Revelation 19:1–21

1AFTER 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,

2for 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.”

3And again they shouted:

“Hallelujah!

The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”

4The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:

“Amen, Hallelujah!”

5Then a voice came from the throne, saying:

“Praise our God,

all you his servants,

you who fear him,

both small and great!”

6Then 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.

7Let us rejoice and be glad

and give him glory!

For the wedding of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready.

8Fine linen, bright and clean,

was given her to wear.”

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

9Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

10At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

11I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12His 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. 13He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

17And 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, 18so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.”

19Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

Original Meaning

The Prostitute and the Bride (19:1–10)

MOST EARLY JEWISH readers, even those who used only Greek, would know that “Hallelujah!” (19:1, 3, 4, 6) meant “Praise Yahweh!” in a particularly emphatic form. The expression appears untranslated 23 times in the LXX (the Greek version of the Old Testament), always in Psalms (except for two references in the Apocrypha).1 Jewish traditions elsewhere emphasize end-time joy and report exultation over the destruction of the wicked (see also comment on 18:2).2 Thus, the mourning over Babylon in 18:2 is purely a literary device; members of the audience that identify with the world and what it values may mourn (18:9, 11), but those who identify with heaven and what it values will rejoice (19:1, 3–5).

In a context of people hailing a conqueror, “salvation” (or “deliverance”) (19:1) can refer to triumph (cf. 7:10; 12:10); the prostitute was stained with the blood of murdered saints (18:24), and God had exacted vengeance for them (19:2). Earlier biblical tradition also summoned others to rejoice at the judgment of those who oppress God’s people (Deut. 32:43; Jer. 51:48–49).

God’s judgment does not simply stop Babylon’s oppression; he avenges her incomprehensible injustices. Babylon, the city of the world system, is the new Sodom (11:8). The smoke of her death rises forever (19:3), suggesting eternal torment (14:11; cf. Isa. 34:10).3 Although “eternal” is applied more broadly in Revelation (Rev. 14:11; 20:10), it is not impossible that such an image of Rome’s “eternal judgment may be a partial polemic against the mythical name Roma aeterna (‘eternal Rome’), which was one of the names for the Roman Empire.”4

By judging the world system, God has begun to reign (19:6; cf. 11:17).5 Presumably among those who now join in triumphant praise are the martyrs, especially if the sound of “rushing waters” in 19:6 recalls 14:2. All God’s “servants” (cf. 1:1)—that is, those who fear him (cf. 11:18)—offer praise in 19:5; this group is also coextensive, at least in principle, with the martyrs mentioned in 19:2, because all true followers of Christ are potential martyrs (cf. 20:4). This group explicitly cuts across class lines, for like the world (6:15; 13:16; 19:18; 20:12), they include “both small and great” (19:5; cf. 11:18).6

Weddings are generally characterized by joy, and ancient sources emphasize the responsibility of wedding guests to promote the newlyweds’ joy.7 The promise of this banquet appears also as a beatitude (19:9), a common literary form (“Blessed [or happy] are those who …”); this form appears in Revelation seven times, usually as an encouragement to persevere (1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14).

The “wedding supper” was a frequent figure for the coming messianic era (e.g., 1 En. 62:14; 3 En. 48A:10).8 God had promised a splendid banquet (Isa. 25:6), when he would destroy death and wipe away the tears and shame of his people (25:8). Some Jewish teachers even decided that Leviathan, the great many-headed serpent, would be slain (27:1) and served as the food at the messianic banquet. If this idea was pervasive when Revelation was written, it may be relevant that the marriage supper of the Lamb is contrasted with the great supper of God, in which birds feast on the carcasses of the wicked (19:9, 17–18).9 With judgment coming, a Jewish sage roughly contemporary with Revelation proclaimed that all was prepared for the banquet (R. Akiba in m. Ab. 3:17).

What does Revelation mean by the bride being “ready” (19:7; cf. 21:2; Matt. 22:8)? To make herself ready for the wedding a bride would bathe herself and adorn herself in special array.10 Here the special array is the “righteous acts of the saints,” who comprise the bride (Rev. 19:8; perhaps this reflects the bridal array of righteousness in Isa. 61:10). While white linen robes were appropriate for worship (see comment on Rev. 4:4), they appear here also as appropriate for marriage.11

The fine linen of the saints (19:8; cf. 19:14) contrasts with the fine linen of the prostitute (18:12, 16). High-class prostitutes were known for their elaborate garb, but the saints are dressed in wedding apparel beautiful to the groom, and this wedding apparel consists of their “righteous acts.”12 In some later Jewish texts, end-time suffering could help prepare the righteous for the coming world as participation in wedding preparations qualify one to participate in the wedding banquet.13 Presumably the prospective bride is also portrayed as the saints in fine linen coming with Jesus in 19:14; by contrast, Jesus himself is clothed in a bloody robe (19:13), for the task of vengeance will precede the wedding celebration (cf. Matt. 22:7–8).

