Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Revelation 19:11

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Revelation 19:11. A white horse — This is an exhibition of the triumph of Christ after the destruction of his enemies. The white horse is the emblem of this, and FAITHFUL and TRUE are characters of Christ. See Revelation 3:14.

In righteousness he doth judge and make war. — The wars which he wages are from no principle of ambition, lust of power, or extension of conquest and dominion; they are righteous in their principle and in their object. And this is perhaps what no earthly potentate could ever say.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

19:11-20:15 THE TRIUMPH OF GOD

Up till now the visions have mainly been concerned with the power of evil and the sufferings of believers. Persecuted Christians have been encouraged to endure their trials by the assurance that God is still in control. He guards his people, allowing the wicked to exercise their power only within the limits that he has set according to his eternal plan. Leaving behind the subject of the power of evil in the world, the visions now move on to their climax. They picture the final triumph of God over all enemies and his complete conquest of evil.

The holy war (19:11-20:3)

God’s victory over a rebellious humanity and its satanic leaders is now pictured in a terrifying war (cf. 16:12-16). Jesus descends majestically to judge in righteousness and rule in power. His secret name indicates his unique authority (11-12). His blood-soaked robe signifies that his triumph has come through his death on the cross. Armies of angels are with him, but his conquest is not by armies or weapons. It is by the sword that goes out of his mouth. He is the living Word, the active agent of God who expresses God’s will and carries it out. He speaks and it is done. As King of kings and Lord of lords he exercises God’s rule over all humankind, and in divine wrath punishes the wicked (13-16).
An angel calls flesh-eating birds to prepare for a feast such as they have never had before, for the corpses on the battlefield will be beyond number (17-18). Once Jesus enters the battle, it is soon over. The antichrist and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire, signifying punishment from which there is no escape. Meanwhile the armies of the antichrist perish in battle (19-21).
With the antichrist and the false prophet destroyed, only the first member of the evil trinity remains to be dealt with, Satan himself. However, Satan is not yet destroyed. He is thrown into the abyss (see 9:1; 11:7; 17:8) where he is imprisoned for a long period, symbolized by a thousand years, so that he is no longer able to tempt the human race to rebel against God. At the end of this time he will be released for a short while (20:1-3).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

A white horse, and he that sat thereon called Faithful and True … This seems to be one of the few places in Revelation where all the opinions meld into one. This is a description of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also identify him with the rider of the white horse in the first seal (Revelation 6:2). It is objected that those seals are judgments; but what is the scene here if it is not a judgment, not merely a judgment, but the final and last judgment? The judgment in the seals (Revelation 6:2) was due to the preaching of the truth, an odor of life to some, death to others; and this judgment is the final and total execution of the judgment determined by the preaching of the gospel, which always results in the salvation of some and the rejection of others, and culminates in the wicked being overthrown as in this judgment.

The dark scenes of the balance of this chapter are objected to by many who find what they call their "Christian sensibilities" offended. They say this contradicts the conception of a gracious and merciful Christ; but such views are simply incorrect. "Everywhere in the New Testament, the element of victory through judgment is an inescapable aspect of Christ's total work." George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 151.

The warfare now to be described must be understood as that which is taking place between the hosts of Christ and Satan throughout the period of the world's existence. A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 449.

We reject the type of slander of this part of Revelation which declares that, "There is little or nothing that is specifically Christian in the whole section." James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 466. People with such views have merely overlooked the New Testament doctrine of judgment. Even Roberts overlooked the judgment here, thinking that John "expected a thousand year reign of the saints before the end of the world and the judgment." J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 158. He and so many others overlooked the recapitulatory nature of these chapters (Revelation 18; Revelation 19, and Revelation 20). It is true, of course, that the 1,000 years' reign comes before the judgment, as the recapitulation in the next chapter shows. But the judgment here in this chapter is exactly the same as the judgment there. "This chapter does not give us a picture of the millennial age" James William Russell, op. cit., p. 650. in Any sense of its being any different from the rest of the Christian dispensation. The chapter is a view of the whole "millennial age," the "forty two months," the "one thousand two hundred and sixty days," etc., all of which are synonyms, symbolical representations of the total time between the two Advents of Christ, covering exactly the same time-period as that already covered in this prophecy, again, and again, and again.

Keep in mind that Revelation 18 gave the overthrow of the harlot; this chapter gives the overthrow of the beast (in his phase of the ten kings, the final phase, that of the eighth head); and the next chapter (Revelation 20) gives the overthrow of Satan (the dragon). These three: the dragon (Satan), the sea-beast (world persecuting governments), and the harlot (the land-beast, also the false prophet), are the three great enemies of Christianity depicted in Revelation. Their destruction in these three chapters occurs in exactly the reverse order of their appearance in the prophecy (beginning at Revelation 12:1); and despite their overthrow being related in separate chapters and separate recapitulations, "All three go down together:" R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 547. They are all three destroyed simultaneously in the final judgment, and shall continue "alive" and active until the very last day of time.

The circumstance that each is revealed in a separate vision should not lead us to think that there is an interval of centuries, either between their appearances (or their overthrow). In reality, all perish together by the Parousia of the Lamb. R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 547, 548.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

And I saw heaven opened - He saw a new vision, as if an opening were made through the sky, and he was permitted to look into heaven. See the notes on Revelation 4:1.

And behold, a white horse - On the white horse as a symbol, see the notes on Revelation 6:2. He is here the symbol of the final victory that is to be obtained over the beast and the false prophet Revelation 19:20, and of the final triumph of the church.

And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True - He is not designated here by his usual and real name, but by his attributes. There can be no doubt that the Messiah is intended, as he goes forth to the subjugation of the world to himself. The attributes here referred to - faithful and true - are especially appropriate, for they are not only strongly marked attributes of his character, but they would be particularly manifested in the events that are described. He would thus show that he was faithful - or worthy of the confidence of his church in delivering it from all its enemies; and true to all the promises that he has made to it.

And in righteousness he doth judge - All his acts of judgment in determining the destiny of people are righteous. See the notes on Isaiah 11:3-5.

And make war - That is, the war which he wages is not a war of ambition; it is not for the mere purpose of conquest; it is to save the righteous, and to punish the wicked.

Smith's Bible Commentary

After these things ( Revelation 19:1 )

After the destruction of Babylon religious and commercial, chapter seventeen and eighteen.

I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God ( Revelation 19:1 ):

The judgment of the earth, as far as God's wrath being poured out, has been completed on Babylon. We have one final little battle here to take place in chapter nineteen. The vials have all now been dispensed upon the earth of the judgment and the wrath of God. Now, the time has come for the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to return in power and great glory and establish God's kingdom upon the earth. And because of this there is great rejoicing in heaven. That great multitude, I expect personally to be a part of that multitude. I expect to be there in that heavenly scene declaring, "Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God."

For true and righteous are his judgments ( Revelation 19:2 ):

All the way through we have had this affirmation that the judgments of God are true and righteous. And I think that this has been declared all the way through, because this is one of the areas that Satan constantly challenges concerning God, the fairness of God's judgments when he deals and meats out His judgments upon man. There are always those who are ready to challenge the fairness of it. There are always those that say, "What about the people that haven't heard? What about little babies?" and so forth. God is going to be fair and just. This is the declaration that is made all through the period of judgment, "true and righteous are thy judgments, O Lord".

The concept that Satan brought to Eve in the Garden of Eden was that God was not fair, that God was trying to hold her back from something that was beneficial, that God was somehow trying to protect Himself. He had His own self interest at heart when He told Eve not to eat of the tree. That God is holding back something good and He really isn't fair to you was the insinuation behind Satan's remarks. All the way along the fairness of God's judgment has been challenged.

I don't know what God is going to do in a lot of cases. I do know that whatever He does will be absolutely fair. "True and righteous are thy judgments, O Lord." Never worry about the righteousness of God's judgments. You can be worried about the righteousness of my judgments. I sometimes make snap judgments. I sometimes judge without having all the facts in hand, and so my judgments are often wrong. And I have to apologize sometimes for my judgments. That is something that God will never have to do, apologize. It will never happen. "True and righteous are thy judgments, O Lord."

for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication ( Revelation 19:2 ),

That is spiritually in chapter seventeen, that great religious system that corrupted the earth. Who was it; Marx, that said, "Religion is the opium of the people?" I agree one hundred percent. I think that religion is a tremendous curse upon the earth. I have a hard time stomaching religious people. I believe that religion is vastly different from Christianity. I believe that religion is man's endeavor to reach God. And it is the various ways by which men are attempting to reach God. Christianity teaches that God is reaching down to man; exactly the opposite of religious thoughts, man trying to reach God.

In Christianity you have a God that is reaching out to man. That is why religions fail. You can't start with a finite base and reach to infinity. That is why Christianity is successful. It is no problem for the infinite God to reach to finite man. Religions tell you that you have to do certain things in order to please God. You have to accomplish certain works in order to be accepted by God. Christianity tells you that your righteousness is as filthy rags. You just have to come on the basis of God's grace and love for you and cast yourself upon His mercy, but that God is merciful. But there is really no good work that you can offer to God that would be acceptable in His sight, but He will accept you just as you are if you will just cast yourself upon His mercy and just ask for His mercy and grace. "Whoever comes to me I will in no wise cast out" ( John 6:37 ).

So, the great religious system, spiritual fornication is that endeavor to worship God in an unprescribed way. How does God tell us to worship Him? "God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" ( John 4:24 ). And if you try to worship God in an unprescribed way, setting up little idols or whatever, which God has forbidden, that is spiritual fornication. That is worship of God in unprescribed ways. That is religion. That is letting religion enter in. God wants a loving relationship, not religion. He doesn't want you to be religious. He wants you to have a relationship with Him, a loving relationship, not a legal relationship.

So, God has judged the false religious system that corrupted the earth with her spiritual fornication.

He has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand ( Revelation 19:2 ).

Jesus found Himself at opposition with the religious forces of His day and it was the religious people who prompted the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It was the religious leaders that insisted that the Roman government put Him to death. Jesus Christ was a threat to the religious leaders as He would be to all religious leaders. He is a threat to them, because He tells you, you don't have to be religious to be accepted by God. God loves you and receives you just as you are on the basis of His grace, love and mercy. So, Jesus was at odds with the religious leaders of His day and they are the ones that prompted His crucifixion. It was the religious leaders that prompted the persecution against the church in its beginning and throughout history.

There is even at the present time, one of the leaders of the YWAM program who has been charged in Greece with a charge of proselytizing, because he gave a Bible to a Greek sixteen-year old boy, and he has been charged in the Greek courts with proselytizing. And of course, this proselytizing law was prompted by the Greek Orthodox Church, and he has been sentenced to spend three and a half years in jail in Greece. He is an American citizen and his base is in Sunland, California. He is in charge of the Anastausus Ship, but he is facing a jail sentence of three and a half years in Greece because He gave a Bible to a sixteen-year old Greek boy and the boy accepted Jesus Christ as His Savior. Now, this law that has the backing of the Greek Orthodox Church, or it was instituted because of the Greek Orthodox Church against proselytization, is the law that they used to charge him.

In Egypt it is a capital offense to lead a Muslim to a faith in Jesus Christ. One of our pastors, Imad, spent some time in the Egyptian jail. He was a medical doctor there. He had a great desire to bring his brothers, Egyptian brothers to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He wrote several tracts and was instrumental in leading several Muslims from their religion to a real relationship with God in Jesus Christ. And as a result was thrown in jail in Egypt and was then released because of the family influence, and told to get out of the country for his own welfare or he would be put to death if he stayed. So, he is one of our pastors here, but that is what religion does. Religion is threatened by life, by spiritual life.

So, God has judged that religious system and has avenged the blood of His servants at her hands. A lot of the persecution against the Christian has come from religion, religious leaders.

And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever ( Revelation 19:3 ).

That is of the judgment against Babylon.

And the twenty-four elders [representing the church] and the four beasts [cherubim] fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia ( Revelation 19:4 ).

Here we find the term "Alleluia" used really for the first in the New Testament and it is used four times here. It is a Hebrew word that has become universal, "Allel", "u", "yah", which means, "praise to Jehovah" or Yahweh.

And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great ( Revelation 19:5 ).

So here is the praise being given to God and now the encouragement for that praise coming from the throne of God.

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as a voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth ( Revelation 19:6 ).

Imagine the millions upon millions of Christians that will be gathered in that glorious assembly and when the voice of the Lord comes exhorting us to praise God and give glory to Him, and in our response to it that tremendous praise, crescendo of praise that will arise. And John heard it as the voice of many waters or rushing waters and the voice of mighty thunderings.

Glory. I can hardly wait.

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready ( Revelation 19:7 ).

So the marriage feast of the Lamb will take place here on the earth. But now He is ready to return and establish His kingdom and take us unto Himself and the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife, or bride, has made herself ready.

And to her [that is the bride of Christ, the church] was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints ( Revelation 19:8 ).

What is the righteousness of the saints? Paul, the apostle said as he was recounting to the Philippians his past credits as a Jew, "Hebrew of the Hebrews, circumcised the seventh day, the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, concerning zeal persecuting the church", but he said, "Those things that were gain to me", those credits that I had, those brownie points, "I counted loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, for whom I suffer the loss of all things and count them but refuse that I may know Him and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which was of the Law", circumcised seventh, eighth day and so forth, not having that righteousness which was of the law, "but now having the righteousness which was of Christ through faith" ( Philippians 3:5-9 ).

So, it is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is imparted to me through my faith in Jesus Christ. God accounts my faith for righteousness. So, I will be clothed in linen, pure and white and clean. And the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. That righteousness that God puts on my account because I believe in Jesus Christ. So it is imputed righteousness given to you by your faith in Christ. It is not a righteousness of works. It isn't that you have been faithful in your devotions, and you have witnessed to so many people, and read so many chapters of the Bible, and spent so many hours in prayer, and you have done all of the religious devotional things, not that at all. I am accounted righteous by God because I believe and trust in Jesus Christ. There is the basis for my righteousness. That is good. If my righteousness were dependent upon my keeping the Law, or keeping rules or regulations-

Let's say that we said that every day you should be reading five chapters out of the Bible. Every day you should be spending twenty minutes on your knees in prayer. Every day you should witness to at least two people. Every day-and we set up these rules for righteousness. Then you may be very good all week long, and you put your little star behind each of the categories each evening. Yes, all my gold stars, but Friday you blow it and you didn't get your prayer time in. Too bad, your unrighteousness Friday night. Just hope the Lord doesn't come Friday night. You might get left. No. My righteousness is not on such a tenuous thing as my faithfulness to devotions or works or whatever. My righteousness is something God accounts and imputes to me because of my faith in Jesus Christ. Thank God.

And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God ( Revelation 19:9 ).

Now the Lord in the end here is really putting a lot of emphasis upon the fact that these are true sayings. Over and over we will find this repeated as we approach the end of the book, these are the true sayings of God. You can believe this. You can trust in this that these are the true sayings of God.

It is interesting to me how that God took such pains to protect the innocency of Jesus Christ at the crucifixion. Judas returned the money to the priests saying, "I betrayed innocent blood" ( Matthew 27:4 ). Pilate said, "I find no fault in Him. I have examined Him. I find no fault in Him" ( Luke 23:14 ). The thief said, "We are here because we deserve to be here, but this man has done nothing amiss"( Luke 23:41 ). God is making sure that you know that Jesus is innocent as He hangs there on the cross. It is not for His crime or guilt. It is for your sin that He is dying.

Now, as the Lord closes out His revelation to man, and as He begins to talk to us about the glories of this coming age, the marriage supper of the lamb. Blessed are those that are called to be a part in this. These are the true sayings of God. You can believe this. You can trust in this.

