The angelic song 1 After these things I heard as it were the voice of many people in heaven, saying: Alleluia. Salvation, and glory, and power is to our God. 2 For true and just are his judgments, who has judged the great harlot which corrupted the earth with her fornication, and has revenged the blood of his servants, at her hands. 3 And again they said: Alleluia. And her smoke ascends for ever and ever. 4 And the four and twenty ancients, and the four living creatures fell down and adored God that sits upon the throne, saying: Amen; Alleluia. 5 And a voice came out from the throne, saying: Give praise to our God, all his servants; and you that fear him, little and great. The song of triumph 6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunders, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord our God the Almighty has reigned. 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has prepared herself. 8 And it is granted to her that she should clothe herself with fine linen, glittering and white. For the fine linen are the justifications of saints. 9 And he said to me: Write: Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me: These words of God are true. 10 And I fell down before his feet, to adore him. And he said to me: See you do it not: I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus. Adore God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 19:6 has reigned: Andreas of Caesarea here admits that he who is here said to reign is "Jesus Christ our God and Lord." Haimo of Auxerre likewise admits the person is Christ. Cardinal Hugo explains the passage by a reference to chap. 4., where he admits the person sitting on the throne to be Christ. Nicholas of Lyra likewise says that the Lord God Omnipotent is Jesus Christ. Rupert of Deutz; "the Lord God Omnipotent reigns? What Lord? What God? The Lamb himself, against whom the fornicating kings of the earth had fought and who had conquered them; for, says John, he is Lord of lords and King of kings." 19:7 marriage of the Lamb is come: In this life the Church is the spouse of Christ, whose espousals are by grace celebrated in baptism. But in a future life she will be the wife by glory, whose nuptials will be celebrated in heaven throughout all eternity. (Cornelius a Lapide) 19:9 marriage supper of the Lamb: This is the festival of those who are saved and the all-encompassing harmony in gladness, of which the blessed ones who will attain this will enter together into the eternal bridal chamber of the Holy Bridegroom of clean souls. (St. Andrew of Caesarea) The divine warrior 11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and with justice does he judge and fight. 12 And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems, and he had a name written, which no man knows but himself. 13 And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and his name is called, THE WORD OF GOD. 14 And the armies that are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 19:11 Francisco Ribera, Alexander de Hales, St. Anselm of Canterbury, refer the period of this vision to the times of Antichrist; in which the Word of God goes forth to fight against the adversaries of his Church. For, as Berengaud says, "it refers to the elect who are to be born at the end of the world; for when the end of the world is at hand the Lord shall come in his saints, in order by them to fight against Antichrist and his ministers." Some ancient writers regard the white horse as signifying the Humanity of Christ. Alexander de Hales says it signifies the Deified Humanity, and the rider the Humanated Divinity. For Oecumenius the white horse signifies that Christ rests upon "the pure and those unmarked by any stain of sin." For Origen, "The horse is white because it is the nature of higher knowledge to be clear and white and full of light." 19:12 No one knows but He Himself: because all the Church is in Him. For the perfect knowledge of the Word of God is manifested to those who have obtained to be the body of Christ and His members. (St. Bede) Oecumenius relates the "unknown name" to the episode in Exodus in which the Lord also did not reveal his name to Moses Ex. 6:2-3 because, Oecumenius concludes, the name is incomprehensible to humans. Origen believes the name is known only to Christ because no being existing after him "is able to behold all that he apprehends." (On John 2.4) 19:13 vesture sprinkled with blood: understand the righteousness of Christ, the doctrine of which wicked men deprave by blackening, and pollute by blaspheming; when they incur divine judgment by saying, it is the will of the Lord that the wicked should act wickedly, and it is of necessity that they perish in their sins. (Joachim of Fiore) WORD OF GOD: Because the same Who appeared for a time as a man of suffering, "in the beginning was the Word.Jn 1:1" He is called the Word, because nothing in His nature was visible, nor corporeal; or because the Father made all things by Him, the perfect knowledge of Whose nature, as he says above, is known to Himself alone, and to the Father. (St. Bede) 19:14 That is the heavenly powers. The horses are white for the holy angels, too; for they delight in the pure among mankind, since they are naturally pure