Modern Amillennialism (or Now Millennialism, NowMil for short) creates a strawman by saying “all flesh” in Rev. 19:17-18 refer to “all of mankind without exception” first by (1) double standard, (2) eisegesis, (3) selective bias, (4) scripture twisting, and (5) accusing the Lord of attempting genocide.

1) Double standard because they say Revelation is full of symbols and figures yet they make self-serving exception for Rev. 19:17-18 . Why can’t it be a hyperbole? But we’re not saying it is a hyperbole, see #2, #3, & #4 below. The point is this: NowMil is guilty of double-standard which is a form of intellectual dishonesty because they do this very thing.

2) Eisegesis because they imported a foreign meaning into the text to contradict authorial intent. The author of Revelation assumes we know that there will be survivors because after 1,000 years of the reign of the people of God, there still be enemies able gather in massive number surrounding the beloved city where the saints are encamped (Rev. 20:7-10). Furthermore, in Rev. 22:2, it says the “leaves of the tree” in the beloved city is for healing the nations. Why would it say nations will need to be healed if the survivors were not in the mind of the author? Also, Rev. 19:15 tells us the “sharp sword” from the mouth of the “Word of God” is meant to strike down the nations and rule them with rod of iron, not to wipe them all out, why would he write that if there will be no more nations to rule?

3) Selective bias because they only want to pick on Rev. 19:17-18 and want us to ignore its correlation with Zechariah 14:16 which tells us that after the attack (Zec. 14:2), when the Lord fights for his people (Zec. 14:3), there would still be survivors (Zec. 14:16) who will pay tribute to the Lord. Are they assuming that the author of the book of Revelation was unaware of what Zec. 12-14 prophesied before him?

(4) Scripture twisting because not only did they add foreign meaning into the text, something that contradicts the authorial intent (eisegesis, see #2), they also twist the intent of the author in the text which tells us that only combatants are being referred to, see Rev. 19:19, “gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army”. In the narrative, they’ve been gathering as early as Rev. 16:14-16. Even the “rest” in Rev. 19:21 based on context, authorial intent, and correlation with Zec. 12-14 can only mean “the rest of the combatants”.

(5) Accusing the Lord of attempting genocide because as explained above (see #2 and #4), with their scripture twisting, led them to the conclusion that all will be killed including non-combatants. They even fail to account the survivors of the Great Earthquake in Rev. 11:13, who, after witnessing the rapture of the two witnesses, got terrified and glorified God at the end of the 3.5-year Great Tribulation. Why would the Lord mercilessly kill them too since that is the eternal gospel proclaimed by the angel in Rev. 14:6-7?

Context in the Revelation Narrative Framework

Rev. 16:14 says, “They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY.” Indicating that the deceived kings are going to gather their armies to the great day of God almighty (Compare this with Psalm 2:1-3). This gets picked up in Rev. 19:17 as the Great Supper of God, “And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, ‘Come, gather together for the GREAT SUPPER OF GOD.'”  (Compare this with Ezekiel 39:17). The constitution of these armies are stated in Rev 19:18 this way, “so that you may eat the FLESH OF KINGS, GENERALS, and the MIGHTY, of HORSES and their RIDER, and the FLESH OF ALL PEOPLE, FREE and SLAVE, GREAT and SMALL.” Although “the flesh of all people are mentioned” we know that the context of these all people is already given in Rev. 16:14. On top of that, their make up is also visualized in Rev 19:19, as the gathered kings and their armies,

“Then I saw THE BEAST and THE KINGS of the earth and THEIR ARMIES gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. “

Rev. 19:19

As you can see “the flesh of all people” are qualified by all that gathered in the GREAT DAY OF GOD almighty in Rev. 16:14 which is concluded in the GREAT SUPPER OF GOD in Rev. 19:17, and their make up is given by Rev. 19:18 as “THE BEAST and THE KINGS of the earth and THEIR ARMIES” and not ALL the EARTH DWELLERS.

Analogea Scripturae

Aside from the context within the Revelation narrative framework we can also appeal to the hermeneutical principle of analogea scripturae or analogy or correlation of scriptures, the Whole Bible Biblical Context also says in many places that there will be survivors, here are some of them:

“Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the LORD have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.” (Ezekiel 36:36)

“I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations–to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations.” (Isaiah 66:19)

“He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.” (Psalm 110:6)

“…and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. …on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 10)

And so here were are wondering are they not aware of the warnings in Revelation 22:18-19? Or maybe they just disregard the warnings because they know that these survivors poses a great threat against their eschatological framework?