Revelation 19 chapter. Revelation - Hebrew New Testament with Commentaries, David Stern Translation

After this, I heard in heaven a loud voice, as it were, of a numerous people, who said: Alleluia! salvation, and glory, and honor, and strength to our Lord!For true and righteous are His judgments: because He condemned that great whore who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and exacted the blood of His servants from her hand.And they said a second time: Alleluia! And its smoke ascended forever and ever.

Then twenty-four elders and four living creatures fell down and bowed down to God sitting on the throne, saying: Amen! hallelujah!And a voice went out from the throne, saying: Praise our God, all of you his servants and those who fear him, small and great.And I heard as it were the voice of a multitude of people, as it were the sound of many waters, as it were the voice of mighty thunders, saying: Alleluia! for the Lord God Almighty reigned.Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has prepared herself.And it was given to her to put on fine linen, clean and bright; the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.

And told me Angel: write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God.I fell at his feet to worship him; but he said to me: look, do not do this; I am a co-servant with you and your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus; Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

And I saw the heavens open, and behold, a white horse, and he who sits on it is called Faithful and True, who judges righteously and fights.His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems. He had a name written that no one knew but Himself.He was dressed in clothes stained with blood. His name is "Word of God".And the armies of heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in white and clean linen.From His mouth comes a sharp sword, with which to smite the nations. He shepherds them with a rod of iron; He tramples on the winepress of the fury and wrath of God Almighty.His name is written on his garment and on his thigh: "King of kings and Lord of lords."

And I saw one angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of the sky, fly, gather together for the great supper of God,to devour the corpses of kings, the corpses of the mighty, the corpses of commanders, the corpses of horses and those who sit on them, the corpses of all free and slaves, both small and great.

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered to fight against Him who sat on the horse and against His host.And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet, who worked miracles before him, with which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image: both were thrown alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone;and the rest were slain by the sword of him that sat on the horse, which proceeded from his mouth, and all the birds fed on their carcasses.

Rejoicing in heaven and on earth, the singing of alleluia by the celestials about the coming marriage of the Lamb with his bride (1-8). Adoration of John to the Angel explaining the vision (9-10). Vision of the Faithful and True on a White horse, His appearance, ornaments and attire (11-16). God's judgment on the beast, the false prophet and their worshipers (17-21).

Rev. 19:1. After this, I heard in heaven a loud voice, as it were, of a numerous people, who said: Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and strength to our Lord!

Chapter 19 speaks of solemn joy over the destruction of Babylon, for this event foreshadowed the near and final triumph of good and truth. The Holy Seer hears a new, loud heavenly (in heaven in its opposite to earth) voice, i.e. the sounds of singing (cf. Rev. 10:3, 16:18) of exceptionally blessed Angels with four seraphim - animals at their head (Rev. 4:8). They cry out: "Alleluia" (Hebrew for "praise God") (cf. Ps. 105:48). They glorify for salvation, which must be understood in the sense of the complete deliverance of Christian society from the wiles of the devil. By glory, one must understand the glory of God, which is proper to God from time immemorial; and strength like God. omnipotence, is the basis of this victory, this triumph.

Rev. 19:2. For true and righteous are His judgments: because He condemned that great whore who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and exacted the blood of His servants from her hand.

Rev. 19:3. And they said a second time: Alleluia! And its smoke ascended forever and ever.

Rev. 19:4. Then twenty-four elders and four living creatures fell down and bowed down to God sitting on the throne, saying: Amen! hallelujah!

The third verse contains a repetition of the song, but with the addition of a new basis for this praise of the Lord. This is that the destruction of Babylon by the ten kings is eternal and final destruction, constituting the transition to the eternal kingdom, for the eternal smoke speaks of the eternal fire of hellish torment. That is why the elders and seraphim-animals fall and say: "Amen, alleluia." (Ps. 105:48).

Rev. 19:5. As soon as the angelic singing ceased, a voice was heard from God. throne, from Jesus Christ Himself, who demanded that all the servants of God give glory to God.

Rev. 19:7. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has prepared herself.

