The great controversy has ended, the victory is won and the time of the marriage supper of the Lamb has come.
Revelation 19:1 "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:"
Now notice as John looks back and picks up some of the very first things in the book of Revelation.
Revelation 19:2 "For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand."
This woman Babylon who has done all these things to the servants of God down through the ages, God has now avenged on her the blood of all the saints.
Revelation 19:3-4 "3 And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. 4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia."
And now John mentions again things that he first described in the 4th chapter of Revelation.
So what John is saying is that the things he saw in vision in the 4th chapter, those things have been given to John all the way down through the book of Revelation and they have now come to a completion, and the angels and elders now bear witness that everything has happened just as God said it would.
Revelation 19:5-6 "5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. 6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
We find the same thing at the beginning of the book of Revelation, where it speaks of a voice like a great thunder and like many waters, proclaiming God's greatness.
So this is the time in which the marriage supper of the Lamb has come. Babylon is no more. All the false systems, all the religions, all those that were in opposition to God and have led people away from what God's word teaches have all come to an end, they are no more.
You and I must understand that this is a great controversy, that this is a struggle between truth and falsehood, between what is right and what is wrong. There is no such thing in Christianity as half way as there are in other religions; there is no yin and yang, the balance between right and wrong which is taught in false religions. What matters is what is right, what is just, what is good. We have reached the place where all these things have triumphed.
So Babylon has come to an end, she is no more, and now it's time for the marriage supper of the Lamb. God is going to gather all of His people for this great marriage supper, and we find that this marriage supper is patterned after a Jewish wedding; all the elements of a Jewish wedding are present in the marriage supper of the Lamb. And these are the things that took place in a Jewish wedding:
1. The bridegroom goes to the home of the bride and pays her dowry. There would be no wedding unless the bridegroom paid the dowry. The dowry would be different depending on what the father of the bride asked for, and the dowry belonged to the bride, this was her guarantee that if the marriage broke up she would keep the dowry.
2. The bridegroom then returned to his father's house to prepare a place for his bride. Up to the point that he paid the dowry there was no guarantee of a wedding, but once the dowry was paid then the wedding was certain and so the groom went back and prepared a place for his bride, he would build a place where they would live together, and often their home would be built near to the home of the groom's father.
3. While the groom is building the marriage home, the bride stays at the bride's father's house and prepares herself for the wedding. This is the time during which the bride makes all her preparations for the wedding, and there are many examples of this in scripture.
4. When the bride and the home are ready, the bridegroom returns for his bride.
5. The bridegroom then takes his bride to his father's house for the wedding.
This is how a Jewish wedding took place. And when you understand that the marriage supper of the Lamb is based on this Jewish type, you can understand what Christ has done, because everything that Christ has done follows the pattern of a Jewish wedding. For example:
In other words, a man leaves his parents' home and goes to find a bride and is joined to her, and God takes this and compares it to what He does for His church.
So Paul takes this scenario of courtship and wedding and a man being joined to his wife, and compares it to Christ and His love for His church.
Revelation 19:7 "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."
So God's people, the church, have made themselves ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb, just as a Jewish bride made herself ready before her wedding.
Revelation 19:8 "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
The bride is arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. How does this happen? This is the work that should be going on within our lives now, asking God to sanctify us and purify us for the wonderful event. In the original Greek, the word "granted" means "given", so the bride was "given" the fine linen to wear, it's not something that she is capable of by her own works, it's something that was given to her, and it's totally and completely free, you can't work for it, you can't buy it. The righteousness that you and I need and must have is totally without one thread of human devising, it is completely the righteousness of Jesus Christ it comes no other way. But we can't have that if we are not willing to spend time with Him; we have to spend time in the word of God for that to take place. So God Himself puts upon us this robe of righteousness, which He alone can give to us. This is how it takes place. In Matthew chapter 22 Jesus tells the story of a great supper, referring to the wedding supper of the Lamb. So the servants went out and gathered all kinds of people, both bad and good. It doesn't say just good people it says the wedding hall was filled with good and bad people. This is trying to show us that there isn't anything within ourselves that makes us acceptable to God. But there's something that is a common denominator among all the wedding guests: The common denominator among them all was that they all had a wedding garment. There were some of them that were good moral people, there were some of them that were bad, but all of them had on the wedding garment which had been given to them by the King – that