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Rev 19:1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in
heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the
Lord our God:
This is how we will feel when we stand before the throne of God realizing that
we would not be there if not for the mercy and grace of God. The people in
Heaven have seen the vengeance taken upon the earth by God and have reason to
rejoice that God is a just God and He did not forget the misery and torment they
suffered by the hands of those that dwelt upon the earth. They rejoice to see
both the false religious system and the evil rulers of the world judged fairly
for their works. At any time any one of them could have repented and reversed
their ways but they did not.
I have read of Adolph Hitler and did not see one time when he ever showed
remorse or sorrow for what he had done. He committed suicide because he was
almost caught not for any remorse.
I read of Adolph Eichmann's capture and trial in which he never once repented of
his deeds but tried to make it seem as if he was only following orders.
Yet there are others who when faced with eminent death will repent for their
things they did. God gave everyone space to repent. Apostate churches are also
given space to repent. God is a just God.
Rev 19:2 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.
It would seem from verse 2 that chapters 17 and 18 might be the same and Babylon
was one, not two. Yet we recall how the beast and the kings destroyed the
mystery Babylon but merchants of the earth lamented over the destruction of the
second Babylon.
Rev 19:3 And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever and
ever.
So severe was her judgment that the smoke of its burning is like an eternal fire
that seems going. Perhaps that is a memorial to all who see, of the results of
evil in the long run. For a while it seems as if there is nothing to stop it but
in the end we see that holiness and righteousness prevails.
Rev 19:4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and
worshiped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
Rev 19:5 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.
Rev 19:6 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.
This will be the most awesome time in the past, present and future of all
mankind. All people that love God and have been faithful to Him will rejoice and
praise Him and the Lamb (Jesus) (Yeshua) for ever and ever. We will not be able
to stop, our joy will be so great.
If we are offended at the shouts and praises of people worshipping now, how will
we be able to stand to see this? I am not offended when I hear shouting and
praising God in a worship service. Sometimes my mind will go back to cottage
prayer meetings my Dad used to take me to and I can hear the shouts and praises
in my memory. As a little 3 year old child, it must have been loud to me but I
do not remember being frightened, it brings me comfort to remember those times.
It hurts me to hear the old timers made fun of by those who do not understand
loud worship and praise. Sometimes I can actually feel like if we don't shout,
praise the Lord, the rocks would literally do it for us. I realize we never
should make the mistake of judging one's spiritual walk by how loud he shouts or
by his outward worship that we can see. We never should assume he is more
spiritual than the quiet worshipper. That is a mistake I see people make all the
time and it is a bad one. Yet I know that it is never wrong to express praise
out loud for He is truly worthy of more praise than we can ever express.
Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8 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.
First of all the bride of Christ is not the Gentile church as we know it. We see
this wife is arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. We know that when we repent
and believe wholly in Jesus Christ for remission of sins, we are covered with
His righteousness. His blood cleanses us from all sin and makes us part of this
bride. The bride is not limited to the church but comprises all Old Testament
saints, Gentile believers, Messianic Jewish believers and all who have believed
God both past and present. All saved people, both Jews and Gentiles are part of
this. It is not any apostate church that does not recognize the shed blood of
Jesus as the only way to be cleansed from sin. Any religion that does not
believe this is not included here. Old Testament saints are included because
they observed sacrifices and ordinances that pointed to and symbolized the
perfect sacrifice that was to come. The ones that were obedient to God and
awaited the coming of their Messiah are part of this bride. To say the church is
the bride of Christ makes is seem as if it is exclusive to all others who have
believed. Israel has always been referred to in feminine pronouns. Those that
came through this great tribulation and recognized their Messiah as Lord will be
included here. This is a great marriage for both Jews and Gentiles will be part
of this marriage supper rejoicing and praising God. The original fold with
Christ as the shepherd were Jews. The Gentiles then came into the fold the
moment they believed the gospel. Now at last there is one fold and one shepherd,
Jesus Christ. Praise His name forever. This is why one Christian church must be
careful never to make the mistake in thinking they are the only ones God
accepts. It is not through any manmade organization but through the shed blood
of Jesus that we enter the body of Christ and then can come to this marriage
supper of the lamb. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, no man (woman)
comes to the Father but by Him.
Actually come to think of it, the Gentile believers that were raptured before
the tribulation period were already married to Christ by their faith so the new
Israeli believers may be what we call the bride here. That is my own speculation
and it can be taken with a grain of salt. Up until now though it can be said the
the church was the body of Christ.
Rev 19:9 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.
How can we be called to this great supper. By partaking of the righteousness of
Christ. We renounce sin and turn to Him completely trusting Him to cleanse us
from all sin. We stay in this and do not go back into the filth we were saved
from always remembering His death, burial and resurrection that was done so that
we might be saved and have eternal life.
