THE book of Revelation unfolds to us a threefold judgment,
that of Babylon, of the beast with the false prophet,
and of Satan. The second of these judgments will
be executed, according to 2 Thess. ii. 8, by the immediate
power of the Lord himself coming as conqueror, which
appearance (ver. 11-16), his so-called second coming,
will occupy a middle position between his first coming as the
man of sorrows and his last coming to judgment, a truth
that we have now more plainly revealed than heretofore,
but on which the plan of our present book does not permit
us to dwell. Visible in his majesty, and accompanied
by all the armies of heaven, the Lord himself now actually
appears to John, in token that this vision approaches
more exactly to reality than has hitherto been the case.
The final defeat of Antichrist and his armies is, no doubt,
in a measure effected by both heavenly and earthly instruments
of the divine will ; but it is mainly to be ascribed
to the Lord's appearing, to the sharp sword that goeth
out of his mouth, i.e., to the rapidly executed word of his
power.
But before the great slaughter that lays the hosts of
Antichrist low, we have, in a typical vision, an invitation to
supper given to a strange and ghastly company of guests, in
verbal conformity with the prophecy in Zeph. i. 7 :
" The Lord hath prepared a sacrifice ; he hath bid his guests."
John now sees an angel standing in the sun ; that is, with
the brightest glory imaginable (greater even than the glory
described in xviii. 1), proclaiming his great message all
over heaven, and crying to all the fowls that fly in its
midst :" Come and gather yourselves together unto the
supper of the great God ; that ye, may eat the flesh of
kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty
men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them,
and the flesh of all men, free and bond, both small and
great." The giving the flesh of the conquered to the fowls
of the air and the beasts of the land, is an ancient form of
speech that very often occurs in Scripture. (See Deut.
xxviii. 26 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 44 ; Jer. vii. 33 ;also Jer. xii. 9,
properly rendered.) But the angel's cry resembles more
especially the expression used by Ezek. xxxix. 4, 17-20,
from which we have another quotation in Rev. xx. 8.
The whole passage in the old prophet, no doubt, has an
ultimate reference to Antichrist, inasmuch as all judgments
prophetically mirror each other ; but it is here much abbreviated,
and yet there is an addition made to it, i.e., the
enumeration of free and bond, small and great, in allusion
to chap. xiii. 16, as well as vi. 15.
But the most striking new feature here, is the appalling
expression, the great supper of God, in fearful contrast to
the marriage supper of the Lamb. " It is a sad necessity,"
says Herder ;" first an impure feast of birds, before
the pure and glad feast of the bride of the Lamb can
take place." This is the treading out of the vine
of the earth, this is the great battle of Armageddon
(xvi. 16). The birds may typify the angels of wrath and
judgment like that eagle which we have before heard croak
out his threefold woe, or perhaps swarms of barbarians,
or more probably the expression has an actual reference
to birds of prey as well, who will here eat flesh for the last
time before the thousand years come, when all creation
shall be made new. Thus the kings of the earth and their
armies, great as their gathering round the beast have
been, to make war with him against tne King of kings
and Lord of lords, against the Lamb whose supper and
whose lovo they have despised, will now experience the
wrath of that same Lamb, will form a supper or banquet
to vultures and other carnivorous birds, who will sate
themselves with their flesh,"while their souls are the
sport and prey of evil spirits." For although this last fact
is not expressly declared, it looms darkly in the background
of this terribly significant picture.
