Revelation today, chapter 19,
and we continue in our study. Revelation 19, I'm taking the
title for the message from what is said in verse 7. It's pretty
obvious what these verses are talking about. Let us be glad,
verse 7, let us be glad that God is God, that He reigns and
rules. Let us rejoice and let us give
honor. Let us worship Him that is our Lord Jesus Christ. Let
us worship Him Give power, honor, and glory, acknowledging that
He is our God and Savior. For the marriage of the Lamb
is come, and His wife, the Lamb has a wife, a bride, hath made,
she hath made herself ready, ready to meet the Lord Jesus
Christ. Of course, we know who the Lamb is here, don't we? No
doubt about that. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the Lamb of God. John the Baptist identified Him. Remember John chapter 1? Behold
the Lamb of God that takes away our sin. Every sacrificial lamb
of the Old Testament is picture, type, and promise of the coming
of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the fulfillment of all Holy Scripture. He is the
Lamb of God. This whole book of Revelation
is a revelation of Jesus Christ, and we see Him displayed in His
sacrificial office as the Lamb of God. We see Him in His sacrificial
character and mediator as the Lamb of God. The old timers called
it His mediatorial work. As a sacrifice for our sin, as
the righteousness, our righteousness before God. 27 times, I counted
them. Go through the book of Revelation,
27 times we read about the Lamb, the Lamb, the Lamb who is the
Lion of the tribe of Judah. He's seen in his sacrificial
character. Turn back to Revelation chapter
5 and let's see if we can read that. Revelation chapter 5. Verse 5, one of the elders saith
unto me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book,
to loose the seven seals. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne, in the midst of the four beasts, in the midst
of the elders stood a lamb, as it had been slain. Who is this
One, the Lord Jesus Christ, in His glorified character as a
God-man mediator, having seven horns, all power, seven eyes,
all knowledge, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth
into all the earth?" No doubt about who this Lamb is. The Lamb
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole book's about Him. Now
who is the Lamb married to? It says there that his wife hath
made herself ready. Who is the Lamb? The Lord Jesus
Christ, God our Savior. Who is he married to? He has
a wife. He has a bride. a multitude of
sinners chosen by God. Chosen by God. You remember what
it said in Revelation 9, verse 6, and I heard, as it were, a
voice of a great multitude. Back in verse 1, after these
things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, redeemed
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They sang about the song
of the Lamb of God. I found a new song saying thou
art worthy to take the book, to open the seals thereof for
thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred, tribe, tongue and people and has made us kings
and priests and to our God. And I heard the voice of many
angels round about the throne, the beast and the elders and
the number of them were 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of
thousands. Someone do the math on that.
saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb. Same message, to
receive riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessings.
Worthy is the Lamb. Who are these people? Redeemed
by the blood of Christ. They're sinners, saved by the
grace of God, chosen by the grace of God, elected unto salvation,
and given to the Lord Jesus Christ in that eternal covenant of grace.
We were espoused to Him. or betrothed to him. Our Lord
speaks of them given to him in that covenant many places. But
I like this one particular, John 6, 37. He says, all that the
Father giveth to me, they'll come to me. And those that come
to me, I will in no wise cast out. Notice they're arrayed in
fine linen, clean and white, clothed with the garments of
salvation and the robe of righteousness, which is What is the robe of
our righteousness? Christ himself. Blessed is the
man to whom God imputes righteousness without works. We're studied
in Isaiah 61. I quote this verse all the time,
but I've written it down so I won't misquote it. Isaiah 61 10, I
will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
has covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornament, as a bride adorns herself with
jewels. We have the garments of salvation. We have the very robe of righteousness
provided for us by God and freely given unto us. And when all the
enemies of God have been righteously judged, eternally condemned,
everlastingly put out of business, When the wicked and unbelieving
world has been destroyed by the power of His holy just wrath,
by the omnipotent power of God, all the glorified saints in heaven,
they say, Amen. Hallelujah. You see that? And I heard, as it were, a voice
of a great multitude, as a voice of many waters, as a voice of
mighty thundering, saying, hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Let us be glad. Let us rejoice in him. When the Lord returns, God's
elect will be gathered unto the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is called in scripture our
husband. He is called our head. He's the
head of the body. He is our God and Savior, and
we will be called unto the great marriage supper of the Lamb,
and forever be one with Him, celebrating and feasting in the
greatness of His salvation, the greatness of His love, the greatness
of His mercy, the greatness of His person, forever and ever
and ever. Look at verse 9, and He said
unto me, write, write it down. Aren't you glad He said, write
it down? Aren't you glad that we have His Word? That we can
read it? We can read what God has written? Blessed are they
which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He saith
unto me, these are the true sayings of God. These are true sayings. Everything God writes are the
true sayings of God. He is our husband. He is our
head. He is God our Savior. He'll call us unto Himself. and
we'll enjoy him forever. That relationship between Christ
and his church is described that way in scripture as the husband
and the wife in Ephesians chapter 5, as the bridegroom and the
bride, and in many different scriptures. Turn one page and
look at Revelation 21 verse 1. I saw a new heaven and a new
earth, For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away,
and there was no more sea, no more trouble. And I, John, saw
the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
talking about His church, the redeemed of the Lord, prepared
as a bride, adorned for her husband. Look down at verse 9. in the
same chapter, chapter 21. And there came unto me one of
the seven angels which had the seven vows full of the seven
life plagues. And he talked with me saying,
come up hither and I'll show thee the bride, the lamb's wife. Now we're married to him. He's
our husband. He is our head in all things. In Revelation 54, It says, for thy maker is thy
husband. Thy maker is our husband. The
Lord of hosts is his name. Thy Redeemer, the Holy One, the
God of the whole world, shall he be called. We're married to
Christ in that eternal covenant of grace. And he'll never disown
us. He'll never divorce us. He'll never put us away. He said,
all that the Father giveth to me, they'll come to me. And those
that come to me, I'll never cast them out. I like that word. Never. John the Baptist said,
he that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of
the bridegroom which standeth and heareth rejoices greatly
because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. When Paul writes his epistle
to the Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25. He said, Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it,
that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it should be holy without
blame. That's us in Christ. Let us be glad, verse 7, and
rejoice and give honor to Him. Give honor to Him. For the marriage
of the Lamb has come, and His wife, His wife hath made herself
ready. Now, there have been several
books that I've been reading in preparation of our study through
the Revelation. And one of the books I have been
reading is a book by the name of William Hendrickson, The title
of the book is More Than Conquerors. We Are More Than Conquerors.
In this book that Hendrickson, on his commentary in the Revelation,
he gives a good description of a Jewish wedding tradition at
the time when the Apostle Paul, the Apostle John rather, is given
this revelation. And I think it will help us to
understand something when we see the Jewish tradition and
how this relates to Christ and his church. He said there were
four parts to that Jewish traditional wedding. He said there was an
engagement or espousal or a betrothal, a commitment and a promise. Remember it said of Joseph and
Mary in Matthew 1.18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wife when his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph.
Before they came together she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost. So there is that espousal. Joseph
and Mary were engaged in a commitment of marriage. And the second thing
is an interval. When the groom paid the dowry
price to the father's, to the bride's father. He had to pay
the price. And then thirdly, there was a
wedding procession. The groom and the bride would
dress in their finest garment and present themselves in a great
parade. Now, we see a lot of this tradition
carried over in the weddings that we see, don't we? And then
the wedding feast would take place. We have that reception
after the wedding. lavish banquet when the bride
and the groom would publicly unite together and then we'd
celebrate, we'd celebrate. Now, that's a picture of what
Christ and his bride. This wedding feast of the Lord
to his church is no ordinary wedding feast, but a very special,
meticulously planned with no expense spared from all eternity. This is the marriage of the Lamb
to his chosen bride, all the elect of God, and we see those
same four things. Christ sovereignly chose, elected
us to be his bride in eternity. We were espoused to him, betrothed
to him in that eternal covenant of grace, and we were engaged
to him in that covenant of eternal electing love, electing grace. Paul writes about it and said,
behold, brethren, beloved of God, we are bound to give thanks
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you unto salvation. through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, were unto He called you
by our Gospel." So God, the Lord Jesus Christ, God our Savior,
He chose His bride sovereignly. He made the choice who He would
marry from all eternity. Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ
came in that interval time. He came in time and paid the
dowry price to the Father. God, the Father, His holy law
and His justice had to be satisfied. That was the price. And the Lord
Jesus Christ paid that price with His own life, His own blood. He laid down His life for us. He purchased the church with
His own blood. God bought us with His own blood. He paid the price in full. He bought us lock, stock, and
barrel. as they used to say. Thirdly,
Christ in the wedding procession has provided and adorned his
bride with the most costly garment of beauty, clothed in his righteousness,
his fine linen, clean and white. He granted to her that she should
be arrayed, verse 8, in fine linen, clean and bright, for
the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Now, we don't
have any righteousness of our own, do we? There's none righteous,
no, not one. But we are righteous in our substitute. We are righteous in our bridegroom,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then fourthly, Christ and
his bride enjoy the wedding feast, the honeymoon, if you will, not
for a week, but rather forevermore when the Lord Jesus Christ come
back and receives us unto himself. And he says, if I go away, I'll
come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there
you may be also. We'll be forever with the Lord,
singing praises to Him forever and ever and ever. Now, let us
