Revelation Chapter 19

Today Dr. J discusses Revelation Chapter 19.

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Welcome to Dr. J in the Bible. Hope everyone's doing well out there. Today we're looking at Revelation 19. We're moving on through the book of Revelation. What an awesome book for sure. Um, quick shout out to Denver, Colorado. Hope everyone in Colorado is doing good. And um, glory to God, it's a beautiful place in Colorado. Revelation 19, a heavenly rejoicing in Christ's return. Uh, Revelation 19 depicts heavenly rejoicing over God's judgment on Babylon and the glorious return to Christ and the defeat of the beast and the false prophet. And as we're looking at this, this chapter highlights God's sovereignty, God's justice, and the ultimate triumph of Christ over evil. In uh verses one through five, um, we'll take a look at that just right now. We'll read that. After these things, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgments, because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornications. And he has avenged on her the blood of the his servants shed by her. And they said, Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God and sat on the throne, saying, Amen, hallelujah. Then a voice came from the throne saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, and those who fear him, both small and great. And so we look at this, and uh we see a great worship service in heaven. Uh, after those events, the fall of Babylon, and John hears this hallelujah in the salvation and glory and honor power belonging to God. Uh, and the word hallelujah is a word in many ways uh that is hard to really transcribe. And it it basically means uh hallelujah, praise, and Yah is Yahweh. Praise God. And there's really it's really hard to interpret fully uh into the language of the Hebrew language, and as we look at this, why the praise is given? The great multitude from heaven, the crowd of worshipers, and I would say these worshipers are none other than the church. This is us, folks. These are the saints of God worshiping and praising him, the elders, which represents the church, the raptured church, the living creatures, which uh I would say the angels, the great multitude of saints, those that have died in the tribulation, they're celebrating because God's righteous judgment on evil has been executed. Yeah. And they're praising God. Hallelujah! Praise Yah, praise Yahweh, and it appears several times in this passage, and it's a very powerful word, it signals exuberant, heart, wholehearted worship in response to God's justice and salvation. You know, in our worship, we're not always focused on God in our worship at church or even our worship individually, because I we can be selfish and we take our eyes off Jesus, but it but this is totally God-centered, it's glorious, and God's judgments are true and righteous. The reason for the praise is that God has judged fairly and justly, and the harlot, Babylon, who corrupted the earth in every way and shed the blood of the saints, will is being held accountable. Many times people say it's just not fair how you know evil is just getting by with it. I mean, in many ways, I say I ask the questions too. Why are so many righteous people, of course, there's no righteous, uh, those that love Jesus, those that are, you know, dying for him, and and why is there so much injustice? Well, it's only temporary, folks. Here's the answer: God will have his ultimate judgment, and they will be held accountable. And it's only by grace that we're not in there. We were held accountable, but Jesus took it. He took our sin. So there's kind of an excitement. Uh well, there is an excitement, um, but but I think on this side is also sadness of people that rejected Christ. The vengeance for the saints, the judgments, aveng the blood of God's servants, the martyrs, the persecuted believers, and it vindicates their sufferings, their martyrdom, their faithfulness. And then you have this united heavenly worship. Folks, there might be, you might be in a church that's dysfunctional, maybe even outright toxic, but there's still a remnant. Um, and there's still worship, and you're still faithful. Well, this is a united heavenly worship. The elders, the church are living creatures, the angels, they're joining in the multitude. You know, and worship to show that all creation, redeemed humanity, and heavenly beings agree in declaring God's triumph over evil. And it wouldn't surprise me if some of our pets are up there in heaven, which I I kind of think they are. If they're up there praising God, sitting there, you know, just uh in awe of what's gonna come. I know that's that's meant, you know, kind of my thought there. I'm not saying the Bible says that, but it says creatures. You know? Um thus saith the Lord, Dr. J's imagin kind of sanctified imagination. Could be right, could be wrong. And I heard, as it was the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, as the sound of mighty thunderings, singing hallelujah, for the omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and uh praise him, give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God. So a voice of a great multitude, sound of many waters, sound of maybe thunders. The height of praise on earth is only a dim shadow of what these verses really describe. And at this point, this time, uh Revelation approaches, it points to the consummation of God's plan for history, the end of history, actually the beginning for the saints. So we all, we also come to the summit of praise. And it's