Sermon Tone Analysis

The War That Ends All Wars Series

Contributed by Thomas Swope on Feb 27, 2015

Scripture:

Tags: Second Coming, Marriage Feast, Jesus As King, Final War

Denomination: Calvary Chapel

Summary: A study of chapter 19 verses 1 through 21 of the Book of Revelation

Contributed by Thomas Swope on Feb 27, 2015

Scripture: Revelation 19:1-21

Tags: Second Coming, Marriage Feast, Jesus As King, Final War

Denomination: Calvary Chapel

Summary: A study of chapter 19 verses 1 through 21 of the Book of Revelation

Revelation 19: 1 – 21

The War That Ends All Wars

1 After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia!

Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! 2 For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.” 3 Again they said, “Alleluia!

Her smoke rises up forever and ever!” 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen!

Alleluia!” 5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!” 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia!

For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!

7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”

8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

9 Then he 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 sayings of God.” 10 And I fell at his feet to worship him.

But he said to me, “See that you do not do that!

I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus.

Worship God!

For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.

And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns.

He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.

13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.

15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations.

And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.

He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, 18 that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.”

19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.

These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse.

And all the birds were filled with their flesh.

Revelation chapter 19 and 20 bring the climax of the Book of Revelation: the return of The Lord Jesus Christ to establish His Earthly Kingdom.

This chapter is one of the most dramatic in the entire Bible.

In it, the Church, the Bride of Christ, is the guest of honor at the marriage of the Lamb in heaven (v.1-10) and the armies of the Lord return with The Lord Jesus Christ in His triumphal Second Coming (v.11-21).

It is the only chapter in the New Testament where this word "Alleluia" is found, and it appears four times.

This scene parallels, although more briefly, the scenes in chapters 4 & 5, with the participation in worship and praise of living creatures, elders and the heavenly multitude.

In chapters 4 & 5 they worshipped as the seals were being prepared for opening, in order to introduce God’s working out of salvation history.

Here they worship because the seals have now been carried into effect.

There is also a deliberate contrast between the demise of the scarlet woman and the marriage of the bride.

That which represented all that was unholy has been destroyed, that which has been made holy is co-joined to the Lamb.

19.1-3a ‘After these things I heard as it were a great sound of a vast crowd in Heaven, saying, "Alleluia".

The salvation and glory and power are of our God, for true and righteous are His judgments, for He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged the blood of His servants at her hand”.

And a second time they say "Alleluia".’

These appear to be the voices of the heavenly beings for they are impersonal, ‘the blood of his servants’ rather than ‘our blood’.

They declare the rightness and glory of what God has done.

He has passed judgment on the great prostitute, the defiled woman, Babylon the Great.

The rise of Babel has been reversed, the centers of sin have been destroyed, the great prostitute is dead, the martyrdoms of His servants have been avenged, the time for mercy is past, judgment has been exacted on her, and the time for final judgment has come.

The fall of Great Babylon, symbol of corruption and sexual misbehavior and greed, will shortly be followed by the manifestation of the Bride in her glory (verse 7) and of the New Jerusalem (21.2), home of honor, purity and unselfish love.

They have battled through the ages, the depraved scarlet woman against the pure Bride, Great Babylon against the heavenly Jerusalem, the world against the people of God, and now the Bride and the New Jerusalem have triumphed.

The wonderful listing of ‘Salvation and glory and power belong to our God’ ascribes to God attributes, which He alone has.

This is the content of the call to praise the Lord.

The reason for God to receive praise is because His judgments are true and righteous.

Those who look to God can depend on His judgments to be true and righteous.

There is never doubt.

We also see the second of two reasons to praise the Lord –‘For He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality’.

God’s judgment of the great harlot evidences that His judgments are true and righteous.

The judgment of the great harlot/city is past as evidenced by the verb ‘judged’.

God judged the harlot/city because she led the charge to get the world to worship the dragon/beast.

Her devotion and public commitment caused the world to copy her conduct.

For this, she was condemned and punished.

Another reason for God’s judgment of the harlot/city is because ‘He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her’.

She caused the death of many of God’s apostles, prophets and saints.

In fulfillment of God’s promise to the fifth seal martyrs who requested God’s judgment of the living earth-dwellers who were responsible for their deaths (Rev 6:10).. God promised the martyrs that He would avenge their deaths and He has

19.3b-4 ‘And her smoke goes up forever and ever, and the twenty four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who sits on the throne, saying, “Amen.

Alleluia”.’

This is saying that this judgment is permanent and is similar to the language that God used in Genesis chapter 19 verse 28, “Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace.’

This is just a statement telling us it will never be built again.

However, you have to understand this as a figure of speech.

The smoke of this burning city does not last for all eternity.

Rather, forever and ever is a figure of speech meaning the destruction is total and irrevocable?

This destruction of the last, most powerful empire in history marks the end of man's day.

The rebellion that had begun in the Garden of Eden is finally ended.

Never again will there be more false religions, worldly philosophy, injustice or unrighteousness.

19.5-7 ‘And a voice came out from the throne, saying, “Give praise to God, all you his servants, you who fear him, the small and the great”.

And I heard as it were the voice of a vast crowd, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, “Alleluia, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and be abundantly glad, and let us give the glory to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.’

The voice from the throne is the voice of one of the living creatures ever mindful of the need for all to recognize the holiness of God, and to give praise to Him.

This name used here, pertaining to our Lord, is a very unique.

This is the only place in the Bible where the word "Omnipotent" occurs.

Omnipotent means almighty: having unlimited power.

When you couple that with "Lord", which means supreme in authority, and "God", which means supreme deity; you have an overwhelming understanding of Who our Great God Is.

Then we look at "reigneth".

This has no time element attached.

It means –‘continually reigns’.

At this point the evil world system has been completely destroyed and God's kingdom has come into its fullness.

Please take note that ‘the Bride’ is mentioned in the third person, which might be seen as suggesting that the words are those of heavenly beings, for they are our ‘fellow-servants’ It is noteworthy here that emphasis is placed on the bride having made herself ready.

God is at work in us to will and to do of His own good pleasure, but we in our turn are to work out our salvation in fear and trembling as we are taught in the book of Philippians 2.12-13.

So in contrast with the scarlet woman the bride is revealed by the path she chose, revealed by her righteous behavior.

She had responded to the call of the Bridegroom, and that had resulted in a life transformed which had set her apart from the people who dwell on earth.

Those who have not prepared themselves are not the bride.

19.8 ‘And it was given to her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure.