We turn again to the 19th chapter
of Revelation. We'll read a few verses from
this tremendous scene at the end of the world. The marriage
of the Lamb of God, the marriage feast and the judgment of all
men and women. Casting into the lake of fire
of those who worship not Christ and the bringing in of the new
heaven and the new earth for all Christ's chosen people. In
chapter 19 and verse 1 we read this, and after these things
I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia,
salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his
judgments. For he hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said,
Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever
and ever. And the four and twenty elders
and 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 his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice. and
give honour 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 righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me,
Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship
him, and he said unto me, See thou do it not? I am thy fellow
servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus.
Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And I saw heaven opened, and
behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a
sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and
he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and
on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The marriage of the Lamb is come,
and His wife hath made herself ready, and her was granted that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the
fine linen is the righteousness of saints. The marriage of the
Lamb has come. What a scene this is. What a
tremendous scene. A tremendous vision of that which
is going to come. That which will surely come to
pass. That which is sure and certain. The end of time. The conclusion
of this world. the entrance into eternal glory
for all God's people, the marriage of the Lamb. That day when that
people espoused as the Bride of Christ will finally be united
with Him, finally see Him face to face, finally dwell with Him
as His Bride forevermore. What a tremendous scene, what
a wonderful scene. What a hopeful scene, what a
scene to put hope in the heart of the child of God. That though
we journey here below on a pilgrimage, where so often we are few and
we are scattered, and where the world around us hates the message
we have of Christ and his gospel, and though the world around us
increasingly tramples the word of God underfoot and mocks and
scoffs any who declare the name of Christ and any who speak of
the wonderful death that Christ died through which he brought
in everlasting righteousness through which he saved his people
in which he shed his own blood that he might wash them from
sin. Though the world around us scoffs
and laughs at this message, scoffs and laughs at the message of
Christ who died, scoffs and laughs at the reality of his resurrection,
and scoffs and laughs at any who will separate themselves
from this world and its ways, and turn and follow Christ. and
devote themselves to Christ and his gospel, though the world
around us hates and despises both him and his testimony, and
though the world makes it hard to live and to walk as those
who love Christ, though they make it hard, though they mock
and scoff, though trouble comes in the pathway of any who follow
Christ, though persecution is the lot, God's people though
this is a difficult journey nevertheless the hope set before us the hope
set before us is tremendous because there is a marriage feast approaching
there is a marriage at which the child of God will take centre
place with the Bridegroom. For the Child of God is the Bride
of Christ. The children of God are His Bride. And on that day they will be
brought to their Bridegroom, who loved them and gave Himself
for them. They will be brought to Him and
presented to Him as His Bride. and they will be arrayed in fine
linen as a bride on earth dresses in her wonderful white gown they
will be arrayed in fine linen clean and white perfect and they
will come unto their husband who will look upon them in love
as that bride he loved from before the foundation of the earth as
that bride whom he longed for, as that bride whom he longed
to be with, as that bride for whom he gave his life, whom he
loved and gave himself for. He will look upon her in love
as she comes unto him as his bride to live and to dwell with
him forevermore. Forevermore, never to be separated
from him. never to be taken away, never
to be separated from his side, always to dwell with the Son
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, her husband. Yes there's a marriage feast
coming and this marriage will take place and having taken place
that bride that people will dwell with that husband forevermore
and all their enemies will be taken out of sight all their
enemies will be destroyed and all the trial and the persecution
and the trouble that they once suffered will have gone for God
will judge the whole world, in righteousness. And He will separate
His bride, His children, His sheep, His people, from all those
who hated and despised Christ and His gospel. He will separate
the one on the right hand from those on the left hand. And those
whose names are written in the Lamb's Book alive, those who
are the bride of Christ, they will enter into eternal glory
into that new heaven and new earth. and those whose names
were not written in that book, those who hated and rejected
the testimony of Christ and his gospel, those who hated and rejected
the testimony of his people, those who hate and reject us
now when we speak of Christ and his saving grace, all these who
go to their grave, all these who enter eternity hating and
despising the King of kings and Lord of lords, all these will
be cast into a place called the Lake of Fire, where they will
be destroyed forevermore. They will be separated, they
will be taken away and their influence will never come upon
the children of God ever again. They will never raise a voice
against them, they will never be able to lay a hand upon them. that people for whom Christ died
will live in eternal bliss and glory forevermore, never to shed
a tear, never to have a frown on their face, never to have
a trial or difficulty come their way, never to have sorrow in
their hearts, never to experience illness or suffering again. but
they will be perfect and righteous in Christ. They will dwell with
their Saviour forevermore and they will know nothing but eternal
glory and joy. These things are coming. These
things are certain. This is salvation. And if we
come to hear of this Saviour Christ today, and if God puts
