We first look at the church which praised God for God’s judgment on the great harlot, because the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures represent the church, and we point out where we have discussed this before. Second, we see the bride preparing for the wedding supper of the Lamb, which refers to the marriage of Christ and the church as a whole, and those who attend the wedding supper refer to everyone in the church. We explained in detail why Paul used the marriage of Christ and the church to explain the relationship between Christ and the church, and pointed out that we should look at things from God’s perspective, not from human perspective. Third, we see Jesus’ victory. All the armies of heaven follow Him, but they don’t need to fight, only the sharp sword that comes out of His mouth is enough. Fourth, we know that after this battle, both the beast of the sea and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Finally we see that Satan is imprisoned and the Thousand Year Kingdom begins.
1. Church Hallelujah God’s judgment of the great harlot
”After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her.” And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!””(Revelation 19:1-4)
Hallelujah means praising the Lord. Isn’t it because the crowd praised God because God judged the great harlot? These scriptures make this clear. As for the church, we know that the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures represent the church. This may be different from what some people think. We will get this conclusion from the original text of the Strong’s Concordance, which was previously discussed in detail in “3. What are the four living creatures?” of “1093 Look at heavens opened, throne and four living creatures – Revelation (4).” Those who are interested can go to the website “https://a-christian-voice.com/” and click “Understanding of Spiritual Life” to find this article. I will not repeat it here.
2. The church is the bride in the marriage supper of the Lamb
“And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.””(Revelation 19:5-10)
Now the crowds are praising the Lord because the Almighty is coming to reign, which is a different reason than before. The bride obviously refers to the church, since her fine linen clothed by grace is the righteousness of the saints. These verses refer to the preparation of the bride for things to come in the future. An individual first receives grace and is then justified by faith. Only after he has faith can he have the appropriate acts of faith as mentioned in the Book of James. Because what is seen in the acts of faith, faith will then grow. Faith and behavior are sort of two sides of one coin, but don’t put the cart before the horse.
The wedding banquet refers to the marriage between Christ and the church as a whole, and the people who attend the wedding banquet refer to everyone in the church. Only they have the right to attend the wedding banquet. Others will not be invited. These are true Christians who are willing to choose the narrow gate. As the scripture says, ““Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”(Matthew 7:13-14) What is the narrow gate? At least we must be able to “Do not quench the Spirit.”(1 Thessalonians 5:19) Know for sure that it was the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and not due to evil spirits. Don’t be like Eliphaz the Temanite mentioned at the beginning of the book of Job, who did Satan’s work without knowing it, and thought he was doing it for God. (See Job 4:12-21) Do not forcefully interpret the Bible, but use the words of the Bible as the absolute standard to discern. Even when you are not moved, you must stand on God’s side when encountering problems.
These verses also make it clear that angels are also our brothers, and they are all servants, “…for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.”(Matthew 23:8) The teacher is Jesus Christ, it is said that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The book of Revelation clearly states at the beginning that it includes “…the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.”(Revelation 1:19) What John saw were the things of the seven churches, There is not much to say about the current matter, because it is a partial combination of the seven churches, and the rest are prophecies.
Some people may ask, why Paul used the marriage of Christ and the church as a whole to explain the relationship between Christ and the church? We can clearly see this from Paul’s words, “…a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”(Ephesians 5:31-32) What exactly is Paul trying to say here? First of all, we know that no one is born who believes in Jesus and is of the world. Therefore, we originally belong to the world until the day we believe. Our parents were originally the world, and the Church is the gathering of people who came out of the world. In other words, the Church doesn’t mean people who go to the church building. Thus, christians do leave their parents and become one with Christ and enter the kingdom of Christ. Some people who deceive themselves into thinking that biblical inerrancy refers to the letter will be ensnared by this error because they will see obvious contradictions in the letter. We know what God tells us through the Bible is consistent. When we see such an obvious contradiction, what we should ask is what does God want to tell us through such inspiration?
Remember how Christ love the church. He laid down His life for the church in agape love, and spent his entire life obeying God rather than men. Don’t we see that “…Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.”(John 6:15) Jesus was obedient to God. He said, “…I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. …”(John 14:31) So we should do the same in order to be conformed to the image of Jesus.
Let’s first look at what wives have to do from God’s perspective, “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.”(Ephesians 5:22-24) Therefore, when a wife chooses God, she will choose to submit to her husband. This spiritual submission must be based on this principle, “…We must obey God rather than men.”(Acts 5:29) For example, in an extreme case, if the husband asks his wife to kill someone with him, the wife will never obey. As for worldly matters, the wife sometimes sees it more clearly than the husband. In this case, for the benefit of both of them, should the husband blindly ask his wife to submit?
