A Biblical View Of The End Times - #5
Revelation 19:1-9
A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN
(A Real Royal Wedding)
Intro: We all know what a spectacle a wedding can be.
Thousands of dollars are spent trying to produce a
perfect moment in time that will join a couple together
in marital bliss. Typically, the church is decorated to the
nines, the bride is resplendent in her pure white
wedding dress, the groom stands nervously at the front
of the church. It is a special moment in the lives of
those two individuals and for the people who know and
love them. Weddings, here on earth, are a special
thing!
Everyone who has a wedding is looking for one
thing: a marriage made in heaven! Well, I just want you
to know that while some marriages may have been
made in heaven, they still have to be lived our here on
earth. That, in itself, makes them all less than perfect.
Today, we come to an event in heaven that will take
place while the earth is in the midst of the Tribulation
Period. It will happen after the Judgment Seat of Christ
and it will involve all of God's children. This event is
commonly referred to as The Marriage Super Of The
Lamb. It will be a time of great joy for all the redeemed
people of God! You see, for the church, the end times
shape up like this: In the Rapture, we will be Caught
Up; at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will be
Cleaned Up; and at the Marriage Supper of the
Lamb, we will be Cheered Up! It is this event that we
want to park on for a while this morning. I want to tell
you about A Marriage Made In Heaven.
My desire in preaching this sermon is to help those
who are saved understand that there are some blessed
days ahead for the people of God. I also want those
who do not know the Lord to know that they need to get
ready to meet the Lord. He is coming and He will take
His people to Heaven. But, He will only take His
people! The rest will be left behind to endure the
Tribulation and face the fires of Hell. Therefore, this
morning, let's take a trip to Heaven and see how
marriages are made over there.
I. V. 1-6 THIS WEDDING IS PRECEDED BY A CELEBRATION
(Ill. This is sort of backwards. Typically, a wedding is
followed by celebration. The time before a wedding is
usually filled with tremendous stress and many hours of
preparation time. While it is a happy time for those
involved, it is anything but a time of celebration. In
Heaven, things are different! It seems from this
passage that Heaven rejoices before and after the
wedding. I like that! The cause of all this rejoicing in
mentioned in verse 7. It seems that the marriage of the
Lord Jesus is the catalyst for Heaven's anthems of
praise. Those in Heaven lift their voices in four
"Hallelujah's" that fill the heavens with praise. Let's
listen in this morning and see why Heaven praises
God!)
A. V. 1 The Hallelujah Of Redemption - Heaven
praises the Lord for all He has done for them,
(The cross, the blood, the empty grave, etc.)
They are saved, they are in Heaven and they
have a reason to shout!
(Ill. Years ago, in Wales, there lived a man by
the name of Billy Bray. He was an old time
shouter! Many of the people who heard him
shout used to rebuke him for praising the Lord
so loudly and so often. Whenever they would try
to stop him, old Billy would respond by saying, "I
can't help it! God has been so good to me! With
every step I take I remember His glory!" He said,
"I put my right foot down and it says 'Hallelujah'.
I put my left foot down and it says, 'Amen'." With
that, Billy Bray would march off shouting
"Hallelujah" and "Amen" with every step he took.
Billy Bray knew that God deserved praise for the
salvation He so freely gives!)
B. V. 2-3 The Hallelujah Of Retribution - The
residents of Heaven praise the Lord for
executing His judgment upon a lost, sinful and
rebellious world! They know that His judgments
are fair, they are right and they are perfect.
Therefore, they praise His name!
(Ill. Lest we forget, we are serving a God Who
has already won the war with evil! Thank God
,the Lord, and as a result, His people come out
on top of this thing! That is enough to shout
about now!)
C. V. 4-5 The Hallelujah Of Realization - If you
take the time to look at the book of Revelation,
these 24 elders who are mentioned show up
about 6 times, (4:10; 5:8; 5:14; 7:11; 11:16;
19:4), and, every time they do, they are doing
the same thing: falling on their faces and
worshiping the Lord! Just to let you in on a
secret, those 24 elders represent the redeemed
of God. If you are saved, they picture YOU!
Well, why are they praising the Lord so much?
Because in Heaven, they are finally free from the
limitations of the flesh and they can see God like
He really is! They are no longer afraid or
ashamed to worship Him, but now they are
ready, willing and able to fall down before the
Lamb of God and shout His praises!
(Ill. If it ever dawned on us the reality of all God
is, of all He has done for us and of all that is ours
as His children, there isn't a saved person in this
world who wouldn't shout himself hoarse this
morning! One day we will, but we won't get
hoarse!)
D. V. 6 The Hallelujah Of Regulation - Then, they
praise the Lord for His reign. They glorify the
Lord that, at last, He is honored, exalted and
worshiped by all His creation! Thank God ,there
is coming a day when the Lord will have the glory
and honor He deserves all the time. I look
forward to being in that number when we stand
around the throne and lift our "Hallelujahs" to the
glory of God!
