The Marriage of the Lamb, Part 2

Revelation 19 verse number 7 there is cause for rejoicing the greatest event in redemptive history happ in Revelation chapter 19. The apex of redemptive history is Revelation chapter 19. Everything you've longed for, everything that you want as a believer, everything that you anticipate, everything that you want to see happen Happens in Revelation 19. Verse number 7: Let us rejoice and be glad, and give the glory to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his bride has made herself ready. And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean.

For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And he said to me, Write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. They said to me, These are true words of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. In the first six verses of Revelation chapter 19, there are the heavenly hallelujahs.

And there is a cause for rejoicing because Of the majesty of our God, for who He is and what He has done. We saw that we were to give hallelujah to His name because of His wonderful, redeeming mercy. For his wonderful righteous victory, for his wonderful act of removing iniquity, and to praise him for his reigning majesty. Our God reigns, He rules supreme. And so heaven is filled with rejoicing, it's filled with hallelujahs because of what God is now going to finally do.

Of course, in His own. Timetable. The second cause for rejoicing, the first, of course, is the majesty of our Lord.

The second is because of the marriage of the Lamb. It's come. The text specifically says, rejoice. Be glad. Give gl. Why? Because the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. That's why you are to rejoice. And there are two parts to her preparation that you need to get. The first part of her preparation is when she is redeemed.

The second part of her preparation is when she receives her reward. And upon those two aspects, she is now ready to be presented to those upon earth, and therefore the marriage supp of the lamb t place. Turn me to Revelation 21 for a moment because this helps us understand a little bit more of the consummation of that wedding feast. It says in verse number one of Revelation 21, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.

And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made re as a bride adorned for her husband. Now, this could mean nothing more that when the new Jerusalem comes down, she looks like a bride adorned for her husband. But it could also mean that this bride, the glorified saints and the New Jerusalem, going into the eternal state, the question comes: is The bride the church? Or is the br the city? The answer to that is yes. It 's both the church that occupies. The city. Over in verse number 9, it says this: And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the lamb.

They carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, her brilliance. was like a very costly stone as a stone of crystal clear jasper. The bride, listen very carefully, is the church that occupies the city. When the full consummation takes place, that bride includes Old Testament saints. That bride includes the church. That bride includes redeemed Israel. That bride includes tribulational martyrs who died and rose again.

At the second coming of Christ. That bride encompasses redeemed humanity. That's the exciting thing. The apex of redemptive history. That's all point number one.

Point number two. That's what we going to move on tonight. We talked about the cause for rejoicing. How about the clothes of the redeemed? That's in verse number eight. Back to Revelation chapter 19. It says, And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Two things I want you to see about the clothes of the Redeemed. Number one, the impartation of those clothes.

And number two, the import of those clothes. This bride is arrayed with what God has given to her. When she was saved, when you were saved, when the bride came to Christ. And the bride, of course, is the church of Christ. When we came to Jesus Christ, he clothed us with his righteousness. He became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He imputed righteousness. To us, he charged to our account righteousness, and now the glorified church has a garment all her own. For now it's her righteous acts that are fine and clean and bright.

Now she is righteous through and through. Now she has more than just imputed righteousness. She has imparted right. Now she is fully righteous. Right now you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. So when God the Father looks down from heaven, he sees Christ's righteousness on you. That is your standing for God. Just like Christ did not become Sinful, but he bore our sin in his body. So that when he hung on the cross for three hours, the world became dark because he took our sin upon him. And God the Father could no longer look upon sin that was being laid upon his Son.

He didn't become sinful, but our sin was laid on him. He did that. Why? So that His righteousness then would be laid upon us. So although we are not righteous through and through, we are declared right before God. That is the act of justification. So, when God the Father looks down upon us, He sees the righteousness of Christ. And then, when we go to heaven, our bodies now become glorified and we are righteous through and through. There is no more sin in our bodies. And that's why this is the apex of redemptive history.

Because when we go home to be with the Lord, there's no more sin. See, one of the problems that we have anticipating the return of the Lord is because we're comfortable with our sin. We're comfortable living a sinful lifestyle. But those of us who are uncomfortable with that, then are looking forward to the day in which we will be totally clean, through and through, totally righteous, through and through, because we are like Him. For we have seen him as he is. And John would say in 1 John 3 that when we see him, we'll be like him.

