Rev 19:1-4 | KingComments | STEP | . The first words, “after these things”, introduce a new section, which at the same time directly connects to what is previously said. When the judgment on Babylon is fully executed, there is an enormous reaction in heaven. All who are in heaven form a great choir and express as out of one mouth their great joy about God and His judgment on Babylon. The first word that John hears is “hallelujah!” For the first time in this book and in the whole New Testament you hear this word sounding. It is used sparingly. The word means ‘praise Yahweh’. It is a call to worship God. Worship always has a cause. When you come to know something of Who God is, of His works and of His ways, and you come impressed by that, it touches your heart, it causes you to worship Him. This is what happens, for example, with Abraham when God told him about His plans with him and Sarah ( ). Worship is not the experience of lofty feelings through music with ecstatic expressions. The word appears four times in and no further. In the Old Testament the word appears more often and especially in the book of Psalms. There it is always spoken out on the earth, while here it is said in heaven. The first time you find it in Psalm 104 ( ). Psalm 104 speaks prophetically about the millennial kingdom. Here in Revelation 19 the time has come that the millennial kingdom is established and a visible content is given to ‘hallelujah’. God is honored and praised as the One to Whom “salvation” belongs. The point here is the coming of the ultimate and full salvation of everything that He Himself had planned to save ( ). In that salvation His “glory” and His “power” become visible. This is the salvation He has worked with the power that belongs to Him. . There is no doubt that His judgments are ”true” and ”righteous”. This is true for all judgments, but these characteristics are specifically praised in view of the judgment on “the great harlot”. The word ‘harlot’ emphasizes again her unfaithfulness which was great and deep. His truthfulness and righteousness become clear in the judgment on her who has sinned in such a general and specifically horrible way. She “was corrupting the earth” as a whole, all men on it, “with her immorality” and she has made especially God’s “bond-servants” a target of her wickedness. She deserves the judgment in all areas. With the judgment because of her abuse of God’s bond-servants, God answers the supplication of the martyrs in Revelation 6 ( ), who asked Him to avenge their blood. The day of vengeance has come ( ). . For the second time God is praised, this time because the judgment remains “forever and ever” and there will never again be a repetition of the performance of the great harlot. “Her smoke” is the smoke of the great harlot. The rising up of the smoke indicates that this judgment is a permanent remembrance (cf. ). A smoke that rises up to God speaks of the satisfaction that God’s love and holiness find in judgment. You see this in the sacrifices that speak of Christ. With regard to the judgment on the wicked, only an eternal punishment answers to God’s holiness. . The elders and the living creatures are mentioned here for the last time. In Revelation 4, they are mentioned for the first time ( ). They fall down before God to worship Him as Judge. They have also fallen down before Him as Creator ( ) and as Savior ( ). The judgment on Babylon is the cause to express themselves in an “Amen. Hallelujah!” (cf. ). ‘Amen’ is a confirmation of the judgments, an underlining of them. ‘Hallelujah’ draws the attention again to God as the One Who is worthy of praise. . Then “a voice came from the throne”. All judgments have always come from the throne. With the judgment on the great harlot a point has been reached that the throne can call for to praise God. Everything God does will be to the glory and praise of His Name. Everything that He says and does reflects His glorious characteristics. And everything that is visible of God causes all who hear Him to praise Him. That also goes for His judgments. His judgments prove His righteousness, one of His many impressive characteristics. The throne, the symbol of God’s government, calls “all … His bond-servants” to praise Him. It is a call to all who have served Him faithfully on earth, regardless of whether they have been ‘small or great’ therein. They have served Him with the fear of God. This fear is not being afraid of God, but reverence. . For the third time John hears a voice. It is the voice that reminds him of three things: “a great multitude … many waters and … mighty peals of thunder”. It is not an unordered mixture of sounds, like a busy market place with screaming people and honking cars. There is harmony in the ‘great multitude’. The ‘many waters’ indicate an impressive and irresistible power. The ‘mighty peals of thunder’ are the all drowning out messengers that accompany the acceptance by God of His kingship. The great multitude here includes all heavenly citizens, apart from the church which is mentioned in the next verse. For the last time, the “hallelujah” sounds and this time in relation to the acceptance by God of His kingship. He has begun to reign, which He does through His Son. . The mighty choir of voices with a multiple sound cries out to itself to be happy and to rejoice and to give God glory. The reason is that “the marriage of the Lamb has come”. This happy event is now on God’s program. Now the false bride, the great harlot, has been judged, the time has come for the wedding of His Son. Before the millennial kingdom of peace public comes, the wedding has to take place first. Then the bride can publicly follow the Bridegroom on His side to reign with Him. That is God’s purpose. What is remarkable, however, is that it is His wedding. At every wedding on earth, the attention is drawn to the bride. Here it is different. All attention is focused on Him. The bride is here called “His wife”. Yet she remains the bride forever ( ). She is wife and bride ( ). That she is forever bride means that she will forever keep the glory as bride for the heart of the Lord Jesus. She will never put off her wedding robe. She is arrayed in it and “has made herself ready” to be His wife. The next verse describes what her robe consists of. . The robe consists of “the righteous acts of the saints”. There is nothing unrighteous on that robe. But, you may say, the saints have also committed unrighteous deeds, not only righteous ones, haven’t they? Exactly because of that the judgment seat of Christ is so important ( ; ). As soon as the church has been caught up, your life, and the life of every believer, will be judged in all its particularities in God’s light. You will appear there in a glorified body. Therefore, it can have nothing to do with eternal judgment. The Judge is none other than your Savior, Who gave His life for you. How then could you still perish? To purpose of the revelation before the judgment seat is to show you God’s judgment of your life. You will then know fully as you have been fully known ( ). You first need to know how you have been judged by the Lord to be able to judge or reign over other people. Everything you have done in the body, will be revealed, even all the motives of your heart ( ). You will only love Him more as a result (cf. ). Maybe you will see righteous acts in the robe of which you did not think they were righteous acts. Conversely, things may be absent of which you thought them to be an important contribution to the robe. The question for you and me is now: To what extent do I contribute to the beauty of that robe? Will there probably be acts that will be consumed by the fire ( ), which will cause that there will be nothing left for the robe? If we speak about our righteous acts, then we speak about the side of our responsibility. Through our deeds we may or may not contribute to the robe. But there is also the other side, which is the side of God’s grace that has worked in us, so that we may do good deeds. In a song it is written: ‘Whatever good that we have done, it was all achieved through Your grace.’ That reflects well what is written here, that the robe has been “given” to her. That determines you that everything you have contributed to that robe is ultimately the work of God’s grace. When the bride appears on the scene, her brilliance will be great. What she wears is given to her by God. What she shows are the purity and cleanness of God Himself (cf. ). “Fine linen” is a precious textile, more precious than the linen with which the angels are clothed ( ). Mind the contrast with the robe of the great harlot ( ). Now read Revelation 19:1-8 again. Reflection: In which way do you contribute to the wedding robe?