And I fell at His feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God ( Revelation 19:10 ):

Now, John like so many people, we want to worship the instrument that God uses to bring His knowledge or love or grace to us. One of the great dangers of being in any kind of ministry where God is using you, one of the great dangers of exercising any spiritual gift, is that people so often look at the instrument that God uses. They begin to admire the instrument. They begin to worship, in a sense, the instrument that God has used. And here is John falling on his knees before the angel that is giving him all of this revelation and he is so overawed and thrilled with what is in store for him he falls at his feet to worship him. And he says to him not to do that because he is a fellowservant, but to worship God.

You see it is a apart of man to need and want to worship something, and man seems to find it easier to worship an object that he can see rather than an object that he cannot see. And so this is the hang-up of man as Paul said in Romans one, "They worshipped and served the creature more than the creator." Man gets hung up and he stops short. He sees the glorious creation of God and he worships the creation, rather than the creator.

And so John is making the same mistake and the angel corrects him and says don't do that. I am a servant of God just like you are. You worship God. And if you are wise and involved in any kind of ministry at all when attention and adulation and these kinds of things come your way, you will be wise as the angel and say, "Don't worship me. Worship God." God doesn't want you taking credit for the work that He does, receiving glory for His work.

for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy ( Revelation 19:10 ).

That is prophecy centers around the person of Jesus Christ. That is what prophecy is about. That is what history is about. History is actually "His story." He is the center of it. It all focuses before Christ and after the year of our Lord, but He is center, the focal point of history. It is "His story". So, Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It is all centered around Him. The Lord is not so interested in telling you who you are going to marry or what is going to happen to you next week, the spirit of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The prophecy centers around the person of Jesus Christ. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, the witness of Jesus.

And I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True ( Revelation 19:11 ),

We find that Jesus is called the faithful witness. And He is called the True witness. Then He is called the "True and faithful witness" in the third chapter of Revelation. So here He is sitting upon a white horse.

and in righteousness he doth judge and make war ( Revelation 19:11 ).

Again the righteousness of His judgment attested to.

His eyes were as a flame of fire ( Revelation 19:12 ),

Again speaking of that burning judgment.

and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God ( Revelation 19:12-13 ).

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was light; and that light was the life of man. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." ( John 1:14 ) And now again He comes as the Word of God.

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses ( Revelation 19:14 ),

I will be a part of that army, as will you, because we are clothed in the fine linen white and clean, which is the righteousness of the saints.

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword ( Revelation 19:15 ),

The Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Out of his mouth goes this sharp sword, His word.

that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS ( Revelation 19:15-16 ).

Now, this vesture dipped in blood is probably a reference to Isaiah sixty-three. It is not his own blood, but the blood of his enemies that he tramples as he tramples out the rebellious. Isaiah sixty-three says, "Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?" And that is the question the prophet asks and Jesus answers, "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." The prophet asks, "Why are you red in your apparel, and your garments like those that have been treading in the wine vat?"

It used to be that they put the grapes in the vat and then they would crush them with their feet. They would have a big dance and party, as they would crush all of the grapes, they would get the juice out of them. And you could imagine the grapejuice stains all over your clothes after having spent a day treading the wine vat therein. The wine vat actually with your feet pressing down all of these grapes, you can imagine what your clothes would look like.

"Why are you red in your apparel, and your garments like the ones that have been treading in the wine vat?" He answers, "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in my anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come"( Isaiah 63:3-4 ).

So, He is coming to bring an end of man's rebellion. He is coming to trample the wine vat. There will be here upon the earth millions of people who have gathered together to war against Him at His coming. The whole Middle East area of Israel all the way through the land from the Valley of Megiddo clear on down to Edom will be crowded with the vast armies of the world. They will probably number into the hundreds of millions. There is a scripture that would indicate maybe two hundred million.

And that is when the blood will flow to the horses bridle all the way through the Valley of Megiddo clear on down to Edom through the valley of Jehoshaphat as they gather together against the Lord and His anointed. And there will the second Psalm come into play. "Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing, for they have gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us break His bands asunder, let us cast off His law from us; but He who sits in the heavens will laugh for He will have the nations in derision."

And so here we see Him, clothed in a vesture dipped in blood. And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword by which these rebellious armies are destroyed. That is He destroys them with His word.

Now, we are told that He was in the beginning with God and that He created all things. We look at the vast universe in which we live, the material universe, and we realize that He created it. How did He create it? He spoke it into existence. It is known as a divine feat in the theological term, which means the capacity of speaking things into existence. So, darkness covered the face of the deep and God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. He just said it, "Let there be light," and light existed.

And in the Hebrew it is even more intensive. "Owr hayah owr hayah", "Light be and light was". God said, "Light be," and light was. I like that, God speaking into existence the world in which we live. And God said, "Let the waters above the firmament be separated from the waters below the firmament." And it was so. And God said, "Let the water bring forth and let the earth bring forth." And it was so. He spoke these things into existence; the power of the Word of God.

If we would only realize the power of the Word of God. The Word of God is alive and powerful, if we would only realize the power of the Word of God. We will in that day when He returns and all of the vast military might of the world gathered and assembled together to destroy Him at His coming and He just speaks the Word and it is all over. The battle is through. Oh, the power of the word of Jesus, the sword that goes forth out of His mouth. He destroys the assembled rebels who have gathered together against Him. I don't know exactly what He will say. It will be interesting to find out. I think that it might be just, "hey, you've had it." Like when this guy was breaking up with his girl, he said, "Can I have one final kiss?" She said, "You've had it."

On his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS,

And I saw an angel standing in the sun ( Revelation 19:17 );

You can't do that unless you are an angel. These angels are going to be interesting creatures to meet, aren't they? They have the capacity to stand in the sun. What is it, seven hundred and fifty million degrees Fahrenheit or something like that?

and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God ( Revelation 19:17 );

Now, we have just been rejoicing because we are coming to the marriage supper of the Lamb. There is going to be another supper, a supper prepared by God for all the birds.

That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and those that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast [that is the antichrist], and the kings of the earth [which have been drawn by the demonic forces], and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army ( Revelation 19:18-19 ).

The folly of Satan thinking that he would be able to fight against God. Well, the folly of men today that think that they are able to fight against God and to come out victorious. There are a lot of people today fighting against God. There are those who have set themselves deliberately and conscientiously to fight against God.

The humanists in their Humanist Manifesto have declared their intention of destroying God out of the minds and conscientiousness of men. To free men from the restraints that they may feel that have any kind of a Biblical base, so that you will not be feeling guilty over those things that are prohibited in the scriptures. But you can go ahead and do these things without pangs of conscience trying to destroy God out of our society, out of our lives. They will be gathered together at the inspiration of Satan.

And the [antichrist] the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and those that worshipped his image. These both [the two of them, the antichrist and his false prophet] were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone ( Revelation 19:20 ).

Otherwise, it is called in the scriptures, Gehenna, which is the final abode for the unrighteous dead. It is the place that Jesus said God prepared for Satan and his angels. And so the first two inhabitants of Gehenna will be the antichrist and his prophet and they will be the soul inhabitants, it would seem, for a thousand years. After a thousand years then they will be joined by Satan and the rest of the satanic beings or the angelic beings that joined with Satan in his rebellion against God. And then those men who have chosen to cast their lot with Satan in rebellion against God. Jesus describes it as a place of outer darkness where he said there will be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Hell or Hades is located in the center part of the earth. The abusso or abyss is probably in the very center of the earth, because it is called and correctly translated "bottomless pit." And there is probably an area right in the center of the earth that is hollow and because of the rotation of the earth and gravitation and all you would be constantly falling. You would never hit the bottom. It would be a constant fall. It wouldn't have to be more than ten miles in diameter to hold all of the unrighteous from Adam until now. And of course all of our finest scientific equipment could not locate such a thing there in the heart of the earth.

the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse ( Revelation 19:21 ),

What is the sword? The word that goes forth out of His mouth.

which sword proceeds out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh ( Revelation 19:21 ).

So, vultures are invited from all over the earth to come and feast on the supper that God prepares.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

John saw another scene in heaven (Gr. kai eidon, "And I saw"). He now saw heaven standing open (cf. Ezekiel 1:1), not just a door open (Revelation 4:1) or the heavenly temple open (Revelation 11:19). A white horse symbolizes victory over one’s enemies (cf. 2 Corinthians 2:14). Here John saw Christ rather than Antichrist (Revelation 6:2) riding a white horse (cf. Isaiah 62:11). John described Him as Faithful (trustworthy) and True (righteous, the real Messiah; cf. Revelation 1:5; Revelation 3:7; Revelation 3:14; 3 Maccabees 2:11). The Antichist was unfaithful in that he broke his covenant with Israel, and he was untrue in that he deceived people. Jesus Christ came out of heaven to judge the beast and to make war with him on earth (cf. Isaiah 11:3-5).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. The return of Christ to earth 19:11-16

On the one hand, the return of Jesus Christ to the earth is the climax of all that has gone before in Revelation. On the other, it is the first of seven final things that John saw and recorded. These things were Christ’s return, Satan’s capture, Satan’s binding, the Millennium, Satan’s final end, the last judgment, and the new heavens and earth, including the New Jerusalem. [Note: See David J. MacLeod, The Seven Last Things.] These events are in chronological sequence, as will become clear. The view that they are non-sequential rests on similarities between Ezekiel 38-39 and Revelation 19-22. [Note: E.g., M. Eugene Boring, Revelation, p. 195; and Wall, pp. 227-28.] But it fails to account for the differences. The chronological progression of events on earth resumes from Revelation 16:21. Thomas viewed the second coming of Christ plus everything else through Revelation 22:5 as part of the seventh bowl judgment. [Note: Thomas, Revelation 8-22, p. 381, 567-85.] Most other commentators have seen it as the first event after the seventh bowl judgment. I agree with the majority.

"The second coming of Christ is an absolutely essential theme in New Testament theology. In his cross and resurrection, Christ won a great victory over the powers of evil; by his second coming, he will execute that victory. Apart from his return to purge his creation of evil, redemption remains forever incomplete." [Note: Ladd, pp. 252-53.]

"Those who believe in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ must also look for his return." [Note: Lilje, p. 244.]

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 19

THE TE DEUM OF THE ANGELS ( Revelation 19:1-2 )

19:1-2 After these things I heard what sounded like a great voice of a vast multitude in heaven. "Hallelujah!" they were saying. "Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, because his judgments are true and just, for he judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and has avenged upon her the blood of his servants."

In the description of the total destruction of Babylon, come the words: "Rejoice over her, O heaven, O saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!" ( Revelation 18:20). Here now is the rejoicing which was called for.

It begins with the shout of a vast multitude in heaven. We have already come upon two vast multitudes in heaven, the martyrs in Revelation 7:9 and the angels in Revelation 5:11. Here is most likely the multitude of the angels, first in the Te Deum of praise.

This shout of rejoicing begins with Hallelujah. Hallelujah is a very common word in religious vocabulary but the only time it actually appears in Scripture is on the four occasions in this chapter. Like Hosanna ( H3467 + H4994 and G5614) it is one of the few Hebrew words which have established themselves in ordinary religious language. It probably came to be so well known to even the simplest member of the Church through its special use as a response of praise in the Easter worship.

Hallelujah literally means "Praise God". It is derived from halal ( H1984) , which means to praise, and Jah ( H3050) , which is the name of God. Although Hallelujah appears only here in the Bible, it occurs in a translated form frequently. It is actually the first phrase in Psalms 106:1-48; Psalms 111:1-10; Psalms 112:1-10; Psalms 113:1-9; Psalms 117:1-2; Psalms 135:1-21; Psalms 146:1-10; Psalms 147:1-20; Psalms 148:1-14; Psalms 149:1-9; Psalms 150:1-6. The series of Psalms from Psalms 113:1-9; Psalms 114:1-8; Psalms 115:1-18; Psalms 116:1-19; Psalms 117:1-2; Psalms 118:1-29 were called the Hallel (compare H1984) , the Praise God, and were part of the essential education of every Jewish lad. Where Hallelujah occurs in the Old Testament it is translated by Praise God, but here in this chapter the original Hebrew form, transliterated into Greek, is retained.

God is praised because salvation, glory, and power belong to him. Each of these three great attributes of God should awaken its own response in the heart of man. The salvation of God should awaken the gratitude of man; the glory of God should awaken the reverence of man; the power of God is always exercised in the love of God and should, therefore, awaken the trust of man. Gratitude, reverence, trust--these are the constituent elements of real praise.

God is praised because he has exercised his just and true judgment on the great harlot. Judgment is the inescapable consequence of sin. T. S. Kepler comments: "The moral law can no more be broken than the law of gravity; it can only be illustrated." It is said that the judgments of God are true and just. God alone is perfect in judgment for three reasons. First, he alone can see the inmost thoughts and desires of any man. Second, he alone has that purity which can judge without prejudice. Third, he alone has the wisdom to find the right judgment and the power to apply it.

The great harlot is judged because she corrupted the world. The worst of all sins is to teach others to sin.

All forbidden things we've sought,

All the mischief we have wrought,

All the sin to others taught,

Forgive, O Lord, for Jesus' sake.

There is one other reason for the rejoicing. The judgment on Rome is the guarantee that God never in the end abandons his own.

THE TE DEUM OF NATURE AND THE CHURCH ( Revelation 19:3-5 )

19:3-5 And a second time they said: "Hallelujah! for the smoke from her rises for ever and ever."

The angelic host sings a second Hallelujah. Their praise is that the smoke of Babylon rises for ever and ever. That is to say, never again will she rise from her ruins. The actual picture comes from Isaiah: "The streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into brimstone; her land shall become burning pitch. Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up for ever and ever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever" ( Isaiah 34:9-10).

There follows praise from the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures. The twenty-four elders were prominent in the early visions ( Revelation 4:4; Revelation 4:10; Revelation 5:6; Revelation 5:11; Revelation 5:14; Revelation 7:11; Revelation 11:16; Revelation 14:3) as were the four living creatures ( Revelation 4:6-9; Revelation 5:6-14; Revelation 6:1-7; Revelation 7:11; Revelation 14:3; Revelation 15:7). We saw that the twenty-four elders represent the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles, and, therefore, stand for the totality of the Church. The four living creatures, respectively like a lion, an ox, a man and an eagle, stand for two things, for all that is bravest, strongest, wisest and swiftest in nature--and for the cherubim. Hence a song of praise from the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures is a Te Deum from the whole of the Church and the whole of nature.

The voice that comes from the throne is most likely to be understood as the voice of one of the cherubim. "Praise our God," says the voice, "all you his servants, you who fear him." Once again John finds his model in the words of the Old Testament, for that is a quotation from Psalms 135:1; Psalms 135:20.

Two sets of people are called on to praise God. First, there are his servants. In the Revelation two kinds of people are specially called the servants of God; the prophets ( Revelation 10:7; Revelation 11:18; Revelation 22:6), and the martyrs ( Revelation 7:3; Revelation 19:2). First, then, this is the praise of the prophets and the martyrs who have witnessed for God with their voices and with their lives. Second, there are the small and the great. H. B. Swete says that this comprehensive phrase embraces "Christians of all intellectual capacities and social grades, and of all stages of progress in the life of Christ." It is a universal summons to praise God for his mighty acts.

THE TE DEUM OF THE REDEEMED ( Revelation 19:6-8 )

19:6-8 And I heard a voice which sounded like the voice of a vast multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty crashes of thunder.

The final shout is the praise of the host of the redeemed. John goes out of his way to heap up similes to describe its sound. It was, as H. B. Swete puts it, like "the din of a vast concourse, the roar of a cataract, the roll of thunder."

Once again John finds his inspiration in the words of Scripture. In his mind are two things. First, he is remembering Psalms 97:1: "The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice." Second, he says: "Let us rejoice and exult." There is only one other place in the New Testament where these two verbs (chairein, G5463, and agallian, G21) come together--in Jesus Christ's promise to the persecuted: "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven" ( Matthew 5:12). It is as if the multitude of the redeemed sent up their shout of praise because the promise of Christ to his persecuted ones had come abundantly true.

