Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisrael and Mishpachah and welcome to Part LXVI (66) of our study of the Book of Revelation and to the first part of the final sequence of events of this incredible account.

Last week we 'zoomed out', as it were, to get an overall view of the next two-and-a-bit chapters. This will keep us fully occupied for a while, and will require us to backtrack a little to see if we have missed anything from the two Babylon chapters (17 & 18), before we can finally wrap everything up in chapter 22. Then there's the disappointing, but necessary, Final Rebellion at the end of the Millennium and another brief, but final, period of destruction. Otherwise the terrible woes, trials and tribulations - the seven seals, trumpets and bowls/vials - are over (chapters 6-16), at least for this Æon (Age) - Babylon the Great has been judged and destroyed (chapters 17-18), and the history of the current world is well and truly over...at last. From now on we are dealing with the ultimate future.

So now we come to the last of the seven visions seen in heaven which are in two parts:

• 1. The final heavenly utterances (19:1-10), the subject of today's study; and
• 2. The final heavenly actions (19:11-16), which we'll look at next week.

"1 After these things ('Afterwards' - JBP) I heard ('seemed to hear' - JB; 'what seemed to be' - ESV) a loud ('mighty' - RSV, Barclay) voice ('shout' - Barclay; 'the great sound' - JB; 'the roar' - JNT, NEB, NIV, Barclay; 'mighty roar' - RSV) of a great ('vast' - NLT, NEB, JBP, Barclay; 'large' - HRV) multitude ('crowd' - JPB, Barclay, ISRV; 'throng' - NEB; 'host' - Moff.; 'huge crowd' - KNT, JB, JNT) in heaven, saying ('shouting' - NLT, JNT, NEB; 'crying' - Moff.),