We love Him, we love His coming and we are willing to be obedient to His word
the moment we learn what His word is.
Here is an easier way to sum it all up. Jesus told us to love the Lord our God
with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. We can include,
with all our strength. Then He says to love our neighbor as ourselves. Do you
realize that if we can keep just those two commandments, we will automatically
keep every law in the bible.
We don't even have to know much theology. I'm not saying we should not study the
bible for we must do that to avoid being deceived by false teachers.
Yet, if we constantly seek God to be filled with His spirit and allow that same
spirit to shed the love of God in our hearts, we can start down this path of
perfect love.
Perfect love casts out all fear. Love endures, bears and believes. If we love
our neighbor, we would not hesitate to make sure he or she will be standing
along side us when we stand before God. Love would make sure we never did
anything to them to be a stumbling block to their finding God for themselves. If
we loved them we would never steal from them, lust after their wives (husbands)
etc. If we loved God, idolatry would not enter our minds. We would not lust after
material wealth and prosperity but our minds would be on seeking God's will.
Yes, we will become irritated at people and our faith in God will be tried for
the enemy of our souls does not want us to enter into being perfect in love. We
have to fight for this type of love and continually be on our guard to maintain
it.
The love flows through us by the Holy Spirit cannot be compared to any thing we
call love in our old nature's mindset or our old thinking. We fall in love and
love our family, friends and relatives but that type of love can change if
circumstances change. For instance many feel they love someone enough to marry
them but find out later that they can't get along so they end up hating each
other. What they had was not even close to love. It was merely emotional
infatuation or a love that depended upon someone loving us back. The love I'm
talking of was the kind of love that made Jesus stay upon the cross until His
sacrificial work was finished. He could have called the angels to come and set
Him free at any moment.
I can just imagine that for a minute. I can see God's faithful angels watching
this whole scene at the crucifixion and looking for just one sign from the Son
of God that would have made them come and rescue Him. Just one word from Him
would have stopped that perfect sacrifice and shut out all mankind from heaven
and eternal life. That is perfect love in the truest sense of the word. Some of
the angels may have glanced at the Father to see if He would change His mind and
allow them to set Jesus free. Praise the Lord forever for loving us that much
that we are made worthy to partake in this great marriage supper of the lamb.
Not because of what we have done but because of what He has done. That was
perfect love.
Rev 19:10 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.
Here is the true fruit of the spirit. A true servant of God will never accept
the worship of any person. He will instead direct our worship toward God.
Rev 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 war.
Some think that this is the same while horse and rider seen in chapter 4 but I
believe this is different and the other rider was an imitation of the true white
horse rider. The rider here is Jesus Christ. His judgments are true and
righteous. He is just and nothing unfair will be done. He has done everything He
could do to save mankind, now judgment comes.
Rev 19:12 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.
Rev 19:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is
called The Word of God.
Jesus is the Word of God. We must never take the word of God lightly. We have it
in written form and it is His Holy word.
Here is another description by John
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and
truth.
Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
Rev 19:15 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.
The world will be judged by the word of God. If they have ignored and made light
of the word, the judgment will be severe.
Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF
KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Rev 19:17 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;
Rev 19:18 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.
Since the gospel is freely given to all, young and old, bond and free, we see
that all those that ignored His free gift are affected by this judgment. The
fowls of the air will eat the flesh of these that come against the Lamb of God
and the host of armies He brings with Him.
We see that all saints will come back to earth after the marriage supper of the
lamb to rule and reign with Him. There has to be a natural people that escape
all these things to rule over. It would seem that the armies of the anti-christ
are the ones killed here and those that took the mark of the beast. There will
be natural people in other parts of the world that do not get killed or there
would be no one for Christ and His saints to rule over.
Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies,
gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his
army.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought
miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of
the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a
lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the
horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled
with their flesh.
It is only those that come against the Lord that is killed. The beast which I
believe is the same as the anti-christ and the false prophet is cast alive into
the lake of fire. The rest of the army is to be slain by Jesus Christ. The fowls
devour their flesh. The other people of the earth will be given a chance to see
what kind of life is on the earth when Jesus Christ rules. Satan is to be bound
for 1000 years. After that he is loosed for a season to see if there are any
rebellious persons left that would war against God. The ones that were saved and
are now ruling with Christ are forever sealed and safe. They will not be tempted
again. The last test is for natural men or women that are alive when that takes
place.
Again this is a reminder that my words are my own opinions. This is part of the
bible that is very controversial and for that reason many avoid it. We should
not be afraid of discussing differences of opinion but should discuss it freely
without fear. It should be done in the spirit of meekness and love respecting
all who have a different opinion. Opposing opinions should never be ridiculed
neither should we make them feel silly or worthless. Yet we must read and study
this part of the bible for a special blessing awaits those that keep the words
within its pages.
Revelation 20
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