Some people think that it is much easier for a husband to love his wife than for a wife to obey her husband. Is this true? No, let’s discuss this. We are all descendants of Adam, and we look at what Adam did during creation. Adam was created in the image of God, as the scripture says, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”(Genesis 1:27) God’s image contains agape love and absolute sovereignty. Adam had then agape love and free will. Although God gave Adam the command, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”(Genesis 2:17) Even though he knew he would die, he still “…have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;…”(Genesis 3:17 ) So the mistake Adam made was to use his free will to choose to disobey God, not because he had agape love and was willing to lay down his life for his wife. The plan of salvation is to conform man to the image of Jesus, restoring man to the image of Adam when he was created, plus choosing the tree of life because such a man is in Christ.
Paul also said, “Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love (G25, agape love, verb) his own wife even as himself, …”(Ephesians 5:33) Christians have the indwelling Holy Spirit, and “…the love (G26, noun) of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.(Romans 5:5) When we have the love of God, we will be like Adam, willing to lay down his life for his wife. The question is, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, …”(2 Corinthians Joshua 4:7) Unless the old self is put to death and the earthen vessels are broken, this treasure cannot be manifested. So from God’s perspective, we must show God’s love in our wives, that is, we must love to the extent that we are willing to lay down our lives for our wives. This is obviously not easy, but we must become a goal for husbands.
Of course, material life can only be laid down once. Usually we are not qualified to do so. God will only make such a request in special circumstances, but He will create an environment for us to experience similar things. We must believe, ““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”(Isaiah 55:8-9) This is why Paul uses the relationship between husband and wife to illustrate the relationship between Christ and the church. Didn’t Christ lay down his life for the church? Paul said, “Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.”(Ephesians 5:33) Please note that the word ‘love’ mentioned in the New Testament is agape love, which talks about the love from God. You can clearly understand this by reading the original text of the Strong’s Concordance.
Let’s finally take a look regarding some people say that wives are naturally disobedient, just like Eve. From Eve’s words, we know that Adam told her God’s command to him. If she obeyed Adam, she would not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (see Genesis 3:1-6), sin would not have entered the world through Adam (see Romans 5:12). In case that the wife would say, husband, if you don’t love me to the extent that you are willing to lay down your life, why should I obey you? And the husband will say, you disobey me, why do I love you so much? Such oppositions are all viewed from a human perspective. In a Christian home, the head is Jesus Christ. We must see things from God’s perspective and willingly embark on the path of sanctification. If both people see things from God’s perspective, when their lives change, opposition will naturally not arise and become harmonious.
3. Jesus’ victory
”And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.””(Revelation 19:11-16)
The Bible does not talk about the opening of heaven very often. Although the Bible does not clearly say who is the one riding on the white horse, judging from the description, it is none other than Jesus Christ. He judges and fights righteously. His clothes were splattered with the blood of His enemies, and He trod the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God, just as it was said before, “And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.”(Revelation 14:20)
Please note that it is mentioned here that the tasting of wine of the wrath of Almighty God was performed by Jesus, so Revelation is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, …”(Revelation 1:1) Doesn’t God love the world? Does this like the love we know? Don’t forget that God is also a righteous God. He has given people free will and will not take it back. If someone insists on not repenting, He can only let them go. This is talking about what Jesus Christ will do when he comes again, which is the time of judgment. We also see that all the armies in heaven follow Him because they are the same as the 144,000, “…These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. …”(Revelation 14:4) In this battle, they do not need to take action, only the sharp sword coming out of His mouth is enough.
4. The sea monster and the false prophet were cast into the lake of fire and brimstone
“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”(Revelation 19:17-21)
From these verses we see the result of this earthly war. The birds of the sky gather to feast on the corpses of their enemies. We also see the sea beasts and the false prophet being thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, which is generally said to be in the hell, where there isn’t the presence of God. In the hell, “…they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”(Revelation 20:10)
5. The Beginning of the Thousand-Year Kingdom
”Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.”(Revelation 20:1-3)
The ending of Satan is clearly described here. At that time, it was not thrown into the lake of fire, but was only imprisoned in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, which is when the thousand-year kingdom began. The book of Revelation was written in chronological order, very clearly state when this occurs. Reading the Bible is to ‘read out’ what God tells us through the Bible, rather than reading into our own subjective thoughts. We believe that what God tells us through the Bible is consistent, and the logic based on the words of the Bible is objective. The mechanism of logic itself is objective and is the same all over the world. Otherwise, how can researchers publish articles in scientific journals or magazines? From the different views on when the Millennial Kingdom will occur, we can see how terrifying the subjective view based on human free will is. Some even say that the Millennial Kingdom does not exist for the church, but is only prepared for the Israelites! The Bible really doesn’t say that. Please note that in the text it is said that Satan ‘must’ be released temporarily. We will not discuss this until another time, because then we will see this clearly.
As for some people saying that this thousand years is just a long period of time, this is also incorrect. A thousand years is a number. If it is because of prophecy, it should be almost a thousand years! Previously, “God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.”(Genesis 15:13) This is prophecy, and the exact time is in these verses, “Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.”(Exodus 12:40-41) And we know what God tells us through the Bible is consistent.
(Verses refer to those in NASB95 unless otherwise specified.)
(You can get all articles in “https://a-christian-voice.com/” under “On spiritual understanding about life.”)
aChristianVoice 一個基督徒的聲音 