"After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for his judgements are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
3 Once more they cried out,
“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”
4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And from the throne came a voice saying,
“Praise our God,
all you his servants,
you who fear him,
small and great.”
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns."
Revelation 19:1-6
There is a glory shining in this chapter that is brighter than the sun. It is a picture of the blessedness of the redeemed in heaven. It corresponds to the earlier vision in chapter 7, but is greater and fuller. We have seen how, as section follows section in the book, the visions become more elaborate. This is certainly true of the grim picture of judgment, but it is also true of the final consummation, and here we have a swelling majesty that is almost indescribable in its beauty and intensity. In the previous two chapters we have witnessed the destruction of Babylon; here in ch. 19 it is the turn of the beast and the false prophet. But, in fact, their destruction is not the central message of the chapter, for it is eclipsed by something grander and greater, the marriage of the Lamb. The beast and the false prophet come at the end of the chapter, almost as an afterthought. The significance of this 'playing-down' is that the real subject of God's programme is not judgment, although there has been much of it here in this book, but the blessedness of the redeemed. Judgment is His 'strange' work, the 'shadowed' side of His purposes, and stands alongside grace as its cloudy aspect. Thus, there are the two feasts here - that which celebrates the marriage of the Lamb, and that for the destruction of the enemies of Christ (17- 18). These bear a necessary and inevitable relation to each other, since judgment and grace are both alike appointed by God.