Next comes the marriage of the Lamb to his bride. That picture stands for the final union between Jesus Christ and his Church. R. H. Charles finely says that the marriage symbolism "denotes the intimate and indissoluble communion of Christ with the community which he has purchased with his own blood" a communion which is "first reached in fulness by the host of the martyrs."

The thought of the relationship between God and his people as a marriage goes far back into the Old Testament. Again and again the prophets thought of Israel as the chosen bride of God. "I will betroth you to me for ever," Hosea hears God say, "I will betroth you to me in righteousness" ( Hosea 2:19-20). "Your Maker is your husband; the Lord of hosts is his name," says Isaiah ( Isaiah 54:5). Jeremiah hears God say and appeal: "Return, O faithless children, for I am your master" ( Jeremiah 3:14). Ezekiel works out the whole picture most fully in Ezekiel 16:1-63.

The marriage symbolism runs all through the Gospels. We read of the marriage feast ( Matthew 22:2); of the bridechamber and the wedding garment ( Matthew 22:10-11); of the sons of the bridechamber ( Mark 2:19); of the bridegroom ( Mark 2:19; Matthew 25:1); of the friends of the bridegroom ( John 3:29). And Paul speaks of himself as betrothing the Church like a pure virgin to Christ ( 2 Corinthians 11:2), and for him the relationship of Christ to his Church is the great model of the relationship of husband and wife ( Ephesians 5:21-33).

This may seem to us a strange metaphor. But it conserves certain great truths. In any real marriage there must be four things which must also be in the relationship between the Christian and Christ.

(i) There is love. A loveless marriage is a contradiction in terms.

(ii) There is intimate communion, so intimate that man and wife become one flesh. The relationship of the Christian and Christ must be the closest in all life.

(iii) There is joy. There is nothing like the joy of loving and of being loved. If Christianity does not bring joy, it does not bring anything.

(iv) There is fidelity. No marriage can last without fidelity, and the Christian must be as faithful to Jesus Christ as Jesus Christ is to him.

THE ALMIGHTY AND HIS KINGDOM ( Revelation 19:6-8 continued)

This passage calls God by a certain name; and says that he has entered into his kingdom.

It calls God the Almighty. The word is pantokrator ( G3841) , literally the one who controls all things. The significant thing about this great word is that it occurs ten times in the New Testament. Once it is in an Old Testament quotation in 2 Corinthians 6:18; the other nine times are all in the Revelation ( Revelation 1:8; Revelation 4:8; Revelation 11:17; Revelation 15:3; Revelation 16:7; Revelation 16:14; Revelation 19:6; Revelation 19:15; Revelation 21:22). In other words, this is the characteristic title for God in the Revelation.

There was never a time in history in which such forces were drawn up against the Church as when the Revelation was written. There was never a time when the Christian was called upon to undergo such suffering and to accept so continually the prospect of a cruel death. And yet in such times John calls God pantokrator ( G3841) .

Here is faith and confidence; and the whole point of this passage is that that faith and confidence are vindicated.

The Church, the Bride of Christ, is clothed in fine linen, pure and shining. There is a contrast with the scarlet and gold of the great harlot. The white linen represents the good deeds of God's dedicated people; that is to say, it is character which forms the robe which arrays the Bride of Christ.

THE ONLY WORSHIP ( Revelation 19:9-10 a)

19:9-10a And he said to me: "Write! Blessed are those who are invited to the feast of the marriage of the Lamb!" And he said to me: "These are the true words of God." And I fell down before his feet to worship him; and he said to me: "See that you do not do this. I am your fellow-servant and the fellow-servant of your brothers who possess the testimony which Jesus gave. Worship God!"

The Jews had the idea that, when the Messiah came, God's people would, as it were, be entertained by God to a great Messianic Banquet. Isaiah speaks of God preparing for his people "a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined" ( Isaiah 25:6). Jesus speaks of many coming from the east and the west and sitting down with the patriarchs in the kingdom of heaven ( Matthew 8:11). The word used for sitting down is the word for reclining at a meal. The picture is of all men sitting down at the Messianic Banquet of God. Jesus at the Last Supper said that he would not again drink of the cup until he drank it new in his Father's kingdom ( Matthew 26:29). That was Jesus looking forward to the great Messianic Banquet.

It may well be from that old Jewish idea that there came the idea of the marriage feast of the Lamb, for that indeed would be the true Messianic Banquet. It is a simple picture, not to be taken with crude literalness, but simply saying very beautifully that in his kingdom all men will enjoy the bounty of God.

But this passage confronts us with something which became of very great importance in the worship of the Church. It was John's instinct to worship the angelic messenger; but the angel forbids him to do that, because the angels are no more than men's fellow-servants. Worship is for God alone. John was forbidding angel worship; and that was a very necessary prohibition, for in the early church there was a well-nigh inevitable tendency to worship angels, a tendency which has never wholly disappeared.

(i) In certain circles of Judaism the angels had a very large place. Raphael tells Tobit that he is the angel who brought his prayer before God ( Tob_13:12-15 ). In the Testament of Dan ( Daniel 6:2) the angel who intercedes for men is mentioned. In the Testament of Levi (5:5) Michael is said to be the angel who intercedes for Israel. A fourth century A.D. Rabbi, Jehudah, actually gave the odd instruction that men ought not to pray in Aramaic because the angels did not understand Aramaic! The prevalence of all this in Judaism is underlined by the fact that certain Rabbis insisted that prayers must always be offered direct to God, and not to Michael or to Gabriel.

In Judaism there was increasingly stressed the transcendence of God, because of that it was increasingly felt that man needed some intermediary. Hence arose the prominence of angels.

When Jews came over into Christianity, sometimes they brought this special reverence for the angels with them, forgetting that with the coming of Jesus no other intermediary between God and man can be necessary.

(ii) A Greek came into the Church from a world of thought which made angel worship a real danger. First, he came from a world in which there were many gods--Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Aphrodite and the rest, What was easier than to keep the old gods in the form of angels? Second, he came from a world in which it was believed that God did not interest himself directly but made his contact through the demons (daimon, G1142) , by means of whom he controlled the natural forces and acted upon men. What was easier than to turn the demons into angels and to worship them?

John insists that angels are no more than the servants of God; and that God alone must be worshipped. Any other intermediary than Jesus Christ between God and man must be utterly opposed.

THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY ( Revelation 19:10 b)

19:10b The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

We take this phrase by itself, because it is both ambiguous and important.

The ambiguity springs from the fact that the testimony of Jesus can bear either of two meanings.

(i) It can mean the witness which the Christian bears to Jesus Christ. That is the way in which H. B. Swete takes it. He says: "The possession of the prophetic spirit, which makes a true prophet, shows itself in a life of witness to Jesus, which perpetuates his witness to the Father and to himself" A prophet's message lies in the personal witness of his life, even more than in the spoken witness of his words.

(ii) It can equally mean the witness which Jesus Christ gives to men. On that interpretation the phrase will mean that no man can speak to men until he has listened to Jesus Christ. It was said of a great preacher: "First he listened to God, then he spoke to men."

This is the kind of double meaning of which the Greek language is capable. It may well be that John intended the double meaning; and that we are meant not to choose between the meanings, but to accept both of them. If so, we can define the true prophet as the man who has received from Christ the message he brings to men, and whose words and works are at one and the same time an act of witness to Christ.

THE CONQUERING CHRIST ( Revelation 19:11 )

19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and, behold, a white horse, and he who is mounted on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

Here is one of the most dramatic moments in the Revelation, the emergence of the conquering Christ.

(i) John sees Christ as the conqueror. He is, as H. B. Swete puts it, "a royal commander followed by a dazzling retinue." Here is a picture which is essentially Jewish. Jewish dreams were full of the warrior Messiah, who would lead God's people to victory and smash his enemies. In the Psalms of Solomon we have that picture:

Behold, O Lord, and raise up unto them their king the Son of

David,

At the time in which thou seest, O God, that he may reign

over Israel, Thy servant.

And gird him with strength that he may shatter unrighteous

rulers,

And that he may purge Jerusalem from nations that trample

her down to destruction.

Wisely, righteously, he shall thrust out sinners from the

inheritance,

He shall destroy the pride of the sinner as a potter's vessel,

With a rod of iron he shall break in pieces all their substance,

He shall destroy the godless nations with the word of his

mouth;

At his rebuke nations shall flee before him,

And he shall reprove sinners for the thoughts of their hearts

(Wis 17:23-27).

There is a Rabbinic picture of the Messiah: "How beauteous is the king Messiah, who is about to rise from the house of Judah. He hath bound his loins and gone forth to war against those who hate him; kings and princes shall be slain; he will make red the rivers with the blood of the slain...his garments will be dipped in blood."

The white horse is the symbol of the conqueror, because it was on a white horse that a Roman general rode when he celebrated a triumph.

It is well to remember that the whole background of this picture lies in Jewish expectations of the future and has little to do with the Christ of the Gospels who was meek and lowly in heart.

(ii) His name is Faithful and True. Here, on the other hand, is something which is valid for all time. Christ is described by two words.

(a) He is faithful. The word is pistos ( G4103) ; it means absolutely to be trusted.

(b) He is true. The word is alethinos ( G228) and has two meanings. It means true in the sense that Jesus Christ is the one who brings the truth and who never at any time has any falsehood in anything that he says. It also means genuine, as opposed to that which is unreal. In Jesus Christ we meet reality.

(iii) He judges and makes war in righteousness. Again John finds his picture in the prophetic words of the Old Testament, where it is said of the chosen king of God: "With righteousness he shall judge the poor" ( Isaiah 11:4). John's age knew all about the perversion of justice; no one could expect justice from a capricious heathen tyrant. In Asia Minor even the tribunal of the proconsul was subject to bribery and to maladministration. Wars were matters of ambition and tyranny and oppression rather than of justice. But when the conquering Christ comes, his power will be exercised in justice.

THE UNKNOWABLE NAME ( Revelation 19:12 )

19:12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many royal crowns, and he has a name written which no one knows except himself.

We begin the description of the conquering Christ.

His eyes are a flame of fire. We have already met this description in Revelation 1:14 and Revelation 2:18. It stands for the consuming power of the victorious Christ. On his head he has many crowns. The word used here for crown is diadema ( G1238) , which is the royal crown, as opposed to stephanos ( G4735) which is the crown of victory. To be crowned with more than one crown may seem strange, but in the time of John it was quite natural. It was not uncommon for a monarch to wear more than one crown in order to show that he was the king of more than one country. For instance, when Ptolemy entered Antioch he wore two crowns or diadems--one to show that he was lord of Asia and one to show that he was lord of Egypt ( 1Ma_11:13 ). On the head of the victor Christ there are many crowns to show that he is lord of all the kingdoms of the earth.

He has a name known to no one but himself. This is a passage whose meaning is obscure. What is this name? Many suggestions have been made.

(i) It has been suggested that the name is kurios ( G2962) , Lord. In Php_2:9-11 we read of the name above every name which God has given to Jesus Christ because of his complete obedience; and there the name is almost certainly Lord.

(ii) It is suggested that the name is Y-H-W-H. That was the Jewish name for God. In Hebrew writing there were no vowels; the vowels had to be supplied by the reader. No one really knows what the vowels in Y-H-W-H were. The name was in fact so holy that it was never pronounced. We usually pronounce it JEHOVAH; but the vowels in Jehovah are really those of the Hebrew word 'Adonay ( H136) , which means Lord, the name by which the Jews called God in order to avoid pronouncing the sacred name. Many scholars think the name should be Y-A-H-W-E-H. The letters Y-H-W-H (Yahweh) are called the sacred tetragrammaton, the sacred four letters.

(iii) It may be that the name is one which can be revealed only at the final union of Christ and the Church. In the Ascension of Isaiah ( Isaiah 9:5) there is a saying: "Thou canst not bear his name until thou shalt have ascended out of the body." There was a Jewish belief that no man could know the name of God until he had entered into the life of heaven.

(iv) It may be that here is a lingering relic of the old idea that to know the name of a divine being was to have a certain power over him. In two Old Testament stories, the wrestling of Jacob at Peniel ( Genesis 32:29), and the appearance of the angelic messenger to Gideon ( Judges 13:18) the divine visitor refuses to tell his name.

(v) It may be that we shall never know the symbolism of the unknown name but H. B. Swete has the very fine idea that in the essence of the being of Christ there must always remain something beyond man's understanding. "Notwithstanding the dogmatic helps which the Church offers, the mind fails to grasp the inmost significance of the Person of Christ, which eludes all efforts to bring it within the terms of human knowledge. Only the Son of God can understand the mystery of his own being."

GOD'S WORD IN ACTION ( Revelation 19:13 )

19:13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God.

Here are two further pictures of the warrior Christ.

(i) He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, not his own but that of his enemies. As R. H. Charles puts it, it is essential to remember that the Heavenly Leader is this time, not the Slain One, but the Slayer. As usual John takes his picture from the Old Testament and is thinking of the terrible picture in Isaiah 63:1-3, where the prophet pictures God returning from the destruction of Edom; "I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath; their life blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment." This is the Messiah of Jewish apocalyptic expectation far more than the Messiah whom Jesus claimed to be.

(ii) His name is the Word of God. Although the words are the same as in the first chapter of the Fourth Gospel, the meaning is quite different and much simpler. Here we have the purely Jewish idea of the Word of God. To a Jew a word was not merely a sound; it did things. As Dr. John Paterson puts it in The Book that is Alive: "The spoken word in Hebrew was fearfully alive. It was not merely a vocable or sound dropped heedlessly from unthinking lips. It was a unit of energy charged with power. It is energised for weal or for woe." We can see that, for instance, in the old story in which Jacob filched Esau's blessing from Isaac ( Genesis 27:1-46). The blessing given could not be taken back.

If that is so of human words, how much truer it is of the divine word. It is by his word that God created the earth and the heavens and everything in them. And God said is the recurring phrase in the narrative of creation ( Genesis 1:3; Genesis 1:6; Genesis 1:9; Genesis 1:14; Genesis 1:26). The word of God, said Jeremiah, is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces ( Jeremiah 23:29).

In Wisdom there is a description of the plagues in Egypt, and in particular of the slaying of the first-born sons of the Egyptians: "Thine Almighty Word leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war, into the midst of a land of destruction, and brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword, and standing up filled all things with death; and it touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth" ( Wis_18:15-16 ). It is the active word which carried out the commandment of God. Here is the idea in Hebrews 4:12: "The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword."

When John here called the warrior Christ "The Word of God", he means that here in action is all the power of God's word; everything that God has said, and threatened, and promised is embodied in Christ.

THE AVENGING WRATH ( Revelation 19:14-16 )

19:14-16 The armies which are in heaven followed him, on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure.

The description of the warrior Christ is further filled in.

He has with him the armies of heaven. With this we may compare Jesus' words at his arrest, when he said he could have had twelve legions of angels to fight for him ( Matthew 26:53). The armies of heaven are the hosts of the angels.

From his mouth goes forth a sharp two-edged sword (compare Revelation 1:16). This description of the warrior Christ comes from two Old Testament passages put side by side. Isaiah says of the heavenly king: "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked" ( Isaiah 11:4). The Psalmist says of the Messianic king: "You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel" ( Psalms 2:9). Once again we must remember that this picture is demonstrably painted in Jewish terms.

He will tread the winepress of the anger of the wrath of God. The picture is of the warrior Christ trampling the grapes so as to produce the wine of the wrath of God, which his enemies must drink to their doom.