'Hallelu-Yah! Salvation ('Victory' - JB, JNT, NEB; 'Yeshu'ah' - OJB) (Rev.7:9; 12:10) and glory [and honour] ('splendor and majesty' - Amp.V; 'tifereth' - RSTNE; 'Kavod' - OJB) and power ('might' - RNAB; 'dominion and authority' - Amp.V; 'Gevurah' - OJB) (Rev.4:11; 7:12) belong to Yahweh our Elohim (God)! 2 For true and righteous ('just' - KNT, JNT, Barclay, Amp.V) are His judgments ('mishpatim' - RSTNE; 'sentences of doom' - Moff., Amp.V; He judges fairly' - JB) (Ps.19:9; Rev.16:7), because He has judged ('condemned' - JB, NIV; 'doomed' - Moff.) the great ('famous' - JB) ['and notorious' - Amp.V) harlot ('whore' - KJV, KNT, JNT, NEB, NRSV, ISRV; 'prostitute' - NLT, JB, NIV, ESV, CLNT, Barclay; ['idolatress' - Amp.V]) (Rev.17:1) who corrupted ['and demoralized and poisoned' - Amp.V] the earth with her fornication ('adulteries' - NIV; 'immorality' - NASB, NLT, ESV; 'whoring' - JNT, ISRV; 'vice' - Moff.; 'lewdness and adultery [idolatry]' - Amp.V; 'prostitution' - CLNT; 'harlotry' - AENT, RNAB); and He has avenged on her the blood ('murder' - NLT, Barclay) of His ['bond-' - NASB] servants shed by her ('on her hands' - JNT) ('for which she was responsible' - KNT) (Dt.32:43; Rev.6:10).'
3 Again ['and again' - NLT] ('Once more' - KNT, NEB; 'a second time' - NASB, ISRV, RNAB) they said ('their voices rang' - MLT),
'['Amen!' - NLT] Hallelu-Yah! Her smoke ['from that city' - NLT; 'of her burning' - Amp.V] rises up forever and ever ('le-olam-va-ed' - RSTNE; 'timeless ages' - JBP; 'through the eternities of the eternities' - Amp.V; 'for the eons of the eons' - CLNT; 'l'olemei olamim' -OJB)! (Is.34:10; Rev.14:11)"
"4 And the twenty-four elders ('Presbyyters' - Moff.; 'zechanim' - RSTNE) ['of the heavenly Sanhedrin' - Amp.V] (Rev.4:4) and the four [living] creatures ('beings' - NLT, JNT; 'animals' - JB; 'beasts' - HRV) (Rev.4:6) fell down ('prostrate' - Amp.V; 'prostrated themselves' - JB, JBP) (Rev.4:10) and worshiped ['(paying divine honors to)' - Amp.V) Elohim (God) who sat on the throne, saying ('and they [too] cried' - JB, NEB),
'Amen ('So be it' - Moff.)! Hellelu-Yah!' (¶, JB)
5 Then a voice came ['out' - JBP] from the throne, saying,
'['Give' - NASB] Praise ['to' - NASB] ('Extol' - Moff.) our Elohim (God), all you His servants (Ps.134:1) and those who fear ('revere' - JB; 'reverence' - JBP, Barclay, Amp.V) Him, both small and great ('from the least to the greatest' - NLT; 'low and high' - Moff.) (Ps.115:13; Rev.19:18; 11:18; 13:6; 20:12)!'
6 And ('Then' - NLT; 'After that' - Amp.V) I heard ('seemed to hear' - JB), as it were ('something like' - KNT; 'what seemed to be' - NRSV; 'what sounded like' - Amp.V), the voice['s' - JB, JBP] ('sound' - KNT, 'shout' - NLT, Amp.V; 'a cry' - Moff.) of a great ('large' - NLT, JPB; 'huge' - JB; 'vast' - NEB, Barclay, Amp.V) multitude ('crowd' - KNT, NLT, JB, NEB, JPB, Barclay, ISRV; 'host' - Moff.; 'throng' - Amp.V) (Rev.11:15), as the sound ('like the boom' - Amp.V; 'roar' - NLT, JBP, NIV, ESV) of many ('cataracts of' - Barclay) waters ('[pounding] waves' - Amp.V, Moff.; 'the ocean' - JB; 'mighty ocean waves' - NLT; 'a great waterfall' - JBP; 'rushing waters' - NIV) (Rev.1:15) and as the sound ('crash' - NLT, Barclay; 'roar' - JB, Amp.V; 'rolling' - JBP) of mighty thunderings ('thunders' - ISRV; 'heavy thunder' - JBP; 'strong thunder' - KNT; 'loud thunder' - NLT; 'peals of thunder' - NASB, NIV, ESV, RNAB; '[mighty] thunder-peals' - Amp.V, RSV, NRSV; 'deep roars of thunder' - NEB; '[roar of] heavy thunder[s]' - Moff., AENT), saying ('answering' - JB; 'and they cried' - NEB),
'Hallelu-Yah' for ['now' - Moff.] ['the reign of' - JB] Yahweh-Elohim Omnipotent ('sovereign over all' - NEB; 'the Almighy' - KNT, NLT, RSV; 'the All-Ruler' - Amp.V; 'Adonai, God of heaven's armies' - JNT; 'Adonai YHWH almighty' - HRV) (Amos 3:13; 4:13; Rev.1:8) [, who holds all things in his control' - Barclay; 'YHWH El Shaddai' - ISRV, RSTNE) reigns ('had begun/established his reign' - JNT, Barclay/RNAB; 'has entered on his reign' - NEB; 'had become king' - KNT; 'has come into his kingdom' - JBP) (Rev.11:15)! (¶ - NASB) 7 Let us ['rejoice and' - Barclay, Amp.V] be glad ('celebrate' - KNT, 'exult [and shout for joy]' - RSV, NEB, Amp.V; 'thrill with gladness' - Barclay; 'rejoice and triumph' - Moff.; 'exulting and triumphat' - Amp.V) and rejoice ('celebrate' - Amp.V) [, let us be glad with all our hearts' - JBP] and give Him glory ('honor him' - NLT; 'give praise to God' - JB; ' do him homage' - NEB) (Rev.11:13), for ('because' -JB) [this is the time for' - JB] the marriage ['supper' - AENT] ['feast' - HRV] ('wedding' - JNT, NIV, CLNT; 'wedding feast' - NLT; 'wedding-day' - NEB, JBP, RNAB, Barclay) of the Lamb ('Lambkin' - CLNT) (Mt.22:2; 25:10; Eph.5:32) ['at last' - Amp.V] has come, and His wife ('bride' - KNT, NASB, NLT) (Rev.21:2,9; 22:17) has made herself ('is' - JB) ready ('prepared herself' - NLT, JNT, ISRV) (Ps.118:24).' 8 And to her it was granted ('permitted' - NLT, Amp.V) to be arrayed in ('given [to her]' - KNT, JNT; 'clothed' - NASB; 'wear' - NLT; 'been able to dress herself in' - JB; 'dressed in' - JBP, ISRV) fine linen ('cambric' - CLNT) (Rev.15:6), clean ('pure' - KNT, RSV, ESV; 'spotless' - JBP) and bright ('shining' - KNT, NEB; 'dazzling[ly] [white]' - JB, Moff., Barclay; 'gleaming' - JBP; 'radiant' - Amp.V),
for the fine linen ('cambric' - CLNT) is ('stands for' - NIV, Barclay; 'signifies, represents' - Amp.V) the righteous ('good' - JB, Barclay) acts ('deeds' - KNT, NLT, JB, JNT, NEB, RSV, ESV, RNAB, Barclay, Amp.V; 'conduct' - Moff., Amp.V; 'living' - JBP; 'upright, just and godly living' - Amp.V) (Is.61:10; Ezek.44:17; Zech.3:4; Rev.15:4) of the ['God's' - KNT] qodeshim (saints, set-apart[/holy] ones - ISRV, 'holy people' - KNT; 'right-standing with God' - Amp.V; 'God's [dedicated] people' - JNT, Barclay; 'the Yisraelite kiddushim' - RSTNE). (No ¶ - NASB, JB)

