The Wedding Of The Lamb

Revelation 19:1-10                                                                                                         Lesson 18

Key Verse: 19:9                                                                                        Kevin E. Jesmer  11-21-10

“Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

       In this passage we are introduced to a very “noisy” vision given to Apostle John. I say this because there is a great multitude of redeemed people singing. They are singing, “Hallelujah–for salvation and glory and power belong to God”. They are happy because God has brought about his justice in condemning the great prostitute and avenging the blood of his servants. They sing also because the time for the wedding supper of the Lamb has come. The bride–the Church–has made herself ready. She is clothed in white linen–the righteous acts of saints. Blessed indeed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. We too can sing such a joyful song for our Lord God Almighty reigns and we are made the bride of Christ by the grace of God. Through a study of this passage, may God purify us with his word and his grace, through faith, so that we may join in the wedding supper of the Lamb and may we praise God from our hearts for all eternity.

Part l: Hallelujah! Praise God For His Perfect Justice (1-3)

The people of God were shouting the praises of God. Look at verse 1. “ After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:  ‘Hallelujah!  Salvation and glory and power belong to our God’”Hallelujah means “a shout of praise” It is the heartfelt response to God by those who love him. It is the overflow of the heart engaged in true worship. Why such shouts of praise? In the previous passage, the great prostitute, the beast and the ten kings without a kingdom, were inflicting much suffering on the people of God. They were leading the whole world astray so that the people of the world were becoming drunk on the harlot’s excessive luxuries. The pursuit of luxuries had blinded the peoples’ eyes. But all of this came at a very high price. People were being exploited. There was slavery. Christians were being persecuted and killed. “In her was found the blood of the prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed upon the earth.” (18:24) God, in his great mercy had tried to get the people to repent of their sins and draw them to him. But they would have none of it. And so he sent his complete wrath upon them with the seven bowl judgments. His justice demanded it. The whole world became worse than a war zone, full of death and destruction. But no matter what was going in the world, the people of God had a rich inheritance in God, and inheritance untouched by all the evil that was going on around them. Their inheritance was the kingdom of God. This inheritance could never perish, spoil or fade and was kept in heaven for them. (1 Peter 1:3,4)

In this passage, the people of faith rejoiced because they saw the justice of God. Look at verses 2 and 3. “for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.’  ³ And again they shouted: “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”  They saw that Babylon the Great had fallen. God had poured out his plagues on her as he brought about his perfect justice. God remembered her crimes. (18:6) He gave back to her as she had given. She would be thrown down like a large millstone is thrown into the sea. That is the main reason the saints were shouting “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments.”  They also invited all sincere servants of God to praise him by saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both great and small.” (19:5). It’s a lot more fun praising God with other believers than doing it all by yourself.

When people are in an environment where they are being persecuted they thank and praise God when his perfect justice comes about. We do not experience much injustice in our middle class world. Most of us have equal opportunities to get a piece of the pie. (However, there are some that do experience injustices. I don’t want to belittle their suffering.) Some of the greatest injustices are perpetrated on our young people. So many become victims of their own parents’ selfishness or they are exploited by adults. Some are kept from Jesus and from growing in faith. Satan works in their young hearts, smothering any spiritual desire that might be alive in them. These are some “hidden” injustices in our society. But there are some places where injustice is blatant. As a young shepherd I had a Bible student who was studying to be a Russian Orthodox priest at the U of M. His father was an Orthodox priest in Ukraine under the Soviets. His father had spent many years in prison camps because of the Soviets. Yuroslav, as a boy, was attracted to the Gospel because the Gospel was the only voice of truth and justice around him. The word of God appealed to him and he gave his heart to Jesus and decided to be an Orthodox priest, just like his persecuted father.

It is hard for us to rejoice over true justice. We think, “That’s nice, but what does that have to do with my life? Everything is OK, even without Jesus.” We are more attracted to Jesus who saved us from our sins, mistakes and weaknesses and blesses our lives continually. This makes us praise God. But justice? It is because we are not persecuted and we are living with all the benefits of a Christian culture. We take justice for granted. But we should not.

Even if we don’t see justice prevailing in our life time, we can be rest assured that God’s perfect justice will come to pass. 2 Corinthians 5:10  reads, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is do him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” Some people may think that they are smart and they can abuse and exploit others and get away with it. They think that they can harbor whatever kind of evil they want to in their hearts. Sure, they may get away some things in their lifetime, but before God they will get away with nothing. They will have to face their Maker. The only way to pass through the judgment, all the way to the kingdom of God, is to have your heart sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. So let’s accept Jesus into our hearts today. This is the best insurance policy.

