The Marriage Supper and the White Horse Judgment
It’s hard to envision a more polarizing picture than Revelation 19. On the one hand, we read about a beautifully, joyous banquet. On the other, we find decimation and torment. In this post, we will examine both the marriage supper of the lamb and the white horse judgment at the end of time—two events that couldn’t be more different.
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
Life is hard. We all experience our share of pains, hardships, and disappointments. These are the realities of living in a fallen world. At the same time, life is filled with joy and happiness. We experience meaningful relationships, victories, and successes. These joys are the result of God’s common grace on humanity.
Perhaps the happiest of occasions is a wedding. As someone who’s married, I can testify that my wedding was truly a happy occasion. My bride and I both loved each other and were excited to share the rest of our lives together. For the wedding, we invited our family and closest friends to celebrate our new union. As someone who has both attended and officiated weddings, I can testify that happiness is the norm at weddings. And that’s how it should be.
So when Revelation 19 describes the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, it’s meant to convey a joyous occasion where Christ celebrates with his bride. If we’re using earthly metaphors, we can think of the church as already being married to Christ as its bride (Eph. 5:22-33), but the celebratory feast hasn’t happened yet. The eating, drinking, and dancing still awaits.
The OT prophets anticipate a great feast like this. Isaiah 25:6-8 reads,
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, and of aged wine well refined. . . . He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.
At this marriage feast, John tells us that he hears “a great multitude” crying out “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God Almighty reigns” (Rev. 19:6). This great multitude consists of the saints who are full of praise because the Lamb has finally defeated their foes and can now sit down with them for the banquet feast. These saints also recognize that God reigns and that he has defeated evil.
These people of God wear “fine linen, bright and pure,” which symbolically represents “the righteous deeds of the saints” (Rev. 19:8). Isaiah speaks of this adornment when he writes,
“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10)
Notice that the clothing comes from the LORD. He is the one who supplies the necessary garments of salvation and robes of righteousness. Therefore, it’s fitting that the saints cry out, “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come” (Rev. 19:7).
This marriage feast sounds delightful! It’s what the bride of Christ looks forward to with great anticipation.
The White Horse Judgment
Unlike the bride adorned for her husband, those who reject the Lamb will face dire consequences. Here again in Revelation 19:11-21, we get another glimpse of God’s end-time judgment on the wicked. We’ve already seen this end-time judgment in the seals, trumpets, and bowls as well as in the destruction of Babylon. But true to form, apocalyptic literature often recycles events and retells them from slightly different perspectives.
Verse 11 tells us that the faithful and true one comes riding on a white horse to make war. This figure is none other than Jesus. The eyes that are like flames of fire and the sword coming out of his mouth are the same images used to describe the Son in Revelation 1. The flaming eyes represents that he sees without error, and thereby his judgment is perfect. The protruding sword symbolizes that he will judge the wicked with his word. His diadems symbolically represent his sovereign rule over all things.
He wears a robe dipped in blood which symbolizes his judgment on the wicked (Isa. 63:2-3). And his name is “The Word of God” (Rev. 19:13).
Yet, the rider isn’t alone. He has an army of people wearing “white clean linens,” just like the 144,000 in Revelation 7:9. And this army lines up against “the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies” (Rev. 19:9). So the stage is set. The Lamb and his army vs. the beast and his army. Yet the battle is anticlimactic. The beast and his army don’t even put up a fight. The fight doesn’t go the distance, but is a one-punch knockout instead. The lamb and his army are victorious.
And this shouldn’t surprise us. John tells us that Jesus will rule with “a rod of iron” (Rev. 10:15; 2:27; 12:5). This imagery alludes back to Psalm 2 which speaks of God’s Anointed breaking the evil kings of the earth with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:2, 9). We read that Jesus “treads on the winepress of God’s wrath” (Rev. 19:15; 14:20; Isa. 63:2-3). This imagery portrays that God’s righteous wrath is being poured out on the wicked for the final time.
After the decimation, an angel calls for birds to come feast on the dead corpses in the battle field in similar fashion to Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38-39. This imagery portrays the grisly end of the wicked. It will not be pretty for them.
Finally, we read that the beast, and the false prophet (elsewhere called the second beast), and all who bear the mark of the beast (unbelievers) are thrown into the lake of fire.
Two Choices
Revelation 19 portrays equal and opposite realities. The believer anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb—a truly joyous occasion. The unbeliever has judgment to look forward to—a truly horrendous occasion. So which side will you join? The one which leads to victory and happiness, or the one that leads to destruction and ruin? The choice is yours.
