A Tale of Two Dinner Parties

There is an ugly misconception about skinny guys, like me, and it is that we don’t eat.  I get comments like, “Why don’t you eat?”  “Doesn’t your wife feed you?”  “Look at those skinny little arms!"  "You need to put some meat on those bones!”

I would like to set the record straight.  I eat.  I can put away the steak, cheeseburgers, pizza, ice cream and even healthy stuff like grilled chicken, fruit, salad, and pizza.  Ironically, those statements about my weight usually come at holidays from family members, after putting away a towering plate of food.  

Truth is, I enjoy a good hearty meal just as much as the next person.  There is nothing quite like trying a good new restaurant, grilling a T-Bone steak over hot coals, or gorging myself at Thanksgiving.  I mean, you can’t just not eat that last piece of pie!

Skinny or otherwise, I think we can all agree on the relative enjoyment of a well-prepared meal with family and friends.  Sharing a meal is always made better when the food is good and the company is too.  And this type of atmosphere is not something Americans invented—the joys of a wonderfully prepared and shared meal is universal, crossing all social, cultural, racial, ethnic, and political barriers from the dawning of time until it’s closing.

Additionally, I think we all have had experiences with bad meals too.  The salad is slimy.  The potatoes are over-salted.  The meat is undercooked.  There are times when, overall, a meal just isn’t that good, and the company you are with can’t make up for the puking you want to do.  

Revelation 19 is, in the words of an old professor of mine, “A Tale of Two Dinner Parties.”  On the one hand, there is a Divine Feast where both the food and company will be exponentially better than the best holiday gathering we could imagine.  And on the other hand, there is a Great Supper so vile it will make you wish you were eating spoiled potato salad and undercooked chicken.  

The first part of Revelation 19 is a sort of “Hallelujah Chorus” as a response to the just judgment of the “Great Whore” Babylon.  The socio-political system of oppression (and the individuals who ran it) is destroyed.  The joyful chorus is a fitting opposite to the wailing of the “Kings of the earth” who lamented at the smoke of Babylon’s burning.  There are three reasons for the singing in chapter 19:

1. Because God’s judgments are true and righteous
2. Because He has judged the Great Whore, responsible for corrupting the earth, and
3. Because He has avenged the blood of his servants

In sum, the “earth dwellers” oppressed and killed God’s people because God’s people refused to turn their backs on Jesus, and now because they refused to turn their backs on Jesus, that secures their invitation to the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb.”  

In Revelation 19.7-10, there are somewhat conflicting metaphors.  On the one hand, the people of God are described as the “Bride” of the Lamb who has made herself ready.  On the other hand, verse 9 declares “blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”  This does not reflect a contradiction, but rather reveals the dual nature of Christians.  We are two things at the same time.  We are the collective Body of Christ.  The Church, universal, is the “Bride”.  Yet, at the same time, the collective Body of Christ is made up of individual believers.  As an individual, I, personally, will be invited to a feast that will make Thanksgiving look like a midnight snack, and collectively, we as a body of believers will be united with Christ for all eternity.

One way or another, we get to eat!  It will prove to be the most fun we have ever had eating a meal together.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the other meal.  Revelation 19.11, begins a vision of Jesus’ coming on a white Horse.  We know it is Jesus based on the way the rider is described in verses 11-16 (identical phrases from those in chapters 2 and 3 and the Old Testament descriptions of Yahweh).  

If the Sea of Blood from 14.20 made you uncomfortable, the vision in chapter 19 might make you nauseous.  First, there is a declaration from an angel, calling all birds to gather for the Great Supper of God.  If you have seen Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller “The Birds”, you may have some idea of how haunting this vision actually is.  A single cardinal may strike wonder in a small child (while a Cubs fan will tell it to “Go back to St. Louis!”).  An eagle soaring in the sky appears majestic.  Even a large flock of birds migrating south for the winter may be an awe-inspiring sight.  However, a Hitchcock-esque sky so full of birds that it appears to be a giant cloud blocking out the blue sky—that would be terrifying.  Even more terrifying would be if they went on the attack.  

Yet that is the scene at the end of chapter 19.  Verse 18 indicates the reason for the calling of all birds: “So That you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small” (NIV, emphasis mine).  At that, the Sea Beast and Land Beast (both introduced in chapter 13) are seized and thrown into the lake of Fire.  

Finally, while those who had endured oppression and martyrdom at the hands of God’s enemies find themselves feasting with God, those very enemies of God find themselves being the carrion of the avian world: “The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh” (19.21, NIV, emphasis mine).  This truly is a tale of two meals: A great feast shared with great friends, and rotting-flesh bird food.  

If Jesus could take water and turn it into fine wine, imagine what he could do with a rack of ribs and some barbecue sauce!  I certainly hope to find out some day.  And while I think the ribs in the restored Heaven and Earth will be unbelievable, I don’t think this is meant to portray two literal feasts happening simultaneously.  Rather, it metaphorically depicts the ultimate fate of those who worship Jesus without backing down, and of those who do not.  

For those who worship Jesus alone, even in the face of cultural pressure to renounce their faith, their end reward will be eternal fellowship with other believers and with God.  The joy we will experience will be akin to the most wonderful meal we have ever eaten and shared.  For those who pressure Christians into giving up their faith, or for those who do give up, their eternal fate will be as undignified as being the rotten flesh on which vultures of the world feast—perhaps even worse.  

And so, in the overall context of the book, this chapter is not meant to whet our appetite for literal divine food (though literal food is sure to appear in the restored Heaven and Earth).  Nor is it meant to gross us out at the thought of Hitchcock’s “Birds” pecking out our internal organs.  Instead, it is meant to further encourage believers who are experiencing cultural pressure to conform to pagan idolatry and behavior to stand firm in the face of such pressure.  In the end, they will be rewarded if they “Conquer”, and those pressuring them will ultimately receive the penalty they deserve.  

Metaphorically speaking, at the end of time, there will be two meals.  There will be two tables set for a feast like none other: one table where the faithful share a wonderful feast with God and each otherr, and another table where the faithless will be bird food.  When that time comes, at which table will you sit?