A BRIEF THOUGHT ON REVELATION CHAPTER 19 by J.
Parnell McCarter
"...he hath judged
the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said,
Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever...And I saw the beast, and
the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against
him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken,
and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he
deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped
his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with
brimstone..." - Revelation 19
The above words are
pregnant with revelation regarding what we ought to anticipate in our future,
for what is chronicled in Revelation chapters 19-22 has not yet come to pass as
of the year of our Lord 2015 AD. The
book of Revelation overall chronicles the history of the Church from the
Apostolic era until the future Second Advent of Jesus Christ (see http://www.historicism.net ), and
Revelation chapters 19- 22 chronicles what is now yet future from our vantage
point in time. The words of our text
suggest that there is coming a time in the future when "the great
whore" (which in its final historical incarnation is described in
Revelation chapters 17-18) will have been eternally vanquished, but the beast
(of 7 hills- in other words, the Romish Antichrist)
still survives and at that time has the kingdoms of the earth on his side and
in his sway.
Regarding the fall of
“the great whore”, that had been described in Revelation 17:12-17:
“And
the ten horns
which
thou sawest are
ten
kings,
which
have received no
kingdom
as yet; but
receive
power
as
kings
one
hour
with
the beast. These
have
one
mind,
and
shall give their
power
and
strength
unto the beast …
And
the ten horns
which
thou sawest upon
the beast, these
shall hate the whore, and
shall make her
desolate
and
naked,
and
shall eat her
flesh,
and
burn
her
with
fire.
For
God
hath put in
their
hearts
to fulfill his
will,
and
to agree , and give
their
kingdom
unto the beast, until
the words of God shall be fulfilled.”
So the beast of 7 Hills
(the Romish Antichrist) will survive and rule,
following the downfall of “the great whore”.
The fact that the Romish beast of 7 Hills will have the “kings of the earth”
on his side and in his sway at this future time likely implies the kingdoms of
the earth will have by this time become visibly Christianized, because the Romish Man of Sin "sits in the Temple" (i.e., the
Church). The "fullness of the Gentiles" will have likely thus come
into the visible Christian church, but they will still at that point be largely
deceived. The form of their Christianity
will be perverted by various and sundry of the errors of the Romish Man of Sin.
“The beast, and the
kings of the earth,” will wage spiritual war against Jesus Christ and His
followers. This spiritual battle will
occur on the earth- Jesus Christ with His followers spiritually but not
physically. There is good reason to
believe that in this spiritual battle most Jews will have by this time
converted to Biblical Christianity, and they will be at the forefront of
Christian believers spiritually battling the Romish
Antichrist and the Antichrist’s followers.
In the end the Romish Antichrist- the Papacy- will itself be vanquished
(through the proclamation of the word of God), never to return to earth
again. We know his extirpation from
earth, described in this text, must not be confused with the Great Day of
Judgment, when all mankind will be consigned to heaven or hell and the devil
will forever be cast into hell. So this
extirpation will occur at a time before the Great Day of Judgment, and it will
issue in a period of great spiritual blessing on the earth (what Romans 11:15 describes as
“life from the dead”).
The
revelation of God found in this text should be a great consolation for
believers during this current time of great spiritual darkness.