Revelation 19:2; True and Righteous Are His Judgments

Revelation 19:2 (KJV)  For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. 

The fairness and righteousness of God’s judgment furnished the reason for praise. An earlier song has celebrated this fact (Revelation 16:7) and another earlier song characterised God’s ways by the same two qualities (Revelation 15:3).

Revelation 16:7 (KJV)  And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. 

Revelation 15:3 (KJV)  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 

The two qualities characterised God’s judgments as being in accord with factual realities and equitable in their implementation. By now all men have made their choice between God and Satan. Universal worship of the beast and universal rejoicing over the deaths of the two witnesses mark the world not only as guilty but also as irreclaimable. The dwellers have hardened their hearts forever to a point that precludes any possibility of repentance (Kiddle). God’s judgment of those with this disposition is the special occasion of praise to God. The cause for praise in Revelation 5:12-13 was general but here it is special as the song continue to show.

The second clause of v2 supports the thought expressed in the first one by giving a typical example of the more general truth expressed there. It is not supportive of the first because divine judgment needs no justification or human approval, but rather because the second clause gives a concrete instance of the judgment that is proleptic retrospect occurred. That example is that He has judged the great harlot. The song celebrates the fulfilment of the promise implied in the title of the lengthy excursus on Babylon.

The object of judgment, the harlot, has now replaced the earth-dwellers as the chief persecutor of the saints. Under the fifth seal the souls under the altar prayed for God to avenge their blood from the latter, but this is rejoicing over the avenging of the former for the same reason as in Revelation 6:10, which uses the same two verbs, “I avenge’, that occurred in the last clause of this verse.

Revelation 6:10 (KJV)  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 

[Robert L. Thomas. Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody Press, 1995, 357-358]