Chapter Nineteen

Rejoicing in heaven and on earth, singing of Alleluia by the heavenly inhabitants at the coming of the marriage of the Lamb with his bride (1–8). John’s worship of the Angel explaining the vision, clarification (9–10). Vision of the Faithful and True One on a White horse, His external appearance, adornments, and clothing (11–16). God’s judgment over the beast, the false prophet, and their worshippers (17–21).

Revelation 19:1. After this I heard a loud voice in heaven like a multitude of people, which said: Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and power to our Lord! In chapter 19 it is spoken of solemn rejoicing at the destruction of Babylon, for this event heralded the near and final triumph of good and truth. The holy seer hears a new, loud heavenly voice (in heaven in its opposition to earth), that is, the sounds of singing (see Rev 10:3) exclusively of the blessed Angels with the four seraphim—living creatures—at their head (Rev 4:8). They cry out: “Alleluia” (from the Hebrew language “praise God”) (see Ps 105:48). They praise for salvation, which must be understood in the sense of perfect deliverance of the Christian community from the snares of the devil. By glory we must understand the glory of God, which belongs to God from eternity; and power, as God’s almightiness, is the foundation of this victory, this triumph.

Revelation 19:2. For true and righteous are His judgments: because He condemned that great harlot who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and He avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. Revelation 19:3. And a second time they said: Hallelujah! And her smoke rose up forever and ever. Revelation 19:4. Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell and worshiped God, sitting on the throne, saying: Amen! Hallelujah! The third verse contains a repetition of the song, but with the addition of a new basis for this praise to the Lord. It is the fact that the destruction of Babylon by the ten kings is a destruction that is eternal and final, constituting the transition to the eternal kingdom, for the eternal smoke speaks of eternal fire of Gehenna’s torments. Therefore the elders and the seraphim-living creatures fall down and pronounce: “Amen, Alleluia.” (Ps 105:48).

Revelation 19:5. And a voice came from the throne, saying: Praise our God, all His servants and those who fear Him, small and great. Scarcely had the angelic singing ceased when a voice from God’s throne was heard, from Jesus Christ Himself, which required that all servants of God render glory to God.

Revelation 19:6. And I heard as it were a voice of a multitude of people, as the sound of many waters, as the voice of mighty thunders, saying: Hallelujah! for the Lord God Almighty has taken His throne. Revelation 19:7. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself. In response to the call of God’s voice of Jesus Christ, John hears new singing. The sounds of this singing he compares to the sound of talk, singing of a numerous people. We can think that it was both heavenly and earthly. In it participated all the glorified people and martyrs of the last time, found in heaven, and all those who were appointed for glorification but were still on earth. Because of this, the sounds of singing were so powerful and so solemn. The basis for praise, first of all, is that the kingdom of the Almighty God has come, that is, the kingdom of the future age. A second impulse to joyful glorification is served by the fact that the marriage of the Lamb has already come and His bride has prepared herself. Here it is spoken of the union of Jesus Christ with His community, but not of the consummation of this kingdom, but only of the moment most near to it. This is the same moment of eschatology, when the Lord at the sound of the Angel’s trumpet gathers all His chosen ones, separating them from the impious, places them at the right side of His throne (Matt 25:33) for the pronouncing of the final verdict of judgment. The community of faithful Christians, who have lived to the last time, is this woman, this bride of the Lamb. She has prepared herself to meet her bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

Revelation 19:8. And it was given to her to be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. The bride of Jesus Christ is clothed in linen garments, which signify her holiness and which were given to her by the Lord Himself. It is a testimony that the bride is pleasing to the Lord and may enter into His bridal chamber. The brightness of Christian clothing is named the righteousness of the saints. And this righteousness of man, as his right to nearness to God, can be and is achieved in two ways simultaneously: both by one’s own virtue and by God’s grace of justification. The pure and perfect bride of the Lamb, that is, the Christian community of the last time, is such a community, the members of which have achieved the highest possible moral perfection for man with the assistance of God’s grace; it is, so to speak, the fruit of the historical interaction of the grace of Christianity and man’s own efforts.

Revelation 19:9. And the Angel said to me: Write: Blessed are those called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me: These are the true words of God. Further, John hears confirmation of the future blessed state of the depicted and perfected Christians. One of the Angels commands him to write: “Blessed are those called...”—These are the perfected Christians of the last antichristian time, those remaining alive until the coming of the Lord. The revelation comforts them and tells them that their sorrows and sufferings serve as a condition of their blessed life in the future. They are blessed as the called, for they, as the chosen and perfected ones, have been prepared by God for blessedness, which they will receive as a reward for their sufferings, for their labor in achieving piety and perfection. The marriage supper itself is the expression of the most intimate communion with the Lord, which can be only in the future life, only after the final and complete reign of Jesus Christ, after His second coming. The words about the blessedness of the earth are worthy of full belief and acceptance, since they belong to God Himself, the most perfect Truth and source of all revelation; therefore the Angel calls them true words of God.

Revelation 19:10. I fell at his feet to worship him; but he said to me: See, do not do that; I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus; worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. John fell at the feet of the Angel. John’s obeisance was a natural, involuntary consequence of the extraordinary impression of the Angel’s appearance and words. The content of the words was so striking that John did not restrain himself and fell at the feet of the speaking Angel, as the prophet Daniel fell at the feet of an Angel. The Angel corrects this involuntary human error of the seer and explains that, however magnificent certain appearances might be on earth, people should not forget God because of them, Who is their first cause and alone worthy of worship and service (Deut 6:13). The testimony of Jesus is Jesus Christ Himself, all that He taught and all that He accomplished for the salvation of mankind. This testimony is the “spirit of prophecy,” which expression is used in the sense of the foundation of prophecy, that which animates prophecy and constitutes its essence: in the testimony of Jesus Christ, that is, in His teaching and the revelation He gave, in prophecy, it is openly and explained that only God alone is worthy of worship and honor. The insertion of verses 9 and 10 disrupted the course of the description of the approaching marriage supper of the Lamb; from verse 11, John again turns to this description. Now it is spoken of those who will not only not be worthy to participate in the marriage supper, but will undergo terrible punishment as retribution. These are the events of the last time, the time of terrible judgment and final recompense.