Part ll: Hallelujah! Praise God For His Salvation, Glory And Power. (1, 4-5)

But we still have many reasons to shout praises to God. Look at verses 4-5, “The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: ‘Amen, Hallelujah!’ ⁵ Then a voice came from the throne, saying:  ‘Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both great and small!’”These elders found more reasons to praise God intensely. Do you remember verse 1? “After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:  ‘Hallelujah!  Salvation and glory and power belong to our God’”They could do so because they feared God and knew that salvation and power and glory belong to God. They knew that his judgments are just and true. They knew God Almighty was their God and he is sitting on his throne reigning on high. God is more powerful than anything that can tempt us and lead us astray. He accepts everyone who has faith, both great and small. We are his and he is ours. He is the Almighty God. He is awesome. He is the Almighty God. He is awesome. And so let’s praise the Lord!

What stops us from praising God? Well, we harbor competing things in our hearts that are like idols. Unbelief stops us from praising God. The worries and troubles of life stop us from praising God. Our own spiritual blindness dampens our praise, for if we truly see who Jesus is and if we behold him in his glory, then our hearts should spontaneously erupt with praise. Or maybe we think it just doesn’t matter if we praise God or not. From this passage, we can see that it is right and true to praise God. Let’s get some of the thorns and the rocks from our heart soil. Let us get rid of all the idols and let loose and praise God. If you don’t like praising God now, you surely will not like it in eternity because that will be one of our primary activities in heaven. So let’s practice. On the count of three we will all shout, “Hallelujah”. OK…let’s say it…”Hallelujah”. We should learn to praise God from some of our other brothers and sisters in Christ.

Part lll : The Wedding Of The Lamb (6-7)

They also erupted in spontaneous praise because of a glorious wedding. Look at verses 6-7, “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. ⁷ Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.’” They were shouting about the wedding of the Lamb. How many have been to a wedding? They are very joyous events. Couples plan for years and spend thousands of dollars. Relatives and friends change their vacation plans years in advance to make sure they come. I like the big Catholic weddings. If you have been to one you know what I am talking about. It is a time when friends and family all gather together to celebrate the formation of a new family. There is delicious food, great conversation, seeing people you haven’t seen in decades. There is music and dancing. I will never forget Mark dancing at weddings. He danced with his whole heart, until he worked up a sweat…solo. It is also joyful because it is not about us, it all about the praise and honor and blessing of the bride and groom. I can never get tired about talking about weddings. But the wedding of the Lamb is best wedding that there could ever be.

God, the Father has been planning a wedding banquet for his One and Only Son Jesus since the beginning of creation. The Lamb of God is Jesus. He is the bride-groom and the bride is the Church. (Rev 19:6-8; 21:1-4). The church is made up of all the people of God, who have repented of their sins, accepted the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, who know God’s redeeming love and who have decided to follow Jesus all the way to the kingdom of God.  Such people make up the Bride of Christ. All Christians, together, make up the bride of the Lamb. Each of us are going to be married to Jesus.

All kinds of people will stream into the streamed into the wedding banquet hall until it is filled with guests. There will be different colors of Christians: red, yellow, black and white. There will be all types of people: nerds, artists, criminals, athletes, fashion models, and beggars. Some will have long hair, others with hair dyed bright green. Others will have pierced body parts and tattoos. They will all be part of the bride of Jesus.

God has a heart for the people of all nations. God is not willing that anyone perish, but wants everyone to enter his kingdom. And so he invites everyone to be the bride. Through the gospel God is continually proposing, “Will you marry me?” Throughout the book of Revelation God never stopped trying to invite the people of the world to himself. Indeed, God saves sinners, and sanctifies and glorifies us through longsuffering patience to present us to Christ as a radiant bride. God does this for the glory of his Son Jesus. Though many things seem to be happening in this world, there is one thing that is most important. God is preparing the wedding banquet for his Son and he wants us to be the bride. He is full of love, joy and hope to do so. We need to be there. And we can be, through faith in Jesus.

God is so gracious that he asks us to be his bride. We fully intend to accept. But as we live and work in this world, things pull us away from God. If love for the world increases in our hearts, love for God decreases. For example, we may want to go to church or attend a Bible conference, but instead we study more to get an “A++”. We work overtime in hopes of paying off one more bill or save up for that dream vacation, or we try to start our own internet business. Or instead, perhaps we work hard to date that special someone and go to the party of the decade. In the course of pursuing these things we can lose our spiritual desire and our love for our bride groom, Jesus, completely. Then we can become hardhearted toward God’s proposal. Don’t be the one who says, “I’ll take the engagement ring, but I don’t want to marry you.” Be the one who says, “Yes! Of course I will marry you Jesus! There is no other one but you!”