Our most difficult task here is to discover the picture behind the statement that the warrior Christ has the name King of kings and Lord of lords written on his robe and on his thigh. Various suggestions have been made. It has been suggested that the name is either embroidered on his girdle or engraved on his sword hilt. It is suggested that it is on the skirt of his general's cloak, for that is where it would be easiest to read on a horseman. It is suggested that it is actually written on his thigh, because it was sometimes the custom to engrave the titles of statues on the thigh. It seems clear that the name is visible to all, and, therefore, probably the likeliest solution is that it was written on the skirt of the warrior Christ's robe, lying over his thigh, as he rode upon the white horse. In any event, the name singles him out as the greatest of all rulers, the only true divine One and the universal King.

THE DOOM OF THE ENEMIES OF CHRIST ( Revelation 19:17-21 )

19:17-21 And I saw one angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a great voice to all the birds who fly in midheaven. "Come," he said, "assemble for the great feast which God will give you, that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of those who ride them, and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, both small and great."

Here is a grim picture of birds of prey being invited to come from all over the sky to glut themselves on the corpses of the slain. Again this is a picture taken directly from the Old Testament, from Ezekiel's picture of the slaughter of the forces of Gog and Magog. "Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field.... You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth--of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls.... And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk at the sacrificial feast which I am preparing for you" ( Ezekiel 39:17-19). This bloodthirsty picture is again far more in line with Old Testament apocalyptic expectations than with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here we have a repetition of the imagery of chapter 13. The beast is Nero redivivus; the false prophet is the provincial organization which administered Caesar worship; those who have the mark of the beast are they who have worshipped at the shrine of Caesar; the kings of the earth and their armies are the Parthian hosts, which Nero was to lead again against Rome and against the world.

So all the forces hostile to God assemble themselves; but the warrior Christ is to conquer. Antichrist and his henchmen are cast into the lake of fire; and all their supporters are slain, to await in Sheol the final judgment.

The cosmic drama is drawing to a close. Nothing has yet been said of the fate of Satan, but now we go on to see that fate.

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

Revelation 19:11

New Paragraph: The judgment upon the harlot has been given; now the attention turns the judgment upon the other enemies.

[If we were dividing the text into chapters and verses today I think the arrangement would be quite different. Revelation 19:11 would certainly be the beginning of a new chapter.]

Now I saw heaven opened . . Ezekiel 1:1; St Matthew 3:16, and parallels, St John 1:51; Acts 7:56, Acts 10:11. Something more seems to be implied than in Revelation 4:1; the “door” through which the seer was called up is not sufficient to let out this mounted army, or “the chariot of paternal Deity” which appeared to Ezekiel. - CBSC

And I saw heaven opened” This is a PERFECT PASSIVE VERBAL form and may relate to Ezekiel 1:1. Several times in Revelation heaven has been opened to reveal truth to John in progressive stages (cf. Revelation 4:1; Revelation 11:19; Revelation 15:5). - Utley

Now I saw heaven opened . . John saw another scene in heaven (Gr. kai eidon, “And I saw”). He now saw heaven standing open (cf. Ezekiel 1:1), not just a door open (Revelation 4:1) or the heavenly temple open (Revelation 11:19). - Constable

behold, a white horse . . Although there is a white horse in Revelation 6:2, this is obviously different. - Utley

a white horse . . In victory parades the conquorers rode white horses.

In the Roman triumphal processions, the victorious general rode his white war horse up the Via Sacra to the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill. Jesus’ first coming was in humiliation on a colt (Zechariah 9:9). John’s vision portrays Him as the conqueror on His war horse, - MSB

He who sat one him . . The bridegroom in the previous paragraph is revealed further as an all-conquering warrior. [and royalty, cf Revelation 19:12] - Utley

The rider is both a judge and a righteous warrior (see Isaiah 11:1-5). He is named Faithful and True: He embodies God’s authenticity and reliability (see Revelation 19:2; Revelation 21:5-6). - NLTSB

Rider of a White Horse - Like the first seal - Revelation 6:2 Indicates victory! The character of the rider is signified. We have passed through the valley of darkness and now New Victory!

Faithful and True . .The titles idenify the rider as Jesus. cf. Revelation 3:14. cf Revelation 1:5; Revelation 3:7.

and in righeousness He judges and makes war . . cf. Isaiah 11:3-5. (cf. Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 16:5; Isaiah 32:1),

Who judges in righteousness? cf. Acts 17:30-31; Isaiah 63:1-3; Psalms 2:1 ff

Though John uses OT language descriptive of a warrior-Messiah, he does not depict Christ as a great military warrior battling against earth’s sovereigns. The close proximity in v.11 of “justice” and “war” shows us that the kind of warfare Christ engages in is more the execution of “justice” (lit., “righteousness”; G1343) than a military conflict. He who is the faithful and true witness will judge the rebellious nations. - EBCNT

makes war . . This startling statement, appearing only here and Revelation 2:16, vividly portrays the holy wrath of God against sinners (cf. Psalms 7:11). - MSB [    cf. Psalms 45:3-5; Ephesians 6:11-17; ]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And I saw heaven opened,.... This vision refers not to the same time the first seal does, Revelation 6:2 for though a white horse, with a rider on it, is seen here, as there; that respects the first times of the Gospel, this the latter part of the dispensation of it; nor to the war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, and their angels, Revelation 12:7 that issued in the downfall of Paganism in the Roman empire, this will issue in the downfall of the Papacy in it; nor to the personal coming of Christ to the last judgment, of which an account is given in the following chapter; but to the battle at Armageddon, to which the sixth vial is a preparation, and which is finished under the seventh, Revelation 16:13 and what is briefly hinted at there is at large related here; in which Christ, the General, and his armies, on the one hand, and the kings of the earth, with the beast and false prophet, and their armies, on the other hand, appear to give battle to each other: and the issue of the battle is particularly represented, in order to have a view of which, "John saw heaven opened": not literally, as at Christ's baptism, and at the stoning of Stephen, nor in a spiritual sense, by the blood of Christ, but visionally, as in Revelation 4:1 and since heaven, often in this book, signifies the church on earth, a more glorious and comfortable state of the church may be designed; when her gates shall be opened continually, and not shut day nor night, to receive the forces of the Gentiles, and their kings, Isaiah 60:15 such a state as is referred to in

Revelation 11:19 to which visions this is contemporary; and it may denote a very glorious appearing of Christ, not in person, which will be after this, but in his kingdom and power, in defeating his enemies, and reigning spiritually with his saints: and it may also design the clear revelation and discerning John had of the following things:

and behold a white horse which, as in Revelation 6:2 may be a symbol of the Gospel, and Gospel ministers, as there in the former, here in the latter part of the Gospel dispensation; signified by a horse, to denote the swift progress of the Gospel in the latter day, the majesty, power, and authority with which it will come, bearing down all opposition made against it; and by a white horse, to express the purity of the Gospel, and of its preachers and professors, and the peace it publishes, and gives, and the joy it brings, and the triumphs that will attend it.

And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True: that Christ is here meant, is evident from the description of his eyes, Revelation 19:12 being the same as in Revelation 1:14 and from his name, Revelation 19:13 which is the peculiar name of the Son of God, John 1:1 and he sits upon, and is bore by, and rides forth in the Gospel, and the ministry of it, with glory and majesty, and prosperously, Psalms 45:3 and the characters of faithful and true well agree with him;

Psalms 45:3- :.

Psalms 45:3- :. He is "faithful and true" to God, who appointed him a Leader and Commander of the people, and to them he is the Commander of: and these characters well suit him now, when he will accomplish all the glorious things spoken of the church, relating to her spiritual and happy state in the latter day, and serve greatly to recommend him as a General.

And in righteousness he doth judge and make war; which is to be understood not of the last judgment, though that will be executed in righteousness, and therefore is called the righteous judgment, yet in that day there will be no war, no opposition, the wicked will at once submit; but of Christ's judging of his people, and avenging their blood on their enemies, and the remainder of them among Papists, Pagans, and Mahometans; who will be gathered together at Armageddon in battle array against them, when there will be an utter discomfiture of them in righteous judgment; for as in times past the beast made war with the saints and witnesses, and overcame them, Christ will enable his people to make war with him and his accomplices, and overcome them, as the sequel of this vision shows, Christ being at the head of them, though not in person, yet in power.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.   12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.   13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.   14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.   15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.   16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.   17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;   18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, 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 him that sat on the horse, and against his army.   20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.   21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

      No sooner was the marriage solemnized between Christ and his church by the conversion of the Jews than the glorious head and husband of the church is called out to a new expedition, which seems to be the great battle that was to be fought at Armageddon, foretold Revelation 16:16; Revelation 16:16. And here observe,

      I. The description of the great Commander, 1. By the seat of his empire; and that is heaven; his throne is there, and his power and authority are heavenly and divine. 2. His equipage: he is again described as sitting on a white horse, to show the equity of the cause, and certainty of success. 3. His attributes: he is faithful and true to his covenant and promise, he is righteous in all his judicial and military proceedings, he has a penetrating insight into all the strength and stratagems of his enemies, he has a large and extensive dominion, many crowns, for he is King of kings, and Lord of lords. 4. His armour; and that is a vesture dipped in blood, either his own blood, by which he purchased this mediatorial power, or the blood of his enemies, over whom he has always prevailed. 5. His name: The Word of God, a name that none fully knows but himself, only this we know, that this Word was God manifest in the flesh; but his perfections are incomprehensible by any creature.

      II. The army which he commands (Revelation 19:14; Revelation 19:14), a very large one, made up of many armies; angels and saints followed his conduct, and resembled him in their equipage, and in their armour of purity and righteousness--chosen, and called, and faithful.

      III. The weapons of his warfare--A sharp sword proceeding from his mouth (Revelation 19:15; Revelation 19:15), with which he smites the nations, either the threatenings of the written word, which now he is going to execute, or rather his word of command calling on his followers to take a just revenge on his and their enemies, who are now put into the wine-press of the wrath of God, to be trodden under foot by him.

      IV. The ensigns of his authority, his coat of arms--a name written on his vesture and thigh, King of kings, and Lord of lords, asserting his authority and power, and the cause of the quarrel, Revelation 19:16; Revelation 19:16.

      V. An invitation given to the fowls of heaven, that they should come and see the battle, and share in the spoil and pillage of the field (Revelation 19:17; Revelation 19:18), intimating that this great decisive engagement should leave the enemies of the church a feast for the birds of prey, and that all the world should have cause to rejoice in the issue of it.

      VI. The battle joined. The enemy falls on with great fury, headed by the beast, and the kings of the earth; the powers of earth and hell gathered, to make their utmost effort, Revelation 19:19.

      VII. The victory gained by the great and glorious head of the church: The beast and the false prophet, the leaders of the army, are taken prisoners, both he who led them by power and he who led them by policy and falsehood; these are taken and cast into the burning lake, made incapable of molesting the church of God any more; and their followers, whether officers or common soldiers, are given up to military execution, and made a feast for the fowls of heaven. Though the divine vengeance will chiefly fall upon the beast, and the false prophet, yet it will be no excuse to those who fight under their banner that they only followed their leaders and obeyed their command; since they would fight for them, they must fall and perish with them. Be wise now therefore, O you kings, be instructed, you rulers of the earth; kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way,Psalms 2:10; Psalms 2:12.

Norris' Commentary on the Book of Revelation

This is the last main section of the Book of Revelation. Here we have described to us the visions of The Conquering Christ (19:11-16), the judgments of the beast and of the false prophet and of Satan (19:17-20:10), the judgment of the wicked (20:11-15), the visions of the New heaven, the New earth and the New Jerusalem (20:16-22;5). And the LAST WORDS (22:6-21).

But first--THE CONQUERING CHRIST

I. STUDY NOTES--Revelation 19:11-16
--THE CONQUERING CHRIST

John saw heaven opened and a RIDER UPON A WHITE HORSE verse 11. We noted the first appearance of a WHITE HORSEMAN in chapter 6:2. There we interpreted as "CHRIST EVANGELISING". There is no doubt that THE RIDER ON THE WHITE HORSE In 19:11 IS CHRIST. "WHITE" is a symbol throughout the book of Revelation for PURITY and VICTORY.

This rider is called "FAITHFUL AND TRUE"--"faithful" because we can depend on His promises. He is "true," for He is the answer to all our hopes. Unlike the kings of the earth who wage war in selfishness, "in righteousness He judges and makes war."

Verse 12.

"His eyes are like a flame of fire" seeing all the secrets of our lives. Nothing is hidden from Him. (Hebrews 4:13). He is crowned as conqueror. "He has a name inscribed which no one knows but Himself." We do know some of His names "Jesus, the Christ, The Son of God, Shepherd, Redeemer, Saviour, Prince of Peace, King of Kings and Lord of lords"----but the fullness of His love and power none of us has yet realized. There is more that we still have to learn of Him. (verse 16--We know who He is "King of kings and Lord of lords").

Verse 14.

"The armies of heaven" wear the fine linen, white and pure" "which is the righteousness of the saints" (19:8).

Verse 15.

The Sword--The Word of His mouth--is now wielded in judgment. The Word that Christ spoke will judge men at the last day. (John 12:48). His Word is "a two-edged sword." If not blessing it judges.

Verse 16.

THE KING rides at the head of His armies. On His robe where it spreads out at His waist HIS TITLE is inscribed. His Kingship is universal--But one thing remains--that the enemies of His people be consigned to their doom. To this the vision now proceeds at verse 17.

II. MEDITATION--Revelation 19:11-16

Link with John’s vision of Revelation 19:11-16 a meditation on the Hymn "Crown Him with many crowns" and also the stirring Hymn "Onward Christian soldiers." Read the verses thoughtfully.

The armies of the church militant on earth, and the church triumphant in heaven are not engaged in physical battles of guns and bloodshed, but in spiritual struggles for control of the minds and spiritual forces of men and women. To us, as His soldiers, Christ says "As My Father has sent Me so send I you." (John 17:18). The weapons of this warfare are described in Ephesians 6:12.

Let us rejoice as we serve in this army.

"Crowns and thrones may perish Kingdoms rise and wane But the Church of Jesus Constant will remain. Gates of hell can never ’Gainst that Church prevail."

If we had to find another title for the Book of Revelation to describe its message--then it would bear the title--
"King of kings and Lord of lords."

For everything in this book begins and ends in Christ. In our day men prophecy "the end of Christ’s church", but Christ’s Word is mightier than any word that men can utter. Let us rise up to serve The King of kings.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

It is necessary that we should all bear in mind, if we have not observed it before, thatRevelation 17:1-18; Revelation 17:1-18 does not pursue the chronological course of the prophecy. It is a description, and not one of the visions that carry us onward. The seventh bowl contained under it the fall of Babylon, which "was remembered before God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath."

This chapter explains how it was that Babylon was so offensive to God, and wherefore He judged her thus sternly. But, in point of fact, in giving the description of Babylon, the Holy Ghost enters even more into an account of her relations with the beast, the imperial power of which we saw not a little last night. Accordingly these are the two main objects of judgment brought before us in the chapter. It is true, the beast's judgment is only referred to as a defeat under the hand of the Lamb. The particulars are reserved for a later point in this prophecy. We must therefore look a little into the two objects Babylon and the beast.

The principle is very clear. Man has always sinned in one or other of these two ways, looking now at sin in its broadest forms. The woman the strange woman sets forth corruption, human nature indulging itself in its own evil desires, irrespective of God's will. The beast is the expression of the will of man setting itself up in direct antagonism to God. In short, one may be described as corruption, and the other as violence.

There is, however, a great deal more than this on the subject, and given with great precision in scripture, because this is merely the principle of sin in one or other form from the beginning. It will be observed that in this case it is one of the angels that had the seven bowls who comes forward and says to John, "Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore (or harlot) that sitteth upon [the] many waters." There were two particular effects of her evil: the one, illicit commerce with the kings of the earth; the other, intoxicating the inhabitants of the earth with the wine of her fornication.

