The Marriage of the Lamb
Revelation 19:7-10
May 7, 2017
This morning we have an announcement of
The most anticipated day in the life of every believer.
It is the day in which the final consummation comes with our Lord.
Make no mistake, the church has but one desire, one treasure,
And one anticipation, and that is Christ.
Paul said:
Philippians 3:7-8 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,”
Jesus is that treasure hidden in the field which is worth the loss of all things.
Jesus is that pearl of great value which is worth the loss of all things.
He is the church’s desire and treasure and great anticipation.
Paul even said:
Philippians 1:23 “But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;”
Today we live in the midst of a great apostate Christianity
Which only seeks to use Christ to obtain earthly treasure.
This prosperity driven cult is not Christianity, it is idolatry to the very core.
True Christianity has but one desire and that is to be with Christ.
• It is the desire to see Him return…
• It is the desire to see Him reign…
• It is the desire to be with Him for eternity…
Paul actually summed up the redeemed in 2 Timothy 4
2 Timothy 4:8 “in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
True believers are those who love or long for the appearing of Christ.
LIKE A BRIDE separated from her husband longing for the wedding,
So is the church currently separated from the One we love,
Eagerly anticipating the day we can go and dwell with Him.
We are like the Shunamite in the Song of Solomon, who has been separated from her Beloved and who longs to find him again:
Song of Solomon 5:8-16 “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, As to what you will tell him: For I am lovesick.” “What kind of beloved is your beloved, O most beautiful among women? What kind of beloved is your beloved, That thus you adjure us?” “My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, Outstanding among ten thousand. “His head is like gold, pure gold; His locks are like clusters of dates And black as a raven. “His eyes are like doves Beside streams of water, Bathed in milk, And reposed in their setting. “His cheeks are like a bed of balsam, Banks of sweet-scented herbs; His lips are lilies Dripping with liquid myrrh. “His hands are rods of gold Set with beryl; His abdomen is carved ivory Inlaid with sapphires. “His legs are pillars of alabaster Set on pedestals of pure gold; His appearance is like Lebanon Choice as the cedars. “His mouth is full of sweetness. And he is wholly desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.”
That is the current anticipation of the church.
Well, in Revelation 19 we see
A brief announcement of that day of consummation.
It is the announcement of “the marriage of the Lamb”
This morning, the goal of John and the goal of the angel who reveals this glorious day is simply this:
TO PRODUCE IN YOU A GREAT ANTICIPATION FOR THIS DAY.
So let’s look at this text together. 3 points
#1 AN IMPRESSIVE SCENE
Revelation 19:7-8
If you were with us last week you know that we heard the eruption of Heaven into what is commonly referred to as “The Hallelujah Chorus!”
When Heaven saw that great harlot and that immoral city Babylon thrown down and burned with fire, Heaven couldn’t help but to erupt in praise.
They cried “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God”
NO MORE is that pompous Antichrist strutting around claiming to be the world’s savior, with all the glory and all the power.
God just threw him down and proved that all glory is His.
And if you will remember, it wasn’t long before the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures joined in the festivities singing “Amen. Hallelujah!”
And then came a command.
(5-6) “And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.”
All of the redeemed were commanded to join in the worship!
It was not optional. They must also cry “Hallelujah!”
Which they did “For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.”
It was a tremendous scene of praise for our God.
What WE LEARN THIS MORNING is that
The destruction of the harlot is not the only reason to rejoice.
There is another reason revealed here for the redeemed to rejoice.
WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE IS:
• This angel has just ushered John through the back doors of the church.
• And when John looks, there is a wedding taking place.
• He sees the decorations…
• He sees the preacher at the front…
• He sees that big candelabra…
• He sees the feast prepared…
• And He sees the groom up at the front…
• And he sees the bride standing at the back all dressed in white about to be presented to her husband…
AND IT IS A HAPPY SCENE!
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”
We have loved the fact that the harlot got what she deserved,
Now we long to see the bride get the groom.
This is the Hallmark ending…
• This is finally the way it is supposed to be…
• On this day, it all worked out, and we now have the happy ending.
THE GROOM IS WITH THE BRIDE!
This is call for rejoicing!
This is call for happiness!
This is call for praise to the groom!
Because on this day He has come to marry His bride.
And Scripture says “and His bride has made herself ready.”
That DOESN’T MEAN she finally purified herself.
That is made clear in the next verse.
(8) “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.”
• We have a picture here of a less than deserving bride.
• We have a picture of a poor bride who could not afford a dress.
• We have a picture here of an unfit bride who did not deserve a dress.
And yet, the groom provides for her beauty and provides for her glory
That she may stand ready at the ceremony.
Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
The beauty of this bride is direct result of the work of the groom.
