Revelation Part 26

 

Revelation 19:7

 

In Revelation 19: 7-9 the Bible says,

 

"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his bride has 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 righteousness of saints. And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God."

 

At the beginning of this scripture passage John is telling us to do three things.

• Be Glad

• Rejoice

• Give honor to God

 

To be glad means to be happy and to be cheerful. The emphasis is on your attitude and your mood. To rejoice means to shout for joy and to exult. The emphasis is on the content of the words that you use as an expression of your joy. You do not understand Christianity if you are sad or depressed all the time. It might just be that you are not thinking about the right things. Yes I know that as we walk through the days we live in as the end approaches many things get worse and worse, but we need to adhere to the admonition of the apostle Paul when he gave us a list of things to think on:

 

Phillipians 4: 8: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things

 

If you think the right thoughts about that which is to come, then you will be glad and rejoice, then your speech will be a reflection what is on your heart and mind. Scripture tells us that in Luke 6: 45:

 

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh."

 

Of course, all of this joy and happiness will not be because of us and it will not come from us. It will be because of God and therefore we will honor Him for the plans that He has made for the future and the place that He has given us in those plans. To be happy as a Christian, we must be able to think about what is coming in the future. We must be eternity conscious I have repeatedly used this term over the last six years on our broadcast. If we fail in this our vision is "short sighted" and narrow and we cannot see the whole picture.

 

One of the things that God has planned for the future is what this passage of scripture calls the "marriage of the Lamb." This will be the time when the believers will be united with Christ as they have never been before. Jesus will be the groom and the church, which is made up of all believers, will be the bride. It’s easy to see why God chose a marriage to be symbolic of our eventual union with Christ. A marriage between a man and a woman is supposed to be the closest and most intimate of all human relationships. If you were wise when you got married and blessed of God, then your spouse was also your best friend. Jesus is the friend who sticks closer than a brother.

 

The final and ultimate joining of believers with Christ is compared to a marriage. That means that our current circumstance of waiting for His appearing is similar to the jewish state of "betrothal". We are betrothed to Christ, and we are promised to Him. When someone is engaged to be married; they already have a close and meaningful relationship with their future spouse but they look forward to the wedding day with great anticipation. Here in America and the west, it is an easy thing for someone to break off an engagement, but the picture God is giving us is of the old time "betrothal" as described in scripture. In our day and age we know very little of covenant. In our day and age a man’s word is no longer his bond. But back to this picture of betrothal and marriage, this same thing should be true concerning believers in Jesus. If you come to know the love of God through Christ, then you have come to know something that can touch your spirit as nothing else in life can do. Someone once said,

 

"The love of Jesus, what it is, none but His loved ones know."

 

You can cross every ocean, explore every continent, and visit every temple that has ever been built by the hand of man, but you will never find spiritual fulfillment until you find it in the person of and realtionship with Jesus Christ.

 

There is the greatness of the love of God through Christ, and there is the possibility of experiencing that love and having it transform your life; but there will always be more to know and more to experience about Him and His love; and the greatest fulfillment of your union with Christ will take place at the end of the Great Tribulation in what the Bible calls "the marriage of the Lamb." One of the benefits of being a Christian is the future that we have of being closer to God than we can ever imagine. No wonder that we are told to "be glad, and rejoice, and give honor to him."

 

If you have been born-again, if you have been saved from your sins, if you are a true believer in Jesus; then you are a part of the bride of Christ. The last portion of Revelation 19: 7 & 8 describes the bride of Christ. It says,

 

"…his wife has 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 righteousness of saints."

 

The bride of Christ is shown preparing herself for the wedding. That’s what brides do. They look forward to the wedding ceremony. They plan for it. They prepare for it. Are you planning and preparing for your meeting with Jesus Christ and your union with Him that will last forever? Jesus thought that it was important that we plan and prepare for that initial meeting with Him. In Matthew 24:44-47 Jesus said,

 

"Therefore, be you also ready, for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man is coming. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods."

 

To me this is a very clear, distinct warning concerning the rapture of the church. We must be ready. We must continually be walking in a state of readiness. We must know that our redemption draweth nigh.

 

There is a preparation that as believers we should be making in our own lives in order to get ready for the time when we become united forever with Christ, when we see Him face to face for the first time and are united with Him in heaven. There is also a preparation that God has done and is doing so that some of us can be there. No one will be there because of his own righteousness, but righteousness will be required. A holy God must have holy people to be with Him. Therein is our problem, but therein also is the grace of God.

