Click here for a .pdf file that retains all of the original formatting. Easier to read.

Revelation 19:1 - 21 Pt.1

     1 After these things I heard, as it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying,
      “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; 2 BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.” 3 And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.” 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And a voice came from the throne, saying,
      “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,
      “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.
     7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 And he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” 10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
     11 And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
     17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God; 18 in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.”
     19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army.
     20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

How many times in the last few months have I longed for happy things to teach.

The judgement is heavy.  The old testament prophets have it about right when the first vs. says "The Burden of the Lord on..."  Judgement is a burden.  A heaviness.

Ch. 19 turns the corner.  Or at least starts us into the curve.  It is a stark contrast.  Situation on earth.  Situation in heaven.

The situation on earth is such that the angel withholds the prophet's hands.  So fearful that some things John is told not to write them down.  The kings of the earth are being converted into so much bird dung.

In heaven every created voice is shouting GLORY to God in unison.  The contrast could not be any greater.  Blackest black to whitest white.  

How did it get this way?  What happened on earth, God's own creation, that has caused things to become so horrendous that the prophet's hand is stilled because the picture of destruction is too much for our comprehension?

I know you all know the answer to that but I think we've got a little of the frog in the frying pan thing going on.  We don't think it's that bad here.  And the contrast becomes less and less.  We don't think heaven will be so different than all the things we love best about here.  We are dazed.  Stupified.  Stupid.  Struck dumb.

 Isa. 14:12  “How you have fallen from heaven,
            O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
            You have been cut down to the earth,
            You who have weakened the nations!

      13“But you said in your heart,
            ‘I will ascend to heaven;
            I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
            And I will sit on the mount of assembly
            In the recesses of the north.

      14‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
            I will make myself like the Most High.’

      15“Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
            To the recesses of the pit.

      16“Those who see you will gaze at you,
            They will ponder over you, saying,
            ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
            Who shook kingdoms,

      17Who made the world like a wilderness
            And overthrew its cities,
            Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’

Who made the world like a wilderness.  Made the world like a wilderness.

Satan boasted that he would be an equal to God, but the end result of that boast is in chapter 18.  He took people prisoner and he has made the world a desolation.  A wilderness in biblical terms is like a scorched earth.  Nothing grows there.  It is un-inhabitable.  The surface of the moon is a wilderness.

Who made the world a wilderness.  Covered in dung from the bowels of birds who feasted on it's great men.  Such is the end of Satan's boast.

I need to paint this picture because I want you to see the contrast.  We don't want to just read the words - in our dazed condition - and move on, as if it were so much hyperbole.  

We still have so much in this world that isn't tainted very much.  In the course of a single day, I can drive to places in the inner city where I'm literally afraid to get out of my car.  From there I can go to places where the redwood trees don't let very much light get to the ground, where ferns and mosses grow next to rushing waters.

We have those contrasts even now.  In a nation blessed with perhaps the greatest enjoyment of the residual effects of righteousness, left over from our founding on biblical laws and principals.

We have become the contrast I'm speaking of.  The best of fallen mankind, and the worst.

Take that contrast, and remove anything that restrains men from wickedness and in a very short time you have the contrast we see here.  The world has lost any beauty.  The world is made into a desolation.  Unspeakable horrors.  A stones throw from where we're at right now.  Ch. 18. earth  Ch. 19  heaven

19:1  After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; 2BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.”

A great multitude!  In heaven!  

On earth, no one's saying much at this point.  Babylon is destroyed from the earth.  The world is reeling in space.  Darkness.  The sound of machines and people gathering on the plain of megiddo.  A last stand against the God they hate.

But in heaven a celebration has started.  There is shouting.  A great multitude of voices!  A loud noise!  Huge!  John is kind of lost for words.  He says I heard something like a loud voice......

He's having trouble finding the right words to describe this gigantic shout.  We've not heard anything quite like it before.  You can't count the voices.  Myriads of myriads.  Thousands of thousands.  All in unison.  Saying . . .

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  We'll see it four times in our passage before us.