• He paid off her debts…
• He washed her with His word…
• He clothed her with His righteousness…
And He did it so that on this day, He might “present to Himself”
A perfect and beautiful and spotless bride.
She may have indeed put on the garment,
But it was a garment provided by the groom.
It is a glorious and beautiful day.
And just like you go to weddings and rejoice, that is the command here.
This is a good thing, this is a beautiful thing,
Be glad, rejoice and give glory to the groom.
It is a celebration.
That is the simple point here.
Impressive Scene
#2 AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE
Revelation 19:9
Well certainly you know by now that no piece of information given
Is just incidental information. There is always a point.
John just saw a small glimpse of a beautiful wedding ceremony.
BUT WE DON’T SEE THE CEREMONY YET.
Incidentally we won’t see the marriage ceremony progress until chapter 21.
Revelation 21:1-4 “Then 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 ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:9-10 “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he 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,”
That is when we see the actual ceremony take place.
All we see here are the players.
• We see a groom ready to marry a woman
• And we know that the woman does not deserve to be there
• All her beauty was given to her by the groom.
And before any action was taken or the ceremony progressed
There is a pause and we are all supposed to learn something.
What are we supposed to learn just from seeing the groom and the bride?
(9) “Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”
Now let me help clarify some things here.
I used to get this verse all messed up.
I would run in to verse 9 and say,
“Well we know the church is the bride” so that can’t be the people here. These are people “invited to the marriage supper” so who are they?
And I tried to put O.T. saints here, and tribulation believers here.
And before I knew it I had this whole group of people who apparently got to attend the wedding but who didn’t get to marry Jesus.
Sound strange?
That’s because it is.
Don’t get too technical here in trying to fill in all the parts and pieces.
The bride we are looking at here is all the redeemed from all time.
It is redeemed Israel, it is the church, it tribulation believers,
It is all of them.
You say, then who are these people getting invited?
IT IS THE SAME GROUP.
When talking about who is getting invited,
We are including all those who are also the bride.
The point being made is that the bride doesn’t deserve to be here,
But she is totally fortunate to have been invited here anyway.
NOW, LET ME SHOW YOU.
The problem comes when we take one picture of marriage in Scripture
And try to make it trump all the others.
By far the most popular marriage analogy for us is that
Christ is the groom and the church is the bride.
But that is not the only way marriage is used as an analogy in Scripture.
Are you familiar with this parable?
Matthew 22:1-10 “Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. “And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. “Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”‘ “But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. “But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. “Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ‘Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ “Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.”
Now in that parable, who is the bride?
(You don’t know, because the bride never is mentioned)
• What we know from that parable is that Israel are the original invited guests, who refuse the invitation
• And Gentiles are the slaves who are both evil and good who get invited instead.
So in that parable the church is not the bride,
The church is the dirty slaves who are fortunate to get to come.
How about this parable?
Matthew 25:1-10 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. “Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. “For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. “Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. “But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ “Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. “The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ “But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ “And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.”
Who is the bride in that parable?
You still don’t know.
• The 5 foolish virgins are Israel who were unprepared,
• The 5 wise virgins are the church.
So my point is, don’t try to push a certain marriage parable too far into Revelation 19, or you kind of miss the point.
The bride in Revelation 19 is all of the redeemed,
And those invited in verse 9 are also all of the redeemed.
The angel is simply pointing out to John that
Here we have a bride who has not earned the right to be at the wedding
And she is very “Blessed” to have been invited anyway.
Now, let me carry that picture a little farther for you.
For we also see the analogy of marriage in the Old Testament.
TURN TO: Hosea 1
• (We’re going to read a lot this morning, but bear with me, you need to see the
whole story)
• (Work through Hosea 1-3)
TURN TO: Ezekiel 16
• (Work through Ezekiel 16)
So you see a very similar story in both of those accounts.
It is of a woman whom God was gracious to,
But who did not deserve the husband she had been given.
And yet now we have that adulterous filthy woman
Restored into covenant anyway.
And before we get too tough on Israel,
We might do well to consider our own adultery to our promised husband.
James knew what we were.
James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
Paul told the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 11:1-3 “I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”
• Israel was no doubt an unfaithful bride who deserved to be sent away and stoned to death for her unfaithfulness.
• We are a filthy, undeserving pack of Gentiles who never deserved an opportunity to begin with, but who only received one because Israel refused to come.
• And then even we have been less than faithful to this husband who was so gracious to us.
The point is this.
THE WEDDING SHOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED OF LONG AGO!
Let me explain to you how this all works.
• In a Jewish wedding, the parents arranged the marriage.
• The bride and groom were chosen for each other.
