Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Revelation 19

Rev 19:1 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:

a great voice

Rev 18:20; Rev 11:15.

Salvation

the salvation. See Scofield Romans 1:16, note.

honour, and power, unto the Lord our God

power of our God.

Rev 19:2 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.

the great whore

Rev 17:1.

avenged the blood

Cf. Rev 6:10; cf. Luk 18:7-8.

Rev 19:3 And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.

Alleluia

Rev 19:1.

smoke rose up for ever and ever

Cf. Rev 18:9, 19; cf. Mar 9:48.

Rev 19:4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.

elders

Elders. Tit 1:5-9.

beasts

living creatures. See Scofield Ezekiel 1:5, note.

Rev 19:5 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.

a voice came out of the throne

Cf. Rev 18:4.

Praise our God, all ye his servants

Cf. Psa 134:1.

Rev 19:6 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.

thunderings

Cf. Exo 20:18.

Rev 19:7 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.

his wife

Bride (of Christ). Rev 19:6-8; 21:9. (Jhn 3:29; Rev 19:6-8.)

The "Lamb's wife" here is the "bride" (Rev 21:9), the Church, identified with the "heavenly Jerusalem" (Heb 12:22-23), and to be distinguished from Israel, the adulterous and repudiated "wife" of Jehovah, yet to be restored (Isa 54:1-10; Hos 2:1-17), who is identified with the earth (Hos 2:23). A forgiven and restored wife could not be called either a virgin (2Co 11:2-3), or a bride.

Rev 19:8 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.

to her was granted

Cf. 1Co 15:10.

righteousness

righteousnesses. Righteousness (garment). (Gen 3:21.)

The garment is Scripture is a symbol of righteousness. In the bad ethical sense it symbolizes self-righteousness (e.g. Isa 64:6; see Phl 3:6-8, the best that a moral and religious man under law could do). In the good ethical sense the garment symbolizes "the righteousness of God…upon all them that believe." See Scofield Romans 3:21, note.

Rev 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.

Blessed

Cf. Luk 14:15.

These are the true sayings of God

Inspiration. Rev 21:5. (Exo 4:15; Rev 22:19.)

Rev 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.

fellowservant

Cf. Heb 1:14.

testimony of Jesus

Cf. Eph 1:9-10; cf. 1Pe 1:10-12.

Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

I saw heaven opened

The vision is of the departure from heaven of Christ and the saints and angels preparatory to the catastrophe in which Gentile world-power, headed up in the Beast, is smitten by the "stone cut out without hands," (Dan 2:34-35).

a white horse

Contra, Rev 6:2; cf. Psa 45:4; contra, Mat 21:2-5.

he that sat upon him

Christ (Second Advent). Rev 19:11-21; Rev 20:4-6. (Deu 30:3; Acts 1:9-11.)

Faithful and True

Cf. Rev 3:7.

Rev 19:12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

His eyes were as a flame of fire

Rev 1:14.

crowns

diadems.

a name written, that no man knew

Cf. Rev 19:13, 16; cf. Mat 11:27; cf. 1Ti 6:16.

Rev 19:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

clothed with a vesture dipped in blood

Cf. Isa 63:2-3.

Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

a sharp sword

Rev 19:21; cf. Rev 1:16; cf. 2Th 2:8.

he treadeth the winepress

Rev 14:20; Isa 63:3, 6; cf. Mat 21:44.

Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS

Rev 17:14; Rev 1:5.

Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

in the midst of heaven

mid-heaven.

Come and gather yourselves together

Armageddon (the ancient hill and valley of Megiddo, west of Jordan in the plain of Jezreel) is the appointed place for the beginning of the great battle in which the Lord, at His coming in glory, will deliver the Jewish remnant besieged by the Gentile world-powers under the Beast and False Prophet (Rev 16:13-16; Zec 12:1-9). Apparently the besieging hosts, whose approach to Jerusalem is described in Isa 10:28-32, alarmed by the signs which precede the Lord's coming (Mat 24:29-30), have fallen back to Megiddo, after the events of Zec 14:2, where their destruction begins; a destruction consummated in Moab and the plains of Idumea (Isa 63:1-6). This battle is the first event in "the day of Jehovah" (Scofield Isaiah 2:12, refs.), and is the fulfilment of the smiting-stone prophecy of Dan 2:35.

supper of the great God

great supper of God.

Rev 19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

eat the flesh of kings

Cf. Dan 7:5; cf. Eze 32:21-31.

Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

the beast

The Beast. Rev 19:20. (Dan 7:8.)

make war

Armageddon (battle of). Rev 16:14; Scofield 19:17, note.

The day of Jehovah (called, also, "that day," and "the great day") is that lengthened period of time beginning with the return of the Lord in glory, and ending with the purgation of the heavens and the earth by fire preparatory to the new heavens and the new earth (Isa 65:17-19; 66:22; 2Pe 3:13; Rev 21:1). The order of events appears to be:

1. The return of the Lord in glory (Mat 24:29-30);
2. the destruction of the Beast and his host, "the kings of the earth and their armies," and the false prophet, which is the "great and terrible" aspect of the day (Rev 19:11-21);
3. the judgment of the nations (Zec 14:1-9; Mat 25:31-46);
4. the thousand years, i.e, the kingdom-age (Rev 20:4-6);
5. the Satanic revolt and its end (Rev 20:7-10);
6. the second resurrection and final judgment (Rev 20:11-15); and
7. the "day of God," earth purged by fire (2Pe 3:10-13).

The day of the Lord is preceded by seven signs:

1. The sending of Elijah (Mal 4:5; Rev 11:3-6);
2. cosmical disturbances (Joe 2:1-12; Mat 24:29; Act 2:19-20; Rev 6:12-17);
3. the insensibility of the professing church (1Th 5:1-3);
4. the apostasy of the professing church, then become "Laodicea" (2Th 2:3);
5. the rapture of the true church (1Th 4:17);
6. the manifestation of the "man of sin," the Beast (2Th 2:1-8);
7. the apocalyptic judgments (Rev 11-18).

Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

the beast

The Beast, Summary: This "Beast" is the "little horn" of Dan 7:24-26, and "desolator" of Dan 9:27; the "abomination of desolation" of Mat 24:15; the "man of sin" of 2Th 2:4-8; earth's last and most awful tyrant, Satan's fell instrument of wrath and hatred against God and the Jewish saints. He is, perhaps, identical with the rider on the white horse of Rev 6:2, who begins by the peaceful conquest of three of the ten kingdoms into which the former Roman empire will then be divided, but who soon establishes the ecclesiastical and governmental tyranny described in Dan 7; 9; 11; Rev 13. To him Satan gives the power which he offered to Christ (Mat 4:8-9; Rev 13:4). See "The great tribulation," Psa 2:5; Scofield Revelation 7:14, note.

the false prophet

Antichrist. Rev 13:11-17. (Deu 30:3; Acts 1:9-11.)

miracles

signs.

them that worshipped his image

Rev 13:12, 15.

were cast alive into a lake of fire

Day (of destruction). Rev 19:19-20; 20:11-15. (Job 21:30; Rev 20:11-15).

a

the.

Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

the sword of him that sat upon the horse

Kingdom (N.T.). Rev 19:11-21; 20:1-15. (Luk 1:31-33; 1Co 15:28).

all the fowls were filled with their flesh

Day (of Jehovah). Rev 19:11-21. (Isa 2:10-22.)