the Lamb and His bride! Glory to God! John is caught up in the glory of it, and seeks to worship the angel, not for sin, but for respect of the glory of God in that angel, and in the scene before him.

I am sure that John would not have done it as an act of idolatry. But he was yet a mortal being, though he was 'in the Spirit'. He did not yet have a glorified body, as in Philippians 3:21. The events that John saw in that moment were some twenty centuries in the future. Still, their impact was as real to John as if they actually happened at that time. That was Romans 4:17 in action. John's mortality couldn't 'take it' and so he fell down to worship.

Now, John said he saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse: it's rider was called Faithful and True. In righteousness He judges and makes war. In 19:13 the Rider on the white horse is called The Word of God. In verse 16 His written Name is KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. That can certainly be only ONE: Jesus Christ our Lord.

John describes His Person in verses 12-13, 15-16. He eyes are as a flame of fire. He has many crowns on His Head. His vesture is dipped in blood. Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword with which He smites the nations. He will rule the remainder of them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

He appears in verse 11 to begin that war, on The Great Day of God's Wrath. Jesus Christ Himself is going to 'tread the winepress' of the wrath of God. Jesus has not yet been revealed so to the world, though He was revealed to His three Apostles in His transfiguration, as an attestation of His coming kingdom. No one else saw that at that time, and they were forbidden to tell anyone about it at that time.

Once before, in Revelation 4:1, John saw a door opened in heaven. He went through that door, and I believe that symbolized the Rapture of the Church. In Revelation 19:11 John saw the whole heaven opened, and Jesus appeared with His armies. At that time the world is going to see Him, to their dismay.

His descent will be such that every eye shall see Him, and also they which pierced Him at Calvary. All who see Him from the earth side, are going to mourn. The saints who have previously gone to heaven are going to come from heaven with Him.

When Jesus came to earth as the Virgin born son of Mary, He didn't come to condemn, but to save that which was lost. But in Revelation 19:11, there is a change. There IS going to be condemnation then. This time He is coming for war! When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, He was meek and lowly, riding upon the colt of a donkey. Here, He is coming as the Righteous Judge. He's coming in power, riding upon a white horse, to make war.

Concisely, the Scripture says the beast was taken, (the human king over the Eighth World Kingdom) and with him the false prophet which worked miracles before him, with which he deceived them that received the mark of the beast and worshipped his image.

BOTH of them were cast ALIVE into a lake burning with fire and brimstone. Their doom is similar to Numbers 16:28-33, in which Dathan and Abiram were swallowed up ALIVE by the earth. Thus, the beast (the human ruler) and the false prophet are the first human occupants of the Lake of Fire.

Other dead sinners thus far, have only gone to the place of torment, commonly called 'hell'. The lake of fire is a special place, reserved for those who pass through the great White Throne judgment and get cast into it in their bodies! That is called the Second Death, Revelation 20:14. Hebrews 9:27 says that it is appointed to men once to die. But the false prophet skips the first death and goes directly into the Second Death. He goes from mortal life into the second death!

According to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, the saints of God who shall be in that event, are going to skip the first death through righteousness. The false prophet is going to skip the first death through wickedness. They go directly into the SECOND DEATH. The saints skip death altogether, and go into eternal, immortal life. I know which passing I prefer!

Revelation 19:21: Then the armies of the Ten kings were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the white horse, which sword came out of His mouth. Those armies were so wicked and vile, they are just meat! In effect, God says, You birds come and clean up the mess! So all the birds them for supper!