In response to the call of God. the voice of Jesus Christ John hears new singing. He compares the sounds of this singing with the noise of speaking, singing of numerous people. One might think that it was as much heavenly as earthly. All the glorified people and martyrs of the last time who are in heaven, and all those who were appointed for glorification, but were still on earth, take part in it. As a result, the sounds of singing were so strong and so solemn. The basis of praise is, first of all, that the kingdom of the Almighty God has come, that is, the kingdom of the future age. The second motivation for joyful praise is that the marriage of the Lamb has already come and His wife has prepared herself. Here we are talking about the unity of Jesus Christ with His society, but not about the coming of this kingdom, but only about the moment closest to it. This is the same moment of eschatology when the Lord, by the sound of the angel's trumpet, gathers all His chosen ones, separating them from the wicked, placing them on the right side of His throne (Mt 25:33) to pronounce the final judgment of the court. The community of faithful Christians who have survived to the end is this woman, this bride of the Lamb. It prepared itself to meet its bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

Rev. 19:8. And it was given to her to put on fine linen, clean and bright; the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.

The bride of Jesus Christ is dressed in linen, which means her holiness and which was given to her by the Lord Himself. She is evidence that the bride is pleasing to the Lord and can enter His bridal chamber. The lightness of the Christian garment is called the righteousness of the saints. And this righteousness of a person, as his right to closeness to God, can be achieved and is achieved simultaneously in two ways: both by his own virtue and God. the grace of justification. The pure and perfect bride of the Lamb, that is, the Christian society of the end times, is such a society, whose members have reached the highest possible moral perfection for a person with the assistance of God. grace; it is, so to speak, the fruit of the historical interaction between the grace of Christianity and man's own efforts.

Rev. 19:9. And the angel said to me, Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God.

In the future, John hears confirmation of the future blessed state of the depicted and perfect Christians. He is commanded by one of the Angels to write: “Blessed are those who are called…” - These are the perfect Christians of the last anti-Christian time, who remained alive until the coming of the Lord. Revelation consoles them and tells them that their sorrows and sufferings serve as a condition for their blessed life in the future. They are blessed as called, for for them, as chosen and perfect, God has prepared blessedness, which they will receive as a reward for their suffering, for their work in achieving piety and perfection. The wedding supper itself is an expression of the closest communion with the Lord, which can only be in the future life, only after the final and perfect enthronement of Jesus Christ, after His second coming. The words about earthly bliss are worthy of complete faith and acceptance, since they belong to God Himself, the most perfect Truth and the source of all revelation, therefore the Angel calls them true God. words.

Rev. 19:10. I fell at his feet to worship him; but he said to me: look, do not do this; I am a co-servant with you and your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus; worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

John fell at the feet of an angel. The admiration of John was a natural, involuntary consequence of the extraordinary impression of the appearance of the Angel and his words. The content of the words was so amazing that John could not resist and fell at the feet of the speaking angel, as the prophet fell at the feet of the angel. Daniel. The angel corrects this involuntary human error of the seer and explains that, no matter how majestic these or other phenomena on earth, people should not forget God because of them, who is their first cause and the only one worthy of worship and service (Deuteronomy 6:13 ). – The testimony of Jesus is Jesus Christ Himself, all that He taught and did for the salvation of the human race. This testimony is the “spirit of prophecy”, which expression is used in the sense of the basis of prophecy, that which animates prophecy and constitutes its essence: in the testimony of Jesus Christ, that is, in His teaching and the revelation, prophecy, brought by Him, it is open and explained that God alone is worthy of worship and reverence. By the insertion of verses 9 and 10 the flow of the description of the coming wedding supper of the Lamb was broken; from 11 st. John refers to this description again. Now we are talking about those who not only do not merit participation in the wedding supper, but are subjected to cruel punishment as retribution. These are the events of the last time, the time of the Last Judgment and the last retribution.

Rev. 19:11. And I saw an open sky, and behold a white horse, and he who sits on it is called Faithful and True, Who judges righteously and fights.

Rev. 19:12. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems. He had a name written that no one knew but Himself.

John sees an open sky; such a beginning of speech speaks of a new and completely separate vision. The sky itself is opened to give passage to the earth to the white horse with its rider. The rider is called Faithful and True. This name is undoubtedly the name of Jesus Christ; it points to the permanent properties of His relationship to the community of believers. Possessing such properties, He is terrible for His enemies and unshakable hope and comfort for His admirers. To be a righteous judge, He has eyes like a fiery flame, that is, He penetrates everything with His gaze, sees everything and destroys everything that is not pleasing to Him and hostile to Him. The fact that He is not only a righteous Judge, but also an omnipotent executor of His judgments is evidenced by the many diadems adorning His head. This indicates that the whole world belongs to Him, must recognize His authority over them and submit to the sentence of His judgment. According to the properties of this nature. He also bears a name that no one knows except Himself: the Divine nature of Jesus Christ in its essence and fullness of Divine properties is incomprehensible to man. This mysterious name was on diadems. This assumption is confirmed by the fact that diadems themselves, as an accessory of royal dignity, speak of the incomprehensible properties of the Divine nature of Jesus Christ.