It is a hebraism.  It's a word made of 2 words.  Hallal.  The 'h' is put there by englishmen.  Otherwise the word is the same as the hebrews would have said it.  It's not a translation.  It's a transliteration.

Hallal means literally in the hebrew, shining.  Glorious.  Bright light.  Brilliance.  

Add to it the hebrew word Jah.  God!  Elijah!  El - the Lord  Ij - is  Jah - God

Hallalujah!  Glory to God!  Glory is God!  That's what we'll be shouting!  And not so terribly long from now!  Hallelujah!

Salvation and glory and power belong to our God;  We'll be shouting about 3 of God's attributes that are astonishing.  Salvation!  He saved us out of the wreckage below!  Glory is His!  Power is His.  He has the Glorious power to defeat all of His enemies.  We worship Him!  Our hearts and our words combine with the great multitude in this song.  Hallelujah!

But we aren't singing about how wonderful it is in heaven compared to earth beneath.  We're actually singing about what's going on below on earth!  

Think about that contrast I painted.  The earth is desolate.  Uninhabitable.  And that's what we're shouting about!

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; 2BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.”

We're singing worship about judgement on the earth!  

We get very sentimental about earth.  We get weepy thinking about this earth we love and the people in it getting smashed.  Crushed.  By God.  

Get over it!  Warn anyone who will listen!  The rest are enemies of God.  Here's the next line in our shout!  BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS;

God's wrath on this world is righteous and true!  His judgements are righteous.  In Romans 8 the earth is spoken of in anthropomorphic terms.  

18  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

The earth was subjected to enemies.  It's waiting for this day.  It's groaning for this day like a woman in childbirth.  The creation is waiting for this righteous judgement!  We are broken.  We need our brains re-programed.  We dread this coming judgement of all our beautiful things and places.  We love this world too much.  

The picture here is of us shouting Glorious worship to God because He is meteing out judgement on this world!  Listen to what John says next.

for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.”

The great harlot has been corrupting the earth since men fell into sin in the garden of Eden.  We trace her all the way back to a couple of generations after the flood.  False religion and false worship way back all the way to the plain of Shinar.  

It corrupted the earth and spilled the blood of the saints from Abel to whoever the final one is during the tribulation period.

God has been saving vengeance for 6,000 years.  This is the day of vengeance of our God!  When it comes we're going to be shouting!  No more corruption.  No more blood shed.  No more will the saints be strangers and aliens in a corrupt earth.  God's re-taking the earth.  God is destroying Satan and all of His enemies on earth.  The earth has been waiting for this day!  

The reason we have to dwell on this is because we know so little of this truth.  In America in 2014 we aren't strangers and aliens.  No one's after our blood.  Yet.

You have to hand it to Satan.  He finally caught on.  If you want to make wimpy saints, allow a situation like we have here.  No pressure.  Generations of non-pressure.  Let the saints alone.  Give them ease.  Comfort.  Let them be satisfied with ease and comfort.  Softness.  No pressure.  And they'll get so fat and lazy and lukewarm, you'll have a final generation . . like us.

We don't want God to crush the world.  We love the world.  Vengeance for the blood of the saints seems so far from our situation!  Are you sure you're not over-reacting God.  It's pretty nice here.  Hot showers every night.  So much good food to eat, it's killing us, literally.  Soft beds.  Easy jobs.  No pressure.

We need to shake ourselves awake!  We're in a daze.  We get to passages about God's vengeance and we need to stop and pinch ourselves awake and think about shouting Hallelujah because God's about to crush this world!

Maybe not in Tonopah, but somewhere, in this world, since Abel fell at Cain's feet, there has been a continual flow of blood from righteous people.  God's people are stangers and aliens in Satan's world.  Blood has flowed non stop.  It's flowing somewhere while I'm standing here tonight saying these words.

Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord!  I will repay!  Ro. 12:19
The LORD is a God who avenges. O God who avenges, shine forth.  Psalm 94:1

When God has been storing up vengeance against false worship and idolatry and spilled blood of His people for 6,000 years, it's bound to be quite a show when that vengeance finally has it's day!  That was an understatement, in case you haven't figured that out.  

The non-understatement is what we have in this passage!  “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; 2BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.”