"So he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness" a thorough waste as to the knowledge or enjoyment of God. The woman was there seen sitting on a scarlet-coloured beast, i.e., the well-known imperial power of the Roman Empire, "full of [the] names of blasphemy" in its wicked opposition to God, and clothed with the forms we have already seen "seven heads and ten horns." The Spirit of God regards it in its final shape and completeness, as far as it was permitted to attain it, "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearls." Everything that could attract the natural man was there; and all that which to him looks fair enough on the side of religion. But she has a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication.* Idolatry is the awful stamp that she bears, and this too both in what she gives to man, and in what is written on her forehead before God. "Upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth."

*Most copies, it would seem, read τῆς γῆς , "of the earth;" the Alex. and others give αὐτῆς , "of her." The Sinai MS. has both.

Men have been beguiled here and there, and from an early date, to set aside the true bearing of this chapter. Sometimes they have contended for its application to pagan Rome. Sometimes, again, they have sought to turn it aside toward Jerusalem in her corrupt state. But a grave consideration soon disposes of both views by the relation to the beast, and more particularly by what will be shown a little farther on. The application to old pagan Rome is harsh and purposeless enough; but the attempt to refer it to Jerusalem is of all schemes the most absurd; for, far from being borne up by the imperial power, Jerusalem was trodden down by it. If there was any Gentile power since John's day, which did not sustain but persecute and suppress Jerusalem, it was Rome, instead of being a gaudy harlot mounted on that vast empire.

At the same time the attempt to apply Babylon to ancient Rome is almost as unhappy; and for a plain reason. As long as Rome was pagan, there was neither the full bearing of the seven heads, nor did so much as one of the ten horns exist. The decem-regal division of the broken empire in the West, as all know, was long after Rome had ceased to be heathen. Nobody can dispute that this remarkable cluster of kingdoms in Europe was the fruit providentially of the destroyed unity of the Roman empire when the barbarians invaded it. With that love of freedom which they carried from their German forests, they would not allow the one iron rule of the ancient empire to subsist longer, but set up each their own kingdom in the different fragments of the dismembered empire. Thus the attempt to apply it during the pagan period is altogether futile on the face of the matter. We shall find that the scripture affords much light to decide the true bearing of the prophecy, and that no application to the past can possibly satisfy the conditions satisfactorily. If ancient times failed fully to meet the requirements of the chapter, it is evident that the middle ages are passed without its fulfilment as a whole. When we come to the full application of the prophecy, we must look onward to the latter day.

This falls in with what we have seen of the book in general; but I do not deny that certain elements which figure in the Apocalypse then existed and still exist. No one can soberly deny that Babylon in some sort had a place then; but that the special, and above all, the full character of Babylon was manifested as here portrayed is another matter. We may surely say her cup was not yet full. There was not yet fairly out before men what God foresaw as that which must finally provoke His judgment. Again, to my mind it seems demonstrably true that the relation to the beast here brought before us must in all fairness be allowed to look onward to a later stage of Babylon. Thus there is no question that some of the actors in the final scenes of the great drama were already there, as the reigning city, and the Roman empire. Moral elements too were not wanting: the mystery of lawlessness had long been at work, though the enemy had not yet brought in the apostacy, and still less the manifestation of the lawless one. But whatever subsisted then, that which the Spirit here presents as a whole cannot be found realized at any point of time in the past. We must perforce therefore look for a still more complete development before the Lamb judges the beast after the ten horns along with it shall have destroyed Babylon.

There is another remark to make. It is hard to see how Roman city, or anything civil connected with it, could be called "mystery." It is partly because of this that many excellent men have endeavoured to apply the vision to Romanism; and I admit that there is found a measure of analogy. That religious system has an incomparably nearer connection with this mysterious harlot than anything we have yet spoken of. There is no doubt that Rome in some form is the woman described in the chapter: the seven heads or hills clearly point to that city, which of all cities might best and indeed alone be known as ruling over the kings of the earth. There is therefore much to be said for the ]Protestant application of the chapter as compared with the Praetorist theory of pagan Rome. Yet it will be found imperfect, for reasons which, I think, will be clear to any unbiassed mind.

There stands the solemn brand graven, not on the blasphemous beast, but on the forehead of its rider, "Mystery, Babylon the great." The question is, why is she thus designated? If only an imperial city, what has this to do with mystery? The simple fact of conquering far and wide, and of exercising vast political power in the earth, does not constitute any title to such a name. A mystery clearly points to something undiscoverable by the natural mind of man a secret that requires the distinct and fresh light of God to unravel, but which when revealed thus is plain enough. And so it is with this very Babylon that comes before us here. Justly does she gather her title from the old fountain of idols and of combined power without God: confusion being here the characteristic element, the designation is taken from the renowned city of the Chaldeans, the first spot notorious in both respects.

But the attempt, again, to apply what is said here to a future city of Babylon in Chaldea seems to me no less vain. There is a distinct contrast between the city John describes and the ancient Babylon, in that the latter was built on the plain of Shinar, while the former is expressly said to have seven heads, and these explained to mean seven mountains. I admit that there may be something more in the symbol than the literal hills of Rome, because they are said to be also seven kings. At the same time we are not at liberty to eliminate such a feature out of the description. It is written to be believed, not to be ignored or explained away.

In short, it would seem that God has hedged round His own draft of Babylon so as to make it quite plain that Rome, city and system, figures in the scene; and this too necessarily involving a medieval description, though the full result will not be till the end of the age; for she rides the beast or empire characterized so as naturally to involve the past barbarian irruption and the resulting ten-kingdomed state. Again, that it supposes Rome after it had professed the name of Christ I think is not to be doubted, if only from the expression "mystery" attached to Babylon. It clearly contrasts this mystery with another. We have not to learn what the other mystery means; we know well that it is according to God and godliness. But here is a mystery altogether different: "Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth."

Here were joined good and evil in godless union, for the worse, not for the better, this alliance, unholy in principle, irremediable therefore in practice, between God and the natural man, who substitutes rites for the grace and word of God, for the blood of Christ, and the power of the Spirit, and employs the name of the Lord as a cover for grosser covetousness and ambition, yet more aspiring than the vulgar world. All these things have their place in Babylon the great. She is, the mother of the harlots, but also (and with still deeper guilt) of the abominations of the earth. This brings in idolatry, real shameless idolatry too, not merely that subtle working of the idolatrous spirit that every Christian has to guard against. Here it is the positive worship of the creature besides the Creator, yea, and notoriously more than He. For who knows not the horrors of Mariolatry? Babylon is the parent of the "abominations of the earth." It is not therefore a question of virtual idols suitable to ensnare the children of God, but of that which is adapted to the earth itself, thorough-going palpable idolatry.

Such is God's account of Babylon the great. Take notice of this (which confirms the application just now contended for), that when John saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, he wondered with great wonder. Had it been simply a persecution from pagans, what was there to wonder at in their deadly hatred of the truth and of those who confess it? That an openly heathen metropolis, devoted to the worship of Mars, and Jupiter, and Venus, and other wicked monstrosities of pagan mythology should be irritated with the gospel which exposes it all, and should consequently seek to injure the faithful, was to be expected, and a necessary result, directly that the uncompromising spirit of Christ was known. Had those who preached said nothing about heathen vanities, had they merely presented the gospel as a better thing than anything the pagans could boast, I do not doubt that the pagans themselves would have acknowledged thus much. And it is pretty well ascertained that there was a discussion among them, even to the suggestion by one of the most wicked of their emperors, whether Christ should not be owned and worshipped in the Pantheon, hundreds of years before Constantine, indeed from the earliest epoch of the gospel. But there never was the thought of giving Christ the only place He could take. For Christ has not only a supreme but an exclusive place. Now there was nothing more repulsive and fatal to paganism in every form than the truth revealed in Christ, which exposed every thing that was not itself not the truth, definite and exclusive. Consequently Christianity, as being directly aggressive on the falsehood of heathenism, was of all things the most offensive to Rome. That pagan Rome, therefore, should set itself against Christianity was to be expected, and so the fact proved.

But it was no such evil which astounded the prophet. He was filled with astonishment that this mysterious form of evil, this counter-testimony of the enemy (not antichrist, but antichurch), should seem and be largely accepted as the holy catholic church of God, that Christendom, if not Christianity, should at the same time become the bitterest of persecutors, more murderously incensed against the witnesses of Jesus and the saints of God than ever paganism had been in any country or all ages. This very naturally filled him with intense wonder.

"And the angel said unto him, Wherefore didst thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman." Had he really penetrated under the surface, and seen that beneath the fair guise of Christendom the woman was, of all things under the sun, the most corrupt and hateful to God, it would not be so much to be surprised at. Therefore says the angel, "I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, that hath* the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, beholding the beast that he was, and is not, and shall be present." The closing phrase here is the description of the beast in its last state, in which it will come into collision with Babylon. Let us bear this in mind. It will help to show us that, whatever may have been the past conditions of Babylon, there is a future one; and it is in that future one that Babylon is to perish. For remark, the beast or Roman empire is described here as that which once existed, which then ceased to exist, and which assumes a final shape when it reappears from the bottomless pit. Bad as pagan Rome was, it would be false to affirm that it ever had come out of the bottomless pit. When the apostle Paul wrote to the, saints at Rome, he particularly specified at that very time the duty of absolute subjection on the part of Christians to the powers which then were. Of course the application to the Roman empire would be immediately in the mind of any Christian at Rome. There was no doubt at all of the character of the emperor; there never had been a worse than he; yet God took that very opportunity to lay this on the Christians as their duty to the worldly authority outside and over them. It was ruled in general that the worldly powers were ordained of God. But this is not to emerge from the bottomless pit.

*The description here is simply character, not dates. If a person drew from this, for instance, that the boast was to carry the woman, Babylon, when it had as a fact all that is meant by the seven heads and the ten horns, it would be an error. The angel implies nothing of the sort. It is a question here of distinctive character, apart from that of time, for which we must search other scriptures.

But there is a time coming when power will cease to be ordained of God; and this is the point to which the last condition of the beast refers. God in His providence did sanction the great empires of old; and the principle continues as long as the church is here below. Hence we have to own the divine source of government even when its holders abandon all such thoughts themselves, and maintain their rule in the world as a thing flowing from the people irrespective of God. But the day is coming when Satan will be allowed to have things his own way. For a short time (what a mercy that it must be only for a short time!) Satan will bring forth an empire suited to his purposes, as it springs from Satanic principles which deny God; and this is part of what appears to be meant by the beast ascending out of the bottomless pit. It "shall go into perdition," it is therefore added, "and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and shall be present." "Yet is" is a most unfortunate expression. It is the fault, however, of the bad Greek text of Erasmus, Stephens, etc. It should be, "and shall be present."* There is no thought of making such a paradox to perplex the mind. The true reading here is neither hard nor doubtful save to unbelief. There is no paradox in the message whatever. It is all plain and simple "the beast that was, and is not, and shall be present."

* Even the Complutensian editors give the right text here; and it would seem that Erasmus failed to use his MS. aright. For according to unquestionable testimony the Reuchlinian copy has καὶ πάρεστι like some half-dozen cursives, which was probably a mistake for πάρεσται .

But all this will be a great reversal of man's history and political maxims. There never has been a like experience. What empire has existed, then sunk, and finally reappeared, with higher pretensions and power, only to perish horribly? It is altogether foreign to history. One of the most approved axioms is, that kingdoms are just like men in this respect, that they begin, rise, and fall. As man does not believe in the resurrection of man, it is no wonder that he does not believe in the resurrection of an empire. The chief difference is that in man's case it is God who raises him, whereas in the empire's not God but the devil will raise it again. Beyond controversy, however, it is a most unusual and abnormal reappearance, which is altogether exceptional in the history of the world. Accordingly the resuscitated Roman empire will carry men away by a storm of wonder at its revival. Little do they know, because they believe not what is here written, that it is about to come out of the abyss or bottomless pit. That is, Satan will be the spring of its final rise and power; he, and not God in any way whatever, will give it its character.

"And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there (or they) are seven kings." I have already touched on the double force of the symbol mountains. "Five are fallen, one is, the other hath not yet come." That is, the sixth head (reigning then in John's day) was the imperial form of government. Nothing of the sort can be plainer. We have here a note of time of signal value. A seventh should follow; and what is more, the seventh was in one aspect to be an eighth. "And the beast that was, and is not, even he is an eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth unto destruction." In one sense it would be an eighth, and in another sense it would be of the seven; the eighth perhaps because of its extraordinary resurrection character, yet one of the seven because it is outwardly old imperialism again. This explains, it seems to me, the wounded head that was afterwards healed. It is of the seven in that point of view, because it is imperialism; but it is an eighth, because it has a diabolical source when raised up again. In this way there never has been anything of the kind before.

"And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have not yet received a kingdom; but they receive authority as kings (not at but for) one hour with the beast." They are all to reign concurrently with the beast. This also is a no less important element for understanding the chapter. All who have looked back on the history know, that when the ten kings appeared, there was no beast or imperial power. It was the destruction of the imperial unity of Rome that gave occasion for the well-known ten kingdoms which the barbarians set up afterwards. I am not raising any question about the ten. We know that sometimes there were nine, sometimes eleven or more; but supposing this all perfectly certain, I affirm that, according to history, they did not receive their power as kings for one and the same time with the beast. This is the meaning of "one hour with the beast."

The very reverse is the undeniable fact. They received their power as kings when the beast ceased to exist. Thus the difference is complete between past history (if we look at the extinction of the empire and the rise of the ten kingdoms) and the certain fulfilment of the prophecy in the future, when we look at what God has really told us. I do not acknowledge the language to be either difficult or ambiguous. Man alone is to blame who has misapplied it. Yet one allows freely a partial application already. We can quite understand that God would comfort His people in the dark ages by this book; and a very imperfect glimpse at its real meaning might in His grace serve to cheer them on in their trials as far as it went. From Rome saints had suffered; and it was easy to see that the revealed persecutress is called Babylon, and identified with the governing city of Rome. So far they were right. Nor is there any real reason to wonder at their deriving help from partial light. It was but an imperfect view they got even of justification; a far scantier perception, if they could be said to have had any, about Christ's Headship of the church, His priesthood, or almost anything else. And thus it was but a little glimpse they had of prophecy. But we can understand that the Lord could and did make that little go far, and do no little good.

But is there any reason why we should content ourselves with the measure enjoyed of old? Such is the hard bondage which mere historical tradition imposes on its votaries. Holding on to what others knew before them, or little more, they reduce themselves to a minimum of the truth. When God is so gracious, His word rich, full, and deep, it does seem sad to see His children content with just enough to save their souls, or keep them from positive starvation. In presence of grace I do not think this is for His glory, any more than for their own blessing. The only right principle in everything is to go to the source of divine truth, and to seek there refreshment and strength and fitness for whatever our God calls us to. And unquestionably God has been awakening the attention of His people in a remarkable manner to the value of His word, and not least of all to the portion we are now examining.

It is plain that what the verse contemplates is neither the Roman power when there was one head of the empire, nor the eastern or Byzantine part of it after that partition, nor the western state of division under the kings who succeeded the deposition of Augustulus; for in the medieval state there may have been ten kings (in contrast with the ancient state of the beast without them but no beast or imperial system with its chiefs. This is what drove men to the idea of making the pope to be the beast. But that idea is wholly insufficient to cover or meet the word of God, which gives clear and strong reasons that prove the mistake of applying this to the pope as its complete fulfilment. For that which comes distinctly before us in this one verse is the twofold fact, that the ten horns here contemplated receive their kingly power for the same hour or time as the beast, and not subsequently, when his rule was extinguished. He gets his power and they get theirs for one and the same time.

