Revelation 19, The Last Battle

Babylon has been destroyed and the earth laments the passing of its great decadent city. Now the final battle is at hand.

Revelation 19: 1-5, Rejoice!

After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants."

And again they shouted: "Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever." 

The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: "Amen, Hallelujah!" 

Then a voice came from the throne, saying: "Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!" 

Restoration begins with condemnation of the prostitute world system of Babylon. The citizens of heaven rejoice in the demise of this system and look forward to the system that will replace it.

Revelation 19: 6-8, The wedding supper announced

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.  Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) 

There is to be a wedding banquet in heaven and millions are invited.

Revelation 19: 9-10, Invitation to the wedding

Then the angel said to me, "Write: `Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'" And he added, "These are the true words of God." 

At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." 

All the citizens of the kingdom of God are invited to this supper. John is overjoyed enough to start to worship the angel and is warned away. (This seems to be a strange act for such a devout Jew as John!) The angel identifies himself as a "fellow servant" of Jesus.

I am not sure of the final sentence in this paragraph: "for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy". A recent revision of the NIV rephrases this as "For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus."

Revelation 19: 11-16, The white horse and its rider

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.  His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.  He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 

The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.  Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. 

The rider on the white horse is called "Faithful and True" and also "The Word of God." In context, this is another set of titles for Jesus. This image of Jesus has a tattoo on his thigh: "King of Kings, Lord of Lords."

What does it mean to wear a robe "dipped in blood"?

The "iron scepter" quote in verse 15 is from Psalm 2:9, a passage about the Messiah.

Revelation 19: 17-18, A supper of flesh…

And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great." 

Here the great supper of God is described as a feast on the bodies of those who helped Babylon. This is presumably a different type of feast than the wedding banquet mentioned earlier!

Revelation 19: 19-21, The capture of the beast and the false prophet

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army.  But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. 

The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

The battle is decisive; the demonic beings are thrown into the fiery lake and the rest, the kings and armies, are killed. But little else is said here about this final battle. The result is anticlimactic; it is done.

In the next passage we are introduced to the new heaven and the new earth.