faith in our hearts to believe on Him today, then we are but
a whisker, a moment, a blink of an eye from that day when
we will enter into that eternal glory. That marriage feast is
but a moment away and everything in this world in time. However
long it may take, 70 years or more, everything between now
and that day is really but a moment. But a moment. Child of God, look
up, this is what's coming. One day you will lay down your
head to sleep and in a moment you will be there. You will,
as it were, wake up to see a sight as John saw a sight to you. A
sight you've never seen before. You've beheld it by faith. It's
been shown unto you in vision. You know it from the Word of
God. You believe it through faith. But that day you will see it
with your eyes. And everything that has passed
hitherto will seem like a distant memory. Child of God, when you
journey through this earth, when trials come your way this week,
when great difficulty comes your way, when people say many things
against you, when work is difficult, when poverty comes your way,
when illness strikes, when bereavement comes, and you know not how to
cope, look up, look up to this scene. For it's but a moment
before you shall enter into it. All that is below is passing,
fading, but for a moment. This light affliction is but
for a moment. And it worketh for us a far greater
weight of glory. For the suffering which we suffer
now, the reward for that suffering, is to enter into this wonderful
scene and this wonderful inheritance prepared for the children of
God prepared for his servants and the reward of the wicked
who have pleasure now and who reject the gospel and who go
out and live for the things of time and sense who never enter
into a place of worship who would rather have their entertainment
on this day when we gather here, who would rather go and have
their entertainment, go to the beach, go out drinking, go out
running, do anything but listen to the gospel. Those who have
pleasure now and seem to have so many things go their way now. this enjoyment they have is but
for a moment and what is ultimately coming their way is a terrible
place in eternity a terrible place a terrible place which
would be ours and will be ours if we remain in that state for
if our attitude to the gospel and to Christ and his salvation
is to count it a light thing a meaningless thing a thing we
put off for another day, if we treat it with apathy and disdain,
if we treat it as a weariness, if we close our eyes to Christ
and his gospel, close our eyes to eternal things, if all we
seek and rejoice in is those things we can touch and feel
and handle, those things we see with the natural senses, if the
truth of Christ and his death upon the cross if the truth of
eternity to come if the truth of justification by faith and
the righteousness of God which Christ brought in upon the cross
for his people are just words on a page things that Christians
speak of meaningless things to us if all these things are just
things that we put away for another day and say of others well that's
good for you if you can have faith in such things but I like
my life now and I'd rather seek those things when I'm old but
now I'll seek this and I'll seek that I'll seek riches I'll seek
entertainment I'll seek power and I'll save those things for
the day when I'm going to die if that's your attitude you'll
find that those days of pleasure are gone in a moment. And the day you die comes upon
you before you can be prepared. And you will enter into eternal
glory before you've taken that moment to return to that gospel
that you set aside when you were young. And I've taken that moment
to call upon God to have mercy upon your soul, despite a life
spent rejecting him. you'll find that moment never
comes your way and you'll find yourself waking up before the
throne of God and hearing his voice of judgment against you
saying unto you depart from me ye worker of iniquity I never
knew you. That's what you will wake up
to if you continually reject his testimony for the time is
short and you may feel that your years of life ahead of you are
plenty and there is much in this world that you want to do you
may have your career and your ambitions and your studies and
your house and your family and your children and the places
you're going to travel to and the things you're going to do
and your memories You may have all these ambitions and goals
that you want to fulfill but you'll find they come and they
go in a moment and you enter this scene as described here
by John in this vision and you will find that you are not one
of those. called the bride of the Lamb
not that wife who have made herself ready for you didn't make yourself
ready you rejected and despised these things you weren't ready
and it came upon you all of a sudden whilst you were making yourself
ready for this world and its pleasures and its joys with not
a fault for that world and that marriage feast which is to come
and you will find that you are not clothed in fine linen. you are not clean and white but
you are black and filthy covered from head to toe with your sins
and you will stand before a perfect and a pure God with no answer
for your sins because you despised him and you sought your own way
and your own things and you have no answer for the sin in your
heart and whilst you might deny today that you are a sinner that
day you will know it you will feel the reality of what you
truly are you will stand before him who is pure and perfect him
who is faithful and true he who is the word of god he who is
the king of kings and lord of lords you will stand before him
and though through this life you may have said that you were
good you will know then that you are not good you will know
then that you have a heart which is evil and no answer to those
sins that you have committed and no answer to that sin which
is within you and you will stand there filthy and he will say
away from me, depart because you were never ready
and you never cared and you never sought God and you never sought
Christ and you never sought the righteousness of God and you
never considered your state or your righteousness or your lack
of righteousness it was of nothing worth to you just words something
for others something for adults Something for the serious, for
the religious. Something for those who didn't
know how to live and have joy in this world. Something for
the dull and the boring. But not for me, you say. That's
what you said. And on that day it will be too
late. Because you were not ready. But
there is one here who is said to be ready. the wife of the
Lamb. 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 righteousness of saints. Yes, there is a marriage.
