Revelation 19:9

9. He Who? The last-mentioned antecedent is, Revelation 17:1, “one of the seven angels that had the seven vials.” And in Revelation 17:7, the same “angel said” all the rest of that chapter. And the same angel reappears after the millennium and after the final judgment, (Revelation 21:9,) and shows the bride the Lamb’s wife, namely, the New Jerusalem, the description extends to the end of that chapter. And the next and final Revelation 22:1, commences with, “And he showed me,” etc., referring to the same angel. Then, in Revelation 19:6 of that chapter, he evidently refers to the same angel-guide. Two remarkable points here present themselves. First, this same angel-guide crosses, officially, over the thousand years of chapter 20. Of course, in the panorama visible to the seer, the thousand years could not be optically presented, and could only be narrated. The continuity of the angel is, therefore, only the convenient continuity of the panorama. And as the seven-vial angels were contents of the seventh trumpet, so the proper inference is, that the peal of the seventh trumpet continues from the beginning of the twelfth chapter to the end of the Apocalypse; that is, from the first advent to the end of the millennium, and the opening of eternity. Second, the parallelism shown in our note on Revelation 17:3, between Revelation 17:1; Revelation 17:3, and Revelation 21:9-10, shows not only that there is an intended contrast between the harlot, or old Babylon, and the wife, or New Jerusalem, but indicates that the immediacy of the marriage of the Lamb, indicated in Revelation 19:7 of this nineteenth chapter, is also very much a panoramic immediacy, and that it crosses over the millennium and reaches to the descending of the celestial city, which is the true wife. Hence it clearly follows, that the said immediacy does not prove a real nearness of the second advent and judgment. That is, the scene of Revelation 19:11-21 of this chapter is not Christ’s personal, literal, judgment-advent.

Write, Blessed Here is a blessedness, as in Revelation 14:13, worthy of record while the world stands.

Called A call resulting from the justifying faith of the invited guest. The same hand that seals the pardon of the sinner writes his name in the book of life, and calls him to share at the marriage supper. Stuart supposes it to be a great difficulty that the saints of last verse, who really constitute the bride, are here only invited guests. But while collectively the body of saints is the bride, yet individually each saint may be viewed as guest.

True Both genuine, as being truly God’s sayings, and true as uttering what is truth.