‏ Revelation of John 19:1-4

The Marriage of the Lamb

Rev 19:1. The first words, “after these things”, introduce a new section, which at the same time directly connects to what is previously said. When the judgment on Babylon is fully executed, there is an enormous reaction in heaven. All who are in heaven form a great choir and express as out of one mouth their great joy about God and His judgment on Babylon. The first word that John hears is “hallelujah!” For the first time in this book and in the whole New Testament you hear this word sounding. It is used sparingly.

The word means ‘praise Yahweh’. It is a call to worship God. Worship always has a cause. When you come to know something of Who God is, of His works and of His ways, and you come impressed by that, it touches your heart, it causes you to worship Him. This is what happens, for example, with Abraham when God told him about His plans with him and Sarah (Gen 17:17). Worship is not the experience of lofty feelings through music with ecstatic expressions.

The word appears four times in Rev 19:1-6 and no further. In the Old Testament the word appears more often and especially in the book of Psalms. There it is always spoken out on the earth, while here it is said in heaven. The first time you find it in Psalm 104 (Psa 104:35). Psalm 104 speaks prophetically about the millennial kingdom. Here in Revelation 19 the time has come that the millennial kingdom is established and a visible content is given to ‘hallelujah’.

God is honored and praised as the One to Whom “salvation” belongs. The point here is the coming of the ultimate and full salvation of everything that He Himself had planned to save (1Pet 1:5). In that salvation His “glory” and His “power” become visible. This is the salvation He has worked with the power that belongs to Him.

Rev 19:2. There is no doubt that His judgments are ”true” and ”righteous”. This is true for all judgments, but these characteristics are specifically praised in view of the judgment on “the great harlot”. The word ‘harlot’ emphasizes again her unfaithfulness which was great and deep. His truthfulness and righteousness become clear in the judgment on her who has sinned in such a general and specifically horrible way.

She “was corrupting the earth” as a whole, all men on it, “with her immorality” and she has made especially God’s “bond-servants” a target of her wickedness. She deserves the judgment in all areas. With the judgment because of her abuse of God’s bond-servants, God answers the supplication of the martyrs in Revelation 6 (Rev 6:10), who asked Him to avenge their blood. The day of vengeance has come (Isa 61:2).

Rev 19:3. For the second time God is praised, this time because the judgment remains “forever and ever” and there will never again be a repetition of the performance of the great harlot. “Her smoke” is the smoke of the great harlot. The rising up of the smoke indicates that this judgment is a permanent remembrance (cf. Isa 34:8-10). A smoke that rises up to God speaks of the satisfaction that God’s love and holiness find in judgment. You see this in the sacrifices that speak of Christ. With regard to the judgment on the wicked, only an eternal punishment answers to God’s holiness.