Rev. 19:13. He was dressed in clothes stained with blood. His name is "Word of God".

The rider is clothed in clothes stained with blood - Jesus Christ in bloody clothes because He has already performed part of His judgment on sinful mankind; the wicked were punished with terrible executions, and Babylon had already perished. Jesus Christ appears in the world for the second time, and just as it was said about His first coming: “The Word became flesh,” so at the second coming He is called by the Word of God, as the eternal son of God.

Rev. 19:14. And the armies of heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in white and clean linen.

Rev. 19:15. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, with which to smite the nations. He shepherds them with a rod of iron; He tramples on the winepress of the fury and wrath of God Almighty.

Jesus Christ, as Judge and Creator, is accompanied by heavenly armies, consisting exclusively of incorporeal Angels (Mt. 16:27, 25:31). The host rode on white horses to match their leader, and their clothes were of white linen. The weapon with which Christ defeated his enemies is the sword that comes out of His mouth (Rev. 1:16, 2:12). This sword is His word, the word of His omnipotence and omnipotence. He shepherds the people with a rod of iron, for he completely submits them to His power and His decision. He tramples on the winepress of the wrath and wrath of God (Rev. 14:19-20). The whole symbolic image is an image of the terrible judgment and reward, when the wicked will be brought to the consciousness of their complete insignificance. Christ, as the almighty King, alone can bear the name of King and Lord.

Rev. 19:16. His name is written on his garment and on his thigh: "King of kings and Lord of lords."

Rev. 19:17. And I saw one angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of the sky, fly, gather together for the great supper of God,

John further sees one angel standing in the sun. It must be understood that he stood surrounded by the rays of the sun. His mission is to call the birds to the coming supper of God. It will consist in the destruction by birds of the corpses of the slain enemies of the Kingdom of God. Enemies gathered in a whole army. This gathering of all the wicked must be understood in such a way that, according to the wise providence of God and His almighty action, all the wicked will be separated before the terrible judgment and experience for themselves what they deserve. According to the word of the Apostle, all the living, who have lived to see the second coming of the Lord, will experience a change in their bodies (1 Cor. 15:51-52). The sinners, the followers of Antichrist, must also undergo this change. And if his change for the righteous will be blessed, calm and joyful, then for the wicked it will be painful. The angelic call of birds of prey to feed on the corpses of the enemies of the Kingdom of God is an indication of the horrors and sufferings of these latter during the final upheaval.

Rev. 19:18. to devour the corpses of kings, the corpses of the mighty, the corpses of commanders, the corpses of horses and those who sit on them, the corpses of all free and slaves, both small and great.

Rev. 19:19. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, assembled to fight against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

Under the army of the 19th century. one must understand the extreme tension and intensification of wickedness and hostility to God before the coming of the Lord. The wicked will be like an army that goes out to battle and challenges God to fight against them. But the denouement of this long story of wickedness is short. Retribution began with those who were the perpetrators of human wickedness in the last days - with the Antichrist and the false prophet. And since their wickedness and their deserving of eternal torment will be undoubted for everyone, there will not even be a judgment for them - without judgment they will be thrown alive into the lake of fire, Gehenna, into eternal torment. The Beast-Antichrist and his false prophet will be the first to receive retribution, they will be destroyed by the spirit of the mouth of God and removed from the eyes of the rest of the people gathered by the Lord for the final judgment. A terrible, painful change will take place according to the judgment of God: the wicked (others) will be killed by the sword of the one sitting on the horse, that is, according to the action of God's omnipotence and judgment. Their former bodies will become the food of the birds; in a painful process, they will be reborn into new ones that would correspond to the upcoming eternal torment, the eternal feeling of uninterrupted pain.

Found a mistake in the text? Select it and press: Ctrl + Enter

 1 Rejoicing in heaven over the fall of Babylon. 11 Sitting on a white horse; King of kings and Lord of lords. 17 The beast was thrown into the lake of fire.

2 For true and righteous are his judgments: because he condemned that great whore who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and exacted the blood of his servants from her hand.

3 And they said a second time: Alleluia! And its smoke ascended forever and ever.

4 Then twenty-four elders and four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, Amen! hallelujah!

7 Let us rejoice and be glad, and give him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has prepared herself.

8 And it was given to her to put on fine linen, clean and bright; the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.

