Let’s pray together. Father, we thank You. Lord, that as we sang, You always answer prayer. But not in hardly ever the way we would want, but Lord, according to Your perfect wisdom and will. So help us to remember in all things, God, that You’re good and in all things, You’re working. In all things, Your purposes are good. And Your purposes are perfect for our lives. Father, we do thank You on this weekend for a country where we can freely worship, freely serve, freely proclaim that we’re followers of Jesus. Lord, we’re thankful for those who have Lord, given their lives. For us to have such freedom, Lord. So let us not waste it. Let us not waste the freedoms we have to proclaim the good news of Jesus and to live out the implications of our faith.
Lord, right here where we are.
Lord, we pray You would bless our tithe and our offering. Lord, let us always give. And as we trust Your plan, let us also trust, Lord, Your provision. And that we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, good evening. We’re going to be in Revelation chapter 19, verses 6 through 10.
I told myself I was going to try to wrap up this sermon series before summer, because this summer we’re going to do Summer in the Psalms. So we’ll be working through eight different psalms in June and July, but that ain’t happening. Every time I try to preach large swaths of Revelation, I seem to get stuck on fewer and fewer. So that’s okay. But this will be the last sermon before the summertime. And then we’ll finish it out, chapters 20, 21, and 22 in the fall.
Revelation chapter 19, verse 6.
John writes, Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice, and exult, and give Him the glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
And the angel said to me, write this, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God that I fell down at His feet to worship Him. But he said to me, You must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Jessica and I were married when I was 20 years old. And I’ll be 35 in July. I’m an old man. Now, we were married when I was 20 and we dated through high school. And I remember when I finally asked her to marry me. And you planned the wedding date. Right? And, boy, that’s so exciting.
You know, it’s it’s coming. It’s not happened yet. But in some sense, it’s happened. It’s going to happen. It’s not actually happened. But you’re so excited about it. You’re living in the reality of it. That’s kind of what an engagement period feels like. And we come to this third hallelujah. We did the first two hallelujahs last week. But here we come to the third hallelujah. And this third hallelujah is about the marriage of the Lamb. And the marriage of the Lamb has finally come. It’s climactic. It’s as climactic as it can possibly be. We’re on an upward turn here where everything in Revelation is Jesus winning. And the church winning. And it’s a it’s a perfect place to shout the third hallelujah. So it’s already come in that you and I have trusted Christ in that the Word of God said it’s going to happen. And so we can in some ways live in the truth of that. But kind of like in engagement, period. It’s not it’s not though happened. And it leaves you in a kind of a place of joyful anticipation.
First thing that they say when they shout their hallelujah is for the Lord our God, the Almighty, He reigns. He reigns. Babylon, that city that really envelops, envelops, the culture of the Antichrist, that place that was so wicked, that place that did everything it could to slaughter God’s people, that place has fallen. And we said last week the first hallelujah was that God’s good and powerful. The second hallelujah was that God’s judgments are eternal. So remember, no, we’re not perfect. But if we’re God’s people, we get really excited about the wicked being destroyed in an eternal sense. Wicked being destroyed forever. But here in this third hallelujah, they point out the Lord our God, the Almighty, He reigns. He reigns. And you kind of have to say, not just this hallelujah, but the whole Bible being a good story really depends on God reigning, God being the Almighty.
But you can really render this little verse here, the Almighty has come upon His reign. Or the Almighty has begun His reign. That’s kind of the sense here in the text. But you ask the question then, well, hold on, if God is the Almighty, how can it be said He’s beginning to reign here? Because if God’s the Almighty, does that mean He’s always been the one reigning?
If we go back to the book of Job, the Lord says this to Job when Job begins to question the Lord. Dress for action like a man and I will question you and you make it known to me. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like God? And can you thunder with a voice like His? Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity. Clothe yourself with glory and splendor. Pour out the overflowings of your anger and look on everyone who is proud and abase him. Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them all in dust together. Bind their faces in the world below. Then I will also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you. So the Lord says, He says sharply to Job. The prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 46, 9, Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done. Saying, My counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all things. All my purpose. And then the psalmist just flatly says in Psalm 47, verse 8, God reigns over the nations. God sits on His holy throne.