Rev 19:4. The elders and the living creatures are mentioned here for the last time. In Revelation 4, they are mentioned for the first time (Rev 4:4 ; 6). They fall down before God to worship Him as Judge. They have also fallen down before Him as Creator (Rev 4:4) and as Savior (Rev 5:14). The judgment on Babylon is the cause to express themselves in an “Amen. Hallelujah!” (cf. Psa 106:48). ‘Amen’ is a confirmation of the judgments, an underlining of them. ‘Hallelujah’ draws the attention again to God as the One Who is worthy of praise.

Rev 19:5. Then “a voice came from the throne”. All judgments have always come from the throne. With the judgment on the great harlot a point has been reached that the throne can call for to praise God. Everything God does will be to the glory and praise of His Name. Everything that He says and does reflects His glorious characteristics. And everything that is visible of God causes all who hear Him to praise Him. That also goes for His judgments. His judgments prove His righteousness, one of His many impressive characteristics.

The throne, the symbol of God’s government, calls “all … His bond-servants” to praise Him. It is a call to all who have served Him faithfully on earth, regardless of whether they have been ‘small or great’ therein. They have served Him with the fear of God. This fear is not being afraid of God, but reverence.

Rev 19:6. For the third time John hears a voice. It is the voice that reminds him of three things: “a great multitude … many waters and … mighty peals of thunder”. It is not an unordered mixture of sounds, like a busy market place with screaming people and honking cars. There is harmony in the ‘great multitude’. The ‘many waters’ indicate an impressive and irresistible power. The ‘mighty peals of thunder’ are the all drowning out messengers that accompany the acceptance by God of His kingship.

The great multitude here includes all heavenly citizens, apart from the church which is mentioned in the next verse. For the last time, the “hallelujah” sounds and this time in relation to the acceptance by God of His kingship. He has begun to reign, which He does through His Son.

Rev 19:7. The mighty choir of voices with a multiple sound cries out to itself to be happy and to rejoice and to give God glory. The reason is that “the marriage of the Lamb has come”. This happy event is now on God’s program. Now the false bride, the great harlot, has been judged, the time has come for the wedding of His Son.

Before the millennial kingdom of peace public comes, the wedding has to take place first. Then the bride can publicly follow the Bridegroom on His side to reign with Him. That is God’s purpose. What is remarkable, however, is that it is His wedding. At every wedding on earth, the attention is drawn to the bride. Here it is different. All attention is focused on Him.

The bride is here called “His wife”. Yet she remains the bride forever (Rev 21:2). She is wife and bride (Rev 21:9). That she is forever bride means that she will forever keep the glory as bride for the heart of the Lord Jesus. She will never put off her wedding robe. She is arrayed in it and “has made herself ready” to be His wife. The next verse describes what her robe consists of.

Rev 19:8. The robe consists of “the righteous acts of the saints”. There is nothing unrighteous on that robe. But, you may say, the saints have also committed unrighteous deeds, not only righteous ones, haven’t they? Exactly because of that the judgment seat of Christ is so important (Rom 14:10; 2Cor 5:10). As soon as the church has been caught up, your life, and the life of every believer, will be judged in all its particularities in God’s light. You will appear there in a glorified body. Therefore, it can have nothing to do with eternal judgment. The Judge is none other than your Savior, Who gave His life for you. How then could you still perish?

To purpose of the revelation before the judgment seat is to show you God’s judgment of your life. You will then know fully as you have been fully known (1Cor 13:12). You first need to know how you have been judged by the Lord to be able to judge or reign over other people. Everything you have done in the body, will be revealed, even all the motives of your heart (1Cor 4:5). You will only love Him more as a result (cf. Lk 7:47).

Maybe you will see righteous acts in the robe of which you did not think they were righteous acts. Conversely, things may be absent of which you thought them to be an important contribution to the robe. The question for you and me is now: To what extent do I contribute to the beauty of that robe? Will there probably be acts that will be consumed by the fire (1Cor 3:15), which will cause that there will be nothing left for the robe?

If we speak about our righteous acts, then we speak about the side of our responsibility. Through our deeds we may or may not contribute to the robe. But there is also the other side, which is the side of God’s grace that has worked in us, so that we may do good deeds. In a song it is written: ‘Whatever good that we have done, it was all achieved through Your grace.’ That reflects well what is written here, that the robe has been “given” to her. That determines you that everything you have contributed to that robe is ultimately the work of God’s grace.

When the bride appears on the scene, her brilliance will be great. What she wears is given to her by God. What she shows are the purity and cleanness of God Himself (cf. Eze 16:14). “Fine linen” is a precious textile, more precious than the linen with which the angels are clothed (Rev 15:6). Mind the contrast with the robe of the great harlot (Rev 17:4 ; Rev 18:16).

Now read Revelation 19:1-8 again.

Reflection: In which way do you contribute to the wedding robe?