The Last Days
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Lesson 76 | 08/16/26
Revelation 19:17-21 | The Supper of Our Great God
After going through the detailed description of Jesus’ Return as John sees Him come out from heaven with His holy saints, we have now come to the final battle of the campaign of Armageddon in which the Antichrist and his armies battle against Jesus and His armies, the Supper of our Great God, Rev 19:17-21.
You remember that the first place Jesus returns when He comes back is in Bozrah, most likely Petra, as the remanent of Jews are backed against a wall and in their desperation and tribulation finally confess that Jesus is their Messiah. In this moment, Jesus descends from heavenly Zion, rescues His people, kills His enemies in Bozrah, and now makes His way north to the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem to take the holy city, de-throne the Antichrist, and set up His throne as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Antichrist seems to have remained in Jerusalem, while a portion of his army attacked the Jews in Bozrah. The Antichrist at the middle of the week had set up the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel in the holy of holies and pronounced himself as God, Daniel 9:27; 11:27-39; 12:11. The False Prophet at this time has been deceiving the world by signs and wonders and forcing everyone to take the mark of the beast and worship his image, Rev 13:11-17. There is justice to be paid for such abominations to God. At this point, the angel from heaven announces the supper of the great God.
19:17-18) Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, 18 that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.”
Some commentators confuse this supper with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Rev 19:9, but this is not that supper. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is in heaven with His saints. This supper is on earth intended for the birds of the air to come and feast on the flesh of God’s enemies.
Question: Which supper will you participate in? Will you attend the supper, or will you BE the supper?
When Jesus comes to Jerusalem, He will first come to the Mount of Olives, just east of the Temple Mount east of the Kidron Valley (the valley of Jehoshaphat, Joel 3:2, 12) where His feet split the mountain in two and create a large valley for the captives in Jerusalem to flee, Zech 14:3-5. But then it seems that this battle will move just south and take place in the southern valley of the Temple Mount called the Valley of Hinnom. It was in this valley that the evil kings of Judah, being seduced by other pagans. Such as the Phoenicians, whom Jezebel was a Phoenician princess who brought in her pagan practices and swayed the kings of Israel to erect idols to the Baals, specifically Molech. This statue was called the Tophet, and they worshipped these demons through child sacrifice by laying their child alive on the Tophet, 2 Chron 33:1-7; 2 Kings 23:10. Because of this evil, and the future apostacy of the Jewish nation, Jeremiah prophesies that this area of Hinnom will be renamed the Valley of Slaughter, Jeremiah 7:28-34. It is in this valley that Jesus will destroy the Antichrist and his armies and make this city desolate because of the unbelieving Jew’s abominations to God, Jeremiah 19:1-15; Isaiah 30:30-33.
There is a deep connection between this valley and the future Judgement of unbelievers. This valley of Hinnom is also known by another name in the New Testament. We know this as Gehenna, γέεννα, the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word, gei-hinnom, meaning valley of Hinnom. In the first century, this valley was no longer used for child sacrifice, but a dumpsite for corpses of criminals, animals, trash, and sewage. There was a constant fire burning in the refuse of this place, and the smell would have been awful. A place of putrid flesh and rotten food and waste, slowly decaying and burning in the hot sun. In addition, there were maggots and worms everywhere. This was a foul and terrible place. A place so bad that Jesus used this illustrate the eternal lake of hell fire, Mark 9:42-48; Matt 10:28.
This place of Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, renamed as the Valley of Slaughter, is now where the final battle with the Antichrist and his armies take place. And what is fascinating, is this place also symbolizes the place of their ultimate destruction in perdition, the lake of eternal hell fire that burns with brimstone.
19:19-21) And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.
The final battle of the armies that had gathered first in Armageddon, Rev 16:16, it all ends here in Jerusalem in this Valley of Slaughter. Jesus defeated His enemies in Bozrah and now the Antichrist himself, along with the False Prophet and the kings of the earth and their armies are stationed in Jerusalem as Jesus comes to destroy them.
As they get word that Jesus is coming for them, John says, the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. The Antichrist actually thinks he can fight Jesus and win! But there is no contest and Jesus destroys them with the Word of His mouth.
2 Thessalonians 2:8- And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
Notice these two words... consumes and destroys; consume- ἀναλίσκω- to bring to an end, perish, devour; and destroy- καταργέω- to abolish, wipe out, make of no effect. The Beast and the False Prophet are human beings, probably some type of transhuman, but nonetheless, human and Jesus will destroy them. But notice verse 20 again...
19:20) Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
These two were captured and cast alive into the lake of fire, Gehenna, the place of eternal hell fire. This Valley of Slaughter now takes on a supernatural element of everlasting torment. Gehenna, as in eternal hell fire, is still a physical place, but it obviously has supernatural qualities because Jesus said this place was prepared for the devil and his angels.
Matthew 25:41- “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
As far as we know, these are the first two human beings to be cast into the lake of fire. I believe the fallen angels and demons of spiritual Babylon may have already been cast into this place at the destruction of Babylon.
