Revelation Chapter 19
Originally posted Saturday January 3, 2009
General Comment: As with all
Empires that use their military might to expand their influence and way of
life, use cheap labor and consume the resources of other nations in order
to maintain wealth and conspicuous over consumption, Babylon has fallen. The
forces that brought about this fall were internal and external. The continuous
expansion of defensible borders is unsustainable. Other peoples of the world
will always hunger for the standard of living of the wealthy nations and seek
to share in that standard, with mass migration and/or by force. The economics
of the super rich layers of society living off the labor of a struggling middle
class and a permanent underclass is destructive to the moral fiber and
order of society. State mandated religio-political systems create
dissidents who become an aggravating thorn of resistance in the
otherwise smooth fabric of a unified citizenship. Of course, John sees
things in a simpler way. In his vision of reality Babylon fell because she
rejected God and influenced others to do the same. She worshipped deified
Emperors - and other deities, forced others to accept their religious and
economic world view as well as governance if they wanted to "get
along," and share in the wealth and peace of Empire. Those who did not she persecuted
and often killed. As a result, God's wrath fell upon an unrepentant Empire that
loved its power, wealth and somniferous opiate-producing theology more
than justice, a justice found only in worshipping the God of Israel.
Babylon fell, and
those who relied on her for their wealth lamented. The forces of evil crouching
in the wings, seeing their well being fall with her, turned on her with a
fury only the supernatural forces of evil could command. The mark of the beast
was not enough to save the great Babylon for the beast always and ultimately
consumes its own.
Revelation, Chapter 19:1-10 Rejoicing in Heaven
What has been seen
as a great and tragic loss on earth - a fallen city, is cause for rejoicing in
heaven. The saints have finally been avenged (see 6:9-10). John hears another psalm poem. This one does not begin
with alas, alas but with a shout of Hallelujah! The cheer goes up in
celebration of the judgment which has (will) come. Judgment brings the final
act of salvation. In John's view God's judgment is just on two
counts. God passes sentence on Babylon's corruption of the earth
with fornication - the practice of and leading others to
practice idolatry. As equally deserving of God's judgment
is Babylon's murder of the saints, the martyrs of John's churches, who
have died for resisting the state religion and bowing to only one Lord and that
being Christ, not Caesar. We understand God's judgment as being against
corrupt systems not persons. God's justice demands fairness, equal treatment
for all. As Paul writes, "In Christ there is not Greek or Jew, male or
female, free or slave." Jesus' ministry was among individuals of all kinds
of people. But his aim was to model a justice oriented kingdom where the
diversity of humanity is meant to be enriching to all rather than the
claiming of exclusivity of the one. If there is no justice there is no
kingdom. Where there is inequality there is no justice. And we understand
justice from a cosmic perspective - from God's point of view. To affirm
that all people are children of God, and to affirm that creation itself is
God's, makes justice a matter of access to the world's resources. It is a
fair sharing in the world's resources without assumptions or human judgments
regarding who is deserving and who is not. Babylon does not understand that.
Greed does not understand that, nor does prejudice or religious bigotry of any
kind.
The first
hallelujah fades into a second. It is one of worship and praise of God by
all, small or great, elders and the four creatures joining in the hallelujah
chorus. The second fades into a third. Rejoicing and exultation proclaims the
"marriage of the Lamb" to his bride made ready through her faithful
perseverance. She is clothed in the bright and pure linen which is the
"righteous deeds of [her] saints." The image of God
as the bridegroom/husband and Israel as the bride is rooted
in the Old Testament (see Hos.2:14-20;
Isa. 62:5; Jer. 2:2). Related images appear in the New Testament as
well (see Mk. 2:19-20; Jn. 3:29;
2nd Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25-32). John envisions the Lamb/Christ as the
bridegroom and the church universal as the bride. Also part of the tradition of
both Testaments is the wedding feast as a portrayal of the Messianic banquet at
the end of the age. The Gospel according to John has the image of this banquet
in mind in his story of Jesus at the wedding in Cana of Galilee where
the volume of the wine is a foretelling of the coming reign of God when
everything will be in abundance. John defines the "bright and pure"
linen clothing of the bride as "the righteous deeds of the saints."