9 And told me Angel: write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God.

10 I fell at his feet to worship him; but he said to me: look, do not do this; I am a co-servant with you and your brothers who have 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 that sat on it is called Faithful and True, who judges righteously and fights.

12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. He had a name written that no one knew but Himself.

13 He was dressed in clothes stained with blood. His name is "Word of God".

14 And the armies of heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white and clean linen.

15 And out of his mouth comes a sharp sword, to smite the nations with it. He shepherds them with a rod of iron; He tramples on the winepress of the fury and wrath of God Almighty.

16 His name is written on his garment and on his thigh: "King of kings and Lord of lords."

17 And I saw one angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of the sky, fly, gather together for the great supper of God,

18 to devour the corpses of kings, the corpses of the mighty, the corpses of the captains, the corpses of horses and those who sit on them, the corpses of all free and slaves, both small and great.

19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, assembled to fight against him that sat on the horse, and against his host.

20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet, who worked miracles before him, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image: both were thrown alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone;

21 And the rest were slain by the sword of him that sat on the horse, which proceeded from his mouth, and all the birds ate their carcasses.

Found a mistake in the text? Select it and press: Ctrl + Enter

Revelation of John the Evangelist, chapter 19

For true and righteous are His judgments! because He condemned that great whore who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and exacted the blood of His servants from his hand

In the description of the complete and final destruction of Babylon, the following words are found: “Rejoice in this, heaven and the holy Apostles and prophets, for God has executed judgment on her” (18,20). And here it is, the joy to which they called.

It begins with the cry of many people in the sky. We have already met twice with numerous hosts in heaven: martyrs, in 7.9 and angels in 5,11. Here, most likely, a host of angels praise God.

This cry of joy starts with screams "Hallelujah!" Hallelujah - a typical religious vocabulary word, but in Scripture it occurs only four times in this chapter. Like Hosanna, it is one of the few Hebrew words that has survived in the ordinary religious vocabulary. It is possible that it is well known even to the simplest members of the Church, because it is used in praise in the Easter service.

Literally Hallelujah means praise God. It comes from halal, What means praise and Yah(ve) - the name of God. Although hallelujah occurs only here in the Bible, it occurs frequently in translation. This is the first sentence in Ps. 105, PO, 111, 112,116, 134, 145, 146, 147, 148, and 150. Ps. 112-117 called Hallel, Praise be to God; they were an important element in the education of every Jewish boy. When found in the Old Testament Hallelujah it translates as praise God; the original transliterated form is also preserved here.

They praise God because He has salvation, glory, honor and power. These great attributes of God must resonate in the human heart. The rescue must awaken in him thanks; glory God must wake up in him awe; strength God's love is always manifested in God's love and should evoke a feeling trust. Gratitude, reverence, and trust are the ingredients of true praise.

God is praised because He carried out His just and true judgment under the great harlot. Judgment is the inevitable consequence of sin. One commentary says on this subject: “The moral law is as unbreakable as the law of gravity; it can only be illustrated." It says here that the judgment of God truths and righteous. Only God is perfect in his judgment for three reasons; only He can see the inner thoughts and desires of man; He alone possesses that purity which gives the ability to judge without prejudice; He alone has the wisdom to find the right solution and the power to implement it.

The great harlot is condemned because she corrupted the world. The worst of all sins is teaching others to sin.

There are no other reasons to be happy. The Judgment of Rome confirms that God never leaves His people.

Revelation 19:3-5 Hymn of praise for nature and the church

And they said a second time: hallelujah! And its smoke ascended forever and ever.

Then twenty-four elders and four living creatures fell down and bowed down to God sitting on the throne, saying: Amen! Hallelujah!

The angelic host sings another song of praise (hallelujah). This is a praise to God for the fact that the smoke of Babylon will rise forever and ever, that is, Babylon will never rise from the ruins. This picture goes back to the prophet Isaiah: “And its rivers (Edom) will turn into tar, and its dust into brimstone, and its land will be burning tar: it will not be quenched day or night; her smoke will rise forever, she will remain empty from generation to generation; forever and ever no one will walk on it" (Isaiah 34:9-10).

