REVELATION: The Greatest Hallelujah

So we have seen the eminent demise of empire.

The olympic games have concluded, and the victor is taking the stand.

The verdict is in and the gavel has been slammed.

The beast has been shown for what it truly is.

After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:

“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
    for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great prostitute
    who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

And with that, the song of triumph begins for all of God’s people. For all who did not desire the ways of the dragon and who did not take the mark of the beast, there is hope. For all who persevered and overcame, there was vindication. Just as we saw time and time again through the letters to the seven churches, God was waiting to crown those who overcome with a crown of righteousness and the opportunity to eat from the tree of life.

And again they shouted:

“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”

The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:

“Amen, Hallelujah!”

Then a voice came from the throne, saying:

“Praise our God,
    all you his servants,
you who fear him,
    both great and small!”

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

“Hallelujah!
    For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
    and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
    and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
    was given her to wear.”

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

John quotes or alludes to all kinds of writings from Israel’s past. He starts with Isaiah (compare Isaiah 34:10 to Revelation 19:3). By doing this, John is doing so much more than simply calling for the fiery judgment of God’s enemies. John is referencing the ancient imprecatory prayers of God’s people. Imprecatory prayers (often seen in the Psalms) are prayers where God’s people cry out for justice in the face of injustice. These passages are often incredibly difficult to read (or not, for some of us) as we try to theologically square them with a God of love and forgiveness. But imprecatory prayers were actually quite revolutionary for their day. Instead of turning to pagan magic (i.e., casting “spells” or harmful curses on another, prevalent in Canaanite through Greco-Roman cultures), these prayers would voice one’s true feelings while simultaneously turning the outcome (and vengeance) over to God.

By quoting Isaiah, John is saying the justice — or mishpat, as we’ve studied before — that those long past have cried out for is finally upon us. The world is being made right. And everything that people throughout the ages have endured is finding its culmination in this moment. As we’ve seen before, this moment is being displayed as a great wedding feast — a central image in the narrative of God.

Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”

John is so overcome by what happens around him (in his vision) that he must be stopped from worshipping the wrong individuals. This leads to a statement more profound than we realize when the angel tells him about the Spirit of prophecy. For most of first-century Judaism, the belief was that the Spirit of prophecy had gone missing some time ago. According to the prophet Amos, God told the people of Israel that He would shut up the mouths of the prophets; Joel had also prophesied that those prophesies would one day return when the restoration of all things was finally upon us. Most Jews saw their current situation as being void of the Spirit of prophecy; John is insinuating that a new day of restoration — the Age to Come, or olam haba — was upon them. The Spirit of prophecy is back!

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

           KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. 

And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”

And with that, the great hero makes his entrance onto the stage as the closing scenes of the book of Revelation commence. Using imagery from the beginning of the book (itself being pulled from passages in Tanakh), this hero is described as the victorious rider on a white horse. We are told about his name and his character. In similar fashion to the opening of this vision, he still has a long sword of judgment coming from his mouth. He comes to consume all of creation and put it to righteous judgment. This isn’t so much a judgment of individuals (not that it isn’t about individuals, but the picture here is important), but a judgment of all of creation. This isn’t just about people standing in some cosmic courtroom and being judged as much as it is about all things being made new.

The earth is being made right. Faithfulness and Truth are, in fact, having the last word. And this means evil needs to be dealt with, once and for all.