COMMENTARY ON REVELATION CHAPTERS 19 TO 22

Summary of Revelation 19.1-10. $19“Rejoice over Babylon’s fall, O heaven”, cried the heavenly voice (18.20). And that is what John now hears as all heaven lets rip in praise to God for judging the great harlot and avenging the martyrs. “Our God reigns!” they cry. “The wedding of the Lamb to his bride the church has now come!” Babylon has fallen; the 7th and final bowl of God’s wrath has been poured out (16.17); it is now time for earth’s rightful Lord, the King of Kings, to return and take his bride.

Here is a vision to encourage every Christian and fortify us for the difficulties in life that we face as believers. We have a wonderful hope! Let us stay true to His calling of us, keep doing the work to which he calls us day by day, and be faithful wit-nesses to him despite the cost. Nothing that we do for him will lack its reward (see also 22.12).

19.1 After this. We last encountered this connective phrase at 18.1. John is shown and made to hear the next vision.

19.1, the roar of a great multitude. Also at 19.6, which presumably is the same multitude. But is it the same “great multitude” as in 7.9 saved from every tribe, tongue, people and nation standing before the Throne and before the Lamb? Com-pare also the choir of the 144,000 redeemed in 14.1ff, which is accompanied by, “a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder” 1 (compare 19.6). See also 15.2f where the victorious saints standing beside the sea of glass in heaven sing God’s greatness.

OR in 19.1 & 6 are they the angelic host? The angel sent to Daniel in Dn 10.6 had a “voice like the sound of a multitude”. Does the “voice from the throne saying, ‘Praise our God, all you his servants . . .’” at v 5 suggest that the voices of the saints, whether on the earth or in heaven, are added to the heavenly host in v 6?

Pearce holds that the “great multitude” here are the recently raptured and res-urrected saints - see 16.15 and the note there.

19.1 2

19.1 Alleluia! 3 Thus sounds the Greek word that itself is a transliteration of a Hebrew exhortation, “Praise Yahweh” (the verb is a plural imperative). All the Psalms opened or closed by the phrase celebrate the Lord’s covenant faithfulness, goodness and love, or his deeds in creation (Ps 104; 148). His deliverance of his people and vanquishing of their enemies is a theme in some of them (e.g. Ps 105, 106, 135, 149 ), as is his reign as king (Ps 146, 149). Ps 105 and 106.7-12 and 135.8ff celebrate the deliver-ance from Egypt. The confession in Ps 106 of Israel’s continual falling into idolatry

1 thunder, 4.52 songs of worship, 4.113 The Hebrew phrase is found at Ps 104 close (though it may belong to Ps 105.1, where the LXX locates it); Ps 105 close; Ps 106 start & close; the start of Ps 111 & 112; Ps 113 start & close; Ps 115, 116 & 117 close; and at the start & close of Ps 135 and 146 through to 150. Psalms 113 to 118, known as the “Egyptian Hallel”, came to be used in Jewish liturgy at the great religious festivals - Passover, Weeks, Tabernacles, Dedication, New Moon. At Passover, Ps 113 & 114 were sung before the meal. Ps 115-118 after it. Ps 120, 135 and 136 were known as the “Great Hallel”.

and unfaithfulness to their Lord and yet his patient deliverance of them is a reminder of the power of Babylon to entice, corrupt and ensnare. It is within these contexts that we find the word in Rev 19.1-6.

Alleluia is not found anywhere else in the NT. The fact that church worship over the centuries has accustomed us to using this word obscures the fact that in the OT it celebrates God’s faithfulness, goodness, love and deliverance of his people Is-rael. Is 19.1-6 celebrating the people of Israel - the Jews’ - deliverance, as well as the victory of all the saints in the last days, both Jew and Gentile? Should we see in “all his servants . . ” in v 5 a hint that this includes the people of Israel who now trust in Jesus their Messiah? See also the implications of “Amen, Alleluia” in v 4 (see the note). It is possible that the call in 18.4 to, “Come out of her, my people”, is directed to the people of Israel, as it was in the OT passages containing this exhortation. We know from Rom 11 that there will be a great turning of the Jews to believe in Jesus, their Messiah, at the close of the present age, though for some it may be literally at the last minute as Christ returns (fulfilling Zech 12.10-13.1: see the notes on Rev 1.7). Also, the bride of the Lamb (vv 7f) is not ready for her bridegroom’s return until “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11.25, though its precise meaning is debated).

19.1, salvation . . belongs to our God 4. As in the OT prophecies on Babylon, her fall was essential for and led to the salvation 5 of God’s people - and perhaps specifi-cally his people Israel - and their entering His inheritance for them. And only God can deliver mankind from the lure and embrace of Babylon and Mammon. Also, the saints and the people of Israel need saving from Satan the dragon and his agent, the beast, at the end of the age (ch 12), and that salvation will be brought about by God (16.12-21; 19.19ff). The inhabitants of the earth will celebrate the beast as their saviour (implied in 13.4,8), just as in John’s day the Roman Emperor bore the title of and was proclaimed as Saviour (see the note on “salvation” at 7.10); but God’s people will ascribe salvation only to God, and his mighty deeds at the end of the age will jus-tify this ascription.

19.1 and glory . . belongs to our God. Not to Babylon, whether in her guise as the harlot (17.4) or the great, enticing and beautiful city (18.14, 16) who gave glory to herself (18.7).

19.1 and power 6 belongs to our God. Not to the beast (see ch 13 & 17) or to Baby-lon.

19.2 true and just (lit. righteous) are his judgments 7. The same ascription to God was made at 16.7 by the altar, commenting on the 3rd bowl of wrath judgment. See the note at 16.5-7. Compare also 15.3, “Just and true are your ways”, sung by the vic-torious saints standing beside the sea of glass in heaven.

19.2, he has judged (NIV condemned) the great harlot 8. See note on 18.20.

4 For a list of all the passages of worship and ascription to God in Revelation, see the note at 4.115 salvation, 12.106 power, 12.107 judgment in Revelation 20.11-15 reviewed; righteous (of God and of men), 15.3.8 Babylon, 17.1; harlotry / sexual immorality, 17.1

19.2, the great harlot who corrupted (lit. destroyed) the earth in/by her harlotry/sexual immorality. May draw on Jer 51.25 where the Lord declares, in a lengthy prophecy of Babylon’s fall, “I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth” 9. Here in Revelation it includes by luring men into worshipping Mammon - see note on 18.3. See note on 11.18 re “destroyers”. 19.2 He has avenged on her the blood of his servants 10. This picks up the theme of 18.24 - see the note there 11. In 17.6 Babylon the great harlot is, “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus”. See also note at 17.4 (‘a cup full of abominations . .”) on whether John used Jezebel as his model for describing Babylon as the “mother of harlots”.

19.3 The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever 12. Draws on Isa 34.10, where it is part of the prophetic description of the land of Edom after the Lord’s “day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause”. John may already have drawn on the devastation that Edom would become at 18.2 in his description of Baby-lon’s ruin 13.

Is this smoke the smoke of the burning of destroyed Babylon described in 18.9 & 18 (see also 17.16)? It is possible that Babylon by this point will be a geographical location or city and will remain a desolation and place of continual burning and smoke throughout the Millennial reign (see also 18.2 and note) 14. However, these other verses do not describe the smoke as rising for ever and ever.

OR is it (Hendriksen) the smoke of 14.11, where we read that the fate of those who worship the Beast is to be “tormented with burning sulphur” and “the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever”? Note that in 14.9ff the fate of the worshippers of the Beast is described immediately after the announcement of Babylon’s fall (14.8). If this alternative is correct, Babylon in its fall is identified in 14.8-11 and 19.2f with the Beast’s worshippers and servants and their doom.

19.4 The twenty-four elders. Their role is most frequently that of worship 15. John sees them in this role together with the four living creatures at 5.8 where they sing the Lamb’s worth. That song celebrated that the Lamb by his blood had “purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” and made them “a kingdom” and “they will reign on the earth”. Now in 19.1-8 John stands at the end of the great tribulation 16 - a period out of which a countless multitude of redeemed have emerged, 7.14 - when the Lamb is about to return to reign (19.6, 11-21), a reign that his saints will share with him (see 20.4 & 6).

19.4 17

9 This passage may be alluded to at Rev 8.8: see the note there.10 blood. 1.5; vengeance from God, 6.10; faithful into death, 2.10; servants - believers in Je-sus, 7.311 Psalm 79 cry for vengeance, 6.10; Deuteronomy 32 fulfilled, 15.312 for ever and ever, 1.1813 Isaiah 34 prophecy of judgment and destruction, 6.13; Babylon’s fall, Intro to ch 1814 This interpretation is advanced in PWMI Jan ’13 edition15 24 enthroned elders, 4.4; fall down and worship, 1.1716 tribulation, 1.917 4 living creatures, 4.6; “Him who is seated on the throne”, 4.2

19.4 Amen 18 Alleluia. This combination is found at Ps 106.48. See the note on v 1. It may be that the content of Ps 106 is relevant to understanding this part of Revela-tion.

The psalm gives thanks to God for his continual faithfulness to his people Is-rael despite their repeated lapses into idolatry and unfaithfulness. Because of these lapses, he “handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them” (Ps 106.41), but “for their sake he remembered his covenant . . . Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, Amen. Al-leluia!” (Ps 106.45-48).

There are clear verbal echoes here to Rev 19.1-6, and the lapses into idolatry could be fulfilled at the end of this age in the seductive power of Babylon. Does this point to Rev 19.1-6 as being primarily the cry of thanksgiving by the people of Israel, now saved from Babylon, brought out of the nations and Babylon into their own land, be-lieving and trusting in Jesus their Saviour and Messiah? See the note at 19.1 on Al-leluia; also the note at 12.10, and the note at 18.4 on, “Come out of her, my people”.

Johnson suggests that “Amen” here expresses confident certainty (see its use in Jesus’ sayings, “Truly I say to you”, sometimes repeated as in Jn 10.7) or strong agreement (see 1 Cor 14.16).

Pearce interprets Rev 19.4 as those representing the fulfilment of the OT and NT Scriptures (the 24 elders) and the representatives of the four Gospels (the four liv-ing creatures) proclaiming, “Amen, Hallelujah”, because God who is on the throne (v 5) is fulfilling all His plan foretold in the Scriptures and proclaimed through Christ.

19.5 19 20

19.5-10. (Caird) Picks up the 7th trumpeter’s announcement and the 24 elders’ thanks-giving to the Lord God Almighty in 11.15-18 that, “you have taken your great power and have begun to reign (lit. “reigned”)” . Consider the verbal similarities:

The declaration that the Lord God reigns, 11.15, 17 (aorist tense, as in 19.6: see note on 11.17)God described as Almighty, as in 11.17 (see the note on 19.6).“The servants . . who fear him, both small and great”, 11.18 (see the note)the peals of thunder, 11.19, though in 19.6 these are a metaphor for the roar of voices.The 24 heavenly elders sang, 11.16; whereas in 19.6 the mighty heavenly roar is swelled by the martyrs (possibly: see note on 19.1)The rewarding of the saints (11.18) is now developed in the marriage of the LambThe destroying the destroyers of the earth (11.18), fulfilled in large part by Babylon’s fall (19.2) is developed in 19.11-21, the battle that accompanies Christ’s victorious return.

19.5 Praise our God . . . 21 There are verbal similarities to:

18 Amen, 3.1419 voice from heaven, 16.1: marks the end of a key stage in Revelation.20 throne of God, 4.221 songs of worship, 4.11

Ps 22.23, “You who fear the Lord, praise him!”. The context of this call to praise is that God has delivered his afflicted one - fulfilled in Rev 19 in the fall of Babylon the murderer of the saints. Note that there is a verbal echo of Ps 22.28 in Rev 11.15 - see the note on 19.5-10.Ps 134.1, “Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord”.Ps 135.1, “Praise the name of the Lord; praise him, you servants of the Lord”. See also the three times repeated call to “Praise the Lord” at the end of this Psalm. The fourth group of people called to praise Him is, “you who fear him”.

In all these psalms, this is a call to the people of Israel and, in Ps 134 and 135.1 & 19f, specifically to those who minister in the temple. This would be a parallel to the call to praise in Rev 19.5 if that was directed to the saints already in heaven, who in 7.15 are described as, “serving him day and night in his temple”).

The content of Ps 135 - the reason why God’s servants are called to worship him - is particularly relevant to how God reveals himself as Revelation 4 to 19 is pro-gressively fulfilled and how he vindicates both himself and his people.

19.5 22

19.5 you who fear him 23. Some manuscripts read, “and you who fear him”. If we adopt that reading, it does not necessarily mean that, “you who fear him” are a differ-ent group from, “all you his servants”. See the note on 11.18 where there is the idiom is similar.

19.6 what sounded like a great multitude . . shouting 24. Compare v 1 and see the note there on who might comprise this multitude. Whereas the “great multitude in v 1 is described as being “in heaven”, that is not part of the description in v 6, which may suggest that here the great multitude includes the saints still alive on earth. Compare 5.8-13 where the series of expressions of praise and worship conclude with “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea”.

19.6 rushing waters. Lit. “many waters”, as ESV. Compare 14.2 where John hears “a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder” 25. See the note there for both parts of the description and the identity of the sound.

19.6, for our Lord God Almighty 26 reigns (lit. “reigned”, the Greek aorist tense) 27. Picks up 11.17, where “have begun to reign” (NIV) translates the aorist tense there - see the note on 19.5-10. See the notes on 11.15 (“the kingdom of the world has be-come . .”) on how we might interpret these declarations. Some manuscripts omit our, which causes the phrase to be identical to that in 11.17.

In 19.6 the statement anticipates God establishing his reign through Christ on his return (19.11-21; see v 16, “King of kings and Lord of lords”), and destroying the

22 servants - believers in Jesus, 7.3. See the note at 19.1, Alleluia, for the suggestion that “all you his servants” embraces the people of Israel who now trust in Jesus their Messiah.23 fear of God, 11.18; small and great, 11.1824 songs of worship, 4.1125 thunder, 4.526 Lord God Almighty, 11.1727 kingdom, 12.10

beast and the other kings with him (vv 18-21). In other words, it is the fulfilment of the announcements at 11.15 & 17 about the kingdom and God reigning.

19.7 let us rejoice and be glad. Possibly draws on Ps 118.24, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it”. In the psalm that “day” was the day of rejoicing made possible by the Lord’s deliverance (“salvation”, v 14, 21) and victory for his people. Immediately before v 24 the psalm celebrates, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone (ESV, cornerstone)”, a verse that Jesus ap-plied to himself (Mt 21.42 et al). In Revelation 19, the day of rejoicing is either the day of the Lord’s reign being consummated (v 6) or the day of the marriage of the Lamb (v 7).

But John may also have had in mind Jesus’ words in Mt 5.11f, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you . . . Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven”. The saints had been persecuted and reviled by Babylon and the beast, but Babylon had now been destroyed and the beast and his armies were about to be confronted by the returning Christ and annihilated (Rev 19.11-21). Also the saints were about to receive their reward as the Lamb’s bride (the rest of v 7).

19.7 give him glory. Lit. “give the glory to him”28 , as opposed to in any sense as-suming that this is anyone else’s doing, such as the faithful saints / martyrs. For what specifically do the great multitude give the glory to God? Perhaps for his reign now about to reach its consummation, and/or for the coming wedding of the Lamb (see “for” that introduces the next part of the verse), but it may also reach back and include the Lord’s overthrow of Babylon.

The phrase may draw on 1 Chr 16.28 (“Ascribe to the Lord, O families of na-tions . . glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name”). 1 Chr 16.7-36, in its context, is a psalm of thanksgiving by David commissioned when he brought the ark (the symbol of God’ reigning presence among his people) into Jerusalem. Much of this psalm has themes that are relevant to the deliverance cele-brated in Rev 19.1-8. Note especially 1 Chr 16.31, “let them say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns’”, or, “has become king” - the Hebrew verb is in the perfect tense; compare Rev 19.6 (see note there and at 11.17).

19.7 his bride. Lit. “his woman”, the same Greek word as “woman” in 17.3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 18. The Greek word can mean “woman” or “wife”, depending on the context. Note that this woman is the Lamb’s; the other woman belonged to whoever would be enticed into intimacy with her (see 17.2; 18.3, 9; 19.2).

19.7, the marriage of the Lamb 29. In stark contrast to the harlot activities of Baby-lon and the inhabitants of the world (see the contrast in the note on 17.6 between the Bride of Christ and “the great harlot”). The two are mutually exclusive: the marriage to the Lamb cannot be consummated until the harlot is no more. See how love of the world is incompatible with the love of God, Jas 4.4; 1 Jn 2.15.For a wedding to express the intimate relationship between God and his people, see:

28 The Greek has the definite article, “the glory”, unlike the other occurrences of “give glory to” God, at 11.13 (see note); 14.7; 16.9, where they are linked with fear or repentance and from their contexts have a rather different sense than in 19.7. See also 15.4 where “bring glory to” is a verb from the same Greek root.29 the Lamb (name for Christ), 5.6. The Greek phrase here translated, “the marriage of the Lamb” is repeated at v 9: “the supper of the marriage of the Lamb” (literal translation).

Isa 54.5-7, “for your Maker is your husband . . The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit . .”. Also 62.4f; 50.1Hos 2.16-19 (on Israel’s restoration to the Lord) “On that day you will call me my husband . . . I will betroth you to me for ever . . and you will know the Lord”. Hosea was instructed to take a wife from harlotry and then to accept her back as an acted parable as to the Lord’s relationship; with his people.

The theme is taken up in the NT to describe our relationship to Christ: Mt 22.2-14, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a mar-riage feast for his son”. Told by Jesus to confront the Jewish leaders with the way they were rejecting Him and God’s will for them, no doubt pick-ing up on the OT background above.Mt 9.15, Jesus described himself in a parable as the bridegroom and his disciples as “sons of the bridegroom”, a Hebrew idiom meaning guests of the bridegroom (as NIV).Jn 3.29 (John the Baptist about Jesus the Messiah and people flocking to him for baptism). “He who has the bride is the bridegroom . . .”Mt 25.1-13, the Kingdom of Heaven is likened to 10 virgins waiting for the bridegroom to appear, so they can go in with him to the wedding feast.2 Cor 11.2 (Paul to his converts) “I betrothed you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him”.Eph 5.31f, Paul, in teaching about husbands loving their wives “as Christ loved the Church”, applies Gen 2.24 about a man cleaving to his wife and they become one flesh to Christ and to the Church.Rev 22.17, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come””.

See also the picture in the OT of the reign of God as a great feast – the Messianic Banquet – which may also be a source for this part of Revelation. Consider:

Isa 25.6, “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples . . .”.

It was in popular Jewish theology in Jesus’ day: see Lk 14.15 and Jesus’ answer in the Parable of the great banquet. See also Mt 8.11; 26.29; Lk 13.29; 22.16. Rev 19.17f may allude to this belief.

Significance? –· Christ at his 2 nd coming (described in Rev 19.11-16) returns for his bride –

which includes not only the Church (all who have believed in Christ) but all the OT believers in the Lord. This consummates the spiritual union between Christ and his Church (see 1 Cor 6.17). This consummated state is described later in Rev 21.2 (also 21.9) as “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”. On Christ’s return the saints receive their resurrected bodies (1 Th 4.13-17; see the notes on 20.4ff); so the bride will be the resurrected saints. See the cry of longing and anticipation at Rev 22.17, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come’”.

· However, pretribulational premillennialists 30 see a distinction between the bride – the heavenly Church, Christ’s body, whose marriage to Christ is cele-brated in Rev 19.7 – and the guests who are invited to the wedding feast (Rev 19.9: see also Mt 22.3-14 & 25.1-13). The bride they hold to be the church –

30 See PWMI Mag May 2011 pp 4f for this view

all who have believed and trusted in Christ since Pentecost until the Rapture (1 Th 4.14-17), which they hold will take place before the start of the tribulation period 31 which is the focus of Rev 6-19. They interpret “those invited” to be a different group. Scott holds that they are the OT saints, based on John the Baptist calling himself “the friend of the bridegroom, Jn 3.29. They cannot, on his reckoning, include those martyred during the tribulation period as they are not raised to life till after the marriage. Others hold that “those invited” consist of the earthly Israel who have returned to the Lord and restored their OT wife/husband status with him on this earth, together with those Gentiles who turn to Christ during the period of the Tribulation after the Rapture. They all argue that a wife divorced can never be a virgin; therefore not Israel but the church is the bride of the Lamb (see 2 Cor 11.2). However, Isa 50.1; 54.1-6 & Jer 3.8 suggest it was only with the Northern Kingdom that God made a di-vorce. With Judah, who became the people of Israel in God’s sight, he left her, just as they left him by their idolatry, but promised to bring her back. I think therefore that this distinction that those who hold this view make be-tween the bride and the guests seems unlikely. The passages about guests are both parables by Jesus to make a sharp point about missing out on His king-dom: it can miss the point to press every detail in a parable. See the note on 19.9.

19.7, his bride has made herself ready. See also 21.2. May draw on:Isa 61.10, “he has clothed me with garments of salvation . . . and as a bride adorns herself with jewels”.

19.8 Fine linen . . was given 32 her to wear. OR as ESV, “It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen . . .”. This brings out the parallels with the oft-repeated phrase, “it was given” describing God’s sovereignty over the evil actions of mankind and Satan’s agents. The phrase was last seen in ch 13 (see the note at 13.5).

Johnson sees the phrase as conveying that the bride’s gown of righteous deeds is her groom’s gift of grace to her, and compares 6.11. But we have to hold this in tension with the rest of 19.8 which explains that this clothing is “the righteous acts of the saints” (see the note below).

The fine linen, bright and clean. OR, “bright and pure” (ESV). May draw on:Ez 44.17, where the priests in the restored temple are to wear only linen when doing their duties in the temple. The same was true of the priests in the Tabernacle, Ex 28.42; Lev 6.10;Zech 3.4, Joshua the high priest in Zechariah’s vision having his filthy clothes taken off him, representing the removal of his sin, and putting rich garments on him.Isa 61.10 - see the previous note.

The contrast with the purple and scarlet clothing and jewellery of the great harlot Babylon is stark (17.4).

19.8 Fine linen stands for the righteous acts 33 of the saints. “Stands for” is liter-ally, “is”.

31 tribulation, 1.932 sovereignty of God: “it was given”, 6.233 righteous (of God and of men), 15.3

Significance? –· Are the clothes the garments of salvation, the same as the white clothing of

Rev 3.4f et al 34? But the white clothing is given the saints 35. Here the fine linen is part of the bride making herself ready, though it was also “granted her” by God (19.8).

· They are heavenly dress, as worn by the angels . See 15.6 and notes there, though it is a different Gk word for “linen”. See also 19.14 where the same word for “linen” is used as in 19.8 (but saints rather than angels may be meant at 19.14: see note below). This would signify that the bride was suitably dressed for her heavenly role.

· They are the bride’s reward for her righteous acts 36, for enduring to the end in faith and being Christ’s faithful witnesses. See especially 12.10f which im-plies that the casting out of heaven of Satan the accuser is the result of the saints overcoming him “by the blood of the Lamb” and their faithful witness even unto death (see the notes on the passage). We see now that the trials and tribulation 37 that are the subject of ch 14-19 have, in fact, been essential in en-abling the saints to become the glorious bride of their Lord, a “helper suitable for him” (Gen 2.18, of the woman God created for the man).

19.9 38

19.9 those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb 39. Jesus in his parables made reference on various occasions to the practice in his day of inviting guests to the wedding feast that accompanied the wedding:

Mt 22.1-14. In the parable, those initially invited make excuses and do not come, so the king commands his servants to scour the highways and byways and bring in all they could find. Jesus is either confronting the religious Jews of his day with their failure to accept him and enter God’s kingdom, or is warning of God’s imminent turning away from the Jews and welcoming of the Gentiles who accept the gospel message into his kingdom (Mt 21.33-43)Lk 14.15-22. This parable is similar to Mt 22.1-14, but the banquet is not named as a wedding feast. Jesus draws on the Jewish belief in the great Mes-sianic banquet that will inaugurate the Kingdom of God (see the notes on Rev 19.7). Jesus in this parable and its context in Luke does not specify which group of people he is warning will decline God’s invitation. See Mt 22.1-14 for the most likely interpretations.Lk 14.7-11. Jesus used the practice of inviting guests to a wedding feast and each choosing where to sit to make the point about humbling yourself so God will exalt you.

Are those invited a separate group from the bride of the Lamb? Pretribulational pre-millennialists argue that they are a separate group - see the notes on 19.7 (“the mar-riage of the Lamb”). But imagery in apocalyptic is fluid and develops. It is quite conceivable that the imagery shifts from a wedding, the groom and his bride (v 7) to a wedding feast and the invited guests. In this view (which I share), there is no diffi-

34 white garments, 3.435 saints, 5.836 Rewards of the saints, Rev 20.11-15 reviewed37 tribulation, 1.938 write, 1.11; 7 blessings, 1.339 the Lamb (name for Christ), 5.6. See the footnote at 19.7 on “the marriage of the Lamb”.

culty in seeing the resurrected saints as both the bride and the guests. There is a simi-lar difficulty with the parable of the ten virgins who go out to meet the bridegroom in Mt 25.1-13. If the wedding imagery is followed strictly, they must be a separate group from the bride. But Jesus’ interpretation (Mt 25.13) applies the parable to all his disciples who are urged to be ready for his return and who, we know from other scriptures (see the notes on 19.7), will be the bride.

It is possible that in those who are invited we have an implied reference to the people of Israel, the Jews, as may be the case in places earlier in ch 19 (see the notes at various places). Whereas the Jews in Jesus’ day would, Jesus warned, de-cline the invitation, now the invitation is extended to them again and (we assume) they will accept it.

19.9 These are the true words of God. There is a similar angelic statement at 22.6 and by God himself at 21.5. It is not made clear whether these refers to the immedi-ately preceding words by the angel, or extends to what John has heard earlier in the visionary experiences that gave him Revelation.

19.10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him 40. . . John will do the same at 22.8 and receive a rebuke similar to the one given here. As here, it will be after hearing the an-gel’s 41 assurance that these are the true words of God and after hearing a “Blessed are . .” promise. For another prohibition of the worship of angels, see Col 2.18 (though a different word for “worship” is used there).

There is a similar description at Acts 10.25 where the Gentile Cornelius when the Apostle Peter came by invitation to his house “fell down at his feet and worshiped him” (ESV, which brings out the similaity of the Greek with Rev 19.10). There Peter quickly corrected him and raised him to his feet.

19.10 42

19.10 For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy 43. How we understand this phrase hinges on how we understand “of” in “the testimony of Jesus” 44. We have a similar difficulty in 1.2 – see note there. The alternatives appear to be:

· the spirit of all true prophecy is testifying to Jesus, i.e. who he is and what he has done and the implications of these truths for us and for our hearers (see 1 Cor 12.3);

· (Hendriksen) the spirit or inner content of all true prophecy is the testimony which Jesus revealed to us.

Summary of Revelation 19.11-21.1.19.11-21. The straightforward interpretation is that this passage describes the 2 nd com - ing of Christ , announced first in 1.7, repeated in 16.14, 16 where John describes the gathering of the Beast’s and the kings of the earth’s armies for the battle on the great day of God Almighty, and then looked back on at the end of the book (22.7, 12, 20) as the Christians’ hope and encouragement to stay faithful. The gathering for that battle

40 fall down and worship, 1.1741 angels, 1.142 servants - believers in Jesus, 7.343 prophets, 10.7 and 22.9; Holy Spirit, 2.744 testify / bear witness, 1.2. The testimony of Jesus, 1.2

was left hanging, as it were, at 16.16; the war or battle against the Lamb was referred to at 17.14. Now John picks it up and explains what it means and what he saw will happen.And I saw in 19.11 is the first of 8 repetitions of this phrase: in 19.17; 19.19; 20.1; 20.4; 20.11; 20.12; 21.1 (7 if we regard 20.12 as linked with 20.11). Unfortunately, the NIV’s translation does not bring out this sequence. The phrase “and I saw” occurs at various places earlier in Revelation, but never in a sequence like this. Pawson has pointed out that this should lead us to regard the visions and what they describe as a logical sequence (obscured by the later breaking of Revelation into chapters) with links within it to earlier parts of the sequence. A straight reading of this section of Revelation indicates that Christ’s second coming and defeat of the Beast’s and the kings’ armies (21.11-21) is followed by the binding of Satan (20.1-3), a 1,000 year reign of resurrected martyrs (20.4-6); then at the end of the 1,000 years, the release of Satan and another deceiving of the nations and a gathering of them to battle against the saints, which God supernaturally defeats (20.7-9); then Satan is cast into the lake of fire (20.10) where the Beast and False Prophet were cast in 19.20; then comes the resurrection of all the dead, the great white throne judgement and the lake of fire for those not in the book of life (20.11-15); then the end of death and Hades (20.14) and the new heaven and earth (21.1) with the new Jerusalem descending from heaven and God dwelling with men.

Rev 20 could be summarised as follows 45. Believers, Jew and Gentile, will reign with Christ over their countrymen. The vacuum left by the sudden end of the Antichrist’s (the Beast’s) one-world government will be filled by Christ’s universal reign. But despite the best government ever seen on earth and ideal conditions, with the Devil imprisoned and out of the way, many will want to opt out of this kingdom. They will be persuaded by the Devil at the end of the 1,000 years to rebel. Their at-tack on Jerusalem will be destroyed by fire from heaven. Man’s continued rebellion despite perfect conditions on earth prepares the way for the Day of Judgment.

This straightforward understanding of 19.11 onwards has caused a problem for many Christians:

· Nowhere else in the Bible than in Rev 20 is there a reign of Christ lasting 1,000 years, though many OT prophecies describe Israel’s glorious restoration, and some have their ideal Davidic king ruling over them 46.

· Some scriptures appear to show the great events of the future – the resurrec-tion of the dead, the last judgment and destruction of the wicked, the consum-mated kingdom and the new heavens and earth - as synchronising and occur-ring at the Lord’s coming, with no room for a millennium reign. 2 Peter 3.7-13 on the day of judgment, the coming of the day of the Lord, the dissolution of the current earth and heavens and a new heavens and earth appears to leave no room for an intervening 1,000 year reign of the saints 47.

· Some scriptures appear to show only one judgment and only one resurrection – of the righteous (the saints) and the unrighteous at the same time (for the ref-erences, see the note on 20.5, “the first resurrection” including discussion there);

45 This paragraph is a summary from the first part of David Pawson’s book, “When Jesus Re-turns”, Hodder & Stoughton 1995. He sets out 5 reasons why Christ will return physically to the earth, and his saints with him. The fourth of these is, to command the world.46 For example, Isa 9.2-7; 11.1-5; Ez 37.15-2847 but see the detailed discussion on interpreting 2 P 3.7-13 at the end of the notes on judg-ment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed” for other ways of interpreting the passage.

· The OT Prophets, as quoted in the NT, contain indications that point to a spiri-tual fulfilment of prophecies about the future of Israel and the Kingdom of God. A millennial reign, it is argued, should therefore be understood spiritu-ally, not literally as a reign by resurrected saints with Christ on the earth;

· A glorified Christ personally returning to this earth and exercising a political rule from some particular place on earth (Jerusalem) is for some an inconceiv-able mixing of the temporal and the eternal;

· How can part of the old earth and of sinful humanity exist alongside a part of the new earth and a humanity that is glorified? Specifically, how can the glori-fied Lord of Glory establish his throne on a not-yet-renewed earth? And how can glorified saints in resurrected bodies live in this sin-laden atmosphere and amid scenes of death and decay and have fellowship in the flesh with mortal sinners? (Yet this is precisely what Jesus did for 40 days following his resur-rection.)

