Revelation 19:16

He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written
Thigh is μηρὸν [mēron] : “The part of the leg somewhere above the knee.”¹ Written is γεγραμμένον [gegrammenon] , perfect tense: having been written . Like the name written that no one knew except Himself (Rev. Rev. 19:12+).

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
King of kings is βασιλεὺς βασιλέων [basileus basileōn] . Lord of lords is κύριος κυρίων [kyrios kyriōn] . Each phrase involves two words which have the same lexeme² in a relationship indicating the supreme member: the supreme King among kings, the supreme Lord among lords.³ This usage is carried over from the OT (Deu. Deu. 10:17; Ps. Ps. 136:3) and reflects the lack of comparative and superlative forms in Hebrew.⁴

When the final bowl of judgment is poured forth, then the proclamation attending the sounding of the seventh trumpet will be an accomplished reality: “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Rev. Rev. 11:15+).⁵

All the crowns of history will be recognized for what they are: usurpers who were unqualified to rule in the place of Messiah. The dragon had seven heads, each with a crown (Rev. Rev. 12:3+). One of the heads had ten horns which were also found on the Beast. Each of the horns had a crown (Rev. Rev. 13:1+). The crowned heads on the dragon represent seven world empires. The crowned horns (all on the seventh head) of the Beast represent ten kings at the time of the last Beastly empire. All of these various heads and horns had contested for the position which alone belongs to Christ, the King of kings. Christ will obtain the kingdom, but it will be achieved according to the will of the Father (John John 4:34) and not by the avenue offered by Satan (Luke Luke 4:5-8).

The assumption of the rule of the world will likewise bring with it the great desideratum of the race. When Adam was in Eden God was king. In the days of Israel’s greatest triumph it was the same. And until the original Theocracy is restored, and the powers of heaven again take the rulership and control of the nations, there is no peace, no right order for man. There is no earthly blessing like that of good, wise, and righteous government; but there is no such government outside of the government of the Father and the Son. Some are better than others, but none are satisfactory. Men have experimented with power for 6,000 years, and yet there is no department in which there is more disability, corruption, and unsatisfactoriness than in the administrations of government.⁶

Previously, the angel explained to John that Christ would overcome the Beast and his ten kings, “for He is Lord of lords and King of kings” (Rev. Rev. 17:14+).

---

Notes

¹ James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997), G3382.

² “Lexeme: n. A minimal unit in the semantic system of a language; the words listed in a lexicon, as opposed to all the grammatical variants that the lexeme can produce (buy in relation to buys, bought, buying, buyer, etc.).”—Matthew DeMoss, Pocket Dictionary for the Study of New Testament Greek (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2001), 79.

³ “A further subset of the genitive of subordination category might be ‘the genitive in relation to a par excellence noun’ (though, at times, the nuances depart some from the subordination notion). That is, rarely a genitive indicates the class of which the head noun is the supreme member. When this occurs, both head noun and genitive noun have the same lexeme. For example, note βασιλεὺς βασιλέων [basileus basileōn] in Rev. Rev. 19:16+; ἅγια ἁγίων [hagia hagiōn] in Heb. Heb. 9:3 (where the meaning is not strictly speaking that of subordination, just par excellence).”—Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics - Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House and Galaxie Software, 1999, 2002), 103.

⁴ “Since Hebrew lacked the comparative and superlative forms, some sort of circumlocution was necessary to suggest this notion. Often a genitive having the same lexeme as the head noun (or adj.) was so used, as here. Such expressions were rare in Greek; most in the NT are due to Semitic influence and many are stock phrases from the OT.”—Ibid., 298.

⁵ The MT and NU texts have kingdom rather than kingdoms: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. Rev. 11:15+). See commentary on Revelation 11:15.

⁶ J. A. Seiss, The Apocalypse: Lectures on the Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1966), 423.