So God’s testimony about Himself throughout all of the scriptures is this. He is the Almighty. He is the One who reigns. He reigns. He reigns over the created world. He reigns over His enemies both in the visible and invisible realms. He reigns over every circumstance.
And that’s like a great Bible study that we could all go, Amen. Amen. But then there’s the actuality of like believing that for ourselves, isn’t there? Think about how challenged Job was to believe this.
Think about how challenged the psalmist would have been time and time again when his enemies would have seemed to be winning. Think about the challenge that would have been to believe that in the New Testament era when the church is being persecuted in such a great way. Think about how it was flat, just unbelievable for the Israelites. The Israelites roaming in in the desert, they just said, No. They said, You can’t. You can’t help us overcome the giants in the land. It wasn’t going to happen. And God said, Fine, you’re not going to go in. It’s really hard to believe that. It’s really hard to believe that for us. And here’s what God does. God always tests genuine faith and God always often tests genuine faith severely so.
So hear me say, if it hurts, that’s not an indication God doesn’t love you or God’s not in control. Oftentimes, God’s challenging our faith. Is it real? Do we really believe that God is in control? Think about the severity of Job’s situation for a moment. He lost his dear children in one moment. He lost his possessions. He lost his good name. He lost his health. He was stripped down to nothing. God pushed his face in the dirt.
When it seems the enemy seems to be able to slap away God’s hand and you read just some psalms, pick any of them, and you can feel in the words the psalmist just, in her turmoil, he’s at the moment of being destroyed. And so friends, that happens to us in our own way. That happens to us as we follow Christ, as we feel pressure from the world. We let this devilish question in our minds. Is God in control? Is God reigning? I don’t know. Maybe the atheists have it right. Maybe it’s just time and chance, time and chance. There were a couple of missionaries, three missionaries that were murdered this past week in Haiti. David and Natalie Lloyd and then also someone with them, but they were missionaries in Haiti. They kind of like ran an orphanage, took care of children. Apparently, he grew up there, was from there. He went to Bible college in the States and said to all the ladies, I’m not interested in you. If you’re not interested in living in Haiti, the rest of you is your life. It’s where I’m from. And he’s the son of a Missouri state representative. And he was on the phone when all this happened. The first gang came through, dragged him off, tied him up, beat him up. Then he got free. They thought they were, I guess they were fine. They were back in the house. Another gang came through and shot him up.
And you say, God, do you really reign? When something like this happens?
Do you really reign when something like this happens?
And there’s really only one place for you and I to go when we hear things like this or experience things in our lives like this. There’s really just one place to go. And that’s the cross of Jesus. That’s to the Lord’s Messiah. It’s to the resurrection because that’s the only place that you and I can go and see how God is not aloof. He’s not far off. He’s not weak. There we see in a crucified, bloodied, beaten, abandoned Jesus that God full well, God full well understands and has felt in His Son the wickedness and terror of evil. Yet in His resurrection it’s so clear that Jesus reigns over all of us. And like Jesus there may be those seasons where we feel stretched out and it feels dark. But there’s the resurrection just three days later. And it doesn’t mean that things always turn out with the perfect bow tied around them sort of ending in something that you could get caught up in life or what it would mean to live for Christ or what it means for a missionary and not everyone comes home. But it means that God is in control. The empty grave means that Jesus is reigning and has always reigned. And that has to be an ever present reminder friends in our hearts when faith is pressed to disbelieve that God truly reigns. I’m not remotely the first person to say it. You’ve probably heard it many times. But the cross wasn’t God’s plan B. God wasn’t just so excited about this garden with these two people and oh my goodness this thing happened and he had to get a whiteboard out with Jesus and they’re strategizing like what can we do to deal with this?
Friends, God has always been in control.
So every blow we take from evil it’s not a signal or sign that maybe God’s not in control. Your third grade Sunday school teacher got it wrong. No, it’s through these difficult things that God’s purposes are fulfilled. It’s through these things God reigns. But then there’s the specific reigning. This is where here in 19 in 1906 it is so great that it infers for the Lord our God the Almighty has begun to reign. They’re talking about it as if it’s happening now for them when they’re seeing this.