It is for these and other reasons that many Christians from St Augustine onwards have developed an amillennial or postmillennial understanding of this section of Revelation - see my notes on how do we understand Rev 20 in the Introduction; also the note be-low on 20.4, “they reigned with Christ for a 1,000 years”. This has been accompanied by the belief that Israel - the Jews - forfeited their position as the people of God when as a whole they rejected their Messiah at his first coming and that all the promises to them, including of a restored Israel, are fulfilled in the Church. I am convinced, how-ever, that there is no good reason, from the OT and NT, to depart from the straightfor-ward interpretation of Rev 19.11 to 21.1 outlined above - called the Classical Premil-lennialist position, in recognition that it was the way the first Church leaders after the Apostles understood Christ’s second coming and the last things. For the detailed ar-guments, see the Commentary that follows 48.

What are the implications for us who believe in Christ from 19.11-21? I suggest that it is that this current chaotic and frightening age, with all its injustice and suffering, its insoluble problems and dilemmas, and increasingly its opposition to and persecution of Christians, will not stagger on and on. It will come to an end. But that end will not be a world so polluted and defiled that it cannot support human life; nor will it be a world destroyed by a nuclear holocaust and resulting fallout that none can survive for long. It will be brought to an end by God himself through the perfect man who is also His Son returning to reign as its King. This earth, this world, has in fact a glorious fu-ture, which will be revealed in the rest of Revelation. All God’s promises about the Messiah, the ideal Davidic king, will be fulfilled, not in some metaphorical way but just as literally as those promises about his first coming were fulfilled. God has a glo-rious future for mankind - but it is on his terms, not theirs. SO, we should live in these difficult days with this certainty in our hearts, and do our utmost to hasten the day of Christ’s return (2 P 3.12) by completing the task that only we can do and which must be done before the end can come - which is to proclaim the good news of his kingdom throughout all the world as a testimony to all nation (Mt 24.14).

48 Classical Premillennialism is a term that David Pawson uses in his writings, and Dennis Johnson in the ESV Study Bible’s notes on Revelation, to distinguish this interpretation from the Premillennialist position generally described in books on prophecy in the 20th Century and later. That position is more precisely known as “Pretribulational Premillennialism”, indicating that its key tenet is that Christ comes before the millennium and BEFORE the period of final tribulation. This differs substantially from the Classical Premillennialist position. See the sec-tions in the Introduction, “How should we interpret the physical & material promises to Israel?”

19.11 heaven opened. Compare 4.1, “behold, a door standing open in heaven”. But there John is commanded to “Come up here” and be shown what was to take place. In 19.11 it is implied that John sees in the opened heaven the rider on the white horse and that he comes onto the earth followed by the heavenly armies. This then allows what John sees and records in the rest of ch 19 to take place on the earth, which is the most natural way of understanding these verses.

The phrase may draw on the opening verse of Ezekiel, “the heavens were opened and I was visions of God”. The first vision that the prophet saw was the char-iot-throne of God. In Rev 19.11 the first thing John sees is Christ, the word of God, returning to earth. Compare the other occasions when people in the NT saw heaven opened:

Mt 3.16, when Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending on him as a dove. See also the parallel accounts in Mark, Luke and John. The account in John 1.33 sug-gests it was John the Baptist who saw the Spirit descending on him.Jn 1.51, Jesus after Nathaniel declares to him that he is the son of God and the king of Israel, replies that “you (plural) will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man”. This refers to Gen 28.12 and the dream given Jacob of a stairway or ladder resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven. It is not clear just what experience Jesus is referring to by this saying.Acts 7.56, Stephen just before he is martyred gazed into heaven (the sky?) and sees the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right of God.Acts 10.11, Peter in a trance saw heaven opened and a sheet descending filled with all kinds of creatures.

See the Introduction and the section, “What is the Revelation of John?” for the suggestion that John is shown inside the heavenly temple / throne-room at the start of each of the main sections of Revelation.

19.11, a white horse and him who sat on it. Symbolises victorious military con-quest. Note that Christ’s followers are also on white horses, 19.14. Also it is the first of a number of comparisons with the final world ruler (the Beast): compare 6.2, where a white horse features at the opening of the 1st seal, and see note there on what that horse and its rider might symbolise:

He comes from heaven, but the Beast comes from the Abyss (11.7)Many diadems - royal crowns - compared with the dragon’s 7 (12.3) and the Beast’s 10 (13.1). The sovereignty of the world has now passed to Christ (11.15), whose final victory has been demonstrated through his faithful saints (12.11; 15.2) who will reign with him (3.21; 20.4, 6)Faithful and true, compared with the deceptions & lies of the dragon (12.9; 20.3, 8) and the Beast (13.13-15; 19.20)In righteousness 49, compared with the blasphemous words of the Beast (13.5) and his Satanic purposes (implied in 13.2, 4)He makes war, as did the Dragon (12.7) and the Beast (11.7; 13.7)He is God – eyes of blazing fire . . the Word of God, compared with the Beast’s blasphemous claims to deity and worship (13.5, 8, 12f)

49 literal translation, as ESV. NIV has, “with justice”. See the note on “righteous” at 15.3.

Out of his mouth issues a sharp sword, compared with the lies and un-clean/demonic spirits (16.13f)with which to strike down the nations, as did the Beast in 13.4, but not in the cause of righteousnessClad in a robe dipped in blood, compared with fiery red Dragon (12.3) and the scarlet Beast (17.3)The fury of the wrath of God, compared with the anger of the Dragon (12.l7).The name, King of kings and Lord of lords, compared with the Beast full of blasphemous names (17.3)The armies in heaven followed him, compared with the armies of this world following the Beast (19.9).

19.11, is called Faithful and True 50. Some manuscripts do not have, “is called”. The capitals are not there in the Greek text. Compare the descriptions of Christ in:

1.5, “the witness, the faithful (one)” 51

3.14, “the witness, the faithful and true (one)”3.7, “the holy (one), the true (one)”

See also the cry of the martyrs in 6.10 to God, addressing him as, “Sovereign Lord, the holy and true (one)”. Compare also 1 Jn 5.20 where the Son of God is described as, “the true (one)”. (Johnson) the titles identify the rider as Jesus, the faithful and true witness. Or, rather than referring to Christ’s faithfulness and truth as a witness, perhaps the thought in Rev 19.11 is of his faithfulness to his promise to return. In 21.5 and 22.6 God declares that the words John hears and (21.5) is to write down are “trustworthy and true”. “Trustworthy” translates the same Greek adjective as Faith-ful here.

However, it may be that we should look to the OT for the thought here. In He-brew, one of the words translated “faithfulness” is ‘emunah’, which in some contexts is better translated as “truth”. The word is found in Isa 11.4 in the description of the coming ideal Davidic king: “righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness (OR truth) the sash round his waist”. Isa 11.4f may be one of the verses on which the next phrase in Rev 19.11 draws (see the next note) and it is certainly the source of the im-agery in vv 15 and 21.

It is also possible that John is thinking of Ps 33, particularly as the returning Christ is called “the Word of God” in v 13. See v 4 of the psalm: “For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice . . .”. This resonates with much of Rev 19.11 and also with “the Word of God” in v 13. The conclusion of Ps 33, “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield”, would also be relevant to the saints’ longing Christ to return - a longing expressed in Rev 22.17 & 20.

19.11, in righteousness he judges and makes war 52. The hope of the OT regarding the Lord’s reign over the world - Ps 9.8; 96.13; 98.9 - and the ideal king - Ps 72.2; Isa 11.4f (drawn on by John in 19.15 & 21 also in describing the sword issuing from his mouth with which he strikes the nations). (Scott) this is the day Paul proclaimed in Acts 17.3, “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from

50 faithful unto death, 2.1051 faithful witness, 1.552 Righteous (of God and of men), 15.3; war, 13.7

the dead”. In the OT, “judge” could be practically synonymous with “rule”, as a king carried out both functions, as in Isa 11.1-5.

However, of the verses referred to here, note that none contain the imagery of makes war, though Isa 11.4f (“strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked”) might so be interpreted. As often in Reve-lation, John adapts slightly his source material to describe what he is seeing.

The phrase introduces a concept to which John will deal more fully later in ch 19. Judges is picked up by the treading the winepress imagery of v 15 (see note there); makes war by the battle described in vv 19ff and possibly by v 15, “. . . a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations”.

19.12, his eyes as a flame of fire 53. See note on 1.14. (Johnson) the description identifies the rider as the Son of Man whom John saw in 1.13-16. There he was walk-ing among his churches (see 2.1), but now he is returning to earth as King of kings.

19.12 54

19.12 a name written on him the no-one knows but he himself. This must be a dif-ferent name from “the Word of God” or “King of kings and Lord of lords” (v 16), as these are openly recorded by John. Perhaps it is, “the name that is above every name” (Phil 2.9) that God has given the resurrected and exalted Christ Jesus. That name is not explicitly stated, but its effect is “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . .”. The expression in Rev 19.12 is similar to 2.17 55, where the overcoming saint will be given, “a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it”. See the note there on what this mysterious expression might mean.

19.13, dressed in a robe dipped in blood 56. Some manuscripts have, “a robe sprin-kled with blood”. Contrast the army following him, “dressed in fine linen, white and clean”. In this vision it is Christ alone that does the killing of his enemies with the sword from his mouth, not the army following him.The whole passage draws on:

Isa 63.1-3 where God saves and takes vengeance for his people by tram-pling the nations in his anger, using the imagery of treading the winepress. His garments are stained red with the blood of his enemies, like the grape-juice that spattered the garments of the winepress-treader. John in 19.15 uses the treading the winepress metaphor.Joel 3.1-16, (as with Isa 63, drawn on already by John in 14.15-20) where the Lord gathers all the nations, brings them down to the valley of Je-hoshaphat (“The Lord judges”) and enters into judgment with them for scattering his people Israel and dividing up their land,, using the figures of the harvest and the winepress.

We have seen the treading the winepress imagery earlier in Revelation, in 14.19f. See my notes there on its significance.Significance of the blood? –

53 fire, 1.1454 crown, 2.1055 new name, 2.1756 blood, 1.5

· It anticipates 19.15 & 21 and is the blood of those who oppose the Lord – the result of the slaughter of 19.21. I.e. the same significance as in Isa 63. Scott: it is a token that righteous vengeance will be meted out.

· It is the blood of Christ shed to atone for sin. This brings out the contrast with his first coming – and picks up a theme in John’s introduction (1.5), “to him who freed us from our sins by his blood”. It explains how the King has his robe stained before the battle commences. The King’s blood shed robe con-trasts with the saints coming out of the great tribulation who have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (7.14)

· (Caird) It is the blood of the martyrs. See on 19.15 and his interpretation of 14.18f (my notes there).

· some hold that Isa 63.1-3 with 34.6 57 (in particular 63.1, “coming from Edom, from Bozrah”) will be fulfilled by the Lord first going to Petra to deliver the Jewish remnant hiding there. It is therefore the blood of his enemies whom he has destroyed there.

19.13 the Word of God. This recalls John’s description of Christ’s incarnation in Jn 1.1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. God accomplished creation through his spoken word (see Gen 1; Ps 33.5f, this psalm possibly being in John’s mind from v 11). Just as the Word of God brought about the earth’s creation (2 P 3.5), here he brings about its restoration from the wickedness of men. The Word of God is both the second Person of the Trinity and a dynamic force - the Word spoken by God and active in accomplishing his purposes.

(Johnson) the Word of God conveys that he is the greatest revelation of the Fa-ther (Jn 1.14; Heb 1.1f). But the description of the returning Christ in vv 11-15 is similar in many respects to the description of the Word of God in Heb 4.12f . There we have described the word of God given verbally, dynamic and active in accom-plishing his purposes.

19.14, the armies of heaven. Referred to in v 19 where they are contrasted with the beast and the kings of the earth’s armies. Who are they? –

· the angelic host : see Dt 33.2 (the Lord “came with (lit. “from”) myriads of holy ones” to give the law); Ps 68.17 (“the chariots of God are tens of thou-sands and thousands of thousands); Zech 14.5, “then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him” (OR are these believers?); Joel 3.11, “bring down your warriors, O Lord” (the context in Joel is the gathering of all nations against Jerusalem but actually for judgment and destruction, symbol-ised by treading the winepress - the symbolism used in Rev 19.15). Their dress of fine linen white and clean is the dress of angels - see 15.6 and note there; also the note at 19.8 58.

· believers : their riding on white horses, like their leader (v 11), shows that they share his victory: they are “the overcomers" 59(Johnson). See also 17.14 (and note there) where John is told that the Lamb will overcome the 10 kings with the Beast when they make war on Him because He is Lord of lords and king of kings and “those with him (i.e. the saints) are called and chosen and faithful”. Their dress of fine linen white and clean is meant to recall the

57 Isaiah 34 prophecy of judgment and destruction, 6.13. This possibility is indicated at the end of Annex 5.58 white garments, 3.459 the overcomer, 2.7

Lamb’s bride in 19.8. Note that Daniel appears in 8.10 to mean godly Jews by “the host of the heavens”, though the image here may be of the host of stars rather than a military host. But armies seems a strange way of describing the resurrected saints.

There are similar descriptions of Christ’s return in:Mt 25.31, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him”.2 Th 1.7: “revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels”1 Th 3.13, “at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” (lit. “holy ones”, i.e. believers? OR angels?). Jd 14, “Behold, the Lord came in his holy myriads”

This may be the occasion when the saints still alive who have been snatched from this earth by Christ at his coming “to meet him in the air” (the rapture: see 1 Th 4.13-17; Mt 24.31), together with all the saints down the ages who now with them receive their resurrection bodies (1 Cor 15.52), return with Christ to the earth to take part in the Millennial reign (as in 20.4, 6 and note in that section). Note 1 Th 4.14, “through Je-sus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep”. Pretribulational premil-lennialists, however, hold that the saints were raptured (snatched from this earth) at least 7 years previously, before the events prophesied in ch 6-19, are in heaven with their Lord during this period, and are shown here as returning to earth with him to-gether with the saints from the OT era. Pearce suggests from 16.15 that the rapture of the saints will have occurred after the world’s powers build up their armaments for Armageddon (16. 14), but before the attack on Palestine that he thinks will fulfil 16.16 60.

19.15, from his mouth issues a sharp sword 61. This is the second facet of the de-scription of the rider on the white horse that identifies him with the Son of Man whom John saw in 1.13-16. It is by his command – He is the Word of God, 19.13 - that he strikes down his enemies, as in 2 Th 2.8 (of His destruction of “the man of lawless-ness”).

Pearce (see his interpretation of “the sharp sword” 1.16) sees this as symbolis-ing that Christ on his return to reign will deal with those who have rejected salvation (made available to them in the words of the Gospels and Epistles that have come forth from his mouth) and are therefore lost, because they were willingly deceived (19.20) by unbelief (represented by the beast) and by false religion (represented by the false prophet).

19.15, with which to strike the nations 62, and he himself will shepherd 63 them with an iron rod. See note on 2.27; also 12.5. The imagery may be of a shepherd’s club 64 rather than a royal sceptre. The Ps 2.9 concept 65 is here combined with Isa 11.4, where the Messiah “will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked”, in the context of him judging and defend-ing the poor and needy as the ideal righteous king 66 was seen as doing. These de-

60 For Pearce’s argument, see the note on 19..15, “Behold, I am coming as a thief”.61 sharp, double-edged sword, 1.1662 the nations, 21.2463 a literal translation is given here.64 From Johnson’s note on 12.565 Psalm 2 expounded, 1.566 kingdom, 12.10

scriptions of the Messiah will be fulfilled in his millennial reign with the saints, as 2.27 makes clear, not primarily in him striking down those who oppose him at his coming.

19.15, he treads the winepress of the wine 67 of the fury of the wrath of God 68. As John saw before and recorded in 14.19f (see notes there). this appears to describe God’s wrathful judgment on those who oppose Christ to the last. It combines the metaphor for judgment of the cup of wrath (see 14.8 & 10 and notes) with the wine-press metaphor and may have the same significance as in Isa 63 1-3 and Joel 3.13. John adds “wine” in 19.15 to the winepress description – compare the Gk with 14.19. Indeed, Isa 63.6 also combines the cup of God’s wrath which he makes his enemies drink with the winepress of their judgment. But see notes on 14.18 there for other possible interpretations.

Therefore there appear to be 3 options for the interpretation of this part of 19.15:

· The treading of the winepress is the battle of 19.19-21, in which all those in the beast’s armies are killed and the Beast and the False Prophet are thrown into the lake of fire. This is in line with Isa 63.1-3, which applies the imagery to the Lord coming forth to save his people

· It refers to the martyrdom of the saints (so Caird: see the notes on 14.19f)· It is Christ’s judgment of all mankind still alive on the earth when he returns,

described in terms of separating sheep from goats in Mt 25.31-46 69. Its func-tion seems to be to determine who will enter the millennial kingdom (the 1,000 reign of Christ with his resurrected saints described in Rev 20. A literal understanding of the millennial kingdom ruled by the saints requires the na-tions to populate it – and eventually to rebel: see 20.8 (for a full discussion, see the notes at 20.6, “They will be priests . . .”, and the second part of Annex 3).

I think the last option is the right one, perhaps combined with first option. I assume that all those who have worshipped the beast and received the beast’s mark of alle-giance 70 will perish under the wrath of God at this point, in fulfilment of the dire warning at 14.10. Note that the final destiny of “the goats” is, “the eternal fire pre-pared for the devil and his angels”, also referred to as, “eternal punishment” (Mt 25.41, 46). This sounds very similar to the lake of fire and the destiny of the beast’s worshippers described in 14.10 and 19.20. That the millennial kingdom will contain “the nations” (20.8) as well as the resurrected saints means that there will be some who, though not among the saints, will not have worshipped and given allegiance to the beast and received this mark, despite the coercion described in 13.12-17.

19.15 71

67 Wine of God’s wrath, 14.1068 wrath of God, 6.16f; Isaiah 34 prophecy of judgment and destruction, 6.1369 For the various judgments in Revelation and the rest of the NT, see “Rev 20.11-15 re-viewed” at the end of the notes on ch 20.70 see 13.16; 14.9ff; 16.2; 19.2071 Lord God Almighty, 11.17

19.16, King of kings 72, and Lord of lords. Fulfils the angel’s explanation in 17.14: see note there. Christ is the supreme sovereign, as witnessed by his return to reign on earth. On his thigh the name written. (Scott) normally the sword would be on the thigh, as in Ps 45.3 (“Gird thy sword upon thy thigh”, ASV). But with Christ the King of kings it is his name, his pre-eminent dignity. His sword is in his mouth.

19.17 an angel . . who cried in a loud voice 73. The Greek has, “one angel”, perhaps because John regarded the armies of heaven in v 14 as made up of angels.

The significance of standing in the sun is not clear.

19.17, he cried . . to all the birds . . Come, gather together for the great feast of God. Fulfilled in the description in 19.21. This gory feast is intended to contrast with the wedding supper (same Gk word) of the Lamb and those summoned to that in 19.9. Presumably these are scavenging birds always on the look-out for carrion. Flying in mid-air: this expression has occurred previously of an eagle with a message of woe (8.13) and of an angel with the message of the eternal gospel to proclaim to the earth’s inhabitants (14.6).

The imagery of this passage draws on:Dt 28.26 (so Johnson), one of the covenant curses. But they are a warning to God’s chosen people if they turn from following and obeying him.Ez 39.4, 17-20, the description of the divine slaughter of the armies of Gog, who (Ez 38) will gather a great army from many nations to attack the unsuspecting and peaceful people of God who have been gathered from all lands and restored to their own land 74. Ez 32.4, a prophecy of the slaughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, using the metaphor of the sea monster pulled out of the Nile and thrown onto the land where the birds gorge themselves on the carcass. See notes on Rev 12.2 & 13.1 where John may be drawing on the Canaanite myth of the sea monster (see on 4.6) as a metaphor to describe Satan as the dragon and the final world ruler as the Beast.

However, John has added his own elements when he includes kings and the flesh of all free and enslaved men, and small and great 75. We are, perhaps, to call to mind their earlier occurrences in Revelation, particularly:

16.14 & 16 where the demonic spirits gather the kings of the whole earth to Armageddon17.12-14 where the angel explains about the 10 kings who surrender their authority to the Beast and make war on the Lamb. 6.15 where all these categories of men except “small & great” hid them-selves in terror from the wrath of the Lamb at the opening of the 6th seal and the worldwide earthquakes., “because the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand?”.13.16 where “small and great . . free men and slaves” receive the Beast’s mark, symbolising where their allegiance lies.

72 kingdom, 12.10.73 angels, 1.1; voice from heaven, 16.174 though the Gog prophecy’s fulfilment appears to be at the end of the Millennial reign: see 20.8 and notes there. See the note at 20.8 (“to gather them for the battle”) for the way that those holding an amillennialist interpretation of ch 20 can draw on the similarity between Ezek 39 and 19.17f, 21.75 small and great, 11.18

Johnson holds that the beast’s army, to be consumed as carrion, includes all who serve the beast, in view of the similarity with the 13.16 description. But see the note on 19.21, “The rest were killed . .”, for a different interpretation.

Those who hold an Amillennialist 76 interpretation of Rev 20 can use the de-scription of birds feasting on the battlefield corpses and its origin in the Gog and Ma-gog prophecy in Ez 38-39 to argue that the battle described in 19.17-21 is the same battle as that described in 20.8f when Gog and Magog gather the nations, invade and surround “the encampment of the saints and the beloved city”. They are destroyed by fire from heaven. See the note at 20.8 for this argument.

19.19, the Beast 77 and the kings of the earth and their armies 78 gathered to-gether to wage war with Him sitting on the horse and with his army. “Wage war” is literally, “to make the battle” (Johnson) 79. This is the gathering described in 16.14, “for the battle on the great day of God Almighty” (but see the notes there for other in-terpretations). John a second time refers to this gathering at 17.14, though there he is focusing on the ten kings that are the beast’s partners (see the notes on 17.12-14). By the language he has used, John may intend us here to recall (as in 19.15: see notes above) Ps 2.2 again 80, where “the kings of the earth” 81 gather together against the Lord and his Anointed in opposition to his rule.

War with the Lamb (also referred to in 16.14 and 17.14: see notes there) con-trasts with previous references in Revelation to “waging war” – 11.7; 12.17; 13.7 (and see note at 13.7) - which have had the saints as the target and refer to their persecu-tion. Caird considers that 19.19 too must refer to persecution of the saints, rather than the more literal interpretation I have set out here.

For a discussion on how this battle fits with the many other prophecies in the OT of battles at the end of the age when the nations’ armies are destroyed, see the notes on 16.14 and 16.16.

19.20, the Beast was seized and with him the False Prophet 82 . . . and thrown into the lake of fire 83. Fulfils Dn 7.11 and the destruction of the 4th beast, where the lan-guage is very similar. This leads to the saints of the Most High receiving the kingdom (Dn 7.18, 22, 27), the same sequence as in Revelation: see 20.4-6.Their destruction appears to be referred to elsewhere in the NT in:

2 Th 2.8, “the lawless one . . whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming”.

19.20, the False Prophet 84 who had performed the miraculous signs . . . and wor-shipped his image. This is a summary of the second beast / False Prophet’s activity in 13.11-17 - see the notes there - but it may be meant to encompass his deceiving ac-tivity in 16.13f also 85.

76 See the note at 19.11-21 for this theological position.77 The Beast, 13.178 Isaiah 34 prophecy of judgment and destruction, 6.1379 war, 13.780 Psalm 2 expounded, 1.581 the kings of the earth, 17.2; 21.2482 The False Prophet (the second beast), 13.1183 fire, 1.14; lake of fire (the second death), 14.1084 lies and liars, 21.2785 Satanic deception, 12.9

19.20, on his behalf. Lit. “before him”. ESV, “in its presence”. See the note on 13.12 (“on his behalf”) for the implications.

19.20, those who received the mark of the Beast 86 and those who worship his im-age 87. See 14.9 and note for the consequences of this behaviour.

19.20 the two alive were thrown into the lake of fire. Reminiscent of the fate that befell Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their families when the earth opened and they went down to Sheol alive, whilst fire consumed the 250 followers of Korah, Num 16.26-35; see also Ps 55.15. Their sin was to attack the leadership of Moses and Aaron given them by the Lord and Korah sought to assume the role of priest for him-self and his followers. We can see parallels here to the way the beast and the false prophet will parody the roles of Christ and the Holy Spirit (see the notes at 13.1 and 13.11).

Johnson sees the Beast and the False Prophet, like the Great Prostitute (17.1-6), as representing corrupt human institutions, not merely individuals, which may ex-plain the nature of their destruction here, compared with their followers who are killed (19.21).

Pearce (in his historicist interpretation) holds that the beast symbolises unbe-lief and the false prophet false religion, which are both destroyed by Christ at his sec-ond coming. he also seems to identify the beast as the First Apostacy (symbolised by trumpet warnings 1-4, Rev 8.6-13, and the false prophet as the Second Apostacy (symbolised by trumpet warnings 5-6, Rev ch 9).

19.20, the lake of fire burning with sulphur 88. Has been referred to earlier in Reve-lation: see 14.10 where the punishment of those who worship the Beast and received his mark is described. My note at 14.10 (“will be tormented in fire and sulphur”) de-scribes the OT sources drawn on there. John here also may be alluding to:

Isa 30.33, where “Topheth has long been prepared . . for the king (of As-syria) . . its firepit has been made deep and wide . . the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulphur, sets it ablaze.”The Gehenna of current Jewish theology, referred to by Jesus in Mt 5.22 et al. Originally a cultic shrine where human sacrifices were offered (2 K 16.3; 23.10; Jer 7.31), it became a sort of perpetually burning city refuse dump, and it came to be equated with the “hell” of final judgment in apoc-alyptic writings of the time 89.

The lake of fire is also the final destination of Satan (20.10) and of all those not in the Lamb’s book of life (20.14f; in 21.8 the list of sinful behaviours is set out that means that such people will end up in this awful destination.). Note that all those thrown into the lake of fire are alive (19.20 of the Beast and the false prophet; the dead are resur-rected so that they can first be judged, 20.5, 12). This is not the equivalent of the fu-neral pyre; it is the final place of punishment. See the teaching of Jesus on Gehenna as the alternative to eternal life where the fire is unquenchable (Mk 9.43) and eternal (Mt 18.8). Also the judgment of the returned Son of Man where eternal punishment in

86 the Beast, 13.1; mark of the beast, 13.1687 worship the beast and his image, 13.4.88 Lake of fire (the second death), 14.10; fire 1.1489 Taken from NIV’s notes on 19.20.

the fire prepared for the devil and his angels is the alternative to eternal life and the kingdom of God (Mt 25.34, 41, 46). (See also the note on 20.6, the second death.)

19.21, the rest were killed. Not thrown alive into the lake of fire - the fate of the beast and the False Prophet (v 20). Johnson interprets the rest as meaning all who serve the beast, as the description in v 18 is similar to that in 13.16 of those who re-ceive the beast’s mark. He regards only the Lamb and his followers as surviving this battle (but this is affected by his understanding of the Millennial reign, ch 20). But it is possible to interpret this verse as specifying that those who are in the armies of the kings that assemble to oppose Christ on his return are killed 90. This allows for an indeterminate number of people from the nations survive into the Millennium. See my notes on 19.11-21; on 19.15 (“he treads the winepress”) and notes below on 20.1-10.

19.21 with the sword 91 . . of the rider on the horse. See v 15 and note.

19.21 all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. In fulfilment of the angel’s summoning of them all in vv 17f. See the note there.

90 Isaiah 34 prophecy of judgment and destruction, 6.1391 sharp, double-edged sword, 1.16

$20Summary of Revelation 20. See the Summary of Rev 19.11 - 21.1 for the content of ch 20 and its place in the larger frame of ch 19 to 21. Christ has by now (see 19.11-21) returned to earth with the armies of heaven and destroyed the armies of the kings of the earth that were op-posing him, casting their leader, the beast, and his henchman, the second beast or false prophet into the lake of fire. The first half of ch 20 features a period of 1,000 years of Christ’s reign on earth. This is a wonderful time for the saints and that portion of mankind alive when Christ returns who will be welcomed into his kingdom. We will be completely free from Satan’s malign influence, as he will be imprisoned in the Abyss. Our faith and our suffering for Christ will be vindicated: all the saints from whatever era will be resurrected from death into bodily life on this earth with Christ, and we will reign with him over that portion of mankind (described as, “the nations”) whom Christ will welcome into his kingdom because they had showed kindness to his suffering and persecuted followers (see Mt 25.31-46). We will never fear death again. We will live for ever - in our bodies, imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual, just like Christ’s resurrected body (see 1 Cor 15.42-57). In the responsibilities that Christ gives us in his kingdom we will reap the rewards for faithful and persevering service to Him in our previous life on earth.

But at the end of the 1,000 years, Satan will be released from his prison and will succeed in deceiving and enticing the nations to rebel against the saints’ rule and to take up arms against them, surrounding Jerusalem the capital city. But their armies will be destroyed by fire falling from heaven and Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire - his final end for all eternity. How could the nations rebel, given the wonders of Christ’s kingdom on earth, its peace and prosperity (we can read about it in Isaiah, es-pecially the later chapters)? Because it shows the innate propensity of man, ever since Adam fell, to rebel against God’s rule and seek to go his own way. It only took Satan to be free to deceive them and rebellion flared up - again. And they pay the price of destruction and the loss of all that they had in his kingdom.

Then comes the most sombre part of Revelation: God’s final judgment. All of mankind who has ever lived will then have to give an account. (The saints have al-ready been assessed by Christ at his tribunal on his return and been rewarded, so they will not be judged in the final judgment.) The dead will all be raised to life to stand before His judgment throne. Judgment will be absolutely just - based on the divine record of what each has done. But no-one will be able on the basis of their works to escape punishment; the only way to escape will be through a person’s name being found to be in the Lamb’s book of life. We assume that those of the nations who have trusted in Christ for salvation during his 1,000 year reign will be in that book and so will escape punishment. And the punishment is final and eternal - no hint of purga-tory or second chances: it will be the lake of fire.

So let us co-operate fully with the Holy Spirit in this life, for however long that lasts, to bear witness to Christ and his salvation, that we may save as many as we can - that they with us might enjoy the blessings of Christ’s kingdom, and escape the awful judgment that otherwise awaits them.

20.1 an angel 92 coming down out of heaven. John saw a similar sight at 10.1 and 18.1. See the note at 10.1 for its significance.

92 angels, 1.1

20.1 having the key to the Abyss 93. At 9.1, “a star that had fallen from the sky (OR heaven) to the earth . . was given the key to the shaft (OR pit) of the Abyss”. Whether the star in 9.1 is an angel is not clear (see the notes there). But either way, what both passages have in common is that God has control over the entrance to the Abyss.

20.2, the dragon, the ancient serpent 94. An almost identical list of titles for Satan is found at 12.9, where he is cast out of heaven and into the earth. Note that in 12.9 John adds that Satan “leads astray (OR deceives) the whole world”, a function that is also in 20.3 95.

20.2 96

20.2 for a thousand years 97. This length of time is stated five more times over the next five verses. This gives it enormous emphasis. For its interpretation, see the in-troduction to 19.11-21.1 and the note at 20.4 (“they reigned with Christ for a 1,000 years”). For the use or absence of the definite article with each occurrence, see the note on 20.6.