That John begins to worship the messenger (Rev. 19:10) is not surprising; his message is easily confused with God’s (21:5–6). Yet the “fellow servant” here is not a fellow mortal, but is an angel (cf. 22:8–9). Christians and angels have different functions, but both may proclaim God’s message.14 The angel’s explicit prohibition of worshiping him may be guarding against certain syncretistic practices among Jews of Asia Minor, in which some worshiped angels.15 The emphatic demand that God alone is to be worshiped challenges all forms of idolatry, including those offered the emperor in the name of loyalty to the state.

Most significant, the angel declares that he is simply acting as God’s agent (19:10b). The prophetic Spirit empowers those who speak the message about Christ (19:10; cf. Acts 1:8; 2:17–18; 1 Cor. 12:3); all believers are thus potential prophets, anointed with God’s Spirit to speak his message in his place.16 For many of John’s Jewish contemporaries who believed that the Spirit of prophecy had been suppressed and would not be restored in its fullness until the messianic era, the present activity of the Spirit in testifying about Jesus throughout the book of Revelation would attest his identity as the true Lord.17 For those who too readily believed any prophecies without seeking to evaluate true from false and thus accepted messages from “Balaam” (2:14) and “Jezebel” (2:20), the reminder that true prophecy exalts Jesus (19:10) would also be essential.

Bridging Contexts

COMMUNICATING BIBLICAL IMAGES. Some images communicate in most cultures. Although a “messianic banquet” does not evoke the wide range of biblical and ancient Jewish associations for most hearers today that it would have for its first audience, most cultures have wedding celebrations. Our culture can relate to a wedding banquet as a picture of joy and (if our society were not so prone to divorce) a promise of continued blessing.

Sometimes we read our theology into the text. Some suggest that the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place during the Tribulation preceding Jesus’ return. The text, however, says that at the end of the age the bride is merely ready; the marriage supper in Revelation, as in early Judaism, was a banquet prepared for the righteous in the messianic era or the world to come.34

Sometimes we wish we had a text to read our theology into. A friend once insisted to me that her dog would be in heaven. The only text I could think of that might suggest animals in heaven at that time was this passage, but it was probably not a helpful one. Should we think of Jesus and his saints riding on literal horses? That God can create angelic horses of some sort is not impossible, and ancient readers would not have recoiled at the idea. Thus Greek and Roman literature knew of immortal horses, horses that could fly between heaven and earth, and other supernatural, winged horses.35

Jewish people could envision as God’s hosts armed troops worshiping him in heaven (2 En. 17:1); in this period, Jewish people expected heavenly angels to appear on horseback (2 Macc. 5:1–4; 11:8; 4 Macc. 4:10; contrast T. Abr. 2A). But most likely John’s vision adapts the most fierce war imagery of his day. God’s heavenly host in the Old Testament was portrayed as mounted on chariots, in keeping with the most dangerous troops of its day (2 Kings 2:11; 6:17; Ps. 68:17; Hab. 3:8). The elite troops of John’s day were mounted warriors without chariots. Today perhaps it would not be irreverent to picture them (for purposes of comparison) as coming in space ships and nuking the world.

Revelation probably blends many horrifying images, demanding repentance without attention to chronological sequence. Thus, for example, in Ezekiel 38–39, the birds are invited to devour the slain after the rebellion of Gog and Magog; in Revelation 19–20, the sequence is reversed if one follows the order of the text.36 The nations are defeated in this battle (19:15; cf. 2 Thess. 1:9), yet some among the nations survive in 20:3, 8. The point here is not exact descriptions but the blending of various end-time details that invite obedience to God’s will.

Serious misinterpretations. Serious failures to bridge contexts sometimes occur. Often drawing from biblical images of holy war with less attention to Jesus’ teachings on nonretaliation, medieval Christians practiced atrocities no less serious than those attributed to the Muslims that they were avenging.37 Following the medieval custom toward a city that failed to surrender, the Crusaders slaughtered nearly wholesale the Muslim and Jewish civilians they encountered in Jerusalem, including women and children; then they praised God for giving them victory.38 To be sure, they were invited by repressed Eastern Christians to defend them; Turks were themselves expansionist, and the Seljuk Turks had limited Christian access to holy shrines that many medieval Christians thought vital for their salvation.39 Yet these warriors somehow failed to recognized that “the sword is never God’s way to extend Christ’s kingdom.”40 This lesson raises questions for those who prove more committed to their earthly country’s national security at any cost than for New Jerusalem’s Christian ethics at any cost.

Some fringe interpreters today exploit this text’s image of the final battle to support agendas that appear even more troubling than the Crusades. For example, members of the small Aryan supremacist sect Christian Identity expect to participate in the final Armageddon by slaughtering people of other races and racial allegiances. As one of the leaders has declared, “God has ordained that his people be a warring people…. Lord of Hosts means Lord of a mass of people organized for war.” Some patriots related to this movement are currently stockpiling weapons and engaged in terrorism; to the chagrin of leaders of nonracist militias, these white supremacists have been infiltrating nonracist militias to try to take them over to create a race war in the United States.41 One of their ministers cites the Old Testament example of holy war, arguing that God advocates slaughtering all the enemies, including babies.42

The present and projected nature of their “war” hardly seems worthy of the name “Christian,” yet their behavior is tarnishing the adjective in the eyes of many secularists:

Followers of a racist version of Christianity were charged last year with interpreting the Bible to justify the murder of an entire Arkansas family, including an 8-year-old girl, in pursuit of the “Aryan” republic they planned. Another white racist group was convicted of bombing and robbing banks in Washington, saying the Bible outlaws charging interest.43

Warriors for this “Christian” Identity sect taped “a plastic bag over a terrified eight-year-old girl’s head,” secured it, suffocated her, and then deposited her body in a swamp. Another such “warrior” shot off a victim’s finger’s one at a time, had the flesh flayed from his thighs, and then killed him. Feeling that a five-year-old white boy had offended Yahweh, the same leader ordered the boy sexually abused; the boy finally died of a broken neck after several weeks of torture.44 The group promotes a tract called “Vigilantes of Christendom,” and at the time of writing has at least “94 active … ministries in 34 states.” An “explosive concoction of race hate and delusional end-times paranoia,” radical Christian Identity members view themselves as instruments of God’s final judgment and hence are becoming prone to killing people randomly.45

But those who exploit biblical images of the final battle to support their violent agendas teach the opposite of this text’s point. Believers suffered and proclaimed Christ nonviolently throughout the rest of the book of Revelation. Here the text cannot be more explicit that Jesus himself (in the Old Testament, God) destroys the enemy armies by his own sword (19:11, 15, 21); his hosts are with him (19:14, 19), but do not participate actively in the slaughter. Further, these hosts come from heaven (19:11, 14); the earthly armies may or may not all be allied with one another, but they are all opposed to Christ (16:12–14; 19:19). Those militant groups on earth committed to genocide are certainly among those doomed to death at Jesus’ hand at his return!

Contemporary Significance

JUDGMENTS SENT BY GOD. The opening image of this chapter, exaltation over Babylon’s fall, is the heavenly answer to the preceding chapter’s lament over the prostitute’s demise. “How odd, as it seems to us, that the death of a society—especially, perhaps, the violent disintegration of this most rich and most powerful of all nations: Babylon—should incite jubilation in heaven.”46 It is hard for us to be comfortable in this world and the status it values, yet hear clearly heaven’s rejoicing in judgment. It is particularly difficult if one of the societies receiving God’s judgment is our own, especially when we think concretely in terms of judgments’ effects on people we know and care about. His compassion is one reason God delays judgment and enacts it sparingly, but in the broader scope of history the judgments are necessary for the repentance of some and vindication of others. If our devotion of time and energy is more to what the world offers than to God’s purposes, we may be among those needing repentance. God will ultimately judge all nations (Ps. 110:6; Jer. 25:31; Joel 3:12).

God often sends judgment to stop oppression, but he also sends judgment to avenge oppression, vindicating his justice for the oppressed. In this world God does not settle all scores in the short run, but his justice is always satisfied in the end. Even repentance does not allow sins to escape justice—for the scores of the repentant were settled in advance on the cross.

Joy and worship. Verses 1–10 promise that vindication and joy are coming for the righteous (19:1–5), because God reigns sovereignly (19:6). It promises deeper intimacy with God in a permanent union like marriage (19:7). Insofar as Jesus’ meals with sinners were a foretaste of the messianic banquet, those who fellowship with him now (cf. 3:20) experience a foretaste of their future blessing. The righteous acts of the saints make up our bridal array, hence may prepare our future intimacy with God (19:8).

