So you see two earthly armies in Revelation 19? One arrayed against Christ and one doing His Will? But the remnants of the army of the kings and beast are not bird food but the inhabitants of Jerusalem? Please point out the modifiers for each. Still quite foggy.
Here is some help with the modifiers:
Revelation 19:17-18 KJV
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 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 on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.(KJV)
Ok above tells us who will be bird food. It is not the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Then we have this:
Revelation 19:19-21 KJV
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.(KJV)
So this has nothing to do with Jews and Jerusalem. The entire passage is telling us the Beast, the kings of the earth and THEIR armies are arrayed against Christ. These armies are defeated. If these armies are Roman and the beast are a series of Roman emperor beasties then they were to meet their demise and not be a victorious army as history clearly records.
Christ sent the Roman Armies to defeat the Jewish Armies; not just at Jerusalem, but in other Israeli cities. The army of Josephus was defeated at or near Galilee--I don't recall the exact circumstances.
Only "tongue in cheek" did I claim the Roman Armies were the "good guys." I had explained that point earlier. I guess you missed it. God on occasion used evil people, already destined for judgement, to carry out his judgements; for example his use of Nebuchadnezzar and his armies against Jerusalem. The same with the Roman armies.
>>>But the remnants of the army of the kings and beast are not bird food but the inhabitants of Jerusalem? Please point out the modifiers for each. Still quite foggy.<<<
I believe I implied it is quite foggy to me too. One thing I am fairly certain of is, much of this is from Old Testament imagery. To take it literally is to do great violence to the scriptures.
>>>Ok above tells us who will be bird food. It is not the inhabitants of Jerusalem.<<<
That was referring to the slain inhabitants of Jerusalem, and possibly the slain from other areas of Israel, such as Galilee, who literally suffered the same fate. Moses prophecied that fate for Jerusalem, primarily; but for Israel, in general:
"And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away." (Deut 28:26)
Jeremiah targeted Jerusalem, and mentioned all key prophecies in one short passage:
"And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem [by the destruction of the temple] in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies [the Roman armies], and by the hands of them that seek their lives [their own people inside the city]: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth [that is exactly what happened]. And I will make this city desolate [that is also history], and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege [even that horrible thing happened during the siege] and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them." (Jer 19:7-9 KJV)
That was, in a nutshell, the destiny of old Jerusalem, aka, Babylon the Great.
Moses also prophesied the siege of Jerusalem, and the cannibalism that occurred inside the city during the siege, as well as the ultimate destiny of Israel, which included this passage of the Lord rejoicing over their destruction:
"And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind … " (Deut 28:63-65)
Why would the Lord rejoice over her? Maybe because of the blood of the prophets, apostles and saints that was shed by her; which is not intended, in any way, to marginalize the blood of prophet named the Lord:
"Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her." (Rev 18:20)
There is much more. I would recommend everyone study Deuteronomy 28 before making any judgements about the book of Revelation. Jeremiah 13 is another informative read.
>>>So this has nothing to do with Jews and Jerusalem. The entire passage is telling us the Beast, the kings of the earth and THEIR armies are arrayed against Christ.<<<
Who was arrayed against Christ? Nero, for forty and two months; and the Jews for the entire period after the beginning of Christ's ministry. There was no one else until much later, under Domitian: and his persecutions were mild compared to the tyrant, Nero. Yes, Nero was known as the tyrant.
The persecutions under Nero began in the latter part of '64 and ended on June 9, '68, upon his suicide. That was prophesied in this passage:
"And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months." (Rev 13:5)
Nero thought of himself as a god, or the God. It was risky business not to worship, or pay homage to his many images scattered throughout the empire. The extent of his authority was also mentioned as "world-wide," which in those days meant the Roman Empire:
"And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." (Rev 13:7)
Redleghunter, the scriptures are heavily stacked against a futurist interpretation, and all the time references are against it. Are you sure you want to continue this "gotcha" routine? Or would you rather care to explore all possibilities? I have quite a few questions myself that I would like the answer to. This is some very puzzling stuff. Even with the help of similar old testament imagery, a good chunk of it is still a great mystery.
Philip