The Revelation of John (American Standard Version, 1901) · 18 of 22 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)
18:21-19:14
[18:21] And a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all.
[18:22] And the voice of harpers and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more at all in thee; and the voice of a mill shall be heard no more at all in thee;
[18:23] and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the earth; for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived.
[18:24] And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.
[19:1] After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah; Salvation, and glory, and power, belong to our God:
[19:2] for true and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great harlot, her that corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
[19:3] And a second time they say, Hallelujah. And her smoke goeth up for ever and ever.
[19:4] And the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen; Hallelujah.
[19:5] And a voice came forth from the throne, saying, Give praise to our God, all ye his servants, ye that fear him, the small and the great.
[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.
[19:7] Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
[19:8] And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
[19:9] And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are true words of God.
[19:10] And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
[19:11] And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
[19:12] And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems; and he hath a name written which no one knoweth but he himself.
[19:13] And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
[19:14] And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The Rider's eyes are 'a flame of fire' (19:12) and the heavenly armies wear fine linen 'white and pure' (19:14), evoking luminous divine radiance as a quality of the sacred.
The reunification of complementary divine principles (male-female, spirit-matter) as a symbol of wholeness and salvation.
The marriage of the Lamb and his bride is a central theme of the passage (19:7-9), explicitly framed as the climactic reunification event for which the bride has prepared herself.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
God's sovereign ordering of events—Babylon's fall, the avenging of saints, the establishment of the Lamb's reign—expresses active divine governance of cosmic history toward intelligible ends.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
The passage is dominated by final cosmic judgment: Babylon's irrevocable destruction, the avenging of the blood of saints, and the Rider who 'in righteousness doth judge and make war' (19:11).
The passage depicts the final cosmic renovation: Babylon's permanent destruction and the establishment of God's eternal reign ('the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth,' 19:6).
The strong and holy generation that no star, angel, or ruler can govern — the elect of Sethian soteriology whose souls survive death and ascend, the 'seed' promised the kingdom; in the Gospel of Judas the central soteriological claim, and the fate Judas is told he is excluded from ('you'll become the thirteenth, and will be cursed by the other generations'). Distinct from pneumatic_elect (a classification of persons by spiritual substance) in being a corporate, trans-historical people with a cosmic destiny.
The heavenly armies on white horses clothed in fine linen white and pure (19:14) and the bidden guests at the marriage supper form a corporate holy people with a cosmic destiny beyond the reach of Babylon's sorcery.
A non-physical dimension of reality, interpenetrating the physical world, populated by forces, beings, and forms ordinarily imperceptible to physical senses and instruments, that can affect embodied life without being seen — Dion Fortune's 'mind-side of nature,' the astral plane of Western esotericism broadly construed. Distinct from astral_light (a specific transmitting medium or fluid operating within this realm, not the realm itself), pleroma (the divine fullness at the summit of a cosmic hierarchy, not a parallel plane coextensive with ordinary life), and animism (particular indwelling spirits bound to specific natural objects, not the general unseen dimension itself).
The passage is populated by a non-physical heavenly realm with a throne, elders, living creatures, and armies of riders, all invisible to ordinary senses yet actively affecting earthly events.
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
God is depicted as actively reigning, judging, and avenging (19:6, 19:2), not as an abstract principle but as a personal, dynamic reality who acts decisively in history.
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The bride's preparation in fine linen (righteous acts of the saints) and the marriage supper of the Lamb imply a merging of the faithful community with the divine as a state of consummated union.
A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.
Those 'bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb' (19:9) and the saints whose righteous acts form the bride's garment (19:8) constitute a spiritual elite distinguished from the deceived nations.
The spiritual danger of attachment to material possessions; wealth as a spiritual obstacle.
Babylon's downfall is linked to its merchants being 'princes of the earth' (18:23) and its commercial luxury, presenting wealth and trade as the spiritual corruption that invites divine judgment.
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
The Rider bears a name known only to himself (19:12) and is titled 'The Word of God' (19:13), suggesting names carry ontological weight beyond mere designation.