Introduction
Following the parenthetical sections of chapters 17-18 which described the great harlot system of Babylon, chapter 19 gives us heaven’s perspective of the fall of Babylon. Heaven’s perspective stands in stark contrast to the mourning of Babylon’s lovers, and it resumes the progress and narrative of the future events of the Tribulation. With chapters 17-18 as a background, John receives new revelation concerning the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the first ten verses the emphasis is on what he heard in special announcements in preparation for the return of Christ. In verses 11-21, however, the stress falls on what John sees concerning the actual return of the Lord (cf. vss. 1, 2, 5, 6 with 11, 17, 19). The return of the Lord brings to a close the Tribulation events and the wrath of God.
Let’s not miss the striking change that is seen here in contrast to the preceding chapters. We are taken from somber weeping and lamenting to joyful worship and praise, from darkness and doom to light and deliverance, from a series of woes to a series of jubilant announcements. Chapter 19 is easily divided into four sections:
(1) The Hallelujah Choruses (19:1-6)
(2) The Announcement of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (19:7-10)
(3) The Announcement of the Advent of Christ (19:11-16)
(4) The Announcement of Armageddon (19:17-21)
The Hallelujah Choruses
(19:1-6)
THE HALLELUJAH OF A GREAT MULTITUDE IN HEAVEN (1-3)
THE TIME SEQUENCE
“And after these things” refers to the visions of chapters 17 and 18 and especially the fall of Babylon. In 18:20 there was the call to rejoice over Babylon’s destruction. Now there is heaven’s response to that call.
What John heard is described as “a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven.” This is undoubtedly the multitude of saints described in 7:9-12. It does not include the 24 elders and the four living creatures who subsequently respond antiphonally in verse 4. It may also include a multitude of angelic beings.
THE NATURE OF THEIR SAYING
This is seen in the word “hallelujah.” This word comes from two Hebrew words. The first is %allelu, an intensive verb in the imperative meaning “give praise.” The second is the Hebrew name of God in the shortened form, Yah. It means “praise Yahweh,” or “praise the Lord.”
This transliteration occurs only here in the NT (vv. 1, 3, 4, 6), but in the LXX it is a frequent title for certain of the psalms (Pss 111:1; 112:1; 113:1; et al.). This phenomenon clearly illustrates the connection of the early church’s liturgical worship with the synagogue and temple worship of the first century. These praise psalms formed an important part of Jewish festival celebrations.
The Hallel is the name especially applied to Pss 113-118 (also called “The Hallel of Egypt” because of the references in them to the Exodus). They had a special role in the Feast of Passover. Most Jewish sources associate the Hallel with the destruction of the wicked, exactly as this passage in Revelation does. These psalms were what Jesus and the disciples sang after the Passover-Eucharist celebration, before going out to the Mount of Olives the night before his death (Mt 26:30). This close connection between the Hallel, Passover Lamb, and the death of Jesus no doubt explains why all the early church liturgies incorporated the Hallel into the Easter and Easter Week liturgies, which celebrate the gospel of redemption from sin, Satan, and death in the victorious triumph of Christ, our Passover. Two texts in the great Hallel (Pss 113:1; 115:13) are unmistakably cited in 19:5.222
THE CONTENT OF THEIR PRAISE
The first aspect of praise consists of the declaration that “salvation and glory and power belong to our God.” Note the “our” in “our God.” Those giving praise had rejected the god of this world and his false messiah, and by faith had accepted the Lord as their God and Savior. For this many had died a martyr’s death, but to their God, who is our God through Jesus Christ, belongs all true deliverance, glory, and power. The apparent successes and victories of the enemies of God over His people are purely temporal.
Why do they make such a statement? This is given in verse 2, “Because His judgments are true and righteous.” God’s perfect and holy character, His perfect righteousness and justice, cannot act unfairly or unjustly. He has perfect knowledge (omniscience) and, therefore, He has all the facts so that all His judgments are in accord with the truth. There is no hearsay evidence in the court of God. In this case, the ground of God’s judgment demonstrated in the fall of Babylon was the immorality by which the great harlot seduced and corrupted the earth.
A further reason for the righteousness of God’s judgments is that He does not allow His people who suffered unjustly under the harlot to go unavenged. He will avenge the wrong that was done to them. Sometimes in this age there appears to be no justice, but this cannot and will not always be the case because of the character of God. The word “avenged” is the Greek ekdikew, an intensive compound verb and may suggest a complete rendering of justice to avenge His people.
In verse 3 a second “hallelujah” is given in connection with the statement, “Her smoke rises up forever and ever.” The smoke may refer to “the smoke of her burning” in 18:9 and 18, the results of her destruction, or to her eternal punishment (14:11). Whatever, this guarantees that her punishment is permanent.