By the way, as a small aside, I have background music playing, spurring me on as I write and study.  Saviour like a shepherd lead us.  In Korean.  It seems the most beautiful christian music these days is coming from South Korea.  Almost as if God has lifted the mantle from the USA and given it to Korea while He waits for this day.

Then, Vs. 3 says;  And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.”

Once isn't enough!  In fact we'll hear Hallelujah 4 times before we're through!  Vs. 3 is almost identical to Vss. 1 and 2.  We can't restrain ourselves from shouting worship.  Hallelujah!  And it's the vengeance of God that we're shouting about in heaven.  “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.”

Our God has turned Babylon and her false worship into a smoking pit!  The smoke will rise up forever and ever.  We'll never forget the victory or the vengeance of our God on idols and enemies.

The cross reference here is Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham looked out over the plain where God over-threw Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain and smoke was rising up to heaven.  

But that smoke went away in time.  Instead of over-throwing cities of wickedness, in Romans ch. 1, God gives them over.  He's waiting for this day.  Then when He overthrows the cities of the immoral and idolatrous world, the smoke is going to rise up forever.  Hell is pictured as smoke rising forever!

4And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”

I don't know who the 24 elders are.  Many folks surmise they are the apostles (12) and the 12 fathers of Israel.  That's a guess.  The bible doesn't define who they are.  24 elders.  Israel had elders.  The church has elders.  We're familiar with the terminology.

MacArthur thinks they are representative of the church in heaven after the rapture.  That works OK, but it's still just a guess.  Maybe they are 24 shepherds that God chose to be the 24 elders.  Names that fall off your lips like John Calvin and Martin Luther.  Augustine.  St. Francis.  I don't know.  I'm just guessing like everyone else.  But whoever they are, they are significant enough to be a group that stands above the rest of us.  We always see them around the throne with the 4 living creatures.

Now the living creatures are always seen around the throne of God.  They were created to worship Him night and day forever.

I think the living creatures and the elders are the foundations of the house that God is going to build.  Peter says Jesus is the Cornerstone, and we are all stones being built into a Temple.  

I'm just guessing too.  For now we see in a mirror dimly.  Then we shall see face to face.  

Without argument, these are some of the most important beings surrounding God, the Almighty, and they are in total agreement with the throng of voices shouting Hallelujah!  They say “Amen. Hallelujah!”

But the worship service isn't over.  We're not even cranked up yet.

5And a voice came from the throne, saying,
      “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.”

Who the voice is, is undefined.  Someone next to the throne.  One of the living creatures?  Maybe.  

This is a call to even greater worship.  Almost as if what preceeded wasn't enough.  The voice says;  “Give praise to our God, all you His slaves, you who fear Him, the small and the great.”

Almost like a cheer leader saying "I can't hear you!"  I'm definitely included in that group.  Small and great.  Wimpy and thunderous.  Ordinary and extraordinary.  I'm a lousy slave though.  

6Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,
      “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

This next hallelujah is deafening, except we can never go deaf no matter how loud our praise in heaven.  

You can tell he's reaching for the right words to describe the tumult.  Great multitude.  But  louder.  Like the sound of many waters!  Ever stood under a giant waterfall.  Still not quite enough.  Like the sound of mighty peals of thunder.  

The loudest thunder ever recorded was at 234 dB (decibels). A jet engine at 100 feet away is 140dB. At 180dB, hearing tissue is damaged.  Normal thunder up close is 115 dB.  This is mighty thunder.  200 + dB thunder.  We get the picture.  This is loud praise.  

Hallalujah!!  For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

We're back to our contrast we started with.  The subject of the sentence is the idea of reigning.  

Satan used to reign.  He made the earth a desolation.  He spilled the blood of the saints.  Now, God reigns on earth, as it is in heaven.  Hallelujah!

The reason for all the shouting and worshipping is this.  Satan is deposed.  Our God reigns.  On earth!

7“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.  9Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

This metaphor of the church as the bride is all over the Bible.  Paul used it many places, and so did Jesus.

The over-arching idea is one of spotless perfection.  A bride who is un-defiled.  The presentation is pictured again and again.