"9 Then he ('the angel' - NLT) said to me, 'Write ['this [down]' - KNT, NLT, JB, NEB, Moff., Amp.V] (Rev.1:19): '['How' - JNT] Blessed ('Happy' - JB, NEB, Amp.V; 'to be envied' - Amp.V) are those who are called ('invited' - NASB, NLT, JB, JNT, NEB, RSV, NRSV, JBP, NIV, ESV, CLNT, Amp.V; 'summoned' - Amp.V) to the marriage supper ('banquet' - Moff.; 'wedding feast' - JB, JBP, JNT; 'wedding-supper' - NEB, NIV; 'supper of the marriage feast' - AENT) of the Lamb! (Lk.14:15)' And he said to me ['further' - Amp.V] ('added' - JB, NEB), 'These are the true sayings of ('words that come from' - NLT; 'These are God's very words' - JNT, NEB; 'These are [the] genuine/true words of Elohim/God' - Moff./RSV, Amp.V, ISRV; 'All the things you have written are true messages from' - JB) Elohim (God) (Rev.21:5; 22:6).' 10 And I fell ['prostrate' - Amp.V] ('knelt' - JB; 'threw myself down' - Barclay) at his feet to worship ('[pay divine honors to]' - Amp.V) him (Rev.22:8). But he said to me, 'See that you ('Look!' - KNT) do not do that ('No, never that! - Moff.; 'No, don't worship me' - NLT)! I am your fellow servant ('just like you' - NLT), and of your ['Yisraelite' - RSTNE] brethren ('brothers' - NEB; 'brothers and sisters' - KNT; 'other believers' - NLT; 'comrades' - NRSV) who have ('hold on to' - KNT; 'hold fast' - JBP) the testimony of ('testify of their faith in' - NLT; 'are witnesses to' - JB; 'who bear their testimony to' - NEB) Yah'shua (Jesus, 'Y'shua' - AENT). Worship Elohim (God) ['abundantly' - HRV] (Ac.10:25-26; Rev.22:9)! For the testimony of ('clear witness for' - NLT; 'witness of' - ISRV; 'borne by' - Moff.; 'witness to' - RNAB) Yah'shua (Jesus, 'Yeshua' - JNT, HRV; 'Y'shua' - AENT) (Rev.1:2) ('The witness Jesus gave' - JB) is ['the same as' - JB] the spirit ('essence' - NLT; 'breath' - Moff.) of ['all' - Moff.] prophecy ('Ruach haNevu'ah' - OJB) ('are inspired like the prophets' - NEB; 'This witness to Jesus inspires all prophecy' - JBP; 'For the same Spirit speaks in the declaration of Jesus and in the words of the prophets' - Barclay; 'For the substance (essence) of the truth revealed by Jesus is the spirit of all prophecy - the vital breath, the inspiration of all inspired preaching and interpretation of the divine will and purpose' - Amp.V)" (Rev.19:1-10, NKJV)

¤BIBLE VERSIONS KEY: AENT = Aramaic English New Testament (NT, Gabriel Roth), Amp.V. = Amplified Version (1958 ed.), Aram.Pesh. = Aramaic Peshitta (NT), Barclay = William Barclay New Testament, B.Wilson = Benjamin Wilson's Emphatic Diaglot, Vatican MS 1209 (NT), CLNT = Concordant Literal New Testament, CJB = Complete Jewish Bible (David Stern), HCSB = Holman's Christian Standard Bible, HRV = Hebraic Roots Version (James Trimm), JBP = J.B.Philips New Testament, MRC = Messianic Renewed Covenant (NT), NASB = New American Standard Bible, NIV = New International Version (1984 edn.), NKJV = New King James Version, NRSV = New Revised Standard Version (1995 edn.), ISRV = Institute for Scripture Research Version ('The Scriptures', 2009 edn.), JB = Jerusalem Bible (1st edn.), JNT = Jewish New Testament (David Stern), KJV = King James Version, Moff. = Moffat Translation, NEB = New English Bible (1974 edn.), NLT = New Living Translation, RNAB = Revised New American Bible, RSTNE = Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition (2005 edn., Moshe Koniuchowsky), RSV = Revised Standard Version (1952 edn.), Tischendorf = Tauchnitz Edition, Vol.1000, 1869 (NT), S&G = Smith & Godspeed // ¶ = new paragraph

A quick recap from way back in chapter 3 where we find the start of 17 heavenly utterances in 7 visions in heaven, of which today's text are the final ones. All heaven seems to be moved at the first announcement and opening of these final judgments which end in the ejection of the Usurper from the earth; and now all of heaven is again stirred when we come to the final scenes of these judgments. It is only in the first and last of these visions 'in heaven' that we have the utterances of the Four Zoa or Living Creatures. Only in the first announcement do they praise Elohim (God) that the time has finally come for Him to interfere in the affairs of this world on a grand scale, and so wind up His great controversy with it and with Satan; and then, once again, in today's chapter 19, when that great controversy shall have closed. So the curtain is about to drawn in this long Story.

Only on these two occasions, and in these last two visions, do we hear the voices of the Zoa (Living Creatures) and listen to their significant utterances. In all the other visions in heaven they are silent. This shows that we are approaching the end and prepares us for the final heavenly actions which as I said we'll look at in verses 11-16 next week.

The 4 utterances are arranged so that in the 1st and 4th we have the voices of many concerning the two symbolic women - the harlot and the Lamb's wife, while in the 2nd and 3rd we have the voices from the Throne concerning Elohim (God), showing us another chiastic structure, revealing an introversion or reversal of events:

• A1 Many people (concerning the harlot - vv.1-3)
  • B1 The Elders and Zoa (the worship of Elohim/God - v.4)
  • B2 The voice from the Throne (the praise of Elohim/God - v.5)
• A2. The Great Multitude (concerning the wife - vv.6-7)

Note, if you will, the centralitry of the Throne of Elohim (God). In the first part, the worship of Elohim (God) is central. In the second, the praise of Elohim (God) is the focus. In the first, the Elders and Zoa (Living Creatures) fall down before the Throne. In the second, the Voice comes out of the Throne. The 'many people' of verse 1 are contrasted with the 'great multitude' of verse 6 followed by the contrast between the destruction of the Harlot and the blessedness of the Wife or Bride.

All of this conveys the great solemnity of the final judgments which are afterwards to be described. All is perfect. All is divine. Nothing is random or by chance. All is by design. We are assured that from beginning to end, Yahweh is fully in control, and always was.

I want to now address an important matter that I have delayed bringing up until this juncture when we are given a contrast with the Bride of Christ, namely the Harlot known as 'Babylon'. Everything about her spells arrogant rebellion and corruption whilst everything about the Bride spells humble submission and purity. These are the two types of female spirit which of course have their male counterparts too, with Nimrod being the earliest recorded male one (Gen.10:8-10; 11:9).