THE HALLELUJAH OF THE 24 ELDERS
AND THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES (4)
Upon hearing the hallelujahs of the great multitude, the 24 elders and the four living creatures respond with their own hallelujah and worship of God. Please note the clause “and worshipped God who sits on the throne.” The Greek says, “and they worshipped the God, the One who sits continually upon the throne.” Oh, how we need to capture this picture of our God who sits on the throne. This strongly emphasizes the permanent sovereignty of God. There is no act of man, nor of the nations, nor problem which comes up in our lives which overrules the sovereignty of God. “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; And His sovereignty rules over all (Psa. 103:19).
God, with His great power and steadfast love for us, sits permanently on the throne. And, as the One who sits on the throne in heaven, we ought to humbly submit to Him and give Him the throne of our hearts. But too often we are like the world, we want to usurp God’s right to rule, but when we do, it is always our own loss.
THE FINAL HALLELUJAH OF THE GREAT MULTITUDE (5-6)
Immediately, in response to this picture of God enthroned, the hallelujahs, and the worship of these creatures of God, a voice comes from the throne. This voice is not the Father or the Son, but only an angel because of the phrase “our God” in the next line.
The voice says, “give praise to our God.” In other words, “sing hallelujahs.” Who is to respond? All His bondservants, “you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Note that in this statement, all social and economic distinctions are transcended and removed in the worship of God by His people. Before God and in Christ, all believers, as the blood-bought possession of the Lord Jesus, are His bondservants. We are those who should have a true reverence for God through our illumination in Christ and by our equality together in Him.
In order to express the majesty of this praise verse 6 describes this voice as “the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder.” It is a majestic expression of praise from the hearts and mouths of the saints of God. Then the last hallelujah states, “for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” In other words, truly, He is still on the throne; He always has been, and always will be. But the primary emphasis in this context is that God is now dramatically establishing His reign upon earth by the previous judgments and especially by the return of the Lord, which is to be announced shortly (vss. 11f).
The Announcement of
the Marriage Supper of the Lamb
(19:7-10)
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE MARRIAGE CUSTOM
To truly grasp the significance and meaning of this passages, it would be helpful to explain the marriage custom of John’s day which was in three phases: (1) betrothal, (2) presentation, and (3) the marriage feast.
PHASE 1: THE BETROTHAL
Marriage was by a contract drawn up between the fathers, often while the parties involved were still children. In other words, this was the negotiating phase. Though the marriage was not consummated at this point, they were considered legally married (cf. Matt. 1:19 and the word “husband,” and also 2 Cor. 11:2, “I betrothed you to one husband”). Whenever a believer receives Jesus Christ as Savior he becomes a part of the bride of Christ. The church age is the betrothal phase, the time when God is calling out a bride for His Son.
The payment of a suitable dowry was also often a part of the procedure (cf. Eph. 5:25). Thus, Christ gave His own life for us as a dowry. Today all believers are legally married to Jesus Christ and through living faithfully in the Word, we are kept as pure virgins, kept from Satanic apostasy or fornication (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25-26 with Jam. 4:4).
PHASE 2: THE PRESENTATION
When the couple reached a suitable age the wedding took place. The father of the bridegroom would present the contract to the father of the bride. The bridegroom would then go to the house of the bride in the company of his friends and escort her to his home. This is the background for the parable of the virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. During the betrothal phase the groom would prepare an apartment, a place to live in his father’s house. Homes, especially for the wealthy, were often very large complexes. Only the portions which were needed, however, were finished and furnished. When a son was to be married, another portion was completed to make ready for the new bride (John 14:2-3). The rapture, or resurrection and transformation of the church, is the event which brings the groom to the bride and which takes the bride back into heaven.
The groom and his friends would then escort the bride to their new home. The ceremony which followed was the “presentation” or actual marriage. The hand of the bride was placed into the hand of the groom’s father. He would then place it into the groom’s hand. This was considered the marriage ceremony. Ephesians 5:27 speaks of this presentation, but also of Christ’s present work of keeping the church pure and productive by loving her through the Word.
PHASE 3: THE MARRIAGE FEAST (THE RECEPTION)
The groom would invite many guests and gather all his friends to come to the marriage feast and view his bride. The length and lavishness of the feast would of course depend on the wealth and status of the bridegroom. It might last a day or a week or even longer. The millennium represents the marriage feast where Christ displays His bride, the church.
In the parable of Matthew 22:l-14 we have an illustration of this custom. The parable, however, pictures the rejection of Israel and Christ’s gracious extension of the invitation to all nations. Christ had prepared a great feast of spiritual blessings, but Israel was too busy to be bothered so the offer was extended to the nations or the Gentile world (cf. Rom. 11:1-32).
