"And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid heaven, Come and be gathered together unto the great supper of God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, and small and great.
"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat upon the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image: they twain were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone: and the rest were killed with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of His mouth: and all the birds were filled with their flesh" (Rev. 19. 11-21). Ezekiel similarly describes the scene in his prophecy in chapter 30. 17-21.
Thus it is that the climax of the world's rebellion against God is to meet its doom. This is the manner of the overthrow of the ten-kingdomed empire, the fourth of Daniel's visions. Accordingly, what we have now read from Revelation 19 is identical with (1) the falling of the stone upon the feet of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's vision, the annihilation of all Gentile government (Dan. 2. 45); (2) the consuming of the dominion of the fourth beast in Daniel's subsequent vision (Dan. 7. 26); (3) the pouring out of God's wrath upon the Antichrist, the desolator (Dan. 9. 27); and (4) the coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory (Matt. 24. 30). The great emperor, the man of sin, is to be crushed by the Lord Jesus, "with the breath of His mouth," and brought to nought "by the manifestation of His coming" (2 Thess. 2. 8).
Now this "manifestation of His coming" is, to transliterate the Greek words,
The Epiphany of His Parousia.
An epiphany is, literally, the 'shining forth' of that which has been hidden; and the word Parousia is, literally, 'presence' (see margin of R.V. and Phil. 2. 12). This latter word is used of the coming of Christ to the air for His saints, 'to receive them unto Himself,' and of their consequent presence with Him (1 Thess. 2. 19). They are thus to be "ever with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4. 17), and with Him they will come when He descends at His revelation "from Heaven with the angels of His power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thess. 1. 7, 8). The sudden bursting forth of His glory thus "to execute judgment" (Jude 15) will be the 'Epiphany, or shining forth, of His Parousia,' and by it the Man of Sin is to be brought to nought and his empire demolished. He and his false prophet will be "cast alive into the lake of fire," and his armies will perish (Rev. 19. 20, 21).
This is to be the issue of the world's attempts to establish a millennium of its own by schemes of federation and amalgamation. This is the upshot of its fancied progress and improvement without God and His Christ.
We must now see what other Scriptures have to say concerning this scene. The instrument which the Lord uses for the destruction of His foes is a sword which proceeds out of His mouth; the destruction is described as the treading of the winepress.
The Voice of the Lord.
First, as to the instrument. The sword is symbolic of the utterance of the Lord's voice. No material instrument is needed, a word is enough. This is clear from many passages. In the second Psalm the overthrow of the foe is thus described: "Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure" (v. 5). Joel prophesies of the same event: "The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining: and the Lord uttereth His voice before His army; for His camp is very great; for He is strong that executeth His word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?" (Joel 2. 10, 11; and see 3. 16. With this compare Isa. 11. 4 and 30. 30-33.) The same voice of judgment is implied in Paul's prediction of the doom of the lawless one, that "the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth" (2 Thess. 2. 8). In the same connection we are doubtless to read Psalm 29, the Psalm which describes the terrible majesty and effect of the voice of the Lord.