Revelation 19:2–3-2 For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.” 3 Again they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!”
This was the death of the gods of this world as we learned from chapters 17-18. But just thinking this through, the Beast and the False Prophet are mortal human beings. And the physical human body could never withstand the torment of the lake of fire, not to mention this is eternal hell fire, and these physical bodies are not eternal. So how can they be thrown into the lake of fire alive? My conjecture is that these two were killed physically by Jesus Christ just as we read in 2 Thess 2:8, however, Jesus will raise them from the dead and give them their eternal bodies so they can be judged and thrown into the lake of fire alive. This is essentially what will be happening to all the unbelieving dead. They will be raised to life again and given their eternal bodies only to be judged and thrown in the lake of fire.
John 5:28–29-28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Daniel 12:2- And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Acts 24:15- I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.
The unjust, that is those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, will be raised to life at the end of the Millennial reign to be judged at the Great White Throne Judgement as we will see in Revelation 20:11-15, in which all who are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire and experience the second death. The Beast and the False Prophet don’t have to wait 1,000 years. They get their eternal bodies immediately here when they stand before Jesus in final Judgement, and He casts them into the lake of fire.
Picture the scene, thousands of people dead from this great battle, including the Antichrist and False Prophet. We, the glorified ones are behind Jesus on our white horses. Others that have not been killed in battle are standing before Him and us in awe and terror. Then Jesus, with all His supreme authority as the author of life and eternal judge, Jesus raises the two most powerful people the world has known to life, the Beast and the False Prophet, and He judges them in front of the whole world, and then casts them into the lake of fire. What is everyone around Him going to do? Fall on their face and worship the King of kings and Lord of lords.
In wrapping up, lets read this exact account from Isaiah 24:21–25:9-
21 It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth. 22 They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; After many days they will be punished. 23 Then the moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed; For the Lord of hosts will reign On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously.
25:1 O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. 2 For You have made a city a ruin, A fortified city a ruin, A palace of foreigners to be a city no more; It will never be rebuilt. 3 Therefore the strong people will glorify You; The city of the terrible nations will fear You. 4 For You have been a strength to the poor, A strength to the needy in his distress, A refuge from the storm, A shade from the heat; For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. 5 You will reduce the noise of aliens, As heat in a dry place; As heat in the shadow of a cloud, The song of the terrible ones will be diminished. 6 And in this mountain The Lord of hosts will make for all people A feast of choice pieces, A feast of wines on the lees, Of fat things full of marrow, Of well-refined wines on the lees. 7 And He will destroy on this mountain The surface of the covering cast over all people, And the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. 9 And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
PREVIOUS LESSON 75 ← GO TO → NEXT LESSON 77
You remember that the first place Jesus returns when He comes back is in Bozrah, most likely Petra, as the remanent of Jews are backed against a wall and in their desperation and tribulation finally confess that Jesus is their Messiah. In this moment, Jesus descends from heavenly Zion, rescues His people, kills His enemies in Bozrah, and now makes His way north to the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem to take the holy city, de-throne the Antichrist, and set up His throne as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Antichrist seems to have remained in Jerusalem, while a portion of his army attacked the Jews in Bozrah. The Antichrist at the middle of the week had set up the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel in the holy of holies and pronounced himself as God, Daniel 9:27; 11:27-39; 12:11. The False Prophet at this time has been deceiving the world by signs and wonders and forcing everyone to take the mark of the beast and worship his image, Rev 13:11-17. There is justice to be paid for such abominations to God. At this point, the angel from heaven announces the supper of the great God.
19:17-18) Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, 18 that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.”
Some commentators confuse this supper with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Rev 19:9, but this is not that supper. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is in heaven with His saints. This supper is on earth intended for the birds of the air to come and feast on the flesh of God’s enemies.
Question: Which supper will you participate in? Will you attend the supper, or will you BE the supper?
When Jesus comes to Jerusalem, He will first come to the Mount of Olives, just east of the Temple Mount east of the Kidron Valley (the valley of Jehoshaphat, Joel 3:2, 12) where His feet split the mountain in two and create a large valley for the captives in Jerusalem to flee, Zech 14:3-5. But then it seems that this battle will move just south and take place in the southern valley of the Temple Mount called the Valley of Hinnom. It was in this valley that the evil kings of Judah, being seduced by other pagans. Such as the Phoenicians, whom Jezebel was a Phoenician princess who brought in her pagan practices and swayed the kings of Israel to erect idols to the Baals, specifically Molech. This statue was called the Tophet, and they worshipped these demons through child sacrifice by laying their child alive on the Tophet, 2 Chron 33:1-7; 2 Kings 23:10. Because of this evil, and the future apostacy of the Jewish nation, Jeremiah prophesies that this area of Hinnom will be renamed the Valley of Slaughter, Jeremiah 7:28-34. It is in this valley that Jesus will destroy the Antichrist and his armies and make this city desolate because of the unbelieving Jew’s abominations to God, Jeremiah 19:1-15; Isaiah 30:30-33.
