The destruction of the two Babylonian cities in the preceding chapter caused all of Heaven to rejoice and to praise the LORD God Almighty (Revelation 19:1-6). The false church which for centuries had seemingly escaped punishment for its corrupting of the earth and persecution against the saints, had at long last received the due punishment of destruction. And the cries of vengeance from the fifth seal Jews under the brazen altar of the heavenly sanctuary have now been answered (Revelation 6:9-11), for God had promised them that He would avenge their blood after the two Jewish prophets and the 144,000 Jews had been killed.
Whereas the fire and smoke from the detonation of an atomic bomb dissipates once everything has been burnt to the ground, the smoke from the burning of the Vatican City State after it has been wiped out by a nuclear strike will linger, rising up into the atmosphere for an unusually long time. The scripture states that the smoke of its burning rose up for ever and ever (Revelation 19:3); in other words, God will allow the smoke of its burning to last for years, decades or even centuries during the Kingdom Age as a memorial of His justice and hatred of all that opposes Him.
The rapturous noise of heavenly celebration climaxes with the voice of a great multitude (the saints of seven church ages), the voice of many waters (the fivefold ministry God has given the church throughout the seven church ages), and the voice of mighty thunderings (the revelation of the Word that God has declared to us) giving glory to God (Revelation 19:6), declaring His omnipotence and His rightful position as King of kings. Their all speaking the same thing shows that the saints, the ministry, and the Word are all in agreement under the sovereign leadership of the Holy Spirit.
The saints in Glory are not only rejoicing at the destruction of the harlot church system, but are also rejoicing at the Marriage of the Lamb, which precedes the destruction of the false church. Jesus’ first coming was to do the purchasing work at Calvary whereby He might redeem His Bride; His second coming (as King Theophany Jesus in Word form) is to receive and catch-away His Bride, whilst His third coming (in His corporal body as King of Kings) is to rule and reign over the earth with His Bride. The saints are therefore speaking about Jesus’ second coming, where He unites with His Bride in Word form, and the sleeping saints are then gathered with the living saints in anticipation of the translation, when we are all caught up together into Glory for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, where we see Jesus in His corporal body.
As the Bride of Jesus Christ, we were firstly a bondwoman born in sin because of the fallen sex birth. But in order to be a freewoman and united with Christ, we would need a new birth, so the rebirth was given for us to be joined to our heavenly Husband. The marriage is not the Marriage of the Lion, but is the Marriage of the Lamb, because the Lamb is connected with the atoning sacrifice; and by Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary, His Holy Spirit was loosed upon the Church to unite us with Him and to make us partakers of His divine nature.
The seventh church age angel, William Branham, was not only the prophet-messenger, but he was the one who introduced the Bride to Christ and who acted as the marriage celebrant, wedding the two together. Having carried-out his ministry perfectly, the prophet of God then decreased (John 3:30) and went off the scene, because the Bridegroom was now in the picture and the Bride had been united with Him under the prophet’s ministry.
In this great Word coming of the Son of Man (Christ the Bridegroom), the Bride is making Herself ready (Revelation 19:7) to be physically united with Him in Glory. By becoming one with His Word and allowing His Holy Spirit to bring the changes and transformation to Her life, the Bride is being formed again into the image of the living Word. It reminds us of the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew chapter 25. The five wise virgins went in to the Marriage Supper because they had made themselves ready in advance (Matthew 25:10). In making Herself ready, the Bride firstly has Her soul robed with the Spirit of God before She is physically robed with a glorified body at the translation. This robe is the fine linen, clean and white spoken of (Revelation 19:8), and is called the righteousness of saints. It is not just the imputed righteousness of Jesus, but more specifically refers to the righteous acts and works of the saints here on the earth by the Spirit of God in them.
Upon seeing and hearing these things, John then fell down at the feet of the angel who was showing him the things he saw (Revelation 19:10). But the angel refused to be worshipped, for he himself was a fellowservant of Christ, even as John was. We have learned already that the angel who showed John the things he saw was the theophany of the prophet-messenger, William Branham. But the prophet refused worship, because his ministry was only to point the people to Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, a deity spirit has swept through the circles of the message nowadays, and many have elevated the prophet to the position of Jesus Christ, and have made his every statement above the Bible. But the prophet never for one moment encouraged the people to do this; instead, he straightly instructed us to take everything he said back to the Bible.
We learned earlier that there are three comings of the Lord Jesus, that the first coming was Jesus’ redeeming the Bride, the second coming was Jesus’ receiving the Bride, and the third coming is Jesus returning to the earth with the Bride. Revelation 19:11 is the third coming of the Lord; it is the return of the Lord Jesus to the earth at Armageddon in His corporal body, to destroy His enemies (to judge and make war) and to set up His Kingdom. But He is not alone at His return, for with Him are the armies of Heaven (Revelation 19:14) following upon white horses, and clothed in fine linen, white and clean. How this reminds us of Revelation 19:7-8, the Bride having made Herself ready, clothed in fine linen; so the armies of Heaven following Christ is the Bride of seven church ages, riding upon white horses which represent the power of the Holy Spirit that carries Her.
