Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #3 of Revelation chapter 19 and we are going to read Revelation 19:4-6:
And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
I will stop reading there. This opening passage in Revelation, chapter 19 is full of exaltation and praises to God. Of course, God is worthy and it is most appropriate to sing His praise because Babylon is fallen. The kingdom of Satan has been conquered. Satan had reigned during the whole history of the world from the beginning of man’s fall into sin in the Garden of Eden, which occurred in 11,013 BC, until Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011, which was the time of Satan’s defeat; he was deposed from rule over all the nations that he had won through the right of conquest over Adam and Eve when he deceived them into disobeying God. Finally, the Lord Jesus Christ took the kingdom, just as Cyrus took the kingdom of Babylon in one night. Christ came as a thief in the night and took the kingdom of Satan and deposed him from his high and lofty position as ruler in the nations and the churches. Christ began to rule with a “rod of iron” during this time of the Day of Judgment and He is not ruling in a beneficial way over the unsaved of the world, but He is ruling to exact vengeance as He rules with a “rod of iron.” This is the moment that all history has been moving toward and it is what God spoke of throughout the Scriptures – it is the end of all things. After 13,023 years, on May 21, 2011, judgment began on the world. Judgment had already taken place on the churches for a full 23 years, but now the entire kingdom of the devil is under judgment.
Not only was Satan put down, but the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up and exalted and that is the cause of the praise. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He has won and He has done what He said He would do. He has saved a people for Himself and that great multitude was the completion of all God intended to save before the foundation of the world. They are all part of the bride of Christ that will shortly make its appearance it Revelation 19. The “bride” has made herself ready and God will begin to discuss the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is really the wrath of God poured out upon the wicked of the world and God will go into detail concerning the final battle that results in the utter destruction and annihilation of Satan, the fallen angels, all the unsaved individuals in the world and, finally, the world and the creation itself, which has been tainted by sin. Again, it is a most appropriate time to lift up God and sing “Alleluia, praise Jah.” The word “Alleluia” is found four times in these first six verses, with the number “four” pointing to universality, and it is all the elect, all the holy angels, and all the living creatures (God Himself) that are lifting up His name in glory and great praise.
It says here in Revelation 19:4:
And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts…
We have seen these “four beasts” come up repeatedly in the Book of Revelation and we know it would be better translated as “four living creatures,” and they are the same living creatures in view in the Book of Ezekiel, which are a representation of God. Who are the “four and twenty elders”? They are representative of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the Lamb, which make twenty four elders. The twelve tribes of Israel would point to all the elect that were saved in the Old Testament and the twelve apostles would point to all the elect that were saved in the New Testament; they are a figure of all God’s elect. The number “12” points to fullness and “2 x 12” would represent the caretakers of the Bible, God’s elect, and it is this fullness of the believers that are falling down to worship God, as well as the “living creatures.” God praises Himself and it is a right, just and good thing to do because He is worthy of praise. It is not like when man praises himself because we are not worthy of praise and man’s self praise is just arrogance, pride and sin, but God is worthy. He does what is right and just and, therefore, He lifts up His own Holy name.
It goes on to say in Revelation 19:4:
And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne…
In the Bible, “to sit” means to “rule” and that is what is happening here. Eternal God is ruling. Of course, He has always ruled, but there was a rebellion and the rebellion took place on earth. It was led by Satan which usurped God’s authority. Satan was only an angelic being, a created being, but he wanted to be like God and he saw his opportunity in the Garden of Eden. He entered into the Serpent and spoke with Eve and convinced her to eat of the fruit from the forbidden tree which God had said man was not to eat. In disobeying God and believing the lie of the devil, Adam and Eve became servants to sin. Sin is “believing a lie,” doing service to what is evil and unjust. So they served sin rather than God and they became the servants of sin and Satan from that point on and only the salvation of certain descendents of Adam and Eve would be come saved. We do not know the spiritual condition of Adam and Eve regarding whether God saved them, or not, but we do know that God had a plan to save a great multitude. It was perhaps as many as 200 million out of the total number of those that would be born and live on the earth throughout history. As individuals were saved, they would no longer serve sin and Satan; they would receive a new heart and soul and they would be restored to their rightful place of doing service to God. But Satan continued to rule over the unsaved of the world.