obviously loud and enthusiastic, a great, its sound is like lightning and thunderings. Actually, there's no lightning. I don't know. I was associating thunder and lightning together, but there's great thunderings. Loud enthusiastic praise. And while it's certainly possible to make praise and worship a self-indulgent focus, and that's what I said earlier, that sometimes we can be. I can be, because we're still sinners, say by grace. Uh, there's nothing wrong with a loud enthusiastic praise, as it's being being placed on God alone and the Savior alone, and worshiping him alone, of his victory. And marriage of the Lamb has come. One reason this great multitude is so filled with praise and excitement, can you imagine the excitement of being with the king? Because the time has come for the Lamb of God to be joined to his people. It is a union. Close, it can only be compared, it's so close, it's all can only be compared to marriage of a man and a woman. That oneness. And the marriage of the Lamb, who is the Messiah, is a picture of used frequently in scripture. In the Old Testament, it's used of Israel, presented as God's wife, who they were often frequently unfaithful to. And in the New Testament, the church. Matter of fact, you know, marriage is a very, very important thing in the mind of God. It's the first institution and most important, I believe, next to our relationship with Christ, because it builds that unitedness, that connectedness, just like Christ and his church. And it procreates and it gives God glory, that oneness between a husband and wife, and then the child, you have that united front, one family, but three different roles, three and one. Same thing with the triune God, similar. And Jesus has such a passion for marriage. That's why Satan attacks it ruthlessly. And in biblical times, marriage involved two major events: the betrothal, and this normally separated by a period of time during which two individuals were considered husband and wife, under the obligation of faithfulness. And the wedding began with a procession to the bride's house, which was followed by a return to the house of the groom for the marriage feast. And so the same, by analogy, analogically, the church expoused to Christ by faith now awaits the parocia, the rapture, the snatching away, the arpaso, when the heavenly groom will come to his bride and return to heaven for marriage feast, which will last throughout eternity. And his wife has made herself ready. What do you make of ourselves ready for the marriage, for the wedding? I think this has much for us to do. And God's totally sovereign, but we're also responsible agents. Now, I don't know how all that works. We'll ask him someday. But it's kind of like who wrote the book of Romans? You know, Paul. And I would say, yes. They both did 100%. Paul wrote the book of Romans 100%, and God wrote the book of Romans 100%. So the church has to get needs to get ready. And this perfect union with Jesus, his people will be clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Believers are folks, we are predestined for good works. We're saved by grace through faith, but we're and we're saved only by that, not by works, but we're predestined, not long after that verse, or does it say we're predestined for good works, for God's glory? So we have to get busy, not for salvation, but because of salvation. And in Jewish culture, the marriage supper was the best banquet or party anyone ever knew. It was also it was an occasion of tremendous joy, according to rabbinical teaching, obedience to the commandments. And on that day, everyone will see the church for what she really is, the precious bride of Christ. And the bride of Christ is a sort of uh a story that the underdogs, the ones, the dirt, the ones that are the throwaways, the scapegoats, the black sheep, will be exalted, not because we deserve it, but because of who Jesus is and his promise. And these are the true sayings of God. God cannot lie. We have an assurance. We can take it to the bank. And this anticipated end of consummation will take place. And though it seems too good to be true, it will happen, folks. Mark my words. That's why I do this. That's why we do these podcasts and minister and talk about Jesus. It's serious business. And John bows to an angel, and in verse 10, I fell at his feet to worship him, John writes. And it recounts that he prostrated himself before the angel, intending to worship. But the angel said, Do not do that. I am a fellow servant like you, and your brothers and your sisters bear witness to Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. John fell down at the angel's feet, given the majesty of the vision and the overwhelming glory of what was revealed. And it's understandable that John would, like many biblical figures, be overwhelmed by the divine visions, kind of like Peter, James, and John, when they were on the Mount Transfiguration, and uh they saw Moses and Elijah, and they're like, oh, they were so nervous and they were so overwhelmed. I mean, I'm not making fun of them. I probably would have passed out. They said, shall we make tents for Moses and Elijah? And God, oh, listen to him. He's my beloved son. Wow. And I think John kind of fell hit in here. He didn't know really what to do. He was so overwhelmed. But the angel says, Don't worship me, worship God. And this reinforces the universal biblical principle, distinguishing creator from creature. That we are to worship the creator, not the creature. Just like many times in idolatry, the pagans worship the creation rather