 

God gives His believers righteousness as a free gift so that we will be properly attired. It is the custom for a bride to wear a white dress. The white dress is symbolic of her purity and of the fact that she is worthy to be presented to the groom. The bride of Christ will be dressed in white, and we are told in Revelation 19: 8 that the

 

"fine linen is the righteousness of saints."

 

The righteousness of God is given as a free gift to the believers, because it’s their only hope of being there dressed in purity and white. No one will be in heaven because they deserved to be there, "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Because all have sinned, the only ones who will be allowed into heaven are the ones who have been given the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Rev. 19:9 also talks about the marriage of the Lamb. It says, "And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God." As a part of the marriage celebration there will also be a marriage supper. When we are united with Christ to begin our eternity with Him in heaven, God will prepare a great celebration and one part of that celebration will be a supper. It is very fitting that we should begin our eternity with Christ in such a way. Just before He left this earth by way of the cross, He sat down with His disciples at the Last Supper.

 

Revelation 19:9 says,

 

"Blessed are they which are called…"

 

God is in the business of calling people and inviting people to join Him through Christ.

 

"Many are called, but few are chosen."

 

When God calls you, He touches your heart and wakes you up to your need of a Savior. He invites you to come and to be forgiven so that even "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." One day the marriage supper of the Lamb will come. Today we live in the Church Age, the Age of Grace if you will when the invitations are being sent to all who will receive them. God uses us, His believers to help send out the invitations. Jesus said in Luke 14:23,

 

"And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."

 

But my friend, you who are procrastinating, saying "not today, tomorrow maybe but not today", let me give you a stern warning from the very next verse in Luke 14, that would be verse 24: Jesus plainly states that those who were,

 

"bidden but refuse, shall not taste of my supper".

 

If you refuse Jesus now, you may very well be in that number spoken of in II Thessalonians 2, verse 11 warns that all those who refused to obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that is they refused the invitation to come and enter in, states that God will cause

 

"…a great delusion to come upon them that they might believe a lie."

 

Now this is significant. We must take note this in large respects refutes the idea that the "Tribulation Saints", are those who have been left behind after the rapture of the of the church and have second thoughts about what the had heard by way of church, or friends or family or Christian TV or Radio. No my friend the full text of II Thessalonians Chapters 1 and 2 are startling to read. Included in the following lines of this study are both chapters in their entirety. Please read them and pay heed to the words of warning from the apostle Paul:

 

 

 

2 Thessalonians 1

 

¹Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: ²Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ³We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. ⁴Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. ⁵All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. ⁶God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you ⁷and 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. ⁸He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power ¹⁰on 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. ¹¹With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. ¹²We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

2 Thessalonians 2

¹Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, ²not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. ³Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. ⁴He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
⁵Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? ⁶And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. ⁷For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. ⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. ⁹The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, ¹⁰and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹²and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. ¹³But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. ¹⁴He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. ¹⁶May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, ¹⁷encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

 

 

 

 

 

When the Age of Grace, when the Church Age comes to an end, the Tribulation will begin. Yes there will be some who will be saved during the Tribulation, but in considering the words of Paul here and the words of warning from Jesus as Luke recorded them in Chapter 14, verse 24 there is going to be no excuse for those who are left behind. The premise of the series of books by Dr. LeHaye and Jerry Jenkins make good reading and bring an interest to the End Times, but my friend, you cannot base your eternity on fictional accounts of what may or may not happen. No you must set your course and take action based upon the word of God and the Word of God is very clear for those who reject the Gospel Message. Jesus, not me, not Paul, not John Hagee, not Billy Graham, not Charles Stanley and not Rod Parsley but Jesus Christ said,

 

"those who were bidden but refuse, shall not taste of my supper".

 

God is inviting you to come to Him through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Surely you will receive His invitation. The choice is yours. You can ignore or reject His invitation, or you can accept it. If you accept God’s calling, then you will be one of the "blessed" who are:

 

"called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb."

 

These Bible verses have been talking about salvation in the symbolism of a marriage and a marriage supper. Unity with Jesus Christ gives salvation.

• You cannot be saved from your sin through a religion.

• You cannot be saved from your sin through a church.

• You cannot be saved from your sin through your own good works.

• You cannot be saved through water baptism.

• You can only be saved through the proper spiritual connection with Jesus Christ.

 

That’s what Jesus called being "born again". If you are united with Jesus Christ in a close,personal and intimate relationship that is similar to marriage, then you have salvation. It’s just like Jesus said,

 

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but by me."

