Then another and immensely important act is described the binding of Satan. The fine linen, clean and white, represents the In the Revelation two kinds of people are specially called the servants of God; the prophets ( Revelation 10:7; Revelation 11:18; Revelation 22:6), and the martyrs ( Revelation 7:3; Revelation 19:2). If so, we can define the true prophet as the man who has received from Christ the message he brings to men, and whose words and works are at one and the same time an act of witness to Christ. He will tread the winepress of the anger of the wrath of God. Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary Revelation 1. So for the most part in the book of Revelation, there will be the angel speaking to John and revealing to him the things that were being revealed to him by Jesus Christ. "Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!". The very name indeed shows something similar; not of course that the church can ever be earthly. universe. 244.]. In short, one may be described as corruption, and the other as violence. After these things: This is a time key. that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. We have one final little battle here to take place in chapter nineteen. Here were joined good and evil in godless union, for the worse, not for the better, this alliance, unholy in principle, irremediable therefore in practice, between God and the natural man, who substitutes rites for the grace and word of God, for the blood of Christ, and the power of the Spirit, and employs the name of the Lord as a cover for grosser covetousness and ambition, yet more aspiring than the vulgar world. He is an American citizen and his base is in Sunland, California. Here we see the chaste virgin (iii) There is joy. He is arrayed in a vesture dipped in his own blood, by which he purchased his power as Mediator; and in the blood of his enemies, over . First, then, this is the praise of the prophets and the martyrs who have witnessed for God with their voices and with their lives. The angel implies nothing of the sort. A mysterious lawlessness inherits the well-known name of Babylon when Rome is brought forward; and it does not merely embrace Christian times, but the end of the age after the church has gone, when the course of divine judgment comes. Though the divine vengeance will chiefly fall upon the beast, and the false prophet, yet it will be no excuse to those who fight under their banner that they only followed their leaders and obeyed their command; since they would fight for them, they must fall and perish with them. Again this is a picture taken directly from the Old Testament, from Ezekiel's picture of the slaughter of the forces of Gog and Magog. Jewish dreams were full of the warrior Messiah, who would lead God's people to victory and smash his enemies. What does this particular rendition of God mean? On that account it was altogether out of place to pay homage to him instead of to the God who had sent him to serve. Then you may be very good all week long, and you put your little star behind each of the categories each evening. Certainly the ascription to the Lord of the fierce struggles of a human warrior is markedly avoided. But there never was the thought of giving Christ the only place He could take. that those who were meant under the figures of the elders and of the living creatures assume the name and figure of the bride? Literally "fierceness of the wrath". Revelation 1:16; Isaiah 11:4; Isaiah 49:2). The ambiguity springs from the fact that the testimony of Jesus can bear either of two meanings. He just said it, "Let there be light," and light existed.And in the Hebrew it is even more intensive. Then again the character of it, as derived from Christianity having already taken its place, is asserted. We see the Lord Jesus as righteous judge in chapter 1 and as the one who will soon be coming in the last chapter. "Which did corrupt the earth with her fornication": Drew the kings and God is praised because he has exercised his just and true judgment on the great harlot. Then, when the Lamb and His purchase by blood are celebrated in heaven, the four living creatures join the elders, though each is distinct. The son is doubly guilty, because he saw his father's nakedness and felt it enough to hide. "So he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness" a thorough waste as to the knowledge or enjoyment of God. Link with Johns vision of Revelation 19:11-16 a meditation on the Hymn "Crown Him with many crowns" and also the stirring Hymn "Onward Christian soldiers." This name used here, pertaining to our Lord, is a very strange one. Again, that it supposes Rome after it had professed the name of Christ I think is not to be doubted, if only from the expression "mystery" attached to Babylon. 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 21:22). If there was any Gentile power since John's day, which did not sustain but persecute and suppress Jerusalem, it was Rome, instead of being a gaudy harlot mounted on that vast empire. For remark, the beast or Roman empire is described here as that which once existed, which then ceased to exist, and which assumes a final shape when it reappears from the bottomless pit. 11:2; Eph. Not because any of their names were written therein, but in proof that they were not. Christ is described by two words. 