Revelation 19:1-10

All right, we’re going to turn to the Book of Revelation this morning and chapter 19. As we start another chapter here, we’re getting toward the end of the book. Lord willing, I’d like to look at the first ten verses of chapter 19 of the book of Revelation. Now, what was supposed to be a short study has turned into quite a lengthy study. In fact, next week it’ll be exactly one year as we started this study. So it’s been quite a lengthy study overall. But today we want to look at the first part of chapter 19. And I’ll commence reading with verse 1. And after these things, I heard a great voice of money. people in heaven saying, Hallelujah, Salvation and glory and honor and power under the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his judgments, for he have judged the great horror, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenge the blood of his saints, or excuse me, his servants at her hand. And again, they say, Alleluia, and our smoke rose up forever and ever. and the four and 20 elders, the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne saying, amen, alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne saying, praise our God all ye servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and the voice of many waters. and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigning. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteous. of the saints. And he saith unto me, right, Blessed are they which are called under the marriage supper of the land. He saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, see thou do it not. I am my fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. May God bless to us His sacred and holy word. Now in the previous chapters, we have seen the vows of judgment poured out upon the beast and Babylon in chapter 16. In Revelation 17 and 18, we saw the judgment of the great whore, Babylon, which we have identified according to Revelation 118 as Jerusalem. That has been described. But what about the demise of the beast? What about the false prophet that have been, both of those mentioned in chapter 13, of the book of Revelation, the other two great enemies of the people of God. It would be easy for us, perhaps, just to focus on the suffering of the saints, and there’s much suffering of the saints that’s found in the Book of Revelation. However, the book you recall, is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, as the Lord of Glory, who reigns over all, who is victorious over all his act. enemies, and therefore the beast and the false prophet meet their doom here in chapter 19. And then when we get the chapter 20, the last enemy of the church, really, Satan himself, the dragon, will meet his end. And so we see that chapter 19 and 20 sort of finish off all the enemies of the church, and they’re all brought to… justice, so to speak, and God’s judgment. So the beast of the false prophet meet their doom in this chapter. This chapter assures God’s people of the advancement of His kingdom, Christ’s kingdom, in spite of all the opposition that they face. So we have the victorious Christ here that’s portrayed for us in this chapter. Now, the first part of this chapter is the Song of Triumph in heaven that we see in the first six verses here of Revelation 19. Now you recall in chapter 18, it ended with sort of a funeral dirge. They bemoaned the fact that Jerusalem of John’s Day has been destroyed. It’s never going to recover. It’s gone forever. And all those who love Jerusalem, whether it be the merchants, whether it be the kings of the land, whether it be the sailors and so forth, the people who transported the goods to the coastline of Israel and then brought it up to, that was brought up to Jerusalem for sale and so forth. They’ll all be amoning the fact. But here, in contrast to this, we saw a glimpse of this right at the end of chapter 18, we see what’s taking place in heaven here is that the saints are rejoicing. over the demise here of the heart at Babylon. Four hallurias are raised here in this section of Scripture. They praise God for the display of His salvation, his glory, his honor, his power, in judging the great horror. God has avenged the blood of his servants shed by her, and he’s done so an answer to the prayers of the saints that we’ve mentioned on several occasions as we’ve gone through this book. Chapter 6 is one occasion. We see the prayers of the saints going up for her help. so all his saints, the small and the great here, worship the Lord God omnipotent who reigns over all the world. He’s all powerful. None can stay his hand. He accomplishes his purposes. And so we see he is worthy of such praise. For conquering here, the first great enemy of the church apostate Israel. God’s enemies are impotent before him. There are no match for him. This is a great encouragement for the saints. One down, two earthly ones to go, and then, of course, Satan himself to follow. The Song of Triumph in Heaven. Any questions about this Song of Triumph? The next section here is in verses 7 to 10. We have the marriage of the Lamb that’s mentioned. Heaven announces here the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. This is a celebration that actually emerges the King’s Victory Celebration, in verses 1 to 6, with the joyous wedding feast in verses 7 to 10. Now, this reminds you of the royal wedding that’s mentioned in Psalm 45. When we sing Psalm 45, we usually, I don’t know, the early verse, I don’t know the early, I don’t know the early sections when we sing it, but I know when we sing the latter part of it, it has the wedding. The woman is arrayed, his bride is a raid, his bride is arrayed, and so forth, and brought to Christ. But if you look at the whole chapter, you see that Christ rides forth in the early part of Chapter 45 as the great warrior king, to go out and conquer his enemies, and then what follows that, is the wedding face. And so we see a similar pattern here in this chapter. The wedding bride, the church, and much rejoicing follows the conquering that’s done by the King Jesus. Revelation 19 announces the marriage supper of the Lamb, but it seems to be prophetic in nature, for it doesn’t describe the wedding here. In fact, there’s no wedding scene described because when we get to chapters 21 and 22, we find the marriage appears to have