Following the parenthetical sections of chapters 17-18 which described the great harlot system of Babylon, chapter 19 gives us heaven’s perspective of the fall of Babylon. Heaven’s perspective stands in stark contrast to the mourning of Babylon’s lovers, and it resumes the progress and narrative of the future events of the Tribulation. With chapters 17-18 as a background, John receives new revelation concerning the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the first ten verses the emphasis is on what he heard in special announcements in preparation for the return of Christ. In verses 11-21, however, the stress falls on what John sees concerning the actual return of the Lord (cf. vss. 1, 2, 5, 6 with 11, 17, 19). The return of the Lord brings to a close the Tribulation events and the wrath of God.
Let’s not miss the striking change that is seen here in contrast to the preceding chapters. We are taken from somber weeping and lamenting to joyful worship and praise, from darkness and doom to light and deliverance, from a series of woes to a series of jubilant announcements. Chapter 19 is easily divided into four sections:
(1) The Hallelujah Choruses (19:1-6)
(2) The Announcement of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (19:7-10)
(3) The Announcement of the Advent of Christ (19:11-16)
(4) The Announcement of Armageddon (19:17-21)
The Hallelujah Choruses
(19:1-6)
THE HALLELUJAH OF A GREAT MULTITUDE IN HEAVEN (1-3)
THE TIME SEQUENCE
“And after these things” refers to the visions of chapters 17 and 18 and especially the fall of Babylon. In 18:20 there was the call to rejoice over Babylon’s destruction. Now there is heaven’s response to that call.
What John heard is described as “a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven.” This is undoubtedly the multitude of saints described in 7:9-12. It does not include the 24 elders and the four living creatures who subsequently respond antiphonally in verse 4. It may also include a multitude of angelic beings.
THE NATURE OF THEIR SAYING
This is seen in the word “hallelujah.” This word comes from two Hebrew words. The first is %allelu, an intensive verb in the imperative meaning “give praise.” The second is the Hebrew name of God in the shortened form, Yah. It means “praise Yahweh,” or “praise the Lord.”
This transliteration occurs only here in the NT (vv. 1, 3, 4, 6), but in the LXX it is a frequent title for certain of the psalms (Pss 111:1; 112:1; 113:1; et al.). This phenomenon clearly illustrates the connection of the early church’s liturgical worship with the synagogue and temple worship of the first century. These praise psalms formed an important part of Jewish festival celebrations.
The Hallel is the name especially applied to Pss 113-118 (also called “The Hallel of Egypt” because of the references in them to the Exodus). They had a special role in the Feast of Passover. Most Jewish sources associate the Hallel with the destruction of the wicked, exactly as this passage in Revelation does. These psalms were what Jesus and the disciples sang after the Passover-Eucharist celebration, before going out to the Mount of Olives the night before his death (Mt 26:30). This close connection between the Hallel, Passover Lamb, and the death of Jesus no doubt explains why all the early church liturgies incorporated the Hallel into the Easter and Easter Week liturgies, which celebrate the gospel of redemption from sin, Satan, and death in the victorious triumph of Christ, our Passover. Two texts in the great Hallel (Pss 113:1; 115:13) are unmistakably cited in 19:5.222
THE CONTENT OF THEIR PRAISE
The first aspect of praise consists of the declaration that “salvation and glory and power belong to our God.” Note the “our” in “our God.” Those giving praise had rejected the god of this world and his false messiah, and by faith had accepted the Lord as their God and Savior. For this many had died a martyr’s death, but to their God, who is our God through Jesus Christ, belongs all true deliverance, glory, and power. The apparent successes and victories of the enemies of God over His people are purely temporal.
Why do they make such a statement? This is given in verse 2, “Because His judgments are true and righteous.” God’s perfect and holy character, His perfect righteousness and justice, cannot act unfairly or unjustly. He has perfect knowledge (omniscience) and, therefore, He has all the facts so that all His judgments are in accord with the truth. There is no hearsay evidence in the court of God. In this case, the ground of God’s judgment demonstrated in the fall of Babylon was the immorality by which the great harlot seduced and corrupted the earth.
A further reason for the righteousness of God’s judgments is that He does not allow His people who suffered unjustly under the harlot to go unavenged. He will avenge the wrong that was done to them. Sometimes in this age there appears to be no justice, but this cannot and will not always be the case because of the character of God. The word “avenged” is the Greek ekdikew, an intensive compound verb and may suggest a complete rendering of justice to avenge His people.
In verse 3 a second “hallelujah” is given in connection with the statement, “Her smoke rises up forever and ever.” The smoke may refer to “the smoke of her burning” in 18:9 and 18, the results of her destruction, or to her eternal punishment (14:11). Whatever, this guarantees that her punishment is permanent.
