Supper Time: Revelation 19

Babylon has fallen. This would be as shocking to hear for the original audience as saying China has fallen. Or Russia has fallen. Or to bring it close to home, America has fallen. Earlier this year me and my wife watched the A24 movie Civil War which depicts an America that is divided to the extent that it can be dangerous to go visit certain parts of the country. The country is at war with itself and the movie without you realizing it is a quest to take down the President in the White House. It is a brutal movie and one that in all honesty, I walked away from feeling ill. The movie felt so real at times that I felt a bit unnerved seeing the gruesome depiction of dead bodies lying around and what really grossed me out was the younger character who would do anything(even be the reason her mentor dies) just to get a picture.

But what the movie Civil War does is gives us an image of one of the world’s largest superpowers crumbling down. What we see in Revelation 18 and now 19 is a picture of Babylon’s ultimate fall. It’s gruesome, it’s ugly. It might make you question God’s character by the end, but it’s a picture using creative elements to really show you all the unique colors of it.

Time for Celebration

John, after the fall of Babylon, hears a vast multitude singing:

Hallelujah!
Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God,
 because his judgments are true and righteous,
because he has judged the notorious prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality;
and he has avenged the blood of his servants
that was on her hands. (Revelation 19:1-2 CSB)

After the fall of Babylon there is praise to Yahweh for what he has done, for what he has accomplished. We see in verse 3 this depiction of praise over the fact that “smoke from her goes up forever and ever”(CSB); which may say odd to you and me but what it represents is the fact that Babylon was not a forever Kingdom. They thought Rome was eternal; yet here we have this picture not only of Rome falling but there being ruins of her. Which fast forward to today and Rome is in ruins. We pay for a cheap ticket to walk around what once was a great kingdom.

The voice of the “vast multitude” praise Yahweh specifically for being a good judge. It may sound odd to our ears, because in general we still hold our judges to a degree of high esteem. We typically trust their authority and judgement but in the context of these early believers it could be dangerous to trust a judge.

Many judges in Rome were corrupt so the fact that Yahweh is a good judge becomes something worthy to offer praise over.

We then have stark contrast with this praise over the fall of Babylon to then praise of the union between God and His people.

 Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying,

Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty,
reigns!
 Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory,
because the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has prepared herself.
She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure.

For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.

Then he said to me, “Write: Blessed are those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These words of God are true.”  Then I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters who hold firmly to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Revelation 19:6-8 CSB)

God and His people have been united. Where there is a funeral for the fall of Babylon(think Rome) there is also a cause of celebration for the union of the groom and his bride.

On this mountain,
the Lord of Armies will prepare for all the peoples a feast of choice meat,
a feast with aged wine, prime cuts of choice meat, fine vintage wine.(Isaiah 25:6 CSB)

Bring your best! This is not a mere pizza party, this is the best celebration you could ever ask for because the union of these two is a union that went against all odds. This is not merely Romeo and Juliet falling in love with each other despite their parents coming from different sides of town. This is not The Notebook where the poor boy falls in love with the rich girl and has to wait years and years and break up an engagement. This is a love that carried on for a millennium. A love that was loyal to the end. A love that sacrificed it all in order to be united. This is the wedding of the Lamb.

A War is Brewing

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John then sees heaven(the skies) open and a white horse coming out of it with a rider he knows. “This rider is called Faithful and True”(19:11 CSB) and he is that good judge who brought about the end of Babylon. “With justice he judges and makes war”(19:11 CSB). He is not a filppant military leader, blowing his gasket when he’s had enough. No this warrior, is someone who came to make right what was wrong. He came not to let his anger out on undeserved people, rather he is one who is defending the innocent. Who is taking the power back from those who misuse it.

John says something very peculiar though. This rider on the white horse, which depicts this rider as a ruler on the best horse. A horse worthy of its rider and vice versa; is wearing a “robe dipped in blood”(19:13 CSB).

A war has not happened yet. The title of this section is that a war is brewing. Yet, this rider has a robe soaked in blood meaning you need to be asking “whose blood is this?” Did this rider slaughter some people on the way to the war? Is this rider wearing garments from a previous war?

No, this rider came to the battle having already won.

This rider is called “the Word of God”(v.13 CSB). A different John in the Gospel narrative says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.(John 1:1-5. ESV)

This author continues on by saying:

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.(John 1:14. ESV)

The Word, this rider, was at the beginning of all creation. Nothing was made except by him, through him. This rider did not just stop at Creation though, he came down and dwelt among us, wrapped in flesh and hung on a cross. This blood on his robe was where he won his victory. This rider is the slaughtered lamb we read about in Revelation 5:6:

Then I saw one like a slaughtered lamb standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders.(CSB)

The Ultimate Bloodbath

The A24 movie Civil War was an uncomfortable movie to watch. Not just because of the grotesque images of dead bodies being piled on top of each other but also because of the numbness certain characters had to seeing some of these images.

This next section in the book of Revelation is a display of that level of grotesqueness. It is meant to make you uncomfortable, and to be an image that really captures your attention.

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he called out in a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying high overhead, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God,  so that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of military commanders, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and of their riders, and the flesh of everyone, both free and slave, small and great.”

 Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and against his army. But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with it the false prophet, who had performed the signs in its presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image with these signs. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds ate their fill of their flesh.(Revelation 19:17-21 CSB)

This image again is a horrific image to picture in your mind and we have to be clear: that is the point. This is an image of a war torn area, where soldiers are left for dead and the only clean up that would take place is for the birds to come swooping in to pick off the flesh bit by bit.

These soldiers are the ones defeated in battle and not getting a proper burial. Which specifically in this culture, as I would imagine in many cultures, is very dishonoring.

These bodies have been dishonored, left for dead, sitting in the sun for the beasts of the air to fill up on.

Jesus has won. Now, you may thinking: “But this image is not how I would imagine Jesus, the God of love to win in a battle.” That is a fair assessment.

John is using apocalyptic language here that’s purpose is to evoke emotion out of you.

The beast have been up until this point wage war on those who do good, on those who are innconcent. But the beast has not acted alone. The beast built an army and it has signed up for this battle.

But here is where the grace of God truly is.

Jesus never waged war the way the beast does. The beast brought in a military, but Jesus defeated His enemy with the “sword in his mouth”(his words). Jesus doesn’t take advantage of the innocent, he defends them. Jesus does not act because he has a heart for deconstruction, rather Jesus acts because he has a heart for redemption.

Summary

The enemy has been defeated. Where there is a funeral for Babylon, there is a wedding celebration for The Lamb and His bride. Jesus has won before he ever entered into this battle. He came with His robe dipped in the blood he shed on behalf of us all. Because of this, we like the vast multitude offer praise to Yahweh forever more!