It is possible that we are to interpret a thousand years as a round number, per-haps meaning a long period of time but with a clear start and finish. Alternatively, it is possible that we are meant to interpret it symbolically, though I can find no occur-rences of “1,000” with a symbolic meaning elsewhere in the Bible. Some interpret its occurrence in 144,000 (7.4 and 14.1, 3) and 12,000 (7.5-8 and 21.16) symbolically: see the notes on these passages.

20.3, Satan thrown into the Abyss 98. It is possible that this imprisonment of Satan (and we assume all his angelic followers and demons 99) is prophesied in Isa 24.21f. See v 22, “they will be shut up in prison and be visited after many days”. The Hebrew

93 Abyss, 9.194 Satan portrayed as a dragon, 12.395 Satanic deception, 12.996 the Devil, 2.10; Satan, 2.1097 The Greek word for “thousand”, χιλιας, plural χιλιαδες and χιλιοι, are used in the NT many times with other numerals. In Revelation it is so used in 5.11 (“thousands of thousands”, ESV); 7.4 and 14.1,3 (144,000); 7.5-8 and 21.16 (12,000), and 11.13 (7,000); 11.3 and 12.6 (1,260); 14.20 (1,600). But “one thousand” on its own only occurs in the NT in 20.2-7 and in 2 P 3.8, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day”. 2 P 3.8 probably draws on Ps 90.4, “a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by”. The context of the saying in 2 Peter is the Lord’s apparent slowness in the day of the Lord coming (2 P 3.10). It is possible to argue that v 8 is justification for the “day of the Lord” in 2 P 3.10 lasting a thousand years - the Millennium period in Rev 20 between the Lord’s coming “like a thief in the night” (19.11-16, referred to in 16.15 as, “I come like a thief”) and the replacement of the first heaven and first earth by a new heaven and a new earth of 21.1, to which 2 P 3.10, 12f refer. For more detail on interpreting 2 P 3 7-13, see the notes on judgment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed”.

“Thousand” in the OT translates the Hebrew and Aramaic noun ‘eleph’. ‘(Eleph’ can also mean a subdivision of a tribe - NIV, “clan” - as in Judg 6.15; 1 Sm 23.23; Mic 5.2. The plural in some contexts means “oxen’. See Isa 30.24; Pr 14.4.) Eleph’ is generally used with other numbers (in verbal form), in singular, dual (“2,000”) and plural forms. The singular on its own (“a thousand”) looks like a round number in Gen 20.16. It is clearly used to indicate an indeterminate but large number in Dt 32.30; Jos 23.10; 1 Chr 12.14; Isa 30.17 - all similar sayings - and also at Jdg 15.15. “A thousand thousands” at 2 Chr 14.9 clearly means “a vast army” (and NIV so translates). There is no symbolic meaning to the word that I am aware of.98 Abyss, 9.199 demons and demonic activity, 9.20

for “visited” could mean “released” as well as “punished”. Pearce sees it as prophe-sied in Isa 27.1: “In that day, the Lord will punish with his sword . . Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea” (ESV, “. . the dragon that is in the sea”). He also sees it as fulfilling Isa 14.12-15 (in a prophecy about the king of Babylon), “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth . . You have been brought down to the grave (lit. Sheol), to the depths of the pit”.

We assume all his angelic followers and demons are imprisoned with him. This appears to be the confinement in the Abyss that the demons inhabiting the Gadarene demoniac(s) anticipated with fear: see Mt 8.29 (“have you come to torture us before the appointed time?”) and Lk 8.31 (“they begged Jesus repeatedly not to or-der them to go into the Abyss”). But see 18.2 (“a home for demons . .”) and the note there for the interpretation that at least some demons will be confined on the site of ruined Babylon. See the notes on 12.8-10 (“the dragon and his angels’ expulsion from heaven”) and the section headed, “What is the future for all these hostile spirit beings and powers?”, for a more detailed discussion.

How are we to interpret this binding of Satan and confinement to the Abyss, and is it the same period as 12.9-17, Satan’s expulsion from heaven onto the earth? In both of them - in 12.9 and 20.2 - we have an almost identical set of titles for him. The alternatives appear to be as follows –

· 12.9-17 takes place before Christ’s return, but 20.1-3 takes place after Christ’s return. It clears the way for the returned Lord’s millennial reign with his res-urrected saints, over the nations free from Satanic deception and attack. Sin will therefore greatly decrease but will still be present as the nations, with nat-ural bodies, will still have the Adamic sin nature, as will their children 100. This explains how they can be deceived again when Satan is released (see 20.8). Also, whilst both passages describe restraints placed on Satan, the na-ture and extent of that restraint is very different in each. Locked it and sealed it over him describe a removal of Satan from the earth that is complete for the 1,000 years. This is the straightforward interpretation of 20.1-6 and is held by premillennialists;

· (Johnson) It refers to the binding of Satan achieved by Christ at his first com-ing (see Mk 3.27 and parallels where Jesus uses the figure of binding the strong man for his deliverance of people from Satan’s control) and the gospel’s spread among all nations during the present age. The expulsion of Sa-tan from God’s heavenly court and the thwarting of his efforts to destroy the church in 12.9-17 was also about this period. In this age, the light of the gospel goes to all the nations (Lk 2.32; Acts 14.15ff; 17.30f), which fulfils, that he might not deceive the nations any longer. During this age, God has placed a restraint on the Church’s persecutors until an outbreak of rebellion before Christ’s return (2 Th 2.3-8). This is essentially the amillennialist inter-pretation.

· Postmillennialists see this restraint on Satan as clearing the way for the ulti-mately victorious spread of the gospel by the church in a future golden age – their interpretation of the Millennium - at the end of which Christ will return.

100 See the notes on 20.6, “They will be priests of God”, for discussion about this group, which is a separate group of mankind from the resurrected saints. See also the second part of Annex 3.

20.3 that he might not deceive the nations any longer . . . Their deception by Satan 101 will take place at the end of the 1,000 years when Satan is released from his prison in the Abyss - see v 8. “The nations” 102 here and in v 8 appear to be a separate group from the resurrected saints who will reign with Christ during the 1,000 years (see 20.4 & 6 and notes). It seems inconceivable that resurrected saints could be deceived by a released Satan.

20.3 After that, he must be set free for a short time. This is described in vv 7-10.

20.4, and I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment 103 was given 104 to them. This contrasts with the “great white throne” (singular) on which Christ con-ducts the final judgment, v 11. V 4 draws on:

Dn 7.9, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat . . . The court was seated, and the books were opened”. The angel ex-plains to Daniel this vision in vv 15-27. In v 22, “until the Ancient of Days came and the (court of) judgment was given to the saints of the Most High (alternative translation of the Aramaic from NIV: see ASV). In v 26, “But the court will sit, and his power (the 4th beast and the little horn, see v8 onwards) will be taken away and completely destroyed for ever”.

In the NT, see:Mt 19.28, (to the disciples) “you who have followed me will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel”. 1 Cor 6.2, “the saints will judge the world”. And v 3, “we will judge an-gels”.

Are the thrones that John sees situated on the earth, or in heaven? The court scene in Dn 7.9 & 22 appears to be in heaven, and the similarities in language suggests that the thrones in Rev 20.4 must likewise be in heaven. But “coming down from heaven” (v 1) and “the nations” (v 3) might lead us to conclude that the thrones are on the earth. The issue is linked to what we see as the meaning of this verse. The alternatives are:

· It is the judgment of the Beast’s empire – which had judged and condemned the saints. It is also the saints’ vindication - answering the cry of the souls of the martyrs in 6.9ff. This would follow closely Dn 7.9ff, 22, 26f 105

· It is the judgement seat of Christ (2 Cor 6.10, cf also Rom 14.10 106) where on his return he assesses and rewards the saints 107 and assigns individual respon-sibilities for the millennial reign. If Rev 20.4 refers to the judgment seat of Christ, thrones might indicate that he is assisted in this by his followers. BUT nowhere else in the NT is it indicated that the saints have a role as judges in the assessment and reward of the saints – and how could they, since it is each saint that is being judged and rewarded? However, in Israelite legal arrange-ments, the witnesses who gave their testimony could also be said to be judging as they gave their verdict on the person “in the dock”.

101 Satanic deception, 12.9102 the nations, 21.24.103 judgment in Revelation, 20.11-15 reviewed104 sovereignty of God: “it was given”, 6.2105 See the notes in Annex 1 on Dan 7.22 & 26 where I explain that a literal translation sug-gests that the court of judgment is given to the saints of the Most High and it is they who, by their sentence, take away the beast’s power.106 For a detailed description of this judgment, see the notes at the end of ch 20 under the heading, “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed”.107 crown, 2.10

· It is a judgement of the angelic powers involved in the conflict just past, as 1 Cor 6.3. But nothing more is known about what this entails.

· It is Christ’s judgement of the nations described in Mt 25.31-end. The saints are involved in the judgment because it is the nations’ treatment of the saints that decides who goes into the millennial kingdom108.

· It is the saints’ reign and exercising responsibility in all seats of government, over all aspects of the Millennium, foretold in 2.26f; 3.21; 5.10 and described in 20.4 (“they reigned with Christ 1,000 years”) and 20.6 (“they will reign with him 1,000 years”). See Dn 7.18, 22, 27. “Judge” in the OT means ongo-ing rule and leadership as well as the judicial function. This would fit the train of thought in 20.4-6, where John’s focus is on the martyred saints in particular.

It is possible to interpret thrones . . judgment was given to them as a separate judg-ing from the “reigning” later in v 4 and in v 6. This would allow thrones . . . to be the judgment of the beast (the first bullet above) and “reigning” to be the saints’ Mil-lennial reign (the last bullet), which is the position I incline to.

20.4 the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Je-sus 109 . The language is similar to 6.9f where John, when the 5th seal is opened, sees under the heavenly altar, “the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained”.

20.4 and because of the word of God 110. This phrase is in three earlier places in Revelation coupled with the testimony they bore. But here we should note its proxim-ity to “the Word of God” as a title of the returning Christ in 19.13. Christ the Word of God returns to reign and those who have faithfully proclaimed his word, even to their own death, are resurrected to reign with him.

20.4 They had not worshipped the Beast 111 . . . and had not received his mark . . . Described in ch 13. See 14.9 and note for the consequences of this behaviour. ESV translates closer to the literal meaning of the Greek text: “and those who had not wor-shipped . . .”. This leaves it open for John to be describing two groups: those mar-tyred and those who had refused to worship the Beast; though individuals might be in both groups.

108 See the discussion on judgment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed” for all the references.109 testify / bear witness, 1.2. The testimony of Jesus, 1.2; faithful witness, 1.5; faithful into death, 2.10110 the word of God, 1.2111 the Beast, 13.1; worship the beast and his image, 13.4; mark of the beast, 13.16

20.4, they came to life. The same verb 112 in the same past tense (the Greek aorist tense) occurs in v 5, “the rest of the dead did not come to life . .”. The same verb in the same past tense is used of Christ’s resurrection in 2.8, “who died and came to life again”. It also occurs, with the same past tense, in 13.14, of the beast’s apparent death and resurrection, “who was wounded by the sword and yet lived”. The only other occurrence in the NT of this verb in the aorist tense is Rom 14.9, “Christ died and returned to life”. The same verb but in the present participle form is found in Rev 1.18, again describing Christ’s resurrection: “I was dead and behold I am alive . .”. John may be drawing on Ez 37.10 (the bones of people of Israel which have now miraculously been assembled receiving the divine breath and coming to life), but the context there is clearly different to Rev 20. 20.4 must therefore be the bodily resur-rection of the saints 113 , of which Christ’s resurrection is the first fruits (1 Cor 15.20, 23). This, then, is the clear meaning of the first resurrection of 20.5f.

Amillennialists, however, believe that they came to life means that the souls of the martyrs entered into the presence of God in heaven after they died. Some post-millennialists also take this view, whilst others think it refers to the future victory of Christianity in the world after its earlier persecution 114. However, both these interpre-tations understand the verb translated they came to life in ways that are not found elsewhere in the NT and in completely different ways from its other uses in Revela-tion.

20.4, they reigned 115 with Christ for a 1,000 years. This is repeated at v 6 but in the future tense, as John is there looking forward from the moment of their resurrec-tion or from the time standpoint of his hearers/readers. “Reigned” (εβασιλευσαν) is the Greek aorist, the normal past tense. Note that the word also occurs in that tense in 11.17 (“you have taken your great power and have begun to reign”, NIV) and 19.6 (“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns” NIV). One interpretation of 11.17 and the most likely interpretation of 19.6 is that this describes the commencement of the consummated kingdom of God - God’s reign through Christ on his return. This would be the natural way to understand reigned in 20.4, given the flow of ch 20.

This fulfils the reign of the saints following the judgment and destruction of the 4th beast in Dn 7.18, 22, 27. Christ’s reign on earth was announced in 11.15 & 17 when the 7th angel sounded their trumpet. The saints reigning is prophesied in Revela-

112 Ζαω, “to live”, is used in a variety of senses in the NT, each of which has to be deter-mined from the context. In the sense of “coming alive”, in addition to the references cited above it is found in Jn 11.25, promising the resurrection of the one who believes in Jesus, “the Resurrection and the Life”: “though he die, yet shall he live” (ESV). Also in Jn 5.25, “the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live”. Here Jesus applies the imagery of resurrection to emphasise that the spiritually dead who hear him receive life from him now. Jn 5.25 is the only use in the NT of Ζαω in the “coming alive” sense that is non-physical.

Ζαω is found of Christ living in resurrection life in Rom 6.10; 2 Cor 13.4; Heb 7.25, and of the believer living in resurrection life with Christ in 1 Th 5.10. It is used of the believer living in eternal life that continues after their death, in Jn 6.51, 58; 11.26; 2 Cor 6.9; 1 P 4.6 (though the interpretation of this verse is difficult). It may be used of the saints living in heaven with their Lord after their deaths in Lk 20.38 (“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive”, Ζαω occurring twice); but if we take it this way note that this verse describes the state, not a “coming alive” into that state. Given that Jesus is teaching the bodily resurrection of the dead, it may mean that “God is not the God of the dead but of those who live in resurrection life, for all come alive in resurrection life to him”.113 resurrection of the saints, 1.5114 These interpretations are given by Johnson in his notes on 20.4.115 kingdom, 12.10

tion in 1.6 and elsewhere: see my notes at 1.6 and 2.27; also at 22.5. Taking all the references to this in Revelation suggests that all the saints, now resurrected, share in this reign with Christ. John is focused in the vision on the martyrs being resurrected and reigning because enduring in the faith even unto death is the message of the whole of Revelation and this vision shows their reward. It seems clear to me from the other references, and from references elsewhere in the NT (e.g. 2 Tim 2.12), that all the resurrected saints share in this reign. They reign over those from the nations who enter the Millennium but who are not resurrected saints: see note at 20.6 (“they will be priests . .”) and the other references there.

Amillennialists, however, interpret this as a heavenly reign of the deceased saints now, in the church age, and that there will be no future millennium before Christ returns for the final judgment (see 20.11-15). They interpret the “1,000 years” as symbolising the time from Pentecost to Christ’s second coming. But almost all NT texts on Christians reigning are in the future tense except Rev 20.4. This suggests that the idea of Christians, after their death when they go to be with the Lord, reigning in heaven whilst they await the resurrection of their bodies is NOT an explicit NT con-cept (though the 24 elders may be interpreted this way: see note on 4.4). In 6.11 the martyred saints are given a white robe and told to rest, NOT reign. Rom 5.17 116 might be interpreted as referring to a reign in heaven with Christ after death - the amillennialist interpretation of Rev 20.4 and 6 - but this would be very much against the flow of the argument in Rom 5.12-21. But it is much more likely that Paul in Rom 5.17 is referring to the saints’ reign following their bodily resurrection; in other words, it has the same meaning as the one that I am advocating in Rev 20.4. Also, the amillennialist interpretation destroys the natural sequence in 19.11-20.15, whereby Christ (in his resurrected body) returns to earth to reign and as part of his return (1 Th 4.15f; 1 Cor 15.23) the saints are resurrected to share that reign.

Post-millennialists transfer the millennium from the future to the present, with Christ’s second coming following this “millennium”. The millennium is spiritualised, with Christ ruling in heaven, and on earth through the Church, his body. The 1000 years is seen as symbolic, covering the whole age between Christ’s 1st and 2nd coming. However, postmillennialism originally held that the 1000 years was still a future time, a wonderful coming age in which the gospel will triumph and thoroughly transform societies and cultures, and peace and justice will reign on earth for a thousand years or a long period of time, after which Christ will return for the final judgment.

Pretribulational premillennialists (Scott) hold that OT & NT believers were raptured and gained their resurrection bodies before the tribulation period 117described in ch 6-19. They interpret the first resurrection of 20.4, 6 as being only of the tribula-tion saints martyred in that period. These resurrected tribulation saints join the rap-tured believers in their heavenly reign during the Millennium. Meanwhile, those

116 Two other interpretations of “will reign in life” in Rom 5.17 are possible. The first is that it refers to believers’ reign in their lives now on earth. They reign over the power of sin or it refers to the authority that believers in their earthly lives have through being “seated with Christ in the heavenly realms’ (Eph 2.5). The second is that it refers to the future reign of the saints in Rev 22.5, which if we interpret Rev 20.1-22.5 as a chronological sequence (see the note introducing 19.11) must refer to the new heaven and earth. The context and argument of Rom 5.12-21 suggest that, “will reign in life” refers to believers’ present condition, i.e. their life now on earth. However, note that throughout this passage, Paul is making the contrast with death reigning over mankind due to Adam’s fall (Rom 5.14, 17, 21), which would support v 17, “will reign in life”, as having the same sense as the premillennialist interpretation of Rev 20.4. 117 tribulation, 1.9

tribulation saints who survive alive on the earth till Christ’s return become the nucleus of the earth’s inhabitants who will enjoy the benefits of Christ’s millennial reign on earth, which he will exercise over a physically and spiritually restored Israel in fulfil-ment of the many OT prophecies of the physical and spiritual restoration of Israel. For more on this view, see note on 20.6 (“They will be priests of God and of Christ”). A serious flaw in this interpretation, to my mind, is 20.5, “this is the first resurrection”. According to the above interpretation, “the first resurrection” in 20.5 would actually be the second resurrection, or else the first resurrection occurs in two stages 118.

Classical premillennialists hold that all Christian believers, both Jew and Gen-tile, including the OT saints (believers in God in the time before Christ’s first coming - see Heb 11.35) and Christians still alive when Christ returns to earth to reign (19.11-21), will gain their resurrection bodies on Christ’s return (fulfilling 1 Th 4.14-17; 1 Cor 15.23, 51-57) and will reign on earth with him over the nations 119 for the 1,000 years described in Rev 20. This will fulfil the OT prophecies about the future King-dom of God and a restored Israel and the glorious destiny of man celebrated in Ps 8. 4ff; see Heb 2.5-8. It will be the time when God will “restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1.6; see also Lk 1.32f) and “restores everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3.21). It will also fulfil Rom 8.18-24 120 and is the Christian’s hope: “we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom 8.23). It is possible to hold a premillennialist position and interpret 1,000 years as a round number - a long but definite period of time. Classical premil-lennialist is the position I take in this commentary and is based on the most straight-forward interpretation of Rev 19.11-21.1 (see the notes at the start of that section).

20.5, the rest of the dead did not come to life till the 1,000 years were ended. This points forward to 20.12. If my reasoning in my notes on 20.4-6 is correct, John by “the rest” means all those not included in the First Resurrection, the resurrection of the saints (though John’s focus and report was on the tribulation martyrs 121, or more precisely, on those “who had been beheaded (ASV) because of the testimony of Je-sus”, taking a literal translation of 20.4) .

20.5f, the first resurrection. “Resurrection” is the Greek word found frequently else-where in the NT - αναστασις (‘anastasis’122). It is always used of the physical resur-

118 Some argue that the Church, Christ’s bride, is a completely separate body from God’s people in the OT and is a mystery not revealed to the OT Prophets. Therefore the resurrec-tion effected by the rapture of the saints, which they hold precedes in time Christ’s return to reign in 19.11-21, can precede “the first resurrection” as an earlier resurrection.119 As to who will make up the nations in the millennial reign, see the note on 20.6 (“They will be priests of God and of Christ”)120 Though the final fulfilment of the creation “liberated from its bondage to decay” (Rom 8.21) may await the new heaven and new earth of Rev 21.1121 tribulation, 1.9122 ‘anastasis’ is used as follows in the NT:(a) of Christ’s resurrection in Acts 1.22; 2.31; 4.2, 33; 17.18, 32; 26.23; Rom 1.4; 6.5; Phil 3.10; 1 P 1.3; 3.21.“I am the resurrection and the life”, Jn 11.25, is Christ’s resurrection and the hope that this holds out for the resurrection of those who believe in him.(b) of the resurrection of the dead in a general sense in Mt 22.23-33=Mk 12.18-27=Lk 20.27-39; Jn 11.24; Acts 23.6, 8; 24.21; Heb 6.2. As the inescapable consequence of Christ’s res-urrection, 1 Cor 15.12f, 21(c) of the resurrection of the righteous in Lk 14.14; a “resurrection of life”, Jn 5.29; “that they might gain a better resurrection, Heb 11.35.

rection of a dead person into a new, eternal, physical body, of which Jesus is the first instance. It is never used in a non-physical sense in the NT; what is more, a false teaching that the resurrection had already taken place was condemned in 2 T 2.18. This is powerful evidence, in complete agreement with “they came to life” in v 4, that the first resurrection is the bodily resurrection from death of the martyred saints in v 4. It is the only occurrence of this phrase in Revelation and implies that there will be another resurrection later in time, which John points to in the earlier part of v 5. This second resurrection must be in 20.12, “I saw the dead . . standing before the throne”, as no other resurrection occurs in Revelation from this point onwards.

The first resurrection must be the resurrection of all the saints that is the Christian hope and that is linked to Christ’s return. Christ is the first-fruits of this resurrection - 1.5, “the firstborn from the dead” - and the proof/assurance that our res-urrection will take place (1 Cor 15.12-23).

For many Christians this literal interpretation appears at odds with the church’s creeds based on other Bible passages which appear to teach a single resurrection and a single judgment which results in the saints entering eternity in their new resurrected bodies and the ungodly going into judgment and an eternity separated from Christ. They cite:

Mt 16.27, “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward (lit. “return to” or “repay”) each per-son according to what he has done”. This appears to teach that the judg-ment comes immediately on Christ’s return and is not restricted to the as-sessment and rewards to the saints (elsewhere called the judgment seat, or tribunal, of Christ. See the note, “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed”). Rev 2.23 and 22.12 are similar.Acts 17.31, “For he has set a day when he will judge123 the world with jus-tice (lit. righteousness) by the man he has appointed”.Jn 5.25-29, “ . . . those who have done good into a resurrection of life, but those who have done evil into a resurrection of judgement”. I.e. only 1 resurrection, at the Lord’s command, followed immediately by judgement.Dn 12.2, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, these to everlasting life, and those to shame and everlasting contempt”.Acts 24.15, “that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked”.Jn 6.39f, 44, 54; 11.24 represents the resurrection of believers as being “at the last day”. Since 1 Th 4.16, 1 Cor 15.23 directly connect believers’ resurrection with Christ’s second coming, this means that “the last day”, the resurrection and Christ’s second coming must coincide. But Jn 12.48 has those who reject Jesus’ words being judged “on the last day”, so unbe-lievers’ resurrection and judgement must also coincide with these events.Rev 11.18 can also be interpreted as teaching that the judgment of the dead and the reward of the saints both happen together on Christ’s return.

(d) a “resurrection of judgment”, Jn 5.29. “A resurrection of both the just (OR righteous) and the unjust”, Acts 24.15.(e) of the resurrection of believers in Christ, 1 Cor 15.42; “the first resurrection”, Rev 20.5f.(f) False teaching that the resurrection has already taken place, 2 T 2.18.(g) of dead individuals miraculously brought back to life in OT times, Heb 11.35[Lk 2.34, “the falling and rising of many in Israel”, uses the word in a different sense.]123 “judge” is a present infinitive, normally conveying a state or ongoing action. This would be consistent with more than one judgment.

BUT none of these passages has to be interpreted this way. The John’s gospel refer-ences to “the last day” need not, according to Biblical usage of “day”, be a 24 hour period but could be an epoch. The same (Scott) must be true with “hour” (Jn 5.28) as “the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear . . and live” (Jn 5.25) has lasted almost 2,000 years since Pentecost. So there is no intrinsic time problem with having the resurrection of the righteous separated by 1,000 years from the resurrection of the wicked. Or each passage might mean the last day for that individual. Or Jesus could have been speaking in summary form because resurrection, judgement, reward and punishment are all consequent on Christ’s return. Mt 16.27 conveys the nature and certainty of judgment that will follow his return, rather than the detail or the tim-ing. Acts 17.31, spoken to a Gentile audience (the Athenians), could well be referring to the judgment of the nations (Mt 25.31-46) before the start of the Millennial reign.The concept of two resurrections, the righteous and the wicked, widely separated in time, was quite widespread among the Jews of Jesus’ day. Many expected the right-eous dead to be raised before the Messianic reign on earth, while the wicked would only be raised for judgement at its end. See:

Lk 14.14, Jesus’ reference to “the resurrection of the righteous” when talking to the Pharisees; Lk 20.34ff, which suggests Jesus saw the resurrection of the righteous as a separate event. It was only “for those who are considered worthy of tak-ing part” (v35);Jn 6.39f, 54 imply the same;Some of the references to the resurrection of the saints on a straightfor-ward interpretation cannot be part of a “general” resurrection of the right-eous and the wicked. See especially Mt 24.40-44 & parallels; Phil 3.11, 14. To be true to these and other passages on resurrection, there must be two separate resurrections.

20.6, Blessed and holy is he . . . 124

20.6, the second death. Referred to already in 2.11. See also 20.14 and 21.8. Taken together, these show that the second death is the eternal fate of all not in the Lamb’s book of life and is spent in the lake of fire 125. Revelation does not resolve whether this means annihilation and the end of existence, but the implication of 14.10; 20.10; 22.15 is that they continue a conscious existence in torment. Other references in the NT to the fate of unbelievers / the wicked suggest that they share eternity, but in tor-ment.

20.6, no power. Lit. “no authority”.

20.6, They will be priests of God and of Christ 126. I would argue that the resur-rected saints continue to exercise the full range of NT priestly functions throughout Christ’s Millennial reign. This is because there will be two categories of mankind in Christ’s Millennial kingdom:• the saints (Jew and Gentile) in their resurrection bodies;

124 7 blessings, 1.3125 Lake of fire (the second death), 19.20126 kings and priests, 1.6 - see the note there for the NT priestly functions; Exodus typology, 8.6

• those of mankind alive when Christ returns (again, Jew and Gentile) who come through Christ’s judgment (described in Mt 25.31-46) 127 and are welcomed by him into his kingdom. They are called “the nations” in Rev 19.15; 20.3 & 8, as they are in Mt 25.32.

Those in the 2nd category remain in their mortal bodies but are regenerated in their spirits 128, just as the saints were prior to Christ’s return. They will eventually die physically. They will also have offspring who need to find Christ and trust in him too. The resurrected saints have the responsibility of reigning over the rest of mankind, the roles and responsibilities of each having been determined by Christ when each appeared before his tribunal. 20.6 suggests that they will also perform the full range of NT priestly functions in order that they may help the rest of mankind, in-cluding these offspring to trust in Christ. In the event, some of those offspring per-haps (Scott) offer only feigned submission to the reigning Christ - see 20.8-10, where they are deceived by the released Satan and rebel against Christ, his city and his peo-ple who reign with him. It is in the Millennial reign 129 that Israel as a whole fulfils her priestly calling, as prophesied in Isa 61.6 (see notes on 1.6).

Dispensationalist premillennialists, however, argue that the OT references to Israel’s priestly functions, plus Ezekiel’s vision of a restored temple with the full Levitical sacrificial system (though Ez 40-46 has some changes in detail from the Ex-odus and Leviticus rules) mean that Israel will put into place, within a rebuilt temple, the animal sacrificial system, though it will be to look back on and commemorate Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice. They see the Millennial kingdom as having, as it were, two departments. There is the heavenly Kingdom (The kingdom of the Father, Mt 13.43) where the heavenly seat of government is the glorified Church – all the saints who were raptured and received their resurrection bodies before the great tribulation period 130 - and who reign over, not on the earth. And there is the earthly Kingdom (the kingdom of the Son, Mt 13.41), where the earthly seat of government is Jerusalem (see Jer 3.17) and Israel – the Jewish people, then all saved – take the head-ship of the nations (see Ezek 48.15-35; Isa 52.1-10; Ps 47) and fulfil in the Millennial reign all the detail in the OT prophets of a physically and spiritually restored nation in their land, including ruling the nations.

Other premillennialists (see Pawson) argue that Christ rendering obsolete all the legal and priestly apparatus of the old covenant (Heb 8.6, 13) applies for all time, that under the new covenant all references to priests and sacrifices including in the Millennial reign should be interpreted as in the NT (see notes on 1.6), that God’s plan is for one people of God made up of believing Jew and Gentile (Eph 2.11-3.6; Rom 11) that will together fulfil all the promises to Israel in the OT 131. Together they will share Christ’s reign on earth in the Millennial reign.

127 For a detailed description of this judgment, see the notes at the end of ch 20 under the heading, “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed”.128 The scriptural basis for this is discussed in the first bullet on Christ’s judgment of the na-tions under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed”.129 kingdom, 12.10130 tribulation, 1.9131 For the NT basis, see Jn 10.16; 11.52; Rom 11.11-32; Eph 2.11-20; 3.6; Col 3.11; Gal 3.28f; Rom 4.16f. We see hints of this truth in Isa 14.1; 19.24f (Assyria & Egypt); 44.5; 56.3-8; Ez 47.22f; Zech 2.11, where the nations/Gentiles joining or being incorporated into believing Israel seems different from other prophecies which have the nations/Gentiles serving Israel or being ruled by them.

For a discussion about who the saints will reign over in the Millennial reign, see Annex 3, both parts, and the notes at the end of that Annex.

20.6 will reign with him for a thousand years. Some manuscripts read, “ . . for the thousand years”, and scholars are undecided what is the original wording. The defi-nite article is found in the phrase at 20.3, 5, 7, but not in 20.2, 4, according to the gen-erally accepted Greek text, but in other occurrences besides v 6 there is some varia-tion between manuscripts.

20.7, When the 1,000 years are over, Satan 132 will be released. As stated in 20.3. See:

Isa 24.22 where “they will be punished after many days” could be trans-lated (as NIV alt.) “released”. If the subject is “the powers of the heavens above” in v21, this is a prophecy of Rev 20.7 133.

Significance? – · To demonstrate that fallen men, even in the ideal conditions of the Millen-

nium, will still have the inclination to rebel against God’s rule and follow Sa-tan’s lies once he is active once more, which is what we see them doing in 20.8ff. So God’s judgment and punishment of men who want to live without him which is set out in 20.11-15 is the only option for a holy God.

· Amillennialists, according to Johnson, see this as the same battle as that de-scribed in 16.13-16 and 19.17-21. Those who see a cyclical pattern of fulfil-ment in Revelation 134 tend to interpret it this way too.

· Postmillennialists see this as taking place at the end of the age of the glorious triumph of the gospel, when God will for a brief while withdraw his restraint on the dragon’s power to deceive the nations and gather them against the church (20.7-10) 135.