Jesus’ third coming is the fulfilment of the smiting stone striking the image described in Daniel 2:34-35. Christ is the Capstone; He is the smiting Headstone that strikes the kingdoms of man and brings them crashing down. Man has always feared an alien invasion from the skies, and although such fantasy is in actuality science-fiction, yet here is a very real invasion coming from the skies above, whereby the seventh dimension of Heaven opens up, and the supernatural beings of that world come charging into this world in order to take over!
As in Revelation chapter one, where Jesus is seen as the Supreme Judge of Heaven and Earth with eyes as a flame of fire (Revelation 1:14), so here in Revelation 19:12, Jesus has fiery eyes, to mete out His justice and wrath upon those that rejected Him! On His head are many crowns, for it is His Bride who has crowned Him as King of kings, and He has a name written that no man without revelation can ever know (1 Corinthians 12:3). But then in Revelation 19:16, we learn that the name is written on His thigh, and that it is KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
No man on earth at that time can know the name, because the elect of God who have the revelation of the name are no longer in earthly bodies, but are now at Christ’s side, returning to the earth with Him. The name is written on Christ’s thigh, which is a euphemism (a soft word) for the loins. As the name of a man is passed on through the seed of his loins, so the elect of God have the revelation of who Christ is because they are of His spiritual DNA, having been birthed by the Spirit of God. And because the Bride of Christ is composed of His sons and daughters, His family, then they too are the bearers of His name… She is Him! The very essence of Her being pulsates by His Spirit!
Jesus’ vesture is stained with the blood of His enemies (Revelation 19:13), for His return to the earth is the treading of the winepress spoken of in Revelation 14:20, and the blood of His enemies flows out in abundance from it, so much so that it is spoken of in Isaiah 63:1-4: Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.
The treading of the winepress at Armageddon will be by the sharp Sword of the Spoken Word (Revelation 19:15), in order that Christ might smite the nations and rule over them with a rod of iron in the Millennium. This alone is of great interest, and a moment should be taken to explain how the sinful nature of the unregenerate man over whom we shall rule still exists in the Millennium.
When Christ and His Bride are ruling over the nations, they are exercising dominion over a world of people who still have the old nature, but that nature is made subject to the absolute authority of Christ in a Kingdom where righteousness is established with a rod of iron. This rod of iron will also be wielded by Christ’s Bride (Revelation 2:26-27), for She will be given power over the nations, and will be a strong, capable, unbending ruler who can cope so powerfully with any situation, that even the most desperate enemy will be broken if need be.
It is those who survive Armageddon that will repopulate the earth in the Millennium, and over which Christ and His Bride will rule. In a thousand years, the earth will have become filled with billions of people, and when Satan is loosed at the end of the Millennium, he will deceive and gather to himself all those people who do not have the Holy Ghost (the new birth) to make war against Christ, His Bride, and the city of Jerusalem (Revelation 20:7-9). These are people who have been reformed by the rule of Christ, but their hearts remained unchanged. They still have the power of choice (free moral agency), but because they are of wrong seed, they will eventually join with Satan and rebel against the Creator.
It is not until the restored earth that there is no more death (Revelation 21:1-4), so in the Millennium, death is still present and the sinner will die an early death for refusing to submit to Christ’s rule and abide by the Law of His Word (Isaiah 65:20). The rod of iron is a reign of righteousness that is most rigorous and stern for the unbeliever, and which is heavily enforced (Zechariah 14:16-19). The Bible is very plain on these things and gives us a deep insight of the Kingdom Age. The earth will indeed be a wonderful place to live during the Millennium, but for the unregenerate, God’s Law is very stern, and no tolerance will be made for any compromise.
As a final note to make solid the case for sin and death still existing on the earth in the Millennium, we must look at how God deals with His sons and daughters. His dealings with us are through a process of justification, sanctification, and Holy Ghost baptism, and is the same process that He has taken with the earth. The earth was justified when the Flood washed it clean in the days of Noah, it was sanctified by Jesus’ blood on Calvary, and then under the sixth seal, it has a baptism of fire that purifies it for the Millennium.
When a man is in Christ, he becomes a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), but he is still in a fallen body of sinful flesh whilst having the indwelling Spirit of God in his soul. It is the power of the Holy Ghost that keeps the Law of Sin in our fallen body subject to the Word, so we can still be tempted, but we have a power to keep this body in check. Paul explains all this so well for us in Romans 7:14-25.