• There was a dowry paid and they were engaged (binding)
• The groom then went to prepare a place for the two to live
• He then returned, there was a massive celebration banquet
• The two entered into a covenant,
• There was a celebratory supper
• And then the marriage was consummated
Now, let me show you how this worked.
• God Himself chose a bride for His Son.
• They are called, “The Elect”.
• They were chosen before time began.
• Their names were written in the Lamb’s book of life from the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
• We were chosen by the Father.
• The price was then paid for our redemption by the Son on the cross.
• And we entered into a covenant with Him, where we said He would be our Lord and we would forsake all others for Him.
• He then left to go and prepare a place.
John 14:1-3 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
• Now we await His return that we can celebrate the wedding and the consummation of being forever with our Lord.
BUT THERE IS ONE PROBLEM.
If any other bride had been as unfaithful as we have,
I’m not sure the groom would be interested any longer.
Isn’t that what Paul said to the Corinthians?
I wanted to present you to Christ as a pure virgin, but I’m not sure that’s possible any more.
MY POINT?
From our perspective, and based upon our unfaithfulness,
We would have every reason to expect that our Groom
Would have just gone on and left us behind.
BUT THAT IS WHAT MAKES THIS PASSAGE SO WONDERFUL!
He hasn’t!
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come…”
This marriage should have been cancelled long ago.
But it wasn’t. It’s still on.
And just that fact, (before we see any of the ceremony), led the angel to tell John to write something down.
What did he write?
“Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
MAN I’D SAY SO!
Absolutely it is a blessing!
We sure didn’t earn it!
And just TO DOUBLE DOWN and to let us know that our Redeemer will in fact marry us still, the angel says, “These are true words of God.”
The wedding is still on!
• Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness…
• Despite our unfaithfulness…
• Christ will take us anyway.
Is that not a blessing?
HOW GREAT IS OUR HUSBAND!
Now that leads to a response from John.
An Impressive Scene, An Important Message
#3 AN IMPULSIVE RESPONSE
Revelation 19:10
John messes up here.
“Then I fell at his feet to worship him.”
Obviously this was a mistake.
And the angel instantly rebukes John.
“But 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 other words, “Don’t worship me, I’m just a servant with a prophetic message about Christ, I’m not God.”
But what are we to make of this scene?
Well put yourself in John’s shoes.
• John has just witnessed the judgment of the world because of her sin.
• John has just witnessed the judgment of an unfaithful harlot.
• John has witnessed the fact that he also was unworthy to open the book and break its seals because he too was sinful.
When John saw that the marriage was still on and that he was still invited,
All he could do was fall down at the feet of the one who gave him the good news.
The point is, John was ecstatic!
John was overwhelmed and overjoyed!
John knew he was “Blessed”
It’s just that in his joy he fell down and worshiped the wrong person.
The messenger didn’t deserve the credit for this gracious wedding, God did.
Now, what are we supposed to do with this?
Well, let me take you back to the point.
“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
Well, who is invited to supper?
• As best as I can see, EVERYONE is.
• The problem is that many refuse the offer.
Back to that parable of the wedding banquet we looked at earlier.
Matthew 22:11-14 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘ Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Everyone was invited.
Not everyone was willing to attend.
(In fact, because we believe in God’s sovereign hand regarding salvation we can see that no one was willing to attend had God not “chosen” them. But that’s a sermon for a different time.)
THE POINT HERE IS THAT EVERYONE WAS INVITED.
We see this type of invitation all time from Jesus.
Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Romans 10:18 “But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; “THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.”
It is there for the taking. You have been invited.
How sad it is when people fail to recognize
What a blessing it is to have been invited.
Luke 14:15-24 “When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ “Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ “Another one said, ‘ I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ “And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ “And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ “And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. ‘For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'”
It is a blessing, it’s just that people don’t see it that way and won’t come.
Or consider the Older brother in that parable of the prodigal son.
Luke 15:25-32 “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. “And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ “But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. “But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. ‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'”
• Do you see that the older brother was invited into the banquet?
• He would have even been given new clothes if he had gone?
But he didn’t see that banquet as a blessing.
He didn’t see the marriage as a benefit.
He thought himself worthy of much more.
AND THERE IT IS FRIENDS.
• There is a great offer of salvation on the table.
• Christ has said “Come to me”
• Scripture has said “Whosoever will may come”
But so many do not see that offer as a blessing,
And instead choose to remain in their sin
And engaged in their own worldly deeds.
This morning I’m wondering if you see that call as a blessing?
I’m wondering if you’d be willing to
Leave your life behind and attend the wedding.
It’s a miracle that the wedding is even still on, but it is, and you’re invited.
Friend, the offer of salvation is on the table.
But you’re going to have to forsake all others
And pledge your life to Christ.
Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;”