For we've seen him as he is. We'll be glorified. The text says that she is clothed with fine lin, br and clean. Fine linen, bright and clean. Turn back to chapter 15 for a moment. Revelation chapter 15, verse number 6. It says this. And the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple clothed in linen, clean and bright. Hmm. Somehow, those glorified bodies are going to have the same kind of cleanliness, same kind of holiness. Same kind of spotlessness as those angels who are in heaven.

So the garments of these Righteous saints is the same as the garments of angels. It says they're bright. It's the word lampron, which means glistening, which means radiant. The bright and clean. Kath, which means pure, undefiled. Same word used over in 21, verse number 18, when it says this. Revelation 21, verse number 18. And the material of the wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold like clear glass. That's the heavenly city. And then it talks about it over in verse number 21. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls.

Each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold-like transparent. Glass, so clean it's almost as if you're transparent. That's the cl of the redeemed. There has been an impartation. We have been made righteous. At this point in our life, we are declared right before God. But when we go to heaven, We receive complete righteousness. Which leads me to the importance of this whole thing. The important thing is, are you dressed in the righteousness of Christ? Are you clothed in the robe of righteousness?

If not, You can't attend the wedding feast. It's not for you. We'll see this point number three: the command to record.

Back to Revelation chapter 19. And he said to me, Who's he? That's well, that's an angel. The angel's been talking all the way through chapter 19. Addressing John, write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Notice with me the invitation and then the implications.

Blessed are those who are invited. This is the the fourth beatitude of the book of Revelation. There are seven beatitudes. We've tried to point them out to you as we have gone through the book of Revel. The first one, of course, was in Revelation chapter 1, verse number 3, right at the outset of the book.

The next one was not to Revelation 14, verse number 13, where it says, Blessed are they who die in the Lord. So blessed are the dead. And then in Revelation chapter 16, verse number. 15 was another beatitude, and there it talks about: blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and men see his shame. And now, the fourth Beatitude. There will be three more that we will discuss before the end of our study in the book of Revel. But it reminds me that the book of Revelation is about a blessing.

It's a book that blesses you. You think that a book with all this judgment and retribution and vindication by God, the vengeance of God being poured out upon man. Would be anything but a blessing, but the book of Revel is about a blessing. A blessing? Think about that. You want your life to be blessed? You want to know the blessing of God? You want to know what it means to find favor with God? You want to know what it means for God to really truly bless your life and every aspect of your life? Then you need to know the book of Revelation because the book of Revelation is about the blessing of.

Of God for your life. The angel says, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Question is: who's invited? Who's invited? Well, the bride's not invited. Why? Because the bride does the inviting, right? My wife wasn't invited to our wedding. She invited people to our wedding. She was the bride. The text says, Blessed are those who are invited. Well, we know that's not the bride because the bride issues the invitation. Who are the invited guests? That's a good question.

The inv Are always called by the Lord Himself. That's important. It says over in 1 Corinthians 1, verse number 9: God's faithful. Through whom you are called into fellowship with the Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Romans chapter 1, verse number 6 says, We are called of Jesus Christ. Ephesians:: says that we are to walk worthy of our calling. But remember, Back in Revelation chapter 3, verse number 20, it says these words: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens his door, I will come into him and will dine with him, and he.

With me. Listen, we will never fully understand the implications of what it means to dine with him until Revelation chapter 19. Question is who's been invited? Turn back with me if you would to Matthew chapter 8. It says in verse number 5, and when he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, entreating him, and saying, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering great Pain. They said to him, I will come and heal him. And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof, but Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

For I too am a man under authority with soldiers unto me. And I say to this one, go, and he goes, and to another, come and he comes. And my slave do this, and he does it. Now when Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who were following, Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. Great faith. Here was a Gentile. He says, in all my time in Israel, I have not found anyone with this kind of faith. And this man wasn't even a Jew. Now look what he says next.

And I say to you, that many shall come from the east and west and recline at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Where? In the kingdom of heaven. Wow. Now you got to be a rabbi. Listen to this and be absolutely shock. Why? Because you see, the rabbis taught there would be no Gentiles at the Jewish feast with the Messiah. Just Jewish people. And Christ is saying that those who are going to recline with me And dine with me alongside of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the faithful people. That would include the Gentile people.

And then listen to what he says. But the sons of the kingdom, who's that? That's the Jews in Jerusalem who rejected the king, who were first offered the kingdom through their father Abraham.

Those people shall be cast out into outer darkness in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. What an incredible statement. Christ is including Gentile people. Who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb to dine with He and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. What an amazing, amazing statement that those religious leaders Would not. Oh, they were offered the kingdom. They rejected the kingdom. They rejected the king who ruled in the kingdom. They wanted no part of it.

