Last week, in Revelation 18, we read about the vision John saw of a future, when Babylon has been destroyed by God. No matter how secure she looks, and powerful, the truth is that she cannot stand against God. Revelation 18 told us there were many reasons why God judged her: her boastful speech (Revelation 18:7) and pride, her luxuries (Revelation 18:7), and the way she deceived the world into pursuing her rather than the Lamb. But perhaps above all else, she was judged because of her persecution of the church.
In every way, Babylon set herself up as a rival, and enemy, to God. She deliberately made war with God's people. And throughout the entire Bible, any nation that does this gets wrecked. So we aren't surprised by her fate.
But who is Babylon?
It's debated. Everything, by this point in Revelation, is debated by someone. But I think Babylon serves as a symbol for the high point-- the center-- of every evil, demonically empowered, human empire. There have been many Babylons throughout history. In the story of the Tower of Babylon in Genesis 11, people deliberately defied God's commands, and set out to make a name for themselves. In the sixth century B.C., Babylon was the nation who conquered Judah, destroyed the temple, and scattered God's people across its empire. In the first century, Babylon is a symbolic way of speaking about Rome. Rome treated God's people, the way 6th century Babylon did-- it destroyed the temple, promoted idol worship, and attacked God's people.
We saw in our study of the Beast in Revelation 13, that satan has been enabled to pick out nations, and give them his throne, and power, and authority, and make nations into evil empires, which Revelation calls "the beast." And at the center of every beast, riding the beast, is Babylon.
So every generation of Christians will find itself opposed by Babylon, and the Beasts. And God expects every generation of Christians to rise up, and courageously oppose the Beast by testifying about sin, and judgment, and Jesus. Our job today, is the same job the church has had for 2,000 years-- to be the two witnesses of Revelation 11, regardless of the cost, while we wait for God to vindicate us, and bring judgment on Babylon and the Beast.
So at this point in Revelation, the final fate of Babylon has been sealed. Her future, of destruction, and desolation, is assured. But the focus last week wasn't where we'd maybe expect it. We want to know the how. We want to know the when. But Revelation wants us to decide how we feel about that fall. Are we like the kings of the earth, and the merchants, who mourn Babylon's destruction, because we've committed ourselves to earthly things, and earthly empires, and are focused on luxuries? Or do we celebrate the fall of every Babylon, understanding that this shows God fighting for us, and rescuing us from those who hate us?
What we are invited to do, is rejoice. Let's read Revelation 18:20 (NIV no reason):
“Rejoice over her, you heavens!
Rejoice, you people of God!
Rejoice, apostles and prophets!
For God has judged her
with the judgment she imposed on you.”
This week, we will see this call to rejoice answered. Heaven and earth celebrate the fall of Babylon, in a big, loud way. Let's start by reading verses 1-2. As I read, try to imagine hearing what John hears. All of this, John "hears":
(1) After these things, I heard [something] like the sound of a great crowd in heaven, saying,
"Hallelujah! (Praise Yah!)-- Salvation/rescue and glory and power belong to our God!-- [or: "are from our God"],
because true and righteous, his judgments [are]:
because He judged the Great Prostitute
who seduced/enticed the earth by/with her sexual immorality [cf. 17:2; 18:3],
and He avenged the blood of his slaves, shed by her hand [Revelation 6:10; for "by her hand," see 2 Kings
9:7 LXX; h/t Craig Koester ],"
What John hears, is the sound of massive worship. Imagine being at a football stadium, filled with Christians, and everyone is singing a song that praises God.
Now, we all know that there are many reasons to praise God. God has been incredibly good to us, in many different ways. We can praise God as Creator of the world, and Sustainer. We praise God for sending Jesus. We praise God for being a good Father.
What does this group praise God for?
The reason this group sings, and praises, is not a reason that the modern church usually sings about. This group praises God because his judgments are true and righteous. We live in a world where judgments are often made on the basis of wealth, and politics, and who your friends are. God is not like that. God judges in truth, and He judges in righteousness. He gives people exactly what they deserve.
This group goes on to talk about these judgments, in two specific areas. They sing, because God has judged the Great Prostitute-- Babylon. Babylon, as the center of every human empire, is the focal point of the empire's wealth, and glory, and beauty, and power. She's also the source of all types of detestable things. She exports greed, and unfaithfulness, and violence. She takes the very best of the good things God creates-- the most luxurious things-- and encourages people to make those what they live for. And so God judged her, so that she'd stop seducing people into seeking her, and what she offers. God wants people to chase him, and not her.
