Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Revelation 19:1 - 19:4

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Revelation 19:1 - 19:4


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

The Triumph of the Elect in Heaven.

The hymn of the host in heaven:

v. 1. And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord, our God!

v. 2. For true and righteous are His judgments; for He hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.

v. 3. And again they said, Alleluia! And her smoke rose up forever and ever.

v. 4. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshiped God, that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia!

The idea which had merely been suggested in the 18:20, is here carried out at length, in a scene which presents the final triumph of the forces of light and righteousness: After these things I heard what resembled the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power are our God's; for true and righteous are His judgments, since He has judged the great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. The glory of the last day is here anticipated. As the people of a nation go forth with shouts of victory to meet the returning conquerors, so the multitudes of the perfected saints break forth in hymns of triumph at the return of the victorious Lord of hosts. The salvation of the saints was in His hands, and He wrought it by the mighty manifestation of His grace. And so all glory and power belong to our Lord alone throughout all eternity. His judgments, His sentences, are true; they have been rendered in accordance with His promises; and they are just, for the rulers of the kingdom of Anti-Christ had every opportunity to see the errors of their way and to return to the truth, but they deliberately refused and thus invited the wrath of the Lord. For the countless souls which the great Roman harlot corrupted with her idolatry, and for the lives of other thousands whose blood she shed, she will have to answer with a sharp reckoning on the last day.

The song of triumph is echoed by the singers and the elders: And for the second time they said, Hallelujah! And her smoke ascends forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders and the four living beings fell down, and they worshiped God that is seated upon the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah! The great harlot is cast into the abyss of fire and brimstone, to be burned with fire throughout eternity, chap. 18:8. And this fact causes both the elders representing the Church of God and the four cherubs that acted as His servants and messengers to fall down before the throne of God in the act of worshipful adoration, and to repeat, in endless refrain, their hymn of praise, Amen, Hallelujah; to God alone all praise and glory, through all eternity!