than the creator. We know in many other false religions that angels are often seen and accept worship or apparitions like Mary in the Roman church. And by no means would they be attracted in their own glory. One of the sure signs that an angel or spirit, really only an angel, no spirit. That'd be demons, that an angel is from God is that they will give glory to God and point to Him and not take on their worship. And he says, I'm your fellow servant. This angel identifies himself not as an exalted deity, but as a fellow servant, one among many servants of God, human and angelic. Worship God. Why this moment matters, I think it this incident demonstrates how easy it can be, even for faithful, faithful Paul apostle, faithful Christians, to be misdirected with in reverence in moments of awe and emotion. That's why emotion is kind of a look, God created emotion. I don't want to be like anti-emotion. Emotions are good, but they also, because we're in our fallen state, can also be deceptive. And as believers, we have to be careful that we're we're walking on truth instead of just feeling. Worship is due to God alone and only God. What do you say to Satan when he's being tempted? Worship the Lord your God and him alone. Angels, prophets, messengers, however glorious, are sir, are servants, not objects of worship. And the phrase, the testimony of Jesus, is the spirit of prophecy. It really stresses the genuine prophetic, always pointing to Christ, always giving him glory and honor and praise. And true revelation will exalt Christ. It does not shift attention to intermediaries or created creatures. Verses eleven through sixteen of chapter 19. Now I saw heaven opened, and a beyond behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written with no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses, and now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is amazing. Can you imagine? So he saw heaven open, and behold. You know, there is a sense in which everything before the book of Revelation is introduced to this revelation, the unveiling of Jesus. And now John's returns to earth in power and glory. So he's got this vision. He's snatched up. First he's on, you know, in the first couple of chapters as he's talking about the churches, and then snatched up into heaven. Come up here, chapter four. And so he's been talking from heaven about what's happening on earth. And now he's coming back. According to Zechariah 14, 3 through 4, Jesus returns. He will come first to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Now, I don't know what people that are like, you know, those Jews in Israel aren't the true Jews and uh the Rockefellers and the, you know, the Illuminati, he got the, you know, let's say they did. They they helped to get Israel to become a nation. Let's say they did. It doesn't really matter. God allowed it to happen to get them where they needed to be. And it has to be that way because Jesus would, according to Zechariah 14, 3 through 4, you know, uh Jesus comes back on the Mount of Alice in Jerusalem. So whether those conspiracy theorists Some of them are right, by the way. Some of them are way off. Are right or wrong. The fact of the matter is, God's prophecy says this. And you have to do business with God. And just because, you know, yeah, a lot of the Jewish people aren't, most of them aren't believers. What do you expect? Right now they're, but God has a plan for the Jewish people. He has a plan for Israel. He has a plan for Jerusalem. He said he'll bless those who bless it and curse those who curse it. The plea of Isaiah 64, 1 through 2 is now fulfilled. Oh, that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might shake at your presence, as fire burns brushwood as fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries that the nations may tremble at your presence. Come, Lord Jesus. And so the prayer of deliverance will be on the lips of the Jewish people surviving through the Great Tribulation. There's going to be two-thirds that are going to be going through a horrible Holocaust that is larger and worse than Abolf Hitler's. Two-thirds of the Jews will be executed. But a small remnant will be saved, and they will come to believe on the Messiah, and they will accept and cry out to Jesus, their Messiah, for deliverance as a whole. They will embrace him as their Savior. Jesus said in Matthew 23, 39, I say to you, you shall see me no more till you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hard pressed by terrible persecution of the Antichrist, Israel will be humbled and they will surrender to Jesus after the seven years. When Jesus comes, he comes on a white horse. In biblical times, especially among Israel, most soldiers were foot soldiers. To have a horse in battle was a significant advantage. And the horse speaks of honor, speaks of power, speaks of speed, speaks of victory. Faithful and true, this title shows Jesus as the keeper. He's the promise. He's faithful, even more faithless, including his promises for judgment. In righteousness, he judges and makes war. Jesus comes as a judge, a general to make war. And the world that rejected him becomes rejects him again and again, but this time Jesus judges those who reject him. You know, the world tries to judge us over and over. Pontius Pilate judged Jesus. Christians are being persecuted every day, every second. Yet they're really not persecuting us per se. They're persecuting Jesus over and over. It will stop. Any view of God which eliminates judgment and is is hate, is hatred of sin, and its interest is an emasculated doctrine of sentimentality and affection, and it finds no support in the strong evidence of what the end times in the book of Revelation states. People want to make a Jesus that's really not a Jesus. You know, it's more of a sissy fied Jesus, where he doesn't judge anyone. Love is love. Just love. And he's kind of feminine. