Morning Sermon

March 13, 2008

A Marriage Made in Heaven

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Two more of my nieces and nephews getting married later this year. It seems we're having two family weddings a year lately. And I got another wedding invitation just last week. That is an exciting event in my house. Weddings are so enjoyable. So delightful, and happy. And so beautiful. And that is the picture that God gives to us of his relationship with us. A wedding.

v.7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come."

We are use to that image of,

I. GOD AND HIS PEOPLE. It is the image of a wedding. "The marriage of the Lamb has come." And even more specifically, we read in,

Rev. 21:2 "Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God."

John, of course, wasn't the first apostle to write in this way, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Paul had done the same, writing about the church here and now, in this age, using the image of a marriage.

Eph. 5:22 "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church."

So the relationship between God and his church helps you understand how to live with a husband or wife in marriage. But the point really is, the relationships of a husband and a wife will help you understand how God relates to his church. So it was even with the prophets of the Old Testament.

Is. 61:10 "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."

What a glorious image it is, but remember where we are in the book of Revelation. We're near the end. We're talking about the end of the age, specifically the judgment at the end of the age. But here in chapter 19, we're finally past that judgment. It is,

A. The consummation of the ages. The great fulfillment of all God's purposes in his work of redemption on earth. It is the day Isaiah spoke of in that chapter I just quoted from, beginning with,

Is. 61:1 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified." 4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. 5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, And the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. 6 But you shall be named the priests of the LORD, They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, And in their glory you shall boast. 7 Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs."

And then, Is. 62:2 "The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, And all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, Which the mouth of the LORD will name. 3 You shall also be a crown of glory In the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem In the hand of your God. 4 You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; But you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; For the LORD delights in you, And your land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you."

So after the end, after the judgment, what comes next? What comes after the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God? A great banquet. A wedding banquet.

v.7 "...the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready...9 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'"

The marriage supper. That's the picture Scripture gives to us of the consummation of the ages. That's the picture of our eternal glory. A wedding banquet.

Just a quick note about wedding traditions among the Hebrews in the day that John wrote. The betrothal would come first, much more significant than our practice of engagement. In fact, from betrothal, bride and groom are legally husband and wife. The commitment is secured. Actually, this corresponds to the first portion of our traditional wedding services, the giving of the bride and the willingness to enter into marriage. For the Hebrews, that would come first, and then a brief interval of time would pass when all the arrangements would be made. And at the conclusion of that period, the bride would prepare herself for her husband, and process to him for the establishment of the marriage. And a great feast. That would correspond to our wedding receptions. The usual festivities would last seven, or even more, days.

What a delightful time of fellowship that is, two families celebrating together. In reality, whole families joining together as one, enjoying the banquet as the consummate celebration of this holy and happy relationship.

That's what will happen at the end of the age! The wedding banquet is at the end of the age, and we, as it were, are now the betrothed. The relationship is established. And the glorious enjoyment of the wedding banquet is what awaits. But in that expectation, there is one important difference between the typical, traditional wedding ceremonies of our day and the wedding described in the Bible. In Scripture, the focus is upon,

B. The glory of the bridegroom. I often speak light-heartedly with men preparing for their weddings, when a question is asked about a specific item dealing with the wedding. When they ask for my advice about what to do or what decision to make about some a practical matter or other, I answer, "Whatever the bride wants?" When it comes to a wedding, what do you do? Whatever the bride wants.

She is the focus of attention, and her beauty is what is so stunningly glorious. It is upon her appearance that everyone stands. It is toward her that all eyes are fixed. Now, we will get to that in just a moment, but first, the difference with this wedding banquet here in Revelation 19. Here the bridegroom gets all the glory.

It is the marriage of the lamb! The is the bridegroom's wedding. And his bride has made herself ready for him!

Indeed, skip down to, v.10

What an amazing thing John experienced. He "heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings." And when the voice had finished, John fell down and worshipped him. But he was immediately corrected. "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant...Worship God!"

As the angel continues, the whole purpose of prophecy, biblical prophecy, is to testify of Jesus. The spirit of prophecy, its goal and focus, is the testimony of Jesus. And it is Jesus whom we worship, the bridegroom.

That fits with the great wedding song of,

Ps. 45:1 "My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. 2 You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever. 3 Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One, With Your glory and Your majesty. 4 And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness; And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things. 5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies; The peoples fall under You. 6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. 7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions. 8 All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad. 9 Kings' daughters are among Your honorable women; At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir."

The glory that gets our attention is the glory of the bridegroom!

What, then, of,

II. THE PREPARATION OF THE BRIDE. That's us. The church. We are the bride, we together, elsewhere called the body of Christ. What is it that happens to us as we come to enjoy this great and glorious wedding banquet?

Well, just think of what happens to any bride on her wedding day? She is made glorious and beautiful. With the glory and beauty of fine clothes.

What happens to a bride on her wedding day?

A. She is given fine clothes to wear. v.8 "And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright."

Fine line, that's her preparation. And that's what John saw in the vision of "the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

Just think of wedding dresses today. Often hundreds and hundreds of dollars are spent, maybe even thousands, for the most beautiful dress a woman will ever wear. And she will wear it only once. Then there are all the other preparations that make a woman on her wedding day the most beautiful woman in the world, especially in the eyes of her husband.