20.8 to deceive the nations 136 in the four corners of the earth. This picks up what was heralded at v 3. Note the similarity but also the differences with 16.13f. There it is three unclean spirits from the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet that are “the spirits of demons performing miraculous signs”, that go out to the kings of the whole world.

The four corners of the earth occurs also at 7.1. See the note there for its OT origins.

20.8, Gog and Magog. The events of 20.8-9 draw on Ez 38.1-39.16 which prophesy that, at an unknown time after the restoration of Israel to their land, a massive coali-tion of nations led by “Gog of the land of Magog” from the far north (from Israel’s perspective) will assemble and come against a prosperous Israel at rest and dwelling securely, to destroy, loot and plunder. But God will destroy them miraculously by

132 Satan, 2.10133 On Isa 24.21f, see the note at 12.8-10 on the future of the hostile spirit beings and pow-ers.134 This is the approach taken by Hendriksen. For an example of a way of viewing the struc-ture of Revelation that lends itself to a cyclical interpretation, see the lengthy footnote at the end of the section in the Introduction headed, “What is the Revelation of John?”.135 This interpretation is included in the summary at the end of ch 12 describing Approach B to understanding that chapter.136 Satanic deception, 12.9; the nations, 21.24

earthquake (38.19) and fire and brimstone from heaven (38.22; see too 39.6), and by causing the armies to turn on each other (38.21).

The mention of “Gog and Magog” in 20.8 suggests that the fulfilment of the extended prophecy about their invasion and its destruction in Ez 38 - 39 will not be fulfilled until the end of the millennial reign, that is, over 1,000 years later than the people of Israel’s return to their land as in 38.8. I think that this is the right interpreta-tion, but it has caused difficulty for some students of prophecy, so they propose that there will be a double fulfilment of Ez 38 - 39: the initial fulfilment occurs before the Lord’s return in glory, after the Jews’ regathering into their land but before their spiri-tual awakening and the events culminating in Christ’s return and perhaps even before the rapture of the Church. The second fulfilment awaits the end of the millennial reign as in Rev 20.7ff.

Amillennialists and postmillennialists see the “Gog and Magog” reference and the other allusions to Ez 38-39 in Rev 20.8f as symbolic, rather than a fulfilment of an OT prophecy. “Gog and Magog” symbolise the nations of the world as they come to-gether for a final assault on God’s people. But this leaves unaddressed how Ez 38-39 will be fulfilled. Note, however, that Bible scholars who take the Replacement Theol-ogy position (Israel has been replaced as God’s people by the Church) do not con-sider that OT prophecies about the future of Israel will be fulfilled in any literal sense.

For a detailed discussion of Ez 38 - 39 and consideration of its fit with other prophecies of the end-times, see Annex 4 and the section headed, “The invasion of Is-rael by Gog of the land of Magog”.

20.8 to gather them for the battle 137. Note that the Greek has the definite article - perhaps to point to the battle prophesied in Ez 38-39. But the whole phrase is identi-cal to that in 16.14 - the gathering of the kings of the whole world to “the battle of the great day of God the Almighty”, which is picked up again at 19.19.

Amillennialists hold that it is the same battle as 16.13-16 and 19.17-21. In support of their position, they can cite that the birds of the air feasting on the battle-field corpses in 19.17f & 21 is similar to the fate prophesied over Gog’s army in Ez 39.4 & 17-20 . They can also point to the Satanic deception that brought together the nations’ armies to the battle in both 16.13f and 20.7f, though see the note at 20.8 (“to deceive the nations . .”) for the differences in detail. However, if 19.11 to 21.1 is a chronological sequence (see the note on 19.11-21), then 20.8 must be different battle from that in 16.14 and 19.19.

20.8 In number they are like the sand on the seashore 138. This expression to con-vey a vast number is used to describe a huge opposing army in Jos 11.4; Jdg 7.12 and 1 Sm 13.5.

20.9 They marched up over the breadth of the earth. ESV, “ . . the broad plain of the earth”. This is a unique expression in the Bible 139, and John might have wanted it to be understood as, “the land (of Israel)”, particularly given the rest of the verse. The prophecy of Gog and Magog in Ez 38-39 is clear that it is the land of Israel that they

137 war, 13.7138 sea, 4.6139 the LXX of Hab 1.6 has, “upon the breadth of the earth”, επι τα πλατα της γης - “breadth” translating the plural noun when Rev 20.9 translates the singular of that noun. In Hab 1.6, the sense of ‘ge’ is clearly, “the earth” rather than the more local “land” translation. For a de-tailed discussion on translating ‘ge’ in Revelation, see the footnote on Rev 1.7.

invade, though the combined armies travelled across the earth (Ez 38.6, “from the far north”) to get there. So either translation is supported by the parallel with the Ezekiel prophecy about Gog and Magog.

20.9 the camp of God’s people. Lit. “the encampment of the saints 140” . This does not have to mean military-style accommodation in tents or barracks: it could be an al-lusion to the “camp” terminology of Exodus to Numbers to describe Israel living in the desert during the Exodus travels. John uses Exodus typology frequently in Reve-lation: see note at 8.6. John may be conveying that even in the millennial reign the saints have not yet arrived at their final destination, the holy city of 21.1ff.

Johnson thinks that it expresses the exposed position of the saints. Or it might indicate that in the millennial kingdom the saints will live outside but presumably around or next to the city of Jerusalem, perhaps because of their numbers, though some of them might also live inside the city. Note that in the Gog of Magog prophecy Israel is described as “a land of unwalled villages . . all of them living without walls and without gates and bars” (Ez 38.11). Zech 2.4 prophesies that “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls” because of the multitude of people and livestock in it (ESV, a literal translation), a prophecy that I think finds fulfilment in the millen-nial reign.

20.9 the beloved city (literal translation, as ESV). May draw on:Ps 87.2, “The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Ja-cob”Ps 78.68, “he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved”Jer 12.7 (in a prophecy of Judah’s fall to the Babylonians) “I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies”.

Compare the description of Jerusalem as “the holy city” in 11.2; 21.2, 10 and 22.19 (Johnson) 141

20.9 fire 142 came down from heaven and devoured them. See Ez 38.22 for God’s sudden destruction of Gog’s whole army - “I will rain upon him . . torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulphur (ESV). According to 39.6, the Lord will also “send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands” - the former was the land of origin of Gog (38.1); “the coastlands” may have provided some of his army, or per-haps they had colluded with the attack. But the expression in Rev 20.9 may also draw on and be an allusion to 2 K 1.10, 12 where God sent fire to destroy the wicked King Ahaziah’s troops who came to capture Elijah. (For fire being God’s judgment, see 16.8 and note.)

140 saints, 5.8. “Camp”, παρεμβολη (‘parembole’) is found in the NT in Heb 13.11 of the bod-ies of the animals whose blood was used as a sin offering being taken and burned “outside the camp”. (This is interpreted allegorically in Heb 13.13 as a call to Jewish Christians to go “outside the camp” by leaving Judaism and its reliance on the practices of the Old Covenant.) Παρεμβολη is the normal LXX translation of “camp” in Exodus to Deuteronomy, including in Lev 16.27 and the other places in Leviticus on which Heb 13.11 draws. This suggests that John means us to interpret “the camp” in Rev 20.9 in this way. Besides Heb 13.11, 13 and Rev 20.9, παρεμβολη is found in the NT at Acts 21.34, 37; 22.24; 23.10, 16, 32, of the Roman barracks in the Fortress of Antonia, next to the Temple in Jerusalem. Finally, it is found (in the plural) in Heb 11.34 of foreign armies. There is one use of “camp” in the Bible - 2 Chron 22.1 - which appears to mean Jerusalem, though the LXX does not use παρεμβολη in translating this verse.141 Jerusalem, the holy city, 21.2142 fire, 1.14

Certain of the Psalms celebrate a miraculous deliverance of Zion, the city of God, which may prophetically anticipate the deliverance in Rev 20.9. See Ps 46, 48, 76, 97, 110, 118.10ff (and consider also the celebration of the Lord’s kingship in Ps 98 and 99). See also Ps 83 where a confederacy of nations 143 gather to attack Israel - and are miraculously destroyed by fire and storm - that is more extensive than any that are described elsewhere in the OT. But it seems more likely to me that these Psalms find their fulfilment in the Lord’s deliverance of Jerusalem and defeat of his people’s gathered enemies at the time of his return - Rev 16.14, 16; 19.19ff; see also Zech 12.1-9 and ch 14. Psalm 2’s fulfilment probably belongs then (see 16.16 and 19.15, 19 and notes there) 144.

See the discussion on interpreting 2 P 3.7-13 at the end of the notes on judg-ment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed” for the possibility that the destruction of the forces of Gog and Magog is the fulfilment of 2 P 3.7.

20.10 the devil who led them astray (OR deceived them). His characteristic activ-ity that featured in vv 3 and 8 145.

20.10, the devil was thrown into the lake of fire 146. See Mt 25.41 which states that all Satan’s fallen angels were consigned there with him, and presumably the demons also 147.

20.10 148

20.10 They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever 149. An awful fea-ture of the lake of fire that was first stated in 14.11 - see the note there.

At this point in John’s sequence of visions and, I believe, events, we should refer to the similar sequence in 1 Cor 15.22-28. I have put it in full here (in a literal transla-tion) with cross-references to Rev 20 & 21 in bold type and the events in Revelation in italics:

- “For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruit; then Christ’s own at his coming (‘parousia’)” – 19.11-13, Christ’s return; 20.4 & 6, the first res-urrection. (Last of all, and significantly not included at v 22 by Paul, will be the resurrection of the rest of the dead, 20.5, 12, who are not “Christ’s own”, at the end of Christ’s millennial reign. This allows complete paral-lelism in 1 Cor 15.22 between all dying “in Adam” and all being made

143 However, the nations listed in Ps 83 are different from those in Ez 38.2-6 and 13.144 The theme of Zion’s security and deliverance from enemy attacks may stem from the miraculous defeat of the Assyrian army in Hezekiah’s reign (see 2 K 19.32-36) and possibly the victory given Jehoshaphat in 2 Chron. 20. The poetic language of the Psalms makes it very difficult to identify specific future events that will fulfil the Lord’s deliverance that they cel-ebrate.See Annex 4 for a survey of all the prophecies about the attacks on Jerusalem and its deliver-ance at the end of the age. They are summarised in Annex 5.145 lies and liars, 21.27; the Devil, 2.10; Satanic deception, 12.9146 Lake of fire (the second death), 14.10; fire, 1.14147 Demons and demonic activity, 9.20. See the note after 12.8 headed, “What is the future for all these hostile spirit beings and powers?” for a more detailed discussion.148 the Beast, 13.1; the false prophet (the second beast), 13.11149 for ever and ever, 1.18

alive “in Christ”. In both cases it is the whole of mankind; but “in Christ” some will be raised in the resurrection to life “at his coming”, and the rest 1,000 years later in the resurrection to judgment - a resurrection not made specific by Paul in this passage but implied in 1 Cor 15.26.)- “Then the end/completion/consummation, when he hands over the king-dom/kingly reign” – Christ’s millennial reign, 19.15; 20.6 - “to God and Father, when he abolishes/destroys every rule and power and authority” - Satan (with all his demons & angels) is cast into the lake of fire, 20.10- “For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet” – his mil-lennial reign, concluding in the destruction of the last rebellion, 20.4-9, the casting of Satan and all his angels with him into the lake of fire, 20.10, and the last judgment and casting of those not in the book of life into the lake of fire, 20.11-15.- “The last enemy is abolished/destroyed, death. For he subjected all things under his feet” – The resurrection of the rest of the dead, and the casting of death and Hades into the lake of fire, 20.12-14.- “ . . . When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, in order that God may be all in all” – the Lord God and the Lamb are mentioned together in the Eternal State: see 21. 22; 22.1 & 3 (“the throne of God and of the Lamb”). There is no further mention of Christ’s reign.

1 Cor 15.22-28 is, I think, confirmation that the way I have interpreted Revelation 20 is the right way. However, there are other ways of interpreting 1 Cor 15.22-28. ESV’s notes on the passage illustrate the amillennialist standpoint, that Christ’s return means the resurrection of believers and from then on is the final, eternal state. The notes include:- on “in Christ all will be made alive” (v 22), Christ represents all who would belong

to him, i.e. all believers. This is demonstrated by v 23, “then Christ’s own at his coming”.

- on v 26, that when believers are finally resurrected from the dead, the destruction of death will be complete.

20.11 I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it 150. There is a simi-larity in description with the great throne that Solomon had made in 1 K 10.18, pre-sumably for himself as the God-appointed Davidic king. See also Dn 7.9, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat . . . His throne was flaming with fire . . .”. In Daniel 7 this is the judgment of the Beast, the taking away of his power and the awarding to the saints of the sovereignty of all the kingdoms of the earth in the kingdom of God (Dn 7. 27). John has made reference to that judgment scene in Rev 20.4 - see the notes there (“And I saw thrones . .”). Note that some of the details of the Daniel 7 judgment scene are different from Rev 20.11-15.

(Johnson) the description reflects the purity and wisdom of the Ancient of Days of Dn 7.9.

20.11 Earth and sky (OR heaven) fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. We see an escalation in the scale of cosmic upheaval in Revelation. In 6.14 (on the opening of the 6th seal), there was a great earthquake and “the sky (OR

150 “Him who is seated on the throne”, 4.2

heaven) receded like a scroll rolling up and every mountain and island was removed from its place”. In 16.20 (the 7th bowl judgment) there is an even greater earthquake and “every island fled away and the mountains could not be found” (see the note there). Finally, in 20.11, earth and sky/heaven flee from God’s presence, to be re-placed by a new heaven and a new earth, 21.1 (see note there). The language reflects Ps 114.3,7. It prepares for the new heaven and earth in 21.1, 4f.

20.11 and there was no place for them. The phrase draws on Dn 2.35, “the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them” (ASV, a literal translation). In Dn 2, the context is the ending of the 4 world empires and its replacement by the kingdom of God that will last for ever (see Dn 2.44). This is very similar to the con-text in Rev 20.11 - the revelation granted Daniel in ch 2 telescoped together the time-bound kingdom of Christ with his saints of the 1,000 years (Rev 20.3-10) and the eter-nally lasting kingdom of God that continues his reign from the judgment of 20.11-15 and is described in 21.1-22.5. There is a similar telescoping in Rev 11.15, “and he will reign for ever and ever”: see the note there.

We have come across a similar phrase in 12.8 where it is said of the dragon (Satan) and his angels after they lost they fight with Michael and his angels, “there was no longer any place for them in heaven” (ESV). The context there is, of course, different from 20.11.

Interpreters who do not take the millennial reign of 20.1-10 as a literal reign on earth of Christ and his saints following his second coming, see the earth-changing events John sees in 16.20 as the flight of the first heaven and earth from God’s terrible presence when he comes at the last judgment (20.11), giving way to a new heaven and earth (21.1) unstained by human sin (22.3). They may even see the cosmic distur-bances of 6.12ff as foretelling this same event. They support this interpretation by 2 P 3.7, 10. 12, where the dissolution of the heavens and earth “on the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” is triggered by “the day of the Lord coming like a thief” (v 10). Also in 2 P 3.13 this dissolution is followed by a new heaven and a new earth, as in Rev 21.1 I would argue, however, that the revelation given Peter there compresses or telescopes the events following Christ’s return set out in Rev 19.11-20.10. Such telescoping is common in prophetic passages 151.

20.12, and I saw the dead . . . standing before the throne 152. Implies they have been resurrected, as forecast at 20.5. “Came to life” at 20.5 is the same Gk word as at 20.4, so if we interpret the first as meaning bodily resurrection we should likewise the second 153. See note above on 20.4, “they came to life”. See Jn 5.28f. See the second half of Annex 3 under the heading, “What will happen to mankind when Christ re-turns?”, for my understanding of the whole time sequence from Christ’s return on-wards and the place that resurrection has.

20.12 the great and the small. Some argue that as this phrase describes the saints at 11.18 and 19.5, this implies that the saints will go through the judgment of 20.12-15. But the term is also applied to all mankind in 13.16 and the armies that followed the beast to the final battle in 19.18 154.

151 For a detailed look at interpreting 2 P 3.7-13, see the notes at the end of the section on judgement under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed”.152 before the throne, 4.2153 resurrection of the saints, 1.5154 small and great, 11.18

20.12 and books were opened . . . The dead were judged 155 according to what they had done as recorded in the books. Draws on the scene of divine judgment in Dn 7.9f which ends: “The court was seated and the books were opened”. John has al-ready drawn on this passage in 20.4 (“thrones”). The books here appear to be the record of men’s deeds. For their OT origins, see the note on 3.5.

The dead were judged . . As announced earlier in Revelation, in 11.18. But see the note there for the possibility that 11.18 is about the vindication and resurrec-tion of the martyrs. John’s focus in 20.12-15 is on the dead and what happens to them. In my view, 20.12 does not exclude those who are alive at the time of this judgment from being also judged. This would be those who had lived during the Mil-lennial reign but were not resurrected saints (see the note on 20.6, “They will be priests . . .” and the second half of Annex 3). Some argue that the 20.12 judgment in-cludes the resurrected saints too, though I think that is not the case (see below in this note).

That God will repay men according to their deeds is a familiar theme in the OT & NT: see Jb 34.11; Ps 28.4; 62.12; Prov 24.12; Jer 17.10; 32.19; Ez 33.20; Mt 16.27; Rom 2.6-11; 2 Cor 11.15; 2 T 4.14; 1 P 1.17; Rev 2.23; 18.6; 20.12f; 22.12 156. The principle will also apply to Christ’s rewards to his saints: see Lk 12.47f; 2 Cor 5.10; 1 Cor 3.8, 14f; Col 3.25; Ps 18.20; Rev 2.23; 22.12.

For the resurrection of the dead and their judgment see John 5.28f: “an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out . . those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (ESV). (See the note at 20.5f, “the first resurrection”, for interpreting these verses.)

Those who have not trusted in Christ will be condemned because of their sins, is the inescapable conclusion from this passage - see v 15. This is in line with Rom 3.23, that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, and are justified / de-clared righteous only by grace through Christ’s redemption.

Believers in Christ do not have to fear judgment. They are in the Lamb’s book of life, but the message of Revelation is the need to persevere to the end in their faith 157. They do not even enter it, but they will give an account before Christ on his return for how they have lived and will receive appropriate rewards. See Jesus’ promise in Jn 5.24, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life”. See also Jn 3.18. (Note that in these verses NIV translates the Greek words, “judged” and “judgment”, as “condemned”. ESV prefers the literal translation. However, it is possible that what Jesus meant in 5.24 is that those who believe in him do not come under God’s judgment there and then - the meaning of 3.18).

However, amillennialists and postmillennialists who do not see a 1,000 year reign of Christ with his saints as separating his return and the events connected with it from the last judgment and the new heaven and earth (see the note on 19.11-21), ar-gue that the saints are included in the judgment of 20.12f. They see 11.18 (“The time has come for judging the dead and for rewarding your servants . . .”) as teaching this, and 2.23 and 22.12. They point out that 1 Cor 3.13ff; 2 Cor 5.10 and Rev 22.12 teach

155 judgment in Revelation, 20.11-15 reviewed156 repay each according to their deeds, 20.12. This list does not include the many refer-ences dealing with how God will repay/judge/punish the guilty (see e.g. 2 Chr 6.23; Isa 3.11; 59.18; 65.6; Jer 21.14; Ez 24.14; 36.19; 2 T 4.14)157 See 1.9, patient endurance. See also 3.5 for the possibility that one’s name could be blotted out of the book of life - see the note there.

that the saints’ rewards will be according to their works and individuals can suffer loss (1 Cor 3.15; Col 3.25). They argue that “judgment according to their deeds” (Rev 20.12f) will attest to their trust in Christ as well as determine their rewards. They see the role of the book of life in this judgment (see the next note) as implying that the saints undergo this judgment. Some Classical Premillennialists also see the saints as included (see under “20.11-15 reviewed” below).

Connected with this question is the role of Christ in the Rev 20.11ff judgment. The relevant scriptures are:

John 5, Jesus states, “the Father judges no-one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son (v 22) . . . he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man (v 27) . . . I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just . . (v 30).Acts 10.42, “he (the resurrected Jesus) is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead”.Acts 17.31, “he will judge the world with justice by the man he has ap-pointed”.In Mt 16.27, Jesus teaches that “the Son of Man is going to come in his Fa-ther’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward (lit. “return to” or “re-pay”) each person according to what he has done”.

It is clear that the judgment of the saints will be by Christ on his return, as will Christ’s judgment of the nations (Gentiles) - see the references to each in the section, “20.11-15 reviewed”. But it also seems from these verses that Christ is the judge in the Rev 20.11ff judgment, despite the fact that, “he who is seated on it (v 11), is an expression that elsewhere seems to apply to the Father.

20.12, 15 the book of life 158. We must assume that all those who lived (and died) dur-ing the Millennial reign who were not saints in their resurrected bodies (see note on 20.6, “they will be priests. .“) stand and are judged before the great white throne. Those who trusted in Christ will be in the book of life and will come through the judgment into the eternal kingdom of 21.1 onwards. But John’s attention is not on them – so we lack detail, just as we do about the saints sharing in the First Resurrec-tion who were not martyred in the Tribulation 159. His attention is on the fate of those judged and not found to be in the book of life.

As a consequence, only those who are written in this book enter the new Jerusalem – see note on 21.27.

20.13 160

20.14, Death and Hades 161 were thrown into the lake of fire 162. The end of death is announced by the great voice from the throne that John hears and records in 21.4. Death’s end was prophesied in Isa 25.8 (also quoted by John in Rev 21.4) and by Paul in 1 Cor 15.26 (see too 1 Cor 15.54, also quoting Isa 25.8). We assume that from now on, everyone human that will live on earth - the new heaven and earth - will be in their resurrection bodies and will never die, so there is no need for death and Hades, the place of the dead.

158 Book of Life, 3.5159 tribulation, 1.9160 sea, 4.6; sovereignty of God: “it was given”, 6.2161 Hades, 1.18162 Lake of fire (the second death), 14.10; fire, 1.14

20.15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. “Name” is not in the Greek text, but is clearly the sense of the verse. On this verse, see the note at 20.6 (“the second death”). It is significant that it is the absence of their name in the book of life that consigns a person to the lake of fire, not the works that they had done, though the implication is that they are con-demned for the record of their deeds. Scripture 163 is clear that no-one can hope to be justified before God as a result of their works but all would be condemned on that ba-sis.

But those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life enter the new Jerusalem (21.27).

Rev 20.11-15 reviewed.There are differing views among Christians as to how far all other references to God judging men in the OT and NT should be seen as fulfilled in the Rev 20.11-14 judg-ment. Judgment by God is referred to or implied in Revelation in:

Ch 2 & 3, the conclusion to each of the letters to the 7 churches in Rev 2 & 3, in terms of removal of that church (2.6), reward of the overcomers (2.7 et al), punishment of erroneous teachers and followers (2.14ff, 20-23) and the unfaithful (3.3, 11, 16), repayment according to individuals’ works (2.23). See the note at 2.5 on whether “I will come” in some of these letters (2.5, 16; 3.3) refers to a visitation of judgment on that church prior to Christ’s return at the end of the age.6.10, judgment and vengeance on the earth’s inhabitants for martyring the saints, implying it will take place at the end of the period of tribulation 164

11.18, “The time has come for judging the dead and for rewarding your servants . . and for destroying the destroyers of the earth” (see note on 11.18)12.10, the overthrow of Satan, the heavenly prosecutor (see note on 12.8-10)14.7, “the hour of his judgment has come” (see note on 14.7 as to what judgment this could refer to)14.9ff, the threatened punishment of those who accept the Beast’s mark (see notes on 14.10)14.14-20, the harvest of the earth and the gathering of the vintage and treading it in the winepress of God’s wrath (see notes on 14.7, 15, 18, 20); Christ on his return to earth treads that winepress, 19.15.16.5, 7, “You are just in these judgments . . “,(referring to the bowl of God’s wrath plagues).17.1, “I will show you the judgment (NIV punishment) of the great harlot” Babylon – probably referring to her destruction in 17.16f. See also 18.6, 8, 10, 20 (and note on 18.20); 19.220.4, “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given au-thority to judge . .” – see note there.20.11-15, the great white throne judgment, for which the dead are brought back to life.

163 See Paul’s argument in Rom 1.18-3.20 and particularly 3.9-20. 3.23f sets out the only basis for justification or being declared righteous.164 tribulation, 1.9

22.12, “I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to ev-eryone according to what he has done” (as in 2.23; see note on 22.12).

It is clear from the above that God’s judgment and punishment or reward comes in many forms and at many times; that there are formal times of judgment (11.18; 14.14-20; 20.4 (possibly); 20.11-15), but God judges at other times by his control of the ac-tions of (future) history, by supernatural happenings (earthquakes, plagues) or by causing the evil of men to rebound on them. If we look at the Bible as a whole, in general both the OT and the NT talk about God’s coming judgment without distin-guishing precisely who is to be judged, and at times it is unclear when that judgment will take place, and whether it is a judgment that will be worked out in history (in-cluding by God intervening to destroy his or his people’s enemies). Also, judging was connected with ruling in the Hebrew mind - consider the function of the Judges in Israel between the conquest under Joshua and the start of the monarchy under Saul. So, the Lord coming to judge the world (e.g. Ps 96.13) may refer to the consummation of his kingdom and his reign.

What is absolutely clear from the Bible is that every man or woman past, present or future will face a formal judgment or giving account before Christ 165. In terms of formal times of judgment, the disagreement between Christians is mostly connected to whether or not there will be a millennial reign of Christ following his re-turn with his resurrected saints before the judgment of 20.11-15 and the commence-ment of the new heaven and earth (the Eternal State) in 21.1. Those who accept (as I do) a millennial reign and the return of Christ before that reign (“the premillennialist interpretation”) will tend to identify the following formal judgements (drawing on all the OT & NT). In addition, the rapture of the saints on Christ’s return 166 requires by its nature that Christ exercises judgment as to who to take and who to leave behind (Mt 24.40f; Lk 17.34f).

The formal judgments are as follows:On Christ’s return:

· Christ’s judgment of the nations (Gentiles) who are alive on his return. It is described in Mt 25.31-46. They will be gathered before Christ and separated into two groups, likened to sheep being separated from goats. Those who have done acts of kindness to the needy saints (“these brothers of mine”, v 40) will be welcomed into “the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (v 34). But those who have not acted in this way will depart into “eternal punishment” and “eternal fire” (vv 41 & 46, which sounds like the same awful place as that described in Rev 14.10 and the “lake of fire” of 19.20; 20.10, 14f; 21.8). The second category will include all who have wor-shipped the beast and his image and have received the beast’s mark (see Rev 14.9ff). It may be that the resurrected saints will be involved in this judgment - see the notes on 20.4 (“And I saw thrones . .”). This judgment decides who will enter the Millennial kingdom and come under the rule of Christ and his resurrected saints 167. The saints are not included in those judged because (Mt

165 I leave unresolved here what happens to babies (including those dying or being aborted in the womb) and children, including at what age God treats them as responsible for their ac-tions.166 On the Rapture - the coming of the Lord for his own, their instant resurrection and their gathering to him - see the first half of Annex 3.167 For the argument that there will be two categories of people in the millennial kingdom: the resurrected saints, and others not in resurrected bodies that the saints will rule over and who will eventually rebel, see the note on 20.6 (“they will be priests . .”) and the second half of

25.40 & 45) people are judged by their treatment of the saints (including Jews who believe in Jesus) 168. Some, however, maintain it’s according to their treatment of Israel as a nation, or of Jews regardless of whether those Jews are believers in Jesus, or of those godly Jews who will be persecuted for resisting the beast’s demand for worship 169. At the end of the age Christians will be “hated by all nations” (Mt 24.6) and under severe persecution from the final antichrist world ruler (the beast, Rev 13.7), so acts of kindness to them will re-quire courage. This judgment may also be that in Joel 3.2f, 12-16 (unless this is the final gathering for Armageddon); Mt 7.21ff; 13.24-30, 36-43 (parable of the wheat & the tares), 47-50 (parable of the dragnet); 16.27 (possibly); Rev 6.10; possibly Rev 14.14-20 and 19.15 (“he treads the winepress . .”). See also 19.11 where Christ on his return “judges and makes war”. That those wel-comed into the kingdom “go away . . to eternal life” (Mt 25.46) implies that they become believers in Christ just as people do in this age before Christ’s re-turn 170. They are described as “the nations” in Rev 19.15; 20.3 & 8 just as they are in Mt 25.32. These people may mourn on seeing Christ returning

Annex 3. This suggests that there will be some in the last 3 1/2 years before Christ returns who, though not saints (in terms of having saving faith in Christ), will not give allegiance to the beast (see the notes at 13.16, “He also forced everyone . .”, and 14.7, “Worship him who made the heavens . .”).

Those who hold an amillennialist or postmillennialist interpretation of Rev 20 interpret Mt 25.31-46 as being part of the great white throne judgment of Rev 20.11-15 and as deter-mining who will be allowed to enter the eternal kingdom of the saved and who will be con-signed to eternal punishment in hell. The basis for judgment will be whether love is shown to God’s people (see 1 Jn 3.14f) - perhaps meaning any followers of Christ who are in need and whom one could help. (Taken from NIV”s notes on Mt 25.31-46). Johnson points out that the righteous will inherit the kingdom not because of their good works but because their right-eousness and compassion come from their transformed hearts in response to Jesus’ procla-mation of the kingdom.168 Critical to understanding this passage is the identity of, “the least of these brothers of mine” (Mt 25.40) which Jesus said was equivalent to ministering to Him. “My brothers” in Jn 20.17; Mt 28.10 (see v 7) are Jesus’ disciples; in Mt 12.48f & pars. they are whoever does the Father’s will, meaning his disciples. In Heb 2.11f Ps 22.22 is quoted in teaching that all those whom God has brought to glory are his sons and Christ’s brothers. Rom 8.29 is similar. It is conceivable that Christ “had to be made like his brothers in every way”, Heb 2.17, means mankind in general, but the preceding context suggests “his brothers” has the same meaning as in Heb 2.11f.Jesus’ saying, “He who receives you (meaning his disciples) receives me”, Mt 10.40 (there is a similar saying at Lk 10.16; Jn 13.20), suggests that Jesus’ disciples are meant in Mt 25.40.Jesus’ saying, “If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple . . he will certainly not lose his reward” (Mt 10.42; Mk 9.41 is similar), is simi-lar to Mt 25.35-40.169 This interpretation depends on Jesus, by “these brothers of mine”, meaning his fellow Jews - those who like him can claim descent from Abraham and so are his brothers in the Old Testament use of the word. But there are no instances in the NT of Jesus referring to fel-low Jews, regardless of whether they believed in him and were his disciples, as “brothers”.170 Mt 25.46, they go into eternal life, appears to be another way of describing their inheri-tance, the kingdom prepared for them, Mt 25.34. Presumably, they will submit willingly to Christ as Lord in the Millennial kingdom (see Phil 2.10f) and God reckons to them righteous-ness, so they are now born again in their spirits and have eternal life, but have missed out on “the first resurrection” (Rev 20.6) . That men and women in their mortal bodies can partici-pate in the Millennial kingdom appears to contradict 1 Cor 15.51 where Paul, teaching on the resurrection of the body, states that, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. Clearly, if we consider the kingdom of God in its final manifestation, the eternal kingdom in the new heavens and earth (described as an inheritance in Rev 21.7), then only those in resur-rected bodies will take part in it, and this may be what Paul had in mind.

