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19:17 John saw next an angel standing in the sun, a conspicuous position in which all the birds could see him. He cried loudly for all the birds flying in midheaven to assemble (cf. Ezek. 39:4, 17). Jesus referred to the same battle and mentioned vultures (or eagles, Gr. aetoi) being present (Matt. 24:28; Luke 17:37). After the coming battle the site will be a feast for vultures (cf. Ezek. 39:4, 17-20). It is a great supper that God gives to them. This is the battle of Armageddon (16:16). This picture of it stresses the greatness of God's victory over His enemies.659The "great supper of God"is obviously not the same event as the marriage supper of the Lamb (v. 9). The former event will be a scene of great sorrow but the latter one of great joy.
"John took Ezekiel's prophecies [in 39:4, 17-20] broadly enough to foreshadow both Harmagedon and the final attack on Jerusalem (20:8-9). . . . Harmagedon precedes the thousand years and the other battle follows . . ."660
19:18 The angel's invitation to the birds indicates how devastating the destruction of Christ's enemies will be when He returns. Some experts have estimated that perhaps one million birds of prey migrate annually between their nesting places in Africa to the south and Europe and Asia to the north. They cross the only arable land bridge that connects these continents, namely, Palestine.
Jesus Christ will destroy all who resist Him, people from all classes of society and from every status in life (cf. 6:15; 13:16). The indignity of having their bodies unburied is a judgment in kind since they did not bury the bodies of the two witnesses (11:9-10; cf. Ezek. 39:11-15). Their death also recalls the ignominious fate of Jezebel (2 Kings 9:30-37).
The only people left alive will be faithful believers who have not died or suffered martyrdom during the Tribulation (cf. 12:13-17). They will enter the Millennium with mortal bodies and will repopulate the earth (cf. Gen. 9:1).
19:19 John now saw another scene on earth. The beast at this time will have 10 allies (17:12-14; cf. Ps. 2:2). Their armies will represent the worldwide population of earth-dwellers. These armies will unite to oppose Christ (16:13-16). The battle will be over world leadership. When Jesus Christ returns, the beast's 10 allies that will have been fighting each other (Ezek. 38:21; Dan. 11:40-44) will unite against Christ (16:14). This is a description of the judgment portrayed proleptically in 14:14-20. It is surprisingly brief in view of its importance in history. This probably indicates that the battle will not last long (cf. Matt. 24:13-45).
"The Seer is not describing the gradual conquest of evil in the spiritual struggles of the faithful, but a great historic event which brings to an end the Antichrist and his forces and ushers in the long-awaited era of righteousness."661
19:20 The Lord Jesus Christ will then cast the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire alive (cf. Num. 16:30; Ps. 55:15; 2 Thess. 2:8). The description of the false prophet vindicates his punishment. They will still be there 1, 000 years later (20:10).662The wicked who have died throughout history are not yet in the lake of fire (cf. Matt. 5:22; 10:28; 25:41; Mark 9:43; James 3:6). They are in Hades (or "the grave;"cf. Matt. 16:18; Luke 16:23; Acts 2:27), the temporary abode of dead unbelievers before their resurrection. The Valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna, was a foreview of this lake (cf. 2 Kings 16:3; 23:10; Jer. 7:31-32; 19:6; Matt. 5:22; Mark 9:43). Neither is the lake of fire "the abyss,"which is a temporary place of confinement for angels (9:1; 20:1). At the end of the Millennium Christ will cast all unbelievers into the lake of fire (20:14-15). God originally prepared the lake of fire for Satan and his angels (Matt. 25:41).
"Because no one has yet experienced the lake of fire, it is difficult to portray in human language the awful nature of that punishment. The figure of a burning lake is God's chosen imagery for visualizing eternity separated from Him. One should remember that figures of speech are always less than the reality, not more!"663
Brimstone is a sulphurous material that, united with fire, represents indescribable torment (cf. Gen. 19:24-25; Ezek. 38:22).
"The fact that in the gospels hell is pictured not only as a place of fire but also as a place of darkness (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30) suggests that both descriptions use metaphorical language drawn from contemporary Judaism to describe final and irremedial judgment."664
19:21 The rest of Jesus Christ's enemies, the 10 kings and their armies, will die in a moment by His word and will go to Hades. There they will await resurrection and final judgement at the end of the Millennium (20:11-15). "The rest"probably also includes all earth-dwellers. They had plenty of opportunity to repent but did not do so. How they will die is not clear, but their death proceeds from the mouth of Jesus Christ. Probably the sword proceeding from His mouth represents a word of judgment that He utters. The means that He uses are obscure, as is true of how He created the universe with a word. So many people will die that the birds will have plenty to eat (Ezek. 39:17-20).665
Some interpreters have seen the Rapture occurring at the same time as the Second Coming (i.e., posttribulationists). However none of the events John recorded in 19:11-21 correspond to the events predicted to take place at the Rapture (John 14:1-2; 1 Cor. 15:50-58; 1 Thess. 4:15-18). The differences in the descriptions of these two events argue for a pretribulation Rapture.
What is the relationship of the Tribulation to the dispensation of grace? Dispensational writers have suggested several answers. Three of these are the major views. Some have seen the Tribulation as a revival of the dispensation of the law. They believe the dispensation of grace ends at the Rapture.666The major problem with this view is that no other dispensation begins again once it has ended. A second explanation is that the Tribulation is a dispensation itself occurring after the dispensation of grace. Advocates of this view say the dispensation of grace ends with the Rapture and the dispensation of the kingdom begins with Christ's second coming.667Critics of this view point out that the Tribulation does not bear the marks of a full-fledged dispensation. The marks of a dispensation include a change in God's basic governmental relationship with humankind and a consequent change in people's responsibility to God. A third view is that the Tribulation occurs within and at the end of the dispensation of grace.668Every other dispensation also ends with human failure and divine judgment. The Tribulation is the period of divine judgment following believers' failure to fulfill God's will during the interadvent era (i.e., the dispensation of grace). The church age is only a part of this interadvent era, since it began on the day of Pentecost and will end with the Rapture. This view seems to me to be the best explanation. It views the dispensation of grace as identical with the interadvent era rather than with the church age.
