Finale Revelation and Imagination Daily Devotional- 46

REVELATION 19:17-21| ¹⁷ Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly in midheaven, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, ¹⁸ to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and their riders—flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great.” ¹⁹ Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against the rider on the horse and against his army. ²⁰ And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed in its presence the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. ²¹ And the rest were killed by the sword of the rider on the horse, the sword that came from his mouth; and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

EZEKIEL 39:17-18, 20 | ¹⁷ As for you, mortal, thus says the Lord God: Speak to the birds of every kind and to all the wild animals: Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood. ¹⁸ You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. ²⁰ And you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with warriors and all kinds of soldiers, says the Lord God.

In these violent and graphic images, John describes a travesty of the wedding feast, in which birds feast on the defeated human armies of evil. The images come from Ezekiel 39 and are taken over to express the defeat of evil’s earthly agents. The beast and prophet were identified in Revelation 13 as the Roman Empire and it’s officials that will be utterly defeated. The lake of fire symbolizes complete destruction and separation from God, an irreversible form of death. Gehenna, translated “hell,” was originally a burning trash dump outside Jerusalem. This lies behind the lake of fire imagery.

Despite the vivid pictures there is actually a measure of restraint in this chapter. For the Quumran sect has a war scroll that described the formations and tactics of heaven’s army in a decisive conflict. Here no action is described, just complete defeat and final punishment.

Try to picture these scenes as paintings you are observing in a gallery, convey the victory of truth over lies and goodness over evil.

Tags: truth, evil, goodness, lies