The Targum of Jonathan, an ancient commentary, describes him not as a 'mighty hunter before Yahweh', as most of our English translations put it, but 'a mighty rebel before Yahweh'. The Jerusalem Targum reads this as 'mighty in sin' and 'lying in wait' to catch and overthrow men by drawing them away from the true worship of Elohim (God) as originally taught to Shem. Nimrod the 'hunter', then, is the fountainhead of all idolatry, since the Hebrew we translate as 'hunter' means, literally, 'to lie in wait'. Nimrod was a hunter of souls. Thus Nimrod became a proverb for any great rebel or apostate (Gen.10:9).

If there is a male fountainhead of idolatry and wickedness, then there is a female one too, following closely in its wake. The 'wine' of their corruption was, as it were, already bottled and labelled before the first great dispersion at the Tower of Babel (Gen.11). That poisonous bottle has been poured out on mankind ever since, being dispersed into every country and nation on the globe. Today, as before, this poisonous wine affects and controls mankind's thinking, politics, faith and worship. What percentage of the world do you think is pagan and idolatrous, drivilling under the same old intoxications which came forth from Nimrod and Babylon? I couldn't give you an exact number, of course, but it is incredibly close to 100 per cent.

All the kings of the earth, we have already been told, and all the governments under heaven, have joined the uncleanness of that same old Babylonian Harlot who has defiled every nook and cranny of the entire inhabited world. The polytheistic religions aside, you only have to consider all the Jewish whoredoms, Papal whoredoms, Moslem whoredoms and the whoredoms of all perverted Christian religionists amongst the monotheists, to see that we have the same old harlotry which first found embodiment on the banks of the River Euphrates. It is the same old Babylon and her harlot daughters, bearing rule or kingdom upon the dominions of the earth, intoxicating the inhabitants out of the wine of her fornication.

This you all already know but it needs repeating so that I can make my final point here, namely, that Babylon is worshipped by mankind. For millennia she has been sitting on, and riding, the Scarlet Beast, carried and supported by all the kings of the earth and by all those humans who make up the 'body' of the Beast, but no more so than now in the latter days, coming to a special, visible prominence in the form of feminism which the peoples of the West at least, symbolised by Rome, are now compelled to worship. This is a specialised form of idolatry which we may call womanolatry that leads to utter moral corruption.

The first Babylon had male gods, Later on, each male god was given a female partner - a goddess - with the result that Ishtar (from which we get our modern word 'easter') became pre-eminent as the 'queen of heaven' (Jer.7:18; 44:17-19,25). She is mentioned many times in the Bible and roundly condemned, along with those who worship her, past and present. It is this sin of womanolatry, that is the sin of Babylon; and it is this religion of womanolatry, today called feminism, which has been, and is being, perfected in the Babylonian system. It will be, and has already started being, received by the 'kings of the earth', and it will be - and already is being - taught and policed by an 'order of priests' (e.g. on the Internet), just as were the people of Ephesus, where Ishtar was known as Artemis, Astarte and Diana (e.g. Ac.19:24,27-28,34-35) whom we met in chapter 2 and again recently when I spoke to you about the Seven Ephesian Sleepers. Do you remember?

Babylon - the Babylonian system - is a pagan goddess and she has her temples all over the world, not obvious physically like the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus but in a modern incarnation. It is the Global Religion which even now is rapidly forming. Up until now I have spoken of Babylon as being essentially the modern system of commercialism. But we need to modify that definition slightly now to incorporate a deeper, more sinister understanding. Babylon is a buyer or purchaser. As a buyer, she cannot strictly speaking be regarded as engaged in commerce per se because this implies manufacture and selling as well as buying, and certainly with a view to buying and selling again. But that is not Babylon - that's the male- or 'manolatry' part - the worship of men instead of Elohim (God). Babylon sits, as a woman, who buys to satisfy her lusts and to furnish her allurements. The Mariolatry of Rome is but a facet of this in the pseudo-christian religious sphere.

What we have been experiencing in the West since the early to mid 20th century is a revival of Ishtar worship. This womanolatry puts woman, as woman, at the head of the universe, teaching that which is a perversion of Eve, "the mother of all [the] living" (Gen.3:20, KJV). This is why the male Beast hates her so much because he claims exclusive rulership of mankind, and is barely tolerating her...for now. The great contest within the satanic system is one of supremacy: who will be supreme; woman or man? We see this in the rivalry of god and goddess worship in the occult between (for example) Satanism and Wicca.

Who is going to rule the satanic system - Babylon or the Beast? This is one of its great internal divisions and therefore weaknesses. So there is great internal hatred in the system, with the two parts warring against the other. And we know, from the Book of Revelation, what happens: in the end, the Beast devours the Woman (Babylon). Feminism was only ever created as a tool to overthrow Christian civilisation [1], a cynical use of women by the men of the satanic élites; but Babylon, once overthrown, is of no further use. That is why even now old school feminism is being attacked by the new postmodernist 'wokeism'. It's on the way out. It's why you find all the old school feminists like Germaine Greer in shock as her kind come under attack by the transgenderists who beyond any doubt are dominated by men posing as women. Hence the uproar in, for example, women's sports where the 'she-males' are destroying female competitors. If there was ever an evil 'patriarchy', this would be it - not the righteous patriarchy of the Bible but the exploitative 'pseudo-patriarchy' of the 'deep state'.