The second reason this group praises God for his judgments, is that He has avenged the blood of his slaves.
There is a cost to following Jesus. We are called to the two witnesses, boldly testifying about sin, and judgment, and Jesus. And each of us, I think, is protected until our testimony is complete. At that point, God's protection on earth is removed, and each of us can be struck down and killed. Our calling, is like the calling of many of the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. We are called to suffer, and die. And when we die, Revelation insists that we do so nonviolently. When evil human empires rise up against us, we don't form armies. We don't set up military outposts. We die, without a gun in our hands. And the thing that gives us strength to do so, is that God avenges our blood. He will make it right.
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I had to redo this section, to try to put the focus where the Greek does (on the "true and righteous" nature of God's judgments). Might include this, or not. But the passage can also be looked at as teaching two other things:
(1) The nature of salvation.
We tend to talk about salvation in a very narrow, focused way. God saves us spiritually from our sins, and darkness, and satan's kingdom. But "salvation" is bigger than this. And if we translate it as "rescue," we will be on the right track. Every time God fights for his people now, and later, and rescues them from their enemies and problems, people are seeing his "salvation." Every time God topples an evil, oppressive human empire, God is "saving" his people.
If our understanding of salvation is too narrow, and too focused, we won't realize how good God is to his people. We won't understand what we are seeing, when we look around the world. And we will give him less praise, for less reasons, than He deserves.
(2) Who does salvation, and glory, and power, belong to?
Every evil human empire will claim each of these things for themselves. They will lift themselves up, call themselves queen, and declare that nothing bad could ever happy to them. They will build up their glory, particularly with respect to wealth (we will see that "glory" is, in part, wealth; Revelation 21:24). They will declare that if you want to be safe, that you need to come under their protective umbrella, and join them, and submit to them.
But when God topples Babylons, He proves that their words are hollow. They can't protect themselves, or the kings who rely on them. They can't protect you. Their glory will turn to ash, and their power will prove to be brittle.
So when we sing about how salvation, and glory, and power, belong to God, it is absolutely praise to God. But it's a praise to God, that doesn't take place in a vacuum. Salvation, and glory, and power, belong to God, and to the Lamb, in a way they belong to no one else. And each time God proves this by fighting for them, by toppling evil empires, God's people can point at this verse, and sing, "Hallelujah!"
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Verse 3:
(3) and a second time they said,
"Hallelujah!,"
and her smoke goes up forever and ever ("for the ages of the ages"; Isaiah 34:10; Rev. 14:11),
Throughout the church's history, Babylons will rise, and fall. But one day, this will happen one last time. The very last Babylon will be raised up by Satan, and then crushed by God. Her smoke will go up forever. And God's people will then sing forever, "Hallelujah!"
I should say here that the idea isn't that Babylon is literally, consciously, tormented in hell for all time. At the end of days, we won't see 6th century B.C. Babylon, and 1st century Rome, and 21st century Las Vegas, burning forever in a lake of fire. [What would be the point of burning a casino building forever?]
Talk about smoke rising up forever is a symbolic way of saying, that Babylon will never rise up again from the dead. It won't be like the Beast, that everyone thought was dead, but came back to life. The day will come when Babylon will be put down, and it will stay down, forever.
Verse 4:
(4) and they fell down-- the 24 elders and the four living creatures--
and they worshipped/bowed down to God-- to The One Seated Upon the Throne--, saying,
"Amen!
Hallelujah!,"
(5) and a voice from the throne went out, saying,
"Praise our God, all his slaves,
and the ones revering/fearing him-- the small and the great--
(6) and I heard [something] like the sound of many waters,
and like the sound of strong thunder, saying,
"Hallelujah!,
because He reigns-- The Lord, the God, The All-Mighty!
(7) Let us rejoice,
and let us celebrate [Isaiah 61:10; h/t Koester],
and let us give him glory,
because the bridal feast of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has prepared herself [Jer. 2:32; Ezekiel 16:8-13; Isa. 49:18; 61:10; h/t Koester],
(8) and it was given to her,
that she would be clothed in fine linen-- bright, clean/pure [Ezekiel 16:10].