And Christ says, the faithful are part of the invited guests, all belie. Abraham will be there, Isaac will be there, Jacob will be there, Enoch will be there, Noah will be there, Daniel will be there. Those in the Hebrew Hall of Faith and Hebrew 11 will be there. John the Baptist calls himself a friend of the bridegroom. He will admits he's an invited guest. He will freely states, Hey, I'm not the bride. I'm a friend of the bridegroom. I know I'm going to be there. So we know John the Baptist is going to be there.

The bride is someone very special. These Old Testament saints are invited guests. Tribulational martyrs are invited guests. Redeemed Israel is invited guests. And someone's going to come and say, you know, it seems kind of odd to me that the church. Should be treated so special that what makes the church so unique that they would be called the bride And everybody else would this then be an invited guest at the marriage feast. Why is the bride so special? What makes the church so great? Answer? Don't know.

But answer it with a question. Why was the nation of Israel God's chosen covenant people? And no other nation was. I don't know. God chose them. That was his choice. That's what he him wanted to do. But you need to understand this. That the wedding picture, the wedding imagery is just that it's imagery. Please understand that. It is imagery. It is not necessarily real. You need to grasp that. The image of the bride is a symbol of intimate union. Between the church and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

And the implications? Back to Revelation 19? What's it say? And he said to me, These are true words of God. And I fell. At his feet to worship him. John was amazed. John was absolutely astounded at what he heard and what he saw. Number four. The consequences to rem. Verse number 10. And I fell at his feet to worship him, and he said to me, Don't do that. I am a fellow servant of yours, and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is a spirit of prophecy.

Notice three things. Number one, the apostle's response. He fell down to worship the angel. The angel, Don't do that. Can't do that. That's wrong. Christ said in Matthew 4, verse number 10, you are to worship the Lord your God only. Colossians 2:18 says, You are not to worship angels. Not to worship them. But John is blown away by what he's heard. He's blown away by the truth. That's why it's a consequence to remember.

I was talking to one the guys in our church not too long ago saying, you what? You've got to go to Israel with me, man. It's just the greatest trip. It'll change your life. He, why do I got to go all the way to Israel to get my life changed when every time I come here on Wednesday and Sunday, my life is changed? He's right. He's right. That leads to put him to the angel's rebuke. He says, I'm a fellow servant of yours. I do what you do. I do what you do, John. You're a prophet. You're an apostle.

You're a preacher. Hebrews 1:1 says that we're ministering spirits, angels, angels are. He says, I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. What's that? That's the gospel. What's the gospel? It's a testimony of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ our Lord. That's a testimony of Jesus. He says, You know what my service is as an angel? To serve those who preach. The gospel. He says, I'm a fellow servant of yours. And your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus.

I'm here to serve you, John. I'm here to serve the brethren. Who holds to the testimony of Jesus Christ? That's what I do, John. Don't fall down and worship me. I'm a fellow servant, just like you are. And then, thirdly, another reminder: he says, worship God.

Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit A prophecy. Worship God, John. Why? Because that is the theme of redemptive history. Worship God. Remember back in Revelation 14, verse number 7, the angel flying around in mid-heaven. Fear God and what? Worship Him. John:, the Father seeks true. Worship. Why? Because that's what we do. When we get to heaven, we worship God. So the angel says to John, worship him. And so here's the consequence to remember.

Here's the practical application to the marriage up of the Lamb that's in the future. That's in the future. That one day we will be a part of because we are the bride of Christ. We have been imparted with the righteousness of Christ when we get to heaven. Perfectly holy as he is righteous, and clean as he is clean. And then, what are the consequences for us today? We need to be blown away by the truth. Completely blown away by the truth. And then we need to be reminded of the fact that we are to worship God.

Worship him because that's what God seeks. He seeks true worship. And the text says, For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of Prophecy. The heart and soul and breath of preaching is the testimony of Jesus Christ. That's the soul of all preaching. And you know what? Whenever you preach, you have angelic support. That's the text teaches. Whenever you preach, you have angelic support. Because that's what angels do. They're ministering spirits who serve you. And I'm a fellow sponsor of yours, John.

And I serve the brethren who hold to the testimony of the teaching of Jesus. Those who proclaim the gospel, I serve. Angels serve you when you preach the gospel. They serve you. Can't think of anything better to end on than a reminder to worship God. To worship Him. Wors is simply, I ready for this, the proper response to divine revel. May all of us learn to worship God for all that He's done and going to do. Let's pray together.