Revelation 19:11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and the One sitting on it is called Faithful and True, Who judges righteously and makes war. Revelation 19:12. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns. He had a name written which no one knew except He Himself. John sees heaven opened; such a beginning of discourse speaks of a new and completely separate vision. The very heaven is opened, to give passage to the white horse that appeared with its rider to come down to earth. The rider is called Faithful and True. This name is undoubtedly the name of Jesus Christ; it points to His constant attributes in His relations with the community of believers. Possessing such attributes, He appears terrible for His enemies and an unshakeable hope and comfort for His worshippers. To be a righteous Judge, He possesses eyes like a flame of fire, that is, He penetrates everything with His gaze, sees all and destroys what is not pleasing to Him and what is hostile to Him. About the fact that He is not only a righteous Judge but also an all-powerful executor of His sentences, speaks the multitude of diadems adorning His head. This points to the fact that the whole world belongs to Him, must recognize His power over itself and submit to the verdict of His judgment. In accordance with the attributes of this nature, He bears a name which no one knows but Himself: the Divine nature of Jesus Christ in its essence and fullness of Divine attributes is incomprehensible to man. This mysterious name was on the diadems. Such a supposition is confirmed by the fact that the diadems themselves, as belonging to royal dignity, speak of the incomprehensible attributes of the Divine nature of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 19:13. He was clothed in a garment stained with blood. His name is: ‘The Word of God’. The rider appears clothed in garments drenched in blood. Jesus Christ is in blood-stained garments because He has already accomplished part of His judgment upon sinful humanity; the impious were punished with terrible plagues, and Babylon has already fallen. Jesus Christ appears in the world a second time, and just as about His first coming it was said: “The Word became flesh,” so also at His second coming He is called the Word of God, as the pre-eternal Son of God.

Revelation 19:14. And the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and pure, followed Him on white horses. Revelation 19:15. Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He might strike the nations. He will shepherd them with a rod of iron; He treads the winepress of the wine of the fury and wrath of God Almighty. Jesus Christ, as Judge and Rewarder, is accompanied by the heavenly armies, consisting exclusively of incorporeal Angels (Matt 16:27). The army followed on white horses, to correspond to their Leader, and their clothing was of white linen. The weapon with which Christ overcame enemies is a sword coming forth from His mouth (Rev 1:16). This sword is His word, the word of His almightiness and will. He rules the nations with a rod of iron, for He completely subjects them to His authority and His decision. He treads the winepress of the wine of the fury and wrath of God (Rev 14:19-20). The entire symbolic image is a depiction of the terrible judgment and recompense, when the impious will be brought to the consciousness of their complete nothingness. Christ, as the all-powerful King, alone can bear the name of King and Lord.

Revelation 19:16. And on His garment and on His thigh is written a name: ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’. Revelation 19:17. And I saw one Angel standing on the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying in the midst of heaven: Come, gather yourselves to the great supper of God, John further sees an Angel standing on the sun. This must be understood so that he stood surrounded by the rays of the sun. His mission is to summon the birds to the coming supper of God. It will consist of the destruction by the birds of the corpses of the slain enemies of God’s Kingdom. The enemies gathered into an entire army. This gathering of all the impious must be understood so that by the wise providence of God and His almighty action all the impious, before the terrible judgment, will be separated and will experience what they deserved. According to the word of the Apostle, all living things, having lived to the second coming of the Lord, will experience a change of their bodies (1 Cor 15:51-52). The sinners, followers of antichrist, must undergo this change. And if this change for the righteous will be blessed, calm, and joyful, then for the impious it will be torturous. The Angel’s call to the birds of prey to feed upon the corpses of the enemies of God’s Kingdom is an indication of the horrors and sufferings of these latter at the final upheaval.

Revelation 19:18. so that you may eat the corpses of kings, the corpses of mighty men, the corpses of commanders of thousands, the corpses of horses and those sitting on them, the corpses of all free men and slaves, and small and great. Revelation 19:19. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, gathered to make war against the One sitting on the horse and against His army. By the army in verse 19 we must understand the extreme intensification and strengthening of impiety and anti-God hostility before the coming of the Lord. The impious will resemble an army, having come forth to battle and challenging God to struggle against themselves. But brief is the outcome of this long history of impiety. Retribution began with those who were perpetrators of human impiety of the last time—with antichrist and the false prophet. And since their impiety and their deservingness of eternal torments will be obvious to all, there will be even no judgment for them—they will be cast alive into the lake of fire, Gehenna, to eternal torments, without judgment. The beast-antichrist and his false prophet will be the first to receive retribution, will be destroyed by the spirit of the mouth of God and removed from the sight of the other people gathered by the Lord for the final judgment. A terrible, torturous transformation will occur by God’s verdict: the impious (the rest) will be killed by the sword of Him who sits on the horse, that is, by the action of God’s almightiness and judgment. Their former bodies will become food for birds; in a torturous process they will be transformed into new ones, which would correspond to the impending eternal torments, eternal sensation of unceasing pains. * * * Ewald. Andrew of Caesarea