Adam’s fall was not remedied that day, was it? Adam’s fall wasn’t remedied the next week. Adam’s fall wasn’t remedied that century. It wasn’t remedied that millennium, was it? There’s a long stretch between the garden and whenever Christ does return. A long stretch. But guess what? That time will come so that in a very real sense Jesus when he shows up we can all see him. We can all sing hallelujah. The reign of Christ on earth has begun. It’s just like my wedding illustration. I believe it’s going to happen and I’m really excited about it but then the wedding day it comes. Then the wedding day it actually is there to enjoy and everyone’s excited and you make your vows. So yes, God reigns in the heavenlies and he reigns over the whole story and time and everything that’s moving and happening but the thing is that then there’s this great hallelujah when Jesus comes back and he actually reigns on earth in time and space and he’s going to be visible on his throne and nothing anywhere is going to be broken or wrong or out of place. It’s going to be so painfully obvious to your eyeballs what you can only see by faith now. Now. Now. Jesus will be right here in your hometown. How about that? Jesus is going to show up and he’s going to reign. So it’s valuable then to notice for the Lord our God it’s not just some deity who’s picked earth it’s personally your God. This is intimate. This is real. This is in your face. This is, this is the Lord your God who yes is the almighty but he’s for you and he’s going to reign right here.
So it’s true that what is will someday be called what has been. Your sorrow and suffering now that is someday you’ll say it has been. The wicked man is but as the word of God says you will look for him and you won’t be able to find him. It’ll be just like it never happened. So friends I want to give you some just great encouragements from this verse. Fear not. Fear not little ones. Your shepherd he is competent. How about that? God is competent. How about Jesus is proficient. He’s really good at his job of loving you and taking care of you. Really good. He’s never lost a sheep. He said he wouldn’t.
He’s going to keep you today and he’s going to keep you for all the ages to roll on. You’re kept eternally in the palm of God’s hand. Then secondly there’s wisdom in listening to the psalmist. Be still and know that I’m God. That as often isn’t it the most difficult spiritual discipline is just to sit down. You’re not important. That important. You’re important. But you’re not so important that you can’t sit down turn your phone off turn your your fears off turn the world off and just know that God is God. Be still the psalmist says and just know that God is God in everything. Whatever you’re going through whatever we’re dealing with whatever the future holds which can be scarier than the present God is God. And then third don’t stop longing. Don’t stop longing for that day when Jesus reigns. We get so focused with the here and now don’t we? We get so focused with things you know right in front of our face and we’re just juggling the affairs of life we lose our longing for that day when Christ reigns.
It’s kind of I guess a weird way to think about it but I’ve been thinking about things lately like this. So I’m 30 almost 35 if I’m lucky I’ll live 50 more years be like 85 that would be good enough I guess. Most people well not most a lot of folks don’t make it that long a few people make it further and healthy it’s not that long when you think about it. 50 years not that long. So I’ve been saying to myself what would the me in my life in 51 years think about this? What would the me in 51 years do in this situation? Would the me 51 years from now fret about this? Would the me 51 years from now spend money on that? Would the me 51 years from now take the leap of faith? Stop thinking in the moment like this is all there is. You’re called to live for a higher kingdom. It’s coming it’s not come yet but what? It’s coming. It’s coming. Live like a citizen of heaven on earth.
