Bible Commentaries

Revelation 19:1-4. And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, praying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen: Alleluia.

For the overthrow of a monstrous system of error gives delight to all holy spirits, and chiefly to those who stand nearest the eternal throne.

Revelation 19:5-6. And a voice came out of the throne saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

The harlot church is put away: the true church is introduced. fully arrayed in perfect holiness, ready for the consummation of her own joy, and her master’s — her last delight.

Revelation 19:7-10. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him, And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

If John made a mistake, because the saints in heaven are all so like their Master, it is well that the mistake was at once corrected, for angel-worship, or the worship of saints, is to be avoided by all saints. And God’s word about it is, “See thou do it not.” It is said that we should certainly pay reverence to holy men that are now with God, but see thou do it not.

Indeed, here, among men, the same kind of idolatry is sought to be kept up, and the preacher is arrayed in garments to make him distinct from the people, as though he were something better or different from them, and not their fellow-servant. But, for all this, let us hear the voice which says, “See thou do it not. I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus.” Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Revelation 19:1-4. And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt thee earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.

Heaven and earth are equally glad, and they unite to adore the living God when the great apostasy, that has so long cursed the nations, is hurled into the sea.

Revelation 19:5-6. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

And his great power is never better seen than in crushing the powers of darkness, and putting the hosts of evil to the rout.

Revelation 19:7-10. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they, which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

All worship, therefore, of saints and angels is a gross error, not to be tolerated for a moment. John was mistaken in falling down to worship the angel; but he was speedily rebuked, and his mistake was quickly corrected. There is no doctrine that needs more to be preached just now than this message of the angel, “Worship God.” Neither crosses, nor crucifixes, nor holy wafers, nor anything that can he seen or handled, must be worshipped: “Worship God.” We need still to hear God’s mighty voice proclaiming from mount Sinai the great law. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

Revelation 19:11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make scar.

Behold your Saviour, the Champion of the cause of truth! His war is not that of the carnal weapon and of garments rolled in blood. It is a spiritual warfare; but he wins a more glorious victory than ever sword or gun could gain.

Revelation 19:12-14. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

All his true ones, all his faithful ones, all his saints, whether ministers or not, the heavenly armies, “followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” Holiness is their armor, light is the panoply that they wear as they go forward to this holy war.

Revelation 19:15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,

He puts down vice, and evil of every kind, not with the sword of steel, but with his word: “Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,”-

Revelation 19:15-16. That with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

For this Son of God whom we worship, this Jesus of Nazareth, is Master of all. All power is in his hand, he is, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Revelation 19:17-18. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

By this highly figurative language, we are to understand that, when Christ goes forth to war in battling for the truth, and his true followers come after him, their victory will be certain, and the slain of the Lord will be many. We look not for carnage and bloodshed to establish the kingdom of Christ in the earth; but this revelation gives us a picture of the utter overthrow and destruction of all forms of error through the power of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen, so let it be! Would God that the King of kings would mount his white horse at once, and that all his people would follow him! He will do so at the right time, and then the victory shall be unto God, and to the truth, and to love, and to peace and holiness, for evermore.

This exposition consisted of readings from Revelation 18:20-24; and Revelation 19:1-18.

Revelation 19:11-13. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

That same Logos of whom John wrote in the gospel now stands before him, and he beholds him in his glory. That a delight it must have been to the seer of Patmos to see his Lord and Master once again in different array from that in which he had beheld him when, in humiliation he tabernacled here among the sons of men! His name is still the same — the Logos —the Word of God.

Revelation 19:14-16. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

And this is the man of Nazareth. This is the crucified, despised, and rejected once. Servus servorum once. — Servant of servants but now King of kings and Lord of lords. And what will the end be of the battle that he wager? Will any of his adversaries escape? Will they hold their own? No, they shall utterly be destroyed before him. All the powers of evil of false doctrine everything contrary to his mind — shall be destroyed. And this is set forth in symbolic imagery by the dreadful battle feast which usually succeeds a battle, when the vultures smell the carrion from afar and come to rend the spoil. It shall not be thus with the bodies of men, but thus with evil — thus with the powers of darkness.