Either the scenes in Rev 19 are literal or symbolic. The difference is easy to determine given the elements employed. However, we also note that John begins his book with a clear statement about the writing style in the first verse, Rev 1:1 -
- NKJV: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
- HCSB: The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave Him to show His slaves what must quickly take place. He sent it and signified it through His angel to His slave John,
- BLB: The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants what things it behooves to take place in quickness. And He signified it through having sent His angel to His servant, John,
- ERV: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to shew unto his servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John;
- LSV: A revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave to Him to show to His servants what things must quickly come to pass; and He signified [it], having sent through His messenger to His servant John,
- YLT: A revelation of Jesus Christ, that God gave to him, to shew to his servants what things it behoveth to come to pass quickly; and he did signify it, having sent through his messenger to his servant John,
Thus, generally, we would expect the material in the book of Revelation to be written in signs and symbols.
Rev 19 contains several scenes:
- Rev 19:1-5 is about the destruction great "prostitute" (clearly symbolic) and the smoke rising forever, also symbolic
- Rev 19:6-10 is about the marriage of the Lamb (a symbol of Christ) to the bride (a symbol of the church)
- Rev 19:11-16 is about the rider on the white horse who is described in identical terms to that in Rev 1, a symbolic description of Jesus, whose robe is dipped in blood - another symbol of Jesus' sacrifice. The armies of heaven also ride white horses dressed in the same white linen which in V8 is "the righteous acts of the saints", another fitting symbol.
- Rev 19:17-21 - the great supper - see detailed analysis below.
Rev 19:17-21 - The Great Supper of God
Again, either the great supper is literal or symbolic. Based on the above material, we might expect it to be represented as symbolic, but what is the evidence? we have the following elements to the prophecy:
- an angels stands in the sun - clearly symbolic
- birds fly overhead of the angel - clearly symbolic
- the "supper" consists of eating the following food: flesh of kings, commanders, horses, mighty men, everyone, slave and free (note that if an angels stands in the sun, literally, he cannot cry out as his voice is in space where there is no atmosphere to carry the sound
- the beast is clearly symbolic
- the false prophet is symbolic because it is also the third lamb-like beast of Rev 13:11-18
- the beast and false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire which is also symbolic because death and Hades are also destroyed in this same "lake" (Rev 20:14)
- the others were killed with the sword from the mouth of Jesus/Lamb on the horse, also symbolic
The evidence is clearly that this scene in Rev 19:17-21 is symbolic. Making it literal would destroy the message and make it collapse under the weight of its own absurdities.