THE HALLELUJAH OF THE 24 ELDERS
AND THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES (4)
Upon hearing the hallelujahs of the great multitude, the 24 elders and the four living creatures respond with their own hallelujah and worship of God. Please note the clause “and worshipped God who sits on the throne.” The Greek says, “and they worshipped the God, the One who sits continually upon the throne.” Oh, how we need to capture this picture of our God who sits on the throne. This strongly emphasizes the permanent sovereignty of God. There is no act of man, nor of the nations, nor problem which comes up in our lives which overrules the sovereignty of God. “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; And His sovereignty rules over all (Psa. 103:19).
God, with His great power and steadfast love for us, sits permanently on the throne. And, as the One who sits on the throne in heaven, we ought to humbly submit to Him and give Him the throne of our hearts. But too often we are like the world, we want to usurp God’s right to rule, but when we do, it is always our own loss.
THE FINAL HALLELUJAH OF THE GREAT MULTITUDE (5-6)
Immediately, in response to this picture of God enthroned, the hallelujahs, and the worship of these creatures of God, a voice comes from the throne. This voice is not the Father or the Son, but only an angel because of the phrase “our God” in the next line.
The voice says, “give praise to our God.” In other words, “sing hallelujahs.” Who is to respond? All His bondservants, “you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Note that in this statement, all social and economic distinctions are transcended and removed in the worship of God by His people. Before God and in Christ, all believers, as the blood-bought possession of the Lord Jesus, are His bondservants. We are those who should have a true reverence for God through our illumination in Christ and by our equality together in Him.
In order to express the majesty of this praise verse 6 describes this voice as “the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder.” It is a majestic expression of praise from the hearts and mouths of the saints of God. Then the last hallelujah states, “for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” In other words, truly, He is still on the throne; He always has been, and always will be. But the primary emphasis in this context is that God is now dramatically establishing His reign upon earth by the previous judgments and especially by the return of the Lord, which is to be announced shortly (vss. 11f).
The Announcement of
the Marriage Supper of the Lamb
(19:7-10)
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE MARRIAGE CUSTOM
To truly grasp the significance and meaning of this passages, it would be helpful to explain the marriage custom of John’s day which was in three phases: (1) betrothal, (2) presentation, and (3) the marriage feast.
PHASE 1: THE BETROTHAL
Marriage was by a contract drawn up between the fathers, often while the parties involved were still children. In other words, this was the negotiating phase. Though the marriage was not consummated at this point, they were considered legally married (cf. Matt. 1:19 and the word “husband,” and also 2 Cor. 11:2, “I betrothed you to one husband”). Whenever a believer receives Jesus Christ as Savior he becomes a part of the bride of Christ. The church age is the betrothal phase, the time when God is calling out a bride for His Son.
The payment of a suitable dowry was also often a part of the procedure (cf. Eph. 5:25). Thus, Christ gave His own life for us as a dowry. Today all believers are legally married to Jesus Christ and through living faithfully in the Word, we are kept as pure virgins, kept from Satanic apostasy or fornication (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25-26 with Jam. 4:4).
PHASE 2: THE PRESENTATION
When the couple reached a suitable age the wedding took place. The father of the bridegroom would present the contract to the father of the bride. The bridegroom would then go to the house of the bride in the company of his friends and escort her to his home. This is the background for the parable of the virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. During the betrothal phase the groom would prepare an apartment, a place to live in his father’s house. Homes, especially for the wealthy, were often very large complexes. Only the portions which were needed, however, were finished and furnished. When a son was to be married, another portion was completed to make ready for the new bride (John 14:2-3). The rapture, or resurrection and transformation of the church, is the event which brings the groom to the bride and which takes the bride back into heaven.
The groom and his friends would then escort the bride to their new home. The ceremony which followed was the “presentation” or actual marriage. The hand of the bride was placed into the hand of the groom’s father. He would then place it into the groom’s hand. This was considered the marriage ceremony. Ephesians 5:27 speaks of this presentation, but also of Christ’s present work of keeping the church pure and productive by loving her through the Word.
PHASE 3: THE MARRIAGE FEAST (THE RECEPTION)
The groom would invite many guests and gather all his friends to come to the marriage feast and view his bride. The length and lavishness of the feast would of course depend on the wealth and status of the bridegroom. It might last a day or a week or even longer. The millennium represents the marriage feast where Christ displays His bride, the church.
In the parable of Matthew 22:l-14 we have an illustration of this custom. The parable, however, pictures the rejection of Israel and Christ’s gracious extension of the invitation to all nations. Christ had prepared a great feast of spiritual blessings, but Israel was too busy to be bothered so the offer was extended to the nations or the Gentile world (cf. Rom. 11:1-32).
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