There is a marriage, and there is a wife who enters into that
marriage who is ready and is clothed in fine linen. And she
enters into a wonderful marriage with a great inheritance which
is set there for her. An inheritance of eternal glory,
eternal bliss, eternal life, eternal righteousness. She is
clothed in fine linen. She is robed gloriously. But she knows when she enters
into that marriage that there was a time when she was not so
clothed. For her being made ready was
to hear the gospel. That wife of the Lamb was once
as black and as filthy as those who enter eternity with no answer
for their sin. That wife was as bad as they
were. that wife was as apathetic to
the gospel as they were that wife rejected it and despised
it just as they did but a time came a time came when she was
made ready a time came when she heard the gospel a time came
when God came across her path and opened her eyes to what she
was that she was not good and she was not clothed the right
and her clothing was filthy rags. A time came when she discovered
what she was before a holy God and she discovered the emptiness
of this life and the emptiness of the promises made by those
around her. She discovered that the joys
of this world were of nothing worth and the riches of this
world were of nothing worth. She discovered that the riches
of this world would rot and rust and corrupt and she could take
nothing with her into eternity. She discovered the emptiness
of this life and her absolute poverty before God. And in hearing
the gospel and discovering what she was before God, just the
same as all others, she heard something wonderful she heard
of the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world she
heard that which John recorded in his gospel before he came
to see this vision that he records in Revelation because John recorded
that Christ came unto John the Baptist And John
the Baptist said of him, to the people, behold, the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. And when the wife
heard this, and when she beheld that Lamb of God, coming not
just in history, not just in the record of the book to John
the Baptist, but coming under her, as God put faith in her
heart to look under him and to see him for who he is. When she
saw the lamb, she saw the hope of salvation and glory to come. When she saw the lamb, she saw
how her sin would be taken away. When she beheld the lamb, she
beheld her sins being borne away by one who would be her sacrifice. For the lamb, she knew, as the
Old Testament tells us, was given as a sacrifice for sinners. A lamb should take away sins. A lamb should be slain. The blood
of the lamb should be shed. and that blood would cleanse
the sins of those who offered it up. Abel knew this at the
beginning, he offered up a lamb as a sacrifice under God, but
he knew that that lamb, that physical lamb he offered was
just a picture. The picture of the Lamb of God. The one sacrifice for sin, the
one sacrifice who could truly take away sin, who could truly
cleanse him, who could truly take away his sins and block
them all out and cleanse him and make him righteous. The one
sacrifice that could save him. Abel at the beginning of time
saw this, and offered up a lamb as a picture of it, because he
looked upon that lamb to Christ in the gospel, and he saw the
lamb of God coming in his place, and he saw that lamb being slain,
and he saw the blood of that lamb being shed, and he saw himself
bathing in that blood, being cleansed from head to toe, and
being made the righteousness of God in him. at the Passover,
when the Israelites were being brought out of Egypt, into which
they had been brought into bondage, in captivity. As we are, by our
sin in this world, we're captive, we're bound fast, we're slaves
to sin in this world. When Israel were being brought
out, God instituted the Passover, told the children of Israel to
slay a lamb and to put the blood on the doors of the house. And
when the avenger, the angel of death should come in judgment,
wherever he saw blood on the door, he would pass over, he
would pass by. A picture of Christ and his gospel.
