Revelation 19:14

‘And the armies which are in Heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure.'

In the Old Testament one of the names of God was ‘the Lord of Hosts'. Here we may well therefore see His ‘hosts'. Angels are regularly seen as clad in white and He Himself told us that He would come with the angels when He comes to judge (Matthew 16:27; Matthew 25:31). This could therefore be intended simply to refer to Christ coming with His angels, an event He regularly described (Matthew 16:27; Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; compare Matthew 13:41; Matthew 13:49; Matthew 24:31; see also Revelation 12:7).

In Revelation 19:8 we have a similar description, that of His church the Bride, ‘dressed in fine linen, bright and pure'. But there the clothing is not white for the bride is dressed in her finery, and white for a bride was a later innovation. On the other hand she would, of course, appear before God dressed in white (Revelation 7:14). And certainly in 1 Thessalonians 4:14 there is the suggestion that God will bring His resurrected people ‘with Him', and that He will meet those who are ‘raptured' in the air. Thus it may well be that we are to see in His following both angels and redeemed men.

But what is being stressed is the total purity of these followers, whether men or angels. There is no suggestion of their being armed. They come as spectators and to carry out various functions in the mopping up after the defeat. They will not be required to fight. For all their posturing the enemy are a defeated foe.