But then we come to verse 7
after they exclaim that God reigns and in 7 it says let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. Has made herself ready. I cannot dance at all and my wife could attest to this. I don’t have I don’t have a a bone in my body that’s good at dancing. I can’t do it. I’m very shy and introverted. I can’t do it. Now she she can even if she wasn’t good at it she would still do it but she loves a good wedding because she loves dancing and being silly and dancing you know or you know that. But one of the things that I think we both thought about over the years about our wedding was you know most people you go to a wedding you go to the reception because there’s free food and then you leave once you get your free food. Everyone stayed late. I don’t know how many we were there several hours and the music kept playing and everyone kept dancing and the electric slide and all the funny things you do and it was a long time of celebration. Why is that such a happy thing? Why is that so happy? I mean couldn’t people just get together if they wanted and do the electric slide? I guess they could. It’s because a wedding in its purest form is a virgin man and a virgin woman who love each other deeply before God before man. They’re making a verbal commitment covenant really before God and man. I’m going to live selflessly for them and for them. And they’re saying they’re going to selflessly live for me to the point the Bible says you really can’t consider them two people anymore. That’s that’s electric slide worthy. That’s something to get excited about that two people can be so intertwined that in the eyes of God and man they are one. They’re just one. It’s really got a mysterious element to it and really it’s why divorce shows , you know, It’s an atrocity to us in our society today because you’re dismembering one thing. You’re ripping apart two things. Right? So Jesus in Matthew 19 says they’re no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let no man separate. So it’s a big deal in God’s eyes when two come into one. And then it’s why Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 16 do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For as it is written the two will become one flesh. And then here’s the real verse that I think kicks the door down on it. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 30 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. There’s the big mystery hidden for the ages that’s finally revealed to us in the church age here in the end. The purposes of God in marriage aren’t just so two people can be happy and be accomplished. That’s good. It’s not just so you can have someone’s shoulder to cry on when times are hard. That’s good. But there is in marriage this beautiful picture of two people who when they selflessly love one another serve one another they are one thing in this marriage union. And Paul says the whole point of the thing is it’s pointing to a greater spiritual reality. What’s this great spiritual reality? This great spiritual reality is the fact that is that just as a man and a woman are one so will the Lord Jesus and His church be in spiritual union forever. Forever.
We are if we have placed faith in Jesus you are bound to Christ. You’re bound to Him as His bride. And He is bound to you already.
But then there comes this day friends when we shall behold face to face the bridegroom see Jesus in all of His splendor in all of His glory in all of His goodness in love in mercy and see Jesus in His righteousness and in His purity and be able to gaze upon that for an eternity and be able to know that and be known by that forever. That’s I don’t there’s no word I want to say wonderful but that’s something whatever that word would be it’s that. And it’s not a novel New Testament idea it’s just fully shown in the New Testament because you have back in the Old Testament you have in the in the prophet Hosea it says in here the Lord says and I will betroth you to me forever I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice and steadfast love and mercy and you have again the prophet Isaiah saying in Isaiah 54 for your maker is your husband the Lord of hosts is His name and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. So friends God has been saying to us all along He will have the love of a perfect husband for that and that comes out so clear and explicitly for you and I in the person of Jesus and we’re told that this day is going to come when there is a presenting of the bride to His groom and the groom to the bride and it’s going to be a party it’s going to be a marriage supper and it’s it’s going to be amazing and it’s going to be beyond words and here I think George Eldon Ladd’s commentary is most helpful he reminds us it is John’s custom to proclaim redemptive events which he knows nowhere actually describes and that’s a good reminder because I’m thinking let’s talk about this wedding feast what’s this going to look like what’s it going to look like what’s it going to be like the Bible doesn’t tell us anything other than it’s just going to happen it just tells us it’s going to happen and I think that’s enough I think that’s enough for us to say this is going to happen I don’t know what it’s going to look like I can’t describe the event yet I want to see into it oh but the anticipation is there for us to wait to see Jesus who is our king Jesus who is our bridegroom Jesus who loves us perfectly
