Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 19:6

"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth." — Revelation 19:6 (ASV)

Finally, the cycle of praise is completed with the reverberating sounds of another great multitude. If the multitude in v.1 was angelic, then this one would most certainly be the great redeemed throngs (cf. 7:9). They utter the final Hallel in words reminiscent of the great kingship psalms (93:1; 97:1; 99:1). It is also the prelude to Pss 95–99, which are messianic, and has as its theme the eternal sovereignty of God who will conquer all his enemies. “Reigns” (GK 996) may better be rendered “has begun to reign.” There is also rejoicing because the “wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready” (v.7). This is John’s way of giving us a glimmer of the next great vision at the close of the former one (cf. 21:2, 9). Contrast the prostitute and her immoral lovers in the preceding chapters with the Lamb and his chaste bride (“fine linen, bright and clean”).

The bride is the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem (21:2, 9), which is the symbol of the church, the bride of Christ, the community of those redeemed by Christ’s blood. The wedding imagery was for the Jews a familiar image of the kingdom of God. Jesus used wedding and banquet imagery in his parables of the kingdom (Matthew 22:2ff.; 25:1–13). The OT used this figure for the bride of Israel (Ezekiel 16:1ff.; Hosea 2:19), and NT writers applied it to the church (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:25ff.). Heaven’s rejoicing has signaled the defeat of all God’s enemies. The time of betrothal has ended. Now it is the time for the church to enter into her full experience of salvation and glory with her beloved spouse, Christ. The fuller revelation of the realization of this union is described in chs. 21–22.

The church’s garments are white linen—in marked contrast to the purple and scarlet clothing of the great mother of prostitutes (17:4; 18:16). Linen was an expensive cloth used to make the garments worn by priests and royalty. It has two qualities: brightness and cleanness (cf. 16:6). “Bright” (GK 3287) is the color of radiant whiteness that depicts glorification (cf. Matthew 13:43). “Clean” (GK 2754) reflects purity, loyalty, and faithfulness, the character of the New Jerusalem (21:18, 21).

An explanatory interjection, probably added by John, states that “fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.” These “righteous acts” (GK 1468) do not imply any kind of meritorious works that would bring salvation. Rather, there is a delicate balance between grace and obedient response to it. The bride is “given” the garments, but she “has made herself ready” for the wedding by faithfulness and loyalty to Christ (cf. 3:4–5, 18). In the parable of the man without a wedding garment, the garment he lacked was probably a clean one supplied by the host but either refused or soiled through his carelessness. The clean garment probably symbolizes repentance and obedient response to Christ . Thus John contrasts the faithful disciples of Jesus, who have been true to God, with those who were seduced by the beast and the prostitute.