The Revelation of John (American Standard Version, 1901) · 19 of 22 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)
19:15-20:10
[19:15] And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty.
[19:16] And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
[19:17] 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;
[19:18] 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.
[19:19] 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.
[19:20] 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 two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone:
[19:21] 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.
[20:1] And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
[20:2] And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
[20:3] and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time.
[20:4] And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
[20:5] The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection.
[20:6] Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
[20:7] And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
[20:8] and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
[20:9] And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them.
[20:10] And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
The divine figure is described with a mouth from which a sword proceeds, a garment and thigh bearing a written name, and the act of treading a winepress — embodied divine imagery throughout.
Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.
The passage is structured around the ontological opposition between the divine realm (Christ, angels, martyrs) and the satanic realm (beast, false prophet, deceived nations) as the fundamental structure of cosmic conflict.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The angel 'standing in the sun' and the overall luminous context of the rider on the white horse evoke divine light as the medium of revelation and authority.
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.
The entire sequence — the angel's descent, the binding of Satan, the resurrection of the martyrs, the final defeat of evil — depicts the divine actively ordering the unfolding of cosmic affairs 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 entire passage is a description of final, collective cosmic judgment: the beast and false prophet are sentenced to eternal fire, the armies are destroyed, and the cosmos is restored under Christ's rule.
A ritual intended to drive out an unwanted possessing or afflicting spirit from a person or place, restoring it to its unafflicted state. Distinct from spirit_conjuration (the operator summons and binds a spirit that was not already present, rather than expelling one) and from possession (the affliction this ritual answers, not the ritual itself).
The binding and casting of Satan into the abyss, sealed over him 'that he should deceive the nations no more,' functions as the expulsion of an unwanted afflicting entity from the cosmic order.
The final defeat of the devil, beast, and false prophet and the eternal torment of evil represent the final renovation and restoration of the cosmos to its proper order.
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 martyrs who reign with Christ for a thousand years constitute a corporate, trans-historical people with a cosmic destiny that no ruler or power can govern, surviving death to participate in divine rule.
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 angels, the abyss, the lake of fire, and the beast — a non-physical dimension of reality interpenetrating the physical world and affecting embodied life.
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
The divine is conceived as intensely active and dynamic — smiting nations, treading the winepress, ruling with a rod of iron, and executing final judgment — not an abstract principle.
A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.
The beheaded martyrs who 'worshipped not the beast' and 'received not the mark' form a spiritual elite predestined for the first resurrection, contrasted with the hylic masses who follow the beast.
The lake of fire burning with brimstone and the fire that comes down from heaven to devour the nations function as fire as medium of divine judgment and purification.
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
The name 'King of Kings, and Lord of Lords' written on the garment and thigh carries ontological authority, functioning as a sacred name that confers and declares sovereign power.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The sword proceeding from Christ's mouth and the angel's loud cry that summons the birds both illustrate the causal-magical force of the spoken word altering reality directly.