Revelation 19-22: Four Hallelujahs; Marriage of the Lamb; Armageddon Chapter 19: After these things, i.e. after Babylon has been completely destroyed during the 7 th bowl judgment, there is a cacophony of praise in Heaven. There are 4 separate Hallelujahs ( Praise the Lord): 1) A great multitude because God s Judgments are righteous and true. In chapter 6: 9-11 the martyrs under the altar were asking How long O Lord will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth? This prayer has been answered. Babylon has received double for her iniquities and immoralities. Jesus, our Kinsman Redeemer has become our Avenger in Blood. 2) The same great multitude because the smoke of her ( the harlot s ) burning rises up forever and ever. 3) The 24 elders and the 4 living creatures saying amen, hallelujah. Amen here, I think, is not in the context of so be it, but rather, truly, praise the Lord! A voice from heaven says give praise to our God, all you His bondservants, you who fear Him, the small and the great. Only Christ s bondservants will be there. Remember the Greek word for bondservant, Dulas, actually means slave. Apparently, in heaven there are different ranks of believers, great and small. 4) The multitude with the sound of many waters and peals of thunder: Our Lord God, the Almighty reigns. These praises are because the Avenger ( Jesus) has fulfilled His promise ( He is faithful and true) and He has been crowned King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. V 7-11 Here is the wedding ceremony between Jesus and His Bride, the church. Notice the church has made herself ready and clothed herself in fine linen. Contrast the adornment of the Bride with the gaudy dress of the Harlot in Chapter 17. The Bride has been washed in the Blood of the Lamb. The fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. We discussed previously that at the Passover the Hebrews had to apply the blood of the lamb with Hyssop to the doorposts. In the New Covenant, we too, must apply His Blood avail ourselves of it. Those who do will be dressed in fine linen at the marriage supper. The righteous acts of the saints is not what gets us there. It is applying the Blood and accepting God s gift of Grace through faith. The righteous acts are our natural response to God s gift. Notice this: The Bride, The Church is in Heaven with Jesus, prior to His Second Coming. We've already identified the Church as being in heaven prior to the 70 th week of Daniel. This is further evidence of the Rapture of the Church.
V 11-19 The Second Coming of Christ The day will come when heaven will open and Jesus accompanied by all His saints and angels will come forth to the Battle of Armageddon. It is not much of a battle! The Word of God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will smite the nations ( with the sword from His mouth) and rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God Almighty (Rev 14:20). Jesus speaks and it is done. Just as He spoke creation into being, so He will speak destruction to His enemies. (Psalm 2) All of the nations are assembled to wage war against Him who sat on the white horse and His army, but they will end up as a feast for all the birds which fly in mid heaven. V 20-21 From these verses we know that the beast and the false prophet escaped from Babylon before its destruction and that Babylon was destroyed before Armageddon. They are seized and thrown alive into the lake of fire. All of the rest that attempt to wage war against Jesus will be slain by the sword of His mouth and will become a feast for the birds who will devour all their flesh. According to Rev 14:20 it will be such carnage that blood will be 4 ft deep for a distance of 200 miles. Chapter 20: Satan is bound An angel from heaven binds satan in the abyss for 1000 years, i.e., during the 1000 reign of Jesus on the earth. He can no longer deceive the nations. But, after the 1000 years he will be released for a short time. He will be freed to deceive the nations once again and gather them together for another war against Jesus, but fire will come down from heaven and destroy them all. At his time satan will be thrown into the lake of fire and be tormented day and night forever. Notice the scripture says where the beast and the false prophet also are. They have been there, alive, in torment, for the past 1000 years, and they, like satan, will spend eternity there: Day and night forever and ever. This lake of fire is a very real place it does exist. Unfortunately, many others will be condemned there as well. People often ask, why is satan released, or why is there sin still in the world if Jesus is on His Throne in Jerusalem? During the millennium the earth will be populated. People will be born and die as before. These will not be those who have already received their glorified bodies and are ruling and reigning with Christ. They will be born mortal and under Adam's curse. During their lifetime they, too, must receive Jesus as their Lord, Savior, and Redeemer to avoid the 2 nd Death. V 4-6 The first resurrection: I Thess 4: 16,17 says For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.
