19
Her fall celebrated
1 After these things I heard as it were the really loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying:
“Hallelujah! The salvation and power and glory of our God!
2 Because His judgments are true and just,
because He has judged the great whore who
corrupted the earth with her fornication,
and has avenged the blood of His slaves by her hand.”
3 And a second voice said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke goes up for ever and ever!”* 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living beings fell down and worshiped God, who sits on the throne, saying, “Amen, Hallelujah!” 5 And a voice came from the Throne saying, “Praise our God, all you His slaves and those who fear Him, small and great!”
The wedding of the Lamb
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderings saying:
“Hallelujah!
Because the Lord our God reigns, the Almighty!
7 Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory,
because the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and His wife has prepared herself.”
8 And it was granted to her to be dressed in fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9 And he says to me,† “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding banquet of the Lamb.’ ” And he says to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 And I fell at his feet to worship him, but he says to me: “Don't! I am your fellow slave and among your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus.‡ Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”§
The battle of Armageddon
11 I saw the heaven opened, and wow, a white horse! And the One who sits on it, called Faithful and True, both judges and makes war with righteousness. 12 Now His eyes were a flame of fire and on His head were many diadems, having names written,* besides a written name that no one knows except Himself; 13 and He was clothed with a robe that had been dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white, clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 And out of His mouth goes a sharp, two-edged sword, so that with it He may strike the nations. And He Himself will shepherd them with a rod of iron. And He Himself treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, the Almighty.† 16 And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh, King of kings and Lord of lords!
A feast for vultures
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in midheaven,‡ “Come, gather together to the great dinner of God, 18 so that you may eat flesh of kings and flesh of commanders and flesh of the mighty and flesh of horses along with their riders, even the flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great.”
19 And I saw the Beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the One riding the horse and against His army. 20 So the Beast was captured, and with him the False prophet, the one who performed signs in his presence (by which he had deceived those who had received the mark of the Beast and those who worshiped his image). The two were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire that burns with brimstone.§ 21 And the rest were killed by the sword that proceeds from the mouth of the One riding the horse.* And all the birds were filled with their flesh.†
* 19:3 The whore's eternal punishment is a cause for praise to God. † 19:9 Presumably the speaker is the angel of 17:1. ‡ 19:10 It surprises me that an angel could or would call himself “your brother”. I do not know what to make of it, unless this was really a human being that looked like an angel. Since the Bible records angels appearing in human form, I suppose a glorified human could appear in angelic form. Why not? § 19:10 I do not understand this statement either, unless it is Jesus who is testifying to the prophets, giving them their messages. * 19:12 Well over half of the Greek manuscripts, two of the three main independent lines of transmission (including the best one) read “having names written”—presumably these names were on the diadems. I would imagine that each diadem had a name. † 19:15 The Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins all by Himself (Hebrews 1:3), and here He treads “the winepress of the fury of the wrath” all by Himself. Those who think of the Lord only in terms of ‘loving, meek, mild’ need to understand that there is a whole lot more to the story. Those who reject His sacrifice can look for “the fury of the wrath”—none of us can understand how terrible was the price the Son had to pay, and He will not take kindly to having that price despised! ‡ 19:17 It is mainly birds of prey and scavengers that fly high in the sky; songbirds and game birds usually stay fairly close to the ground (except when migrating). § 19:20 Apparently these are the first two residents in the Lake, and they will have it all to themselves for a full one thousand years! * 19:21 If the Captain did all the killing, then His followers were just along for the ride. Evidently all the Captain had to do was speak. † 19:21 The birds will eat all they can, but there will presumably be plenty of flesh left over. Ezekiel 39:12 says it will take seven months to cleanse the land of all the remains!