This section also teaches that we should not worship anything or anyone other than God, including angels (19:10). (By contrast, this reminds us that Jesus is worshiped in Revelation as fully divine.) This is important in our preaching and teaching, because outside the subculture of the biblically literate, many who possess inadequate understanding of Christian teaching appeal to angels—undoubtedly fallen ones—for occult purposes (as in the magical papyri of the ancient Mediterranean world).47

Empowered by the Spirit. This passage also reminds us that the Spirit empowers us to speak for God (19:10). That the testimony about Jesus also implies prophetic empowerment by the Spirit (19:10) has important implications for us today.48 Some Christians rank the anointing of other Christians based on their possession of particular spiritual gifts, but Christ gave all of us his Spirit to testify about him (Acts 1:8). Thus, every Christian who witnesses about Jesus experiences in some measure the empowerment of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:3).49 (Although I have found that prayer in tongues helps me personally to grow in sensitivity to the Spirit, including for evangelism, most of my witnessing partners and other ministry colleagues whose zeal and effectiveness I most respect have never done so.)

This empowerment by the Spirit also means that our effectiveness can far exceed our natural human abilities. One may think of the timid young man who suddenly began preaching to two hundred of his coworkers; he continued preaching from that time on, and today James Robison is widely known as an evangelist.50 Likewise, I am normally introverted and shy (a mild-mannered professor type), but I find that God regularly provides a supernatural boldness when I testify for Christ; indeed, when I am sick and exhausted God usually provides health and strength during the full duration of my testimony or preaching.

The Spirit’s leading in witnessing can be extraordinary or appear more ordinary. I often use the example of one occasion where the Spirit directed me to talk at length about the background of a person with whom I was sharing Christ—whom I had never before met—and who readily accepted Christ, noting that God had revealed the secrets of her heart (1 Cor. 14:25). But on more occasions, I simply feel the Spirit checking me or urging me in what to say and providing boldness to testify uncompromisingly about our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 6:19).

Applying holy war. The portrait of holy war in 19:11–21 also commands our attention. It reminds us that Jesus is the all-powerful One, with whom the final vindication of justice lies. Although we must do our best to work for justice and mercy, we cannot realistically fulfill the postmillennial vision of establishing God’s kingdom on earth; rather, our omnipotent Lord will settle these matters when he returns. In this world we do not win all the battles, but that is not daunting with a longer range perspective; when our Lord Jesus comes, nothing can stand against him!51 The punishment of the wicked in this passage provides theodicy for those who question God’s justice in this world, vindication for the oppressed righteous, and a warning not to become too comfortable with the partial blessings of the present age.

If we have rightly interpreted the sword from Jesus’ mouth (19:15), it provides an encouragement as well. Other mouths may slander us (11:10; 12:15; 13:6), but what ultimately matters is the just decree of life or death from Jesus’ mouth.

Original Meaning

Holy War (19:11–21)

IF GOD’S MESSENGER in 19:10 is the wrong one to worship (cf. “worship God”), 19:11–16 abruptly and immediately reveals the proper object of worship. As God’s “Word” (19:13), Jesus is “Faithful and True” (19:11), like other words of God (21:5; 22:6); earlier in Revelation this phrase alluded to faithfulness in testifying God’s truth regardless of the cost (1:5; 2:10, 13). Jesus “judges and makes war” (19:11). The former attribute belongs to God (6:10; 11:18; 18:8, 20; 19:2; 20:12) and to the Messiah, who will strike the wicked with his mouth (Isa. 11:4; cf. Rev. 19:15).18 The latter is the image of the end-time holy warrior, a final response to the worshipers of the beast who demanded, “Who can make war against him?” (13:4). All along God has allowed the beast to make war with his people on earth (11:7; 12:17; 13:7); but when the right time comes, they will make war on the Lamb himself and be destroyed (17:14; 19:19; 20:8).

God often sent his people to holy war in the Old Testament, and early Jewish sources expected an end-time battle to throw off the yoke of Rome and other pagan oppressors.19 Such sources even warned of blood among other signs in the heavens (Sib. Or. 3.800–804), and finally a battle of footsoldiers and cavalry in the heavens (3.805–8). But whereas “the armies of heaven” (either believers [cf. 17:14], as fine linen implies [19:8], or holy angels [cf. Zech. 14:5]) are with Jesus here (19:14), they execute no violence themselves; Jesus is the mighty warrior who strikes the wicked (19:11, 15, 21). Biblical prophets predicted God himself as the ultimate holy warrior (Isa. 42:13; Hab. 3:11–14; Zeph. 3:17; cf. 1QM 18.1–3), cloaked for war (Isa. 59:17), including the blood of the winepress as here (Isa. 63:3); clearly Jesus assumes this divine role here.

