I think I've pointed this out
to us before, but that last hymn we just finished singing, if
you noticed when the author lived in the 1500s, we're still singing
the same hymns, aren't we? The word of God doesn't change,
God doesn't change, and the hymns of God's people, the truth doesn't
change either. Now, if you will, let's open
our Bibles this evening to the book of Revelation. chapter 21. I hope to speak to us for just
a short while tonight before we observe the Lord's Supper. Revelation chapter 21. Let me
read verses 1 and 2. And 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. And
I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Now look down to verse nine.
And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the
seven vows full of the last seven plagues. and talked with me saying,
come hither, I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the
spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city,
the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Having
the glory of God and her light was like unto a stone, most precious,
even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. The Lamb's Wife. John sees her coming down out
of heaven as the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the Lamb's Wife. You know, there are several relationships
used in the scripture which express the union between God's people
and our Savior. relationships between believers
and the Lord Jesus Christ. To name just a few of these,
we are referred to as His portion. His portion, something that is
given to Him. We are also referred to as His
people. I brought a message recently
on that subject and we saw how all through the scriptures we
read about His people. And then also we think about
the fact that we are referred to as his sheep. He is a good
shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. And also his wife, the Lamb's
wife, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. To me, of all of
these relationships that I've just mentioned, his portion,
his people, His wife expresses to me the
closest of these relationships. And I say that because in the
beginning when God created man and then God created Eve, his
wife, for man, Adam made this statement. And I know he was
inspired of God because it is repeated in the New Testament,
part of it, in different places. This is now bone of my bone and
flesh of my flesh. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they
shall be one flesh." Union. They shall be one flesh, the
man and the woman. are joined together in marriage
and they shall be one flesh. So believers are referred to
as the lamb's wife, the bride of the lamb. Doesn't that show
a very near and close relationship? To me more so than to be his
portion, his sheep, or his people even. Now I have several parallels
for us tonight to look at, which are suggested by this relationship
of husband and wife. The holy city, Jerusalem, prepared
as a bride, is the Lamb's bride. First, there's choice. Choice. The Son of God chose
his wife. There's choice. John chapter
15 and verse 16, the Lord Jesus said this, you have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. And then just a few verses down,
he said, I have chosen you out of the world. A man chooses his
bride, and so Christ, he chose his bride, his wife. Many people, when they read that
passage there in John 15, you have not chosen me, but I have
chosen you, they like to say, well, that's just referring to
his 12 disciples. That's not talking about election. That's not speaking about God
choosing his church, his bride, his wife. Well, no doubt it does
have special reference to the 12 disciples of our Lord. But the truth of that verse,
you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, is taught all through
the scripture. Divine election. God chose His
people. The man, the husband, the lamb,
He chose. The Son of God chose His wife. Another verse of scriptures in
2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13, and no one can surely say this
is only speaking of the 12 disciples, because this was written to believers
in the church at Thessalonica by the Apostle Paul. He said,
we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
unto salvation. It doesn't say chosen you to
be one of the 12 disciples. There were only 12 of those who
walked with the Lord while he was here in the flesh. But God's
elect, God's wife, or the Lamb's wife rather, the bride of the
Lord Jesus Christ, she was chosen out of every nation, every kindred,
and every tongue, and every tribe. That's what we read in the book
of Revelation. God has His chosen in this world. the bride of the Lamb. The Son
of God chose his wife. And that verse of scripture which
says, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren
beloved of the Lord, brings me to my second point. First, there
is choice. The Son of God chose his wife. And second, there is love. The
Son of God loves his wife. Now this is truly amazing. I know for all of God's children,
it is truly amazing to think about the love of God. The love that the Lord Jesus
Christ has for his wife, for his church. In Ephesians 3 and
verse 19, Paul says that the love of Christ passeth knowledge. Love of Christ passeth knowledge. And then later in that same letter,
chapter 5, in verse 25, he said, Christ also loved the church. Now in that verse, in Ephesians
5, 25, where Paul tells us Christ also loved the church, he exhorts,
husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church. Now think about it. If Christ's
love for His bride, for His church, was not special, is not special,
then there is no way that the Apostle Paul would admonish husbands
to love their wives even as Christ loved the church. If His love
for His church is not special, special His love, It is an eternal
love, an everlasting love. It is a love, my friends, that
will never end. Paul would not encourage husbands
to love their wives even as Christ loved the church if his love
for his church was not special. He wouldn't encourage husbands,
you love your wives like you love everyone else. No, the love
between a husband and his wife is a special love. Those of us
who are parents here tonight, we love our children. We love
our children. And children here tonight, we
love our parents. But both of those loves do not
compare with the love that exists between husband and wife. It is a special love. A special love. Because they're
one. They're one. Paul, in that passage,
he said, no man ever yet hated his own flesh. Cherish your wife
because you love her. There's love, the Son of God.