When Satan was tempting Christ in the wilderness, he showed Christ all the kingdoms of the earth and he said that these kingdoms had been given to him and if Christ would fall down and worship him, Satan would give them to Him. He was correct, for by right of conquest the kingdoms of the world had been given to him and Satan ruled at the permissive will of God. At the time of the end, God also loosed Satan (who had been bound at the cross) in 1988 in the 13,000th year of earth’s history to expand Satan’s rule over the nations and to completely take over the corporate church. Satan was given rule over the churches and over the world in a way never before seen and he was lifted up in pride. He took his seat in the temple, showing himself that he was God.
Now God makes a point in Revelation 19:4 to have the 24 elders and the four living creatures fall down and worship God that sat on the throne. Now everything Satan had ruled over, Christ now ruled over and this is further emphasized at the end of verse 6: “For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” It is the time of Christ’s reign and He is reigning over all and there is not the least bit of rule, authority, power or dominion anywhere in all the world that Satan now reigns over, but Christ rules over everything.
It is just like when Cyrus took the kingdom of Babylon at the end of seventy years. That historical seventy year period typified the Great Tribulation, which was an actual 23 years, and at the end of the seventy years Cyrus came in 539 BC and took Babylon in a night. The Babylonians were caught off guard and they were having a party. The king of Babylon had been greatly troubled by the writing on the wall, but they had no clue that in that very night the kingdom would be taken. Cyrus took Babylon and began to rule. It even says in the Bible that Cyrus became king of Babylon. You can find the statement, “Cyrus king of Babylon,” and this points to Christ. God speaks of Cyrus as His shepherd and His anointed, which is the word “Messiah.” Cyrus is a type and figure of Christ that rules and reigns over Babylon for a short period of time. It is just for the period of the final judgment of mankind, which very likely will be 1,600 days that will conclude on October 7, 2015. But during that time Christ rules over the world and, therefore, He rules “Babylon.” Remember what it says in Revelation 19:15:
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
In this same chapter, God is highlighting the rule of Christ over the nations. It is not a benevolent rule. He is smiting the nations. Think of that. It says there is a “sharp sword” which is protruding out of His mouth, which is the Word of God and with it (the Word of God) He should “smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.”
Now I wonder about these people that with a “wave of the hand” dismiss the idea of a spiritual judgment on May 21, 2011 and an ensuing prolonged period of Judgment Day. They just shake it off and they do not bother to earnestly check it out to see if it is so. I wonder how they explain the fact that Revelation 19 describes Christ ruling with a rod of iron and smiting the nations with His Word and treading the winepress of the wrath of God. Why does that sound familiar? It is because we read back in Revelation 14:19-20:
And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
Here, God ties that number “1,600” with the Lord Jesus treading the “winepress.” Now I do not want to get ahead of ourselves because we will go over this when we get to the later verses, but it is very obvious that God is making sure we do not miss that it is the time of His rule and His reign and that He is smiting the nations and ruling over them with a “rod of iron” at the very time He is treading the winepress. Remember that number “1,600 furlongs.” It is the number that God associates with the treading of the winepress and that is why we say that there is a strong likelihood. Christ is ruling the nations and smiting them with the Word of His mouth, as the Bible condemns the world. God has opened the Scriptures to reveal the “righteous revelation of the judgment of God,” and He is doing it over the course of four years, four months and sixteen days (4 x 4). The number “four” points to the furthest extend of whatever is in view and in this case, it is 1,600 days. Christ is smiting the nations; He has no good intent toward them because it is the time of the wrath of God, but it is also the time He rules. Satan is not ruling.
Some might say, “But the world is so terrible with the things that are going on in the world and in the churches. There is all this evil, so how can we say that Christ is ruling?” But, again, this is not the rule of Christ in the new heaven and new earth, where all will be perfect and it will all be for the welfare and good of His people for evermore. This current rule is what the Bible speaks of in many places as ruling with a “rod of iron.” It is the time when God has turned out the lights of the Gospel and it is as if heaven is made of iron, like God speaks of in Ezekiel when He is judging Jerusalem and the prayers must go through “iron” in order to reach God. But, of course, they cannot break through because God was not listening to their prayers at the time of His wrath. He is not listening today to the prayers of the unsaved regarding salvation in the time of His judgment upon them; the door is shut and no amount of beseeching and no amount of pleading and no amount of crying bitterly (as Esau cried and as the great men of the earth cried) will convince God to open the door. Therefore, it is a rule with a “rod.” The Word of God is “iron” and it has no more grace in store for the wicked sinner. It has no more mercy in the Day of Judgment. There is no more salvation for the sinner, so it is a cruel time. It is an evil day for the unsaved people of the earth.