Articles
Reading Chapter 19
Reading Chapter 19
With God’s judgment upon Rome, there is a chorus of Hallelujahs by the godly both on earth and in heaven (19:1,3,4,6).
Hallelujah? This is a compound word. It comes by adding the Hebrew words ‘halal’ and ‘Yah’ together. “Halal’ basically means to ‘praise’ or ‘boast’. Yah is the shortened form for Yahweh (Jehovah). Hence: Praise be to Yah(weh). To this they added the simple Amen!
Amen is a remarkable word. It was transliterated into the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, and then transliterated again into Latin and then again into English. Its basic meaning is ‘sure’ or ‘truly’. When exclaimed at the end of a statement it means “so be it” or “that is true”.
Praise be to God for Salvation and glory and power belong to Him (vs. 1). Praise be to God for His judgments are true and righteous. Praise be to God for He has judged the great harlot and avenged the blood of His servants (vs. 2). Amen!
The Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. He always has, He always will. From the beginning of the Revelation they were worshiping God as the Almighty creator that reigns (ch. 4) and now in chapter 19, they are worshiping Him. They fill the air with shouts of praise unto the Lord God. His judgments are indeed true and righteous!
With the ending of the persecution the ‘marriage supper’ again resumes. People can freely come and be part of the church - the bride of Christ.
John then shows us the ‘revised’ picture of Jesus who is now the conquering King but now his clothes are dipped in the blood of the persecutors. They have fought against Him and lost. Their bodies become a feast for the birds (note that this is NOT a literal picture, but a vision of total defeat of the enemies of God).
Yet, verse 19 shows that SOME refused, even amidst such judgment, to repent and attempted to continue their battle against Jesus and the saints. Like the first battle of Armageddon, there IS NO BATTLE fought. The beast (Satan’s instrument against the saints) and the false prophet are simply ‘seized’ and thrown alive into the lake of fire.
No matter how many times persecution arises, it always ends the same. Jesus wins, Jesus wins, Jesus wins. Why did John keep repeating this theme? Because of the nature and degree of the persecution that the saints were going through. They NEEDED to be constantly assured that the faithful would be victorious over evil.
With this chapter, we have basically seen the outcome of this first-century persecution against God’s people. God through Jesus led the church to victory. God sat in judgment upon Rome as the persecutor of the saints. Satan had attempted once more to overthrow the plans and purposes of God only to lose again. No wonder that the heavens and earth were filled with shouts of Hallelujah. Let all the saints praise God and the Lamb for the victory.
Hugh DeLong
