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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 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, 2 because his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitutewho corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!” 3 Then a second time the crowd shouted, “Hallelujah!” The smoke rises from her forever and ever. 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!” 5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our Godall you his servants, and all you who fear him, both the small and the great!” 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! 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.⁠ 8 She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints). 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.” 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 and sisters who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” 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.⁠ 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.⁠ 13 He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God.⁠ 14 The armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses. 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.⁠ 16 He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”⁠ 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, 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 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. 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.⁠ 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.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 62:2 and Revelation 19:15

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

Revelation 19 describes judgment executed by a sharp sword coming from the mouth of Jesus, an image that parallels 1 Enoch 62 where the Chosen One judges sinners through his words. Both texts adapt language based on Isaiah.

Passages

1 Enoch 62:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 The Lord commanded the kings, the mighty, the exalted, and those who dwell on the earth, saying: 'Open your eyes and lift up your horns if you are able to recognize the Chosen One.' 2 The Lord of Spirits seated him on the throne of His glory, and the spirit of righteousness was poured out upon him. The words from his mouth slay all sinners, and all the unrighteous are destroyed from his presence. 3 On that day, all the kings, the mighty, the exalted, and those who hold the earth will stand, and they shall see and recognize how he sits on the throne of his glory, and how righteousness is judged before him, and no false word is spoken before him. 4 Pain will come upon them as upon a woman in childbirth, when her child enters the birth canal, and she feels the agony of delivery.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Revelation 19:15

New Testament
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. 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. 13 He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God. 14 The armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses. 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. 16 He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... In Daniel and the Testament of Moses the conflict becomes a dualistic one between supernatural forces of both good and evil, and the real victory is achieved by Israel's angelic patron Michael in the supernatural sphere. God's earthly people play no military role (although the function of martyrdom will have to concern us later). In the later apocalypses of 2 Baruch, 4 Ezra and the Parables of Enoch [1 Enoch] the victory of the Messiah over the pagan oppressors of Israel is prominent, but the idea of a victory by judicial sentence takes precedence over military language (2 Baruch 40:1; 1 Enoch 62:2-3; and especially 4 Ezra 12:31-33; 13:9-11,37-38). In most cases where the idea of a military Messiah occurs in the early post-biblical Jewish literature, his army is not mentioned, even if it may sometimes be implied (compare Psalms of Solomon 17:22-24; 2 Baruch 72:6; Sibylline Oracles 3:654, 689; 5:418-419). This is surprising since the dominant Old Testament tradition of the holy war in which God's people certainly fight, though the heavenly armies may fight with them and the victory is undoubtedly due to God, is prominent in the Maccabean literature and must have inspired the Jewish resistance movements against Rome in the first and second centuries A.D. ..."
Richard Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy: Studies on the Book of Revelation (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993), 211.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Enoch 62:2 and Revelation 19:15

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