This disposes of many a web of comments; for we find at once what is perfectly simple, what any child of God who believes this to be the word of God must own. Bringing in history here embroiled the subject; and those who appeal most to its evidence are the very men who seem in this to ignore its facts. But the most ordinary knowledge suffices; for who does not know from the Bible that there was a Roman empire when Christ was born, one emperor, and no such state as that empire divided into ten kingdoms? We find a decree going forth that all the world shall be enrolled. Of course there must needs be a consultation with the kings, when the kings exist and become an accredited part of that empire, as rulers subordinate to the beast. But no; it was an absolute decree that went forth, and this indisputably, from a single head of the undivided empire. Centuries after came in, not only the division into east and west, but the broken up state of the west, when there ceased to be an imperial chief. But the prophecy shows us the beast revived and the separate kings reigning for the same time, before divine judgment destroys them at the coming of Christ and His saints. Hence this certainly must be future.

How this precisely fits in, let me say, with the state of feeling in these modern times; for "constitutionalism," as men call it, is the fruit of the Teutonic system supervening on that of the broken up Roman empire. It was the barbarians who brought in the prevalent ideas of liberty as well as feudalism, and accordingly it is they that have firmly stood for freedom; so that all the efforts to reconstitute the empire which have been tried over and over again have hitherto issued in total failure. The reason is manifest there is a hinderer "one that letteth." It cannot be done till the moment comes. When its own season arrives, as it surely will, the divine hindrance is to be removed, and the devil then is allowed to do his worst. The political side of this is described here with surprising brightness and brevity. The ten horns with the beast are all to receive authority the beast of course wielding the imperial power, they as kings, all during one and the same time before the end comes. Clearly, therefore, it is future. It is impossible to refer it to the past with any show even of reasonable probability, I will not say of reality or truth. Scripture and facts refute all such theories.

"They have one mind, and give their own power and authority to the beast." Hitherto the reverse of this has been true in history. The horns have constantly opposed each other, and even sometimes the pope. Since then the world has not seen the imperial power to which all bow. Have we not all heard of the balance of power? This is what nations have been constantly occupied with, lest any one power should become the beast. If some few have joined on one side, some are sure to help the other, because they are jealous of any one acquiring such a preponderant authority: and power as to govern the rest. But in the time really contemplated here all this political shuffling will be over. "These have one mind, and give their own power and authority to the beast," or their imperial leader. "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them (for he is Lord of lords and King of kings), and they that are with him, called, and chosen, and faithful."

But still we have not the end of Babylon yet. Her part in the corruption of the high and the intoxication of the low her idolatrous character has come before us. We have seen her connection with the beast; but there is a conflict coming. The woman was allowed to ride the beast to influence and govern the empire first, but at last to be the object of hatred to the ten horns and the beast, who expose, rob, and destroy her. "And he saith to me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Such was her influence stretching out far beyond the beast.

The Gothic hordes were not yet incorporated with the empire, still less were they horns of the beast, nor did they give their power to it, but destroyed it rather. They broke up the beast yet more than Babylon. Past history therefore in no way suits the prophecy. "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast." Here I am obliged to say that our authorized version, and not merely it, but our common Greek Testaments, are altogether wrong. This is known so well, and on such decided grounds, that it would be unbecoming to withhold the fact. There is no uncertainty whatever in the case. It is certain that we ought to read (not "upon" but) "and* the beast." This is of great importance. The horns and the beast join in hating the whore. Not only are they supposed to be coexistent, but united in their change of feeling against Babylon. The friendships of the evil are not lasting. "These shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." It is not the gospel, nor the Holy Spirit, but the lawless revived Latin empire with its vassal kingdoms of the west, that combine and destroy Babylon. Unhallowed love will end in hatred. They will then treat her with contempt and shameful exposure. Next they will seize her resources. Finally they will destroy her. Can anything be less reasonable (even taking that ground, low as it is) than that the various rulers of the western powers, Catholic kings, join the Pope in destroying his own city, or his own church, whichever Babylon may be made? Some evade the difficulty by referring the desolation to the Gothic powers; and these Protestants, as if they were mere Praeterists! What confusion! Is not this reason enough for saying that not even the shadow of solid ground appears for the system?

*It now appears that the Cod. Reuchlin. Capnionis, which was used by Erasmus, and lately discovered after a long obscurity by Dr. Delitzsch, reads καὶ (not ἐπὶ ) τὸ θ . as the Complut. Polyglot, and all editions of the least critical value. Scholz's note ("rec. cum cdd. pl.") is a myth. I am not aware of any MS. in its favour, though some versions represent it.

Hence the effort of some to prop up a manifestly false reading. It is due to the exigency of a notion which fears and is irreconcilable with the truth in this place. "The ten horns which thou sawest AND the beast" would give unquestionably the right form of the verse.

Thus everything implies their simultaneous presence for the same time and common action with the beast, in plundering and then destroying Babylon. God uses them for this object,-the setting aside of her, the great religious corruptress, whose centre is found at Rome. We can easily understand that the overthrow of the ecclesiastical power is necessary to leave a full field unimpeded for the imperial power to develop itself in its final form of violence and rebellion and apostacy against the Lord. Yet religion, be it ever so corrupt, acts as a restraint on human will, as a government does, however evil. Even the worst of governments is better than none. That a corrupt religion is better than none I will not say: at any rate it troubles men; it is a thorn in the side of those who want no religion at all. Hence the horns and the beast join together and desolate the harlot. That kings had dallied with her, that the beast had once borne her up, will only turn to gall the more bitter to her, who, faithless to God, had staked the usurped and abused name of Christ to win what was now lost for ever. "For God put [it] into their hearts to do his mind, and to do one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled." It is a time of strong delusion, be it remembered.

"And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, that hath kingship over the kings of the earth." None but Rome corresponds. "The woman" is the more general symbol designating her as the great imperial city; "the harlot" is her corrupt religious character, embracing papal Rome, but not ending with Popery as it is.

Revelation 18:1-24 need not delay us long. It is a description, not of Babylon's relation to the beast, but of the city's fall, with certain dirges put into the mouth of the different classes that groan because of her extinction here below. But along with that God warns of her ruin, and calls on His people (verse 4) to come out of her. "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sin., have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." Then the word is, "Award her even as she awarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. In as many things as she glorified herself, and lived luxuriously, so much torment and sorrow give to her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am not a widow, and I shall in no wise see sorrow."

That is, Babylon is viewed in this chapter not so much in her mysterious and religious form, giving currency to every kind of confusion of truth and error, of good and evil, intoxicating, corrupting, and seducing, as all can see, through her wickedly religious influence; but she is viewed here as the most conspicuous aider and abettor of the world in its luxuries and delights and the pride of life, of what men call "civilization." This is accordingly traced in our chapter with considerable detail, and with the sorrow and vexation of all the different classes who on the fall of Babylon groaned over her destruction, and the loss of their wealth and enjoyment.

But the graphic account does not end until the Spirit of God shows us another view of Babylon altogether. A mighty angel takes a stone and says, when he cast it into the sea, "Thus with violence shall be thrown down Babylon the great city, and shall be found no more at all." The reason is given at the close; not only "by thy sorcery were all the nations deceived," but above all "in her was found [the] blood of prophets and saints, and of all the slain upon the earth."

What a solemn and weighty fact in the government of God! How can it be said that this vile, corrupt, idolatrous system of the last days was guilty of the blood of all martyrs? She followed and had inherited the spirit of all, from the days of Cain, who had lifted up their hands against their righteous brethren. Instead of taking warning from the wickedness of those before her, who had seduced on the one hand, and persecuted. on the other, she had, when she could, gone on increasing in both, until at last the blow of divine judgment came. It is thus that God is wont to deal as a rule in His judgments, not necessarily on the one that first introduces an evil, but on those that inherit the guilt, and perhaps aggravate it, instead of taking warning by it. And when God does judge, it is not merely for the evil of those then judged, but of all from the first budding of it till that day. This is not unrighteous, but, on the contrary, the highest justice from a divine point of view.

We may illustrate it by the members of a family. Supposing, for instance, a drunken father: if the sons had one spark of right feeling, not only must they feel the utmost shame and pain on account of their parent, but they would endeavour (like the sons of Noah who had a due sense of what was proper to their father) to cast some mantle of love over that which they could not deny, yet would not look at, but surely above all things they would watch against that shameful sin. But alas! there is a son in the family, who, instead of being admonished by his father's wickedness, takes license from it to indulge the same. On him the blow comes, not on the wretched parent. The son is doubly guilty, because he saw his father's nakedness and felt it enough to hide. But he ought to have withstood it I do not mean in vengeance (for that belongs to the Lord), but as holily hating the sin itself, yet withal in the deepest compassion for his parent. But far from that he has, on the contrary, persevered in the same evil course, as badly or worse than his father. Then and thus is aggravated guilt in the case of this wicked son.

It is a precisely similar case here. Babylon had once heard the varied testimony of God; for what had she not heard of truth? The gospel had been preached there, as she of Chaldea was not without law and prophet. Babylon must hear, I do not doubt, the final testimony of God the gospel of the kingdom that is to go forth in the last days; but she loves her pleasure and power, and refuses truth. She will despise everything really divine; she will only use whatever of God's word she can pervert for increasing her own importance, and gaining a greater ascendancy over the consciences of men, and enjoying herself more luxuriously in this world; for she will go far to obliterate all remembrance of heaven, and to make this world a kind of paradise which she embellishes, not with pure and undefiled religion, but with the arts of men and the idolatries of the world.

This it is precisely which will bring out the indignant judgment of God upon the last phase of Babylon, so that the guilt of all the blood shed on the earth shall be imputed to her, and she may be judged accordingly. It does not hinder, of course, that in the judgment of the dead each man is judged for his own sin. This remains true. The day of the Lord on the world in no way sets aside His dealing with individual souls. The judgment of the dead is strictly individual, judgments in this world are not. His blows on this world come more nationally as on Israel; incomparably more severe, as in possession of greater privileges, is the judgment of corrupt Christendom, or Babylon as it is called here. But according to His principle of government it is not merely personal guilt, but that which, from despising the testimony of God, is thus morally accumulating from age to age in the ratio of the testimony of God and the wickedness that has been indulged by men in spite of it. This may suffice for Revelation 18:1-24.

"After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great crowd in heaven, saying, Alleluia, the salvation, and the glory, and the power of our God: for true and righteous [are] his judgments: because he judged the great harlot, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And they said Alleluia a second time; and her smoke goeth up unto the ages of the ages." The Spirit of God contrasts with the fall of Babylon the marriage. of the bride, the Lamb's wife. Babylon was the spurious church as long as it was a question of the church, and the final corrupter when it could be no question of this longer, and there went forth the closing testimony of God. I do not doubt that there was a corrupt form in connection with Israel in times past. That is, there was first the literal Babylon, of course; but here it is symbolical. A mysterious lawlessness inherits the well-known name of Babylon when Rome is brought forward; and it does not merely embrace Christian times, but the end of the age after the church has gone, when the course of divine judgment comes. Bear this in mind: to leave the last part out is fatal to any accurate understanding of the Revelation.

We find, accordingly, the four and twenty elders and four living creatures here brought before us for the last time. That is to say, the heavenly saints are viewed still as the heads of the glorified priesthood, and also the executive in the administration of God's judgments. But a voice issues from the throne, saying, "Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were a voice of a great multitude, and as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God the Almighty reigneth.* Let us be glad and exult, and give the glory to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." Now we find the symbol of the bride brought before us, and the elders and the living creatures disappear. The bride is in view.

*It is the aorist in Greek, which in such a case as this it is difficult correctly to represent in English; for neither "reigned" nor "hath reigned" could convey that God had entered on His kingdom, but rather that it was past.

Are we then to understand that the elders and the living creatures are together taken absolutely as the bride now? that those who were meant under the figures of the elders and of the living creatures assume the name and figure of the bride? In my opinion it is not absolutely so. The elders do show us the heavenly heads of priesthood (embracing, as I believe, the Old Testament saints and those of the New); i.e., they are not limited to the church, Christ's body. Then, when the Lamb and His purchase by blood are celebrated in heaven, the four living creatures join the elders, though each is distinct. The glorified saints are to administer power in a way far beyond angels. The living creatures are, from Revelation 5:1-14 coupled with the elders, as we find them in the beginning of Revelation 19:1-21.

But now, when those symbols disappear, because of a new action of God (namely, the consummation of the church's joy), the elders and the living creatures disappear, and we have not the bride alone, but another class of saints, who at once come forward. "And to the bride was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of saints." I say "righteousnesses," not "righteousness." It is not what Christ puts on them, but a recognition even at this time of whatever has been of God the working I do not deny of the Spirit of Christ. But it is what each saint has, though the blessed thought here is that the church has it not merely in the way of each person possessing his own; the bride has the whole of it (that is, the church in glory). The individual has his own fruit too. This remains true also in its own place, as we shall find; and when it is a question of reward, this is precisely the grand point; but when it is a question of the bride above, that is the way in which it is presented here, as we may see clearly from verse 8. The Spirit of God implies that it is decidedly not the righteousness here which is by another, and we thereby imputed righteous, but righteousnesses personal and actual. Of course the other is true. Before God we have that which is found only by and in Christ, which is another and a higher character altogether as compared with the righteousnesses of the saints.

Besides the bride thus arrayed, "He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage-supper of the Lamb." Here you may see the reason for saying that the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures are not absolutely the church, because when that symbol applies, and the one of the bride comes forward, we have got others too. What I judge, then, is that the guests, or those that were called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb, refer clearly to the Old Testament saints. If so, they are there in the quality not of the bride, but of those invited to the marriage of the Lamb; but I do not think them the Apocalyptic saints for the simple reason that, as shown in the next chapter, the Apocalyptic saints are not raised from the dead yet. These remain as yet in the condition of separate spirits. That is not at all the way in which the guests are spoken of. I think, therefore, that the elders and the living creatures comprehend both the Old Testament saints and the church, the bride of Christ, that consequently, when the bride is mentioned, there were these others who had been included in the elders and the living creatures, but who are now seen as a separate body. No doubt all this may seem to some a little difficult, but it is no use evading what is hard. We must face difficulties; we must bow to the word; we must seek to learn through all. We do not mend matters by hasty conclusions, we only complicate the truth. And it appears to me that here we are bound to account for the presence of these others that are at the marriage-supper of the Lamb, but appear as guests, and not at all in the quality of the bride. In general this has been either passed over in the chapter, or some unsatisfactory inference has been flung out, which can only embroil the prophecy. I do not, of course, complain of particular persons, but of the general vagueness in which the passage has been taken unless, indeed, the more common course be not to ignore it.

Then the prophet falls down to pay homage to the angel; and this gives rise to a weighty admonition. It is not only that the angel corrects the act by asserting that he is a fellow-servant of him and of his brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. On that account it was altogether out of place to pay homage to him instead of to the God who had sent him to serve. But he tells us further that the Spirit of prophecy, who prophesies in this book, is the testimony of Jesus. Thus the divine testimony is not confined to the gospel or the church, but the prophetic Spirit which characterizes the Revelation as a whole, after the church is translated, is equally a testimony of Jesus. This is most important, because it might be (as it has been) forgotten by some who make the gospel and the corresponding presence of the Spirit to be the same at all times; as others have thought, because Revelation 4:1-11 and sequel treat of Jew and Gentile, and the state of the world under God's judgments, that this cannot be a testimony of Jesus at all. But it really is. "The Spirit of prophecy" and such it is all through the Revelation after the seven churches are done with "is the testimony of Jesus." We know the Holy Spirit rather as a spirit of communion with Christ. By and by, after our translation to heaven, He will work, and as vitally in those who bow to God, when it will be the reception of the prophetic testimony which is here owned to be none the less the testimony of Jesus.

Then heaven is opened, and for a sight most solemn. It is not now the temple opened there, and the ark of the covenant seen when Israel's security is seen, as the object of God's counsels; nor is it a door opened above, as we saw it when the prophet was giving his introduction to the prophecy of God's dealings with the world as a whole, though in both cases all manifestly clusters round the Lord Jesus. But now heaven is opened for yet graver facts, and of incalculable moment for man and the universe and the enemy. It is Christ Himself about to be displayed in His rights as King of kings, and Lord of lords; and this in the face of the world. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse." Victorious power put forth to subdue is the meaning of the white horse. "And he that sat upon him called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." It is no longer a question of sustaining His saints in grace, but of sovereign power for judging the earth. "His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems." There was judicial discernment with the distinct possession of all titles to sovereignty.

