Today in our study series through the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we find ourselves in chapter 19, one of the single greatest moments in God’s Word...the triumphal second coming of Jesus Christ. We have seen in the first 18 chapters that Jesus has been judging an unbelieving world in His perfect righteousness. We have seen the appearance of the 2 antichrists and their worldly kingdom of evil. We saw the fall of that kingdom in chapter 18 and today we will see the final battle of Armageddon as Christ returns victorious over all evil. In a last ditch effort, the evil men of the world will try to defeat Christ. Their efforts are in vain and their souls as well as their bodies will perish as a result of their rebellious wills against Almighty God. Let’s look at chapter 19.
19:1-5 – “After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” 3 Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.” 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”
We start out the chapter with immense praise and worship to God. Jesus has destroyed the “great prostitute” which was satan’s evil world church that led so many astray. (Rev 17) We see here the expression, “hallelujah” not once but three times. What does it mean? Hallelujah is a Greek transliteration of a Hebrew phrase combining the verb “to praise” and the noun “God.” It is a statement that is full of action and movement. It literally means “Praise the Lord!” Pay special attention to the exclamation point. This is a word that is better shouted with joy than just uttered under your breath. If you’re in love with Jesus and the fact that He has saved your sinning soul for all eternity, you should stand wherever you’re at right now and shout Hallelujah!
19:6-10 – “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
We see here one more Hallelujah, a total of four in the first 6 verses. Folks, there is tremendous praise of God in Heaven as He defeats satan and will be soon returning to the Earth to claim His kingdom. He is the King of Kings and He is moving to reclaim His kingdom which is rightfully His. This is a moment we should not just read about, but should be exclaiming Hallelujah right along side these saints in Heaven! We serve a mighty God. We serve a God that will defeat all evil in this world once and for all. My friends that is a reason to shout and praise the Lord Jesus!
The angel reminds John to "write this." Here is a funny side note; John is told “to write” 12 times in the book of Revelation. I don’t think John needed to be commanded 12 times to write, I think he needed to be commanded once and reminded 11 more times. I think what he was seeing was so mind blowing that he couldn’t focus. It reminds me of the A.D.D. dog in the Disney movie UP! Every time someone was talking to him, He would get distracted and say, “look a squirrel!” I think John was having a really hard time concentrating on his writing with these amazing events taking place right in front of him.
As John is carried away with the emotions of the worship scene in the throneroom of heaven, he falls down to worship the messenger, that is the angel that is delivering the message. (by the way the name angel literally translates as "messenger") But the angel tells him to get up, he is not to be worshipped, he is merely a servant of God just like John. This is very important to note. We live in a world today where many do in fact engage in angel worship. I was down at my dad’s last week helping him spread mulch and they have a rental property affixed to their house. The lady that rents it had no less than 10 angel sculptures all over her front yard. Folks, let me tell you something about angels. They serve God and they are His messengers. They are not to be worshipped by us. They are servants just like we are. We do not have guardian angels and they do not protect us unless God tells them to. You should not pray to angels. They cannot help you unless instructed by God. We have something much, much better than any angel to help us, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is better than any guardian angel and you should be worshipping and praying to Jesus, not an angel. Also, by the way, we do not become angels when we die. I often hear that somebody passed away and a relative will say “they’re one of God’s angels now.” That is completely unsubstantiatied, being found nowhwere in God's Word. I can understand if an unbeliever makes this claim being ignorant of God’s Word, but all believers should know exactly what God’s Word says about angels.
By the way, I wrote a supplementary study on angels using a text by Billy Graham as my guide, it’s on The5MC.com. If you want to know the Biblical facts about angels, please check it out. Go to The5MC.com and search for Hebrews chapter 1 - Angels.
19:11-16 – “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords."
Here we see one of the most glorious sights in all of God’s Word. Heaven opens and Jesus descends to the Earth to claim His kingdom. This is one of the most beautiful descriptions of the Lord Jesus Christ we see in scripture. He is on a white horse. Remember when he rode into Jerusalem to be crucified on a borrowed donkey? Not here. A white horse symbolizes a victorious general as Roman generals that had been victorious in battle would return home on a beautiful white stallion. Jesus is indeed returning to the earth in victory. He is called faithful and true. Jesus IS truth and He IS faithful to His Word forever. His robe being dipped in blood refers not to His own blood but the blood of the unrighteous He has slain to reclaim His kingdom. And I love the next line...He is called the Word of God. How beautiful. How majestic. How powerful. He is called the Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5)
Jesus is coming on a mission though. He is coming to finish the final and last battle of Armageddon. He has business to do. The armies of the earth and the armies of the unrighteous are gathering in one last act of rebellion, trying to overthrow Jesus Himself. The audacity of man boggles the mind. As Jesus returns the armies of satan and the two antichrists are there to meet him and wage war against Him. It will be a very one sided fight as Jesus “will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” upon them.
19:17-21 – “ Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
The battle will be so lopsided and so absolute that God lines up a clean up crew before it even starts. An angel enlists the birds of the air to be ready to feast upon the flesh of the dead that will soon be heaped in piles. In the OT, there was no greater disrespect than to leave a dead body out to be scavenged by birds. Jesus will destroy all those who oppose him at the final battle of Armageddon and the birds will dine upon “the kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” After this He will capture the two Antichrists, the political one and the religious one, and they will have the first two places in the “lake of fire.” This is the picture of the last battle in the war of Armageddon. This is the last of the resistance against God. He is finished with man's unrighteousness upon the earth.
What a glorious passage we have the honor of studying today. The triumphant and glorious return of Christ to the earth to claim that which is rightfully His. Tomorrow we will look at chapter 20 and the defeat of satan, the millennial period, and the great white throne of judgement. Thanks for joining me today and I look forward to you joining me yet again tomorrow as we get ever closer to wrapping up our 32 part study of the great book of Revelation.
God bless you ~ Dan
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