Bible Gem 2367 – Moving On With Revelation 19:11-21:8

19

¹¹Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. ¹²His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. ¹³He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. ¹⁴The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. ¹⁵From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. ¹⁶On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords. ¹⁷Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, shouting to the vultures flying high in the sky: “Come! Gather together for the great banquet God has prepared. ¹⁸Come and eat the flesh of kings, generals, and strong warriors; of horses and their riders; and of all humanity, both free and slave, small and great.” ¹⁹Then I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. ²⁰And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. ²¹Their entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the white horse. And the vultures all gorged themselves on the dead bodies.

Revelation 19:11-21

20

¹Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. ²He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years. ³The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward he must be released for a little while. ⁴Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ⁵This is the first resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.) ⁶Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years. ⁷When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison. ⁸He will go out to deceive the nations—called Gog and Magog—in every corner of the earth. He will gather them together for battle—a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashore. ⁹And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them. ¹⁰Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. ¹¹And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. ¹²I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. ¹³The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. ¹⁴Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:1-15

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¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ²And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ⁴He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” ⁵And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” ⁶And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. ⁷All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. ⁸“But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Revelation 21:1-8

I am offering this Gem to you as a Christmas present. I know many of you won’t thank me but I’ll offer it anyway. We are crossing over into a new section and skipping quickly over a couple of chapter boundaries. This presents you with another chance to make your own decisions as to the way you would divide this portion. I have left the chapter boundaries set by Robert Estienne in place. But I would strongly recommend you make your own decision as to whether you keep Estienne’s chapter breaks or not.

• How has John structured this portion?
• Are there repeated markers which enable us to see how John planned this portion? (Paragraph markers, section breaks, repeated theme words)
• You will notice some repeated elements from previous sections.
• All repetitions are aids to seeing what was in John’s mind as he wrote down the revelation for us.

Take the time to section this long portion into bite sized segments. I believe I have seen already how John has structured this block of text. Think about it and divide this text for yourself over the holiday period. It is a very worthwhile thing to do in order to understand what a biblical writer had in mind in writing what they did.

I will give you my thoughts in the first Gem of 2026. But I am open to you sharing your thoughts and what you have noticed with me. Sometimes when we share insights with one another, it crystalizes thoughts for ourselves. In the meantime, have a good break, but at least for some of your holiday spend sometime looking at this chunk of text before us from Revelation. You might be surprised what you find. Treat it like a Bible jigsaw to work on for the holidays.

Passion and devotion grow when you begin to understand the big picture or understand how to understand. 

Ian

No Bible study is ever a waste of your time. If it doesn’t bring you what you want specifically, it teaches you more on the macro level.  

Ian

A word of advice from me” stop and ask God to allow you to see wondrous things in His Word. You will be amazed at the connections He shows you.

Ian

As I have told participants in Deeper Bible over and over, I want to infect you with the Bible virus to the point where you become addicted to the treasures you can find in the Word of God. When YOU find YOUR FIRST GEM it turns you on.

Ian