(Rev 1.7) with something approaching saving repentance (see the notes at 1.7 under the heading, “What does “mourn” mean, in . . Rev 1.7?”).

· God’s judgment of the Jewish people (Israel) who are alive on his return - Ezek 20.34-38 is the only explicit text (but possibly also Isa 27.12). From the language it seems likely that Jews who already believe in Jesus, i.e. who are counted among the saints and will have gained their resurrection bodies as Christ returned, are NOT included in this judgment. There are features in this prophecy that we struggle to understand - such as, where is “the desert of the nations”? Or is it to be understood metaphorically rather than as a physical place? - but its function is clear: to determine who will enter the land of Israel, and (I assume) the millennial kingdom of Christ and his resurrected saints . It seems therefore to be a parallel judgment to Christ’s judgment of the nations (Gentiles), Mt 25.31-46.See the detailed discussion on the meaning of the Gog of Magog prophecy in Ezekiel 38 to 39, placed by Rev 20.8ff as fulfilled at the end of the millennial reign, in Annex 4. It is possible that God’s people Israel in places in that prophecy refers to the descendants of Jews allowed into the millennial king-dom who were not resurrected saints and whose knowledge of God was there-fore much less.

· The judgement seat (tribunal) of Christ in 2 Cor 5.10, Rom 14.10 (“the judgment seat of God”). See also Lk 21.36; Jas 5.9; 1 Cor 3.8-15; 4.4f; Rev 22.12 and possibly Mt 16.27, Lk 12.47f; Rev 2.23; 20.4. It is of all the saints raised to life at Christ’s return (the Rapture and First Resurrection of Rev 20.5). It is a time of assessment and rewards 171, not punishment (though indi-viduals may suffer loss - see Lk 12.47f; 1 Cor 3.15; Col 3.25). It will deter-mine the responsibilities of each saint in the millennial reign - the criteria will be their integrity and faithfulness in the present age (Mt 25.21ff; Mt 24.47 & // 172; Lk 16.10ff). It will be the time for their faith in this age to be recognised and honoured, and for them to receive their reward. See Lk 14.14, “you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous”. It is referred to also, though not by this name, in Mt.19.28f (but see //s); 24.45-47; 25.28f & //; Lk 12.37; 1 Cor 9.24-27; Eph 6.8; 2 Tim 4.8; Jas 1.12; Phil 3.14; 1 P 1.7; 5.4; Mt 5.12; 6.1, 4, 6, 18; 2 Cor 4.17; 2 P 1.11. But there will be surprises: “many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (Mt 19.30 & //s). It will in-clude recognition of heart attitudes, motives, words (see Jas 5.9; 1 Cor 3.8-15; 4.4f). Revelation speaks in many places of the saints being rewarded - see 2.23; 22.12; 11.18; 14.13; the promise to the overcomer in the seven letters to the churches in ch 2 & 3; the crowns promised to the overcomer in 2.10 and 3.11; the bride’s wedding garments of fine linen in 19.8; possibly even the new Jerusalem is their reward. However, 19.11 to 21.1 do not include an ex-plicit reference to the judgment seat of Christ following his return in what is revealed to John. This has caused some who hold to a premillennialist inter-pretation to place the reward of the saints as part of the judgment at 20.11-15, at the end of the millennial reign. However, it is hard to see how the saints can exercise authority in the millennial reign without being assessed and re-warded at its commencement.

At the end of the millennial reign:

171 rewards of the saints172 // means: see the parallel passage(s) in the other Gospels.

· The judgment at the “resurrection of judgment” (Jn 5.29, ESV; see note above on Rev 20.5f), described in Rev 20.11-15. See the notes on those verses. Of all the dead since time began, including therefore those who en-tered the millennial reign in mortal bodies or were born to those who did. It excludes the saints resurrected on Christ’s return. Revelation is silent on what will happen to those not in their resurrection bodies but still alive at the end of the 1,000 years when the judgment of 20.11-15 takes place. I assume that they will stand in the judgment along with all the resurrected dead.

However, those who take the amillennialist (“no millennium”) or post-millennialist (“Christ returns after the millennium”) interpretations of Revelation 20 173 generally hold that there is only one time of judgment, which will be when Christ returns, at which point there will be the resurrection of believers and of unbelievers and also the destruction or passing away of the present heavens and earth, making way for the new heavens and new earth.

I have set out in the notes on 20.5f (“the first resurrection”) the scriptures that are often cited by amillennialists and postmillennialists to support their position on fi-nal judgment, together with notes explaining how they need not be so interpreted. See also the note on 20.12 (“and books were opened”) for their arguments that the saints are included in the judgment described at 20.11-15. To help readers form their own views on the subject, the following NT scriptures on judgment identify a specific time/occasion:

a. In the moment that Christ returns: Lk 17.26-36 = Mt 24.37-41: Lk 21.34ff: 1 Th 5.2ff, 9 ; 2 P 3.10 174; Rev 16.15. All these are to do with those not ready for Christ’s coming being left behind, suddenly destroyed or caught as in a trap.b. By Christ on his return: as part of warnings about being ready and prepared for his return - Mt 24.42-51; 25.1-13, 14-30; Mk 13.33-37; Lk 12.35-48; 19.12-27. See also Mt 16.27 = Mk 8.38 = Lk 9.26; Mt 22.11ff; 2 Th 1.6-9 175. Christ’s judgment of the nations (Gentiles), Mt 25.31-46, clearly belongs here. Christ’s judgment of believers (the judgment seat/tribunal of Christ) be-longs here according to Mt 19.28ff; Lk 21.36; Jas 5.9; 1 Cor 4.4; 1 P 1.7; 5.4; Rev 3.11; 22.12; c. “The Day”: Christ’s judgment of believers (the judgment seat/tribunal of Christ) belongs here according to 1 Cor 3.8-15 (see v 13); 2 T 4.8d. “That day”: Mt 7.21ff (probably Christ’s judgment of the nations); Lk 10.12 (called, “the day of judgment” in Mt 10.15; see also Lk 10.14);e. “A day”: set by God when he will “judge the world with righteousness” by Christ, Acts 17.31f. “The last day”: Jn 12.48;g. “The day of judgment”: Mt 10.15; 11.22ff; 12.36f; 2 P 2.9; 3.7 (this ap-pears to be “the Day of the Lord” of v 10); 1 Jn 4.17h. “The hour of his judgment”: Rev 14.7

173 See the notes in the summary of 19.11-21.1; also in my Introduction the section headed, “How do we understand Revelation chapter 20, that Christ will reign on earth a 1,000 years with his resurrected saints?”174 On interpreting 1 Th 5.2f, see the footnote towards the end of the first half of Annex 3. On interpreting 2 P 3.7-13, see further below in these notes.175 On interpreting 2 Th 1.6-9, see further below in these notes.

i. “The day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed”, Rom 2.5f; “the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ”, Rom 2.16.j. “The end of the age”: Mt 13.24-30, 36-43 (parable of the wheat & the tares), 47-50 (parable of the dragnet) - these both appear to be the same judg-ment as the judgment of the nations, Mt 25.31-46.k. “The resurrection of the righteous”: Lk 14.12ff, probably referring to Christ’s judgment of believers (the judgment seat/tribunal of Christ)l. “The resurrection of life”: Jn 5.29 (ESV), for those who have done good.m. “The resurrection of judgment”: Jn 5.29 (ESV), for those who have done evil 176.n. After the 1,000 year reign of Christ and his resurrected saints: the resurrec-tion of the dead and the final judgment, Rev 20.11-15

Also, in addition to the above, the following NT scriptures speak of “the judgment” 177, which might be taken to imply that there is only one judgment by God:

Mt 5.21f; 12.41f = Lk 11.31f; Mt 23.33 (lit. “the judgment of Gehenna”); Lk 10.14 (the parallel in Mt 11.22 has, “the day of judgment”); Jn 3.19; 5.22, 30; 8.16; Acts 24.25; Rom 2.2f; 2 Th 1.5; Jas 2.13.

However, Jn 5.22, “the Father . . has entrusted all judgment to the Son”, might imply that the Son’s judgment will be made by him on more than one occasion, which in fact is the case if v 29, “the resurrection of life” and “the resurrection of judgment”, mean there are two different resurrections as in Rev 20 178.

And the following NT scriptures deal with judgment but have not been men-tioned in any of the above analyses in the section “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed” or under judgment or punishment in Annex 3, first half:

Mt 20.1-16 (the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard)

176 On interpreting Jn 5.29, see the note on Rev 20.5 (“the first resurrection”).177 I have only included uses of the Greek nouns κρισις and κριμα, both of which are gener-ally translated “judgment”, which are preceded by the definite article in the Greek text. I have not included the following as they lack the definite article:Jn 5.24 (the believer “does not come into judgment”);Jn 5.27 “he has given him authority to execute judgment”);Jn 12.31 (“now is the judgment of this world”);Jn 16.8 (“he will convict the world in regard to . . judgment”);Jn 16.11 (“in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned”);Rom 13.2 (“those who do so will bring judgment upon themselves”);1 Cor 11.29 “(eats and drinks judgment upon himself”);1 Cor 11.34 (“it may not result in judgment”);1 T 5.24 (“reaching the place of judgment ahead of them”);Heb 6.2 (“and eternal judgment”);Heb 9.27 (“to die once, and after that to face judgment”);Heb 10.27 (“a fearful expectation of judgment”);Jude 15 (“to execute judgment on all . .”).And I have excluded the following even though they contain the definite article:Mt 23.23, “you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice (lit. the judg-ment), mercy and faithfulness”. Lk 11.42 is similar.Rom 5.16 as it concerns God’s judgment on Adam following his trespass;Gal 5.10, “the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty (lit. the judgment)”;1 P 4.17 as it concerns God’s purifying judgment on the Church, probably via persecution;2 P 2.3 (of false teachers) “Their condemnation (lit. the judgment) has long been hanging over them”.2 P 2.4 & Jude 6 as it is the judgment awaiting fallen angels;Rev 17.1 (“the judgment of the great harlot”) - see also 18.10.178 On interpreting Jn 5.29, see the note on 20.5, “the first resurrection”.

Acts 10.42 (“the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead”)2 T 4.1 (“Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead”)Heb 10.29ff (the judgment and punishment awaiting those who deliberately turn from the truth about Christ’s salvation)Jude 7 (“ . . the punishment of eternal fire”)

Finally, I have provided below notes on two NT passages that would appear to sup-port the amillennialist and postmillennialist position on final judgment and which I have not commented on so far in these notes on Revelation. The passages are 2 P 3.7-13 and 2 Th 1.6-9.

2 P 3.7-13 appears to teach that the “day of the Lord” (v 10; see “the day of God”, v 12) will be the day of the Lord’s second coming (see v 4), in which the heavens and earth will be destroyed by fire - will vv 7, 10 & 12 be fulfilled by a nuclear holocaust? - to be replaced by a new heaven and earth, and it will also be the day of “judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (v 7). In interpreting the passage, note first that v 10 is literally, “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which (day) the heavens will disappear . .”; v 12 is literally as ESV, “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which (day or coming) the heavens will be set on fire . .”. Note also that the Day of the Lord in 1 Th 5.2 (that “will come like a thief in the night” - the same imagery as in 2 P 3.10) and 2 Th 2.2 seem to mean a period of time 179, so there is precedent for the Day of the Lord / Day of God in 2 P 3.10 & 12 also being a period of time that commences with Christ’s sudden return (“like a thief”).

If 2 P 3 7-13 is to be understood in line with the premillennialist interpretation of Rev 20, then “the day of the Lord” (v 10; “the day of God”, v 12) starts with Christ’s return (the “coming” of v 12 translates the Greek παρουσια, ‘parousia’, the word regularly used of Christ’s return) and must last the 1,000 years of the millennial reign of Rev 20.2-7 - which may be hinted at in 2 P 3.8. The destruction of the heav-ens, the earth and the elements by fire in vv 7, 10 & 12 is the passing away of the first heaven and earth in Rev 21.1 (see also 20.11) that comes at the end of the millennial reign, and the “new heaven and a new earth” that we look forward to (2 P 3.13) is the new heavens and earth of Rev 21.1. Judgment” in 2 P 3.7 is the great white throne judgment of Rev 20.11-15 at the end of the millennial reign, and is probably the meaning of, “the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 P 3.10, ESV). “Destruction of ungodly men” in v 7 is the casting into the lake of fire of all those found not to be in the Book of Life at that judgment 180.

Alternatively, and still within the premillennialist interpretation of Rev 20, 2 P 3.7, 10 & 12 might describe a destruction of the heavens, the earth and the elements by fire, perhaps in a nuclear holocaust, when Christ returns and before the start of the millennial reign181. The “judgment” of v 7 is the judgment of the nations and of the

179 On interpreting 1 Th 5.2 and 2 Th 2.2, see the footnotes in the first half of Annex 3.180 An alternative interpretation of 1 P 3.7 is that it is the same future event as the Gog and Magog uprising in Rev 20.7ff at the end of the millennial reign, which is ended by fire from heaven destroying all the rebels - “the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men”. However, its seems more likely to me that “reserved for fire” is the same future event as the conflagration described in vv 10 & 12.181 which could be the explanation of 2 Th 1.7, “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire”. See later in this note. Note, however, that the earth-shaking events and cosmic disturbances at the end of this current age that herald the Lord’s return (Mt 24.29; Lk 21.25f; Rev 6.12f; 16.18-21) seem incompatible with the conflagration described in 2 P 3.7,

Jewish people that are alive when Christ returns (the 1st and 2nd bullets above) and the “destruction of ungodly men” is the “eternal fire” and “eternal punishment” of Mt 25.41 & 46 for those not allowed into the millennial kingdom. The “new heavens and a new earth” of 2 P 3.13 describes the reformed creation at the start of the millennial kingdom which is the initial fulfilment of the liberated creation promised in Rom 8.21. Note that the “new heavens and a new earth” of Isa 65.17 and 66.22, from their context, seem to be part of Isaiah’s prophetic description of the millennial reign. The “new heaven and new earth” of Rev 21.1 is then a second and final new creation (“Behold, I make all things new”, Rev 21.5) at the end of the millennial kingdom as in Rev 20.7-21.1.

However, it may be preferable to assume that the revelation given Peter and which he has recorded in 2 P 3.7-13 compresses or telescopes the events following Christ’s return set out in Rev 19.11-21.1 and in other NT passages dealing with Christ’s return. Such telescoping is common in prophetic passages. This allows for a premillennialist interpretation of Rev 20, but also for an amillennialist or postmillen-nialist interpretation. Decisions between these interpretations are then made on other scriptural grounds.

2 Th 1.6-9, “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you . . when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord . .”.

This passage appears to support the amillennialist and post-millennialist inter-pretation of Rev 19.11-21.1: that on Christ’s return there will be the final judgment when those who have persecuted the saints and not come into saving faith in Christ will be condemned and suffer “everlasting destruction”, not being allowed to proceed into the eternal kingdom that is the new heavens and earth. The “blazing fire” may be the destruction of the present heavens and earth, as in their interpretation of 2 P 3.7 & 12, or else an anticipation of the punishment awaiting those who will be condemned in the final judgment, the “lake of fire” of Rev 20.15 182.

But the passage is not necessarily incompatible with the premillennialist inter-pretation of Rev 19.11-21.1. The context of the passage is the suffering of believers under persecution, and Paul seems to be talking about the fate of the persecutors. The premillennialist position is that Christ on his return will hold two formal judgments - of the nations (Gentiles) who are alive when he returns, and of the Jewish people who are alive. See the first two bullets at the start of this discussion. (He will also judge his saints to assess their rewards - the 3rd bullet - but that is not in view here.) Those who have persisted in persecuting his saints will suffer condemnation in that judgment and will not be allowed into the millennial kingdom - they will be “shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power” (2 Th 1.9). Their punish-ment (see “the eternal fire” of Mt 25.41) may be the “everlasting destruction” of 2 Th 1.9 and possibly also the “blazing fire” with which Christ is revealed. However, per-

10 & 12. However, in all these passages we might have apocalyptic language which should be understood symbolically rather than literally.182 Another way of understanding “in blazing fire” is that Paul is describing Christ’s second coming using the imagery of purging fire. This imagery is used by Paul when speaking of the assessments of the works of believers by Christ at his coming (1 Cor 3.13ff). Purging fire is probably the thought behind Heb 12.29 (“”our God is a consuming fire”); Heb 10.27 is similar, but there the thought is of the fire of God consuming his enemies - a theme that we see in Dt 9.3; Ps 97.3.

secutors who have died before Christ returns will not formally be judged by Christ un-til their resurrection for the final judgment at the end of the millennial reign, Rev 20.11-15. But on their deaths, assuming they have not repented and turned in faith to Christ, they will suffer punishment in Hades (Lk 16.22ff, 25, 28; 2 P 2.9) until they are raised for the final judgment 183. This is in line with the spirit of 2 Th 1.6-9. It seems likely to me that Paul was using shorthand to explain God’s just punishment awaiting those who persecute the saints. He was not systematically teaching what will happen following Christ’s return to those who were alive then and to those who had died by then.

183 See the second half of Annex 3 for more details.

Summary, Rev 21.1-22.5 $21God’s final judgement has been completed. Before his enthroned presence earth and sky have fled (20.11). The dead are all raised and death is no more, but those not in the book of life are in “the second death”, described as a lake of fire. The way is now clear for the final set of visions describing how God and man will dwell together for eternity in a new heaven and a new earth, specifically in the Holy City, the new Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven, which is Christ the Lamb’s bride.

The visions given John are now all in terms of symbols and metaphors – the only way to communicate the awesome grandeur, beauty and glory of the Eternal State. Whereas the truths that are being communicated are clear in their meaning, it is impossible to decide how far the various features of our future home are to be under-stood in a literal, physical sense. But given that we are promised resurrected bodies like Christ’s which was a physical body (he could be touched), and Christ as his sec-ond coming returned to a physical earth to reign there with his resurrected saints, then it seems that the new earth must have an actual, physical existence. Many of its fea-tures in 21.1-22.5 bear a present, spiritual reality to the believer (e.g. the water of life, i.e. the refreshing of the Holy Spirit; access to the tree of life, i.e. eternal life), a fore-taste of the future glorious fulfilment.

The description of the Eternal State contains many echoes of the initial state of cre-ation when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. The new creation is a more glorious version of the first creation before it was marred by the effects of human sin:

- a new heaven and a new earth (21.1). “The (first) heavens and the earth were completed” in Gen 2.1 (see Gen 1.1) – both a direct creation by the word of God, as implied in 21.1 & 6 (lit. “they have become”)

- God walked with man in the garden – implied by Gen 3.8- There was no death (21.4): this was the result of the Fall, Gen 3.19- There was no pain (21.4), as this came in after the Fall, Gen 3.16f- All things were new (21.5), as they had only just been created.- “They have become!” (21.6): compare Gen 2.1, “the heavens and the

earth were completed”- “The beginning and the end” (21.6). Compare Gen 1.1, “In the begin-

ning God created . .” - The river of the water of life (22.1). Compare the river that flowed

from Eden and watered the garden in Gen 2.10.- the tree of life (22.2, 14, 19; 2.7). Compare Gen 2.9; 3.22, 24.- Fruit (22.2). Compare the fruit that brought death to Adam and Eve,

Gen 3. In the Eternal State there is no “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” to test man by its fruit, and everyone can eat the fruit of the tree of life Rev 2.7).

- Leaves (22.2). Here they are for healing. In Gen 3.7 they were used in a futile, man-designed attempt to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness and shame from sin committed.

- No curse (22.3). Contrast Gen 3.17, “Cursed is the ground because of you”.

See also 2.7, the promise to the overcomer to “eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise (lit. walled garden) of God.

The Holy City combines elements of Jerusalem (a city with gates and walls which is “the city of the great King”, Mt 5.35), the temple (where God dwells; also the cube shape of its inner sanctuary was found in the tabernacle and the Most Holy Place), and the garden of Eden (see above). The Eternal State as described here is the ultimate fulfilment of all God’s promises to his people Israel regarding his restoration of them (Acts 3.21, “whom heaven must receive until the times 184 of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been of old”, ASV), as well as being the fulfilment of the promises in the NT to the saints there.

Hendriksen observes that, whilst the Eternal State describes the redeemed universe of the future, that era is already working in the hearts of God’s children now and the glo-rious future is foreshadowed by the redeemed church of the present. This explains why so many of its features, e.g. God tabernacling with men, are already Biblical truths for believers in the NT era.

I suggest you read 21.1 to 22.5 worshipfully, asking God to let the truths sink into your heart. There is a glorious future that God has planned for mankind and for his world - but it is only on his terms. We, mankind, were designed to be the crown of his wonderful and beautiful creation, made in his image, and he has a marvellous plan, set out in the whole of Revelation, to restore both to that glorious position and to work through in full the reconciliation that Christ has achieved on the Cross 185. This vision is what will keep us serving and witnessing faithfully, whatever the cost, in the challenging days that Revelation has shown lie ahead as Christ’s return draws near. It will be worth it!

21.1 And I saw. The last of the seven (or eight) occurrences of this phrase that started at 19.11. See the note there.

21.1, a new heaven and a new earth. Foretold in Isa 65.17; 66.22, it is the hope and expectation of the saints, according to 2 P 3.13, which motivates holy living. It com-pletely fulfils Rom 8.21, that “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God”, which may have had an initial fulfilment in the millennial kingdom of Rev 20 186.

21.1 for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. This may have hap-pened when “earth and sky (OR heaven) fled from his presence” at the great white throne judgment, 20.11 (see note there). Interpreters who do not take the millennial reign of 20.1-10 as a literal reign on earth of Christ and his saints following his sec-ond coming, see the earth-changing events John sees in 16.20 (“every island fled away and the mountains could not be found”), triggered by the angel pouring out the 7th bowl of wrath, as the flight of the first heaven and earth from God’s terrible pres-ence when he comes at the last judgment (20.11), giving way to a new heaven and earth (21.1) unstained by human sin (22.3).

184 Note the plural “times” - literal translation of the Greek text. Is this a hint that there will be two eras following Christ’s return: the millennial reign, and then the Eternal State? See also Eph 1.10, “a plan for the fulfilment of the times” (though “times” there is the plural of καιρος, ‘kairos’, not χρονος, ‘chronos, as in Acts 3.21, and it is possible that in Eph 1.10 it refers to all the ages since Creation right through until the Eternal State).185 See Col 1.20; Eph 1.10.186 See the note on 20.4, “they reigned with Christ for a 1,000 years”.

(Johnson) scholars differ as whether the “new earth” is entirely new - newly created, as implied by 2 P 3.7, 10-13 187 - or is the old earth transformed in a similar way to the transformation of believers’ bodies on their resurrection (1 Cor 15.35-49, following the pattern of the Lord’s resurrection body, Phil 3.21; see also Rom 8.18-25).

See the notes on interpreting 2 P 3.7-13 at the end of the discussion on judg-ment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed” for the possibility that “a new heaven and a new earth” comes into being on Christ’s return, fulfilling Isa 65.17 and 66.22, and 1,000 years later at the end of the millennial reign there is a completely newly created “new heaven and a new earth” fulfilling Rev 21.1 1.

21.1, the sea 188 is no more. See 4.6 and the notes there and at the end of ch 4 for the sea’s sinister connotations in Revelation. Also the note on 15.2. It is the symbol and reservoir of evil and rebellion, chaos and danger (Johnson), out of which the Beast arose (13.1), and therefore has no place in a new heaven and earth where sin and sin-ful behaviour is no more. (Hendriksen) the sea is the emblem of conflict and unrest, symbolising the world’s nations in their conflict and unrest. There is no place for it in the new heavens and new earth, where all will be at peace.

Whether this means that there will be no physical sea in the new heavens and earth is not clear. Given that there is a river (22.1f), we would expect it to flow into the sea.

21.2, the holy city, new Jerusalem 189. The earthly Jerusalem was chosen by God (Ps 132.13f) to be the place where he would “put his name there for his dwelling” (Dt 12.5; Ps 76.2) and where his people were to go to seek him and worship him. It be-came the site for the Lord’s temple (1 Chr 22.1; 2 Chr 7.11f and see 1 Chr 21.18-26), which the Lord filled with his glory (2 Chr 5.14; 7.1-3). The temple represented God’s royal palace where his earthly throne (the ark) was situated (Ps 9.11) and where he had pledged to be present as Israel’s great king (1 K 9.3; Ps 24.7-10) and in which centre he had anointed his King to rule the nations (Ps 2.6). It was his city (Ps 87.3; so in Rev 3.12 of the new Jerusalem), “the holy city” (Neh 11.1 & 18; Isa 48.2; 52.1; Dn 9.24; Mt 4.5; 27.53; Rev 11.2; 21.2, 10; 22.19; see the note on Rev 11.2); “the city of the Great King” (Ps 48.1f: Mt 5.35) which he loved (Ps 87.2; Rev 20.9). He al-lowed it to be captured and the temple and much of the city to be destroyed by the Babylonians, because of his people’s faithlessness, but 70 years later (Jer 25.11f) per-mitted his people to return, rebuild the city and the temple. Jesus foretold with sad-ness that the city and temple would be desolate (Mt 23.37f: Lk 19.42-44; 21.20-24) and would be “trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are ful-filled”. He was rejected by this city and crucified just outside it, was resurrected and ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives within it. The city, as he prophesied, fell to the Romans and was destroyed in 70 AD.

The church was born by the Spirit in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. From it, Jesus sent his followers out to preach the gospel to all the world. The early Chris-

187 Interpreting 2 P 3 is complicated by the variation between manuscripts for v 10, “will be laid bare” (NIV; literally, “will be found”). The alternative, “will be burned up”, found in some later manuscripts, suggests annihilation of the present earth. For further detail on interpreting 2 P 3.7-13, see the end of the notes on judgment under “Rev 20.11-15 reviewed”.188 sea, 4.6189 Jerusalem, the holy city, 21.2

tians saw beyond the physical Jerusalem to the heavenly Jerusalem 190 where God and his people already belonged and dwelt (Gal 4.26; Heb 12.22-24). But they still sought as pilgrims a future city (Heb 11.10, 16; 13.14 – see Rev 21.2 onward).

But Jerusalem (Zion) still has a future according to prophecy. It is God’s “rest-ing place for ever” (Ps 132.14), though interrupted by the current unbelief of Israel and rejection of her Messiah. The Lord will reign there (Isa 24.23) in the person of his Messiah (Ps 2.6) and “all the nations will stream to it” (Isa 2.2). His people Israel will return there and be spiritually renewed (Isa 49.14ff; 51.3, 11; 52.1-9) and she will be rebuilt (see Isa 54; 60; 62; the language goes way beyond her rebuilding after the Exile). We can see in the light of Rev 20 (see v 9) that these prophecies will be ful-filled in Christ’s Millennial reign, and then finally in the new Jerusalem of Rev 21.1 onwards. The Jerusalem of the millennial reign will be a Jerusalem that all the resur-rected saints, whether formerly Jews or Gentiles, will share (see Rev 20.9 and note on “the encampment of the saints”), alongside that portion of mankind that is not yet in resurrected bodies but is welcomed into the kingdom 191.

Jerusalem also features in the lead-up to Christ’s return 192 and the timespan of Rev 6-19. The OT & NT (Dn 9.27; Mt 24.15; 2 Th 2.3f; and I would argue Rev 11.1f) require a temple will be built there some time in the future, in which the “ruler who will come” (Dn 9.26f) will set up his image and demand universal worship. The nations will “trample on” (i.e. control) the holy city for 42 months”, and during this time it will suffer “great tribulation” (Mt 24.21). Zechariah (12.2f) foresaw that the Lord would make it “a cup that sends all the surrounding nations reeling” and “all who try to move it will injure themselves”. The nations will surround it to destroy it (Zech 14.2f), but the Lord will return and stand on the Mt of Olives to defend it (Zech 12.8f). The Jews there will “look on me, the one they have pierced” (Zech 12.10, as they “see the sign of the Son of Man” in the sky, Mt 24.30) 193 and will mourn for him; then they will welcome him as prophesied by Jesus, saying, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Ps 118.26; Mt 23.39).

21.2,10, coming down from heaven from God. In the new heaven and earth (the Eternal State as it is often called) the heavenly Jerusalem is united with the Jerusalem on earth, or perhaps it replaces it. Its descent was announced in 3.12 in a promise that he who overcomes will bear its name. This is the introduction of the main theme of 21.1-22.5: heaven and earth come together, and God and men dwell together (see 21.3).

Caird (see the note on 13.6): the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem is continu-ally anticipated in the history of God’s people. Whenever God’s people are gathered together, there He is with them.

190 See the discussion about heavenly equivalents in Jewish theology in the note on 1.16,20.191 See the second half of Annex 3 for detailed discussion; also the notes on 20.6 (“they will be priests . .”). Dispensationalists, however, hold that the only way to see the OT prophecies about Jerusalem fulfilled is if the earthly Jerusalem in the millennial reign is separate from the abode and the inheritance of Christ’s bride the Church as promised in the NT. See the note at 21.9 for the view that 21.9-22.5 describe the heavenly Jerusalem that is the Christ’s bride the Church - the raptured and resurrected saints’ - abode in the millennial reign. See also the section of the Introduction headed, “How should we interpret the physical & material promises to Israel?”192 For the detail, see Annex 5 (entitled, “Events happening to Jerusalem and Israel in the last years of this age”.193 For a detailed discussion of Zech 12.10 and Mt 24.30, see the notes on Rev 1.7.

21.2, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Draws on Isa 61.10, where Zion rejoices in the Lord who has clothed her with garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness, “as a bride adorns herself with her jewels”. In Rev 21.2 & 9 we have a fusing together of the imagery of the church, Christ’s bride whose marriage to the Lamb was celebrated in 19.7, 9 (see notes there), with the new Jerusalem, her spiritual mother (Gal 4.26) and where she belongs (Heb 12.22) and where for eternity she will dwell. A similar fusing is found in Isaiah 49.18 & 61.10 (the speaker is most likely Zion), 54.1-8 and 62.4f (particularly if we translate, by altering the pointing from that in the Hebrew MT, to, “so will your Builder marry you” (as NIV alt.). Isaiah fre-quently personifies Zion as female (49.19ff; 52.2; 54) and also fuses the city with her inhabitants (52.2f, 7, 9; 62.11f).

John wants us to compare our future with the worldly glories and seductive-ness of the harlot Babylon (see ch 17 & 18, and note at 17.6 contrasting the Bride with “the great harlot”), so that we see the attractiveness of this world for what it re-ally is – compared with the new Jerusalem.

It is possible to use this second appearance of the wedding imagery to support the argument that the blessed state described in 21.1 onwards must follow in time im-mediately on the wedding announced in 19.7ff, i.e. there is no intervening millennial reign with Christ and his resurrected saints (who are also his bride). Note, however, that in 21.1 and 21.9 the bride is the holy city, the new Jerusalem - the imagery has developed from that in 19.7ff. I see no compelling reason from these passages why the time period introduced at 21.1 must immediately follow the wedding of 19.7ff.

21.3, And I heard a great voice 194 from the throne 195. Some manuscripts instead of “throne” have “heaven”. God’s voice from the throne (16.17; 19.5 and 21.3) marks the completion of key stages in God’s redemption of the world and his people.