This is followed by the praise of twenty-four elders and four animals. The twenty-four elders are well known to us from previous visions. (4,4.10; 5,6.11.-14; 7,11; 11,16; 14,3), and four animals (4,6-9; 5,6-14; 6,1-7; 7,11; 14,3; 15,7). We have seen that the twenty-four elders symbolize the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles, and thus symbolize the entire Church. Four animals, similar respectively to a lion, a calf, a man and an eagle, symbolize, on the one hand, all the most courageous, strong, wise and fast in nature, and on the other hand, cherubs. And therefore the song of praise of twenty-four elders and four animals is a hymn of praise, which is sung by the whole Christian Church and all nature. The voice coming from the throne is most likely to be understood as the voice of one of the cherubs. “Praise our God, all His servants and those who fear Him,” says the voice. And again, John found a prototype for his thoughts in the Old Testament, because this is a quote from Ps. 134.1.

Two groups of people are called to praise God; firstly, slaves His. In Revelation slaves are called primarily prophets (10.7; 11.18; 22.6) and martyrs (7.3; 19.2). This means, first of all, the praise of the prophets and martyrs, who testified about God with their voices and their lives. Secondly, this small and great. Sweet says that this all-encompassing phrase covers "Christians of all intellectual abilities and social levels, at every stage of the Christian life." This is a comprehensive call to praise God for His great works.

Revelation 19:6-8 Praise of the Redeemed

Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has prepared herself.

And it was given to her to put on fine linen, clean and bright; the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.

The last to ascend is the cry and praise of the host of the redeemed. John does his best to give as many comparisons as possible when describing the sound of the voice. It is like, as Sweet puts it, "the noise of a great mass of people, the roar of a waterfall, a roll of thunder."

Again, John draws inspiration from the words of Scripture. First, he remembers Ps. 96.1:"The Lord reigns: let the earth rejoice." Secondly, he says, let us rejoice and be glad. These two verbs (hairin and agallian) stand side by side in the New Testament only in one more place - in the promise of Jesus Christ to the persecuted: "Rejoice and be merry, for great is your reward in heaven." (Matt. 5:12). A huge mass of the redeemed lifts up their laudatory cry, as if because Christ's promise to the persecuted was fulfilled in full.

Next comes the marriage of the Lamb to His bride. This symbolizes the final union of Jesus Christ with His Church. R. G. Charles said that the symbolism of marriage "connotes the intimate and indestructible unity of Christ with the Church, which he has redeemed with his blood," a unity which "for the first time came to fullness in the host of martyrs."

The idea of ​​identifying the relationship between God and His people goes back to the Old Testament. The prophets repeatedly pictured Israel as God's chosen bride. “I will betroth you to Me forever, and I will betroth you to Me in righteousness,” says the prophet Hosea (Hos. 2:19-20).“Your Creator is your spouse; The Lord of hosts is His name,” says Isaiah (Isaiah 54:5). The prophet Jeremiah hears God speak and call: “Return, backsliding children… for I have been united with you.” (Jer. 3:14). A more complete picture is given by the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 16 his book.

The symbolism of marriage also runs through the Gospels. We read about the wedding feast (Matt. 22:2), about wedding clothes (Matt. 22:11), about the sons of the bridal chamber (Mark 2:19), about the groom (Mark 2:19; Matt. 25:1), and about the friend of the groom (John 3:29). Paul says of himself that he betrothed the Church like a pure bride to Christ (2 Cor. 11.2); and for him, the relationship of Christ with His Church is a model of the relationship between husband and wife (Eph. 5:21-33).

There are certain truths in this metaphor. Authentic marriage includes four elements that must also be in the relationship between a Christian and Christ.

1. Love. Marriage without love is incompatible concepts.

2. intimate closeness; an intimacy so intimate that husband and wife become one flesh. The relationship between a Christian and Christ should be the closest in all life.

3. Joy. There is nothing greater than the joy of loving and being loved. If Christianity does not bring joy, it does not bring anything.

4. Loyalty. Marriage cannot last if there is no fidelity, and the Christian must be as faithful to Jesus as Jesus is to him.

Revelation 19:6-8 (continued) The Almighty and His Kingdom

In this passage, God is given certain titles and is said to have entered into His kingdom.

Here God is named Almighty. In Greek it is pantokrator, literally the one who controls everything. In connection with this word, it is important to emphasize that it occurs ten times in the New Testament: once in a quotation from the Old Testament in 2 Cor. 6.18 and all the rest nine times in Rev. 1.8; 4.8; 11.17; 15.3; 16.7.14; 19.6.15; 21.22. In other words, this title of God is specific to Revelation.

Never in history have greater forces been raised against the Church than in the era when John wrote Revelation. Never again was a Christian forced to endure great suffering and constantly reckon with a terrible death. And at such a time John calls God pantocrator.