but then there’s something else said and it’s about you and me we get to be there not only do we get to be there we’re the bride and this is the bride has made herself ready the bride has made herself ready how do I get ready for this how do I get ready for this I remember when Jessica was you know well this is anyone preparing for a wedding which some of us may be doing soon but it’s it’s a lot how do you prepare for a wedding right you you have to think through all the things and there’s a lot to be done and there’s a dress and there’s the right size and there’s a king all that there’s a lot of things to be done how do I prepare for this thing there’s a there’s a parable in Matthew chapter 22 and that parable explains this perfectly what does it mean for you and I to prepare for the wedding feast and in that parable and I’ll just summarize it because it’s really long but there’s a king and he’s putting on a wedding feast for his son and they send out the servants to invite everyone all the people that quote unquote you would have thought should have been there and they said no thanks and he sends out the servants again and that time they mistreat and kill the servants and so the king kills them and then the king says you just go out and you invite everybody the highways the byways just anybody that will come you just go and invite them and all these all these people come and so the king comes in and he’s looking around at everyone but there’s this one man in at this wedding feast and this man does not have a wedding garment on and the king says how did you get in here without the right wedding garment and the man’s speechless and the king has him bound hand and foot and cast out why did Jesus why in this parable is the king casting out this man that was freely invited like everybody else it wasn’t for lack of merit it wasn’t because he couldn’t do something right it wasn’t because he didn’t have the right clothing on in his possession in other words if you go invite a bunch of blue collar folks and poor people and murderers and thieves and prostitutes do you think they have in their possession the kind of thing you would need to wear to a royal wedding no it’s something that a king would have supplied to the guests it was something that was freely handed out it was the man’s choice to try to show up on his own terms to this wedding feast so see what’s being said here you and I being prepared for this great feast it has nothing to do with what we can do but it has everything to do with believing in what Jesus has done it has everything to do with being clothed in his righteousness being clothed in the perfections of Jesus and the perfections of Jesus our preparation is not a preparation of what we can do to earn heaven it’s a preparation of emptying self of self and being full of Jesus
Ephesians chapter 5 that same passage on marriage Paul goes on to say this husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word and by the water of the water so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish so friends yes you and I are to live righteous you and I are called to do good deeds that Paul says are prepared beforehand for us but our good deeds are a show that we have put on the righteousness of Jesus not that we can actually weave that garment together out of our own good works how can I know if I’m saved how can I know if I’m going to be there what if I show up and there’s not a garment and they don’t have my name on the tag
friends believe the gospel that’s how you can know believe the gospel die that’s how you can know are you willing to die are you willing to give your all to Christ and surrender to him fully are you willing to carefully examine your life and examine your good deeds and see that you’re bearing fruit that comes from a place of knowing and being full of Christ are you willing to have faith in the difficult things trusting that God is doing all that are you willing to give up the superficialities of religion and going to church are you willing to give yourself fully in repentance and faith
search yourself search yourself search yourself
but in searching yourself don’t look for goodness there search yourself and see I only have goodness in Jesus I need to keep going back to Jesus he is my righteousness alone he is my righteousness alone so I just want to encourage us invite us here let’s rejoice with Andrew in anticipation for that coming day life is so short life is so short friends let’s live for the world and the life that is to be and it’s so close it’s so close let the idea of it keep you faithful let the idea of it keep you full of joy let the idea of this wedding feast be the thing that pushes you through the hard times knowing that God is good and his grace is good to you but what you need to stand in for your life is to behold Jesus and for Jesus to behold you and see you perfect and pure dressed in the fullness of Christ
go to verse 10 here go to verse 10 here and at the end there it says The angel said, these are true words of God. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, you must not do that. I’m a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
John gets so excited about all this. John gets so worked up. John gets so overwhelmed by what he’s seeing. And seeing, understandable that he, I think for a moment there, he locates it in the angel. And he just, you know, wants to worship the angel. And the angel says, I’m just a servant with you. I’m not, that’s not, that’s not for me. But the angel says, these are the true words of God. These are the true words of God. Worship God. I really don’t like it when people refer to the Bible as, this is, this book is God’s love letter to you. Now, I guess they mean well when you hear that people say it. But a love letter is a letter that one fellow writes to this girl and he’s telling her how great and awesome she is. That’s problematic because the Bible’s not a love letter to me from God to tell me how great and awesome and beautiful I am. It’s a letter to tell me how beautiful and awesome and great God is. And hey, because of his mercy and grace, he’s going to let me see him. And live. He’s taken away my sins by the blood of his sons. This is not a love letter about how great I am. This is a love letter about how great God is and what he has made me to be far beyond what I deserve by the sacrifice of his son, Jesus.
But hold to the testimony of Jesus then, friends. God does love us enough to give us this explicit love letter. Not of who we are, but who he is. So we can know the truth and live by the truth and worship God for what he has done, what he’s doing, and what he will do in the very end. Jesus has borne witness in the book of Revelation, in the whole of the Bible. And I want to invite us to sing a hallelujah because Jesus reigns. And Jesus will reign. Because Jesus is our bridegroom, but there’s coming a day when we will behold him as such. Let’s pray. Let’s pray. Let’s pray.