This is the great Harpazo, the Rapture of the church. It is not what is described in Rev 20: 4-6. The 1 Thess passage is describing 3 groups of people: First, are the dead in Christ. These are they who died in the Lord-i.e. those who have fallen asleep. These are everyone who has died after Christ s Resurrection as a believer up until the time of the rapture. The second group that will be caught up in the rapture are the old testament saints, The people of faith from old testament times who looked forward to the coming of Messiah, but were not alive to see it. They were justified by their faith in God. These are the spirits that Jesus visited in Paradise before His resurrection and took with Him to heaven. The third group caught up will be the living, true believersthose alive on the earth at the time Jesus comes for His Church. According to Paul ( 1Cor 15: 51,52) this will happen in the twinkling of an eye. Each of these groups will instantly receive their immortal, glorified bodies. Thus, we will be able to see the Lord face to face, or as John says in 1 John 3:2 John says We know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. The people mentioned in v 4-6 are 1) those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God; 2) Those who had not worshipped the beast or his image or received his mark. These are they who were killed ( beheaded ) after the rapture, or those who are alive at this time that were not part of the rapture but refused to worship the beast or take his mark. These all come to life and are glorified. They also reign with Jesus for 1000 years, so this first resurrection takes place after Armageddon and prior to the start of Jesus reign. The first resurrection includes those who were resurrected at the Rapture and those resurrected here in chapter 20. The rest of the dead did not come to life (resurrected) until after the 1000 years. Who are the rest of the dead? These would include old testament unbelievers in God, and all of those who after the Resurrection of Jesus refuse God s Grace through faith in Jesus Christ. After the 1000 year reign of Jesus ( on David s Throne in Jerusalem ) and after satan has been cast into the lake of fire comes the Great White Throne Judgment. The rest of the dead those not raptured or part of the first resurrection are seen standing before God s Throne. There is no partiality they are both great and small. It includes both kings and peasants, slave or free, men and women. Notice what John says here. First, books were opened. Secondly, another book was opened which is the Book of Life. If anyone s name is not found in the Book of Life they are judged according to their deeds which are recorded in the first books. These people are not found in the Book of Life because they refused to accept God s payment for their sin( Jesus). Therefore, by default,they are judged under the Law, not Grace, and are judged totally and solely by their deeds committed during life. No man is justified by works under the Law. For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. ( Romans 3:23)
Every person judged in this manner will be thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. It has been said that a Christian is born twice and dies once. A non-christian is born once but dies twice. There remains 2 and only 2 choices for anyone alive today on planet earth. For those who have previously died, their choice has already been made, for better or for worse: there is no choice that can be made after death. However, for those still alive the 2 choices are: 1) As Paul said in Romans 10:9 : that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in you heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. Anyone saved will have his name in the Lamb s Book of Life, and be part of the rapture or the first resurrection ;2) Anyone not saved during life will not have his name in the Lamb s Book of Life and will be judged according to the Law, and suffer the second death. Chapter 21 : The new heaven and new earth; The New Jerusalem Just as at the beginning ( Genesis 1:1 ) God will create. He will create a new heaven and a new earth. We cannot even comprehend how magnificent this will be. If that is not enough, God Himself will tabernacle among us, He will dwell among us, and make all things new. All of this is promised to the overcomer. What does it mean to be an overcomer? For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith. And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5: 4,5 After God s recreation of heaven and earth the holy city, New Jerusalem comes down from heaven. Read John 14: 1-3. Jesus told His disciples He was going away to prepare a place for them. I think this is the place! And,He has been working on it for 2000 years. The city is enormous 1500 miles in length, depth, and height. This city has a volume of 2,375,000,000 cubic miles, or 2.97 x 10 ( to the 18 th power) square feet. If one person averaged 10000 square feet of space in the New Jerusalem there would be room for 2.97 x 10 ( to the 14th power) people there. That s a lot of room for a whole lot of people! The city has 3 gates on each side similar to the camp of Israel found in Numbers. Remember, the tabernacle where God dwelt was in the middle of the camp. He and the Lamb will likewise be in the center of the City. There is no Temple,for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its Temple. There is no need for the sun or moon to shine on it because the Glory of the God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. Only those whose names are in the Lamb s Book of Life will dwell there. Chapter 22: In lieu of any commentary on this chapter read it aloud to yourself and allow The Holy Spirit to teach you the Truth it contains. Amen, come Lord Jesus