We need blood on our door if we're to be spared the death
that comes, the judgment that comes by that angel of death.
There is judgment coming. And if we're not arrayed in fine
linen, if there's not blood on our door, if we are not righteous
before a holy God, then death will be our lot. We, like the
wicked described here in Revelation, will be cast into a lake of fire. But the Jews had blood on the
doors of their homes. They'd slain a lamb. They'd put
its blood on the door. And in this they looked for the
coming of the Lamb of God. One sacrifice, one saviour. whose blood would cleanse them,
not just for a moment, not just to bring them out of Egypt in
this world, but to bring them out of the captivity that sin
had placed them in. And to bring them out of this
world into an eternal glory to come. They looked and they believed. And the wife looks and believes
when the gospel comes unto her and cries unto her, behold the
Lamb of God. which taketh away the sin of
the world. Have you beheld? Have you seen
that Lamb of God come in your way? Pass in your way? Have you seen Christ in the gospel? The one who would go to Calvary's
cross in your place? Did he go in your place? Have
you beheld him for who he is, the Son of God? God himself as
he's described here in this wonderful chapter where John says I saw
heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him
was called faithful and true And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp
sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall
rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress
of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on
his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings. and Lord of Lords. This is the Lamb of God, Christ
the Son of God, the Eternal Son of God, the One who should come
as the Saviour of men, God's own Son. God himself in the person
of the Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the one who
rules over all this world, the one who sits in glory now, the
Lamb of God waiting for that day when his bride should be
gathered unto him in unto that marriage feast. that bride who
encompasses everyone who believes on his name from the beginning
of time to the end of time all that company for whom he died
all that people all collectively his bride one day she will come
under him and he lives and reigns today waiting for that day to
come waiting for that day ruling over events in this world Looking
forward to that day, is that the day that you're going to
enter into, clothed in fine linen? When that day comes and you pass
from this world into the next, will you be there as his bride,
as one who's ready because you heard the gospel, because in
the gospel you beheld the Lamb of God which takes away your
sin. Did you behold him? Did you fall
at his feet when you heard the gospel? Did you see his blood
washing away your sins? Did God put faith in your heart
to cry out unto him to have mercy upon you? And did he grant that
assurance that you're one of his? If he did, if he does, if
he ever does, then you will enter into that day ready and arrayed
in fine linen. Arrayed in fine linen. Arrayed
in the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ, the righteousness
of saints, fine linen. Once your clothes were filthy
rags of your own self-righteousness. But in Christ we're arrayed in
fine linen, the righteousness of saints, not our righteousness,
nothing we have done. but His blood that cleanses us
from head to foot. His righteousness, the righteousness
of God that He brought in for His people at the cross by His
faith when He laid down His life for them. The righteousness of
God, His righteousness, God's righteousness. not what we've
done but what he's done not what we've wrought but what he's wrought
what he wrought at the cross in death in those hours of darkness
when he drank the cup of God's wrath and took the judgment against
our sins and our sin and took all that sin away and blotted
it out and made us to be righteous in him it's his righteousness
made ours fine linen Righteousness of Saints. Of Saints. Who is this wife? Who is this
bride? Who are these Saints? Are they
those whom the Catholic Church honors great men throughout history? Those who have done this or that?
Those who have been martyred? Those who have done great things?