already taken place. But what is particularly emphasized here is first the apparel of the bride in verses 7 and 8, and then in verse 9, the blessedness of those who are called to the marriage supper. of the land. Those two things are what emphasized. Now, it might be helpful to us if we view this from the viewpoint of the Jewish marriage customs. If you go through scripture, you’ll find that first there is what we call the betrothal, which we call engagement in our day. This is more, than what we have as a modern engagement. Betroval in biblical times was much more binding upon individuals. In fact, there was an official public ceremony involved in it. It wasn’t done privately where you say, will you marry, you know, will you marry me, and they say yes, and so you’re engaged, and you maybe give her the engagement ring or something of that nature. But that’s sort of private. But in Biblical times, when one was engaged, it was like you were already married. In order to break the engagement, you had to divorce the person. And so it was pretty serious. There was a legal binding here of husband and wife, even though they haven’t come together, and even though the ceremony hasn’t taken place, it was almost as if they’re both committed to this before God to marry one another. Remember how John. Joseph being a righteous man when he was betrothed to Mary, before they came together, before they had sexual relations, before the marriage took place, Mary was found pregnant with a child, the Christ child, as we know. Joseph, who has called her husband, if you read the passage carefully, he’s called her husband, he’s called her husband. and even though he’s only betrothed to her, was going to quietly put her away. Divorce her, because that’s what it would take to break the betrothal, not wanting to publicly shame her. So that was how binding betrothal was where it was in biblical times. So we had the betrothal, and then we had a second period which we might call the interval, there was a waiting period between the trojaval and then the wedding and the wedding feast. And during this interval, the groom would pay the dowry to the father of the bride. Remember when Joseph wanted to marry Rachel, and he came to an agreement with Laban, her father, about the marriage, and then the arrangement was made that he was, he would negotiate a dowry, and his dowry was going to be, I’ll work for you seven years. And at the end of those seven years, then I’ll have paid my dowry and then we’ll get married. Well, Jacob, though, betrothed the rachel, had to wait, the interval. And then the marriage would take place. The third part is then the marriage procession itself. The bride prepares and adorns herself. The bride prepares and adorns herself. The bride, puts on his best clothes and is accompanied by his friends who are singing and carrying torches to the home of the bride. He receives the bride and then he conveys her with a returning procession of people to his own home or his parents’ home if he’s going to be staying there with her. In these situations, we feel find where the groom comes from a great distance away, sometimes there would be a wedding and feast would be at the bride’s home. Normally there was this procession that took place after the interval of paying the dowry. And then we have the wedding feast. Normally these marriage ceremonies could last up to a week. I remember Jesus went to the wedding at Cana. And so there was the wedding, and then there was the feast that followed where they had the wine and abundance and the food and so forth that we’re celebrating the wedding in John chapter 2. Now scripturally, if we look at this from a biblical point of view, we see the relationship of Christ to the church is that of husband to bride. And that’s what’s being portrayed here in the scripture before us. The church is the bride of Christ. The Song of Solomon, we’ve been looking at that, and we’ve been noticing how often that’s the main thrust of the book. Ephesians 5, Revelation 21, that will also emphasize this. Presently, the church is betrothed to Christ, and Christ has already paid the dowry. Remember what Paul said in. 2 Corinthians 11 too, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. We’re betrothed to Christ. You are bought with a price. Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. The church of God, which he have purchased with his own blood. So we are already the dowry has been paid. The interval or waiting period has come. The bride awaits Christ coming. The second coming of Christ. Now, Christ has ascended to the throne of heaven, and we’re now in that stage of the interval. You remember Matthew chapter 25 in the story about the parable of the ten verse. Where are they waiting for? They’re waiting for the bride to come, or the bridegroom to come. And they fall asleep while they’re waiting, and they have the lamps because usually comes at night. And they’re waiting for him. They want to be ready to follow him in the procession as he goes to get the bride. So Christ comes accompanied by his holy angels and his glorified saints, as the Bible indicates to us. There’s a sense. in which all the believers joyously accompany Christ then to the wedding and the wedding feast. Matthew 25, you read 1 through 13. The ones that didn’t have the oil in their lamp, remember, they get shut out. They can’t get in. The wedding and the supper include all the saints of God. And only then is the bride presented to Christ, as Ephesians 5 tells us, as a glorious church without spotter wrinkle. defects are gone. And now the wedding feast left. It goes on. Well, the wedding feast lasts forever. There’s eternal joy in heaven where we’re with Christ. So here is the situation that we have. This is the background for this passage of scripture. Now, how does Christ’s wife make herself ready? Because the Bible says here that the wife hath made herself ready. In verse 7. Now, almost all modern translations speak of the righteous acts of the saints as her clothing. I emphatically deny that this is a proper translation. For it teaches the error that we would be dressed at our own righteousness. Now, I don’t know about you. Well, I don’t want to be dressed in my own righteousness, because I don’t have anything that’s worthy of the right of being in Christ’s presence, in