The Final Triumph

Verses 1, 2: After these things I heard, as it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying 'Hallelujah! salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her'. "Hallelujah" is a wonderful word that means "Praise the Lord". It occurs only FOUR times in the New Testament - all four here in Revelation 19:1-6!! It is interesting to note that the first time that the word "Hallelujah" occurs in the New Testament is when Babylon the harlot has been judged. We too should be shouting "Hallelujah" for that! But charismatics who are still sitting in Babylon may not be able to say "Hallelujah" to that - because the magic spell of the sorcery of Babylon has deceived them!! One translation of this verse says that Babylon was "the one who poisoned the earth with her immorality". Only a few drops of poison are needed to make a glass of milk deadly. That's how Babylon has corrupted the Christian faith - by mixing the poison of man's traditions with truth. God now avenges the blood of His bondservants on her. Verse 3: And a second time they said, 'Hallelujah! her smoke rises up forever and ever'. They shout "Hallelujah a second time for the same reason. There is such terrific joy in heaven when the harlot is judged! There is joy in heaven when a sinner repents" (Luke 15:10). We can understand that. There is joy in heaven when a believer overcomes Satan" (Revelation 12:11, 12). We can understand that too. But what about when the Word says, Rejoice, O heaven and you saints, because God has pronounced judgment on Babylon the harlot (Revelation 18:20). Can we understand that? If we cannot, it is because we have not understood God's ways. Satan has hidden God's judgment over Babylon from most people. But we must see clearly that there is joy in heaven when Babylon is exposed, when her sorcery and her deception are made manifest for all to see, and when she is finally judged once and for all. We must anticipate that joy even today and say Hallelujah! Praise the Lord that one day this corrupt system will be judged - this system that deceives people and dishonours the Name of Christ, that has no interest in following in the footsteps of Jesus or in taking up the cross, but is only interested in having a good time in this world, or in becoming great, or in making money in the name of Christianity. Praise the Lord that all this nonsense that goes on in Your Name - fancy dresses and golden crosses and crowns and feasts and festivals - is going to be destroyed soon. Hallelujah! Her smoke ascends forever and ever". This is the spirit of heaven - and we need to get something of that into us even now. If you are one in spirit with God and the inhabitants of heaven, you will share in their joy over the destruction of Babylon!! Verse 4: And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who sits on the throne saying, 'Amen, Hallelujah!' The third "Hallelujah" is again for the same reason! Three "Hallelujahs" just because the harlot is judged! It is like shouting, "Three cheers that Babylon has been destroyed"!! Verses 5-7: And a voice came from the throne, saying, 'Give praise to our God, all you His bondservants, you who fear Him, the small and the great'. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunders, saying, 'Hallelujah! for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready'. The fourth time they say "Hallelujah" and rejoice in heaven, is when the bride of Christ has made herself ready for her marriage!! Because the Lord God Almighty reigns, He made all the persecution and opposition that the bride faced on earth, to work for her good and to prepare her for her wedding-day!! Notice that it doesn't say that the Lord made the bride ready. No. It says that "the bride made herself ready" It is WE who are to make ourselves ready for the coming of the Lord. Many believers know that if we walk in the light as God is in the light the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). But that is only one side of the truth. The other side of the truth is that we too must cleanse ourselves. Consider these three verses in this connection: 1 John 3:3: "And everyone who has this hope PURIFIES HIMSELF as He is pure". The previous verse speaks about our becoming like Christ, when He returns. But what is the ONE mark of those who have the hope of Christ's return in their hearts? They purify themselves constantly. And when do they stop? Only when they are as pure as Christ is!! So we could say, quite Scripturally, that, "everyone who does NOT have the hope of the second coming of Christ can be identified by this fact, that he does NOT purify himself in his daily life upto Christ's standard of purity"!! 2 Corinthians 7:1: "Having these promises, beloved, let us CLEANSE OURSELVES from ALL defilement of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God". The promises referred to here are the ones found in the previous verses (2 Corinthians 6:14-18), which are very similar to the exhortation in Revelation 18:4: "Come out of her, my people". Here we read: 'Come out from their midst and be separate', says the Lord, 'and I will receive you and be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters'". The condition for those promises to be fulfilled is that we cleanse ourselves. What do we have to cleanse ourselves from? From ALL defilement of flesh and spirit. It is thus that the Bride of Christ makes herself ready. So it is obvious now that not all believers can claim to be part of the bride of Christ, because the vast majority of them don't have the slightest interest in cleansing themselves. 2 Timothy 2:20, 21: "In a large house (this is the church) there are not only gold and silver vessels (these are the overcomers), but also vessels of wood and of earthenware and some to honour and some to dishonour. Therefore if a man CLEANSES HIMSELF from these things, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work". We all start out as dishonourable vessels - converted but not Christlike. But here we are told that we can cleanse ourselves and become honourable, sanctified (set apart from sin) golden vessels, that are useful for the Master for every good work that He has in mind for us. It all depends on how seriously we take our calling to cleanse ourselves. This is how the bride makes herself ready. Verse 8: and it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. The phrase "given to her" makes it clear that it was a gift from God. This teaches us that, even the desire and ability to cleanse ourselves is a gift of God. It is God "Who works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). We cannot take any