This is faith and trust; and the meaning of this passage is that faith and trust justify themselves.

The Church, the bride of Christ, is dressed in pure and bright fine linen. This is a contrast to the purple, purple and gold of the great harlot. Light linen symbolizes the good deeds of the people of God, that is, the dress that the bride of Christ put on forms character.

Revelation 19:9.10a The Only True Worship

And the angel said to me, Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God.

I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me: Look, do not do this; I am a co-servant with you and your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus; Bow down to God.

The Jews believed that when the Messiah came, His people would, so to speak, be invited to the feast of the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah says that the Lord God of hosts will make for all peoples "a meal of fat dishes, a meal of pure wines" (Isaiah 25:6). Jesus speaks of many who will come from the east and from the west and dine with the patriarchs in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 8:11). Reclining reflects the ancient manner of reclining at the table. Behind this is the idea that people will sit at the feast of the Messiah. At the Last Supper, Jesus said that he would not drink from the fruit of the vine until the day when he would drink new wine with the apostles in the kingdom of his Father (Matt. 26:29).

It may well be that the idea of ​​the wedding feast of the Lamb arose from this old Jewish idea, because this would indeed be the feast of the Messiah. This is a simple picture; it cannot be taken literally. It simply means that in the Kingdom of God all people will benefit from His bounty. But in this passage we meet something that has become very important in church worship. John instinctively wanted to bow to the messenger angel, but the angel forbade him to do so, because angels are only fellow servants of man. Only one God should be worshipped. Thus John forbids the worship of angels; and this prohibition was very much needed, because there was an almost inevitable tendency in the early Church to worship angels, a tendency which was never completely eliminated.

1. In certain circles of the Jews, angels occupied a very large place. Archangel Raphael tells Tobit that it was he who offered him, Tobit, a prayer before God (Comr. 6:12-15). In the fourth century, Rabbi Yehuda ordered the people not to pray in Aramaic because the angels supposedly did not understand Aramaic! The mere fact that the rabbis insisted that prayers should be offered directly to God, and not to Michael or Gabriel, indicates that the opposite was widespread.

Judaism increasingly emphasized the remoteness of God and His inaccessibility to man, and therefore the feeling that man needed a mediator became stronger and stronger, which led to the exaltation of angels.

When the Jews converted to Christianity, they sometimes brought with them this special reverence for the angels, forgetting that after the coming of Jesus no intermediaries between God and man were needed anymore.

2. The Greeks were converting to Christianity from a worldview that made angel worship a real danger. First, they had many gods - Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Aphrodite and many others. There was nothing easier than to keep their old gods as angels. Secondly, they came from a world where they believed that God Himself is not interested, but makes contact through demons, and through them controls natural forces and influences people. What was easier than turning demons into angels and worshiping them?

John insists that angels are only servants of God and that God alone should be worshiped. It is necessary to resist any, apart from Jesus Christ, mediators between man and God.

Revelation 19:10b Spirit of Prophecy

For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

We will take this phrase separately, because it is both obscure and important. The ambiguity stems from the fact that testimonial of jesus can have one of two values.

1. It can mean the witness of Christ that Christians bear. This is how Sweet understands it. He says: “The possession of the spirit of prophecy, which turns a man into a true prophet, manifests itself essentially in the life of a witness of Jesus. Jesus perpetuates this testimony of the Father and of Himself.” The prophet's message is more in the personal testimony he bears in his life than in the testimony in his words.

2. It can mean the testimony that Jesus Christ gives to people. In this case, the phrase will mean that no person can speak to another person until he himself hears Jesus Christ. They said about one preacher: “He first listened to God, and then spoke to people.” It may well be that John deliberately put two meanings in these words and we should not choose between them, but accept both. In this case, we can say that a real prophet is a person who has received from Christ the message that he brings to people; and his words and deeds are both a testimony of Christ.

Revelation 19:11 Victorious Christ

And I saw an open sky, and behold a white horse, and He who sits on it is called Faithful and True, Who judges righteously and fights.

This is one of the most dramatic episodes in all of Revelation—the appearance of the Victorious Christ.

1. John sees Christ the Conqueror, in Sweet's words, "a royal commander, accompanied by a brilliant retinue." This is a specifically Jewish picture. The Jews dreamed of a militant Messiah who would lead the people of Israel to victory and defeat their enemies.