be glad, verse 7. Let us be glad, let us rejoice,
let us give honor and glory unto our Husband, our Head, our Savior,
the Lamb, the Lion, the Lord. Jesus Christ. Rejoice in Him. Oh, we have so much to be thankful
for. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. We are the true Israel of God,
which worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and we have no confidence in the flesh. Because of our
marriage unto the Lord who chose us, He loved us and He gave Himself
for us. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. The just one suffered for the
unjust that He might bring us unto God. The book of Titus we're
going to see in our study in Titus chapter 2, who gave himself
for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify
unto himself a peculiar people, a perched people who were zealous
of his glory, zealous of good works. Now look at this statement
here on the end of verse 7. His wife hath made herself ready. Now you brides here, on your
wedding day, you took special time to put on the best, right? You fixed your hair. You probably
went to a hair shop. You probably had your nails done. You probably went somewhere and
bought a nice dress. I mean, you just put it on. You made yourself ready, didn't
you? I've stood down here many times. here and other places,
up here with the groom, and the best man, and all the ladies
up here, and then here comes the bride. Everybody has an eye
to that bride. She's beautiful. She's arrayed. She's made herself ready. But
now what he's talking about here is not something we do. It's
something he does for us. You see the difference here?
His wife, that is his church, has made herself ready. How did
the bride of Christ prepare herself to be married unto the Lord?
Well, not by works of morality, certainly not by any good deeds.
By the deeds of the flesh, you know. By the deeds of law shall
no flesh be justified, not by our morality, not by works of
righteousness we have done, not by any morality on our part,
not any by religious traditions on our part. How do we make ourselves
ready? By looking to, resting in, and
trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. for all of our righteousness
before God. Isn't that what it says? Abraham,
hold your place there in Revelation 19. Let's see if we can find
Romans chapter 4. Can you turn there? Everybody
knows where Romans is, right? Romans chapter 4. Sometimes I
have a hard time finding it. But you won't. Romans chapter
4. And that was Abraham's hope. Abraham way back, God found him
in idolatry, called him out. Romans 4 verse 1, what shall
we say then that Abraham our father's pertains to the flesh
has found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof
the glory, but not before God. or what say the scripture. Abraham
believed God and was counted unto him for righteousness. Now
to him that worketh is reward, not reckoning of grace, but of
debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Even as David also described
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness
without work, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven. and whose sins are covered. Blessed is that man,
whom the Lord will not impute sin." Now that's a blessed man
right there. What was Abraham's hope? Remember our Lord said,
Abraham rejoiced to see my day, he sought and was glad. His wife
hath made herself ready by God-given faith. Look at verse 8, and to
her was granted, it was granted, It was a gift of God granted
that she should be arrayed, that she should be dressed in fine
linen, clean, white, bright, for the fine linen is the righteousness
of the saints. Our righteousness in the flesh
are described as, you remember Isaiah 64, what does it say?
Our righteousnesses, plural, our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags in God's eyes. There's none righteous, none
that want. But through this righteousness we have in Christ is a perfect
righteousness justifying us before God Almighty. Her beauty, The
beauty of the bride is the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
was granted to her by a gift of God. Thanks be to God for
his unspeakable gift. Christ is our beauty. Christ
is our glorious dress before God. In Jeremiah, you remember
Jehovah Sidkenu, Jeremiah 23. the Lord our Righteousness. He
shall be called the Lord our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23 verse
6. And then if you read over in
Jeremiah 33 verse 16, it says there that she shall be called
the Lord our Righteousness. You see His name is the Lord
our Righteousness. Our name is the Lord our Righteousness. Now, I married my dear wife more
than 50 years ago, and her maiden name is Ross. Ross, R-O-S-S. But when we were married, she
took my name, and we became one. The two became one. And that's
true of Christ and His bride. He's made us clean and white. This bride is given and provided
this garment of salvation, this robe of righteousness we have
in Christ. We've seen this before. Turn
back to chapter 7, Revelation 7. After this, I beheld, and
lo, a great multitude, verse 9, Revelation 7, 9, which no
man could number, of all nations, kindred, people, and tongues
stood before the throne, before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes and palms in their hand, And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which sits upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb our God. Look at verse 13, Revelation
7. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these, or who are these, which are arrayed
in white robes, and where did they come from? And I said unto
him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The Lord
Jesus Christ, His blood cleanses us from all our sin. He has a beautiful bride. Look at verse 9. And he said
to me, she's arrayed in fine linen, righteousness, the righteousness
of Christ. Every believer is a saint, sanctified,
set apart to the gospel of Christ. And he said unto me, John, you
write it down. Write it down. We're reading
the words that he wrote. What a blessing. What a blessing
to have the written word of God. All Scripture is given to God.