No. They're those for whom Christ
died. Every one of them a saint. Every
one of those who are brought to faith in Christ, brought to
see that they are nothing, but he is everything. That they have
done nothing but sin, but he has done nothing but save them
and love them from all eternity. those who are nothing, those
who know they're nothing, those who know they're base and vile
by nature, but those who've come by faith to see what he has done
for them freely by grace in the gospel. call saints chosen, chosen
before the foundation of this world, elected unto eternal glory,
chosen by God the Father in Christ his Son. God said all of these
my son you will save, all these names, all these people I will
give to you as your bride, these saints, these ones for whom you
will suffer and die, go into this world Be made a man like
them, that you might suffer in their stead, as a man for men. Go and mediate between God and
men, be their mediator, be the one who will bring them unto
me. Bring my righteousness unto them and make it theirs, clothe
them in fine linen, save this people. So Christ came with the
names of every one of them on his heart. Those people whom
God chose, they didn't choose him, he chose them. it was certain
from before the world was created from before they were even made
from before the time that they were even born into this world
before they ever did good or wrong it was certain that God
would save them that God would call them to be saints that God
would gather them in as the bride of his son and Christ came with
their names on his hearts and he went to that cross He went
to that cross to suffer and to die in their stead. He came to
bring about a victory for his people. He came to fight a great
battle. He came as it were riding upon
a white horse. There comes that day at the end
of time when He will come in this image as a rider upon a
white horse. But He came as it were as that
rider on that day when He went to the cross. He came as He who
is faithful and true. He came as He whose eyes were
as a flame of fire. And He went to that cross to
save that people. to save that people. And he saved
them by being slain in their place, by being slain in battle. He was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood. That people were purchased, bought
for him. ransomed they were captive and
he paid a ransom price to set them free they were slaves and
he redeemed them and paid the price of redemption to set them
free to loose them and to have them as his own and that price
was his life his death he died he gave his life he shed his
blood that they should be set free This rider upon a white
horse has garments dipped in blood. He brings in this inheritance
of eternal life and glory for them. Well an inheritance is
always brought in when there's one who dies. The one who dies
writes a will, writes a covenant in which they say that all their
goods will go to this person or that. Well Christ before the
foundation of the earth wrote a covenant with his father and
he said all that I am all that I have will be my people's when
I die in their place and he came and he died in their place and
the terms of that new covenant that will are read out to them
and it is read out that because Christ died everything he has
is yours is yours they have an inheritance which is sure and
certain rich is greater than any and it's all theirs eternal
life and glory the riches of God in Jesus Christ the fullness
of God in Christ all is theirs never to be taken away but the
wonderful wonderful truth of this inheritance is that not
only are all these things theirs but the one who died that they
might inherit rose again that though their husband gave himself
for them and laid down his life for his wife he rises again that
she might have him back that she might be united with him
who gave himself for her that she should never have sorrow
any more that though she sorrowed that he should die that though
her heart is poured out in love for him who loved her yet he rose for her he rose again
he conquered death he conquered hell it could not keep him in
the grave and that lamb which was slain rises again to be married
to that bride The lamb was slain. The one who loved his bride. The one who gives his all, all
that he has for her. He was slain, but now he lives. Now he lives, the one whose name
is faithful and true, the word of God. The one whose vesture
is dipped in blood, that he might dress his bride in a garment. which is fine linen. Oh what
a scene, what a marriage, what a victory. Consider again this
scene. Consider the one in its midst,
Christ. Consider that tremendous victory
he wrought. He comes riding with his army
behind him. The King of kings and Lord of
lords. What a victory, what an end in
sight, never to be taken away. He did die, but now he is risen. He did suffer, but now he reigns
on high, never to suffer again. He did have sorrow, but now he
rejoices with all those for whom he died, all those he has saved. He did weep as he wept when his
friend Lazarus died. But now he rejoices and smiles
at all those for whom he died, all those who are his. Those
who died with him, yes, but those who rose again with him. He did
suffer, but now he lives forevermore. And that people in him, they
once suffered, but now they rejoice forevermore. they had sorrow
but now they have great joy in christ their savior they once
wept But now they sing out, Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honour
and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his
judgments. For he hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said,
Alleluia! And her smoke rose up forever
and ever. And the four and twenty elders
and 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 his servants and ye that
fear him both small and great, praise our God, O child of God,
look at this scene, look up. Cry out in faith of your God
and your Saviour. Praise our God. Cry out with
that voice of a great multitude as of as the voice of many waters
and as the voice of many thunderings saying, Alleluia for the Lord
God Omnipotent. Reigneth. Alleluia. He has taken me, a beggar, a
fool, a base sinner, the dust of the earth, a worm. He's taken
me, I'm nothing. And he's washed my sins away
in his blood. And he's taken me and he's arrayed
me in fine linen, clean and white. the righteousness of saints he's
made me the righteousness of God in Christ by the faith of
Christ I am the righteousness of God in him perfect as the
Father is perfect just in God's sight he's brought me in as his
wife his bride whom he loved oh praise God for his wondrous
salvation cry out Alleluia. Salvation and glory and honour
and power unto the Lord our God. Amen.