What am I saying? I'm saying that there's a relationship
between the Lord Jesus Christ and all believers. that is referred
to or pictured by the relationship between a husband and his wife. And first of all, I said there's
choice. A man chooses his bride. Christ
chose his bride. And second, there's love. The
Son of God loves his church. Don't you love that passage in
John chapter 13? Just before the Lord Jesus Christ
washed the disciples' feet, when it opens up, having loved His
own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. Unto the end. There is no end
to His love. It's a special love. And third,
there is commitment. The Son of God commit are committed
to his wife. Look with me to John chapter
17. There's choice, there's love,
and there's commitment. In John chapter 17, of course you recognize this as
our Lord's Prayer. In verse 19, notice what he said,
For their sakes I sanctify myself. For their sakes. Now all through
this chapter, those who are given to him, that's for whom he sanctified
himself. For their sakes I sanctify myself. All through this chapter, he
is speaking about those who were given to him. You notice in verse
2, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And also
in verse 9, I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. Again in verse 11, And now
I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I
come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me. And then again in verse
24, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me
be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou
hast given me. In this verse here, verse 19,
he said, For their sakes I sanctify myself. I said there's commitment. The husband, he commits to his
wife. And when the Lord speaks of sanctifying
himself, you know some people when they see that word sanctify
or sanctification, they immediately say, well that's talking about
holiness. Sometimes it is. But the Lord Jesus Christ here,
He's not saying I'm making myself more holy because He is holy,
always has been holy, and cannot be any more holy. He set Himself
apart. He committed Himself for their
sakes. I sanctify myself. I commit myself
for their sakes. And He committed Himself to die
in the stead and in the place of His people, those who were
given unto Him. You know, someone one time said,
in the gospel, there's two things that you will always hear. Substitution and satisfaction. Substitution and satisfaction. When the gospel is preached,
we hear that Christ substituted himself in the place of someone. He suffered in the place of someone. He was chastised in the place
of someone. Someone is healed by his stripes. And we know who those someones
are. They are those whom the Father
gave unto him. He sanctified himself. He set
himself apart to the suffering of the cross and the death that
he experienced in the place of. And then I said there's always
substitution, always satisfaction. He satisfied God, didn't he?
He did. He satisfied God for all the
sins of all of those who were given to Him. There's commitment. The Son of
God committed Himself to His bride. To do whatever is necessary,
whatever the Father requires, whatever God's law and God's
justice demanded, He committed Himself to accomplish. And He
has done that. He is committed to his wife.
In the book of Malachi, God said this, He hates putting away. He hateth putting away. And of
course, in the context there, it has to do with divorce. He
hateth putting away. That those men, our Lord said,
For the hardness of your heart, Moses granted, to write a bill
of divorce. But the Lord Jesus Christ, He
is our husband, He hates putting away, and you may be sure of
this, those who are married to Him, those who are His wife,
will never be put away. They'll never be put away in
any form or fashion. Why? Because He is committed
to to saving each and every one and bringing each and every one
to the Father's house and presenting us to the Father. And being able
to say, here am I and the children which Thou hast given me. And
not one is going to be lost. It amazes me, I guess it shouldn't,
but it amazes me that there are people who claim to represent
God, the God of the Bible, and they speak as though a person
could be saved and then be lost. What kind of love is that? What
kind of salvation is that? I tell you, it's not God's salvation. He hateth putting away. He's
committed to his wife. He set himself apart to do everything
needful. And number four, first there's
choice, there's love, there's commitment, there's providing.