 

Jesus also said in John 4:14,

 

"But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

 

In the Book of Revelation we have read about the appearing, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. We have studied about the reign of the antichrist, his destruction and the judgment that will come upon the earth during the Great Tribulation. We have heard and we will hear more about the eventual bliss and happiness that awaits the believers in Jesus.

 

At the end of Revelation 19:9 we are reminded of the truthfulness and the reliability of these teachings. It says,

 

"These are the true sayings of God."

 

Of course, this can be said of any part of the Bible. The Bible is the most important book in the world because it does not just contain truth, but it is in fact the written Word of God. The Bible is God’s Word! It makes sense that God would give us a written Word. That’s why the Apostle John is told at the start of Revelation 19:9,

 

"Write."

 

Because we have a written Word, we go reliably time after time to the source and find the authority and the foundation for the things God wants us to know. If God had only given us a spoken word, it would change over time as it was passed from one person to another. But with a written Word, it is written down, as was the case with John and the Book of Revelation, it is then available to all succeeding generations. The Bible is the most important book in the world because it is the truth and because it is from God. You can rely upon the Bible because

 

"they are the true sayings from God."

 

A messenger had come to John from God to reveal these things to him. John was so impressed by what he saw and heard about the time of the end and the judgment and the things to come that he fell down at the feet of this messenger.

 

The Bible says in Revelation 19:10,

 

"And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See you do it not: for I am your fellow-servant, and of your brothers that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

 

Several times in the Bible there are situations where a human fell at the feet of another human to worship them, but each time they are told that only God should be worshipped. This is actually one of the many evidences of the divinity of Christ. When Thomas fell at the feet of Jesus and worshipped Him and said,

 

"My Lord and my God," Thomas was not rebuked.

 

The Apostle John was told that this messenger was a fellow-servant. Those who believe in Jesus have many things in common, and one of those things is the fact that we serve the same Master. We all have an equal status and position. There is no real hierarchy among sinners who are saved by grace. I have heard it said that we are all the same height at the foot of the cross. I think there is a lot of truth to that. We are also members of the same family. Revelation 19:10 calls John a fellow-servant, and also calls him a brother, which again emphasizes the equality of believers. If you are a servant of God, if you are a member of the family of God, then you will have something else that is mentioned in Revelation 19:10. You will have the

 

"testimony of Jesus."

 

One of the most important ways of serving God in this world is to open your mouth and to tell others what Jesus has done for you. The testimony of Jesus is a testimony that comes from Jesus. He puts this testimony into the mind, heart and soul of those who are saved. The Holy Scriptures declare:

 

"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so."

 

Declare the works of God that you have experienced. If you have experienced salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, then you have a testimony. If you are going to serve God in this world, then one of the things that He wants you to do, one of the things you must do, is to find ways to share that testimony with a lost and dying world.

 

We are told an important detail about the testimony of Jesus at the end of Revelation 19:10. It says,

 

"for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy."

 

The central meaning to the word prophecy is to speak forth the truth. Sometimes the truth has to do with future events, but it does not have to in order to qualify as prophecy. The emphasis in this word is on the speaking forth and the making public of the truth about God and the truth from God. If you have been touched by the testimony of Jesus, then you will also be touched to make the testimony public.

 

Notice that it’s called

 

"the spirit of prophecy."

 

Don’t underestimate the importance of the Spirit in making known the truth from God. You cannot do this work in your own strength or by your own will. The sound of your voice, the strength of your personality, and the reputation of your name cannot do this work. It’s not a question of formal education or degrees or titles that they put before your name. The law of the Spirit requires that we be led by the Spirit and empowered by the Spirit. Jesus said, in John the fourth chapter when talking with the woman at the well:

 

"God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth."

 

It’s also true that they who serve God can only do so by the Spirit. The flesh profits nothing. The will of man cannot perform the work of God.

 

"The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy."

 

Notice that it’s the testimony of Jesus. There is salvation in no other name. Jesus said,

 

"If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself."

 

If you are going to speak forth the testimony of Jesus then you must speak about Him. Some people make the mistake of speaking too much about their church or their religious organization or some church leader that they admire. The Bible says that

 

"the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy."

 

If you are going to speak forth the truth about God, then you must speak about Jesus. If you are going to be saved you must believe in Jesus and pray to Him for the forgiveness of your sins. What is your response to His invitation today. He is standing at the door of your heart and knocking. He cannot and will not open the door. The door of your heart has a knob on only one side, that is the inside and only you can open it to allow Jesus to come, won’t you open your heart’s door and invite Him in right now?