"And he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself." He is coming forth in indisputable human glory, but the greatest care is taken to let us know that He had that which was above man above the creature; for "no man knoweth the Son but the Father." Here it would seem we have just what answers to that: this name none knew but He Himself. He was a divine person, whatever new position He assumes for the world. "And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood." He comes to execute vengeance, and with a sign of death for rebels. "And his name is called The Word of God." He was the word of God in the revelation of grace; when known, by and by, it will be as the executor of God's judgments. He equally expresses what God is. The gospel of John and the Revelation perfectly disclose both, whether in grace or in judgment. "And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white, pure."

Here we learn at once of what His train consists. They are glorified saints, and not angels. And this is entirely confirmed byRevelation 17:1-18; Revelation 17:1-18, where it was told us that they are with Him when He comes. When the beast dares to fight with the Lamb He shall overcome the beast; and they that are with Him, "called and chosen and faithful" terms, as a whole, entirely inapplicable to the angels. The angels are never "called," although they may be "chosen;" and though termed holy, I do not recollect that they are ever spoken of as "faithful." "Faithful" is what belongs to a man. It supposes the effect and the exercise of faith. "Called" is most evidently inapplicable, because calling supposes that the person is brought out of one condition and raised into another and a better one. This is never the case with an angel. The fallen angels are not called, and the holy angels never need to be they are kept. Calling is the, fruit of active grace on God's part towards man, and only towards him when fallen. Even man himself when he was innocent in Eden was not called. Directly he had sinned, the word of God came, and he was called. It is very evident, therefore, that the saints in a glorified state are here represented as following the Lord out of heaven. They are not seen here as the bride. This would have been altogether inappropriate for such a progress: when the King comes forth riding to victory in the judgment of wicked men of the world, it is not in the quality of bride, but of armies or hosts, that the saints follow Him; and these include no doubt the guests as well, i.e., all the glorified take their place in His train.

At the same time you will mark that these are not said to be executors of judgment as Christ is.* It is to Him that God has given all judgment not necessarily to us. We may have a special task in it, but this is not the work for us, as it seems to me. Hence. there is no sword proceeding out of our mouth; nor are the saints or heavenly hosts said to be arrayed in such a sort as the Lord. It is simply said that the glorified are to follow the Lord in victorious power, and nothing more, "clothed in fine linen, white, pure." Angels we know from other scriptures will be there, but of this we hear nothing here. But "out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron." What makes it the more notable is this, that the rod of iron is promised to us not the sword. Then there is the reigning power, but not the execution of judgment in this awful fashion which is attributed to the Lord Himself. But He "treadeth the winepress of the fury of the wrath of the Almighty God" another character of judgment never attributed to the saints, that I know of. "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords."

*It is the more strikingly characteristic, because of such language as Psalms 149:6-9, which speaks of all the saints contemplated on earth for the day of Jehovah.

Then follows the proclamation of the angel, and the invitation to the supper of the great God, to eat the flesh of all the great ones of the earth. "And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, gather yourselves together unto the great supper of God; that ye may eat flesh of kings, and flesh of chiliarchs, and flesh of strong [men], and flesh of horses, and of those that sit on them, and flesh of all, both free and bond, both small and great." And then comes the gathering and the battle. "And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken" (taken alive), "and with him the false prophet that wrought signs in his presence, with which he deceived those that received the mark of the beast, and those that worshipped his image." Thus the second beast is no longer seen as an earthly power, but as a prophet-of course a false prophet. All the energy to mislead men in the presence of the first beast was long in his hands, and now nothing more is spoken of. The spiritual power is wholly in the hands of the false prophet. It will be understood when one says "spiritual" that none is meant save of a wicked kind.

"Alive the two were cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone." Thus eternal judgment was executed at once. They were caught in flagrant treason and rebellion: what further need of any process of judgment whatsoever?

"And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which [sword] proceedeth out of his mouth: and all the birds were filled with their flesh." Their doom was awful, but by no means after the same sort as their two leaders.

Then another and immensely important act is described the binding of Satan. He is no longer to be allowed to prowl about the world ensnaring and destroying. "And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." It is not therefore his final judgment. The angel least him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal over him, that he should no more deceive the nations, till the thousand years should be completed: after these things he must be loosed a little time."

And then we come to a most cheering disclosure: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of those beheaded on account of the witness of Jesus, and on account of the word of God: and those who had not worshipped the beast, nor his image, and had not received his mark upon their forehead, and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." I do not suppose that many words are required by the present audience to show that we are not to understand the scene as a mere figure of Christianity. There are probably but few, if any, here who do not understand it as the fore-shadow of a real resurrection. In short, it is not tropical language, as when it is said of the prodigal son "This my son was dead, and is alive again;" or of the restoration of Israel, which is compared to a resurrection from the dead for the rest of the world. Here the vision was of thrones with sitters, and others caused to join them; and the inspired explanation is that it is the first resurrection the rising of the just from the dead. Let us look at the different groups that are seen to have part in the first resurrection.

First, "I saw thrones, and they sat upon them." The thrones were already filled. Instead of judgment being executed on them, it was given to them. They themselves were to judge. Who were they? Who are the persons thus invested with judicial authority of so glorious a nature and to reign, as we see later, with Christ? Clearly the same saints whom we have seen first set forth by the elders in heaven, subsequently by the elders and the living creatures, next, by the bride and the living creatures at the marriage-supper, and finally by the armies that followed the Lord out of heaven.

It is no longer a question either of celebrating the ways and counsels of God, or of the war with the beast and king. Accordingly it is another figure. It is reigning. There are thrones filled with certain persons, who reign along with Him. Thus the language of symbol is as definite as any other. There is no lack of precision, but the very reverse. Peculiar energy indeed attaches to symbolic language. But what is also of consequence to observe is, that John saw souls the souls of those beheaded on account of the witness of Jesus, and on account of the word of God. These are the martyrs of Revelation 6:1-17, those long since seen under the altar, poured out like burnt-offerings to God. It will be remembered that it was said to them that they must wait. They had cried to the Sovereign ruler to avenge their blood on their foes, but they were told they must wait a little for some others, their fellow-servants and their brethren, to die as they had. Here accordingly we have them all. For there follows another company of martyrs who suffered when the beast set up his worst and final pretensions. When the second beast appeared, he even strove to put to death those who would not worship the beast, nor pay homage to his image, nor receive his mark. These compose the third class here spoken of.

The first were such as came out of heaven after Christ, being already raised from the dead and glorified. Consequently they sat upon the thrones at once; while the two latter classes, described in the rest of the verse, were still in the separate state "and the souls." Take this quite simply and literally. It does not mean persons merely, but the souls of beheaded persons. He saw their condition: it was part of the vision.

Here were thrones, and people sat upon them, changed 'before this into the image of Christ's glory. Then come others in the condition of separate spirits or souls, whom the prophet saw two different classes of them those beheaded for the witness of Jesus and the word of God, and those who refused the beast in every form, The proof of the third class should have been given a little more distinctly than in our version. It should not be "and which had not," but rather, "and those who had not worshipped the beast, nor his image, neither had received his mark upon their forehead, and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Thus such as were in the separate state were reunited to their bodies, and lived and reigned like those who were already on the thrones. They "lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."

Thus nothing can be simpler or more beautiful than the way in which this verse sums up the Revelation as a whole. The visions of this prophetic book open, not with the rapture of saints to heaven, but the sight of saints already raptured, often before the seer in the visions, but seen always in a complete condition without addition to their number. Accordingly the rapture of the church with the Old Testament saints must have already taken place, all (as I have no doubt) being caught up at the self-same time to be with the Lord above.

We have seen that these follow the Lord out of heaven, and are next seen enthroned. When the Lord takes His own throne, they take theirs by grace. But, further, we find that the saints who had suffered for Christ, during the time that the others were in heaven, are now reunited to their bodies and live, the Lord waiting for the last martyr that He might not leave out one of those who had died for His name. All the sufferers, either in the early persecutions of Revelation 6:1-17, or in the later persecutions (see Revelation 15:1-8) up to Babylon's extinction, were now raised from the dead. They lived, and were put therefore into a place and condition suitable for reigning with Christ, no less than the Old Testament saints and the church itself. Such is the meaning of the verse "The rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection."

Let it be carefully observed here that the first resurrection does not mean all rising exactly at the same moment. This is a mistake. We know that the change of all those caught up takes place in the twinkling of an eye. but it does not follow that various bodies are not raised at different times. For certain there are two great acts of resurrection, one when the Old Testament saints and the church are caught up to heaven, the other when Satan was bound after the beast and false prophet were thrown into the lake of fire, as well as Babylon judged. Thus (without speaking of the resurrection of the wicked at the close) there were certainly more acts than one, not to speak of the two witnesses put to death and caused to rise after three days and a half, when the spirit of life entered them, and they not only arose, but went up to heaven, as we know. I speak not of anything that might be deemed exceptional or peculiar, but of two acts of raising saints. From the manner in which resurrection is referred to in scripture, does not God leave room for this? "I will raise him up at the last day." "At the last day" does not mean merely an instant of time. Whether it were the Old Testament saints and the church, or the Apocalyptic saints, if I may so distinguish them, it was in an instant that each were raised, but there was some space between them. What is there to hinder it? There is no expression in the word of God which binds all to rise at the same instant. Those that do rise at the same time rise, no doubt, in a moment; but that there are to be various acts of resurrection is not only not contrary to scripture, but required by its own descriptions. This verse declares it, and there is no other interpretation that can stand even a moment's fair discussion.

This being so, it adds immense clearness in the understanding of the book. And what shall we say of the wonderful wisdom of the Lord? It is called "the first resurrection." This does not intimate we have seen that there is only one act of raising, but that all who share that resurrection, whenever raised, are raised before the millennium begins; so that when the reign of Christ takes place, all such have part in the first resurrection, including Christ Himself, raised at least 1800 years before the church; then the church, with the Old Testament saints; then these Apocalyptic saints at any rate some years after. All this gives us a true and just view of the various parties that have a share in the resurrection. "This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."

It has been remarked by another, and justly, that the expression "they shall be priests of God and of Christ" summarily puts out of court the interpretation that supposes a figurative resurrection. For it is clear that, though principles might reign, to be priests is quite inconsistent with a mere figure. It is also clearly a personal reward to those who had suffered.

When the thousand years expire, Satan reappears on the scene to the sorrow and ruin of the Gentiles who were not born of God. But it is for the last time, not of the age only but of the various dispensations of God. "And when the thousand years are completed, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to war." This is clearly of moral importance. The glory of the kingdom does not preserve when men in their natural state are exposed to the adversary. The millennial nations, "the number of whom is as the sand of the sea," fall a prey to Satan.

"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city." The beloved city is Jerusalem; the camp of the saints, I presume, is a larger circle and embraces all of Israel and the Gentiles who, being converted, refuse Satan's deceit. It is an evident contrast with the state supposed in the wheat-and-tare field of Christendom which is found at the end of the age. Wheat and tares grow together till the process of judgment separates. At the end of the millennium the righteous and the wicked form two distinct arrays, though even then there would appear to be a line drawn between the surrounding camp, and the beloved city Jerusalem on earth, where the Jews were. The unrenewed of the nations are now compassing them with their countless hosts, as if to eat them up like grasshoppers. "And fire came down out of heaven from God, and devoured them. And the devil that deceiveth them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where both the beast and the false prophet [are], and they shall be tormented day and night unto the ages of the ages."

Then follows another scene still more solemn the most awe-inspiring of all we can contemplate, at the same time full of blessing for the Christian to look onward to as that which will for ever put aside every trace of evil, and vindicate good where man must altogether fail. Here accordingly is seen but one throne. It is the divine judgment of man eternal judgment. Even when God was judging providentially in the beginning of the Apocalyptic visions (Revelation 4:1-11), associated thrones were seen. When Christ came personally to judge and govern the quick (Revelation 20:4), there were thrones; for the risen saints reign with Him. But now there is but one throne: Christ judges the dead. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away." This is of immense moment doctrinally, because it decisively proves that it is altogether unfounded to assume, as is popularly done, that the Lord only returns at this juncture. In the coming of the Lord all include His coming to the habitable earth. Now manifestly, if the Lord does not come before this, there is no world to come to; for the earth and heavens are fled. The common notion, therefore, that the coming of the Lord is at this point is an evident fallacy upon the face of this scripture that describes it, not to speak of others elsewhere. It is not a syllogism that is wanted or that can satisfy here: only require, only believe, the word of God. A single verse dispels clouds of arguments. "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled; and place was not found for them." I admit that afterwards no doubt the new heaven and the new earth are seen; but who contends that this is the sphere to which the Lord comes? To this earth He is coming, and not merely to the new earth in the eternal state. To the same world in which He suffered, according to the scriptures, He will come back. But for the eternal judgment heaven and earth are fled away; and then we see the new and eternal universe. Hence He must have come back previously to both. With this agrees His coming out of heaven in judgment of the earth, described inRevelation 19:1-21; Revelation 19:1-21. He came to the world, and avenged His people on the beast and the false prophet with the kings and their armies; and after that the risen saints reign with Him over it a thousand years. I say not on but over the earth. He with the glorified saints will have their home on high, but none the less shall they reign over this very world for the allotted time.

Then, as we have seen, comes the final test of the nations of the earth after that kingdom has run its course, and the devil let loose once more deceives flesh and blood after the analogy of all other dispensations. That age of visible glory is inefficacious to change the heart of man, though in the absence of the enemy and the controlling presence of the great King, they render feigned obedience for a long while. It can govern and bless but not convert man. Even the proclamation of the grace of God is powerless save it be brought home by the quickening energy of His own Spirit. In short, no testimony can avail, no work, power, or glory without the word of God applied by the Spirit of God. But in this is shown what it is of importance to see the true nature of the kingdom or millennial reign. "That day" does not mean a time when everybody will be converted, but when the Lord Jesus will govern righteously when overt evil will be judged, and good be sustained perfectly for a thousand years. When any wrong is done, it will be dealt with. As far as the display of government goes, it is according to God morally, and for His glory, though I deny not for a moment that there are elements of evil which are never allowed, but kept under if not expelled. But that the heart of man even so is not renewed becomes manifest, when Satan at the close deceives all that are not converted; and these, as we are told, are countless "as the sand of the sea."

Do not wonder at the vast numbers, or at their defection. The thousand years of peace and plenty will have given occasion for an ever-growing population, spite of a world thinned by divine judgments which open that era. It is to be supposed that it will far exceed anything yet seen on the face of the earth. At the beginning there will have been carnage, as we know, among both the western powers and the eastern powers. In fact, we may say, all nations will be desolated by judgments of one kind or another; but for all this the world proceeding for a thousand years with every outward blessing, and the most admirable government administered by the blessed Lord Himself, will issue in the teeming and prosperous races of mankind. It will be a state of nature unexampled for the fruits of the earth and the enjoyment of all that God has made here below. Consequently there will be an increase in population such as never has been approached since the world was made, yet it afterwards appears, that Satan will not fail to turn the masses of the nations into one vast rebellion against the objects of God's special favour on the earth the saints wherever they may be, and the beloved city of Israel, as we have seen.