The Son of God provides for his wife. He provides her clothing. If we could see each other here
tonight like God sees us, we're all dressed in those shining
robes of righteousness. Those of us who know Christ.
He provides our clothing, doesn't he? Remember what the father
said of that prodigal son when he came home? You know that prodigal,
he was willing to be made like one of the servants, wasn't he?
He made up his mind. That's what I'm going to tell
my dad when I get home. Make me like one of the servants.
I don't even deserve that, but make me like one of the servants.
And the father said, No way. And the first thing he commanded
to be put on this prodigal son who came home, the best robe. Now you can search through heaven
and earth and hell and everywhere else and you will find that the
best robe is the robe of Christ's righteousness. That robe with
which He clothes His bride, His wife. He provides. He provides her clothing. He
provides her nourishment. He provides her food and drink. Remember he said, whosoever eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. He provides
his wife's nourishment. We continue. I ate yesterday. I imagine most of you did too. But you know what? I ate again
today. And if God lets me live and I'm not in the hospital,
I'll probably eat again tomorrow. We need nourishment, don't we? Physical nourishment. But my
friends, how much more nourishment do our souls need? We must feed
upon Christ day by day, eating His flesh and drinking His blood,
believing Him, trusting Him, that through His sacrifice, His
blood, His flesh that was crucified, that we have life. eternal life. And He provides her lodging.
The husband does that for his wife, doesn't he? He provides
her clothing. He provides her food, her nourishment. He provides her shelter, her
lodging. So the Lord Jesus Christ said,
in my Father's house are many, many dwellings. If it were not
so, I would have told you. Number five, there's companionship. The Son of God, He communes with
His wife. He communes with her. Look over
to John 14, just a moment. This is a precious passage of
Scripture. Our Lord was speaking with His
disciples before He went away, before He went to the cross.
And He promised them that He would not leave them orphans. He would not leave them comfortless.
But look at what He says in verse 23. Jesus answered and said unto
him, if a man love me, he will keep my words, and my father
will love him, and we, we, God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit, we will come unto him and make our abode
with him. There's companionship. He lives
in us. One hymn writer said, he walks
with me and talks with me on long life's weary way. Companionship. And then number six, there's
rejoicing. The son of God rejoices in his
wife. All of these things are true
of husbands and their wives. The husband chooses his wife,
the husband loves his wife, the husband commits to his wife,
the husband provides for his wife, the husband is a companion
to his wife, and the husband rejoices in his wife or over
his wife. You say, where do you find that?
In Zephaniah. I won't ask you to turn. Zephaniah. Chapter number 3 and verse 17. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save, He will rejoice
over thee with joy, He will rest in His love. He will joy over
thee with singing. The Son of God is said to joy
over His people and also to rest in His love. He takes the utmost
delight and satisfaction in his wife. Now those are all things
that speak to us of the husband that remind us of the Lord Jesus
Christ and his relation to us. But let's remember there are
some things that believers, as his wife, are told to do. There's three things. First of
all, we are to submit ourselves unto our own husband. Isn't that what Paul said? Wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husband. He's our husband. We
are to submit ourselves unto him. Number two, we are to be
in subjection unto our husband. Again, wives, be in subjection
to your husbands. And third, We are to reverence
our husband. The wife see that she reverence
her husband. Now, when you look at those three
exhortations that the apostles give to wives, believing wives,
I don't expect unbelieving wives to receive that. Do you? I don't expect that at all. And
if I do expect it, I'm going to be disappointed. But I do
expect those who are believers. Because this is what the Word
of God teaches. Husbands are to love their wives,
and wives are to submit themselves unto their husbands, be in subjection
to their husbands, and reverence their husbands. Basically, I
think all three of those exhortations are saying the same thing, aren't
they? Sure they are. They're all pretty much the same.
And the Lord Jesus Christ said this, he that hath my commandments
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. So just some thoughts
tonight of the relationship between the husband and his wife, Christ
and his bride, his wife, the church. Chosen, loved, have his
commitment, have his providing, have his companionship, and have
his rejoicing over us. And our responsibility then is
to reverence him, to obey him, to submit ourselves unto him. I pray that the Lord would bless
these words to all of us here tonight. I'm going to ask the
men if