Revelation 19:17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
Now, as the birds hover en masse over the battlefield at the angel’s beckoning, John sees the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and against His army (v. 19). Their resistance to Christ belies their delusional belief that they have an opportunity to win – and worse, their apparent conviction that they are in the right. What compels sinful men and women to entertain the notion that they can defeat the Almighty or change the course of human history? Joseph A. Seiss comments: We may wonder how rational men could be carried with one impulse into an attempt so daring and so absurd; but when people put the truth from them, and submit themselves to the Devil’s lead, what is there of delusion and absurdity into which they are not liable to be carried? How many among us comfort and assure themselves in their selfishness and sins with the belief that either there is no God, or that he is too good and merciful to fulfill his threatenings upon transgressors? To this there needs to be added only one step more, to defy his judgments, and with that goes pledge of battle and declaration of war with his Omnipotence.
The Psalmist writes, “Why do the nations rebel and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and His Anointed One.” What is the Lord’s response to this human madness? “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them. Then He speaks to them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath” (Ps. 2:1-2, 4-5). Seiss once again remarks, “What failure of love, what exhaustion of grace, what emptying of the sea of his infinite mercies, what decay and withdrawal of all kindly interest and affection must have occurred that there should be this laugh!”. And yet for the beast and his armies, this is no laughing matter. In self-delusional futility; in the most vile hatred of a creature toward his Creator; in utter abandonment of all decency, the beast charges straight into the blade of the Jesus Christ’s sword.
J.F. Walvoord and R.B. Zuck comment: “The same inspired Word of God which so wonderfully describes the grace of God and the salvation which is available to all who believe is equally plain about the judgment of all who reject the grace of God. The tendency of liberal interpreters of the Bible to emphasize passages dealing with the love of God and to ignore passages dealing with His righteous judgment is completely unjustified. The passages on judgment are just as inspired and accurate as those which develop the doctrines of grace and salvation. The Bible is clear that judgment awaits the wicked, and the second coming of Christ is the occasion for a worldwide judgment unparalleled in Scripture since the time of Noah’s flood”
Phillips, Rob. The Searcher’s Guide to the Apocalypse: A Verse-by-Verse Quest to Understand the Book of Revelation . Unknown. Kindle Edition.