But even this isn't the main point. The internal war of the satanic system is interesting enough which we need informing about, but isn't what lies at the heart of this womanolatry phenomenon which has now spread into the churches - and that interests us far more. In the end, it isn't the satanic Beast destroying the satanic Woman that's the issue, but Yahweh destroying both but first destroying the womanolatry because rulership by women over men is contrary to Yahweh's eternal ordinance. (Incidentally, man/woman coheadship is but an intermediary stage in this perversion). It is Yahweh who therefore puts it into the heart of the Scarlet Beast to destroy the woman, Babylon the Harlot, before He in turn destroys the Scarlet Beast, Satan, for his 'manolatry'. This is all a part of restoring Divine Order to the universe. The commandment to 'come out of her' is therefore, in the main, to forsake this womanolatry which has badly infected the Messianic Community (Church) like a cancer (just as it has human government) and is destroying it wholesale. If left unchecked, it is, in most cases, a 'terminal cancer' for these churches.

This is why, now, in chapter 19, the woman-harlot, Babylon, is contrasted with the allegorical chaste and submitted 'Wife' of Christ - the true Messianic Community or 'Bride', the Remnant. This perspective on Babylon makes things much clearer than commerce can. The sin of Babylon is usurpation of the power and authority of men by women, first that of Yahweh Himself, and then that of human males who are called to be the patriarchs of their families and societies as a whole - the hated 'patriarchy' of the feminists. This is not to say that patriarchy hasn't been abused by men, because it absolutely has, but rather to restore the true order of heaven in the affairs of mankind.

It is this sin of Babylon that causes drunkeness with religious and political excitement amongst the kings of the earth, the priests and priestesses, and those serving in her temples. It is for these reasons that all of these - kings, priests and womanolaterers in general - will first be stripped of all their possessions and then burnt with fire in every land where they are found. This will pre-eminently happen in Babylon - the world system itself - but before that can happen, the call will go forth to Yahweh's people - and has already gone forth - to 'come out of her' so that Christians and Messianics do not become partakers of Babylon's judgments themselves. Those believers who will not forsake this womanolatry will be consumed along with the unbelievers who worship at Babylon's altar. Already we are seeing this happen to many Christian denominations like the Anglican Church. We're also seeing it in a different way amongst Pentecostals and Charismatics where Babylon manifests especially in the babbling of nonsense (a satanic parody of the true gift of wisdom brought forth through authentic believers by the female Ruach haQodesh/Holy Spirit) and where you will find women ministers operating in headship rôles of apostle, prophet, bishop, and pastor (similar to the priests in Anglicanism, Lutheranism and others) contrary to the divine order (e.g. 1 Tim.3:2,12; Titus 1:6). So be warned. Husbands: take authority back in your marriages and families. Pastors, take authority back in your congregations. As for government and the world, that is none of our affair other than in democracies where we must not vote for political candidates worshipping at Babylon's feet...and that's nearly all of them now.

Today's segment of Scripture ends on a hopeful note - a short passage that so captures the imagination, a note filled with promise that it doesn't need much explanation because we know it is the very opposite of Babylon the Great herself:

"Let is rejoice and exult and give [Yahweh our Elohim the Almighty] the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready; to her it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure - for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones). And the malak (angel) said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev.19:7-9, NRSV).

This Bride is everything that the Whore is not. The two are diametric opposites in every respect. The Bride is blessed, the Whore is cursed. The Bride is accepted, the Whore is rejected. The Bride prepares herself in submission to Her Master and Husband, the Whore makes no preparations for any master of any kind for she is her own mistress and goddess. The Bride accepts being ruled because her goal is service; the Whore wants only to rule because her goal is power. The Bride is unharmed and justified by the fire, the Whore is burned to a cinder by it (Rev.18:8). The Bride glorifies the Bridegroom, the Whore glorifies herself (Rev.18:7). The Bride will be raised up, the Whore will be thrown down (Rev.18:21). The Bride is pure, the Whore is filthy. The deeds of the Bride are righteous, the deeds of the Whore are evil. The Bride is humble and surrendered, the Whore arrogant and defiant. And so the list goes on and on, and every contrast between them consists of radical, diametric opposites. The separation of the two is absolute, at two opposite ends of the moral universe, the spiritual differences unmistakable. The contrast is as between noon and midnight. What of the neutral and undecided? Neutrality is to cast your vote for the Whore because it is a rejection of joining the submitted Bride. There are no neutrals because good and evil aren't equals. Both evil and neutrality are the absence of good.

As we look at the institution of marriage in our modern society, it is in pretty bad shape. Infact, it is dying and everything is done back-to-front. In heavenly marriages, bride and bridegroom lead pure and chaste lives, and then enter into life-long covenants of fidelity - they 'get married', the bride being passed from the authority of her father to the new authority of her husband, and then everyone celebrates with a grand feast. Weddings, when people even bother about them, are still popular in most nations but they are also extremely expensive. The norm today, for those who even bother to marry, is that couples live together for a few years, try each other out, intending to get married when they think they're compatible after all, but soon discover weddings are so expensive that they have to save up for years and years. People spend tens of thousands of dollars to stage something spectacular. Marriage today feeds commercial interests, giving the ceremony a flavour out of keeping with its real meaning.

As we have seen, chapter 19 totally reverses the Whore system. The Whore and adulteress has been judged and the true Bride steps forward. The glossy, glitzy, luxuriating world of Babylon has been overthrown. Yahweh's people emerge with shining, pure linen to wear as Yahweh's own gift. The marriage of the Lamb and His Bride is to be the focal point of the marriage of heaven and earth itself - that's what this is all symbolic of...the coming together of two worlds separated by the Fall caused by rebellion and sin - a marriage of the physical and spiritual, into a resurrected whole which is accomplished through the Atonement of Christ. But it's more than the coming together of matter and spirit - it is the return of mankind - the Bride - to the Creator, Elohim (God). It is the climax and completion of New Creation itself. And Babylon, the symbolic equivalent of the ancient Babel which presumptuously thought it could climb up to heaven by its own power, is shown up as a futile parody of the real thing, a human attempt to get, by sheer greed and lust, what Yahweh proposed to give by shere grace - His undeserved loving-kindness.

