19:1 After these things I heard what sounded like the loud voice of a vast throng in heaven, saying,
“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
19:2 because his judgments are true and just.
For he has judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality,
and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!”
19:3 Then a second time the crowd shouted, “Hallelujah!” The smoke rises from her forever and ever. 19:4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures threw themselves to the ground and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne, saying: “Amen! Hallelujah!”
19:5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying:
“Praise our God
all you his servants,
and all you who fear Him,
both the small and the great!”

The Wedding Celebration of the Lamb, 6-10

19:6 Then I heard what sounded like the voice of a vast throng, like the roar of many waters and like loud crashes of thunder. They were shouting:
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God, the All-Powerful, reigns!
19:7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him glory,
because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
19:8 She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints).
19:9 Then the angel said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 19:10 So I threw myself down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “Do not do this! I am only a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

“The wedding of the Lamb has come” – ‘Christ’s first coming was to purchase a Bride for himself by his obedience and death. His second coming will be to solemnise the marriage, and to fetch the Bride home to the royal palace, the house of many mansions that he is preparing for her reception.’ (Ebenezer Erskine)

The Son of God Goes to War, 11-21

19:11 Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse! The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war. 19:12 His eyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head. He has a name written that no one knows except himself. 19:13 He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God.

With justice he judges and goes to war –

He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood – Whose blood?

Some think that this is Christ’s own blood, ‘because the battle has already been fought and won in his death’ (Gorman)

Ian Paul, however, considers that, rather than picturing Christ wearing his own atoning blood, the image is rather that of God trampling the nations in the winepress of his wrath, with their blood spattering his garments (borrowing from Isa 63:1-4).

19:14 The armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses. 19:15 From his mouth extends a sharp sword, so that with it he can strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful. 19:16 He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

From his mouth extends a sharp sword – For Gorman, this suggests a thoroughly nonviolent execution of judgment:

‘This signifies the effective word of God’s judgment—the wrath of God and the Lamb—that needs no literal sword, and which a literal sword could never accomplish. Moreover, this Jesus comes dressed in a robe dipped in blood (Rev 19:13)—his own blood—because the battle has already been fought and won in his death. The judgment he executes is his word so that the effects of his saving death may be fully realized in God’s work of renewal.’

There will be no place for evil in the new creation,

‘Thus evildoers must either repent and participate in the renewal of all things, or be excluded from that space. The decision is theirs, and theirs alone.’

19:17 Then I saw one angel standing in the sun, and he shouted in a loud voice to all the birds flying high in the sky:
“Come, gather around for the great banquet of God,
19:18 to eat your fill of the flesh of kings,
the flesh of generals,
the flesh of powerful people,
the flesh of horses and those who ride them,
and the flesh of all people, both free and slave,
and small and great!”
19:19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army. 19:20 Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf—signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. 19:21 The others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh.

For Gorman, this (and other similar scenes in Revelation) assure us of the certainty of God’s defeat of evil, but do not describe the means:

‘In Revelation there are at least five occasions in which preparations for a kind of final battle are made, the last of which is the battle of Christ on the white horse, marked by his own (not his enemies) blood. At this battle, as in all the other battles, however, no actual fighting occurs!…We learn the fate of the enemies of God, but this is more of a battle summary or report of casualties (e.g. Rev 19:20-21).

To repeat: there is no actual final battle in Revelation. Why? Because the images of battle are supposed to suggest to us the promise and reality of Gods defeat of evil, but they are not the means of that defeat. There is no literal battle, no literal war of the Lamb for those present at the second coming to join in (as the Left Behind series imagines it), no literal pre-Parousia campaign conducted by human soldiers, Christian or otherwise, on behalf of God. “[I]n the cataclysmic battle of Revelation 19, what do the heavenly armies do? Nothing. . . . All the actions belong to Christ”, and his only weapon is the sword of his word…

Yes, the slaughtered Lamb fights for God and will act on behalf of God to rid the world of evil, but he does so with only his own blood and a sword in his mouth (19:15), not with a sword in his hand to literally shed the blood of his enemies.’