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 celebration 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)

“These are the true words of God” – an expression used seven times in Revelation.  On four of these occasion it is closely associated with ‘the testimony of Jesus’ ( Rev 1:2, 9; 6:9; 20:4).

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 – We return here, apparently, to the scene described at the end of ch. 16, where preparations were made for ‘the battle of Armageddon’.

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

(a) A few think that this is the blood of the martyrs

So Caird.  But, as Koester remarks:

‘Christ’s blood makes the robes of others white, rather than their blood making his robe red (Rev 7:14).’

(b) Some think that this is the blood of God’s enemies

Ian Paul considers that the image is that of God trampling the nations in the winepress of his wrath, with their blood spattering his garments (borrowing from Isa 63:1-4).  So also Charles, Patterson, Michaels, Beale, Osborne, Roloff, Fee.

Mounce:

‘The blood that stains the robe of the conquering Messiah is not his own (as in Rev 1:5; 5:9; 7:14; 12:11), but the blood of the enemy shed in conflict.’

Ladd:

‘The picture here is of Christ the warrior and conqueror of evil, not of Christ the redeemer.’

This interpretation is defended in some detail here.

(c) Others think that this is Christ’s own atoning blood

Gorman explains that this is:

‘because the battle has already been fought and won in his death’

Origen:

‘John does not see the Word of God mounted on a horse naked. He is clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood, since the Word who became flesh, and died because he became flesh, is invested with traces of that passion, since his blood also was poured forth upon the earth when the soldier pierced his side.’

Oecumenius:

‘He says, Clad in a robe sprinkled with blood: for even in the vision the Lord was bearing the marks of his passion, and was showing his all-holy body all but covered with his precious blood.’ (Quoted by Patterson)

Morris:

‘This is surely a reference to Calvary; Christ overcame by shedding his blood…It is more than difficult to hold that John writes of blood without a thought of the blood shed on the cross. In this book he repeatedly makes the point that it is in his capacity as the ‘Lamb as though slain’ that Christ conquers. He overcame, not by shedding the blood of others, but by shedding his own. Besides, at this point the battle has not yet been joined (not until vv. 19–20), nor the winepress trodden. Moreover his sword is the Word (v. 15). John is surely saying “In the power of suffering love, Christ rides forth conquering” (Stoffel)’

According to EBC:

‘The imagery in this verse has traditionally been related to Isa 63:1–6, a passage understood messianically by the Jews and one that John has used in portraying God’s wrath in Rev 14:9–11, 17–19. Isaiah pictures a mighty warrior-Messiah who slaughters his enemies. Their life-blood splashes on his clothing as he tramples them down in his anger, just as the juice of grapes splashes on the winetreader in the winepress. But is Christ’s blood-dipped robe red from his enemies’ blood or from his own blood? There are good reasons for accepting the latter. If the blood is his enemies’, how is it that Christ comes from heaven with his robe already dipped in blood before any battle is mentioned? Moreover, the blood mentioned in connection with Christ in the Apocalypse is always his own life-blood (Rev 1:5; 5:6, 9; 7:14; 12:11). The word “dipped” does not fit the imagery of Isa 63:2; but it does fit that used in Revelation of believers’ garments being washed thoroughly in Christ’s blood (Rev 7:14; 22:14). Finally, the sword with which Christ strikes down the nations comes from his mouth and is not in his hand (v.15); this too is incompatible with battle imagery.’

Wall notes that:

• The robe is already stained with blood before the battle begins;
• It should be understood with reference to Rev 5:5f (rather than Isa 63:1-6);
• It is consistent with the overall Christology of Revelation to regard the conquering Lamb as the slaughtered Lamb.

Wall concludes:

‘On his robe are the stains of his passion, because of which he is called the “Faithful and True” to God’s love and by which a people has been purchased for God.’

Mulholland notes that in John’s vison the nature of garment worn relates to the nature of the person wearing them.  Therefore, we must presume that this is the warer’s own blood.  Contra Beale, who thinks that the blood-stained garments symbolize God’s retributive justice, Mulholland says that God’s judgment has already been satisfied at the cross.

Koester (AB):

‘Revelation says that Jesus’ blood (haima) advances God’s kingdom by delivering people from sin (Rev 1:5; 5:9). Jesus’ blood makes the robes of the redeemed white (Rev 7:14), like the robes of those who follow him into battle. His blood also brings victory over evil (Rev 12:11), and here he defeats the satanic beast and false prophet. Since Christ appears in a bloodstained robe before the battle begins, the blood must be his own.’

Koester adds, as one of his reasons for rejecting interpretation (b):

‘Revelation transforms older images in light of Jesus’ death and resurrection. In Rev 5:5–6, John invoked the image of the lionlike ruler from Judah from Gen 49:11.  [But] he showed that the promise of the conquering Lion was realized in the slain Lamb. The pattern in Rev 19:13 is similar. The vision of the divine warrior has similarities to Isa 63:1–3, but the imagery is recast so that Christ comes to the battle in robes stained with his own blood, since his sacrificial death has been his path to victory.’

He is called the Word of God – This expression is used of:

‘the Old Testament Scriptures (Matt. 15:6; John 10:35), Jesus’ preaching of the kingdom (Luke 5:1; 8:21) and the subsequent preaching of the good news (Acts 6:7; 1 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 13:7).’ (Ian Paul)

Here, of course, it is applied to Christ, recalling the Prologue of John’s Gospel.

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.’

Wilcock points to the persistent use of present tenses, and comments that this passage, and others like it, not what Christ will do, but what he is:

‘conquering King, righteous Judge, Captain of the armies of heaven. It will only be at his parousia that ‘every eye will see him’ like that (1:7); but at no time, not even on the cross, has he ever been anything other than that. Many a scripture encourages us to believe that his heavenly army, which includes us as well as the angels, is being led out even today to fight with evil, and that men are being brought even now to the ‘judgment’, or krisis (which is the Greek word for it), of decision.’

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.’