With the fall of Babylon (Which, again, stands for Rome and all other oppressive empires) comes the final battle between good and evil. For as much as it's built up, both in religious culture and in the Book of Revelation itself, the actual battle is a short affair: a single rider descends from heaven on a white horse. His robe and thigh are marked with the words, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords," which suggests this is a vision of Christ himself. From his mouth comes a sword to strike down the Beast and all the kings of the earth who oppose God.
And in three verses (Rev 19:19-21) it's all over. The beast is captured and his armies are defeated. All are destroyed by the sword of the rider.
Two things I think are essential for understanding this vision are:
1) The rider--i.e., Jesus--does all the fighting. Every force of evil that stands against God are dispatched quickly and easily, not by any human force, but by Jesus, the Word of God.
2) The "sword" Jesus uses to defeat evil comes "from his mouth." It's so strange, with as literalistic as so much church art and interpretation can be, that so many depictions of this scene (and there are lots) show Jesus with a sword in his hand, held high in a traditional "battle pose", where the actual text says the sword comes "from his mouth." I realize it would look strange (and the pictures that do take it literally are VERY strange), but the intent seems clear: The sword comes from his mouth because it isn't a literal sword. It's the Word of God. It's Jesus' teachings. It's the Good News, that he has already defeated death and evil.
It's remarkable how universal it is that little kids (myself included) will find sticks outside and immediately imagine themselves as master swordsmen in a duel. It's not just the "Star Wars" generation, although we did get cool sound effects to add to our imaginary battles. But here, near the end of the final book of the Bible, we get a reminder that the most important "weapon" we'll ever have is telling the truth and sharing Jesus' teachings of love, inclusion, justice, reconciliation, and peace. That's the sword that wins the fight.
To quote Martin Luther's classic hymn,
"Though hordes of devils fill the land
all threatening to devour us
we tremble not; unmoved we stand
they cannot overpow'r us.
Let this world's tyrant rage;
in battle we'll engage!
His might is doomed to fail; God's judgment must prevail
One little word subdues him."
My Poetic interpretation of REVELATION 19
19. Praise, salvation, glory, pow’r, to God,
Of hell's great whore, his judgments true and just;
At length, he has avenged his servants’ blood,
God's people, to the Lamb, as bride entrust.
From heaven's white horse comes a rider true,
His eyes aflame, his new name, none has heard;
Behind, in white, rides heaven's retinue,
With King of Kings and Lord of Lords, God's Word!
“Come, gather, carrion birds from West and East,”
Beckons an angel, standing in the sun,
“Your meal shall be the armies of the beast,”
From rider's mouth, a sword, Truth, overcomes!
Yet only God's, the sword and victory,
The bride, God's peaceful people, shall be free.
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