Jesus rides on a white horse (19:11), as do his hosts (19:14). White horses were usually considered the best.20 Such horses were appropriate mounts for rulers, important officials, and conquerors entering Rome in triumph,21 but the idea of a “King of kings” (cf. 19:16) mounted on a white horse may be drawing on the image of the Parthian king.22 If Rome fears a Parthian invasion, how much more should they fear the true Lord from heaven!

Jesus’ fiery eyes indicate divinity and fury (see comment on 1:14); his “many crowns” indicate that he is Ruler over all the kings of the world (19:12, 16; cf. 1:5). Jesus has a hidden name (19:12), just like the saints (2:17). Perhaps this name is a secret only to the world, already accepted among the saints but revealed to all humanity at Jesus’ coming—the “Word of God” (19:13) or “King of kings and Lord of lords” (19:16).23 His cloak dipped in blood represents a terrifying image to the average ancient reader.24 But this passage draws the language specifically from Isaiah 63, indicating that the world will finally realize at his coming that Jesus himself is God.25 The blood is from those slain from his winepress, the whole world (19:15; cf. 14:18–20), as in Isaiah 63:2.26 The heavenly armies could possibly include angels (Zech. 14:5), but certainly include believers (Rev. 17:14; cf. the linen in 19:14 with 19:8). The army that overcame the beast by martyrdom (14:1–5) will now share Christ’s final triumph (cf. the “rod” in 19:15; also 2:27).

For many Jewish hearers, the “sharp sword” would recall a popular apocryphal work, the Wisdom of Solomon, in which God’s Word leaps from heaven like a mighty warrior (cf. Rev. 19:13), bringing forth God’s commandment as a sharp straight sword to kill the disobedient (Wisd. Sol. 18:15–16; cf. Ps. Sol. 17:24–27, 35–36; see comment on Rev. 1:16). Because the sword issues from Jesus’ mouth, some interpreters apply it to an eschatological war of ideologies before Jesus’ return; while such ideological conflict is likely (6:9; cf. Isa. 49:2; 66:16; Hos. 6:5; Matt. 24:14), the allusion to Isaiah 11:4 and to Psalm 2:9 probably demands more than this in this passage (cf. 2 Thess. 2:8),27 for it can also signify literal bloodshed (Isa. 34:5; Jer. 12:12; 47:6).

Jesus’ title, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (19:16), may recall the title of the Parthian ruler, as noted above. Sometimes called merely the “great king,” he was also called “king of kings.”28 This was a title for the eastern monarchs also in the Old Testament period (Ezra 7:12; Ezek. 26:7; Dan. 2:37), but it always applied best of all to the true supreme Ruler, God (Deut. 10:17; Ps. 136:3; Dan. 2:47; Zech. 14:9; 1 Tim. 6:15).29 Ancient Judaism continued to apply the title almost exclusively to God.30 Revelation applies the title consistently to Jesus (17:14; 19:16), the true Ruler over the earth’s other kings (1:5). That the name was written on Jesus’ thigh need not have puzzled ancient hearers; thus, commentators observe that the Greeks sometimes branded horses on their thighs and some wrote names on statues in Rome.31

Whereas the saints will partake of the promised messianic banquet (19:9), the wicked will be the banquet on which scavengers feed (19:17). Their blood will flow as if from a winepress (19:15), borrowing an earlier biblical image (Isa. 63:2–3; cf. 9:5; 34:3–7; 49:26). The image of carrion birds feasting on the flesh of corpses killed in battle was a familiar one to ancient readers (1 Sam. 17:44–46; Jer. 16:4; Ezek. 29:5).32 Given common Greek views of one’s image enduring in the realm of departed spirits, the only fate worse than death itself was death followed by lack of burial, in which one’s remains are devoured by animals. Jewish literature also anticipated the wicked lying unburied in the end time, devoured by vultures and other animals (Sib. Or. 3.643–45). But most of Revelation’s first audience would recognize the clear and immediate source of the language of this passage: God invited beasts and birds to devour the flesh of the army that opposed him in Ezekiel 39:17–20.

God then hurls the leaders of Satan’s army into “the fiery lake of burning sulfur” (19:20). This burning sulfur may allude to the fate of Sodom (Gen. 19:24), but the punishment in this lake of fire is eternal (Rev. 14:10) and contrasts with the sea of glass in God’s presence (4:6).33

Bridging Contexts

The present and projected nature of their “war” hardly seems worthy of the name “Christian,” yet their behavior is tarnishing the adjective in the eyes of many secularists:

Contemporary Significance