Prophecy
14
The Second
Coming –
Revelation 18:1 – 19:10
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Revelation
18:20-21
Rejoice
over her, thou heaven, and ye holy
apostles and prophets; for God hath
avenged you on her. And a mighty
angel took up a stone like a great
millstone, and cast it into the sea,
saying, Thus with violence shall that
great city Babylon be thrown down,
and shall be found no more at all.{20} Then
I heard a loud voice from Heaven say,
“Rejoice over her, O heaven!
Rejoice, saints and apostles and
prophets for God has judged her for
the way she treated you!
{21} Then
a mighty angel picked up a boulder
the size of a large millstone and
threw it into the sea, and said:
“With such violence the great
city of Babylon will be thrown down,
never to be found again.
Revelation
18:22-23
And
the voice of harpers, and musicians,
and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall
be heard no more at all in thee; and
no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he
be, shall be found any more in thee;
and the sound of a millstone shall be
heard no more at all in thee; And the
light of a candle shall shine no more
at all in thee; and the voice of the
bridegroom and of the bride shall be
heard no more at all in thee: for thy
merchants were the great men of the
earth; for by thy sorceries were all
nations deceived.{22}
The music of harpists and musicians,
flute players and trumpeters, will
never be heard in you again. No
workman of any trade will ever be
found in you again. The sound of a
millstone will never be heard in you
again.
{23}
The light of a lamp will never shine
in you again. The voice of bridegroom
and bride will never be heard in you
again. Your merchants were
the world’s great men, but their
greatness and riches have come to
nothing. By your magic
spell the nations were led
astray.”
Revelation
18:24
And
in her was found the blood of
prophets, and of saints, and of all
that were slain upon the earth.{24} In
her was found the blood of prophets
and of the saints, and of all who
have been killed on the Earth.
At first
glance, verse 24 seems out of place
in this narrative, however this
declaration vindicates the
whore’s destruction. After
the kings of the Earth have their
eyes opened (fifth bowl), they will
be forced to admit their atrocities
against God’s innocent
saints. Of course, crimes
against humanity always come with a
death penalty and the kings of the
Earth will realize their impending
doom. When the “belly of
the whore” is cut open
(figuratively speaking), the kings of
Earth will be forced to see the
evidences of their crimes and
discover their solemn accountability
to God for their abusive use of
power.
Revelation
19:1-3
And
after these things I heard a great
voice of much people in heaven,
saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and
glory, and honour, and power, unto
the Lord our God: 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.
And again they said, Alleluia. And
her smoke rose up for ever and ever.{19:1} During
the sixth bowl, I heard what sounded
like the roar of a great multitude in
heaven shouting: “Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong
to our God,
{2} for
true and just are his judgments. He
has condemned the great prostitute
who corrupted the Earth by her
adulteries. He has avenged on her the
blood of his 144,000 servants.”
{3}
And again they shouted:
“Hallelujah! The smoke from her
destruction goes up for ever and ever
(justice is served).”[22]
Revelation
19:4-5
And
the four and twenty elders and the
four beasts fell down and worshipped
God that sat on the throne, saying,
Amen; Alleluia. 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.{4}
The twenty-four elders and the four
living creatures fell down and
worshiped Jesus, who was seated on
the throne. And they cried:
“Amen, Hallelujah!”
{5}
Then a voice came from the
throne. It said to the 144,000,
“Your turn for praise has
come! Praise our God, you
servants of Jesus Christ, you who
fear him, both small and great!”
Revelation
19:6-8
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.
Let us be glad and rejoice, and
give honour to him: for the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and his wife
hath made herself ready. 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.{6}
Then I heard what sounded like a
great multitude, like the roar of
rushing waters and like loud peals of
thunder. It was 144,000 voices
singing: “Hallelujah! For Jesus
Christ, our Lord God Almighty reigns.
{7}
Let us rejoice and be glad and give
him glory! For the wedding of the
Lamb has come, and his bride (his
people) has made herself ready.
{8}
Fine linen (the righteousness of
Jesus), bright and clean (without
spot or wrinkle), was given her to
wear.”
Jesus will
give the saints a wedding garment of
fine linen. This garment
represents the righteousness of
Christ that was freely given to them
because of faithful obedience.[23]
The great
multitude in Revelation
19:6 are the 144,000,
not the innumerable multitude seen
standing around the throne after the
Second Coming in Revelation
7:9. This
distinction can be determined by the
chronological timing in Revelation
19:5. The
scene in Revelation
19:5 occurs before the
Second Coming. Notice the
directive given to the great
multitude. “Then a
voice came from the throne, saying:
‘Praise our God, all you
his [144,000] servants,
you who fear him, both small and
great!’ ”[24]
In Revelation
7:3, the 144,000 are
called God’s
“servants.” In Revelation
10:7, the 144,000 are
identified as “servants the
prophets.” In Revelation
11:12, God will resurrect
the 144,000 and take them to Heaven
at the seventh trumpet (on the 1,265th day
of the Great Tribulation).
In Revelation
17:16, the beast (religious
leaders) and the ten kings (political
leaders) will turn on the great whore
(Lucifer’s theocracy) and burn
her with fire. When these facts
are properly assembled, it becomes
clear that the great multitude in
Heaven prior to the Second Coming
consists of 144,000
“servants.” After
all, they were presented to God on
the 1,265th day as the
firstfruits of the coming harvest![25]
Using a
marriage analogy, the 144,000 will be
the equivalent of groomsmen.
They will accompany the Groom when He
comes to Earth to receive His bride.[26] No
wonder they sing, “Let us rejoice
and be glad and give him glory! For
the wedding of the Lamb has come, and
his bride has made herself
ready.”[27] The
144,000 will declare that the wedding
banquet has arrived at the beginning
of the seventh bowl. After this
declaration, Jesus and His wedding
party (including the 144,000) will
depart Heaven to retrieve the saints
from Earth. According to the
timing matrix used in this book, this
glorious procession will approach
Earth over a period of ten days.[28]
Revelation
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.{9} After
the fourth message was delivered to
all the Earth and the whore was
destroyed, after the 144,000 have
rejoiced and heard the announcement
that the time for the wedding banquet
had come, the angel said to me,
“Write: ‘Blessed are those
who are invited to the wedding supper
of the Lamb!’ ” And
he added, ‘All that you have
seen and heard is truth, these are
the true words of God.’
Revelation
19:10
And
I fell at his feet to worship him.
And he said unto me, See thou do it
not: I am thy fellowservant, and of
thy brethren that have the testimony
of Jesus: worship God: for the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophecy{10} At
this I fell at his feet to worship
him. But he said to me, “Do not
do it, John! I am not divinity.
I am only a mouthpiece, a fellow
servant of God like you and your
brothers who hold to the testimony of
Jesus. Worship God! For
the testimony of Jesus is eternally
true and infallible. He is the
Word of God.[29] When
Jesus speaks, the Holy Spirit conveys
His words to His servants who have
received the gift of prophecy.[30] Even
though Jesus may speak through us, we
are not divine. Worship God and
serve Him.”
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