We can also get a glimpse of what the Kingdom of God will be like. The kingdom of God is like a wedding. This world is very cold, harsh and merciless in so many ways. Life can be full of sorrow. Peoples’ hearts long for something different. They long for the Kingdom of God, which is like a wedding banquet. They long for the love, joy and peace of the kingdom of heaven. The Christian life in this kingdom is not marked by sadness, but by joy and love. This joy heals our wounds and gives us new strength. When Jesus comes into our hearts, he brings this joy of heaven with him. This is the joy that we experience as we take our place at the wedding of the Lamb.

Part lV: The Bride Has Made Herself Ready (7-10)

As any bride, we have to make ourselves ready. Look at verse 7, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” No matter how you look at it, it is not right to come to your own wedding unprepared. You need to get ready. Some ladies spend thousands on their flowers and their gowns. They are getting themselves ready for their groom. Let’s find out, from this passage, what it means to get ourselves ready. Look verses 8. “Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)” First, the fine linen. The bride and groom were dressed in shining white garments that were clean, fresh and bright. What then are the fine linens? The fine linen is pure white. When we accept Jesus as our Savior that God makes us like fine linen, pure and clean before his eyes. Listen to what the prophet Isaiah has to say in Isaiah 1:18. “Come now, let us reason together says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Our sins make our hearts look strained, like blood on a white garment. But when we repent of our sins and accept Jesus’ forgiveness of sins then our hearts are made new, pure and fresh like fresh new white linens.

Second, the linens are given to the bride to wear. Simply speaking the wedding clothes are the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1:29). When we believe in Jesus God covers our dirty sins and gives us true righteousness by faith in his blood. Romans 3:25-26 say, “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished–he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” Our own righteousness is like dirty, smelly, ripped rags. But Jesus clothes us with the righteousness of God through faith in his blood. Jesus becomes our righteousness. We can not get these linens on our own. This is a gift from God. We must be clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ. God invites many people to be his bride out of his broken heart for people who suffer under the power of sin and death. But only those clothed in God’s righteousness through Jesus’ blood, will be ready for the wedding. Let’s put our faith in Jesus Christ, and him alone, for our righteousness and salvation.

Third, once we are given the linens, we need to put them on and keep wearing them. Look at verses 8 again. “Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)” The Bible says that the wedding clothes are the righteous acts of the saints. The fine lines are given to us but they must also be applied through righteous acts born out of faith. What good are white linen garments if we are not wearing them?Put them on and keep wearing them! Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount reveals these righteous acts. They can be found in Matt 5 & 6. They are prayer, loving your enemies, giving to the needy, fasting, storing up treasures in heaven, trusting God. These can all be summed up by Matthew 6:33 which reads, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” Sometimes we want Jesus to do everything for us, without us even lifting a finger. But we need to take the linens and apply them to our hearts through righteous acts born out of faith.

How great it is to be invited to this great event! It is the pure grace of God. Look at verse 9. “Then the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’  And he added, ‘These are the true words of God.’”  “Blessed” means happy. Happy are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb, Jesus! It is true! Many are called but few are chosen. It is no small thing to be invited to the wedding of the Lamb. It is an honor and a privilege. It is better than spending a week in Disney World.

From this passage, we have learned that there are so many reasons to shout praises about our God. God brings about his perfect justice for his people in his time and his way. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. We can shout Hallelujah because we have become the bride of Christ and we have been invited to the wonderful wedding of the Lamb. God has prepared you for it, through the Gospel of Jesus. Knowing all these things, let us all shout, “Hallelujah to our Savior Jesus!” O.K….. “Hallelujah to our Savior Jesus!”

Part l: Praise God For His Justice, Salvation, Glory And Power. (1-5)

1. What were the great multitude doing? What does Hallelujah mean? What were they

rejoicing the most about? (2-3) How had the people of God suffered? (18:24) When will

perfect Justice be achieved? (2 Cor 5:10)

2. Who is being invited to worship and praise God in this vision? What are characteristics of these worshippers? (4-5) What are some other reasons to praise God? (1, 4-5) What hinders us from worshipping God with such heart felt praise?

Part ll : The Wedding Of The Lamb (6-10)

1. Who is the bride and the groom? (Rev 19:6-8; 21:1-4) How can we become the bride of Christ?
2. What must be worn at this wedding?  How can we receive these fine linens? (8a; Romans 3:25-26) What is God’s promise to those who repent of their sins and come to Jesus? (Isaiah 1:18) How must we apply these fine linens? (8b; Matt 5 & 6; Matt 6:33) What is God greatest desire for his people? (10)