For the fine linen, the righteous deeds of the holy ones, it is,
Each generation of Christians is faced with Babylon, the Great Prostitute. They find themselves having to make a choice, between the luxuries and pleasure Babylon offers, and between the Lamb. When we make the right choice, we are like a bride, waiting for the Lamb, who prepares herself for her wedding day. She lives clean. She lives holy. She lives in a way that makes her desirable to the Lamb. She lives faithfully to the Lamb, in that window of time between betrothal, and marriage. And when we live that way, that faithfulness turns into fine linens, bright, and pure. This is symbolic. It's not literal. But it's a powerful symbolism. If you want to be able to wear white on your wedding day, live faithfully, cleanly, while you wait for the bridal feast of the Lamb.
Now, this is the first time in Revelation that we've heard about this idea of a bridal feast of the Lamb. It's the first time we've heard wedding language. But the symbolism here isn't hard for us. We know that in the OT (Isaiah 61:10; Ezekiel 16:10), and NT, God uses wedding imagery to describe his relationship with his people. We are God's bride, his beloved.
Now, the wrinkle here is that the symbolism works a bit differently than we'd expect. The "when" is different. In Revelation 19, we are not yet Christ's bride. We are engaged, betrothed. But the actual wedding day is still coming. We look forward to the day when our marriage will be complete, and when we will be joined with the Lamb. And we do this, again, by living faithfully.
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Probably don't include this:
The symbolism of a pure bride works the same way as the male virgins in Revelation 14:1-5.
Men will find it easier to relate to the idea of being male virgins. Women will find it easier to think of themselves as a pure, holy bride. But at the end of the day, God gives all of us, men and women, a symbol that we will find it easy to relate to. And both sets of symbols have the same meaning. We need to live faithfully toward the Lamb, and resist a symbolic form of sexual immorality. That's how we prepare ourselves to meet Jesus.
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Verse 9:
(9) and he says to me,
"Write!: Blessed/happy [are] the ones to the banquet of the bridal feast of the Lamb having been invited,"
and he says to me,
"These are the true words of God. ["the true words of God" is focused],"
This is the kind of verse that theologians find themselves wanting to spend a lot of time on, talking about election, and predestination. But I think it'd be safer here to just say this: you really want to make sure you get the invite to this banquet. This is a meal you don't want to miss. Getting a ticket to this banquet, is better than getting a ticket to see Taylor Swift sing, or Lionel Messi play soccer.
But what is this meal? We find ourselves thinking, perhaps, about how Jesus promised that he wouldn't drink wine until he saw his disciples again. We think we are reading about a heavenly feast. Perhaps.
Verse 10:
(10) and I fell before his feet to worship/bow down to him,
and he says to me,
"Don't do that!
Your fellow slave, I am, and [one] of your brothers-- the ones holding to the testimony about Jesus.
To God, worship/bow down ["to God" is focused].
For the testimony about Jesus is the essence/spirit of prophecy."
All I want to say about this, is that angels are our brothers. They are part of our family. We work with them; we serve God together. But we don't bow down and worship them. That is something that we do, only for God, and the Lamb. And if God gives us visions with angels, or if we see angels, we don't make a huge deal about it. It's cool, when it happens. But we don't spend a lot of time talking about it (Colossians 2:18). Angels are our partners in ministry. They are our brothers in God's family.
With this, we are almost ready for the next little section. But before I do, I just want to call attention to the relationship between hearing, and seeing. Everything up to this point in Revelation 19, has been "heard."
19:1: "After this I HEARD."
19:3: "And again they SHOUTED"
19:4: "they CRIED"
19:5: "A voice SAID"
19:6: "And I HEARD"
19:9: "and the angel SAID"
Now, that changes. John "sees" things. What he sees, explains what he heard. And this interplay between seeing and hearing, gives us the key we need to understand this chapter correctly.
Before I start, let me just encourage you, that what you are about to read is symbolic. It's a powerful picture of a future battle between the Lamb and his forces, against the Beasts and their forces. I'm going to read it straight through. Just try to picture what John "sees." 19:11:
(11) and I saw heaven opened,
and LOOK! A white horse!, and the one seated upon it, being called faithful and true,
and with/by righteousness he judges,
and he makes war.