Generally "righteous deeds" refers to good works of love and service
to one another. In Revelation such deeds are acts of faithful and exclusive
worship of God and submitting to the Lordship of Christ. As the bride, John has
in mind the faithful church that has not accommodated herself to any taint of
pagan worship or related practices of immorality.
Revelation, Chapter 19:11-16 The Rider of the White Horse
The introduction of
the end is now over. The events of the end will now begin to unfold. As with
John's previous arrangement - seals, trumpets and plagues, he has arranged the
end of history in seven visionary scenes beginning in chapter19:11. We should not expect strict
chronology. The scenes are units in themselves, sometimes overlapping one
another.
The first image is
that of the rider on a white horse descending to earth. The wording is more
than obvious. The rider is in the image of Christ. As is the rider of the white
horse - the first of four horses of the apocalypse (6:2), this one is set out to conquer. His eyes are like a flame (1:14). "From his mouth comes a
sharp sword of the Word of God with which he will strike down the nations
(1:16; 2:12). He is clothed in a
robe "dipped in blood," representing his sacrifice on the cross of
redemption and his name is "Word of God" (Jn. 1:1). He is followed by the armies of heaven, all dressed
in pure white linen and riding white horses. These are indeed arrayed
for battle. If there is any doubt that the rider is Christ, his name
- "King of kings and Lord of lords" appears on his robe and is
inscribed on his thigh (in the Old Testament the petitioner who makes an oath
to God before the priest grasps the thigh of the priest. Such an action was
also used as a test of truth in the matter of a person being questioned as
to guilt or innocence. As an opening scene we are given the mighty array
of the army of God led by the conquering Christ.
Revelation, Chapter 19:17-21 The Defeat of the Beast and
Its Armies
God's armies
are "in the field." led by Jesus faced by the
approaching armies of the beast from the sea and the kings of the earth
ready to do battle (17:14; 16:16).
John sees an angel "standing in the sun" who calls to the birds of
the air to gather in mid-heaven (the sky) (Ezek.
39:17). The birds have been gathered for a great feast on the flesh of the
armies of the beast who will perish in their battle against the Lamb. In the
ensuing battle the beast from the sea and the false prophet (the beast from the
land) are captured and thrown alive into the lake of fire (Dan. 7:11). The kings and all who
followed the two beasts into war against the Lamb were killed by the sword of
the rider on the white horse. The scene closes with the gruesome image of
vultures gorging themselves with the flesh of the dead.
What we read here
defies our imagination and our sense of propriety. John's vision is of the
warrior Christ leading an army of angels - or the martyrs of heaven, killing
the masses of the arrayed army before him. This is a slaughter credited to
Jesus, the heavenly Christ who would not lift his hand to his accusers or those
who drove the spike/nails into his hands and feet. What are we to make of this
ravenous thirst for blood? We might understand John's images if we could
identify with the situation facing the churches to which he wrote. They
have suffered and are suffering. Many have been martyred because they resisted
the demand to worship an idol. The Christians faced economic depravation and
rejection by neighbors. They were truly aliens in the world. Perhaps John is
providing the churches with a catharsis, a psychotherapeutic cleansing of the
emotions. It is not unusual for oppressed and marginalize people to wish the
worst for their oppressors and those they see as responsible for their perilous
circumstances. The image of a valley full of the dead bodies of the enemy being
devoured by vultures might release the psychic pain and allow those affected to
capture the sense of their own destiny with Christ in heaven. If the death of
the enemy is so brutal and results in their destruction, how sweet will be
my own death even if by the sword of the state as I hold fast to the hope of
the life to come.
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