And he said, write, blessed are they which are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are
the true sayings of God. Write it down. Write the true
sayings of God down. Blessed are those who are called
to the special wedding feast. Seven times in the book of Revelation
we read about those who are blessed. There are seven blessings in
the Revelation. Let's turn and remind ourselves
of them. We've seen some of them already.
Turn back to chapter 14, verse 13. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven. Revelation 14, verse 13, "...I
heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the
Spirit, they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow
them. Blessed are they who die in the
Lord Jesus Christ." Look at chapter 16, verse 15. He said, "...Behold,
I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and
keepeth his garments." lest he walk naked and then see his shame. What are those garments? Christ,
our righteousness. Look at Revelation 20. Revelation
20 verse 6. Revelation 20 verse 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection, on such as second death hath
no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they
shall reign with Him a thousand years." And that's forever and
ever. In chapter 22, verse 7, turn
over there. Behold, I come quickly. 22. Blessed
is he that keepeth the saying of the prophecy of this book.
God's people are blessed above. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are
blessed according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. They have been called, they have
been blessed, and they are called to the marriage supper of the
Lamb. You see that in verse 9 again. in our text, which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, this is not a general
call. This is a particular, personal,
powerful, prevailing call of God with the gospel truth. My sheep, He said, hear My voice,
I know them, and they follow Me. They are called unto Christ. being married unto Him in that
eternal covenant of grace. Peter writes about it, you are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of Him
who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. He
called us. He translated us out of the kingdom
of darkness unto the kingdom of God, dear Son. He made us
willing in the day of His power How do you make us willing to
receive Christ our Lord, our Savior, our God? Thy people shall
be willing in the day of his power. Christ makes himself to
us irresistible. To you who believe he is precious,
he is altogether lovely. He makes himself so lovely, so
beautiful, so precious, we say we must have him. We must embrace
him. We must bow and submit to him.
David writes about it this way in Psalm 65, blessed is a man
whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee that he
may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even thy holy temple." These are, look
back to the text, Revelation 19, these are the true sayings. You remember our Lord said, you
shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. These
are the true sayings of God. Everything in His book, it's
impossible for God to lie. Everything in His book is true.
It can be relied upon. It can be believed to the saving
of your soul. You will never go wrong believing,
thus saith the Lord. God's Word is the absolute final,
absolute truth. We can fully trust Him, faithfully
follow Him. You can never go wrong hearing
the Word, believing the Word, receiving the Word, resting in
the Word. Now look at verse 10, and I'll
wind this up. Verse 10. John, now, he's on
this island, he's in the Spirit, he has this vision, and then
this vision is so real from the messenger, the angel, said of
God, John falls at this angel, this messenger's feet to worship
him, and immediately he's rebuked. The messenger said to him, to
John, see thou do it not. I'm your fellow, I'm thy fellow
servant and thy brethren which have the testimony. That's our
testimony is the Savior. He's the Savior who saved us.
Worship God for the testimony of Jesus. The Savior is the spirit
of prophecy. Now what can we learn here from
verse 10? Number one, God alone is to be
worshiped. The Father seeketh such to worship
Him in spirit and in truth. In Hebrews 1, the writer says,
let all the angels of God worship the Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ
is not God, we're idolaters because we worship Him as God. Secondly,
all saints and angels are fellow servants to the Lord. They serve
Him by serving each other. Thirdly, all believers have the
same testimony. This is the faith of God's elect,
this is that common salvation, this is that common faith. And
thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus, they all have the same,
they all bear the same witness, the same testimony, God saved
me by His grace. Christ is all and in all. The whole record of scripture
is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit of prophecy,
the spirit of God, all scriptures God breathed, God given, has
all the same message. The Lord Jesus Christ is everything
in salvation. He's the message of this book.
Because He's the message of this book, He is the center of our
preaching. We preach not ourselves, but
Jesus Christ the Lord. I'm determined not to know anything
among you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So we worship Him. We're married
to Him. We bow and submit to His Lordship. And we love it as so. Lord God
Omnipotent reigneth. Oh, let us be glad. Let us rejoice. Let us give Him all the honor
and glory.