It is no accident that Yahweh chooses to portray the restoration of mankind by means of the symbol of marriage because marriage is itself the tavnith or pattern for everything. Our story begins in Genesis with the marriage of a couple - Adam and Eve - and ends with a great throng - the Remnant believers, hundreds of thousands of them - united to Christ the Creator. The Bride is both one and many - simultaneously monogamous and polygamous - though no distinction is ever made in any biblical definition of marriage between a single wife (like Eve, Rebekah or Asenath, the brides of Adam, Isaac and Joseph, respectively) or many wives (like the many brides of Abraham, Jacob or David) because in the Bible it's all described as 'marriage'.

There aren't different 'categories' of marriage in the Bible like the categories man has invented - 'monogamous', 'polygamous', 'heterosexual', 'homosexual', and so on. You won't find any of these words or equivalents in the Scriptures though you will find laws declaring what is clean and what is sinful in the sphere of human sexual relationships (Lev.20). In Yahweh's world men get married to woman, like Adam and Eve or Isaac and Rebekah, and some of them keep on marrying, like Abraham, Jacob and David after their first marriages. Many of those I have mentioned, whether they married one time only (Isaac and Joseph) or kept on marrying (Abraham, Jacob, David and Moses) are called the special 'friends of Elohim' (God), showing that Elohim (God) made no distinction between those who either married only once or many times. He is therefore called, without distinction or categorisation, "the Elohim (God) of your (Moses') father, the Elohim (God) of Abraham, the Elohim (God) of Isaac and the Elohim (God) of Jacob" (Ex.3:6, NIV). Human marriage begins in the simplicity that is Eden and ends, for the Remnant at any rate, in the complex beauty and glory of the Millennial world. Marriage itself has grown or expanded as we see in the great prophetic chapters of Isaiah beginning at chapter 3, verse 18 and ending with verse 6 of chapter 4. This should have been a single chapter but has been artificially divided, highlighting the problem I mentioned to you last week caused by the man-made divisions of the text into chapters, paragraphs, and verses.

Isaiah 3:18 to 4:6 is all about the Second or Last Exodus, Final Gathering and start of the Great Millennium, as shown by the reappearance of the miraculously provided cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night:

"Then Yahweh will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy (sukkah). It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain" (Is.4:5-6, NRSV; cp. Ex.13:21-22; 14:24; Num.14:14; Neh.9:12,19).

That day, described in Isaaiah chapter 4, is now rapidly approaching, as we read in Revelation 19, which reaches a consummation in chapter 22. Twice in this Isaiah segment, and 71 times throughout the Bible (the majority of which are in the Book of Isaiah), mention is made of "on that day" which refers both to the judgment of Babylon and to the rise of the Bride-Remnant at the commencement of the Millennium (Is.3:18 & 4:2). Isaiah begins with a description of Babylon the Whore and her daughers who are to be stripped and humbled - that's all of greedy, self-centred mankind that has embraced and loved the Babylonian system - prior to the Great Restoration. Of Babylon Yahweh says:

"Instead of perfume, there will be a stench; and instead of a sash, a rope, a binding of sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame" (Is.3:24, NRSV).

The Babylon-loving, 'manolater' husbands of these 'womanolaters' will be slain in vast numbers (Is.3:25) as we have seen described in great detail in the Seven Woes (21 calamities altogether) in the Book of Revelation. Isaiah goes on to say that after the purging of the world, there will be a Remnant, and that true women-believers will outnumber men-believers because the men will overwhelmingly refuse to repent and be saved, much as they do today, far more so than the women so that the women come to outnumber the men 7:1. We are seeing this statistic more and more evident in today's churches and messianic assemblies where apostacy has not taken a grip - women commonly outnumber men because as the gentler gender they are more amenable to the truth and therefore more readily accept salvation than men.

This 7:1 statistic is being seen not only in assemblies of Yahweh's people but in the world at large, especially after warfare. The devastating war in the Ukraine has seen the population of young men there devastated, as wars have done in the past throughout history. I think of the 30 Years War in Europe that caused a demographic crisis leaving behind hundreds of thousands of widows, or the wars between Paraguay and her other South American neighbours that left a similar disparity. This is going to happen again, and is already happening, even in countries not at war such as Latvia here in Europe where this 7:1 statistic is already a reality in its capital, Riga, causing great social problems in what is, like the rest of the West, still a Catholic/Protestant-inspired monogamy-only culture for those who still care about marriage.

The start of the Millennium, Isaiah records, will, as one of its chief signs, see in the Remnant seven women [taking hold] of one man "on that day" and begging him to marry them all together, and even covenanting to make their own economic provision. Notice that it is the women who take the initiative, not the men. The issue for these godly women is not money because they are physically destitute but a matter of righteousness and honour - "take away our disgrace" - because in the Millennial Kingdom of our Elohim (God) there are no singles (Is.4:1). Moreover, the men they want to thus marry aren't any old riffraff but those with a 'shem' or a "good name", in other words, good, honourable decent men with a good reputation - a shem tov (a good name) - who are respected leaders of the Remnant community, because only the very godly - those who have Yahweh's favour - are capable of living this way righteously. They are not woman-chasers as the carnal men are. "On that day", Yahweh says for the third time in verse 2, "the branch of Yahweh shall be beautiful and glorious" (NRSV), reminding us of the white-clad Bride of Revelation 19:79, who represents a way of life radically different to that of the Babylonian Whore's system where marriage is scorned or barely tolerated, and promiscuity is the order of the day.