The full baptism of the Holy Ghost for the believer will happen at the translation, when this fallen mortal body will be changed into a glorified immortal body that is free from sin and death. This is the same pattern for the earth. Having had its baptism of fire under the sixth seal, we learn that sin and death still exist in the Millennium, but are greatly restrained because Jesus will be reigning as King over the whole earth. As the fallen flesh body of the believer will become a new body that is free from sin and death, so the earth will receive a full baptism of fire (2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 20:11) and be restored as a new earth (Revelation 21:1) where sin and death no longer exist.
Next John sees an angel standing in the sun calling to all the birds of the air to gather themselves in order that they might feast upon the many slain at Armageddon (Revelation 19:17-18). It is interesting that the prophet of God recounted a similar experience of a vision he had of himself standing in the sun and preaching to a huge congregation seated in a wooded area. This vision the prophet received on October 30, 1962, and recounted it in the message “Blasphemous names” (November 4, 1962). The actual text of the vision which Billy Paul Branham wrote down at his father’s request can be found on The Table software, under “Vision from the Lord” (October 30,1962).
All sin must end in a sacrifice, either of an acceptable substitute or of the sinner who did the sinning. Because the unregenerate refused the perfect sacrifice of Christ the Lamb, they shall instead become the sacrifice, their blood being spilled and their flesh being gorged upon by the birds of the air. But before they are killed, John saw the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies all assembled together in the land of Israel to make war against Christ and His Bride (Revelation 19:19). This speaks of a uniting of religious power (the Beast), political power (the kings of the earth) and demon power (spirits veiled in the flesh of earthly armies). But oh, how futile such a war will be! For how can sex-born earthly armies with their WMD’s (weapons of mass destruction), advanced weaponry and all their technology hope to stand a chance against an army of supernatural beings in glorified bodies that cannot be hurt nor killed in any way. Still, Lucifer remains relentless in his attempts to defeat Michael (Christ), and the great battle that began in Heaven (Revelation 12:7-9) will conclude at Armageddon in the land of Israel.
The defeat of the enemies of Christ will result in the Beast and false prophet being cast alive into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20). They are the first to be cast into the Lake of Fire, for Satan is not cast in till after the Millennium (Revelation 20:10), then Death and Hell are cast in after that (Revelation 20:14), and whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life are cast in last of all (Revelation 20:15). But what exactly does it mean concerning the Beast and the false prophet being cast in together?
We have learned already that the Beast firstly represents a world power (Rome) that is ruled by a woman (the false church system), and that it is the Dragon (Satan) that gives the Beast its power (Revelation 13:2; Revelation 17:3). But the prophet of God taught us that fallen man has the inherent nature of a beast because of Eve’s adultery with the Serpent in the beginning; and then he goes on to tell us that when Satan incarnates the false prophet (the last pope), the false prophet will in turn become the Beast.
So there we have it, a threefold application to understanding who the Beast is: (1) an unregenerate man has the nature of a beast; (2) the Beast is the last days world power; (3) the last pope incarnated by Satan becomes the Beast. In light of this, we can more accurately look at the meaning of the Beast and false prophet being cast alive into the Lake of Fire.
When Satan incarnates the last pope, the pontiff shall become the Beast in the sense that he is given the heart of a beast to ravage and devour. Like the Serpent in the beginning, the false prophet or pontiff is a false anointed one who comes in by flatteries (Daniel 11:21), speaking all kinds of things to fool the people, from calling them separated brethren, to going out there and preaching a gospel of love and trying to win everybody with brotherly kindness, making everything feel so nice and sweet in order to pull them back in. The charismatic movement and its displays of divine healing whilst its preachers claim that everybody has the Holy Ghost, all of that is designed to sweep the people in.
We can know for sure that the Beast and false prophet become one at the end time, because when God was in flesh in Genesis (in Adam), Satan was there also, in the flesh of the Serpent. Then when God was in flesh in the middle of the Bible (in Jesus), Satan was there also, in the flesh of Judas Iscariot. And now at the end of time, when “THE” Son of Man (Christ) was veiled behind the flesh of “A” son of man (the prophet), Satan comes into flesh as well, and will veil himself in the last pope (the Man of Sin).
Realizing that Satan (the Dragon) is not cast into the Lake of Fire till after the Millennium, and also knowing that Death and Hell have become personified for them to also be cast into the Lake of Fire, it is not difficult to see that the false prophet is the flesh of the pope, but the Beast is the unregenerate nature or spirit within him. As the four metals (gold, silver, brass, and iron) of the image Nebuchadnezzar dreamt of (Daniel 2:31-33) were representative of the external appearance of the world powers they represented, so the four beasts (the lion, bear, leopard, and dragon) that came up from the sea (Daniel 7:1-8) were representative of the spirits or nature behind the world powers. The Beast and false prophet are called two when they are cast into the Lake of Fire, but in essence, the one is actually embodied inside the other.
Go to Revelation Chapter 20