And you married men, don't ever forget that image of your wife as she came to you on your wedding day. And remember it for two reasons, the first being the establishment of a happy marriage. If you consistently retain in your mind and heart that image of your wife's beauty on your wedding day, when you are well on the way to being able to enjoying a happy marriage. But there is an even more important reason to remember that beauty. Remember Paul's words, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church."

You see, remembering your wife's beauty teaches you, and reminds you, of one of the greatest spiritual lessons you will ever learn. As a Christian, you are that bride, the bride of Christ. And you have been given fine clothes to wear on your wedding day. You have been GIVEN fine clothes to wear.

They are the clothes of Jesus' own righteousness, and oh, how beautiful they are! They are clean clothes. They are white in purity, just like a wedding gown. So you are dressed in the filthy rags of your own unrighteousness. And surely you are not appearing in the shamefulness of nakedness. No such thing. Standing before Jesus the bridegroom, you have all the glory and beauty that you could possibly imagine given to you.

Listen to this description of the Old Testament high priest Joshua appearing before God,

Zech. 3:1 "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. 4 Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, "Take away the filthy garments from him." And to him He said, "See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes." 5 And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the LORD stood by."

They put clean clothes upon him, covering over all his filthy garments. Beloved, that is the image and picture of what it is that God does for his people, his bride.

1 Cor. 5:21 "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

1 Cor. 6:9 "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."

You were washed. Cleaned up. We read the same image in,

Rev. 7:14 "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

So we are given new, clean clothes to wear. We don't have to try to clean ourselves up first. We don't have to do good works in order to become acceptable to God, for we are justified by faith alone. We are accepted as righteous in God's sight, received by him as beautiful, by faith.

Rom. 5:17 "For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Beloved, the bride of Christ is given new, beautiful, fine clothes to wear. You don't have to buy the dress yourself, and as the father of three daughters I know what that means. Jesus purchased the dress for you. It is his righteous that makes you beautiful on this glorious wedding day.

But wait. Read the rest of, v.8

You see, the righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed to us. That's our beauty before the Lord, and the ground of our acceptance by him. But those who are justified by faith alone are those in whom God is already at work. Enabling us to do good works!

So the dress is not just a covering up of all things ugly and wicked. No, as the result of God's work of salvation, as the consequence of our justification, God begins the process of actual transformation. And so on this great day of glory, this wedding supper of the lamb, we will be adorned before our bridegroom with our own righteous acts, our own good works.

B. She is adorned with her own righteous acts. Remember, Eph. 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Surely there is nothing we do that God has not enabled us to do, but the point is, he does enable us! Not only does he give us new clothes to wear, he actually washes us and makes us clean.

Eph. 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish."

What a marvelous picture, the glory of the bridegroom and the beauty of the bride. And so we have the fullness of,

III. THE JOY OF A WEDDING. That's what this is all about. Joy.

v.7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."

This is an invitation to worship, to rejoice before God for,

A. The ultimate blessing. The ultimate honor you could possibly ever receive. A wedding invitation. The wedding invitation I just received came because I am a friend of the family. And I am being honored by that invitation, honored by that blessing bestowed upon me. Yet that blessing was worded this way, from the bride's parents, they "would be honored by my presence at the marriage ceremony of their daughter."

They would be honored by my presence. That's how they honor me. And beloved, go back and read,

v.8 "Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!"

There is no greater blessing imaginable. And so we read a parable of Jesus of the invitation of the gospel, an invitation I give to you, speaking and preaching in Jesus' name.

Mat. 22:2 "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 "and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 "Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding."' 5 "But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 "And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 "But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 "Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 'Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.' 10 "So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests."

So I issue the invitation to you this morning. It is the invitation to a wedding banquet, the wedding of Jesus and his bride. And if you have nothing to wear, let me offer to you clean and beautiful clothes that Jesus will give you.

And so I say, "Come."

That's what we look forward to! That's heaven, if you will. That's our eternal glory. A joy anticipated, which puts all our troubles and sorrows of this present age into the proper perspective. But it is not simply a joy anticipated, a future joy. It is,

B. A joy anticipated and experienced. You see, we have an invitation to attend a banquet feast here and now, throughout this age until the Lord comes. For the picture of the heavenly glory of a wedding banquet is clearly, I believe clearly, represented for us in the Lord's Table at which he offers to us the spiritual food of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus. It is the communion table which here and now shows forth the glory of the wedding supper of the lamb.

That link is made clear by Jesus' own words when he transformed the passover of the Old Covenant in the Lord's Supper.

Mat. 26:26 "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." 27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28 "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

So that's what we'll be doing in heaven, drinking at the banquet with Jesus. And that is what we do now, as well, especially in our worship. The blessing now is to be able to experience the joy that is the anticipation of the fullness of joy that shall be ours when Jesus returns. So let these words cause you great joy, for if you believe in Jesus Christ, this ultimate blessing will be yours. Indeed, it is already yours.

v.9 "Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!"

Therefore, I declare to you,

v.7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."

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