credit for that, nor can we boast over other believers in any way. The godly man is a humble man who gives all the glory to God for any goodness found in Him. He knows that nothing good is found in his flesh. If this clothing is a gift, then why don't all receive it? Because God never forces anyone to receive His gifts. Even His gifts can be received only by those who respond to His Word. The fine linen here is not the righteousness of Christ but "the righteous acts of the saints". It is true that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us as soon as we are born again (Romans 4:22-24; 1 Corinthians 1:30). But we are also told that "the righteousness of law (should then) be fulfilled in us (inside of us)" (Romans 8:4). That is the dress of the bride here: "the righteous acts of the saints". That is so clear in Revelation 19:8, that one has to be blind as a bat, not to see it. Her own righteous acts are her garment. She got it by taking the Lord's commands to cleanse herself and to purify herself, seriously. She worked out her own salvation "with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). Every time she worked out her salvation with fear and trembling in the power of the Holy Spirit, she put one more stitch, as it were, on her bridal garment. Over a period of years, she wove the whole garment. What about a Christian who takes all this carelessly, saying, "The blood of Jesus has cleansed me. So I am all right". To such Christians the Lord says, "Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest HE WALK ABOUT NAKED" (Revelation 16:15). Have you ever seen a bride coming naked to her wedding? The Lord warns His people not to be found naked - naked, because they do not have a garment on the wedding day. They had no righteous acts of their own. The deception of Babylon, the mystery of iniquity, the magic spell that Babylon has cast on so many Christians is this: "Don't worry. You are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. It doesn't really matter how you live." James clearly warns us that faith without works is dead. Yet Babylon has prevented believers from taking such warnings seriously. There is a difference between our own righteousnesses, which are like filthy rags in God's sight (Isaiah 64:6). and the righteousness wrought in us in the power of the Holy Spirit as we take up the cross and walk in Jesus' footsteps in our daily life. It is this latter which is the bridal garment. When we first come to the Lord all we have as clothing are the filthy rags of our own righteousnesses and even filthier rags of our sins. But when we are born again, God first of all justifies us - imputing the righteousness of Christ to us (Romans 3:24; 4:5). Then He writes His laws upon our hearts and minds (Hebrews 8:10), fulfilling the righteousness of the Law within our hearts (Romans 8:4). This results in that righteousness gradually becoming our outward attire, and our outward character becoming Christlike. The bride's garment is made of fine linen, bright and clean. What a contrast there is between her simplicity, and the gaudy, scarlet dress and gold ornaments of the harlot. In the "Bridal Psalm" (Psalm 45), we read about the Lord, our Bridegroom, as One Who "loved righteousness and hated iniquity" (verse 7). And the bride is described thus: "The king's daughter is all glorious WITHIN" (verse 13). She has a meek and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4). And it is with this inner garment that "she will be led to the King" (verse 14). That will be fulfilled in Revelation 19:8. Verse 9: And He said to me, 'Write, "Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb"'. And he said to me 'These are true words of God.' This verse seems to indicate very clearly, that there will be people in heaven who are not a part of the bride of Christ, for they are only invited to the supper. No bride is an invitee to her own marriage supper! Who then are these? Perhaps those who, although they left the harlot Babylon, yet were not wholehearted enough to be in the Bride of Christ. Jesus once said that even among the good ground on which the seed fell, there would be three types of people - those who brought forth 30-fold, 60-fold and 100-fold (Mark 4:20). None of these three categories of believers were bad ground. They were all good ground. But yet there was a great difference between the 30-fold believers and the 100-fold believers. The 100-fold believers form the Bride of Christ, for they "followed the Lamb wherever He went". The 30-fold and 60-fold are however invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Even as you read this you may be tempted to think that all this is only the crazy opinion of some religious fanatic. So John is told to add one more sentence: "These are true words of God"!! Verse 10: And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, 'Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy'. John was so excited that he fell down to worship the one who showed him all these things. In the immediate reply of that angel to John, we see the attitude of true servants of God: "Don't worship me. Don't get attached to me". A true servant of God will always connect you to Christ the Head, and never allow you to be attached to himself. To attract people to ourselves is to get them to worship us. Anyone who does that is not a servant of God, but a counterfeit. He has the spirit of the Antichrist who draws people to himself. In Christendom today, unfortunately we have many such counterfeits through whom many believers are deceived. Many believers almost worship some preachers. They live by every word that proceeds out of the mouths of those preachers - instead of living by the words that proceed from God's mouth. They seek to know God's will through a man, instead of going directly to God - and these preachers encourage them!! This is idolatry!! There is a lot of so-called "prophecy" in some Christian circles today that makes believers dependent on the "prophet". All such prophets are false prophets. But here we see the angel saying, "I am just a servant of the Lord, as you are. Worship God alone". To hold to "the testimony of Jesus" means that we hold forth today the same torch that Jesus held forth in his earthly life. As He did, we too proclaim, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God". Here we have a clear definition of true prophecy: "THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS". That means two things basically: First of all, true prophecy always draws attention to Christ, and exalts Him. When Jesus is lifted up, He draws all men to Himself. The Holy Spirit Who gives