21.3, Behold, the dwelling (tabernacle) of God with men, and he will dwell (tabernacle) with them 196. See note on 15.5. The Greek for “dwelling”, ‘skene’ (σκηνη), which basically means, “tent”, was used (for example, Acts 7.44) for the tabernacle which God commanded the people of Israel via Moses to make in the desert as the place where he would dwell among them and could be approached (Ex 29.42-46; Lev 26.11f) 197. Heb 8.2 & 5 make it clear that the real tabernacle is in heaven – referred to in Rev 13.6 and 15.5 - where Christ is the high priest, and Moses was commanded (Ex 25.40; see Acts 7.44) to make the earthly tabernacle after its pat-tern. But after Moses God could only be approached by the high priest “and that only once a year and never without blood” (Heb 9.7, referring to the elaborate sacrificial ritual God commanded via Moses for the Day of Atonement). The Old Covenant was full of instructions safeguarding the people from God’s holiness. Even in Ezekiel’s vision of the restored Israel and temple (37.27f,, using the tabernacle language) God was still only approachable via the priesthood and the blood of sacrifices – see 40.46; 43.19; 44.15f.

Jesus by his incarnation “became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) in us” (Jn 1.14). By his sacrifice on the cross, God and man could now dwell together again, and God by his Spirit dwelt in his church and in every believer (1 Cor 3.16; 6.19; 2

194 voice from heaven, 16.1195 throne of God, 4.2196 dwell / tabernacle 12.12; 21.3197 Exodus typology, 8.6

Cor 6.16) in the midst of a sinful world. That world has now, by the time period intro-duced at 21.1, been completely cleansed of sin and renewed – and God and man dwell together in the Eternal State. God will now really dwell on earth – see Solomon’s prayer of wonder, 1 K 8.27, at the dedication of the first temple - and with-out a temple building (see Rev 21.22 and note). This fulfils

Zech 2.10f: “I am coming, and will live among you, declares the Lord. Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people.”

See also Isa 4.4-6, which probably relates to Christ’s millennial reign, where God spreads his tabernacle over “all the habitation of Mt Zion and over her assem-blies”, which perhaps should be understood not in a metaphorical sense but in a glori-ous overspread canopy, of which the cloud and fire of the Exodus and wilderness wanderings was a precursor or type. Rev 7.15 may refer to this covering – “he who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle (NIV tent) over them”. But in the Eternal State God will tabernacle (NIV live) with them.

21.3, They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Some manuscripts omit, “and be their God”.

These are covenantal terms, that are also reminiscent of the garden of Eden where God walked with Adam and Eve (Gen 3.8). For the personal form of this promise or covenant, see 21.7. The last part of the 21.3 phrase is first found in the covenant to Abraham at Gen 17.7. Parts one and three together are found many times in the OT as God restates his covenant with man: see Ex 6.7; Lev 26.12; Ps 95.7, and (looking forward to a restored Israel) Jer 30.22 & 31.1; Ez 11.20 198; Hosea ch 1 & 2; Zech 8.8. They occur together with the tabernacling metaphor in Ez 37.27 (about a re-stored Israel), which Paul quotes (along with Lev 26.11f) in 2 Cor 6.16 to describe Christians’ exalted status. Part one with the tabernacling metaphor is also at Zech 2.10f (about restored Zion). Part two is first found in the statement about Ishmael (im-plying it applied also to his father Abraham), Gen 21.20 and then in God’s promise to Isaac, Gen 26.3, and thereafter many times in the Bible – it is the meaning of Jesus’ name Immanuel (Isa 7.14; 8.8; Mt 1.23), and see Jesus’ last words in Mt 28.20.

“His people” is actually plural (“they will be his peoples”) in the Greek (though some manuscripts have the singular). Occasionally in the Hebrew of the OT we have the plural of the usual word for people (‘am’) with a singular meaning, e.g. Ex 31.14; Isa 3.13 199, but not (to my knowledge) in this covenant formula. Was John wishing to indicate that we have the consummation of the bringing together of the OT people of God - Israel, or the Jews - with the NT church, which are already together as one people in Christ (see Jn 10.16; 17.20-23; Eph 2.11-3.6)? Does this phrase also indicate that “the nations” no longer exist as a separate group of mankind from the resurrected saints? (See the discussion at 21.24 for the implications.) God dwelt with men in a particular way in the OT, and in a new way in the church – see note on 21.3 above. His dwelling with men reaches its consummation in the Eternal State 200. These two manifestations of the people of God are seen in the gates of the holy city bearing the names of the 12 tribes (21.12) and its wall having foundations bearing the

198 Ezekiel 8 to 11 prophecy of destruction, 7.3199 It is possible that in Isa 3.13 that “peoples” means mankind in general, though the people of Judah is the context.200 Dispensational premillennialists, however, argue that this distinction between Israel and the Church will continue in the millennial reign as Israel restored to its land will again have a temple (see note on 20.6, “they will be priests . .”).

names of the 12 Apostles (21.14), indicating that both are represented. (See the sec-tion in the Introduction, “Did John believe that the church had replaced Israel as God’s chosen people?”.)

God now fulfils in final form his covenant to the elect and his desire for fel-lowship with man. (Johnson) the goal of God’s covenant, “God with us”, foreshad-owed in the OT tabernacle and temple, will be achieved.

21.4, He will wipe away every tear. Fulfils the promise to the overcomers from the great tribulation 201, 7.17 (see note there). No more death or mourning or crying or pain - now death (see note on 20.14) and the pain and suffering brought in by sin’s entrance into the world (Gen 3.16-19) will be no more for all God’s people (foretold in Isa 35.10; 51.11; 65.19). There will be no sickness or disease.

21.4, For the first things have passed away . . Behold, I make all things new. Some manuscripts omit “For”.

See note on 21.1 above. Isaiah proclaimed that God was doing a new thing in restoring Israel from exile to glory (43.19; see also 42.9; 48.6) and they were to forget the first things, i.e. what had happened previously (43.18), as they looked forward to his salvation of them. 65.17 seems to indicate that when the people experience the new heavens and earth, “the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind”. Paul taught that this restoration and salvation becomes true for each person as they trust in Christ and realise their true identity in him: 2 Cor 5.17 (see also Rom 6.4; 7.6; 12.2; Eph 2.15). The cross brought about this new creation (Gal 6.14f) because “through it the world was crucified to me and I to the world”. But the made-new saints await their inheritance (Rev 21.7) when the whole of creation will likewise be made new.

21.5 He who was seated on the throne said . .202. This is the first and only time in Revelation that “he who was seated on the throne” speaks. See the note on 16.1 (“great voice from the temple”) for the significance.

21.5 Write this down 203, for these words are trustworthy and true. See the simi-lar statement by the angel at 19.9 (see the note) and 22.6. But here they are the words of God himself. As with 19.9, it is not made clear what these refers to and whether it is looking back, and if so how far back, or to what John is about to here.

Note that these two adjectives are used to describe Christ on his return at 19.11 (“Faithful” translates the same Greek adjective as trustworthy here). See the note there.

21.6, It is done! Lit., “they have become”. Jesus proclaimed from the cross as he was about to give up his spirit and die, “It is finished” (Jn 19.30, a different Gk verb from “it is done”, but in this context a similar meaning) 204. A great voice from God’s throne proclaimed, “it has become”, when the 7th angel poured his bowl of God’s wrath onto the air and Babylon fell, 16.17. This brought to an end the old world sys-tem and all that went with it and ushered in Christ’s return and reign on earth. See

201 tribulation, 1.9202 “Him who is seated on the throne”, 4.2203 write, 1.11204 accomplished / completed, 10.7

note on 16.17. Now, at the end of his millennial reign, “they have become” – all that was always in God’s mind and plan has taken place in history.

21.6 I am the Alpha and the Omega . . 205 . I am - in Greek εγω ειμι, ‘ego eimi’ - is reminiscent of the “I am” sayings of Jesus in John’s Gospel (see the note on 1.8).

21.6, to him who thirsts I will give 206 from the fountain of the water of life 207 freely (OR without payment, ESV). It fulfils the promise to the saints who come out of the great tribulation 208, 7.16f (see the note). The promise is also held out to all in 22.17. (Johnson) living believer and martyrs taste this life-giving water even now in this present age, but its fulness awaits the new heaven and earth. The verse draws on both OT and the words of Jesus:

Ps 36.8f, “you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life”.Isa 55.1 (to the exiles of Israel), “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters”, and v3, “hear me, that your soul may live”. It refers to a thirst for God and his kingdom. Jer 2.13, “They have forsaken me, the spring of living water”. See also Jer 17.13.Zech 13.1, “On that day a fountain will be opened in the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them of sin & impurity” 209.Zech 14.8, “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem . .”Jn 4.10-14 & 7.37ff. In the believer, there “will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life”. As often in Revelation, what Christ by his cross makes true in the individual believer (and in his church) becomes a reality for the whole world in the Millennium and in fullest form in the Eternal State.Mt 5.6, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness”.

See also 22.1 (and note there) on “the river of living water”, which flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Johnson) it is a throne of grace (Heb 4.16) because here the thirsty drink without payment, by God’s free gift (Isa 55.1; Rev 21.6; 22.17).

21.7f he who overcomes will inherit these things . . but the cowardly and unbe-lieving . . their place will be in the fiery lake . . There is no middle ground. Either you are an overcomer in faith - and therefore in the Lamb’s book of life (see 21.27) - or you belong to those who will be cast into the lake of fire. That verdict will be made at the judgment of 20.11-15.

21.7, he who overcomes 210 will inherit these things. Here we have the ultimate ful-filment of all the promises to the overcoming saints in Revelation.

In the old covenant, faithful Israelites inherited the land of Canaan promised to Abraham and their family’s allotted portion in that land (Num 26.53; Jos 11.23; Jdg 2.6), but Jesus hinted that the inheritance of the meek was the earth (Mt 5.3, drawing

205 Alpha and Omega, 1.8206 sovereignty of God: “it was given”, 6.2207 water of life, 21.6208 tribulation, 1.9209 See my Notes on Zechariah for a discussion of this verse and how it might be fulfilled.210 patient endurance, 1.9; the overcomer, 2.7

on the words of Ps 37.11 where the promise is about inheriting the land of Canaan: in Hebrew and Gk, the same word can be translated “land” in a local sense or “earth” in the wide sense). Paul foresaw that the promise went wider than this and that Abraham and his seed would be heir of the world (Rom 4.13) – I see this promise fulfilled ini-tially in the millennial reign, which all those who believe in Christ share as Abra-ham’s spiritual heirs (Gal 3.29).

Under the new covenant, believers are adopted sons of God and therefore co-heirs with Christ (Rom 8.17, 23 211). Everything belongs to Christ, and by grace we share in what is his. We have already partially entered into this inheritance in Christ in this life, but much more is to come and the Spirit given to every believer is the first-fruits of this (see also 2 Cor 1.22; 5.5; Eph 1.14). We share in “the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light” (Col 1.12) and an “inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you” (1 P 1.4). At the same time, we are God’s own inheritance (Eph 1.18). The inheritance that is promised to us, in its final form, is de-scribed in Rev 21.1-22.6: it is the new heaven and earth 212.

21.7, I will be God to him, and he will be my son. The personal form of the promise in 21.3 (see note there). But the words draw also on God’s promise to King David re-garding his offspring, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son” (2 Sam 7.14), a royal adoption formula common to covenants in the near East of that era between a king and a lesser ruler (see Ps 2.7), which Heb 1.5 interprets as the Father’s promise to Christ, his Son. That promise under the new covenant is held out to all believers (2 Cor 6.18; Gal 3.26). In Rev 21.7 we see its final fulfilment in believers’ relationship to God their Father in the Eternal State.

21.8, But the cowardly 213 . . . their place will be in the . . . second death 214. There is a similar list of those “outside the city” in 22.15, and a shorter list in 21.27 215. Compare Eph 5.3-6, where Paul insists that those who do such things - he gives a list - do not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God, but instead the wrath of God comes upon them. All of these sinful behaviours have been identified or im-plied earlier in Revelation as belonging to “the inhabitants of the earth”: see 9.20f; 14.5 (no lie in the mouths of the firstfruits to God). They are those whose character takes after the nature of the Beast and the Harlot (see 14.9-12; 16.6; 17.2, 4).

The assumption is that they have not repented of their sins and evil nature and turned to Christ in this life for forgiveness.

21.8, the vile. See note at 17.4f on “abominations” for the ways in which this word is used in the LXX and the NT.

21.8 the sexually immoral. OR “those who practise harlotry” 216. Here and in 22.15 it is the masculine noun, and in the plural. This probably should be understood as,

211 It is clear from Rom 8.23 that our adoption as sons will only be fully realised in our bodily resurrection on Christ’s return, which is “the redemption of our bodies”.212 The new Jerusalem and the new heaven and earth may also be considered as the saints’ reward. See “Rewards of the saints”, Rev 20.11-15 reviewed213 idol-worship, 9.20; lies and liars, 21.27214 Lake of fire (the second death), 14.10; fire, 1.14.215 There are similar lists elsewhere in the NT, at Rom 1.29f; 13.13; Mt 15.19 (& parallels); Lk 18.11; 1 Cor 5.10f; 6.9f; 2 Cor 12.20; Gal 5.19ff; Eph 4.31; 5.3ff; Col 3.5, 8; 1 T 1.9f; 6.4f; 2 T 3.2ff; Tit 3.3; 1 P 4.3; Rev 9.21216 harlotry / sexual immorality, 17.1

“all mankind, whether male or female, who commit sexual immorality”, rather than as restricted to men who consort with harlots or engage in homosexual acts.

21.8 those who practise magic arts. A noun from the same root was used to de-scribe Babylon at 18.23. See the note there for the range of meanings of the word, which probably also apply to the noun here 217. ESV here translates, “sorcerers”.

(Johnson) in Biblical times, magic was practised by both pagan and Jewish people in order to heal disease, bring physical blessings, to harm or curse others, and to guard against curses and demons 218. It included the use of magical books (see Acts 19.19) and special incantations, and the use of potions and magical objects.

21.9-22.5. Scott holds that John in this section is shown the details of Christ’s millen-nial reign with his bride the church, in the heavenly Jerusalem. This is distinct, he holds, from the earthly millennial Jerusalem which exists at the same time, from which Israel will rule over the nations and which is described in the OT Prophets (e.g. Isaiah 60; Ez 41-47 and Zech 14) 219. The description of the Eternal State, in his view, concludes at 21.8. To support this view he puts forward the following:

· There is a different guide/explainer from this point on. There was no angel explaining 21.1-8;

· Christ does not appear in 21.1-8, except almost in passing in v 2 (“as a bride adorned for her husband”). This is because, at the end of the Millennial reign, “he hands over the kingdom to God the Father . . . then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all” (1 Cor 15.24, 28);

· The bride, the holy city Jerusalem, is described as “new Jerusalem” in 21.2, because it belongs to the Eternal State, but only as “Jerusalem” in 21.10

· References to kings and nations in 21.24 & 26 are difficult to understand if this is the Eternal State (see notes there).

The above seems to me to be insufficient evidence to suppose that the Eternal State description has concluded at 21.8, particularly given the similarities between 21.2 & 10. It is difficult to see how the same millennial reign which closes in 20.7-15 with a worldwide revolt against the saints’ rule, God’s divine punishment of that revolt and the last judgment is the millennium that is described in the glorious terms of 21.9-22.5, particularly in its interaction between the kings and the nations and the holy city. The evidence for two Jerusalems, an earthly and a heavenly one, rests on their seg-menting of God’s plan of salvation into 7 different segments (see the Introduction, “How should we interpret the physical & material promises to Israel”), which enables them to interpret the OT prophecies for Israel’s glorious restored future as fulfilled separately and on a parallel plane from the church’s future.

21.9, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb 220. Spoken by one of the 7 angels having the bowls of wrath 221 – see 15.1 (“the seven last plagues” and

217 The noun, φαρμακος, occurs in the LXX at Ex 7.11 and Mal 3.5. In the Malachi passage it occurs with the feminine definite article (unlike the Hebrew text, which is masculine), indicat-ing it refers to females engaging in these practices. Looking across its use in Greek literature as a whole, it can mean “poisoner”, “sorcerer”, “magician”.218 demons and demonic activity, 9.20219 for further details of this interpretation, see the notes at v 24, v 27 (“there will not enter into it . . . but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life”) and 22.1.220 the Lamb (name for Christ), 5.6221 angels, 1.1; seven, 1.4; plagues, 9.18

note); 15.7 (“7 golden bowls full of the wrath of God” and note) and ch. 16 where the angels pour out their bowls, one after the other, onto the earth. See 22.6 and note for his re-occurrence and his identity.

Caird points out that the speaker and their subject parallels the angel who showed John the judgment of the great harlot, which likewise was one of these 7 an-gels. See 17.1. And on both occasions (17.3 and 21.10) John was transported in the Spirit, i.e. in a trance 222? First it was to show him the harlot, and he was transported into a desert; now it is the bride (and see note at 17.6 on the contrast between the two) and he is transported onto a great mountain.

On the bride, the wife of the Lamb, see 19.7f (and notes) and 21.2 (and note).

21.10, to a great and high mountain. Much of the detail of the heavenly city is rem-iniscent of Ezekiel’s vision of a restored temple in a restored land of Israel, ch 40-48. The phrase above draws on:

Ez 40.1f. After Gog and Magog’s destruction (Ez 38 & 39; see Rev 20.8f), Ezekiel was carried “in visions of God” to the land of Israel and set “on a very high mountain” where on the south side was “what looked like a city” (see also Ez 45.6f; 48.15-22, 31-35). The restored temple was on top of the mountain (43.12). In Revelation there is no temple (see 21.22), but the holy city apparently comes down onto the mountain.Ps 48.1, “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise in the city of our God, his holy mountain”.Isa 2.2f (and Mic 4.1f), “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s tem-ple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills . . Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord . .”. (Its fulfilment is probably in Christ’s millennial reign.)Isa 14.13 where Heylel, the morning star, used by Isaiah to personify the fall of “the king of Babylon (or Babel) sought to raise his throne “above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the ut-most heights of the north (‘Zaphon’, NIV “sacred mountain”)” 223.Ezek 28.13-16 where Ezekiel describes the downfall of the king of Tyre as if he was a priest covered or adorned with every precious stone “in Eden, the garden of God” which was “on the holy mount of God”.See also Zech 14.10 where all the land around Jerusalem is to be levelled but Jerusalem “will be raised up and remain in its place”. Though this may refer to the start of Christ’s millennial reign.Dt 3.27; 34.1, Moses climbed to the top of Pisgah at the Lord’s command to see the promised land where the Lord was taking his people. But in Rev 21.10, John is shown the people’s final destination.Mt 4.8, Jesus in his temptations in the desert was taken by the devil to “a very high mountain” and shown all the kingdoms of the world.

Behind these OT passages, especially Ps 48.1f and Isa 14.12-15, may lie the Babylo-nian myth about a mountain in the far north, which reached to heaven and was the home of the gods. The Phoenicians called it Mt Zaphon (‘Zaphon’ in Hebrew means “north’) and believed it was the sacred residence of El, the chief of their gods. In the

222 in the Spirit, 4.2; Holy Spirit, 2.7223 Isa 14.12 and the Heylel reference is relevant to interpreting Rev 8.10 (see the note, “The third angel . .”) and 12.8-10 (see the note, “the dragon and his angels . .”; also the dis-cussion on the original rebellion and fall of Satan).

myth ‘Heylel’, the morning star (Venus), tried to climb the walls of the northern city of the gods to make himself king over the other stars, only to be driven from the sky by the rising sun. By Ezekiel’s time, mythology known to the Jews had combined the holy mountain of God with Eden, the garden of God, hence Ezekiel 28.13-16. In the period between the OT and the NT, apocryphal literature (such as 1 Enoch) has a mountain which is both the throne of God and the garden in which the tree of life is planted. It may explain why John was shown the heavenly city in terms of location on a great and high mountain, but also adorned with precious stones (see notes on 21.11 & 19) and with characteristics of the garden of Eden – the river of the water of life and the tree of life (described as “in the paradise of God” in 2.7, see note).

Mount Zion is a common OT theme, especially in the Psalms - see in particu-lar Ps 48. On Mount Zion, see Rev 14.1 and note. See also Heb 12.22 (“Mount Zion and the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem”, apparently the heavenly equiva-lent of earthly Jerusalem as God intended it to be 224).

21.10

21.10 the Holy City, Jerusalem 225, coming down from heaven from God. An ex-act repeat of v 2, except that v 2 has “new” after “Jerusalem” (in the order of words in the Greek text).

21.11, Jerusalem . . having the glory of God. See 21.23 (and note) where the glory of God gives the city its light, rather than the sun and moon.

God’s glory is first mentioned in Ex 16.7, 10 where it is the visible manifesta-tion of the Lord’s presence in the cloud – a theme of the 40 years wilderness wander-ings. See Ez 1.28 re. the Lord’s chariot-throne. That glory was manifested as a de-vouring fire on Mt Sinai, Ex 24.17, conveying the awesome, unbearable holiness of God. His glory filled the tabernacle, Ex 40.34f, as it did Solomon’s temple, 1 K 8.11, so that none could enter or serve in his presence.

Man was created to be “the image and glory of God”, 1 Cor 11.7 (see Ps 8.5), but that image was marred by the fall. Ever since, he “has fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom 3.23). But Christ by his work of salvation has restored man to that glory. Jesus by his incarnation displayed God’s glory to those with eyes to see (Jn 1.14, and Lk 9.32 in his transfiguration), and by his miracles (Jn 2.11; 11.4, 40). God was glori-fied in him (Jn 13.31f and elsewhere in Jn), in particular by his work of salvation on the cross. So, the gospel message can be described as “the glory of Christ” (2 Cor 4.4, 6). Men as they receive the truth of the gospel “reflect (as in a mirror) the Lord’s glory and are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, by the Spirit’s work in them (2 Cor 3.18). That work will one day be complete (Rom 8.18-25) and all creation as well as we believers yearn for and eagerly await that day – ulti-mately fulfilled in the Eternal State described in Rev 21.1-22.6.

The OT prophets foresaw that one day God’s glory would fill the whole earth – Num14.21f; Ps 72.18f; Hab 2.14 - a characteristic of God praised by the seraphim around his throne, Isa 6.3. Ezekiel in his vision of the restored temple saw the Lord’s glory enter and fill that temple (Ez 43.2-5; see Rev 15.8 and my note there). Isaiah prophesied that the glory of God would be seen in Israel – the land and people’s –

224 On heavenly equivalents in Jewish theology, see the note at 1.16,20 , “Having in his right hand 7 stars”.225 Jerusalem, the holy city, 21.2

restoration, 35.2; 40.5. His glory would rise upon Zion , 60.1f, 19 and be over her as a visible presence, 4.5. It would be the people’s rearguard, 58.8.

21.11, its brilliance . . . was like a jasper, clear as crystal. See 4.3 where He that sits on the throne is likened in appearance to jasper and carnelian. The wall of the city was made of jasper (21.18) and it adorned the first foundation of the wall (21.19). Jasper is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. It is used for gemstones. In the Bible it was one of the 12 stones in the high priest’s breastpiece, representing the 12 tribes of Israel (Ex 28.20). It was also one of the precious stones that adorned/covered the “king of Tyre” in Eden, “the garden of God”, before he sinned (Ez 28.13). Its significance in Revelation is unclear, but it may be significant that here it is “clear as crystal”, i.e. not the opaque nature of jasper found in nature. Caird, from 4.3, sees jasper as the substance which most nearly conveys the radiance of his glory streaming from God’s throne.

There is an alternative way of interpreting this and other images in 21.2-22.6, which is that John is seeing and describing a person, rather than a city – the bride, the wife of the Lamb. These are the opening words of the angel in 21.9 who shows John the city. But this person was revealed to him in images to do with a fantastically beautiful city. See the note on 21.2 (“prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”).

21.12, having a great and high wall. Fitting for a “great and high mountain” on which it was situated? (21.10). For the wall, see:

Ez 40.5, the wall surrounding the restored temple in Ezekiel’s vision. There the wall was to mark and maintain the separation between the sa-cred and the secular. This may be the symbolic significance here - see the reference to those “outside” the city in 22.15 (and note there); also 21.24-27 and in particular v 27, “nothing unclean will ever enter it” (see the note). But how does that sit with a new heaven and earth and the judg-ment and banishment of all not in the book of life? More on this below.Ez 48.30-35, where the city is square, with sides to the north, east, south and west, each with 3 gates – see Rev 21.12f.

This contrasts with Zech 2.5 where “Jerusalem will be a city without walls . . and I myself will be a wall of fire around it, declares the Lord, and I will be its glory within”. But the wall John sees is not so different (so Caird) because its fabric is jasper (21.18) – conveying the radiance of the divine presence, the glory of God (see 4.3).

Scott (arguing from the perspective that this is the millennial reign) holds that the wall guards from intrusion of those without (21.27; 22.15) separates God’s glory (v 11) from all outside, and that it speaks of divine protection and absolute safety (as Isa 26.1 & Zech 2.5). (Hendriksen) it conveys that the Church remains secure in its possession of communion with God.

21.12, with 12 angels at the gates. (Johnson) the city’s high wall and the gates guarded by angels signify invulnerability to attack. (Hendriksen) therefore those who have the character of the Harlot and her allies, the unclean and abominable, cannot en-ter – see 21.27; 22.15.

21.12, on the gates were written the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. Those names had been written on the high priest’s breastpiece, Ex 28.21; 39.14. They have oc-curred earlier in Revelation, at 7.4. See the note there.

The foundations of the city’s wall bore the names of the 12 Apostles (Rev 21.14: see note below). It indicates the continuity as God’s people of Israel and the NT church and their unity – see my note in the Introductory section, “Did John be-lieve that the church had replaced Israel as God’s chosen people?” Also the note at 21.3 on “they will be his peoples”.

21.13, there were three gates on the east . . north . . south . . west. See the 4 points of the compass terminology to describe the return of the scattered people of Israel to their land, Isa 43.5 (see 11.12); Ps 107.3; Lk 13.29. Does John by this description seek to convey that this is the final home of God’s scattered people from all over the earth? The city in Ezekiel’s vision (48.30ff) also had a similar layout of 12 gates, but it appears there from the preceding content of ch 48 that the gates were regarded as exits through which the tribes of Israel were to go out to their allotted land. In Reve-lation, the gates are seen as entrances open to the nations through which the nations enter. (Hendriksen) they symbolise the abundant opportunity to enter by faith into this glorious and wonderful fellowship with God.

The order, ENSW, has a precedent in Ez 42.16-19 (the order in which the an-gel measured the 4 sides of the temple area), but there are Biblical precedents for a different order. John may have chosen this order because it is contrary to the order used by those who would connect these gates with the 12 signs of the zodiac, the por-tals by which the sun, moon and planets enter on their course (so Caird, referring to apocryphal writings in the period between the OT and NT). 21.14, the wall of the city having 12 foundations . . the 12 Apostles of the Lamb 226. See:

Heb 11.10, Abraham awaited/expected a city having foundations; Mt 16.18, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church”Eph 2.20, Gentile believers are “fellow citizens with the saints . . built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets”.1 Cor 3.10, Paul “as a master-craftsman laid the foundation” (of the Corinthian church).

We assume Paul replaced Judas in making up the Twelve. (see note on 21.12, the 12 tribes of Israel, and note on 21.3, “they will be his peoples”.)

21.15, a measuring rod . . to measure the city, its gates and its walls. It is literally “wall”, as in vv 12 & 17.

This is the second time that John was given a measuring rod, but here it is a gold one. The first time was in 11.1f - see the note. There it was to measure the wor-shippers in an earthly temple in Jerusalem and was probably to ensure protection. Here it to measure the city itself, the new Jerusalem, the dwelling of God with men (21.2f), as there is no need for a separate temple (21.22). Its purpose here appears to be to show the city’s size and its symmetry. See also Zech 2.1f where an angel with a measuring line measures the future Jerusalem. The description of the heavenly city (Rev 21.15-21) is similar to the angel in Ezekiel’s vision giving a detailed description of the restored temple, plus dimensions for the city and the division of the land (ch 45 & 48). The angel there (Ez 40.3 & 5) had a measuring rod and a line (see also 47.3ff) and the description of the temple abounds with detailed measurements, so much so that some are convinced it was to enable this temple to be built for the millennial kingdom. Johnson notes that the rod in Ezekiel 40.3 is literally a “measuring reed”,

226 the Lamb (name for Christ), 5.6

but the measuring rod of gold in Rev 21 is more glorious, as is the city that is to be measured.

The angel in Rev 21.15 was to measure the gates as well as the walls and the city, but the description that follows simply describes the gates (v 21) - we are not given their dimensions. The symbolic nature of the rod and measuring is clear when we think how someone of human size (if that was the size of the angel) could use a rod to measure a wall about 200 feet or 65 metres high (though it might mean wide) and a city about 1,380 miles or 2,220 kilometres square (vv 16f) 227.

21.16, the city was laid out like a square . . as wide and high as it is long. Draws on:

Ez 43.16, where the wall around the restored temple was a perfect square. Many of the features of that temple were in squares, including the inner sanctuary (41.4)Ez 48.16f, the restored city itself was a square – though far smaller, each side being 4,500 cubits (just under 1 ½ miles).Ez 45.1-6: the land assigned to the city, together with the holy district (as-signed to the priests and the Levites and containing the temple) formed a square of 25,000 cubits (c. 7 miles).The perfect cube symbolism draws on the tabernacle and Solomon’s tem-ple where the Most Holy Place which housed the ark was a cube (for the tabernacle, this can be deduced from Ex 26, about 15 ft in each dimen-sion; for the temple, see 1 K 6.20, about 30 ft in each dimension, as it was in Ez 41.3, though there we are only given two dimensions) and – the place where God dwelt and met his people through the mediation of the high priest.

Significance? That this was the special meeting place of God with the whole of his people, where they dwelt together permanently. (Johnson) the city’s cubic shape shows that the entire city is the Most Holy Place, the inner sanctuary, which is why John saw no temple in it. See 21.3, 22 and notes. All believers are priests as well as kings – see 1.6 and note.

21.16, 12,000 stadia . . 144 cubits thick. Gigantic measurements – the heavenly city was a cube about 1,400 miles each way, with a wall 200 feet thick! It is, however, possible that 144 cubits describes the wall’s height, not thickness - the Greek text is simply, “its wall, 144 cubits . . .” (ESV) - and within that wall the city rose to 1,400 miles in height. Either way, the measurements convey the greatness of our God and of the scale of his salvation: contains space for a huge number of his people – see the promise to Abraham of offspring as numerous as the dust of the earth, the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore, Gen 13.16; 22.17; 28.14; also Rev 7.9. The multiples of 12 may indicate completion – see 7.1-8 and note. Johnson thinks they symbolise the perfect life of the people of God. (Hendriksen) 144 and 12,000 have the same sig-nificance as in the 144,000 of 7.1-8 (see the footnote there for his interpretation of the numbers making up 144,000): it is the wall of the Church of both old and new dispen-sations.

227 From the notes in NIV’s and ESV’s commentary on vv 16f. A cubit was about 18” or 45 cms in length. A “stadion” was about 607’ or 185 metres.

21.18 The wall was made of jasper. The phrase is literally, “The enclosing of its wall was jasper”. The noun qualifying “wall” is an unusual one and rarely found in Greek literature. Why John chose to use it is not clear.

Jasper was used by John in v 11 (see note) to describe the brilliance of the city as a whole. It will recur as the first foundation of the walls, v 19.

