It has been a while now since
we have been in the book of Revelation and
it would be helpful if
I gave you a short summary in terms of what we have considered previously as we are now rapidly heading towards the end
of this great part of (often neglected)
Scripture. The Revelation has been given to the church to remind her that she
exists in the midst of a gigantic spiritual war. The Revelation assures us of the outcome: “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb
will conquer them, for he is the
Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called chosen
and faithful.” (Rev. 17: 14)
I remind you then that the Revelation to John begins with a focus
on the struggles of the church (Rev. 2&3) against the deceptions
of false teachers ( 2:6, 15,20ff) and as she is at the mercy of the satanic persecutions of the synagogue of Satan (jealous Jews – 2:9; 3:9) and of the Roman empire.
All this provides a general
picture of the experience of the church
in all the ages.
Before we consider Rev. 19, and
the thrilling account of the
marriage supper of the Lamb (19:7,9,17) we need to take
note of the contrast
between the bride of Christ (19:7)
- the church and the great multitude (19:1,6) preparing
to meet her heavenly bridegroom (the Lamb 19:7,9)
and the great
prostitute Babylon, the bride of
the dragon who is committing spiritual adultery with the nations ( 17: 1-2,5;15-16). This is
the war between the bride/ Christ and the prostitute/ Satan.
In order to appreciate this contrast between the bride of Christ and the bride of the dragon,
we must go back to
Rev. 16:17-21 , the account of the 7th bowl of God’s
wrath poured out. The 7 bowl
judgments are the last of
the three cycles of judgment found in the Revelation to John, the other two being the seven seal judgments and the seven trumpet judgments.
We saw that the 7th bowl judgment splits Babylon into three parts, along with all of the cities of the nations which
were linked to Babylon (16:19). Babylon is
then introduced as the
great prostitute in Ch. 17. In 17:9 -10 we learn that
this immoral city
is seated upon seven mountains. We are told that from this city a series of 7 influential kings (5 who had fallen by this stage) had
ruled their evil authority (17:9-10). John and the readers of his day knew that this
city referred to Rome . Rome was now the symbolic “Babylon”, for Babylon in the eyes of
the OT Jews had
always been understood to be a city of oppression, persecution and humiliation for
the Jews. Rome had become a
highly immoral city and she
exported her vileness to the nations.
Her emperors hated Christians ,
because by their lives and testimonies
they condemned their practices of
the Roman empire. This was the case also with the Babylon
which in OT times was a thorn in Israel’s flesh. She was depicted by Israel’s
prophets as the epitome of godlessness, and the prophets foresaw a day when under the
wrath of God, Babylon would
fall and be repaid for all her
sins. This is what Rev.
17-18 is all about!
Revelation 18 describes the fall of Babylon and the subsequent responses of both and heaven (18:1-8;
21-24) and earth (18:9-20) in
response to the judgment of God upon Babylon. Heaven rejoices
at her judgment but the earth (all those who had loved and depended
upon the prostitute) weeps and
wails and mourns over her
loss (18:9,11,15,18) because in so doing they that loved the prostitute have lost all their wealth! That which the
lovers of the prostitute lived for was
now gone. The closing verses of chapter 18 describe a
mighty angel crushing Babylon with a millstone (18:21-24).
All this is a reminder and an encouragement to the saints to be patient and to persevere. It is an
assurance that the great prostitute which has made the life of the church so
difficult on earth , and who has killed many
saints will be crushed by God. Her fate is sealed, her doom
is sure. This brings us
to Rev. 19:1-10, the vision of
the church, the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 19: 1-10
[19:1] After
this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven,
crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation
and glory and power belong to our God,[2] for his judgments are true and
just; for he has judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the
blood of his servants.” [3] Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”
Whilst Babylon, the
city of man has been prospering and going from
strength to strength in her iniquity, mocking, persecuting,
seducing and killing the saints, God has
not been idle. In the midst of the
prostitutes deceptions upon the people
of the earth, God has always been in the business of
gathering the church, the elect of God
over all the ages. He has
been preparing a bride for his Son, and
as the end of the
great prostitute - Babylon is now complete, the kingdom of God and the
long- awaited “marriage
supper of the Lamb” is about to happen. The picture of the destruction
of the prostitute (which was begun in 16:17ff) now gives way to the picture of the marriage of the Lamb, and heaven’s
citizens celebrate with frequent
hallelujah’s ! (see
19:1,3,4,6)
In Rev. 18:20, we find the
first invitation from God to
begin the celebration: “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints, apostles and prophets, for God has given
judgment for you against her.” Justice is finally done! God has now avenged
the blood of all those who have suffered for righteousness sake at the hands of
the great prostitute. God has avenged
all those who remained poor in
spirit[1]
(humble) while the prostitute
made her people to boast in their
own glory. God has avenged all those who
mourned over sin while the prostitute made her people revel in sin; God has avenged all those who remained meek while the
prostitute taught her to
be proud and self- assertive; God has
avenged all those all those who hungered and thirsted after righteousness while
the prostitute taught her people
lawlessness ; God has avenged all
those who were merciful, while the
prostitute taught her people self -centeredness; God has avenged all the pure in heart whilst with the help of the
prostitute many people set up idols in their hearts; God has avenged all the peacemakers whilst the prostitute currently stirred up war and strife among the
nations. God has finally avenged
all those who were persecuted and harassed while the prostitute caused her customers to live in a fool’s paradise. I am
quoting Jesus words in the beatitudes, and He concludes: “Great
is their reward in heaven” (Matt 5:
2- 12).
