REVELATION 19

THE OVERTHROW OF SATAN'S EMPIRE

19:1. [And] after these things. After the saints are glorified and present ecclesiastical systems are destroyed. I heard AS IT WERE a great voice of much people.-The Great Company.-Rev. 7:10.

In heaven. The only heavenly-minded ones remaining on earth.

Saying, Alleluia; Salvation.-Deliverance from the Papacy and other sects has come at last.

[And glory, and honor,] and power [unto the Lord] OF our God.-It has been accomplished not by human power, but by the Wisdom and Power of God.-Rev. 7:12.

19:2.

For true and righteous are Thy judgments."God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."-1 John 1:5; Rev. 15:3; 16:7.

For He hath judged the great whore.-Has executed the judgments long foretold.

Which did corrupt the earth with her fornication.-Her illicit union with worldly governments.

And hath avenged the blood of [His] HER servants at her hand.-The millions who have perished in the Great War have been the servants of Babylon. The direct cause of their slaughter is the doctrine of the Divine right of the clergy. These have maintained the kings of Europe on their thrones, falsely telling them they are ruling as part of Christ's Kingdom. This position has led to the death of all these millions, and their blood will be required at Babylon's hand.

19:3. And again they said, Alleluia.-The more they think it over, the happier they will become.

And her smoke. The evidences of her destruction; the remembrance.-Isa. 34:10; Rev. 14:11; 18:9, 18.

Rose up for ever and ever.-Will be recorded in secular history, even as it is recorded in "the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."-1 Pet. 1:23.

19:4. And the [four and] twenty FOUR elders.—The prophecies. Rev. 4:4, 10.

And the four beasts.-Infinite Power, Justice, Wisdom and Love.-Rev. 4:7.

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Fell down and worshipped God that sat on the Throne, saying Amen; Alleluia.-The God, the mighty One, here referred to is the Lord Jesus.-Rev. 5:8.

19:5. And [a voice] VOICES.-The Little Flock, beyond the veil.

Came out of the Throne. They will be in the Throne at that time.-Rev. 3:21.

Saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants. Of the Great Company class.-Rev. 7:15; Psa. 134:1-3.

[And] ye that fear Him, [both] small and great.-Your deliverance was wholly due to the Lord. We did what we could to help you, but it was as nothing. To the Lord belongs all the glory for your deliverance and ours.— Rev. 11:18.

19:6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude. "In the Age to come, when God shall 'pour out His Spirit upon all flesh,' as during the present Age He pours it upon His 'servants and handmaids,' then indeed all will understand and appreciate the promises now being grasped by the 'little flock'; and they will rejoice in the obedience and exaltation of the Church, saying, 'Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to God, for the Marriage of the Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made herself ready. They will rejoice in the glorification of the Church, through which blessings will then be flowing to them; and while they will realize that the 'exceeding great and precious promises' inherited by the Anointed (Head and Body) are not for them, but have been fulfiHed upon us, they will be blessed by the lesson illustrated in the Church; and while they run for the blessings then held out to them, they will profit by the example of the Church and glorify God on her behalf. But this knowledge will not bring covetousness; for under the new order of things their calling to perfect human nature will fully satisfy them, and will seem more desirable to them than a change of nature."—A86.

And as the voice of many waters.-All mankind.-Rev. 17:15.

And as the voice of mighty thunderings.-An overwhelming and complete reaction in favor of the Truth. The "seven thunders" will then be thundering as never before. -Rev. 10:4; 8:5.

Saying, Alleluia: for [the Lord] God OUR LORD THE Omnipotent reigneth.-"Shows Himself to be king by subduing His enemies." (Cook.) Thoroughly convinced of the greatness of the Lord's power, as all men will be by the end of the Time of Trouble, they will be glad to entrust all their interests to His care.

19:7. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him-"Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power."-Psa. 110:3.

For the Marriage of the Lamb is come.-The marriage of men and women is declared in the Scriptures to be a type of the marriage of Christ and His Church. (Eph. 5:22-23.) It is a recognized principle that the antitype is greater than the sum of all the types. The death of Christ was greater than all the sacrifices throughout the Jewish Age. Now call to mind that the wedding day is the happiest of every human being. Think of all the happiness caused by all the weddings that have ever occurred, and know that the sum total is as nothing compared to the joy that will pervade the Universe when the festal day of eternity takes place, and Christ and His Bride are made one.

And His Wife.-"The Bride represents 'all who have believed up to the commencement of the Millennium. These alone are the mystical Body of Christ. But after they are completed, at the Second Advent the earth will be peopled by the "nations of the saved" in flesh and blood,-a totally different party from the then glorified Bride.'"-Cook.

Hath made herself ready. The witnessing to the world during the present Age is quite secondary and incidental to the Church's more important work of making herself ready.-F608; T115; Matt. 22:1-14; 25:1; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:27; Rev. 21:2, 9; John 3:29; Cant., all; Psa. 45:10-14; Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19; Lu. 12:36.

19:8. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, BRIGHT AND clean and white." She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needle work' (Psa. 45:14)-in the simple white robe of her Lord's own furnishing, the robe of His righteousness, upon which she will have wrought, with much carefulness, the beautiful adornments of the Christian graces. And great will be the rejoicing in Heaven and in earth at her abundant entrance into the King's palace.-2 Pet. 1:5-8, 11."-C193.

For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.-Here and there throughout the Scriptures are keys which unlock its mysteries. (Rev. 3:18; Psa. 132:9.) This is the key to several otherwise obscure passages.

19:9. And he.-The faithful and wise Servant to whom the custody of all the things in His Storehouse was especially promised by the Lord of the Harvest.-Luke 12: 42-44; Rev. 3:14; 1:1.

Saith unto me, write.—To representatives of the John class, commissioned to write something of encouragement to the Church after he himself had ceased to write.