This form of multiple or plural marriage, protected and legislated for in the Torah (Lev.20), which is completey alien to our own society's ideas of 'normality', will be the norm of the Millennial paradise and in the æons (ages) to come. This the present churches are completely unprepared for because they either believe that the Millennium will be:

• 1. a recreation of the original Paradise in every respect, including the simple 1:1 marriage enjoyed by our First parents; or
• 2. that we will all be single in 'heaven' as disembodied spirits because they believe human marriage will cease to exist in the eternities.

There is this great naïvité still in Christendom which is why it is still holding on to Babylonian 'ideals' (monogamy-only and promiscuity) instead of Yahweh's Torah, another reason why so much more time is needed before Christ returns so that the old ways of thinking can be purged from the Body and the millennial ways retaught in preparation. The Bride, you'll remember in today's text, 'prepared herself', and that doesn't mean putting on makeup and getting into a pretty wedding dress. Adjusting to the old ways, during a time of universal corruption, is part of that preparation. I don't wish to get into this further today but simply want to get you to start searching your Bibles in preparation for the fullness of the Kingdom Way-to-come.

Most will balk at this message because they cannot, and will not, let go of the old Babylonian traditions and her doctrines of demons (1 Tim.4:3). I'll leave links for you on the website for those who want to research this out in further detail [2]. I realise this is a hard truth for modern Christians to swallow but it is something that must be addressed and is going to take time to be accepted. Hence the advance notice. It is, moreover, a subject that tends to generate more smoke than fire and so is something I never discuss in public. It stirs up too many unruly passions, bringing out the devil in some. So agree, agree to disagree in friendship, or move on. However, I am required to make believers aware of these things to get the Remnant, that's still clinging on to many of the Whore's teachings about marriage, to slowly start prayerfully searching these matters out because this is a sensitive subject that requires great wisdom and knowledge to properly navigate. There are too many wrongly-motivated, carnal mavericks out there who talk about this subject who have no idea what they are talking, have no clue as to Yahweh's purpose in all of this, about and do considerable harm. In any case, those who are not of the Remnant and hate Yahweh's Torah-ways are not in the purview of my ministry. I don't, in any case, debate the enraged, the hysterical or the implaccably entrenched as I have better and more fruitful things to do with my time. I am here to inform, not to evangelise, except for 'Christ-crucified and risen'. Now is the time for more believers to become aware of these things, and timing is always critical. We work on Yahweh's timetable, not on our own.

In the meantime we must return to the main text and wrap that up for today. So, as I said at the beginning, we find ourselves back in the Throne Room or Temple, and once again we see the elders and zoa - the living creatures - worshipping Yahweh-Elohim on His Throne. As in chapter 5 where they celebrated the Lamb's victory on the cross, giving Him the right to open the seals so that the scroll could be read (again, emphasising the importance of divine timing), so now they lead the praises of Elohim (God) along with a huge crowd, presumably the same crowd that we heard at the end of chapter 5 and then again in chapter 7.

The praise begins with a word which is so familiar that we are surprised to find that this chapter is the only place containing it in the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament). It is the ancient Hebrew celebration, found often enough in the Psalms, of Yahweh's glory and sovereignty. HalleluYah! Praise to Yahweh! Verses 1,3,4 and 6 form a crescendo of praise, from giving Elohim (God) thanks for His proper judgment against the Whore, to the celebration that her overthrowal is final (this is the meaning of the smoke going up for ever - in other words, this is not merely a temporary reversal), to the summons to all peoples, small and great, to praise Elohim (God), and finally to the celebration which recalls the majestic statement in Revelation 11, verse 5, that always bings the Oratorio of Händel's Messiah to my mind:

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Master (Yahweh) and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever" (Rev.11:15, NIV).

Like the claim of almost incredulous simcha (joy) in Isaiah 52, verse 7:

"How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces shalom (peace),
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion,
'YOUR ELOHIM (GOD) REIGNS!'" (Is.52:7, NRSV).

Now the idea of such a wedding as this goes all the way back to the ancient Hebrew tradition of Israel as Yahweh's allegorical Bride (and later, after the division of the Kingdom, Israel and Judah as Yahweh's plural allegorical Brides) - wooed in the wilderness, married at Sinai with the Torah as the Ketubah or Marriage Contract, unfaithful for many generations and eventually divorced and cast away, but then wooed and won all over again in a covenant renewal (the New Covenant) that would result in the renewal of the whole creation...the story of Isaiah chapters 54 and 55. The whole of the Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon), though at its basic level a spectacular poem of erotic love [5], has also been seen by Jewish and Christian commentators alike as an allegory of the love between Yahweh and His people (for Christians, Christ and His people).

Now this glorious theme comes to a spectacular completion, and is joined with another ancient theme of celebration: Elohim's (God's) Great Feast, the Banquet, to which He will invite all and sundry:

"On this mountain Yahweh Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine--
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain He will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
He will swallow up death forever.
Yahweh-Elohim will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
He will remove the disgrace of His people (Israel)
from all the earth. Yahweh has spoken.

"In that day (of Final Judgment leading to the Millennium) they will say,

"Surely this is our Elohim (God);
we trusted in Him, and He saved us.
This is Yahweh, we trusted in Him;
let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."

"The hand of Yahweh will rest on this mountain;
but Moab (like Babylon) will be trampled under Him
as straw is trampled down in the manure" (Is.25:6-10, NIV).