Then comes not the destruction only of these rebels by divine judgment, but the dissolution of heaven and earth. And Jesus sits on the great white throne. It is the judgment of the dead as such, who now rise and give account of their deeds. All the dead are there who had not part in the first resurrection. The, nature of the case exempts of course the saints of the millennium;* and this very simply, because they are never said to die at all. There is no scriptural reason to infer that any saint dies during the thousand years, but rather the contrary. Scripture is positive in Isaiah 65:1-25 that death during the millennium only comes as a specific judgment because of open rebellion. When a person dies, it will be a positive curse from God; if he die even a hundred years old, it will be like a baby dying now. Man converted will then not merely reach the natural term if I may so say of a thousand years, but pass that bound. If alive before the thousand years, he will live after the thousand years; in fact, literally he will never die, though I do not doubt, on general principles, that the saints of the millennial earth will be changed at the very time when the heavens and earth disappear. Of course they will be preserved through that crisis in some sort of way suitable to divine wisdom. God has not told us how, nor is it our business. He has reserved the matter, though not without enough to guide our thoughts, as we have seen. It is one of those cases which every now and then appear where God checks and reproves our foolish curiosity, as He alone knows how to do perfectly. "Flesh and blood," we know, "cannot inherit the kingdom of God." According to the general scope of scripture, then, we may be quite sure that these saints, kept during this universal dissolution of the atmospheric heaven and the earth, will be translated to "the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness," in a condition new and meet for the eternal state into which they are ushered. Let others speculate, if they will: I am persuaded that he who essays to conceive the details is merely striving to draw a bow beyond the power of man. For I am not aware that any scripture treats of the subject, beyond laying down principles such as we have sought to apply to the case.

* None, however, can be exempt from being manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, or from giving an account of all done in the body. But no believer comes into judgment. (John 5:24 compared with Romans 14:1-23 and 2 Corinthians 5:1-21.)

"And the dead were judged," but not out of the book of life, which has nothing to do with judgment. "The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Why then is the book of life mentioned? Not because any of their names were written therein, but in proof that they were not. The book of life will confirm what is gathered from the books. If the books proclaim the evil works of the dead that stand before the throne, the book of life offers no defence on the score of God's grace. Scripture records no name whatever among those judged written there. There was the sad register of undeniable sin on the one side; there was no writing of the name on the other side. Thus, whether the books or the book be examined, all conspire to declare the justice, the solemn but most affecting righteousness, of God's final irrevocable sentence. They were judged every man according to their works. "And if any one was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire." Thus the only use that seems made of the book is negative and exclusive. Not that any of those judged (and the scene described is solely a resurrection of judgment) are said to be written there: we are shown rather that they were not found in that book.

Again, death and hades are said to come to their end, personified as enemies. "And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." Thus was concluded all dealing on the Lord's part with both soul and body, and all that pertains to either. The race was now in the resurrection state either for good or for evil; and thus it must be for ever. Death and hades, which had so long been executioners in a world where sin reigned, and were still doing their occasional office where righteousness is to reign, themselves disappear where all traces of sin are consigned for ever.

In the first eight verses of Revelation 21:1-27 we have the new heaven and the new earth, but besides, awful to say, the lake of fire. Indeed it must be so, because, as we read in the end of the last chapter, there the lost were cast. But still it is a very solemn fact to read, and that which we are bound to preach that even in the perfect state of eternity, while there is the brightness of the heaven and of the earth into which no evil can enter, you have all the evil that ever has been all the wicked of every clime and of every age cast into the fixed condition of eternal judgment in the lake of fire.

Observe another very important fact. All the dispensational names of God disappear. It is only God and man now. There is nothing more to hear of nations; nothing more to do with separate countries, kindreds, or tongues. It is the eternal state; and also, in fact, the fullest description of that state which is furnished in the Bible. But a very different point of interest is to be observed.

Although there is such a levelling of human distinctions, and men have to do directly with God that is men raised from the dead or in their changed condition we still see the holy Jerusalem "the holy city, new Jerusalem," separate from the rest of those that fill the new heaven and earth. This is of great importance, because if the new Jerusalem be, as I have no doubt it is, the bride the Lamb's wife, then we have her separate condition asserted in eternity. "I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God" (alluding to this very city) "[is] with men." That is, the tabernacle of God is regarded as a separate object, no doubt associated with men, but not confounded with them. Men are not regarded as composing this tabernacle; they co-exist. "The tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor sorrow, nor crying nor shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

All things are thus made new; and, further, "these words are faithful." Nothing more is to be done. "And he said unto me, It is done. I am the, Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be to him God, and he shall be son to me. But to the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part [is] in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

Here occurs a remarkable change in the sequence of the visions, though easily understood; for it must be evident that there is nothing to follow this in point of time. We have just seen that it is the eternal state. Consequently, here we must most unquestionably go back to be shown an important object in the prophecy which could not, without interrupting its course, have been described before. In short, it is as we saw in Revelation 17:1-18, after Babylon had been brought before us in the course of the prophecy. We had seen Babylon twice: first, in the circle of God's warnings and testimonies; and then as the object of God's judgment under the seven bowls. Then we have a description of Babylon given. It would have been incongruous to bring in that long description before, because this must have interrupted the flow of the prophetic stream.

Exactly the same thing is repeated here, and what makes it more apparent is the similarity of the introduction on each occasion. "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." Who does not see that this is precisely analogous to the verse which opened the description of Babylon? I take it, therefore, that God intended this analogy to be noted by us; that it is not a pursuance of the prophecy, but a description of the holy city previously named, just as the other was a description of the corrupt city, whose judgment had been announced. We had Babylon with a spuriously ecclesiastical but a really murderous character, and at the same time guilty of corruption with the kings of the earth. Here is seen the holy city coming down out of heaven from God, which is declared to be the bride, the Lamb's wife, in the plainest contrast with the great harlot. Yet to this heavenly city, after Christ comes, the kings of the earth bring their offerings and their homage; but there is no excitement of the nations, no filthiness of fornication, no abominations, no blood-guiltiness. In short, Babylon, the disgusting counterpart of the holy city, in earthly ambition seeks the kings and the masses for her own present objects, while the other suffers now and will reign then. The one therefore throws much light upon the other.

But what I particularly call your attention to is the exceeding importance of heeding the retrospect at the bride, or new Jerusalem here, and the consequent removal of the difficulty caused by taking the last vision of this book as part of the prophetic series which begins in Revelation 19:1-21. Not so. It is an added digression for the purpose of describing an object already named passingly in the foregoing series, which closes at Revelation 21:8. As Revelation 17:1-18 was a descriptive digression, so is the portion from Revelation 21:9. The account given of Babylon inRevelation 17:1-18; Revelation 17:1-18 does not follow Revelation 14:1-20 or Revelation 16:1-21 in point of prophetic time, but differs from them in structure. It gives a retrogressive account of Babylon's character, and shows how it morally compelled the divine judgment. So here a description is given of the bride, the Lamb's wife, and we learn how it is that God will use her for unmeasured goodness and blessing and glory in the millennium, as the devil during this age has used Babylon to accomplish his wicked plans here below. Just as the city of man's confusion was seen in her vile, degraded, and degrading relations with the beast, this city is seen in her pure and glorious relations with the Lamb.

"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in [the] spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God." It is not into a wilderness the prophet is carried, but he is set on "a mountain great and high," and shown not the great, but. the holy city Jerusalem. The great city was either guilty Jerusalem or Babylon. This city is seen now as the holy vessel of divine power for governing the earth during the millennium, "having the glory of God: and her brightness was like a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal."

Then follows a description of the wall, gates, foundations, and general position. "Having a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel." It was important, just because it is the bride, the Lamb's wife, to show that angels are there, and further, that Israel is not forgotten. The very name indeed shows something similar; not of course that the church can ever be earthly. Still God does not forget His ways with His people; and the angels here are only in the quality of porters, if we may so speak; they are at the gates. And as for the twelve tribes of Israel, they are merely written there, nothing more. No hint whatever is given that they constitute the city, but there is the inscription of their names outside. That city will be a constant remembrancer of those who went before restored Israel here below, as undoubtedly it will be used for their blessing during the millennium, but not for theirs only. We shall find, on the contrary, its aspect is toward the universe, yet is there the special place of Israel; and quite right it is that it should be so. "On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." These would appear to be (save Judas Iscariot, of course) the twelve apostles that were peculiarly associated with Christ in His suffering path on the earth. God is sovereign. It is not meant that he who was more honoured in service than any of the twelve, he whom the Lord used for bringing out the church of the heavenly places, will not have his own most singular dignity in this glorious scene. Still God acts in a wisdom far above man, and holds to His principles even there. The twelve apostles of the Lamb will accordingly have their own special place. We can fairly trust God that He will not give a worse place to Paul; yet I do not think that this is his place.

"And he that spoke with me had a golden reed as a measure, that he might measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and its length is as much as the breadth." Thus there is a completeness and perfection about it suited to its present character.

Afterwards we come to the description of itself, of its wall, its building, its foundations, and its gates. Here it is the city described in itself, on which we need not now enlarge.

Further, a negative point of great importance is presented by the seer, "And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God the Almighty is the temple of it, and the Lamb. This, was no lack. On the contrary, it proved the immediateness of communion. The temple would suppose a medium. The absence of a temple is therefore no loss but a gain for this city. It furnishes material for a contrast between the earthly Jerusalem and the heavenly city, because if there be one thing more remarkable than another in Ezekiel's description, it is the temple. But here there is none; a temple is for the earth. The heavenly city, which is the full expression of blessedness on high, has no temple because it is all a temple. "The Lord God is the temple of it, and the Lamb as far as we can speak of any. "And the city has no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they should shine for it." This too must not be viewed as if it were a loss. As for the earthly land and city, the moon will have her light increased to that of the sun, and the sun shall be sevenfold. But here there is neither; and this again is an evidence of gain, not of loss. "For the glory of God enlightened it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof." Creature lights are gone.

After "the nations" in verse 24 omit the words "of them which are saved." You must with the best authorities leave out this addition, if you would have the true force of the verse. It is a wholly unwarranted interpolation. "The nations shall walk in the light of it," Any one of spiritual judgment can see that it should not be "nations of them which are saved." What would be the meaning, if so read? We can understand a remnant saved out of one or more nations; but who ever heard of "nations of them which are saved"? It is altogether unfeasible, and it shows how carelessly we read the Bible that people are not stopped by such an expression. The fact is, in the very best authorities it does not exist at all. The "saved" is a term which, so far from belonging to the nations, is expressly applied to the Jewish remnant when it is a technical term. But "nations of them which are saved," is a most anomalous expression, and betrays man as the author of it.

"And the nations shall walk in the light of it." It is plain that they are not in this city. "The kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour unto it" not into but unto. That is, it is simply an expression of the homage that they pay. "And the nations shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour unto it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for night shall not be there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations unto it. And there shall in nowise enter into it anything that defileth, nor making abomination and a lie: but only those written in the book of life of the Lamb." Moral unfitness has its just censure; but sovereign grace must be asserted also.

Then we have another glorious description. "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." It is not now lightnings and thunders and voices. These were simply the characters of provisional judgment that filled the interval after the church was gone, and before the reign with Christ. But when Christ and the church peacefully reign, such is the imagery that suits "a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the broadway of it, and of the river, on this side and on that, [the] tree of life," bearing not merely as the original one did, but now according to the fulness of the provision of God's grace for man, for man in glory first, but for man on the earth also, but for man in glory "producing twelve fruits, in each month yielding its fruit: and the leaves of the tree for the healing of the nations." Man on the earth has his portion in the goodness of a God who is manifesting His kingdom. "And no curse shall be any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him." All this description closes in verse 5.

After that we have the admonitions to the end of this book. On these I may say but a very few words.

Verse 6 commends these sayings afresh. And the coming of the Lord is urged in connection with it. "Behold I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book." Then again the character of it, as derived from Christianity having already taken its place, is asserted. "Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book." In Daniel's time, and even to Daniel himself, the book was sealed. The old oracles were sealed then: not so John's. "And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is near." In Daniel's time it was not at hand. To the church the end is always near. In her own course, and in the matters of her portion, the church does not know time at all. Everything that belongs to the body of Christ is unearthly and unworldly. The church is heavenly; and in heaven there are no times nor seasons. There may be lights of the heaven to mark times and seasons for the earth, and again on the earth. But the church consists of souls called out from the earth, and is not of the world: consequently to the church the time is always at hand. When Christ at God's right hand was announced, even from the very beginning, He was ready to judge the quick and the dead. He remains in that condition of readiness from the time when He sat at God's right hand till the present. The church goes on according to the will of the Lord, who might according to His own purpose lengthen or abridge the space. It is entirely in His hand, and in none other's. Whereas for the Jew, there are necessary dates and momentous changes that must take place; and hence, as Daniel represents the Jew, we have the difference kept up. To the Christian this book is not sealed. All is opened, and this because we have the Holy Ghost dwelling in us; "for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." Therefore we find in connection with the book a most solemn warning. "Let him that is unrighteous be unrighteous still: and let the filthy be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." When the hour comes that is spoken of here, it is not for us, but for those who will be found after we are gone. All is then fixed. There will be no time for seeking mercy, as it were: whatever the state in which the Lord at His coming will find us, all is closed up and fixed. Accordingly, "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me." We. see that it is in connection with the foregoing not merely His coming for us who will keep the sayings of it, but for those whom He will find here below "to give to each as his work is."

Further, after this Jesus introduces Himself, as well as sends His angel. "I Jesus sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright the morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come: and let him that heareth say, Come: and let him that is athirst come: let him that will take the water of life freely." Thus the name of Christ, not merely as the root and the offspring of David, but as the bright morning star, calls out responsively the heart of the church, and this too under the guiding activity of the Holy Ghost. The church cannot hear of Him as the bright morning star without at once desiring that He should come. She does not, it is true, say, "Come quickly." This would not be fitting for the church nor the Christian. Patience or endurance of hope is what becomes us. But it is blessed that He says, "I come quickly;" and it is only Christ who in scripture ever says so. But we as properly say, "Come." We desire that He should come quickly, but we leave this to Him, because we know His love, and can trust Him. We know that if He tarries, it is not that He is "slack concerning His promise," but that "His long-suffering brings salvation to many." And who would defraud either the soul of salvation, or the Lord of showing it? "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come." It is to Jesus. To whom else could they say it? The bride breathes out this word to the bridegroom; and the Holy Ghost it is that gives strength to her desire that He should come. But there is a message also for others. There. is a word to him that hears. "Let him that heareth say, Come." He is urged to take up the same cry. If you are a believer, do not be afraid, even if you know but little; for the Lord neither forgets nor slights those who may be comparatively unintelligent. He has, I think, exactly that class in view when He sanctions the calling him who hears to say "Come." The bride represents those that are spoken of in the normal possession and enjoyment of their privileges. There are many who are not so; but the Lord does not forget them. "Let him that heareth," then, "say, Come." If they have only heard His voice, this after all is the incalculable boon; yea, it is the turning-point of all blessing. It is not the enjoyment of all, but it is the hinge on which all depends. It is the way to all, if it be not the actual entrance into and enjoyment of it. "Let him that heareth," then, be encouraged to "say, Come." There is nothing in Jesus to harm him; there is every thing to bless there is Himself to be enjoyed, even if they have failed in the full knowledge of it here below.

But then while there is such a call to Christ, while the believer is not to be afraid, but to call on the Lord to come, the church does not forget those that are poor sinners, let them be deeply conscious of it, or let them be those that are only made willing by the grace of God (which is the feeblest expression of the sinner's need, just as you have the feeblest expression of the saint in the previous call). So we find the Lord has room for all that is the fruit of His own grace only, for the appeal of grace, even when there is not the answer to it. Yet grace despised necessarily ends in judgment. "And let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

Then the book concludes after a solemn warning against either adding to or taking from its contents. "He that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." "Surely I come quickly." After so long a tarrying how blessed! After so many sorrows, trials, difficulties, dangers, how sweet to have such a word, and to know that He who speaks is the holy and the true, and surely about to come in the faithfulness of His love! He will not fail to take up the gage He has given our hearts. He is coming, and coming soon for us.

May our hearts answer freely to His word of love and truth with our "Amen." His grace be with all!