Come to the Feast!

Anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows that our Fellowship sees the annual feasts of the Old Testament as an overview of God’s redemptive plan. We see the Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashana as symbolic of the return of Jesus Christ to rule on earth.

I find it useful to compare at least three prior biblical images with Revelation 19 when it comes to Jesus’ return. The first, in Joshua 5:13-15, refers to the time when Joshua was about to lead Israel into battle to conquer the Promised Land.

He is met at his camp by a man with a drawn sword. When challenged about being either friend or foe, the man responds that he is the Captain of the Armies of God (what we would now call a General) and that Joshua is now standing on holy ground.

The statement about standing on holy ground is the same as what God had told Moses from the burning bush. Joshua responds by worshipping and asking what he can do to serve Him. The drawn sword represents God’s intent to conquer on behalf of His chosen people as He had promised them centuries before. The sword also represents judgment on those who attempt to enter the Promised Land without Yahweh’s approval, like the sword-wielding cherub guarding the Garden of Eden from Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.

The second and third biblical images are related to each other and are found in Daniel 2:31-45 and Matthew 21:33-46. In Daniel, God has promised to destroy the idol representing Gentile world-dominating empires by crushing its last incarnation with a “stone not cut out by human hands.” This stone would crush the Gentile empires to a powder, then fill up the whole world with God’s Kingdom. In Matthew Jesus is essentially telling the Jewish religious and civil rulers that their rule would also come to a similar end by similar means.

Each of these prophetic words suggests that only Jesus’ true followers, whether Israelite or Gentile, will have a place in the new order to come. Matthew 22 follows, beginning with the parable of the great wedding supper invitation.

Here is an irony. Nebuchadnezzar’s response is to worship the messenger. The response of the Jewish leaders is to try to kill the messenger. Even John tries to worship the messenger, only to be told that the messenger is only an angel. (Joshua had rightly identified his messenger as God Almighty and he worships appropriately.)

The sword of the rider of the white horse in Revelation 19:11-16, while seemingly coming out of his mouth, is certainly not in a sheath. It give “an edge,” as it were, to the proclamations of the destruction of Babylon the Great in Revelation 18. As the Commander of the Arimies of the Lord, Jesus has come to conquer on behalf of His saints to establish them in peace and security in a world He has reclaimed for His own proper abode. Not even the gates of hell are going to be able to stand up against this Conqueror!

The Beast and False Prophet are cast into the lake of fire, and all of their minions are killed by the sword of the rider of the white horse. Interestingly enough, He seems to do all the fighting, just like in the days of Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah in ancient Israel. His robe is dipped in blood, but His armies wear the “armour” of simple white linen.

Revelation 19 begins with two great responses by the heavenly armies to the announcements of the destruction of Babylon the Great. The first, 19:1-4 is about God’s justice in avenging His martyred saints. The second, 19:6-9, is a praise proclamation with a choral-like response of the multitude that becomes an invitation to join the great marriage supper of the Lamb to the Bride who has made herself ready (the saints as a whole body of believers). (The marriage imagery is straight out of prophetic commentary about Israel’s covenant relationship with Yahweh, such as Jer. 31:31-32 and Is. 54:5.) Like the parable in Matt. 22, those rejected by the world are the “guests of honour” (actually, the bride) at the wedding.

Meeting a far different fate, however, are Jesus’ adversaries – those who murder and persecute Jesus’ emissaries. An “angel in the sun” ironically invites the birds of the air to attend “the great supper of God (19:17-18).” Those who worshipped the Beast and its image are “invited” to be the main course.

Symbolically speaking, here is the choice: Bride or buffet?

So, for the original readers of this letter in the seven churches, John offers a choice. Stay with Jesus, even if it results in martyrdom, or suffer an eternal death.

The God of the Bible is consistent in His desire to see every human being live and prosper. He pleads throughout the generations, as in Deuteronomy 30:19-20:

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

In Revelation 21:1-5 Jesus puts it this way:

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Choose Bride! Choose Life!

[All Bible quotations are from the New International Version]