There is a deep connection between this valley and the future Judgement of unbelievers. This valley of Hinnom is also known by another name in the New Testament. We know this as Gehenna, γέεννα, the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word, gei-hinnom, meaning valley of Hinnom. In the first century, this valley was no longer used for child sacrifice, but a dumpsite for corpses of criminals, animals, trash, and sewage. There was a constant fire burning in the refuse of this place, and the smell would have been awful. A place of putrid flesh and rotten food and waste, slowly decaying and burning in the hot sun. In addition, there were maggots and worms everywhere. This was a foul and terrible place. A place so bad that Jesus used this illustrate the eternal lake of hell fire, Mark 9:42-48; Matt 10:28.
This place of Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, renamed as the Valley of Slaughter, is now where the final battle with the Antichrist and his armies take place. And what is fascinating, is this place also symbolizes the place of their ultimate destruction in perdition, the lake of eternal hell fire that burns with brimstone.
19:19-21) And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.
The final battle of the armies that had gathered first in Armageddon, Rev 16:16, it all ends here in Jerusalem in this Valley of Slaughter. Jesus defeated His enemies in Bozrah and now the Antichrist himself, along with the False Prophet and the kings of the earth and their armies are stationed in Jerusalem as Jesus comes to destroy them.
As they get word that Jesus is coming for them, John says, the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. The Antichrist actually thinks he can fight Jesus and win! But there is no contest and Jesus destroys them with the Word of His mouth.
2 Thessalonians 2:8- And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
Notice these two words... consumes and destroys; consume- ἀναλίσκω- to bring to an end, perish, devour; and destroy- καταργέω- to abolish, wipe out, make of no effect. The Beast and the False Prophet are human beings, probably some type of transhuman, but nonetheless, human and Jesus will destroy them. But notice verse 20 again...
19:20) Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
These two were captured and cast alive into the lake of fire, Gehenna, the place of eternal hell fire. This Valley of Slaughter now takes on a supernatural element of everlasting torment. Gehenna, as in eternal hell fire, is still a physical place, but it obviously has supernatural qualities because Jesus said this place was prepared for the devil and his angels.
Matthew 25:41- “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
As far as we know, these are the first two human beings to be cast into the lake of fire. I believe the fallen angels and demons of spiritual Babylon may have already been cast into this place at the destruction of Babylon.
Revelation 19:2–3-2 For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.” 3 Again they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!”
This was the death of the gods of this world as we learned from chapters 17-18. But just thinking this through, the Beast and the False Prophet are mortal human beings. And the physical human body could never withstand the torment of the lake of fire, not to mention this is eternal hell fire, and these physical bodies are not eternal. So how can they be thrown into the lake of fire alive? My conjecture is that these two were killed physically by Jesus Christ just as we read in 2 Thess 2:8, however, Jesus will raise them from the dead and give them their eternal bodies so they can be judged and thrown into the lake of fire alive. This is essentially what will be happening to all the unbelieving dead. They will be raised to life again and given their eternal bodies only to be judged and thrown in the lake of fire.
John 5:28–29-28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Daniel 12:2- And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Acts 24:15- I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.
The unjust, that is those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, will be raised to life at the end of the Millennial reign to be judged at the Great White Throne Judgement as we will see in Revelation 20:11-15, in which all who are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire and experience the second death. The Beast and the False Prophet don’t have to wait 1,000 years. They get their eternal bodies immediately here when they stand before Jesus in final Judgement, and He casts them into the lake of fire.
Picture the scene, thousands of people dead from this great battle, including the Antichrist and False Prophet. We, the glorified ones are behind Jesus on our white horses. Others that have not been killed in battle are standing before Him and us in awe and terror. Then Jesus, with all His supreme authority as the author of life and eternal judge, Jesus raises the two most powerful people the world has known to life, the Beast and the False Prophet, and He judges them in front of the whole world, and then casts them into the lake of fire. What is everyone around Him going to do? Fall on their face and worship the King of kings and Lord of lords.
In wrapping up, lets read this exact account from Isaiah 24:21–25:9-
21 It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth. 22 They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; After many days they will be punished. 23 Then the moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed; For the Lord of hosts will reign On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously.
25:1 O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. 2 For You have made a city a ruin, A fortified city a ruin, A palace of foreigners to be a city no more; It will never be rebuilt. 3 Therefore the strong people will glorify You; The city of the terrible nations will fear You. 4 For You have been a strength to the poor, A strength to the needy in his distress, A refuge from the storm, A shade from the heat; For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. 5 You will reduce the noise of aliens, As heat in a dry place; As heat in the shadow of a cloud, The song of the terrible ones will be diminished. 6 And in this mountain The Lord of hosts will make for all people A feast of choice pieces, A feast of wines on the lees, Of fat things full of marrow, Of well-refined wines on the lees. 7 And He will destroy on this mountain The surface of the covering cast over all people, And the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. 9 And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
PREVIOUS LESSON 75 ← GO TO → NEXT LESSON 77