was the thing that made the difference, that's what gave them the right to be there – the wedding garment. What was the man going to say to the king? He couldn't say; well I couldn't afford it because the garment was free, there was nothing the man could say to the king, he had no excuse. And it's the same with you and me. The righteousness of Christ is offered to us totally and completely free. All you and I have to do is accept it and put on the garment – it covers all our sins – it covers the morally good and also the morally bad, it covers them all, and it's offered freely to all. This is the garment of Christ's righteousness. Revelation 19:9 "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." The bride is the church. You and I are the guests, and we're invited to the wedding, and it's required that we have the wedding garment, which is the righteousness of Christ. Are we becoming kinder? Are we becoming more loving? Are we becoming more gentle? Are we becoming more forgiving? This is the righteousness of Christ. This is what must happen to us if we're going to do what He wants us to do. Now when the bride is ready the bridegroom is going to return to receive His bride. Christ decided to leave His Father's house and come to this earth. And for what purpose did He come? To pay the dowry. So in the beginning Christ was with His Father, He then came to earth and said; Now I have come to the earth and have done what You asked me to do, now glorify Me with the glory I had with You back before the earth ever existed. So he came to this earth to pay the dowry for His bride, and at Calvary He paid the dowry. That was the dowry which Christ paid. The dowry required that He give His life for His bride, He paid the highest price that could be asked, and He paid it for us. And remember that the bride gets the dowry, and it's good for eternity, it's a guarantee that you and I can be in the kingdom of God. And after Christ paid the dowry what did He do? He went back to His Father to prepare a place for His bride. After He paid the dowry, that was the guarantee that the wedding would take place, after He died on Calvary then the wedding was made certain and so He could return to His Father in heaven and prepare a place for His bride. And so Christ went back to His Father to prepare a place for His bride, and that's what He has been doing, preparing a place for you and me. Probably His preparing a place for us could be done a lot faster than the time it took for a Jewish bride to prepare herself. The length of time that we have been on this earth, from the time that He left to go back to his Father, to this day, is not because He has been slow in preparing a place, but it has more to do with the time that it has taken the bride to get herself ready. How does the bride make herself ready? In other words, it says that this washing process, the cleansing that takes place, all this takes place by the word. So the cleansing process takes place by the word of God. Are some of us not being washed because we're not spending time in the word of God? What does the word of God do for you and me? All of this takes place by the word. So we need to open our Bible and read it, spend time in the word of God. There is nothing that we can do that is more important than the time we spend in the word of God, especially in this day and age. You and I must spend time in the word of God if we are going to receive the cleansing that He desires to give us. Revelation 19:10 "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: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." This was such a wonderful scene that John, caught up in the wonder of it all, fell down to worship the angel who was showing him the scenes. But he is quickly reminded that he must not do this; he must only worship God. He is told something very important here. Revelation 12 tells us that the Remnant believers will keep the Commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. Now here we see what the Testimony of Jesus is; it is the Spirit of Prophecy! The remnant of God's faithful ones will have the true gift of prophecy among them. We also see that the angels are God's servants, and they are employed in caring for us and teaching us as Jesus directs them. Yet there is more to this work of the angels, as their job is to guide and direct every person who chooses to follow Jesus with all their heart. They also work with people who haven't given their hearts to Jesus, trying to guide them to the light. But even so, we are never to pray to angels or worship them. If we really give our whole heart to Jesus, then the angels will help and guide us. God will never give us a message that says something that doesn't agree with the Bible. Sometimes the Holy Spirit guides people who have given their hearts to Jesus to help teach people who don't know Him yet; we see this in the story of Phillip and the Ethiopian, the Holy Spirit sent Phillip out where he met a person who wanted to learn about Jesus. Revelation 19:11 "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." Heaven was open when John's attention was first directed to it and remained open. (Compare Revelation 4:1; 11:19; 15:5). Accompanied by the angel armies of heaven, (Revelation 19:14) Christ is seen descending from heaven as King of kings (verse 16) in power and majesty to deliver His faithful people from those who are bent upon their destruction. The scene described in verses 11-21 is the climax of "the battle of that great day of God Almighty," often called the battle of Armageddon. In Bible times horses were used almost exclusively in connection with warfare or government business. When used figuratively in the Bible as here, the horse is usually a symbol of battle. (Exodus 15:21; Isaiah 43:17; Jeremiah 8:6; Ezekiel 38:15; Zechariah 10:3; Revelation 14:20) White typifies holiness of character (Revelation 3:4; 6:2; 7:14). White horses have ever been the favorite of kings and military leaders. Christ has received the right to rule this earth as King of kings and now appears figuratively as a warrior riding forth as a conqueror on a magnificent white charger to occupy His lawful domain and to escort His faithful people back to the "marriage supper": It should be remembered that oriental names depict character (Acts 3:16), and that therefore the names here ascribed to Christ specifically represent Him in His role as champion of His beleaguered people on earth. Four statements are made concerning Christ's name in connection with the battle of Revelation 19:11-21. Notice how John reaches back to other chapters in the book of Revelation and pulls out many of the attributes of Jesus Christ that we have found there. 