the gift of true prophecy always glorifies Christ (John 16:14). Any prophecy that draws attention to yourself or to another man or that exalts you or any other man can be written off as a false prophecy. Secondly, true prophecy proclaims all that Jesus proclaimed in His preaching. There is no compromise in true prophecy. It will be full of grace and truth, but it will speak ALL of the truth - in love. So to test prophecy, we must first of all know what Jesus emphasised in His teaching. If we read the gospels and see what Jesus emphasised, we will have a touchstone by which to test all that we hear as "prophecies" today. If however, we haven't studied the gospels carefully, the chances are that we will be deceived. Because 99% of what goes under the guise of "Christian prophecy" today is not proclaiming what Jesus proclaimed. You just have to read through the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5 to 7) and compare it with what you hear in most churches today to realise that. Verses 11-13: And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems, and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called 'The Word of God'. This is the second coming of Christ. In chapter 6:2 we saw another man riding a white horse - the Antichrist. But here at last is Christ Himself. Notice the emphasis again here on righteousness and judgment. God's judgment will always be righteous. His eyes are a flame of fire, penetrating into the deepest motives and attitudes of our hearts. His head has many diadems - proclaiming Him as King of Kings. He also has a new Name (see Revelation 3:12). He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood - symbolizing the fact that Christ's death on the cross and the blood He shed is something that is going to be remembered for all eternity. Every person in heaven will be healed of whatever physical disfigurement he had on earth. Those without hands and legs here will have a full body in the resurrection. All wounds too will be healed. But Jesus alone will retain the wounds He got on the cross - for eternity - as a perpetual reminder of His love for us and the price He paid for our salvation. As we sing in that beautiful song, we will recognize Him by those wounds: I shall know Him, I shall know Him, By the print of the nails in His hands". Jesus is called The Word of God", "Faithful and True and also King of Kings and Lord of Lords (verse 16). Verse 14: And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. The armies of heaven refer to the 144,000 - the overcomers - the called, chosen and faithful. Verses 15, 16: And from His mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, and on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, 'King of kings, and Lord of Lords'. From His mouth comes a sharp sword - which symbolises the Word of God by which all nations will be judged. Jesus said in John 5:22, that the Father had committed all judgment to the Son. And the Lord Jesus will execute judgment through His Word: "The word I have spoken will judge people in the final day" (John 12:48). Verses 17, 18: And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in the mid-heaven, 'Come, assemble for the great supper of God in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on the them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great'. From this verse onwards, we see another description of the battle of Armageddon. (As we saw earlier, the book of Revelation is not written in sequential, chronological order.) The battle of Armageddon will be over in one day. The angel here invites all the birds of the air to assemble for the great supper of God. This is a different type of supper from the marriage supper of the Lamb!! This is a supper of the flesh of dead men! This is what Jesus referred to, when He said in relation to His second coming, that after the rapture of the church (verses 30, 34, 35), the vultures will be gathered where the body is found (Luke 17:37). At Armageddon, the vultures will be gathered around the dead bodies for the great supper of God!! We read of this "supper" in Ezekiel 39:17-21 too, where the Lord says, Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, 'Assemble and come, for this great sacrifice.. eat the flesh of mighty men ....you will be glutted at my table with horses and charioteers.' Verse 19: And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse and against His army. In Ezekiel 38:2, we read the Lord saying, "Set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal". This refers to Europe which was populated by Meshech and Tubal, the descendants of Noah mentioned here (Genesis 10:2-4). The prince referred to here is the one who will lead these nations into the battle of Armageddon - the Antichrist. The battle finally ends with the Lord destroying all these armies. Verses 20, 21: And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. There were two people who were taken alive into heaven - Enoch and Elijah. Here we see two who are thrown alive into the lake of fire - the Antichrist and the false prophet. All the rest will be killed by the sword (the word of God) - which came from the mouth of Jesus. Hell and the lake of fire are not the same place. Hell is a small pond of fire which is where all unbelievers go today. One day hell itself will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14). In the Old Testament, we read of Korah, Dathan and Abiram and 250 others being cast alive into hell (Numbers 16:31-33). They were punished in this terrible way because they rebelled against the spiritual authority God had placed over them - Moses. They had the spirit of Lucifer, coveting a position of leadership that God had not given them. And they spoke evil of Moses behind his back. So God sent them to the same place, where Lucifer belonged. At the battle of Armageddon, we find this spirit of rebellion that has built up over 6000 years, finally coming to a peak. Like a massive abcess, filled with the spirit of rebellion, it finally bursts. Today, children, rebel against parents. Students rebel against teachers. And believers rebel against God-appointed leaders - (by that I do NOT mean Babylonian priests and pastors, but godly shepherds, whom God Himself has raised up and appointed). We must beware of a spirit of rebellion against such godly authorities, for that is what the Antichrist will finally head up. And that is what Jesus will finally destroy. All this teaches us that God hates rebellion against authority. We are living now in a time just before the day when the Antichrist who heads up this rebellion will be sent alive into the lake of fire.