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. He's coming to make war against the world and against evil, against the devil, and all those that rejected him, and he will judge it. Jesus is someone that demands our attention. Not just attention, but also submission. He doesn't want us just, you know, saying Jesus is just alright with me. That's a song. He's more than just alright. He's Lord. And all these passages point to the sad conclusion that in the day of judgment, it is too late for men to expect the mercy of God. There is nothing more inflexible than divine judgment where grace has been spurned. And the scene of awful judgment which comes from the background is a flat contradiction against the modern point of view that God is dominated entirely by his attribute of love. And remember, he does this in righteousness. He's not coming back to you, either ready or not. Here he comes. That's why I see people living. I'm like, you're really living like that? Are you, you know, wow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. Why are they flame of fire? I believe he's discerning the secrets of all hearts. You know, the fire is is coming from the eyes, is an act of judgment. He's discerning our heart the hearts of men. And there are no secrets here that Christ does not see. There's no lewd thought, no unbelieving um hearts that Christ does not read. You know, Christ knows everything we thought, all our sin, all our heart issues, everything. And as Christians, he still loves us and has showed us in lavish grace. And he took it so serious that he died on a cross. So his father would take our judgment. So he took our judgment on the cross to satisfy his father's judgment. So he gave us his righteousness, and he took our sin, that by grace through faith, by believing he died and rose from the grave, we have eternal life. I mean, that's just amazing. Could talk about that for eternity, and we will. And on his heads were many crowns, not head, not heads. Head were many crowns. And the last time this earth saw Jesus, he wore a crown of thorns, but not in Revelation 19. He wears many crowns. A diadem, the crown of royalty and authority, not Stephanos. We get the Stephanos, which is a crown of achievement in the judgment seat for the saints. But he gets a diadem of royalty and authority. And he has many crowns because he is Lord of all nations. The only peace treaty. Satan tries to make peace with the world through false peace, through counterfeit peace. But he's the King of Kings, which expresses unlimited sovereignty. He was clothed with robe dipped in blood. You know, I believe it's reminding us of the cross. But it's also reminding us of the blood of the enemies. He's coming. And a lot of times people debate this one. Is it is this the blood of the cross reminding us or the blood of his enemies? You know, I'm gonna be uh humbly honest, I don't know. Could it be both? I I think it could. Um I think if I had to pick one, it would be the blood of his enemies. The context, right? Armageddon coming in with the yeah, but I I could be wrong, or it could be both. And the armies in heaven, these are God's people. This is us, folks. You know, there's no doubt that angels will be in this company, but this is also the people of God. This is the saints of God. Jude says that he's coming with myriads of his saints. We're coming back with Jesus to reign during the thousand-year period. Get that. And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword. And the idea isn't that Jesus holds a sword in his mouth like some pirate, right? This is the word of God, sharper than a double-edged sword. He himself will rule with a rod of iron. Jesus comes to rule and to reign in triumph and rule the nations with a rod of iron. And we know during that thousand-year period there will be peace. And there won't be peace treaty break uh breaches. I mean, people may try, but it's gonna be, it says he's gonna do away with weapons. The whole millennial kingdom will be, people will live longer. Uh, it'll be like the Garden of Eden. And so we're coming back with Jesus to, and this is beginning the that thousand-year reign after this war of Armageddon. He has a robe on, his name is King of King and Lord of Lords. Yeah. And then he has an invitation to the great supper of God. I saw an angel, this is 17 through 18, standing in the sun, radiant and unmistakable, calling in a loud voice to every bird flying overhead, come, assemble for the great supper of the God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, commanders, mighty warriors, horses, and their riders, and the flesh of all people, whether free or slave, both spa and great. Then the image of this angel standing in the sun really underscores the angel's glory and authority. Right? Visible, brilliant, impossible to ignore. They call birds. You know, every time I hear the birds, I think of the movie The Birds from Alfred Hitchcock. Wow. Yeah, the birds are kind of, I believe they're literally eating people, carcasses. And I also believe they're symbolic. It really illustrates the total defeat. And then you have the repetition, the fl the flesh, the kings, captains, the mighty men, the horse, all people. And it