In 2 Corinthians 4:14
because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.

And again in 2 Corinthians 11:2
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.

Likewise in Ephesians 5…26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

So who is this bride.  Who are these spotless people.  I know I'm dis-qualified, daily.  Where is Jesus going to find a bride that meets Paul's ideals and matches these words?

Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean

See where it says, it was given to her.  Yes, we are to be presented as a pure and undefiled perfect virgin.  No, none of us are.  But Jesus has purchased this perfection for us.  It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean.

He took my sin and paid the price.  He gives me this perfection.  That's why in vs. 7 it says rejoice.  be glad.  and give the glory to Him.  Jesus gets the glory for my sinless perfection.  All of the glory is His.  None of it is mine.  But He gives it to me anyways.

Never-the-less, look again at vs. 8.  It's all Him.  He gets the glory.  But then it says  for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.  

This is all mixed up.  The fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.  But tell me how many righteous acts I've done independent from the empowering of the Holy Spirit.  Easy.  None.  Anything I do that adds to this fine linen, it wasn't me, it was the Lord pouring his Spirit through me.  

So we're right back where we started.  Be glad and give glory to HIM.  I get to dress in fine linen because He graciously worked through me.  It's all Him.  No good thing is found in me apart from Him.  

9Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

Now we could confuse ourselves for quite a while here.  Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb  ....but everyone's invited, right?

Who-so-ever will may come.  Blanket invitation.  But then you read Jesus parable to the pharisee's who were already picturing themselves as good as there.

Luke 14:15  When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”  16But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; 17and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ 18“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ 19“Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ 20“Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ 21“And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ (not many noble!)22“And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23“And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24‘For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”

So, everyone's invited but it turns out, most people aren't interested.  They choose NOT to come.  This is free will at work folks.  Just in case you think I'm a naughty old Calvinista who has abandoned free will.  It's right here.  You're invited to the kings table, and honestly, there's something on TV tonight that you don't want to miss.  please consider me excused  Downton Abbey is on.

Then in the Matthew 22 parable;

1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. 3“And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. 4“Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ 5“But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, 6and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. 7“But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. 8“Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9‘Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ 10“Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.
11“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13“Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Now you'll accuse me of metaphor mixing and parable pushing, but here's the bottom line.  

The church is full of people who think they're fine, but, they can't pass the 2 Cor. 13 test.  

13:5  Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-- unless indeed you fail the test?

Christ In You, the hope of Glory.  Tell me, how many righteous deeds am I going to do if I don't have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling inside me?  That's right, zero.  Then tell me, how am I going to buy white linen, fine and clean without some fruit.  Again, zero.  Then tell me what am I going to say, when the king walks up and says . . you're improperly dressed.  You look like a guy who has been greasing a steam locomotive for a month.  You've got filth dripping off of you.  Get this guy off my wedding floor.

The same metaphor shows up again with the 10 virgins.  Some have oil, the Holy Spirit, and some don't.  The ones with oil in their lamps go into the wedding.  The ones without, do not.

There are no christians on the top side of God's earth who are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, and who have zero fruit.  There are folks like me who've got mostly wood hay and stubble, and just a few little shriveled grapes, but there has to be something!  The Spirit of God works IN us both to will and to work, for His good pleasure.  There are zero Holy Spirit indwelt, fruitless christians.  

And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”  10Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

When the angel tells John that he's giving him the true words of God, John falls down to worship him.

What was the message the angel said;  ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb

This is the gospel.  The true words of God.  Come to the wedding!  

John hit the ground!  But the angel said, don't do that!  I'm just a fellow slave with you and your brethren who also hold the testimony of Jesus.  The true words of God.

Paul said, 2Cor4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;

We hold a treasure that surpasses any other treasure.  The angel is just a fellow slave who holds the same treasure.  The true words of God!  Come to the wedding!  Your sin is washed away in Jesus.  Come to the feast!

For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

The testimony of Jesus, and the spirit of prophecy, and the true words of God, are all the same thing!  The angel had them for John in this vision.  We hold them in earthen vessels.  Come to the wedding!  You're invited to the wedding!