(Ill. I want to call your attention to verse 4! There are
two heavenly words mentioned hear that you and I need
to look at just for a moment. They are: Amen and
Hallelujah.
The word Amen is a word signifying agreement with
and approval of the Word of God. When Amen
appears at the beginning of a sentence, it means
"truly". This word was used by Jesus on many
occasions. When it is spoken concerning the words
uttered by another, it means "I agree" or "so be it".
Amen is said to be the most known word in the world!
The word Hallelujah is a Hebrew word meaning
"Praise the Lord". It is used only one time in the New
Testament and that was to give honor and glory to the
Lamb. It is heaven's praise word!
I just want to say that if you and I intend to be in
tune with Heaven, then we need to learn to use a little
heavenly language. Therefore, learn to say "Amen!"
and "Hallelujah!". It is all right to praise the Lord! If
something blesses your heart, just try "Amen!". If the
Lord is moving in your soul, just try "Hallelujah!" I will
guarantee you one thing. It won't hurt you!
I realize that we live in a day when people frown on
old time worship of the Lord. I mean, it's all right for
people to sing The Hallelujah Chorus, but if they shout,
they are considered nuts and fanatics! I just want you
to know that old fashioned praising and glorifying God
never goes out of style!)
I.
This Wedding Is Preceded By A Celebration
II. V. 7-8 THIS WEDDING IS PERFECTED BY A CONSUMMATION
(Ill. This marriage made in Heaven will be the
consummation of some very important and powerful
events.)
A. V. 7a A Plan Will Be Consummated - Notice the
words "is come". These words imply a sense of
relief that a long anticipated event has finally
arrived. Nothing could be more true!
At this moment, God's plan for the ages is
finally complete. Since man sinned in the Garden
of Eden, God has been working to bring man back
into fellowship with Him. This was accomplished
when Jesus died on the cross for the sins of
humanity. Now, all those who place their faith in
Jesus are saved by the grace of God and brought
nigh unto Him! While many may be saved, they
are still not in the very presence of God in Heaven.
On this day, that will change! This is the moment
when Jesus gets to receive His Bride unto Himself.
This will be the most special moment in all the
history of creation! It will be the moment when the
Lamb of God takes His Bride unto Himself!
(Ill. By the way, did you notice that at this wedding,
the groom, and not the bride, is the center of
attention? Down here, everything is on hold until
they start playing the wedding march and the
bride, the center of attention, makes her way down
the aisle. In heaven, things are just a little
different! It's not the bride, but it is the groom, the
Lord Jesus Who is the center of attention! If that
happened here, there would be some angry
women! However, over there, it won't matter in
the least! In fact, I think it will be the bride herself
who gives Him the most attention!)
B. V. 7-8 A Presentation Will Be Consummated
- It might help us to understand a little of the
background for weddings of this type. In oriental
weddings, there were typically three stages.
There was the Betrothal Stage, the
Presentation Stage and the Celebration Stage.
1. The Betrothal Stage - This was something
like what we know in the west as an
engagement. However, the major difference
lies in the fact that this was a binding
agreement! When a couple was betrothed,
they were considered married! There was no
getting out of it, except through a divorce or
death! Even though the couple did not dwell
together, or share the marriage bed, they
were, nonetheless, married! Another
difference was that the marriage partners
and the marriages themselves were usually
arranged by the parents of the bride and
groom. You didn't even get to pick your
mate! Love was not usually the basis for
marriages. You didn't marry for love, you
loved who you married! Many could learn a
lesson from that today! (Ill. I can see great
danger in that!)
The bride of Christ is in the midst of this
betrothal period right now! We have been
picked by the Heavenly Father and we are
married to Jesus right now! We are just
waiting to go to Him.
2. The Presentation Stage - When the time of
the wedding arrived, the Father of the groom
would send the bridegroom and his friends to
the bride's home. They would get her and
bring her back to the groom's house, which
he had prepared for her, with great
celebration and joy. There, gifts would be
exchanged, the marriage would be
consummated and the couple would begin
their lives together.
That is what we are waiting on this
morning! We are married, we are just waiting
on the Bridegroom to come and call His bride
to come meet Him. Friend, that day is
coming! Are you ready to meet Him when He
comes?
3. The Festival Stage - Following the wedding,
the couple, their friends and their families
would enter a time of celebration. I will say
more about that in a few moments.
C. V. 7b-8 A Preparation Will Be Consummated
- Notice that the text says "his wife hath made
herself ready." Typically, oriental brides
prepared their own wedding garments. It could
be as elaborate our as simple as they chose to
make it. Usually, it consisted of two pieces. One,
an inner garment called a tunic and two, the outer
garment called a toga. It was the bride's
responsibility to get herself ready for the wedding!