21.18, the city was of pure gold, as pure as glass. So too the street of the city, 21.21, though there the emphasis is on the transparency of glass. Gold was used in the tabernacle for the mercy seat on the ark, the lampstand and for overlaying the ark it-self and its poles, the table for the bread of the presence (Ex 25) and in the priests’ garments (Ex 28). Solomon’s temple sanctuary had even more gold in it (1 K 6). Gold is therefore used where God and his people meet. It conveys preciousness, pu-rity and wealth (see Rev 3.18). In Lam 4.1f gold and precious stones (“holy stones”; see also Zech 9.16, “stones of consecration”228) are symbolic of God’s chosen people. It may also indicate that which has been refined and come through purified: see 1 P 1.7. Transparency may indicate that there is nothing hidden, as sin is no more. Caird considers it is translucence to the omnipresent glory of God (see 21.11). (Hendriksen) it symbolises the pure, holy, gracious and radiant character of the fellowship between God and his people. (Johnson) it expresses the bride’s priceless value and transparent purity.

21.19, the foundations of the wall . . adorned with every precious stone. May draw on:

Ex 28.17-20, where the breastpiece of the high priest had 12 precious stones on it, each engraved with one of the 12 tribes’ names. All the names do not coincide, but this may be the difficulty of translation of such names from Hebrew to Greek in the LXX;Ez 28.13, where the “king of Tyre” in Eden, the garden of God, was “adorned/covered with every precious stone”. 9 are listed which are among the stones in Ex 28.17-20 (the LXX lists all 12). See the note on 21.10 (“to a great and high mountain”).Isa 54.11 (of the restored Zion) “I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls (lit. boundary) of pre-cious stones”.

There is some disagreement as to the name and identity of some of the names of the stones. For the 3rd one, ESV has “agate”; the 5th “onyx”.

The precise significance of 21.19f is unclear. Since the foundations bear the names of the 12 Apostles (21.14), perhaps the different gems are to convey the differ-ent qualities of the faith and character of each, but all precious to God and to his peo-ple. (Hendriksen) by means of the preaching of the Apostles the variety of the splen-dour and brilliance of all God’s attributes shines forth. (Johnson) the pure beauty of the bride in Paradise Restored puts to shame the prostitute’s tawdry ornaments (see 17.4; 18.12).

Caird points out that the 12 precious stones had associations with the zodiac as well as the 12 tribes, but the order John has them in is exactly the reverse of that used in astrology – perhaps deliberately to discourage such an interest in his hearers..

228 literal translation. NIV paraphrases as, “jewels in a crown”.

21.21, the 12 gates were 12 pearls. See Jesus’ parable likening the kingdom of Heaven to a pearl of great price (Mt 13.45). But the symbolism here is unclear. We can see a meaning out of a pearl being a creation of beauty resulting from irritating grit in the creature, though it seems unlikely that this was known in John’s day. Like-wise, faith and character result from our response to the irritations of life. It is possi-ble that the Revelation passage confirms the interpretation of Mt 13.45 that the “pearl of great price” represents the cost, but also the worth, to the individual of entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

21.21, the great street. ESV translates, “street”. The word is a noun from an adjec-tive meaning, “wide, broad”. However, its occurrence again in 22.2 suggests that the main street of the city is meant.

21.22, a temple 229 I did not see in it . . In contrast to the restored city in Ezekiel’s vision, 40-48, where the temple was the prominent feature. It seems, however, likely that Ezekiel’s vision will be fulfilled primarily in the millennial kingdom, though there is argument as to how far we should expect to see the detail of ch 40-48 fulfilled literally. There is in the new Jerusalem no separation between God and his people and so the need for a special place where they meet.

21.22, for the Lord God Almighty 230 and the Lamb 231 are its temple. Johnson points to John 1.14 and 2.19ff, that Jesus himself is the tent (tabernacle) and temple in which God in the NT era lives among his people. Because the Lamb is in her midst, the church is “a dwelling place of God in Spirit”, Eph 2.22.

Believers are in Christ and he is in them. His prayer (Jn 17.20-23) was that they and he might be perfectly one. Here it is realised in its ultimate form – consider too Jesus’ references to glory 232 in that prayer.

21.23, the city has no need of sun or moon . . for the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the Lamb. See also 22.5. Draws on:

Isa 60.1, “Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you”.Isa 60.19f, “The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light and your God will be your glory”.Isa 24.23, “The moon will be abashed, and the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion . . . gloriously”See too the theme of Christ being and bringing the light in John’s Gospel, e.g. 1.9, “the true light, which enlightens every man”, and 8.12, “I am the light of the world”.Zech 14.7, “On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost (OR, ASV, “the bright ones shall withdraw themselves”). It will be a unique day, without daytime or night-time – a day known to the Lord. When evening comes, there will be light”.

See note on 21.11 for the significance of the glory of God. It is the manifestation of God’s presence. What in the OT was visible in the cloud of God’s presence, and was

229 the temple in heaven, 3.12230 Lord God Almighty, 11.17231 the Lamb (name for Christ), 5.6232 See the notes on 21.3.

confined to the tabernacle and the temple at their inauguration, and in the NT was seen in Christ and in his followers, is now everywhere, permeating the city where God and his people dwell together just as does daylight.

21.24f, the nations . . . and the kings of the earth . .. This draws on and is the final fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecies of Israel and Jerusalem’s glorious future as the cen-tre of a restored world – the Millennial reign is the initial fulfilment:

60.3, “nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn”60.5, “to you the riches of the nations will come”60.11, “your gates will always stand open . . so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations, their kings led in triumphal procession”.See also Isa 2.1-5; 11.10; 56.7; 60.6; 61.6; 66.12, 19, 23; Ps 68.29, 32; 72.10, 15; Jer 3.17; Zech 14.16-19.

The nations 233 in Revelation had been deceived by Satan all along (20.3). They had been angry against Christ and his saints (Ps 2.1 234 quoted in Rev 11.18), had to be “shepherded with an iron rod” by Christ and his saints in the Millennial reign (Ps 2.9 quoted in 2.26f; 12.5; 19.15), they had trampled over the holy city and the temple’s outer court (11.2), gloated over the martyrdom of the 2 witnesses (11.9), they had drunk “from the wine of the wrath of Babylon’s harlotries” and been seduced and led astray by her (14.8; 18.3, 23). Even in the Millennial reign, after “coming and wor-shipping before the Lord” (15.4) their offspring had again listened to Satan’s lies, been deceived and rebelled against Christ the king and his saints (20.7-9). But the Lord had saved the immense multitude of his saints out of their ranks who had ac-knowledged him as their rightful king (15.3) despite the Beast having this world’s au-thority over them (13.7), and stood loyal to Him to the end (5.9; 7.9). In the Eternal State the nations will be healed (22.2: see note there), will walk in the Lord’s glory and light (21.24-26) and bring their glory and honour into the holy city, the new Jerusalem, in fulfilment of the OT prophecies above. (The queen of Sheba and the nations seeking out Solomon and bringing their wealth into his kingdom, 1 K 10.2, 10-28; and the magi bringing their gifts to the child Jesus, Mt 2.11, are forward point-ers.) It is not clear whether John includes Jews and Israel when he writes, “the na-tions” or “every nation”. Normal NT usage would exclude them (see e.g. Acts 11.18), as was also the case in OT Hebrew 235. In some contexts, “the nations” excludes the saints, but they are not by definition mutually exclusive groups, as the references above show.

The kings of the earth (see note on 1.5 and 17.2) had not acknowledged Christ as their ruler (1.5; 17.14; 19.16; see Ps 2) earlier in Revelation, but had col-luded with and been ruled over by the Harlot Babylon (17.2, 18; 18.3, 9), been terri-fied at the manifestation of God’s wrath (6.15), been deceived by Satan, the Beast and the False Prophet (16.13f) and together with the Beast led their armies to oppose Christ’s return (19.19; 17.14). See the notes on 17.1 (under “the significance of Baby-lon”) & 17.2. Ten of them had given their power and authority to the Beast (17.12ff) But Christ who is King of kings (17.14; 19.15) has destroyed at his coming kings and

233 the nations, 21.24234 Psalm 2 expounded, 1.5235 “Nations” translates the Greek word, εθνη (‘ethne’), the plural of εθνος (‘ethnos’), “na-tion”. The plural is sometimes rendered “Gentiles” by translators, e.g. in 11.2 by NIV, where they consider the context suggests a contrast with Jews. From a Jewish perspective, “na-tions” mean everyone except themselves, the descendants of Israel, since God in the OT dealt with them as his own people, a uniquely distinct nation.

their armies who opposed him (19.19ff). In the Eternal State, where Satan the de-ceiver is no more, they fulfil their glorious destiny prophesied in the OT and bring their wealth (the same Gk word means “glory”) and honour into the new Jerusalem (21.24). All must now be in the book of life of the Lamb (21.27), for only those whose names are in this book can enter the Eternal State (see 20.11-15) and the heav-enly city.

Nothing is said in Rev 21.1-22.5 as to whether and how all mankind have come to be one in Christ in the Eternal State, but from 21.3 (“They will be his people . .”: see the note) and from 1 Cor 15.24-28; Col 3.11; Jn 17.21ff; Gal 3.28, I believe that this must be so. We have assumed that in the Millennium mankind will fall into two groups. One group is those who participated in the first resurrection and are now in their res-urrection bodies (as described in 1 Cor 15 and as Christ was among his followers in the period between his resurrection and ascension). The other group is those who were alive when Christ returned, were not saints who were raptured and gained their resurrected bodies (1 Th 4.13-17), but were allowed into the Millennial kingdom – see notes on 20.6 (“they will be priests”) and Annex 3 (second half). We assume that at the resurrection for the final judgment of 20.11-15 they will gain their eternal bodies and come into the Eternal State because of the saving faith in Christ they displayed in the Millennium, which meant that they are in the Lamb’s Book of Life. For some, this is an insuperable obstacle and they choose to reinterpret the Millennium 236 so as to remove it from being a separate phase in the (future) history of mankind in which God saves and restores us into the glory he always intended for those made in his im-age (see Ps 8 and Heb 2.5-10).

“The nations”, if the interpretation I have set out above is correct, are by 21.1 no longer to be viewed as unbelieving mankind in contrast to the saints – those who believe in Jesus and through persevering in their faith are overcomers. How can they be, if only those written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (see 20.15; 21.27) can go forward into the Eternal State and enter the Holy City? We now see in “the nations” another way of viewing the bride of Christ – redeemed and restored mankind united with Christ with him as their head, but bringing with them all the glorious variety and strengths of the different nations and spread out over the whole world of the new earth. However, Scott from a Dispensationalist standpoint holds that 21.9-22.5 is a description of the church, Christ’s bride, in the Millennium (not the Eternal State). He interprets 21.24ff as the kings and the nations paying court, homage and the tribute of their grateful hearts to the heavenly city and acknowledging the rule of the heavens. The glorified Church is the light and dispenser of blessings to the world and the seat of world rule and government. See note at 21.9, including the weaknesses of this in-terpretation.

21.24, The nations will walk by its light. In complete contrast with the close of this age, where they are bedazzled by the harlot Babylon (see 17.1-4; 18.3) and deceived by Satan and his servants, the Beast and the False Prophet.

21.24, bring their glory into it. And 21.26, they will bring the wealth (lit. glory) and honour of the nations into it. Those who had once brought splendours and lux-uries to the great harlot Babylon, and gained wealth for themselves from it (ch 18), now bring their wealth and honour into the eternal city – and profit from trade does

236 See the introduction to 19.11 - 21.1.

not enter the equation. Caird points out that this shows the all-embracing scope of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross: see Col 1.20.

21.25, On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. (Hendriksen) shut gates symbolise darkness, night and danger, all of which are no more, but also lack of opportunity to enter.

21.25, there will be no night. Also 22.5. See the prophecy in:Zech 14.6f, “On that day . . . it will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime – a day known to the Lord. When evening comes, there will be light.” The context is the Lord’s return. Is Zechariah here shown features of the Eternal State?

Night is symbolic of sin and life without God’s light. See Isa 9.1f; 60.2; also John’s gospel 13.30. As such, it therefore has no place in the Eternal State.

21.27, Nothing unclean will ever enter into it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful. It is similar to the list at 21.8 (see note there), but shorter. Compared with the 21.8 list, the new feature is nothing unclean. See the note on this below. A similar list of those who cannot enter is at 22.15.

21.27, But nothing unclean will ever enter it (ESV). This was prophesied of the re-stored Jerusalem in:

Isa 52.1, “The uncircumcised and unclean (NIV defiled) will not enter you again”.Isa 35.8, “It will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it . . . Wicked fools will not go about on it”. The “Way” ap-pears to lead into Zion (see v 10).

The Gk word here for unclean - NIV has “impure” - is κοινος, ‘koinos’ 237, meaning “common”, which could be used to convey the Hebrew for ceremonial uncleanness: see Lev 11-15 (where the LXX uses the Gk ακαθαρτος, ‘akathartos’, “unclean, im-pure”) and, in the NT, Acts 10.14 (both words are used); Rom 14.14. The word only occurs here in Revelation. ’Koinos’ well describes the OT distinction between places, people, things and food that were “clean” (Heb. ‘tahor’) and “unclean” (Heb. ‘tame’, pronounced ‘Taameh’). “Unclean” meant ritually impure. Under the Mosaic law, ev-ery Israelite had to distinguish between what was clean and what was unclean and have no contact with the latter or, if he did, go through ceremonial cleansing, in order to preserve the sanctity of Israel as God’s holy people – see Lev 11.44f – so that He might dwell among them (Num 5.3). Jesus attacked the Jewish pre-occupation with the food cleanliness laws (Matthew 15; Mark 7) and insisted that it was what came out of the person’s heart that made them “unclean”, meaning morally defiled 238, which he clearly held was a far more important uncleanness in God’s sight.

Uncleanness was a type, a symbolic descriptor, of sin’s defilement of the per-son. Jesus by his work on the cross made us clean in God’s sight (see Jn 13.10; 15.3; Heb 1.3; 9.13f (see also 9.10); Tit 2.14. He also purified from the defilement of man’s

237 The form of the word in Rev 21.27 is κοινον, the neuter singular of the adjective -ος used as a noun. The word occurs in the NT in the sense of “unclean” at Mk 7.2; Acts 10.14, 28; 11.8; Rom 14.14; Heb 10.29. The meaning at Acts 2.44 & 4.32; Tit 1.4; Jude 3 is different, being based on one of the meanings the word has in Greek literature of something held in common or shared.238 See the use of the verb κοινοω in Mt 15.11, 18, 20; Mk 7.15, 18, 20 & 23 meaning, from its context here, “to defile (a person) morally”.

sin the heavenly sanctuary, Heb 9.24. He thus prepared the way for the Eternal State, where God and man will dwell together in fellowship and uncleanness has no part or place. (See also the note on 17.4 on ‘akatharta’ (ακαθαρτα) translated, “unclean things”. Note that the LXX in translating Isa 52.1 and 35.8 uses ‘akathartos’, not ‘koinos’.)

So, unclean in 21.27 may be intended to convey:- unable to enter the Holy City (21.10), just as “unclean” people (i.e. non-Jews)

could not enter the inner parts of the Jerusalem temple (see Acts 21.28f), and ritu-ally unclean people were not allowed inside the camp in which the people of Israel dwelt (Lev 13.46; Num 5.1-4);

- moral defilement (NIV translates ‘koinon’ in Rev 21.27, “impure”), perhaps mean-ing anything that is not appropriate to those who have been completely sanctified/made holy (see 1 Th 5.23) and so are able to enter the Holy City. This recognises that in Rev 21.27, the ‘koinon’ phrase is literally, “everything unclean” - things rather than people that may not enter the Holy City - whereas the rest of the verse is about people who do an abomination and a lie not being able to enter;

- unclean from idolatry, given its proximity with abomination. See the next note.

Caird holds that this perfection has been achieved by God allowing evil to ex-haust its strength in unavailing attacks on God’s people (see note on 13.7).

21.27, there will not enter into it anything unclean, or he that makes/does an abomination (literal translation). It is possible that, “make/do an abomination” (translated by NIV, “does what is shameful”, and by ESV, “does what is detestable”) should be seen as carrying connotations from its use in Leviticus 11 (the food laws, specifying what was clean and unclean to the people of Israel) to refer to unclean creatures that were “abominable” or detestable to the Lord. This is strengthened by its position following “unclean” (‘koinon’) just before it in the verse. However, the phrase may draw on:

Jer 44.22: “When the Lord could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became an object of cursing and a desolate waste . .”.Ez 33.29: “Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable things they have done”.

In both passages (marked by me with italics) the LXX translates “detestable things” by βδελυγματα (‘bedelugmata’), the plural of the word translated abomination in Rev 21.27. The context of both is the defilement of the land by the sinful behaviour of the people. In Jer 44.22 the context makes it clear that by “detestable things” Jeremiah meant idolatry; in Ez 33.29 their sinful behaviour is wider (see vv 25f) but includes idolatry 239.

It is possible that in Rev 21.27 John wants to convey that, just as the Lord would not allow his sinful and wicked people to remain in his land because of all the detestable things they had done and from which they had not truly repented, so their final eternal inheritance, the Holy City (21.10), cannot be entered by anyone who en-gages in behaviour and practices that are detestable to God.

239 βδελυγμα in the LXX is applied to a range of practices that were abhorrent or abominable to the Lord. That range includes idolatry and worship of other gods, but goes far wider and in-cludes unclean creatures (Leviticus 11). See the note at 17.4f.

For the argument that abomination conveys idolatry and false godliness, see the note on 17.4f. This may be what we should understand by the word here. That is strengthened by the following phrase, “he that does a lie”, given that those who will believe the lies of the Beast and the False Prophet (see the next note) will worship the Beast’s image. Note that the longer list at 22.15 of those kept outside the Holy City includes idolaters, and that in the list there it comes immediately before “everyone who loves and practises falsehood”. “Falsehood” in 22.15 is the same Greek word as “lie” (NIV “what is deceitful”) in 21.27.

Note that “abominations” and “unclean things” were characteristics of Baby-lon, “the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” (17.4f). Babylon is thought by some to symbolise fallen man’s equivalent of the people of God (the Church), the kingdom of God and the city of God, and be the concentration or world centre of all mere human religion, of anti-Christian world religion, and possibly an abominable ecclesiastical system that dominates the political/commercial power.

21.27, nor he that does a lie (see ASV) 240. See 21.8 and 22.15 for its inclusion in similar lists. In 2.2 those falsely claiming to be apostles are called “liars”. So in 3.9 are those calling themselves Jews but are not (because they don’t accept Jesus as the Messiah?).

But the great lie in Revelation is believing the Beast’s claims to be the Christ 241: see the function of the Beast’s henchman, the False Prophet (16.13; 19.20; 20.10) in 13.11-17; see also 2 Th 2.9-11. See note on 12.15.

In contrast, Jesus declared he was “the truth” (Jn 14.6. See also 1.14). John in 1 J 1.6 declares that, “if we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the dark-ness, we lie and do not do the truth”.

21.27, there will not enter into it . . . but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life 242. The result of the final judgment of 20.12, 15. See the prophecy in Isa 4.3. The right to enter the city features in Rev 22.14, where it is for “those who wash their robes”. See the note there.

Scott holds that the heavenly city, the bride of Christ, described from 21.9 on-wards describes the heavenly Church’s government and rule over the whole world in the Millennium (see note on 21.9). It is distinct from the restored Israel with its earthly capital the restored Jerusalem which is described in Isaiah 60 and Ezekiel 41-48 with its temple and the people of Israel gathered on both sides of that temple and which rules on the earth over the nations. As the Church is composed solely of be-lievers in Christ between Pentecost and the Rapture (the pretribulational premillenni-alist position which holds that the rapture of the saints takes place before the final tribulation period 243 and Christ’s return in glory) and is therefore complete in number, Scott interprets, “there will not enter into it . . but only those”, as indicating that other heavenly saints will enter into the heavenly city, vis the OT saints and the martyrs in the final tribulation period. These groups, on this view, can enter the city (because they are in the Lamb’s book of life) but will not form part of it. See the note at v 24 (“the nations . . the kings of the earth . .”) for further details of this particular interpre-tation.

240 lies and liars, 21.27241 Satanic deception, 12.9242 the Lamb (name for Christ), 5.6; Book of Life, 3.5243 tribulation, 1.9

$2222.1 244

22.1, the river of the water of life 245, as clear as crystal, coming forth from the throne of God 246. Instead of “clear”, ESV has “bright”. We have here a combining of the garden of Eden with Ezekiel’s vision of the restored Jerusalem. The garden of Eden was watered by a river flowing from Eden, Gen 2.10. See note on 21.6 on the water of life. The image of the river is the final fulfilment of the prophecies in:

Ez 47.1-12, where Ezekiel saw water flowing from the temple and going east, getting deeper and deeper till it was a mighty river. It flowed into the Dead Sea and turned the water fresh (lit. “healed”) there. “Where the river flows everything will live” (v 9), meaning in the river and its imme-diate environment. Ezekiel saw “a great number of trees on each side of the river . . fruit trees of all kinds” (vv 7 & 12; more on this below). Ez 47 is probably primarily fulfilled in the millennial kingdom. The vision is a great metaphor of the tremendous renewing power of the Holy Spirit in believers: see John 7.37f. Zech 14.8: “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea (i.e. the Dead Sea) and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter”. As with Ez 47, its primary fulfilment is probably the mil-lennial kingdom. It is difficult to tell how far we should expect these two prophecies to be fulfilled in a physical river, especially given the miracu-lous nature of the Ez 47 river - it gets ever deeper despite apparently hav-ing no other rivers flowing into it. “Living water” can simply mean “fresh water” in Hebrew (examples are Lev 14.6, 51f; S of S 4.15), but in other contexts the same words clearly have a spiritual meaning (see Jer 2.13; 17.13; and in Greek Jn 4.10f, where Jesus plays on the double meaning, and Jn 7.38).

The throne of God in the Eternal State, the source of the river, is no longer thought of as being in the temple but is in the eternal city which has no need of a temple (21.22).See too the various other prophetic descriptions of water in the restored land of Israel and Jerusalem in:

Ps 36.8f (of those who find refuge in the Lord) “You give them drink from your river of delights . . for with you is the fountain of life”.Ps 46.4, “there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God”. Yet the Jerusalem of history has no river. A picture of the blessings of God?Ps 65.9, “you visit the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The stream of God is filled with water . .”Isa 30.25, “streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill”.Isa 33.20 (a poetic description of Zion) “a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them.”See the descriptions in Isa 35.6f; 41.18; 49.10, of water and rivers gushing forth in the desert as God’s people make their new Exodus from slavery

244 angels, 1.1245 water of life, 21.6246 implies that the Son share’s the Father’s throne. See the note at 4.2 on the throne of God.

into their land, harking back to God’s miraculous provision of water from the rock (Ex 17.6) during the Exodus from Egypt 247.Joel 3.18, “In that day . . . all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house and will water the valley of Shittim (acacias)” – a reminder of the place of that name in Num 25.1 where Israel gave way to sexual temptation and idolatry?

Scott from a Dispensationalist position holds that this section describes the

Millennial age (see 21.9 note). He considers that Ezekiel 47 & Zech 14 describe the earthly Jerusalem, where the restored Israel dwells, whereas Revelation here describes the Jerusalem above, the domain of the Church, the bride of Christ. They are alike in that both are seats of government, have living waters and trees of fruit and healing. But in the earthly Millennial Jerusalem the waters issue from under the temple (Ez 47.1), but here in the holy city the river flows from the throne.

Significance? (Hendriksen) it symbolises eternal life, salvation full and free, flowing from God’s sovereign will (“the throne”) as the gift of his grace and merited for us by Christ’s redemptive blood (“and from the Lamb”). That life is fellowship with God (see Jn 17.3). The clear as crystal water points to the reality that sin will not mar our fellowship with God. (Johnson) refreshment and life flow from the throne of God and of the Lamb 248, carried by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus promised (Jn 4.10-14; 7.38f; see also Isa 44.3; Ez 36.25ff). And the ever-flowing river is a picture of an unending stream of abundant blessings and joy.

John returns to the throne of God and of the Lamb in v 3. See the note there.

22.2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life (ESV). NIV is similar. ESV’s text notes indicate a different way of understanding the Greek, by reading a full stop after Lamb (the end of v 1). V 2 then starts with a new sentence: “In the midst of the street of the city, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life”.

The street of the city has already been shown John, at 21.21 (see note there).

22.2, on each side of the river the tree of life 249, bearing 12 fruits. NIV interprets as, “12 crops of fruit”. ESV as “12 kinds of fruit”. In Gen 2.9; 3.22, the tree of life was in the midst of the garden of Eden, symbolising God’s free gift of eternal life. But after Adam and Eve sinned, man’s access was barred from it. But in Revelation (2.7; 22.14, 19) those who are overcomers and “wash their robes” (i.e. in the Lamb’s blood: see 7.14) have the right to the tree of life and to eat its fruit. How a tree can grow on both sides of a river is not explained, but see Ezekiel’s prophecy re the restored Israel:

Ez 47.12, “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing”.

(Hendriksen) “tree” of life can also be translated “wood” of life. It speaks of the cross of Christ (as in Acts 5.30; 10.39 et al; Gal 3.13). The monthly fruit with the abundant water speaks of the superabundant character of salvation. (Johnson) the tree of life

247 Exodus typology, 8.6248 the Lamb (name for Christ), 5.6249 tree of life, 22.2

has its roots watered by living water from God’s throne. Once barred to guilty hu-manity, will satisfy the city’s residents year-round.

22.2, the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Indicating that it will fulfil Ez 47.12, a prophecy whose primary fulfilment seems to belong to the millen-nial kingdom. No longer will the nations 250 be prey to deception, as they were in 20.8, but will fulfil their glorious role in the Eternal State (21.24). Separate nations were the product of the sin and pride of Babel (Gen 10 and 11.1-9), where God had to dis-rupt the potential power of their unity. But in the Eternal State they have been healed and, it is implied, work together as one.

Healing in both OT and NT frequently implies more than mere physical heal-ing. The Gk most commonly used to describe healing, σωζω, ‘sozo’, means, “to save”. Salvation in the OT & NT is of the whole person. (However, healing in this verse is the Gk θεραπεια (‘therapeia’), which is used in a narrower sense than σωζω.)

(Johnson) the healing of the nations will have been completed in the destruc-tion of death (20.14).

22.3, no longer will there be any curse OR accursed thing. There is a similar phrase in the LXX of Zech 14.11, though it uses a slightly different Gk word for “curse”, in a passage prophesying the security of Jerusalem when the Lord returns as king 251. We here have the reversal of the curse God placed on his natural creation be-cause of Adam’s disobedience: see Gen 3.17, “cursed is the ground because of you” (see also Gen 5.29). See also:

Gen 4.10f, God’s curse on Cain for killing his brother: he was driven from the land to become a wanderer.Gen 8.21, where God promised after Noah’s sacrifices to him when he came out of the ark, that “never again will I curse the ground because of man” – referring to the destruction of the ground and all living things that he destroyed by the Flood because of mankind’s wickedness (Gen 6.5)Dt 11.26-29, God’s people would experience blessing if they obeyed his commands, but curses if they disobeyed them – specified in 27.15-end.Isa 24.5f, “The earth is defiled under its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth . .”Zech 5.1-4, Zechariah was shown in a vision a flying scroll that was “the curse going out over the whole land”, against those who broke God’s commandments.

The curse on mankind because they do not keep God’s law (Gal 3.10) was borne by Christ, “who became a curse for us . . . in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles (nations) through Christ Jesus” (Gal 3.13f). Whilst be-lievers enjoy this blessing now, the effects of the curse on the physical creation re-main until the time when, Rom 8.20-22, “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God”. Whilst Christ’s millennial reign certainly will bring in a measure of that freedom – e.g. the new bodies received by the saints – Rev 22.3 may indicate that the full libera-tion of creation in Rom 8.20-22 awaits the new heaven and earth of Rev 21.1 onward. There are lots of OT prophecies, e.g. Amos 9.13-15, about the marvellous prosperity

250 the nations, 21.24251 Instead of, “never again will it be destroyed”, the LXX translates Zech 14.11, “and there shall be no more any curse”, και αναθεμα ουκ εσται ετι.

of the land when Israel is restored, i.e. in Christ’s millennial reign. But it may be that there is a telescoping here in that the Prophets were shown in panoramic fashion the glories of the new creation in the same vision. See for example how Isa 65.17 speaks of the new heavens and a new earth followed by descriptions of blessedness that can-not be distinguished in degree from the blessings following Israel’s restoration to her land.

(Johnson) guilt, strife, struggle for survival, sickness, sorrow and death re-sulted from the curse in Gen 3.17; but in the consummated new creation no such woes will remain (see Rev 21.4).

22.3, the throne of God and of the Lamb 252 will be in her. I.e. in the eternal city: see “in her” in 21.22. The full phrase was also at 22.1. Till now, God’s throne has been in heaven (Mt 5.34 quoting Isa 66.1). Though his presence was seen as en-throned on the mercy seat above the ark and beneath the cherubim in the tabernacle and then the temple, and by his Spirit he dwelt in his church, yet he was separate from men. But in the Eternal State his throne is in the eternal city, “the city of the great King”, and he dwells among his people, who serve him and see his face.

The prophecy in Jer 3.17 is finally fulfilled in the Eternal State. It reads: “At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to (honour) the name of the Lord”. This appears to be primarily about the millennial kingdom - note that Jerusalem is called, “the Throne of the Lord”, rather than an explicit statement that God’s throne is there.

22.3f, his servants 253 will serve him and they will see his face. In 7.15 John was told that the saints who have come out of the Great Tribulation 254 – we assume died in the Lord – are before the throne of God (where the angels and God’s heavenly council are, see 4.4) and serve him day and night in his heavenly temple, Now in the Eternal State such service and waiting on the King takes place on earth in the eternal city. (Johnson) God’s throne will make the entire city a temple (see 21.22) in which his servants will worship him as his priests (see 1.6 and note).

The Gk word for serve, λατρευω, ‘latreuo’, here and in 7.15, was used in Classical Gk of serving the gods by prayers and sacrifices. ESV translates it, “wor-ship”. The LXX and the NT use it of serving in the tabernacle (see Heb 8.5; 13.10), but Paul and the writer to the Hebrews in particular used it of serving the Lord more generally (Rom 1.9; 2 Tim 1.3; Phil 3.3 (where NIV translates, “worship”), though it still kept temple & sacrificial overtones (see Heb 9.14; 12.28). Perhaps the double meaning indicates that believers filled with the Spirit serve God by waiting on him worshipfully - they hunger and thirst for him - and then following the Spirit’s lead, though often they will not be conscious of this process.

It was axiomatic to the Jews from their OT that no one could see the face of God in this life and live: see God’s explanation to Moses in Ex 33.20-23. Also Jn 1.18; 6.46; 1 J 4.12, as he dwelt in unapproachable light (1 T 6.16). However, David believed that he would see God’s face in death, Ps 17.15 (unless this is a royal court metaphor for a litigant who knows that the king will receive him and his petition, as in Ps 11.7). See also Mt 5.8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”. However, those who saw Jesus with the eyes of faith “saw the Father”, Jesus taught

252 the Lamb (name for Christ), 5.6; here it implies that the Son share’s the Father’s throne. See 22.1 and the note at 4.2 (Throne of God).253 servants - believers in Jesus, 7.3254 tribulation, 1.9

his disciples (Jn 14.9). But this separation from the Father is no longer true in the Eternal State, where sin and uncleanness is no more (21.27). His servants will see him! Their hunger and thirst to see him and meet with him will be satisfied (see Ex 33.18; Ps 42.2). (Johnson) this will be the greatest blessing of the age to come, as God looks upon his people with favour and delight. It will fulfil 1 Cor 13.12, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face”.

