Chapter BY Chapter

Revelation 19 – The King of kings and Lord of lords

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After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

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“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
    for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
    who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

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Once more they cried out,

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“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

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And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”  And from the throne came a voice saying,

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“Praise our God,
    all you his servants,
you who fear him,
    small and great.”

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Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

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“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

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for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

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And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”  Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

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Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.  His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.  He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.  And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.  From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

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Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”  And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.  And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.  And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

 

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What did we learn in chapter 18?

Babylon is fallen.

What is Babylon?

The city of Rome.  -7 mountains, number of kings past, & close enough to the sea to see the smoke of it burning.

Why is Babylon fallen?

-sexual immorality, materialism, persecution of saints & Christians, misleads the nations.

What will the Christians do in the future if they find themselves in the future Babylon?

What should we do if we find ourselves in a Babylon type organization?

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*******  

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So, Babylon is fallen and the next thing we see in the Revelation of Jesus Christ is a great multitude praising God for judging Babylon, the great prostitute that deceived the world.

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Verses 1-5,

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“After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

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“Hallelujah!

Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

    for his judgments are true and just;

for he has judged the great prostitute

    who corrupted the earth with her immorality,

and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

​

Once more they cried out,

​

“Hallelujah!

The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

​

And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”  And from the throne came a voice saying,

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“Praise our God,

    all you his servants,

you who fear him,

    small and great.”

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1. The word Hallelujah is a Hebrew word that means “praise Yahuweh.”This revelation is soaked with Old Testament theology.

2. The idea that God takes out judgment against those that persecute his people is repeated throughout the Old Testament.The book of Judges is full of instances of this.Isaiah 63 is a great example.We read that in a previous lesson.Zechariah 14:3-9,

“Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.  On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.  And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

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On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost.  And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light.

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On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.

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And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

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1. Verse 1 says that a great multitude is singing in heaven.Who is in this multitude?

   • Chapter 7 – the great multitude that comes out of the tribulation.

2. Verse 4 says the 24 elders join in on the praise.Who remembers who the 24 elders represent?

   1. It represents the Old Testament and New Testament saints.

3. Verse 4 says the 4 living creatures join in on the praise. Who remembers what the 4 living creatures represent?

   • Ox – Strength of God

   • Lion – Protection of God

   • Man – Humanity of God

   • Eagle – Deity of God

4. Verse 5 says a voice comes from the throne.Who could this be?

   • The voice says, “Praise our God.”Would God say, “Praise our God?”

     • (God is God to God).

     • So, God commands all to praise him.

 

“Praise our God,

    all you his servants,

you who fear him,

    small and great.”

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1. Then we get the multitude again.

   • “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,”

   • Roar of mighty waters and sound of mighty peals of thunder – I’m thinking a lot of electric guitars at this point.

   • They cry out,

 

“Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God

    the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult

    and give him the glory,”

• Sound familiar?Imagine what it would sound like with a great multitude singing that?

• Why is the multitude rejoicing?

 

“for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

    and his Bride has made herself ready;

it was granted her to clothe herself

    with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints."

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• What will you be wearing on that day?

• Notice that it says here that it was granted to the Bride of the Lamb to clothe herself and that the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

• How we live in this life will make a difference in how we live in eternity.

  • There are things we can do individually to do what is right.

  • There are also things we can do together to do what is right.

  • Question: If we see a Babylon type organization & we leave it, is that enough?

    1. Should we oppose evil in the world?

    2. Or should we sit back and rely on the fact that Jesus is going to defeat evil in the end?

    3. Obviously, our righteousness should oppose evil.

• Notice that Jesus is referred to here as the Lamb.

  • Why is that?

  • To remind us of the price that was paid for our redemption.

  • Because he is about to take possession of his inheritance.As we learned in chapter 5, only the Lamb is worthy to take possession of this inheritance.Remember the Book that was written inside and out?What is in that book?

    1. The deed to the world.

    2. The names of those written in the Lamb’s book of Life.

    3. Part of his inheritance is us!

1. Ready for the Marriage supper of the Lamb?

   • Verses 9-10,

 

“And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”  Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

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• So, blessed are those who are invited to the Marriage supper of the Lamb.Are you invited?

1. Let’s see how the marriage supper of the Lamb starts out.

   • Verses 11-16,

     • “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

   • Who is sitting on the white horse and called Faithful and True?

     • Jesus Christ.

     • How do we know this?

     • There are many allusions that it can be no other.

       1. His eyes are like a flame of fire – was a description of Jesus given in chapters 3 & 4.

       2. On his head are many diadems was a previous description of Jesus Christ.

       3. He is clothed in “a robe dipped in blood” reminds us of the shroud of Jesus which was bloodied from the blood of his crucifixion. Actually, the word for dipped here is more accurately translated as “sprinkled with.”A cloth sprinkled in blood would perfectly describe the shroud.

       4. “He will rule them with a rod of iron,” is a Messianic reference.

       5. The name by which he is called is The Word of God.This refers to John chapter 1.“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”... “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

       6. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.Remember in the gospel of John, when Jesus was arrested?Jesus just said one word and the whole party that came to arrest him fell down.

       7. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

       8. Notice that the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

2. Now, let’s see how the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place.

   • Verses 17 – 21,

     • “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.”

     • So, the Lamb has spoken and all the armies of the world lie dead for the birds of the air to devour.The beast and the false prophet are captured and thrown alive into the lake of fire.

 

Song: The Hallelujah Chorus Lyrics - Handel's Messiah by Mormon Tabernacle Choir