1. Christ is called "Faithful and True" (verse 11) in that He now appears, according to His promise, (John 14:1-3) to deliver His own. To them He has seemed to delay His coming, (Revelation 16:15) but they "have waited for him" and He now appears for the purpose of effecting their salvation. (Isaiah 25:9; Revelation 16:17) 2. The "name written that no man knew but he himself" (verse 12) represents the heretofore unknown role in which He now appears as the avenger of His people (Revelation 16:1). In the performance of this "strange" work (Isaiah 28:21) He acts in a role new to both men and angels. 3. But as the avenger and deliverer of His people He is still "The Word of God" (verse 13). He is "The Word of God" at work carrying out the will of the Father on earth, now in judgment, as formerly in mercy. (John 1:1-3; Revelation 19:15) 4. The title "King of kings, and Lord of lords" (verse 16) applies in a special sense to Christ at this time. (Revelation 17:14) All power has been given into His hands. (1 Corinthians 15:25) Satan selfishly aspired to the exalted position that could only be given to Christ as the Son of God. (Isaiah 14:12-14; Revelation 12:7-9) But the latter, not counting equality with the Father a thing to be grasped, had voluntarily relinquished the full exercise of the attributes and prerogatives of Deity for a time, (Philippians 2:6-8) and thereby demonstrated His worthiness to receive the honor and dignity implicit in the title "King of kings, and Lord of lords." In righteousness. His cause is altogether just. (Revelation 15:3; 16:5) Throughout history earthly rulers have waged war for selfish ends and personal or national status of power and authority. Compare Isaiah 11:1-5. Now He doth judge and make war. He executes judgment by waging war. This war is against the political and military forces of earth, which had assembled to destroy His faithful servants (Revelation 13:15; 16:13-14, 16-17). Revelation 19:12-13 "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." His eyes were as a flame of fire (Revelation 1:14). As Christ goes forth, the great champion of eternal justice, nothing escapes His notice. His Crowns - Greek "diadema". In the Bible diadema is never applied to the reward of the saints. It is always the crown of royalty. In addition to the many royal crowns that Christ receives as King of kings, He also wears the chaplet of victory, the stephanos since He too overcame Satan. (Revelation 12:3; 14:14) A name (Revelation 2:17). His name is called the Word of God. So there is some relationship between the Bible and Jesus Christ, and if you want to get to know Him its easy, you find Him right there in the Bible. Revelation 19:14 "And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." The armies that follow are angelic hosts, they accompany Christ at His second coming. (Matthew 24:31; 25:31; 22:7). Revelation 19:15 "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." The sword is obviously figurative and rpresents the word of God: By the word of the Lord the earth and its inhabitants were brought into being (Psalms 33:6,9), and now by the word of His mouth He terminates their existence (Revelation 19:20-21). Rod of iron - Psalms 2:9; 110:1-2, 5-6. The ancient shepherd's rod had a double function. The crook on one end served to help and guide the sheep, while the heavy ferrule on the other end, a metal cap or ring to strengthen the rod, made it also a weapon of assault. This was used for the protection of the flock. To repel and kill wild animals that would scatter and destroy it. It is now time for the Good Shepherd to use the "rod of iron" against the nations for the deliverance of His beleaguered flock on earth. His ruling or smiting the nations with a rod of iron results in their extermination, not their government during the millennium as some hold. Winepress - Compare Isaiah 63:3: Revelation 19:16 "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords." Why would He have this name written on His robe and on His thigh? Because His robe is a robe of righteousness, and He is righteous. It's written on His thigh because that's the sign of His covenant that He makes with you and me. In this covenant He says; I will be your God, and you will be My people. And He says; I will remember your sins no more, and I will cover you with My righteousness. Christ's name (His works) is to fulfil the promise and covenant (under His thigh) He made to us when He took the Book of Life from the right hand of the Creator to be our leader, our King of king and Lord of lords, leading us in truth (rod of iron) and righteousness (Isaiah 9:4-7). In Old Testament tradition, when a covenant or promise was made, it was done by the one making the promise placing a hand under the thigh of the one benefiting from the promise. In other words, it was a way of signifying that a promise and covenant had been made (Genesis 24:2,9; 47:29). So when Christ comes back He says; I am your God and you are My people, He comes to gather His bride. In His majesty, kindness and love, He gives to us the robe of His righteousness. But if you don't want to be involved in the marriage supper of the Lamb, if you don't want to be there, then there's another supper that you will go to, whether you want to or not. And both of these suppers are pictured here in this chapter. Revelation 19:17 "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;" Now this is not talking about the marriage supper of the Lamb. This is the supper of the great God. And the angel is inviting all the birds to come to this great supper.