and unstained by any defilement. (Oecumenius) Or that is to say, the Church in white bodies imitated Him. For because of the intensity of its conflict, it rightly receives the name of an army. (St. Bede) Or this heavenly army consists of the saints who "had toiled in this war of martyrdom. And they are said, for this reason, to sit on white horses, because their bodies doubtless were brilliant with both the light of righteousness, and the whiteness of chastity." (St. Gregory the Great Mor Job 31.15) King of kings and Lord of lords 15 And out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two edged sword; that with it he may strike the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treaded the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 And he has on his garment, and on his thigh written: KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 19:15 From his mouth, that is, from the commander-in-chief. To strike the nations, that is, those who march with the Antichrist. (Oecumenius) sword: This signifies the torments that will burden the impious and the sinners in accordance with the just judgment and the command that is proclaimed from the divine mouth. (St. Andrew of Caesarea) Or it is signified the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, is the interpretation of Haimo of Auxerre, Berengaud, Rabanus Maurus, St. Bede, etc. 19:16 In the text of 1 Tim 4:15, Whom in his own time he will show forth, who is blessed and alone powerful, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, it is not the Father that is named, but that which is common to the Father and the Son. For that the Son also is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is manifestly shown in the text of Rev 19:16: (St. Thomas Aquinas On God‘s Creatures 4.8.3) This name signifies the indivisibility of the divine Incarnation, according to which being God he received flesh and becoming human. (St. Andrew of Caesarea) The angel speaks to the birds 17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that did fly through the midst of heaven: Come, gather yourselves together to the great supper of God: 18 That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of tribunes, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all freemen and bondmen, and of little and of great. 19:17 This angel we believe to be one of the superior angels who encourages cheerfulness in the rest of the angels upon the punishment of the sinners and the extermination of sin. Birds he called the angels, for our clarification, because they fly high and are raised aloft. (St. Andrew of Caesarea) In this place therefore the sun signifies the discovery arising from manifest vision. Christ therefore stands in the sun, that is, in manifest light and in the faith of the people; since his glory is diffused throughout the whole earth. For he rose from the dead, he was preached by the apostles, believed on throughout the whole world, and in this light of faith he stands. (Haimo of Auxerre) Alexander de Hales and St. Ambrosius Autpertus are of opinion, that the angel standing in the sun may signify some individual preacher who shall be raised up in the latter days to make known the mysteries of divine truth; and St. Ambrosius regards this preacher as Elijah. On the other hand, Richard of St. Victor, Cardinal Hugo, Berengaud, and others regard this angel as representing not an individual preacher, but an order of preachers, who shall be raised up in the latter times or the end of the world for a similar purpose; and in both these cases the sun is interpreted as signifying light and heat, or else Christ himself. supper of the great God: St. Anselm of Canterbury says that by the supper of the great God is to be understood Christ himself: Cardinal Hugo, that it means God himself, who will be a mighty feast and banquet; for 'he is the living bread who cometh down from heaven,' John 6. Oecumenius and Andreas of Caesarea, that it means the fulfilment of the divine will. Luis of Alcasar gives substantially the true interpretation, though he applies it to the Church of Rome; for he says that the marriage-supper of the Lamb has reference to the future increase of wisdom in Church, the knowledge of Christ, and the teaching of the Church. Defeat of the beast and the false prophet 19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war with him that sat upon the horse, and with his army. 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, who wrought signs before him, wherewith he seduced them who received the character of the beast, and who adored his image. These two were cast alive into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword of him that sits upon the horse, which proceeded out of his mouth; and all the birds were filled with their flesh. 19:20-21 There are two deaths; the
first is the separation of the soul and the body, the second is being
cast into Gehenna. If this is applied to those who are together with the
Antichrist, it is said they will be led to the first death in the flesh
by the sword of God, that is, by his command, and thus afterward the
second will follow. (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
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