Did not Yah'shua (Jesus) employ the theme of a king's marriage supper for his son in Matthew 22:1-14 (see also Mt.25:1-13)? And did He not also hint at the further related theme, that of the appropriate clothing for the wedding? Here, in Revelation 19, John's vision, drawing on all of these pictures, focuses on the fact that the great moment has come at last! This is what the world has been waiting for, ever since Genesis 1, ever since the covenant with Abraham (which always envisaged the birth of a family), ever since the covenant with Moses, ever since the renewal of the covenant promised at the time of the Exile. You see - and mark this well, underline it with a thick felt-tip pen, if you will - MARRIAGE IS THE ULTIMATE COVENANT AND YAH'SHUA (JESUS) IS THE ULTIMATE BRIDEGROOM. Singleness is never a part of the Story! And though John uses imagery freely enough to allow the Messianic Community (Church) Remnant to be both the Bride and the guests invited to the Bride's wedding party (Rev.19:9), this should not distract us from the sense of fulfilment, of excitement, of rightness and fitness, that emerge at last after the sorry tale of human rebellion, wickedness, pride and arrogance has run its course.

Indeed, John himself is so excited by all this that he begins to worship the malak (angel) who is revealing it all to him. (He does it again at the end of the book in chapter 22, verse 8, with the same result). But this would be a bad mistake. He must not confuse the messenger with the message...which is the Besorah, Gospel or Good News. Even John, even at this moment, can slip up, can lapse into idolatry, into worshipping that which is not Elohim (God). Perhaps he tells us this in order to encourage those who are battling with the challenge of idolatry themselves (and that, in reality, is all of us in some form or another): 'it's been challenging for me too,' he in effect says. But in saying this he reveals something remarkable. Throughout the Book of Revelation the focus has been on the uninhibited worship offered by the whole creation to "the One on the Throne and the Lamb" (Rev.5:13, KNT). Yah'shua (Jesus) shared the Throne of Yahweh. Yah'shua (Jesus) shares the worship which is due to the one Elohim (God) and Him alone, thus proving that He is Elohim (God). The malak's (angel's) rebuke highlights the total difference between Yah'shua (Jesus) Himself and all others, no matter how exalted those others may be.

Finally, this also reminds us, looking right back to the very first two verses of John's book, that the central thing about prophetic inspiration is "the testimony of Yah'shua (Jesus)" (Rev.1:2) [6], that is, the testimony which Yah'shua (Jesus) Himself bore, faithful to death, and which the Messianic Community (Church) must now bear witness to Yah'shua (Jesus). The Ruach (Spirit) is given through the work of Yah'shua (Jesus) so that the Messianic Community (Church) may be faithful to Yah'shua (Jesus), and Him alone.

Next week we will look at the second half of chapter 19, verses 11 to 21. Until then, richest heavenly blessings be upon you all as you contemplate the things that have been said today, some of which I know will be very, very challenging to some of you. But these things must be said, and the Remnant must be prepared for what is to come. As I have said dozens of times, the Book of Revelation sorts out all doctrinal controversies, so don't miss the opportunity for important spiritual and practical course corrections in your life! May the grace and shalom (peace) of our Master (Yah'shua) go with you. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] See Dr. Henry Makow, Cruel Hoax: Feminism and the New World Order - The Attack on Your Human Identity (Silas Geeen, USA: 2010)
[2] See, the Holy Echad Marriage (HEM) introductory website and, in particular, the full biblical exegesis sub-site, The Truth About Biblical Marriage and the more general articles on the subject on the main website. For those not called or interested, there is the regular main marriage website
[3] See N.T.Wright, How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels (HarperCollins Publishers, NY: 2012)
[4] Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone - The New Testament for Everyone Commentary Series, Vol.19 (SPCK, London: 2011), p.169
[5] See, Dannah Gresh & Dr. Juli Slattery, Pulling Back ther Shades: Erotica, Intimacy and the Longings of a Woman's Heart (Moody Publishers, Chicago: 2014)
[6] Also Revelation 1:9; 12:17; 17:6; 19:10; 20:4; 22:16

Acknowledgements

[1] Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone - The New Testament for Everyone Commentary Series, Vol.19 (SPCK, London: 2011)
[2] E.W.Bullinger*, Commentary on Revelation (Kregel Classics, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1984)
[3] David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary (JNT Publications, Clarksville, Maryland: 1992)
[4] ESV Study Bible (Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois: 2011)
[5] The NIV Study Bible (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1995)
[6] Ed. J.R.Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (MacMillan, London: 1909)
[7] David Pawson, Unlocking the Bible: A Unique Overview of the Whole Bible (Collins, London: 2007)

*E.W.Bullinger was a brilliant Anglican clergyman and scholar whose works merit careful study by serious students of the Bible. He was, however, seriously in error in at least three main areas, namely, (1) he believed the 'Church' has been raptured before the Book of Revelation opens, (2) he believed that the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3 are 7, literal Jewish churches or assemblies yet to come, and (3) he believed in a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture.

• C. The Far Future
  • C1. Chapter 19
    
    • C1.1. Yahweh's Victory Celebration (19:1-10)
    • C1.2. The Beast Defeated (19:11-21)
  • C2. Chapter 20
    
    • C2.1. The Millennial Reign (20:1-6)
    • C2.2. The Final Judgment (20:7-15)
  • C3. Chapter 21:1-21
    
    • C3.1. The New Heaven & Earth (21:1-5)
    • C3.2. The New Jerusalem (21:6-21)
  • C4. Chapter 21:22-22:21
    
    • C4.1. New Jerusalem (21:22-22:7)
    • C4.2. 'I am Coming Soon' (22:8-21)