Notice too that this is no
small group rejoicing in heaven. John describes them as a great multitude ( 19:1,6
- see also Rev.
7:9 - “ a
great multitude that no one could from
every nation, tribe, people and language”). All of them have come out of the great
tribulation, which is the entire period of time between the first and second
coming of Jesus Christ. The true
church has suffered
on earth, but her time has now come to celebrate! The church is
finally at rest – Hallelujah!
[4] And
the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped
God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” The worship and the praise goes as always to God, and
we note in verse 5 that immediately after their “Amen!” another voice
is heard, directing the church in
heaven to worship the God who has
delivered His people from their enemies: “And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise
our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”
The destruction of Babylon is a
cause for celebration[2], for the church has entered into her
promised rest (Hebrews 3:7 - 4:13), but there is more to that celebration than this. Here is the beginning of the consummation- that which happens when a marriage is formalized. And so we read in vv. 6 - 7: [6] 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. [3][7] 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.”
A wedding is a time of celebration and fine dressing. And so we read: [8] it
was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the
fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. Please note:
· the wedding garments are said
to be given to the bride by her groom before the wedding.[4]
· Clothed in His righteousness the church
shows evidence of her love for Christ through the showing of her righteous deeds.
The church is not only righteous by
proclamation; she is also righteous by demonstration! …” we are God’s workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
(Eph. 2:8-10) One way in which the
bride prepares herself for the marriage
feast is by remaining faithful to her bridegroom is to resist the seductive ways of the prostitute and by
living righteously.
Jesus transforms His people into a radiant, spotless church, something which Paul points out
in Ephesians 5:25: “Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to
make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to
present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any
other blemish, but holy and blameless.”
With the time for the wedding
now at hand, we read in verse 9 : “And the angel said to me, “Write this:
Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
In Matt. 22:1-14 / Lk 14:15-22,
Jesus told a parable about a wedding
banquet, in which a king invites a
number of people to the wedding of his
son, but they say that they are too busy to attend. Here in John’s vision,
the people in Jesus’ parable who refuse to come to the wedding would be those
who would rather serve the beast and the prostitute.
Since Christ’s invited
guests (Israel) will not come, we read
that the king “said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but
those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to
the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and
gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding
hall was filled with guests.” In fact, Jesus goes on to speak of how the
king provided his guests with appropriate wedding garments. So here is
the wedding invitation from God to
attend the wedding of his Son. But this invitation is not that of a guest, but
as a bride!
To all of you who are trusting
in Jesus Christ through faith alone, you have received your invitation to the
marriage supper of Christ the Lamb. And we are invited to this wedding not merely
as guests or spectators. We are invited
to become Christ’s own glorious bride: “radiant, without stain or wrinkle or
any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Blessed are those who are
invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb! Amen.
[1] See Matthew 5:2-12
( Beatitudes)
[2]
This doesn’t mean that God has
not ruled over all prior to this moment.
Of course he did. But until this moment, God has ruled according to his
long-suffering mercies, allowing evil to run its course, even allowing the
dragon, the beast, the false prophet and the harlot to persecute his people. No
longer. God’s wrath is now complete.
[3] The “Lord God
Almighty reigns.” Should be
translated as “The Lord God Almighty has begun
to reign!” (an ingressive aorist tense , not a present tense). John hears the great
multitude shouting “Hallelujah!” with great intensity because something
dramatic and climatic has happened .
[4] In Isaiah chapters 61-62, the prophet speaks of God giving
to his people, Israel, fine wedding garments, which are said to be “garments of
righteousness.”
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