(Ill. You and I need to understand that we are to
prepare ourselves for that day that is coming as
well! You see, verse 8 says that the Bride of
Christ will be clothed in white linen and that this
linen is the righteousness of the saints! I take
that to imply that how simply, or how elaborately
we are dressed may depend on the kind of life we
lived while we were in this world!
Let me illustrate. There are three kinds of
righteousness that a person can have.
1. Personal Righteousness - This is the
righteousness you can produce all by
yourself. It is basically evil and no good at all
can come from it - Isa. 64:6. In our own
righteousness, we are literally dressed in
rags before the Lord.
2. Provided Righteousness - This is the
righteousness we are given when we trust
the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior - 2 Cor.
5:21; Rom. 3:21-22. This refers to that
tunic, or inner garment. We have been
provided with a spotless inner garment of
righteousness!
3. Practical Righteousness - This is the
righteousness we live out each day we are in
this world. It refers to how we conduct
ourselves. How well we submit to authority.
And. How we use the opportunities, gifts,
responsibilities and privileges we are given
as children of God. This speaks of the outer
garment, or the toga, that the world sees. It
is pure speculation, but how well we are
dressed at the Wedding may depend on how
we live here! It may be that the wedding
garments will be handed out at the Judgment
Seat of Christ, Matt. 22:1-12, and that they
will reflect how we lived life here below! It is
something worth thinking about!)
(Ill. Whatever the scenario that is played out here,
the fact remains that the bride has made the
proper preparations and she is ready for the
wedding! This means that the faith she place in
Jesus was not misplaced. It means that all her
trials and struggles are behind her. It means that
she has trusted the Lord to save her and He has!
She is home! She is loved! And, she is ready to
enter into the joy of her Lord! What a day that will
be!)
I. This Wedding Is Preceded By A Celebration
II. This Wedding Is Perfected By A Consummation
III. V. 9-20:3
THIS WEDDING IN PUNCTUATED BY A CONTINUATION
(Ill. This wedding doesn't end with the couple coming
together to live. But, this wedding will continue with a
celebration like nothing this universe has ever seen!
Let me just mention a few brief thoughts!)
A. The Guests At The Wedding Supper - there will
be guests at this heavenly wedding. Who? Well,
is will be the Old Testament saints and the
Tribulation saints. It will be a group made up of all
Jews and Gentiles who were saved before
Pentecost and after the Rapture! That will be
quiet an assembly!
B. The Glory Of The Wedding Supper - After an
oriental wedding, there was always a celebration.
The length and the opulence all depended on the
wealth of the Bridegroom. When rich men
married, their wedding celebrations might last up
to 7 days!
The Lord Jesus is going to present His Bride
with a celebration that will last 1,000 years! After
the wedding, we will return with Him to this earth.
He will put down His enemies and establish His
throne on this earth. Then, He and His bride will
reign together, during the millennium, for 1,000
years!)
(Ill. Many of you can remember the 1981wedding
of Charles, The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana
Spencer. It was a spectacle of enormous cost
and billions of people watched that royal wedding.
However, that wedding was doomed! Later, the
world got to watch that same wedding collapse as
publically as it ha begun.
Friend, I am trying to tell you about a real
royal wedding! One that will be attended by more
people than any other in history. One that will be
more extravagant than any in history. One that
will produce a marriage that will last longer than
any in history! It will be a real Royal Wedding!)
C. The Groom At The Wedding Supper - In a
typical oriental wedding celebration, the groom
would mingle with the guests to be sure that
everyone had every need met.
Imagine what it will be to be in the presence
of the Lord Jesus and have Him be occupied with
seeing that our joy is full! Jesus will actually
serve His people in that day, Luke 12:37! My,
that is almost beyond the grasp of my mind!
Conc: I can imagine the society page in the New
Jerusalem Times the next day! It might read something
like this:
"Yesterday, the Lamb of God took His bride
unto Himself in a service presided over by the
Heavenly Father. The bride was dressed in
garments of glorious white and she spotless and
without blemish. The Groom was clothed in glory
as is His custom!
The angelic hosts lifted their voices
together and praised the name of the Most High
God, while the cherubim and seraphim hovered
overhead crying "Holy, holy, holy!"
After the service, the couple left Heaven to
return to the earth for a 1,000 year honeymoon.
When they return, they plan to spend eternity
together in the palaces of Heaven."
My friends, are you ready for that wedding in the
sky? There will be a marriage made in Heaven
someday, but only the redeemed are invited. Does that
include you? If not it can! Please come to Jesus and
be saved today.
For those who are going, consider for a moment
how you are preparing for that day! What kind of
garments will you be wearing when you stand there at
that Royal Wedding? The time to prepare is today!
The place to prepare is here! The person to prepare is
yourself. Will you come and let the Lord work in your
heart and life?
