Bible Gem 2368 – John’s Division of Revelation 19:11-21:8

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. 

Revelation 19:11-16

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.” 

Revelation 19:17-18

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 19:19-21

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. 

Revelation 20:1-3

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. 

Revelation 20:4-8

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. 

Revelation 20:9-10

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. 

Revelation 20:11

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 20:12-15

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. 

Revelation 21:1

²And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 

Revelation 21:2

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.” 

Revelation 21:3-4

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.” 

Revelation 21:5

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 sulphur. This is the second death.”

Revelation 21: 6-8

Allow me to take you back to what I wrote 177 Gems ago. It would pay you to read Gem 2191 again. I was struck before I even began gemming Revelation by the simplicity of what John was asked to do. He was told to simply write down what he saw and write down what he heard. Forty-two times he wrote in his letter “I saw” and twenty-four times he wrote “I heard”. Here in this closing portion of his letter we have those same markers providing the structure for what John was shown and told. But do you see the repetition in the additional statements from God himself. Twice in this closing part of his letter John was told the same thing which he faithfully recorded for us.

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”

Revelation 19:9

And 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.”

Revelation 21:5

The first time it was an angel who passed the message on from God, the second time it was the One Who sits on the Throne. If it had been me in John’s place, I think I would have been thinking, “Is this really from You or am I just coming up with these things on my own?” At these key moments John is given the reassurance that these are indeed God’s / Jesus’ instruction to him, in accord with all those times previously he has faithfully recorded what the Godhead has told him. Either way you have to agree that is pretty incredible. On both occasions a very important statement has been made and reinforced with this reminder to John that it is His (God’s) words that John is hearing, not his own.

“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. He 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.”

Revelation 21:3-4

Coincidence? No, I don’t think so. Two very important statements from God himself are backed up with a Divine “Write this”. I sense this is all very carefully structured, but not by John, rather by God himself. After all, it is God telling John what to write and what not to write.

What we have here are very clearly the last series of visions John has been given along with this last poignant statement he has heard God say. God has reminded John, these are not his words he is making up, but indeed they come directly from God.

Let’s now pay attention to each one of these visions in turn. I think we should use these “I saw” statements as the structure or paragraphing for what follows. It is curious to say the least that we end up with segments or paragraphs (as above) made up of a few verses:

When we reach Chapter 21 the frequency of “I saw” switches to individual verses.

• One verse [21:1]
• One verse [21:2]
• Two verses of explanation [21:3-4] (The loud shout from the throne)
• The 2nd validation of trustworthiness [21:5] (The One sitting on the throne said…)
• The second concluding statement from one on the throne [21:6-8]

Take your time to consider this block and see what God shows you. I will do the same. Allow God to guide you through the reasons he led John in this way. I will do the same. Feel free to share with me what inspiration comes to you and make sure you follow the coming Gems. May this bless you as much I am expecting it will bless me, and then you, my readers, in return I trust.

I suspect this portion of Revelation is pregnant with meaning in the way it is arranged. Take the time to ponder it for yourself.

Ian

Ask of me and I will show you great and mighty things that you know not of.

Jeremiah 33:3

. . . because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead we live with great expectation; we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.

1 Peter 1:3-4

We can’t watch TV for 3 hours then read the Bible for 3 minutes and expect to grow spiritually.

Rick Warren