God’s presence with that. I think Moses Stewart in his commentary of revelation is correct. This plainly does not designate the good deeds and virtuous acts simply or principally of the saints. Or does something given to them? You notice that it says it’s granted that she would be clothed in this. I like what Paul says and if Philippians 3-9. And be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God. It’s a God-given righteousness by faith. That is the righteousness of the saints. The fine linen, clean and white, is the righteousness the saints. Yes. It’s ours. But it’s a righteousness given to us. It’s not wrong. You know, I like what Jeremiah says. In Jeremiah 236, he speaks of the Lord our righteousness. He’s our righteousness. You remember the parable of the marriage of the king’s son in Matthew chapter 22. I’ve referenced it so many times and we’ve read it several times. I don’t want to where he while, but it’s Matthew 22, 1 to 14. If you read toward the end, there’s a man there that lacks a wedding garment. Remember that? And he gets thrown out. He came dressed in his own righteousness. He didn’t put on the garment the king made available, which is Christ’s righteousness. Remember the lady to see in church. We mentioned it in chapter four. Excuse me, chapter 3. in verses 17 and 18 of Revelation. She’s declared to be naked by God. And what is she told to do? By, without money, and without price, according to Isaiah 55, white raiment that they may be clothed and not expose the shame of their nakedness. They need to be clothed. and he need to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Look at Revelation Chapter 7 in verses 13 and 14, if you would. One of the elders answered saying, what are these which are arrayed in white robes? And once came they? And I said it in him, sir, I’ll know us. And he said to me, these are they which came out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. That’s how they got white rose. They got righteousness from Christ to Lamb, and were washed. That’s how they got it. Now the bride here is made up of the vast multitude of saints here, and the righteousness of the saint is not inherited. It’s imputed. It’s not inherent either. It’s imputed. Otherwise, Christ would merely enableness. you to save yourself. So scripture makes this promise in Revelation 3.5, He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment. And so we see that is the case here. And of course, we will be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing as we’ve already mentioned. Revelation Chapter 526, or Ephesians 526 talks about that being without spot or wrinkle. Any questions about that aspect? The righteousness of the saints. Okay. Then we have the blessedness of those who are called under the marriage supper of the lamb in verse 9 here. Blessed are they which are called under the marriage supper of the lamb and he said unto me, these are the true sayings of God. Now this is not those who are outwardly called. by the gospel being proclaimed. But these are the ones who are effectually called by the Holy Spirit. And I think what Luke says, it’s interesting, if you compare Luke’s account with Matthew’s account. Matthew’s account has many servants going out and telling people to come to the supper. Where Luke, Sony has one servant, goes out, and he compels people to come to the, it’s the supper. May I suggest you, perhaps, what’s being taught there is one where involves the outward call of the many ministers of the gospel of Christ, where Luke emphasizes the one calling, the inward calling of the Holy Spirit, compelling people to come. We’ll look at that later sometime when we get there in Luke, Lord willing. Those called the salvation in you with Christ are those truly blessed. because they get to participate in the wedding and the marriage fees. Remember Christ ends the parable in Matthew 22 for many are called, but few are chosen. Many have an outward call, but only the chosen have the inward, effectual call of the spirit of God. And it’s God’s chosen before the foundation of the world, who respond in faith to the divine command, and enjoy the eternal fellowship with the Savior. And when we’ve been there 10,000 years, the honeymoon will still not be over. We’ll still be enjoying it. John has been completely awed by what he has seen. In verse 10, I fell at his feet to worship, and he said unto me, see thou do it not, I am. thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren, which have the testimony of Jesus, worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. He’s so completely odd that he falls down before the angel that has revealed this to him, and he is prepared to worship the angel. Now, this holy angel corrects him, saying, see, thou do it not. He gets corrected twice in this book for this. God alone is the proper object of your worship. Even the glorious holy angels are not to be worshipped. Colossians 218 emphasizes we’re not to worship angels. For they, like John’s brother, his fellow believers, are mere servants of God. The angels are servants of God, just like the people of God, are servants of God. all of them worship the Lord God. Jesus Christ received worship while he was over here on earth because he is God manifested in the flesh. He should be worshipped. The testimony of Jesus is the truth which Jesus declared. Christians hold fast to that truth as verse 10 indicates. The Holy Spirit Jesus said shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto thee. John 1614. This testimony of Christ is received by believers as God’s truth, and it is the spirit of prophecy. Without it, there is no New Testament prophecy. It is the vital element in the heart and the heart the soul of prophecy. What John is being told is explained to us is this. The book is about the revelation of Jesus Christ, and therefore it’s all about Christ. Without Him, there is no prophecy. There is nothing to be said. It’s the basis of this prophetic book. It’s about our Savior and his reign and his victory over his enemies. So we have the Lord’s Supper of the Lamb announced here. Any questions on this section of Revelation? Well, that’s where I’d like to break this morning at this point, and hopefully that has been helpful. There shouldn’t have been too much controversy over most of this. It’s pretty straightforward.