25:1-13; Luke That righteousness that God puts on my account because I believe in Jesus Christ. After "the nations" in verse 24 omit the words "of them which are saved." Unhallowed love will end in hatred. (1) How can it be said that this vile, corrupt, idolatrous system of the last days was guilty of the blood of all martyrs? When we come to the full application of the prophecy, we must look onward to the latter day. The marriage supper of the Lamb represents the millennial kingdom of Christ, "WHITE" is a symbol throughout the book of Revelation for PURITY and VICTORY. It is one of those cases which every now and then appear where God checks and reproves our foolish curiosity, as He alone knows how to do perfectly. The Sword--The Word of His mouth--is now wielded in judgment. This exclamation, meaning Praise the Lord, occurs frequently in the Old The eternal smoke And I fell at His feet to worship him. God is going to be fair and just. The actual picture comes from Isaiah: "The streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into brimstone; her land shall become burning pitch. In Revelation 16+, John was shown the pouring forth of the final seven bowls which contained God's wrath. Verse by Verse Commentaries by Book | Precept Austin But it really is. to Top What makes it the more notable is this, that the rod of iron is promised to us not the sword. These events are in chronological sequence, as will become clear. They are glorified saints, and not angels. I will tell thee the mystery of the woman." Thus (without speaking of the resurrection of the wicked at the close) there were certainly more acts than one, not to speak of the two witnesses put to death and caused to rise after three days and a half, when the spirit of life entered them, and they not only arose, but went up to heaven, as we know. He says: "The possession of the prophetic spirit, which makes a true prophet, shows itself in a life of witness to Jesus, which perpetuates his witness to the Father and to himself" A prophet's message lies in the personal witness of his life, even more than in the spoken witness of his words. I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. understand the testimony of Jesus, then you must preach and prophesy so that As man does not believe in the resurrection of man, it is no wonder that he does not believe in the resurrection of an empire. Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! The battle joined. giving God glory for a fifth reason, the marriage of the Lamb has come. No hint whatever is given that they constitute the city, but there is the inscription of their names outside. purified at the judgment seat of Christ (1 Cor. Our own righteousness had been as filthy rags, but "Owr hayah owr hayah", "Light be and light was". Hence. And this is entirely confirmed byRevelation 17:1-18; Revelation 17:1-18, where it was told us that they are with Him when He comes. There is one other reason for the rejoicing. Babylon symbolized by its capital city of Babylon. . servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for These things were Christs return, Satans capture, Satans binding, the Millennium, Satans final end, the last judgment, and the new heavens and earth, including the New Jerusalem. Just hope the Lord doesn't come Friday night. Here is one of the most dramatic moments in the Revelation, the emergence of the conquering Christ. "For the glory of God enlightened it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof." There are many who are not so; but the Lord does not forget them. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor sorrow, nor crying nor shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. No. Only the Son of God can understand the mystery of his own being. And you could imagine the grapejuice stains all over your clothes after having spent a day treading the wine vat therein. Do not wonder at the vast numbers, or at their defection. "And his name is called The Word of God." I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God ( Revelation 19:1 ): The judgment of the earth, as far as God's wrath being poured out, has been completed on Babylon. Finally they will destroy her. Revelation 6 Verse By Verse Bible Study Guide With Discussion Questions a. and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.". Like Hosanna ( H3467 + H4994 and G5614) it is one of the few Hebrew words which have established themselves in ordinary religious language. They have the capacity to stand in the sun. There was never a time in history in which such forces were drawn up against the Church as when the Revelation was written. "And to the bride was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of saints." Thus the name of Christ, not merely as the root and the offspring of David, but as the bright morning star, calls out responsively the heart of the church, and this too under the guiding activity of the Holy Ghost. And then we come to a most cheering disclosure: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of those beheaded on account of the witness of Jesus, and on account of the word of God: and those who had not worshipped the beast, nor his image, and had not received his mark upon their forehead, and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Man on the earth has his portion in the goodness of a God who is manifesting His kingdom. The great city was either guilty Jerusalem or Babylon. The very reverse is the undeniable fact. But now, when those symbols disappear, because of a new action of God (namely, the consummation of the church's joy), the elders and the living creatures disappear, and we have not the bride alone, but another class of saints, who at once come forward.