stresses the flesh of the kings and the flesh of the captains that the race has walked in carnality with enmity against God and living with the flesh for so long, and now the day of God's patience is at an end. You want to live by the flesh, you die by the flesh. That's what God's saying. In many, you know, the Great Supper is really understood not merely as poetic imagery, but a vivid prophetic picture of total destruction. The harvest of the wicked, there's the harvest of the saints, but the harvest of the wicked, and the even the creation and the scavengers are all summoned to judge them. Then we have a war, 19 through 21. Then I saw the beasts of the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to wage war against the one riding the white horse and his army. But the beast was captured along with a false prophet, and who had deceived with miraculous signs, both were thrown in alive into the lake of fire, burning with sulfur, and the rest of the armies were slain by the sword that issued from the rider's mouth, and the birds of the sky were filled with their flesh. This is the final defeat, folks, of evil. The beast, the Antichrist, the false prophet, and all the rebel armies are decisively judged. Their destruction is swift and it's absolute. And it's by the word of God through the Messiah, through the king. And the great supper of the birds, slain armies. You know, and you know, in the Bible, there's there's really four different suppers described in the Bible. The supper of salvation, alluded to in Jesus' parable of Luke 14, 16 through 24, the salvation. The Lord's Supper, a commemoration of Jesus' sacrifice. And then there's thirdly the marriage supper of the Lamb, and then the supper of the great of great of the great God. So if you reject the first supper, the second supper will mean nothing. Then you will not be present at the third supper, but will be present at the fourth supper, which no one, you don't really want to be there. So the great supper of God really dramatizes the horror of judgment for those aligned with evil, those who rejected Christ, portraying really a full reversal. Those who persecuted and oppressed are themselves consumed. Yeah, ironic. And the passage really underscores, I think, that no earthly power, kings, generals, armies, can stand against God. You know, what makes them think that they can go against God? Well, it's a deception, right? And some people will say that doesn't make any sense. Why would they go against him? Well, they did the first time, they nailed him to a cross. And the victory really belongs to the rider on the white horse, understood as we know as Jesus and his heavenly army. Really, he doesn't, we didn't do anything, but Jesus did it. But we'll be with him. And it demonstrates the completeness of God's judgment. The beast, the false prophet, are cast in final destruction, and all the earthly enemies are destroyed in eternal judgment. They're really not destroyed in that sense. I mean, they're destroyed as far as eternal hell. No one truly is destroyed. You know, everyone that's died really goes somewhere. They're still alive, either in heaven or hell. 19th and 21. And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, their armies gathered together to make war against him, set on the horse, and against his army, and the beasts were captured, and him the false prophet worked signs and presents, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped the image. They too were cast alive in the lake of burning fire and brimstone, and the rest were killed with the sword, which proceeded from the mouth of him and sat on the throne, and all the birds filled with their flesh. So the armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the throne. Really foolish. Really insane. But that's what hatred to God does. To make war against him. And this is really just a logical extension of man's constant war against God since the fall. That we have the enmity of God. We hate God before salvation. You know, before salvation, I hated the true God. I liked my own Jesus, my own God. I would never have said that, by the way. But now that I'm on the other side, I didn't. Yeah. And it's no more unbelievable that the idea that God came to earth and men murdered him and crucified him to a cross, they'll do it, they'll try to do it again. And John describes to make war. John wrote no description about a battle. It's an entirely one-sided affair, more of a simple act of judgment than a prolonged battle of war. And the battle in Armageddon is the laughter of God against the climax of men's arrogance. And the beast was captured, and the false prophet thrown into the lake of fire before they eventually walk before the great white throne, judgment in Revelation 20, 11 through 15. And so, well, this is uh 19, and uh, you know, uh there's a rejoicing. God's people and angels celebrate justice and salvation, victory over evil. Christ's triumph return. Christ returns the glory of power, righteous, executing judgment on evil, judgment and defeat of evil, and ultimate vindication of the faithful. And the saints are rewarded, united with Christ, fulfilling the promise to his people. What an awesome thing. And we'll be hitting on Revelation 20. Um, I know we have talked about the millennial kingdom. Um, I will probably repost that one as well as the rest of chapter 20 on our next podcast. I hope everyone's doing well. I hope you're enjoying this. We're almost finished. And remember, God can take your mess, He can turn to a message for His glory and your good.