22.4 His name will be on their foreheads 255. As promised to the overcomer in 3.12 and as was true of the 144,000 “firstfruits to God” in 14.1 (see the note there), who stood with the Lamb on the heavenly Mt Zion. The 144,000 servants of God from the tribes of Israel had God’s seal on their foreheads, 7.3; in contrast the followers of the Beast had his defiling mark there, 13.16. Perhaps in 14.1 and 22.4 it signifies owner-ship, that they are God’s property. Compare Ex 28.36, where Aaron the priest wore a plate of pure gold on his forehead inscribed, “Holy to the Lord”.

22.5, there will be no more night. 21.25 makes it clear that night has been banished. See the note there.

22.5, the Lord God will give them light. See on 21.23 (and note). (Johnson) they will bask in light from the God of radiant glory and truth, who dwells in “unapproach-able light” (1 T 6.16).

22.5, they will reign 256 for ever and ever. See notes on 1.6 (“a kingdom . .”) and 2.27. Over whom will they reign? In the millennial kingdom the resurrected saints with Christ ruled “the nations” - that portion of mankind that was welcomed into the kingdom but did not have resurrected bodies 257. This will no longer be appropriate in the Eternal State as the two categories of mankind will be one - see my notes on 21.24f (“the nations . . . and the kings of the earth . .”) for the argument. Perhaps it will be the rest of the renewed creation – the original responsibility given to man: see Gen 1.26, 28 (though the words there, ‘radah’ (NIV “rule over”) and ‘kabash’ (NIV “subdue”), are not the Hebrew for “rule over as king” which is ‘malak’). At last mankind is fulfilling the prophecy of Ps 8 (though in Ps 8.6 Hebrew uses the word ‘mashal’ meaning “dominion”, not the word ‘malak’ for a king’s rule), which in this age we see as fulfilled in Christ, restored mankind’s forerunner – see Heb 2.6-9.This reign may include the spirit world and angels: see Paul in 1 Cor 6.3, - “judge” in Hebrew usage may mean “rule over” (as in the OT book, Judges) as well as “judge” in the judicial sense.

However, see the discussion at 21.24 for alternative interpretations of they will reign.

For ever and ever (εις τους αιωνας των αιωνων) is a phrase used elsewhere in Revelation of the risen Christ and of God. See 1.18 and the note there.

Summary of Revelation 22.6-end.John’s visions conclude at this point, with some final words from the angel, direct words from the Lord to his church, John voicing the saints’ response, and a warning by him to all who hear the prophecy that they should not add to or take away from it in any way. There are many parallels between this concluding section and John’s in-

255 new name, 2.17256 kingdom, 12.10257 See the note on 20.6, “they will be priests of God . .” and the second half of Annex 3.

troduction (ch 1). The focus is on Christ’s imminent return: “I am coming soon!” What has eternal significance for each person is our response to that fact. Revelation, we are assured, was not given to be a sealed book, kept for some future distant time. The blessing is on those who “keep” the words, who live in line with its truths, en-couragements and warnings, and who help others in the local church to do the same. They will gain His reward.

So I ask you: what is your response to Jesus’ repeated words, “I am coming soon?” Is this a living reality for you? Is your whole life ordered by these words? Will you stand firm and remain loyal to him through the coming persecution, holding onto him and knowing that his return is on the way? When he comes - soon - we will each give an account to him, our Master. It is as real as the account we have to give to our employer. We are saved by grace - his free gift for us to receive; we therefore need not fear condemnatory judgment. He desires to reward each of us, but that will depend on how we live and what we do.

For the many parallels between John’s conclusion to Revelation and his introduction, see “What is the focus of Revelation?” in the Introduction to these notes 258. The par-allels confirm to me that we are right to see Christ’s return as set forth in 1.1-8 as the focus of the whole book.

22.6, and he said to me. Presumably the same angel 259 that spoke to John and was his guide to the eternal city in 21.9 (he reoccurs in 21.15, 17 and in 22.8-10). NIV makes this clear by inserting, “The angel”. In this concluding section the angel speaks with the voice of Jesus in the 1st person in 22.7 & 12-16 (or perhaps 12-13); then in Rev 22.16 we have, “I Jesus have sent my angel” (compare 22.6, “the Lord . . sent his angel”). This is reminiscent of how the angel of the Lord in the OT at times appears to be both distinguished from the Lord and identified with Him – see Gen 16.7-13; 19.1, 21; 31.11, 13; Ex 3.2, 4; Jdg 2.1-5 et al; Zech 3.1-6; 12.8.

22.6 these words. It is not immediately clear from the context what these words refer to. There is a similar dilemma about the same phrase at 19.9 and 21.5. It is most likely at 22.6 looking back (as it almost certainly is at 19.9), and perhaps it covers what the angel has revealed from 21.9 to 22.5. Alternatively, as this is the conclusion to the whole prophecy, it might cover all that was revealed to John and that is recorded in Revelation.

22.6 trustworthy and true. OR faithful and true”. A similar declaration was at 19.9 and 21.5 (see the notes there). The same two adjectives were used to describe Christ, the Word of God, on his return (19.11 & 13; see note on 19.11).

22.6, of the spirits of the prophets. Probably the OT prophets. See 22.9 and note. John may be drawing on Num 27.16, “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all mankind”, although this is not specifically about prophets. Compare 1 Cor 14.32, “the spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets”, which is about Chris-tians in the Corinthian congregation who are recognised to have the gift of prophecy.

The language is also reminiscent of 19.10, “for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”.

258 The parallels I identify in the Introduction are all pointed out to the reader as part of the following notes.259 angels, 1.1

22.6 sent his angel 260 to show to his servants what must take place soon 261. Very similar to the opening to Revelation, 1.1.

22.7, “behold, I am coming soon!” 262 (also vv 12 & 20; see too vv 10 & 17). Picks up 1.7, “behold, he is coming with the clouds”. It is the message of the whole of Rev-elation - see the analysis at, “What is the focus of Revelation’; also the notes on 1.3 and 2.5. The corollary to this is: “persevere, be and remain faithful to the Lord and be his witness, don’t be deceived, keep in mind your glorious destiny, don’t lose your re-ward!” See 22.12, 14.

The angel hear speaks with the Lord’s words, and will do so again in vv 12f..22.7, Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy 263 of this book! Similar to the first “Blessed” promise at 1.3 264. It is a strong theme of this concluding section – see v 9 and the warning in vv 18-19 not to add to or subtract from the text of Reve-lation, and the emphasis on accountability and the rewards awaiting the faithful (vv 12, 14, 19). It is reminiscent of the teaching of Jesus on the importance of keeping and obeying his words 265: see Jn 8,31, 51; 12.47-50; 14.21-24;15.7, 14.

Prophecy is yet another parallel with the content of Rev 1: see 1.3. The words of the prophecy of this book recurs in 22.10 & 18 and in a slightly different form in v 19, and “the words of this book” in v 9. This gives it great emphasis.

22.8, I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. See the statement about himself that John gave at 1.9 and the “heard” and “saw” language at 1.10 & 12. Com-pare the eye-witness explanation given by John at the start of his first epistle (1 Jn 1.1ff).

22.8, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel 266. . . This is very similar to John’s instinctive reaction in 19.10 and the response of the angel there - see the note. Again, this picks up a theme from the first chapter of Revelation: John, when he was confronted by the awesome vision of “one like a son of man” (1.13), “fell at his feet as though dead” (1.17) 267, but here the angel swiftly corrects John as he is an angel, not the Lord himself (though he speaks with the Lord’s words at the start of 22.7).

22.9, your brothers the prophets. See 10.7 and note. The two witnesses like Moses and Elijah in 11.1-12 are called prophets in 11.10 and they “prophesy” in 11.3 & 6. Caird therefore, who considers them to be symbolic of all Christian witnesses at this time (see note on 10.7 268), believes that 22.9 means Christian prophet-martyrs, as also do other occurrences (listed in the note on 10.7). The fact that on the earlier occasion (19.10) when John fell down to worship, the angel who rebuked him referred to him-self as a “fellow-servant with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus”, sup-

260 servants - believers in Jesus, 7.3261 “What must soon take place”, 1.1262 “The time is near “/“I am coming soon” 1.3; 2.5263 prophets, 10.7 and 22.9264 7 blessings, 1.3265 patient endurance, 1.9266 fall down and worship, 1.17267 servants - believers in Jesus, 7.3268 For the detail on Caird’s view, see the note after 11.13 entitled, ‘Interpretations of the two witnesses of 11.3-12”.

ports this interpretation. So does the rest of 19.10, “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”.

Alternatively, 22.9 might mean the OT prophets, as in 22.6. John could well be called a prophet as Revelation is described as a “prophecy” in 1.3 and 22.7, 10, 18f and he was commanded in the vision in 10.11 to “prophesy”. It would therefore be natural for Christ’s angel (who speaks the words of Christ in the 1st person in 22.7 & 12) to refer to the OT prophets as, “your brothers”.

22.9 all who keep the words of this book. First stated in ch 22 at 22.7. See the note there for this recurrent theme in ch 22.

22.9 269

22.10, do not seal up the words. I.e., the intention is that hearers of Revelation un-derstand what they hear, because “the time is near”. See 10.4 (and note) where John receives the opposite command. We are to live in the light of Revelation’s contents and Christ’s imminent return. Contrast this with the opposite instruction to Daniel (Dan 12.4, 9) to “shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end”. For Daniel’s original readers, the Lord’s return and the end of this age was not as near as it was for the original hearers and readers of Revelation. See the article in the Intro-duction, “Is Revelation the church’s equivalent from the Lord of the book of Daniel?”

The sentiment of v 10 is very similar to 1.3 (“Blessed is he that reads and those that hear the words of the prophecy . . for the time is near”).

22.10 the words of the prophecy of this book. A repeat of the phrase at v 7 (see the note there).

22.10, the time is near 270

22.11, let him who does wrong continue to do wrong . . . May draw on the Lord’s warning to Ezekiel (3.27), “Whoever will listen let him listen, and whoever will refuse let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house”. See also Daniel 12.10, which may be an observation about the time of the end (see the previous verse): “Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked . .”.

Rev 22.11 is not fatalism, but a recognition that individuals have free will as to how they respond to the gospel, including the warnings in Revelation. John has been shown (9.20f) that in the time just before Christ’s return there will be a general refusal to repent. See how, in the plagues of Egypt, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he re-fused to bow to God’s demands, Ex 4.21 and onwards till 14.8 - an action attributed both to Pharaoh and to God and known and explained to Moses in advance of the plagues by God. The interplay between man’s freewill and God’s sovereignty and election that Paul addressed in Rom 9.17-19 (see also Rom 3.3-8) is a mystery known only to God.

(Johnson) patterns of behaviour, whether controlled by unbelief or by faith, will eventually be irreversible.

269 worship God, 4.10270 “the time is near”, 1.3

22.11, let him who does right continue to do right 271. Draws on Isa 56.1: “This is what the Lord says: Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand.”

22.12 Behold, I am coming soon 272. A restatement of v 7 (see the note) and of the sentiment in v 10 (“the time is near”). The angel from here until the end of v 13 (and possibly until v 16) is speaking the Lord’s words.

22.12, my reward is with me, to repay to each as is his work 273. John here may be consciously echoing:

Isa 40.10, “See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power . . See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him”. However, “reward” in Isa 40.10 may mean the reward and recompense given to the Good Shepherd, in the form of his flock. In Rev 22.12 it is the reward to Christ’s faithful ones (but see the note below for other possible meanings).Isa 62.10, “See, your Saviour comes! See, his reward is with him and his recompense accompanies him”. Johnson, seeing this Isaiah prophecy as continuing until 63.6, comments that Christ comes as the Divine Warrior, rewarding faithful servants and punishing every evildoer.Mt 16.27, “the Son of Man is going to come . . and then he will reward (lit. return to) each person according to what he has done”

We are intended to receive this verse both as a warning and a promise (see 22.14f). It is a key reason why John was given Revelation 274. The last time John heard (and recorded) about rewards was in 11.18 and 14.13, but see also the bride of the Lamb’s wedding dress in 19.8 which is “the righteous acts of the saints”. (Johnson) the assur-ance that when Jesus comes “soon”, he will bring blessing to believers but judgment to rebels, should motivate believers to perseverance and purity. See the similar mes-sage in 2 P 3.11-14 and 1 J 3.3.

Is the Lord here referring to the judgment seat (tribunal) of Christ on his sec-ond coming, before which the saints each stand to be assessed and to receive their re-wards? But the promise seems also to apply to righteous and unrighteous alike, judg-ing from v 11, and vv 14ff continue to speak of both the saints and those who are “outside” the holy city. Perhaps, then, 22.12 is more like a generic statement about judgment. We have the same dilemma in 2.23 (see the note there). If so, we should not use 22.12 to argue that judgment of the living and the dead, the saints / the right-eous and the wicked must all happen immediately on Christ’s return (see the notes at 20.5f, “the first resurrection” and at 20.12, “and books were opened” for these argu-ments) 275.

ESV translates my reward is with me as, “bringing my recompense with me” 276. Johnson comments that this indicates degrees of reward for believers and punish-

271 Righteous (of God and of men), 15.3272 “The time is near “/“I am coming soon” 1.3; 2.5273 judgment in Revelation, 20.11-15 reviewed; repay each according to their deeds, 20.12274 See the section in the Introduction, “Why did the Lord give the contents of Revelation to John at this time?”.275 For interpreting Jesus’ teachings on giving an account when he returns and rewards and punishments, see Annex 3 (first half).276 The Greek word μισθος, found only here and at 11.18 in Revelation, means “wages” or “reward”, so could mean “recompense” depending on its context. In 11.18, it clearly means “reward”. In the LXX of Isa 40.10, “reward” is translated by μισθος.

ment for unbelievers, and quotes in support of this view 1 Cor 3.14f and Lk 12.47f. Johnson is, I think, arguing from the premise that the Bible teaches only one judg-ment. I see both 1 Cor 3.14f and Lk 12.47f as referring to Christ’s assessment and re-ward of believers on his return (at the judgment seat/tribunal of Christ). Degrees of punishment for unbelievers seems to me to be contrary to their final destination - the lake of fire (Rev 20.15; see also the “eternal fire” of Mt 25.41) 277.

22.13 I am the Alpha and the Omega . . 278. Repeated from 21.6, but there it appears to be the First Person of the Trinity who speaks. Here it is Christ speaking, through the angel, affirming his divinity. This is yet another parallel with Revelation ch 1: see 1.8. Compared with 21.6, the phrase in the Greek lacks the verb “I am” (ειμι), which is a feature of 21.6 (see the note there for the connotations).

22.14, Blessed 279 are those who wash their robes. The same expression is used of those who came out of the great tribulation 280, we assume by martyrdom, in 7.14. See the note there. A few manuscripts read instead, “Blessed are those who do his com-mandments”.

22.14, that they may have the right to the tree of life 281. Reminiscent of Jn 1.11, “as many as received him, he gave to them the right to become children of God”. In the Eternal State the curse from man’s fall has been removed (22.3 & note) and a flaming sword no longer bars access to the tree of life (Gen 3.22-24).

22.14, and may go through the gates into the city. May draw on Ps 118.19f where the psalmist (a Davidic king?) says: “Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter”. This refers either to the gates of the city of Jerusalem, the Lord’s city, or to the inner court of the temple. Here in Revelation it undoubtedly refers to the new Jerusalem described in ch 21. Entering this city and its gates feature in 21.24-27.

22.15, outside are the dogs and those who practice magic arts and the sexually immoral 282 and the murderers and the idolaters 283 and everyone who loves and practises falsehood 284. The same message as 21.27. Presumably they are in the lake of fire - see the similar list in 21.8 (and note there). We have come across all these categories of wrongdoing before in Revelation, except for “dogs”. In the OT, Dt 23.18, it was used as a derogatory term for a male prostitute. In the NT it is used more generally to describe moral or spiritual impurity: see Mt 7.6. See also Phil 3.2, where Paul is describing the Judaiising false teachers, and probably having in mind a dog’s devouring of whatever they can get hold of (see Ps 22.16, 20).

277 On interpreting Lk 12.47f and on Mt 25.41, the punishment of those not admitted into Christ’s kingdom, see the first half of Annex 3.278 Alpha and Omega, 1.8279 7 blessings, 1.3280 tribulation, 1.9281 tree of life, 22.2. Resurrection of the saints, 1.5282 harlotry / sexual immorality, 17.1283 idol-worship, 9.20284 lies and liars, 21.27

22.16, I Jesus have sent my angel to give you (plural) this testimony 285 for the churches. Another parallel with Rev 1: compare 1.1-4 and 1.11. But the wording is also reminiscent of Mal 3.1, “See, I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple . .”. An-gel 286 translates the Greek word whose basic meaning is, “messenger”.

But at this point Jesus through the angel (see on v 6) now speaks directly to “you” (plural). Who is he addressing by “you”? At the very least, it must be the Christians in the 7 churches in John’s day, to whom he was told to send, in written form, what he would receive (1.10f). But Jesus is, I think, speaking to all his follow-ers (the saints) down the ages right up to the generation that will witness his return 287. It now becomes the responsibility of each of us who hear/read Revelation to act on what we hear (see the blessing in 22.7) and to help others in our churches to take to heart its message. If we wish to receive the blessings and the promises in Revelation, then we should take with them the responsibility that the Lord lays on us.

22.16, I am the root and the offspring of David. A human impossibility: how can a person be both the ancestral root but also the offspring? But true in Christ because of his divine and human person. See how Luke can describe Adam as “son of God”, Lk 3.38. Christ is the eternal, archetypal King, so he is the root from which David him-self sprang (Caird). He is David’s Lord, and thus is the very root to which David owed his origin and the source of his rule (Hendriksen, referring to Mt 22.41-45).

If this is what 22.16 conveys, it is a development of the original connotation of the “Root of Jesse” in Isa 11.1 & 10, from which the angelic elder explains to John in Rev 5.5 about “the Root of David”: see note on 5.5.

“The offspring of David” is not found in the OT, but the concept is expressed by “shoot” or “branch”, which became synonymous with the Messiah: see Isa 11.1; Jer 23.5; 33.15; Zech 3.8; 6.12. Christ’s physical descent from David is stated many times elsewhere in the NT, starting at Mt 1.1, particularly in the phrase, “son of David”.

(Johnson) Jesus here affirms his Messianic authority.

22.16, the bright morning star. See 2.28 and note.

22.17, the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” 288 I.e. the Spirit who indwells and wit-nesses to the churches (the bride) about Christ and the truth – see the ending to each of the letters to the 7 churches in ch 2 & 3 289. For the bride see 19.7 (and note), 21.2 (and note) and 21.9.

(Johnson) this is a prayer to Jesus, who promises to come soon. That the ar-dent desire of the first generation of Christians was for the Lord to return, see:

1 Cor 16.22, ‘maranatha!’, Aramaic for “Come, O Lord!”, which must go back to the first Jewish Christians who were natives of Judea and their churches there. This cry or prayer probably was a feature of breaking bread, the first Communion services, by participating in which they “pro-claimed the Lord’s death until he comes”, 1 Cor 11.26.

285 testify / bear witness, 1.2. The testimony of Jesus, 1.2286 the LXX of Mal 3.1 translates “messenger” by αγγελος (‘aggelos’, “angel”); angels, 1.1287 See the discussion in the note on 1.4 as to what “the sevens churches” represent, and at 2.7 on the meaning of, “ . . let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”.288 “I am coming” 1.3; 2.5289 Holy Spirit, 2.7

Rev 22.20, the ending of the prophecy.Mt 6.10, “Your kingdom, let it come!” The Lord’s prayer for his church to follow.Lk 17.22 (Jesus to his disciples) “There will come days when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it”. In times of trouble and persecution, Christians have always rediscovered that longing to see Christ return. But we have to endure and remain faithful till He comes - another key message of Revelation, see 13.10 and 14.12.Acts 1.6, the foremost question on the disciples’ minds just before Jesus ascended to heaven – and note that according to 1.3 he had been speaking to them over 40 days about the kingdom of God – was, “Will you at this time restore the kingdom (i.e. the kingly rule foretold in Isaiah and the Prophets) to Israel?”

I.e. We should not only expect and await his return (see note on 1.3): we should desire it! The implication of the whole of Revelation is that things in this world are going to go from bad to worse till Christ returns (though those of a post-Millennial persuasion would disagree: see the Introduction, “How do we understand Rev 20”). Only his coming will allow the saints to reign on earth (the Millennium and then the Eternal State) and the glories that God intended for mankind and the world he created to be experienced and enjoyed.

Are we, in this cry of the believer, to see a parallel with the people of Judah and Israel inviting David to be king over them (2 Sam 2.4; 5.1-3) – see also the crowds that welcomed Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem with the cry, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Lk 19.38; see also Mk 11.10)? When the first Christians shouted, “Come, Lord”, in worship, were they saying in effect, “We invite you to come and reign on this earth as the King, and so fulfil all that it is in the Prophets about your glorious reign, and replace the kingdoms of this world with the Kingdom of God”?

However, Caird interprets “Come” as addressed not to Christ but to all com-ers: “him that thirsts, let him come!”. It is a summons to join the company of the overcomers and to enter into their reward.

(Hendriksen) “Come!” is in the Greek a present tense imperative, better trans-lated, “be coming!”. So it refers not only to the Lord’s actual return but to the whole course of history that still precedes that event, as revealed in Revelation. It means, “carry out your plan in history with a view to your coming”.

22.17, him who thirsts, let him come! The message of 21.6 (see note there and on 22.1). The Lord desires thirsty followers who are satisfied, in the midst of the decep-tions of this world, with nothing other than the Living Water 290 that only he gives. The promise to such is that they make take and receive it as a free gift, by God’s grace (the message of Paul in Rom 3.24; Eph 2.8, and prophesied in Isaiah 55.1 from where this metaphor originates).

290 water of life, 21.6

22.18, I warn 291 everyone . . if anyone adds anything . . if anyone takes words away from this book 292 of prophecy 293. Such a warning is unique in the NT, but is found in the OT. See:

Dt 4.2, “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it”.Dt 12.32, “See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it”.Dt 18.20ff: a prophet who spoke without God’s authorisation deserved death.

All scripture is inspired - “God-breathed”, 2 Tim 3.16, in the context referring to the whole of the OT, but the early Church realised that the same was true of the NT books. But in the NT Revelation is unique as being a prophecy or revelation direct from the Lord – 1.1; 22.6. If preserving the exact words of the Law as given was im-perative, how much more the Lord’s direct word to his churches!

22.18 the words of the prophecy of this book. The third time in ch 22 that we have this phrase.

22.18, God will add to him the plagues 294 written in this book. May draw on Dt 29.19ff where Moses states that Israelites who stand with their brothers in agreeing to live according to God’s covenant, and take the oath to that effect, but have no inten-tion of living so, will suffer “all the curses written in this book”.

John is probably referring to the plagues described in ch 15 and 16. See the notes at 9.18, 20 and at 15.1. If so, John perhaps sensed that it was at the very end of the age before Christ returns that people might tamper with the text of his book. Or he might have been speaking in a general sense, meaning, “the sort of plagues written in this book”. Those who interpret the future events described in ch 6 to 18 as de-scribing the whole of the church age may see 22.18 as supporting their interpretation.

22.19 the words of the prophecy of this book. A re-ordering of the thrice-repeated phrase first found at v 7 (see the note there).

22.19 295

22.19 the holy city. The new Jerusalem described in 21.1-22.5 296. For the phrase, see the note at 11.2 where it first occurs in Revelation.

22.20 He who testifies to these things 297

22.20 Surely I am coming soon 298. The 3rd time in ch 22 that this promise has been given by the Lord through his angel, but here with a change in the first word. See the notes on 22.7 and 22.17 (“the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”).

291 testify / bear witness, 1.2. It is the same verb as “testifies” in 22.20.292 write, 1.11293 prophets, 10.7 and 22.9294 plagues, 9.18295 the tree of life, 22.2296 Jerusalem, the holy city, 21.2.297 testify / bear witness, 1.2. The testimony of Jesus, 1.2298 “The time is near “/“I am coming soon” 1.3; 2.5

22.21, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. There is some variation between the manuscripts. Some have, “ . .be with all the saints”, others have, “ . . be with the saints”. Some add, “Amen” at the end 299.

The ending is similar to 1 Corinthians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Ephesians and Romans (see 16.20 and 24, the latter verse being omitted in many manuscripts and therefore by NIV and most modern translations). This preserves the divine balance: the believer must persevere and remain faithful, “even unto death”, to receive his re-ward, but it is all empowered by God’s grace – a fitting end to the prophecy.

Conclusion

John wrote out of pastoral concern for Christians experiencing state persecution, maybe at the cost of their lives. What are the messages of hope for them in Revela-tion, as at first sight it is full of doom and suffering before Christ actually returns and warnings about the need to stay loyal to Him?

· Look forward to His return as King. His kingdom is coming; He will take over the kingdom of the world (1.7; 11.15, 17)

· Christ is the victor, the conqueror – over death and Hades (1.18; 2.8), sin (5.9ff), the kingdoms of this world (11.15); Satan (the dragon; 12.9ff); the Beast and the False Prophet (14.1; 15.2ff), and the men who worship the Beast (19.16)

· Because he is the victor, so will we be (7.14; 11.11; 14.1; 17.14; 20.4; 22 3ff). Our final victory is assured (15.2)

· We will reign with him (1.6; 2.27; 3.21; 5.10; 20.6)· The saints are Christ’s bride; the marriage is coming! (19.7-9; 21.2, 9)· His coming is soon (1.3; 3.11; 22.7, 10, 12, 20)· What will happen is written (5.1; 10.2) and God will fulfil his words and his

purposes (10.6f; 17.17). He is the Beginning and the End (1.8, 17; 21.6; 22.13).

· Just as Christ rose from the dead, so will we (1.18; 20.4-6)· He sees our tears (7.17; 21.4)· He will keep us from (i.e. through?) the hour of trial that is coming (3.10)· There will be rewards for all the faithful, immediately on death and at & after

Christ’s return (end of each ch 2 & 3 letter; 7.15ff; 11.18; 14.13; 22.12)· God sits on his throne controlling all that happens (4.3)· God’s servants are sealed as His (7.3) and protected from harm (9.4; 16.2) –

though many will die as martyrs, but their blood will be avenged (19.2)· A vast multitude will be saved out of the Great Tribulation, from the Jews and

from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (7.4-14)· The saints’ prayers, in worship as well as petition, rise as incense before his

throne and bring about his judgments on the earth and the saints’ deliverance (8.3ff)

· Our testimony even unto death will bring about the Devil’s fall from heaven and the entry of the kingdom of God (12.7ff)

· Those who destroy the earth will be destroyed (11.18; 14.8; 16.19; 19.2, 5-8)· His covenant is sure; He will be faithful to it (11.19, the ark in the heavenly

temple)

299 Amen, 3.14

· All that happens, even man and Satan’s wickedness, remains under his sover-eign command and control and requires his permission. See “it is given” (6.2, 4, 8 et al); see the start of each plague/judgment; also 7.1;

· and even the Beast accomplishes His purpose (17.17)· The new heaven and earth - the city, the rule of God and union of God and re-

stored mankind that is to come - far surpasses in glory and loveliness the civil-isations and institutions of this world (21.1-22.5). Consider:

· No more death, crying, mourning or pain (21.4)· God dwells with man, without need of temple (21.3, 22)· An end to all human wickedness and godlessness (21.8, 27; 22.15)· The nations fulfilling their destiny (21.24ff); the healing of the nations

(22.2)· We will see God and serve before him (22.3f)· We will reign for ever and ever with him (22.5)

AMEN!

Index. $index

(The subject and the chapter & verse where it is discussed in the Commentary. Foot-notes later in the Commentary refer back to the original discussion.)

“a little while” until the end 17.10

abomination 17.4f

Abyss 9.1

accomplished / completed 10.7

alive for ever and ever 1.18

altar in heaven 6.9

Alpha and Omega 1.8

Amen 3.14

angels 1.1

authority 12.10

before the throne 4.2

blaspheme 16.9

Babylon 17.1

Babylon’s fall Intro to ch 18

blood 1.5

Book of Life 3.5

crown 2.10

demons and demonic activity 9.20

Deuteronomy 32 fulfilled 15.3

dwell / tabernacle 12.12; 21.3

earth or land? 1.7

earthquake 4.5

every tribe and language and people and nation 5.9

evil is self-destroying 8.8

Exodus typology 8.6

Ezekiel 8-11 prophecy of destruction 7.3

faithful witness 1.5faithful unto death 2.10fall down in worship 1.17fear of God 11.18fire 1.14for ever and ever 1.18Hades 1.18harlotry / sexual immorality 17.1

hail 4.5he who has an ear, let him hear 2.7him who is and who was and who is to come 1.4

Heavenly equivalents 1.16, 20

“Him who is seated on the throne” 4.2

Holy Spirit 2.7

“I am coming” 1.3; 2.5

idol-worship 9.20

in the Spirit 4.2

Isaiah 34 prophecy of judgment and destruction 6.13

Israel and the Jews: see “Did John believe that the church had replaced Israel as

God’s chosen people?” in the Introduction to Revelation.

Jeremiah 25 prophecy against the nations 10.3

Jerusalem, the holy city 21.2

judgment in Revelation 20.11-15 reviewed

kingdom 12.10

kings and priests 1.6

lake of fire (the second death) 14.10

lies and liars 21.27

lightnings 4.5

Lord God Almighty 11.17

mark of the Beast 13.16

money and commerce become a god 18.3

mystery 10.7

new name 2.17

patient endurance 1.9

persecution of Israel / the Jews 12.17

plagues 9.18

power 12.10

prophets 10.7 and 22.9

Psalm 2 expounded 1.5

Psalm 79 cry for vengeance 6.10

repay each according to their deeds 20.12

repentance 2.5

resurrection of the saints 1.5

rewards of the saints Rev 20.11-15 reviewed

righteous (of God and of men) 15.3

saints 5.8

salvation 12.10

Satan 2.10

Satan portrayed as a dragon 12.3

Satanic deception 12.9

sea 4.6

servants - believers in Jesus 7.3

seven 1.4

sharp, double-edged sword 1.16

small and great 11.18

songs of worship 4.11

sovereignty of God: “it was given” 6.2

stars and angels 8.10

testify / bear witness 1.2

the 7 Spirits 1.4

the Beast 13.1

the Devil 2.10

the False Prophet (the second beast) 13.11

the great city 11.8

the inhabitants of the earth 3.10

the kings of the earth 17.2; 21.24

the Lamb (name for Christ) 5.6

the nations 21.24

the overcomer 2.7

the temple in heaven 3.12

the testimony of Jesus 1.2

“the time is near” / “I am coming soon” 1.3; 2.5

the word of God 1.2

throne of God 4.2

thunder 4.5

tree of life 22.2

tribulation 1.9

vengeance from God (incl. his retribution and righteous judgment) 6.10

voice from heaven 16.1

war 13.7

water of life 21.6

“What must soon take place” 1.1

White garments 3.4

Wine of Babylon’s harlotry 14.8

Wine of God’s wrath 14.10

With the Lord after death 3.4

worship God 4.10

worship the Beast and his image 13.4

wrath of God 6.16f

write 1.9

3 1/2 years 11.2

7 blessings 1.3

24 enthroned elders 4.4

4 living creatures 4.6