Revelation19chapter 19

The chapter opens with the only occurrences of "Hallelujah" in the New Testament — four of them, in a burst, over the fall of the city in chapter 18. The word is Hebrew, straight out of the Psalms, and would have been familiar in worship.

Then a wedding. Betrothal and marriage in that world had two stages, an agreement and then the bringing home of the bride with a feast, and the invitations to the feast were a serious social matter. The bride is given fine linen, clean and white — and the text explains it: the righteousness of saints. The garment is granted to her, and it is made of what they actually did.

The rider comes on a white horse. A Roman general celebrating a triumph rode through the city in procession with his army behind him, and the readers knew that spectacle from coins and reliefs if not in person. This procession has armies in white linen, not armor.

His robe is dipped in blood before the battle starts, and His weapon is a sword out of His mouth — He speaks and it is over. He is called Faithful and True, the Word of God, King of kings and Lord of lords. That last title was one Persian and Roman rulers liked for themselves.

The battle itself takes almost no space. The beast and the false prophet are seized, and the birds are called to a grim supper that mirrors the wedding supper earlier in the chapter — two feasts, and everyone attends one of them.