1. Revelation 19:17 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

When is the time of the birds' supper?

Revelation 19:17 (ESV)

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,

The date of the birds' dinner is not mentioned. Commentators are quick to project the events of this paragraph into the future (from today’s perspective) and indicate that this avian dinner will occur on the Last Day (and the place is designated as the Middle East). However, the book of Revelation was given to the church some two thousand years ago to relate the things that must soon take place (Revelation 1:1). Much of what is prophesied in this book has already taken place, be it not once-off events but as happenings that occur again and again over the years and centuries of the New Testament dispensation. That includes the deadly activity of the sword of Jesus’ mouth and the efforts of kings to gather their armies to fight against the Rider of the horse. On every inhabited continent, countless wars have been fought over the centuries as a result of people rejecting the gospel (Leviticus 26:24–25; Amos 4:10; Matthew 24:2) and birds cleaned up the dead (Matthew 24:28). That pattern will repeat itself until Jesus returns. We have been foretold and ought not to be alarmed at the prospect.