Perhaps the blinding light of the sun is here descriptive of the glorious light of the divine presence (2 Thessalonians 2:8-9; Revelation 6:15-17). Thus the angel who issues the challenge of Revelation 19:17 would be standing next to Christ as in ancient combat an armor bearer would be near his lord. This invitation to the fowls warns the assembled hosts of the wicked as to the fate that impends for them (Revelation 16:15-17). It is couched in the graphic oriental phraseology of a challenge to personal combat. (1 Samuel 17:44-46) To be devoured by the scavengers of the skies constituted one of the curses for disobedience pronounced by Moses in his valedictory address to the people of Israel (Deuteronomy 28:26). John's phraseology in Revelation 19:17-18 appears to be based on God's words to the heathen nations of earth as recorded in Ezekiel 39:17-22; Jeremiah 7:32-33). The gruesome alternative to eating at the marriage supper of the Lamb (verse 9) is to be eaten by the fowls of heaven at the "supper of the great God." Those who do not voluntarily accept God's gracious invitation to be present at the one must respond to His imperative summons to the other. Revelation 19:18 "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." So here we see another invitation, but this time it's given to the birds, to come and eat the flesh of all those that spurned the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Here is speaks of literally "flesh pieces": Kings - The confederate nations of earth acting in concert under the direct supervision of Satan in the guise of an angel of light (Revelation 16:14; 16-17; 17:12,14). Captains - The leaders in command of the military forces assembled to carry out Satan's will in the closing scenes of the great controversy. Mighty men - Armed forces organized, trained, and equipped. Flesh of horses - The remainder of verse 18 is a graphic word picture of the total destruction of all the forces of evil at the second coming of Christ (Revelation 6:15; 14:17-20; 16:21).
Free and bond - Compare Revelation 13:16: It's our choice. It's up to us to choose whether we will be at the marriage supper of the Lamb, or whether we will be at the supper of the great God where the birds will come and eat the flesh of all people. Revelation 19:19 "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." All those who are in opposition to God now assembled for battle and engaged in bitter conflict among themselves (Revelation 16:17,19). Revelation 19:20 "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." So here it's talking about the beast and the false prophet being cast into a lake of fire - or the lake which is fire. This phrase immediately turns the reader's mind to an identical phrase in Revelation 20:10, which in turn seems to call for the conclusion that these phrases refer to the same fiery event being the destruction of the wicked at the end of the thousand years. But to do so presents a problem. The 19th chapter is most evidently discussing events in connection with the second coming of Christ. Hence to hold that the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation 19:20 describes an event at the close of the millennium is to lift this verse out of its contextual sequence. It is always better if possible to find an explanation that allows any given statement to maintain its historical sequence in a passage of Scripture. As regards Revelation 19:20 this is possible on the reasonable premise that there is a fiery judgment from God both at the beginning and at the close of the millennium. There is no inconsistency and certainly no contradiction in speaking of a lake of fire at the beginning and a lake of fire at the end of the millennium. We see in the next verse it goes on to speak about the remnant, the rest of the wicked that were left. Revelation 19:21 "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." What is it that proceeds from Christ's mouth? What is the sword? The sword is the word of God. Jesus said it is His words that will judge us. We have to come to the place in our experience where when we read what the Bible says, we are willing to accept what it says. There are many that read what the Bible says but are not willing to accept it, or they read what it says and yet they say it doesn't make any difference. We have to come to the place where we are willing to let God call the shots, where we are willing to let Him show us what to do. If we're not willing to do that then He can't do His work in our life. The Holy Spirit must come into our life and change us, make us different, make us love one another – that's the work of the Holy Spirit – and we have to be submissive to that work. The remnant or the rest - All of earth's inhabitants except the redeemed. Then the angel invites the birds to come and eat the flesh of all people. And it says the birds were filled with their flesh. Now Jeremiah gives us an insight into what happens here. This is telling us that the supper of the great God is over. The birds have come and eaten and have fled. Only Satan is left for a thousand years to contemplate all he has done and all he has lost, no one to tempt, he is on death row waiting for his final destruction at the end of the thousand years. Today the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is inviting you and me to come and be a part of the marriage supper of the Lamb. You may think of yourself as one of the guests that was bad, but notice that He had a wedding garment for every one of the guests, and that garment covers each person. The Lord simply invites us to come. He has a robe of righteousness to cover our life, so that we may have the marvellous privilege of sitting down at the marriage supper of the Lamb.