I heard something like...

Revelation 19 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

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; 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 Then 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.

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 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 Then 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 Then 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.”

¹¹ And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. ¹² His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. ¹³ 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 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down 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 Then 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 so 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 on 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 on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

In today’s text we again see John trying to explain the unexplainable. John tries to relate the spiritual images he sees, of future events, with human words and with the things he was familiar with in his time. Twice in the first paragraph, John repeats the phrase:   I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude…      As we read John’s account of the revelation he was given we need to decide if we are going to try to understand and interpret the meaning of these indescribable things. We must decide if we are going to try to determine which are images that were unfamiliar to John in his time and by his human experience and which are allegorical symbols, spiritual images representing something different in the physical realm. Our other choice is to try to hear the message of the revelation, without emphasis on understanding the who and the what. When we attempt to interpret the meaning of the images, we ourselves are left to try to equate natural, earthly physical things with spiritual, heavenly things. In the two thousand years since John recorded his revelation, many have tried to do just that. The result is many varied interpretations of what John saw, heard and recorded. If we instead, focus on the message of the revelation we can use scripture, God’s word, to interpret God’s word given in the revelation. Rather than speculating in human terms, according to human perception, we understand God’s word and the message of the revelation, through the common message of the entirety of scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says:    All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.      The most reliable way to interpret scripture is through the lens of scripture. If an interpretation of a portion of scripture does not line up with the balance of scripture, it is probably being misquoted, misrepresented or misunderstood.

Using this lens, the lens of the continuity of God’s unchanging word, what can we see and discern from today’s text? In that first paragraph, following the words, I heard something like, what John heard was:  “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God;  because His judgments are true and righteous… “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.     These concepts, praising and worshiping God, that He is a God of salvation, that He is a righteous judge who reigns, are consistent with the message of scripture from Genesis to Revelation. The text says:   He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality.       Exactly who or what the great harlot is, whether spiritual or natural, is left to interpretation, but that God judges those who practice and lead others into immorality is again consistent with the rest of scripture. Jesus Himself says:   “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5:17-20)     He says:   “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)   Jesus says:  “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!” (Matthew 18:7)

The text continues saying:      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.” 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. Then 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.”      So while there is judgment against immorality, there is a blessing for those who are righteous. This too is a concept or principle that is consistent throughout scripture. The one thing we must remember and be clear on though is that while the text speaks of the righteous acts of the saints, first and foremost we are not saved by our own righteousness. Ephesians 2:8-9 says:   For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.  To be a saint requires that one have faith. It requires that one believes in Christ. Any righteous act we do is only because of the righteousness of Christ, which we have been given through grace and faith.   

I don’t want to reflect on the images of war which John saw and recorded. Instead I’ll end with this. The text says:   The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.    This again confirms the idea that all scripture is meant to reveal and testify of Jesus Christ. Again from Genesis to Revelation, the word of God and God’s prophetic word was and is, to testify and reveal God’s plan, His will, His desire to redeem, reconcile and restore man from the curse and judgment of sin and unrighteousness by His love and grace, demonstrated through the sacrifice and the cross of Jesus Christ. If the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, then those who prophesy today should also be testifying of Jesus. The words of a prophet should reveal Christ, His love, His mercy, His grace, His redemption, reconciliation and restoration. The words of the prophet should also testify of His righteousness, that He is as John saw and heard:   “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”   And:  His judgments are true and righteous.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit for the revelation of Your will, Your love, Your mercy and grace, and for Your righteous judgment. Thank You for the redemption, reconciliation and restoration of the cross of Christ and the power of the resurrection to live with You, now and forever.   Amen