(12) Now, his eyes [were] a flame of fire,
and upon his head [were] many crowns,
having a name having been written
that no one knows, except only he himself,
(13) and being clothed in a garment dipped in blood,
and his name is called "The Word of God,"
(14) and the armies-- the ones in heaven-- were following him on white horses,
being dressed in fine linen-- white, clean/pure--
(15) and out of his mouth comes a sharp sword,
in order that, with it, he would strike the nations,
and he will shepherd/rule them with an iron rod [Psalm 2:8-9],
and he tramples the winepress of the wine of the wrath of the anger of God Almighty [Rev. 14:19-20],
(16) and he has upon his cloak and upon his thigh a name having been written: "King of kings, and Lord of lords,"
(17) and I saw one angel standing in the sun,
and he cried out with a great voice saying to all the birds flying in mid-heaven,
"Come!
Gather for the great feast of God,
in order that you shall eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of military officers, and the flesh of the strong,
and the flesh of horses and of the ones seated upon them, and the flesh of all people, both free and
slave, both small and great,
(19) and I saw the Beast and the kings of the earth and their armies,
having been gathered to make war with the one seated upon the horse and with his army,
and the Beast was seized, and with him the false prophet (=Beast #2)-- the one making/performing the signs before him,
by which he deceived the ones receiving the mark of the beast, and the ones worshipping/bowing down to
his image.
[While still] living, the two were thrown into the lake of fire-- the one burning with sulphur--,
(21) and the rest were killed by the sword of the one seated upon the horse-- the [sword] coming out from his mouth--,
and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
So what John pictures is the Beasts, lined up across a battlefield with their armies. With them, are everyone who bowed down to the beast, and worshipped his image. They wait in an empty field, ready to do battle with the Lamb-- some of them on horses, some of them standing.
And then the Lamb appears, riding a white horse, with his heavenly army. And who is his heavenly army?
It's the same group of people we read about in the first part of the chapter. It's people who prepared themselves for the bridal feast of the Lamb through their righteous deeds. These deeds became fine linen-- the same fine linen that the Lamb's army wears in verse 14.
So what then, is this bridal feast that you really want an invite to?
This feast is not a meal where we sit with Jesus. We will get to do that, but that's not what's going on here. The meal you really don't want to miss-- that you are blessed to receive an invite to-- is the meal where Jesus comes on a white horse, and kills everyone who opposes him. Jesus scatters bodies everyone-- it's just total gore-- and the birds gorge themselves on the army of the Beast. That's the event, you don't want to miss. It's a privilege to get to ride with Jesus, on that day.
If this bothers some of us, it's because we are not a heavily persecuted church. We haven't been given the Bud Light treatment, and forced to cry out to God to feed our families. We haven't been thrown in jail. We haven't seen loved ones killed, while people gloat over their deaths (Revelation 11:10).
Christians who know what this is like, need this passage. Because this passage encourages them, that what they are suffering will someday change. One day, Jesus will come, and judge all those people in truth and righteousness. He will give them what they deserve. He will repay them for the blood that they shed.
And knowing this, gives Christians the strength to respond to that suffering the right way. If I know that Jesus will avenge me, it gives me strength to put on the clothing God wants from me. If I (1) faithfully follow Jesus, and (2) courageously tell people about Jesus, regardless of cost, and (3) resist the Beast with non-violence, then God will give me fine linen. He will let me ride with Jesus on the day when Jesus makes everything right. And knowing this, gives me strength to not avenge myself, or my loved ones, but to leave room [a "place"; a "space"] for God's wrath (Romans 12:19). So I can put down the kevlar vest, and seek the fine linen. I can look to Jesus, and not my gun safe.
Now, I don't expect that on the day Jesus returns, that it will literally look like any of this. But God gives John this picture, and us, because it's a helpful way to visualize what that day will be like. I can imagine this battle scene. I can image the stunning, overwhelming victory of Jesus. I can see what it will be like, when Jesus is revealed in all of his glory-- as truly, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. I can feel the pull, of wanting to make sure I get an invite to that day. And I can picture riding behind him, as He kills everyone. Babylon, is gone. The Beasts, are gone. Those who bow down to the Beast, are killed. With one exception-- satan himself-- everyone who opposes the Lamb, and his army, is struck down. That's the definition of a good day.
Now, notice, even on that day, I'm not swinging a sword. Jesus does the work. But it's a privilege, to be along for the ride. So let's recommit ourselves today, to walking rightly with God. Let's live in a way that we will be called blessed, because we get an invite to the bridal feast. Let's follow Jesus now, so that we get to ride with Jesus later.