Here is one of the rabbinical images of the Messiah: “How beautiful is the King Messiah who will come out of the house of Judah. He girded his loins and went to war against those who hate him; kings and princes will be killed; he will stain the rivers with the blood of the slain ... his clothes will be stained with blood.

The white horse is a symbol of the winner, because the Roman commander rode his triumph on a white horse.

It is well for us to remember that this picture is based on the Jewish expectation of the future, and that it has little to do with the Christ of the gospels, who was meek and lowly in heart.

2. His name is Loyal and True. And it is, on the contrary, something that retains its value at all times. Christ is characterized by two words.

and he loyal. In Greek it is pistos; someone who can be completely trusted.

b) He true. In Greek it is alefinos, which has two meanings. First, it means true in the sense that Jesus Christ is the One who brings the truth and in whose speech there was never anything false.

Second, it means real, genuine as opposed to unrealistic. In Jesus Christ we meet with reality.

3. He judges righteously and fights. John again finds his picture in the words of the prophets of the Old Testament, which speaks of the chosen king of God: "He will judge the poor with righteousness" (Isaiah 11:4). The perversion of justice was well known in the age of John; no one could expect justice from some capricious pagan tyrant. In Asia Minor, even the proconsular court took bribes and made wrong decisions. Wars were more a matter of ambition, tyranny and opposition than of justice. But when the conquering Christ comes, He will justly exercise His authority.

Revelation 19:12 An unknowable name

His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, He had a name written, which no one knew except Himself.

We begin the description of the Victorious Christ. His eyes are like a flame of fire. We have already seen this in 1,14; 2,18; but it symbolizes the all-destroying power of Christ. There are many diadems on His head. Tiara - this is royal crown, Unlike stephanos - wreath of the winner. It may seem strange that there are many crowns on His head, but in John's time it was quite natural. It was not unusual for a monarch to have more than one crown on his head, as a sign that he was the king of several countries. So, for example, when the Egyptian king Ptolemy entered Antioch, he had two crowns on his head - Asia and Egypt. (1 Macc 11:13). There are many crowns on the head of Christ the Conqueror to show that He is the Lord of all the kingdoms of the earth.

No one knows His name except Himself. The meaning of this passage is unclear. What is this name? Many assumptions have been made.

1. It has been suggested that the name is - curios - Lord. AT Phil. 2.9-11 we read about the “name above every name” that God gave to Jesus Christ for His absolute obedience, and there this name is almost certain - Lord.

2. It has been suggested that the name is Yahweh (Jehovah), the Jewish name for God. The fact is that in Hebrew there were no vowels; the reader had to substitute them. No one knows what kind of vowels were in the word; the name is, in fact, so sacred that it has never been spoken. In Russian it is pronounced Jehovah, but the vowels in Jehovah are the same as in the Hebrew word Adonai What means Lord; the name by which the Jews called God to avoid pronunciation of the sacred name. Many scholars believe that the name must be Yahweh. The letters are called "four-letter name", or "sacred four letters".

3. It may be that this name will be revealed only with the complete and final unity of Christ and the Church. The Jews believed that a person can know the name of God only after he enters the life of heaven.

4. Perhaps this reflects the ancient idea that the knowledge of the name of a celestial being gives a person a certain power over him. In two Old Testament stories - Jacob's struggle in Penuel (Gen. 32:29) and the appearance of the angel of the Lord to Manoah (Kings 13:18), - the heavenly visitor declined to give his name.

5. Perhaps we will never know the symbolism of the unknown name, but Sweet expressed the excellent idea that in the essence of Christ there must always remain something inaccessible to human understanding. “Despite the fact that the Church offers help, the mind cannot grasp the inner meaning of the person of Christ, which eludes any attempt to fit it into the terms of human knowledge. Only the Son of God can understand the mystery of His being."

Revelation 19:13 The word of God in action

He was dressed in clothes stained with blood. His name is the Word of God.

Here are two more pictures of Christ.

1. He is dressed in clothes stained with blood; not by His own blood, but by His enemies. R. G. Charles says that it must be remembered here that the Heavenly Leader this time is not the slain, but the slayer. John, as always, takes this picture from the Old Testament and thinks in terrible pictures. Is. 63.1-3, where the prophet describes the return of God after the destruction of Edom: “I trampled them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their blood splashed on my garments, and I stained all my garments.” This is more the Messiah of Jewish apocalyptic expectations than the Messiah claimed by Jesus Himself.2. His name is the Word of God. Although these words are the same as in the first chapter of the fourth Gospel, their meaning is completely different and much simpler. Here we have the purely Jewish idea of ​​the Word of God. In the view of the Jew, the word was not just a set of sounds; it did things. As John Paterson writes in The Book That Lives: “The spoken word was terribly alive in Hebrew. It was not a sound, or a collection of sounds, thoughtlessly escaping from his lips. It was charged unit of energy. This energy was supposed to bring happiness or sorrow.” This can be seen, for example, in the ancient story of how Jacob fraudulently received a blessing from Isaac. (Gen. 27). This blessing could not be taken back.

If this is true of the word of man, how true must it be of the Divine word. God created the earth and the sky with a word, and everything that is on them and in them. And God said this phrase is repeated over and over again in the story of creation (Gen. 1:3.6.9.14.26). The word of God, said Jeremiah, is like a hammer that breaks a rock (Jer. 23:29).

The active, active word kept the commandments of God. This idea is included in Heb. 4.12:"The Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword." Calling Christ the Warrior the Word of God, John had in mind that all the power of the word of God is at work here; everything that God has said and threatened and promised is all embodied in Christ.

Revelation 19:14-16 Vengeful anger

And the armies of heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in white and clean linen.

From His mouth comes a sharp sword to smite the nations He shepherds them with a rod of iron, He tramples on the winepress of the fury and wrath of God Almighty

On His garment and on His thigh is written the name King of kings and Lord of lords.

Here is an expanded description of Christ the Warrior.

The armies of heaven followed Him. We can remember here the words Jesus said when He was taken into custody, that He might have twelve legions of angels to fight for Him. (Matt. 26:53). The hosts of heaven are the hosts of angels.

From His mouth comes a sharp sword (1,16). This description is taken from two Old Testament passages. The prophet Isaiah said of the heavenly King: “He will smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his mouth he will kill the wicked.” (Isaiah 11:4). And the psalmist says of the messianic king: “You will strike them with a rod of iron; crush them like a potter's vessel." (Ps. 2:9). And again, we must not forget that this picture is written in Jewish images.

He tramples on the winepress of the rage and wrath of God. This means that Christ the Warrior tramples the grapes in order to receive the wine of God's wrath, which His enemies must drink at their hour of death.

The difficulty lies in figuring out what is behind what is on clothes and thigh Christ the Warrior is written the name of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. On this occasion, many different assumptions have been made. It has been suggested that the name is either embroidered on His belt or engraved on the hilt of His sword. It has also been suggested that it is inscribed on the field of His cloak, because it is easiest for the rider to read it there. It has been suggested that it is indeed written on His thigh because titles were sometimes engraved on the thighs of statues. One gets the impression that everyone could see the name, and therefore, most likely, that it was written on the field of the robe of Christ the Warrior, which covered His thigh when He sat astride a white horse. In any case, the name indicates that He is the greatest of rulers, the only truly Divine and King of all.

Revelation 19:17-21 The destruction of Christ's enemies

And I saw one angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of the sky, fly, gather together for the great supper of God,

To devour the corpses of kings, the corpses of the strong, the corpses of commanders, the corpses of horses and those who sit on them, the corpses of all free and slaves, both small and great

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, assembled to fight against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet, who worked miracles before him, with which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image, both were thrown alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone;

And the rest were slain by the sword of him who sits on the horse, which proceeds from his mouth; and all the birds fed on their carcasses.

Before us is a gloomy picture of birds invited from all over the sky to feed on the bodies of the slain. And this picture is taken directly from the Old Testament, from the description of the battle of Gog and Magog by the prophet Ezekiel: “Tell all kinds of birds and all the animals of the field ... You will eat the meat of strong men and you will drink the blood of the princes of the earth, rams, lambs, goats and calves ... And You will eat fat until you are full and drink blood until you are drunk from My sacrifice, which I will kill for you.” (Ezekiel 39:17-19). This bloodthirsty picture, again, corresponds more to the Old Testament apocalyptic expectations than to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is a repetition of the imagery chapter 13. The beast is Nero redivus; false prophet - provincial administration for the introduction of the cult of Caesar; those who received the mark of the beast are those who worshiped Caesar; the kings of the earth and their armies are the Parthian hordes, which Nero was to lead again against Rome and against the world.

Thus, all forces hostile to God gather together, but Christ the Warrior must win. The Antichrist and his squires are thrown into the lake of fire and their adherents are killed to wait in hell for the Day of Judgment.

The cosmic drama is drawing to a close. Nothing has yet been said about the fate of Satan, and now we will see his fate.