Heaven's Hallelujah Chorus - Part 2

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The Guinness Book of World Records says that the largest wedding reception in modern history took place on September 7, 1995, in India.  A former chief minister and movie star – apparently, they have the same problems there that we have here, with those things combining – hosted a reception banquet – you ready for this? – for over 150,000 guests at her foster son's wedding on the fifty-acre grounds in Madras, India. The wedding is reported to have cost over $23,000,000, with the dining area alone costing an estimated $466,000 – and the menu, the food, an estimated $621,000 – dads, you'd better start saving, that's all I've got to say.  "A fortress topped with cannons and winged mythological creatures was constructed from plywood at the entrance of the wedding grounds, and the three-mile drive from the temple to the grounds was strewn with rose petals and lined with six hundred Grecian columns strung with colored lights, along with giant papier-mâché models of ancient Indian princes."  That's a wedding reception.

But, you know, as I thought about that, I was reminded that that wedding feast, with all of its wealth and opulence, is like the faint glimmer of a dying candle versus the full blaze of the noonday sun when compared to another wedding feast that's coming, and that's the wedding supper of the Lamb, the amazing, breathtaking event that we come to this morning in our study of Revelation 19.  Let me set the context again for you, since it's been a couple of weeks since we studied it together – Revelation 19-22 records a series of events that have been called the seven last things.  The first ten verses of chapter 19 introduce us to these last things – in fact, Revelation 19:1-10, in that passage, we learn that at the end of the Tribulation, the seven-year Tribulation, just before Christ returns in the Second Coming, all heaven will suddenly erupt in deafening, unrestrained praise of Almighty God.  I noted for you that in these verses, there are four hallelujahs:  verse 1, verse 3, verse 4, and verse 6.  It's a Hebrew word, hallelujah – it simply means praise Yah; that's a shortened form of God's personal name; praise Yahweh.  It's a call to praise the one true God.  These four hallelujahs express or introduce us to four great reasons for heaven's praise at that future moment in human history.

Now, the last time, we discovered the first three of those reasons – let me just mention them to you again.  All heaven will break loose in praise just before the return of Christ, first of all, because divine justice is finally done, verses 1-2.  Secondly, because human rebellion is finally over, verse 3. Because, number three, Christ's kingdom has finally come – that's the message of verses 4-6.  In verse 6 is the fourth hallelujah of this heavenly chorus, and this fourth hallelujah introduces us, actually, to two reasons for praise – last time, we examined the third reason that comes in verse 6.  Look at the end of verse 6, "Hallelujah," praise Yahweh, "for," because, "the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns."  The verb tense in the Greek there could be translated like this; the Lord our God, the Almighty, has begun to reign.  It's referring to the inauguration of God's reign in and through His Son, the Messiah; the introduction of the kingdom of our Lord.

Today, we learn the fourth reason for heaven's praise – it's introduced by the hallelujah in verse 6, and then it's explained in verses 7-10.  The fourth reason for heaven's praise is the Lamb's marriage has finally come.  The Lamb's marriage has finally come – let's read it together.  It's verses 7-10; you follow along as I read Revelation 19, beginning in verse 7.

Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.  It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.  Then he said to me, "Write, '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."  Then I fell at his feet to worship him.  But he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God.  For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

In these verses, all heaven rejoices because the Lamb's marriage has finally come – but he begins in verse 7 by identifying the source of this praise.  Notice how verse 7 begins, "Let us" – now, to learn who that is, we have to go back, because the same group is speaking here as in verse 4.  Look at verse 4 – "The twenty-four elders."  The twenty-four elders represent the redeemed of the Old Testament and the New Testament.  "And the four living creatures" – that's a distinct class of angelic beings, the exalted guardians of God's throne.  And notice verse 4 says both of those groups "fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne."  Verse 5 – "And a voice came from the throne;" this is likely, as I noted for you, one of the cherubim; it's not God, and the cherubim are those most closely associated with the throne of God.  "A voice came from the throne, saying, 'Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.'  Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude," like the biggest crowd you've ever heard, "like the sound of many waters," like the roar of the ocean or of Niagara Falls, "and like the sound of mighty [SR1] peals of thunder," like a gigantic supercell thunderstorm where there are simultaneous bolts of lightning and roaring thunder.  Together, every holy angel and every redeemed saint in heaven will call with one mighty, thunderous voice for the universe to praise Yahweh.  So, the "let us" in verse 7 is still that same group – so, this, then, is the praise of every angel and saint in heaven.  Notice the call to praise – it's initiated in verse 6; they say "Hallelujah, praise Yahweh," and then, verse 7, "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him."  Rejoice and be glad are essentially synonyms, but each with its own nuance – rejoice means to be in a state of happiness; to be glad means to be overjoyed, to be overwhelmed.  This is a call for irrepressible, overwhelming joy. Weddings are one of the most joyful human experiences, but the spiritual reality described here, the wedding of the Lamb, surpasses all other joys.  Thomas Schreiner writes, "The wedding of the Lamb represents the consummation of God's purpose in history," – listen to this – "signifying His desire to be in relationship with human beings."  Finally, this great group, notice, calls to give the glory to God; that means ascribe the worthiness to God, praise Him for His holy character and His powerful acts for what we're about to say.

And that brings us to the fourth reason for praise.  The fourth reason for praise – it's spelled out in the rest of these verses. Now, the fourth reason – listen carefully – is only one reason, but that one reason is explained with three distinct elements.  I think you'll see, when we're done, that those three elements come together to form just one reason – but let's look at them, each of those elements, individually.  The first element is this – the marriage of the Lamb has come.  The marriage of the Lamb has come – now, this image of God being married to His people is not new in the New Testament; in the Old Testament, Israel is often pictured as the wife of Yahweh.  For example, Isaiah 54:5, "Your husband is your Maker, whose name is Yahweh of the hosts."  Then, in the New Testament, the apostles use that same image, that same metaphor of marriage, to describe the church's relationship to Christ, as we'll see. The church, that is, all true believers together, constitute the bride of Christ.  Now, here's where you have to be careful; there's so much confusion on this issue in terms of the thinking of Christians, so let me just make this clear for you.  Scripture uses several images to picture the church's relationship to Christ; the church is called a building, it's called a sheepfold, it's called a family, the church is called Christ's body, and the church is also called Christ's bride.  Be very careful – don't just choose one of those images, one of those pictures, and make that the primary or exclusive way you think about Christ's relationship to the church.  It's only together that they capture the full reality of Christ's relationship to the church.

A second warning – be very careful, remember, these are metaphors; the church is not Christ's literal body, and the church is not Christ's literal bride in all the ways that a human bride is the bride of her husband.  The key to understanding these images is to consider how the church corresponds to, or shares the same characteristics with, these images – so, what is it that is similar between the church and a body; what is it that's similar between the church and a bride?  When metaphors occur, you're looking for the point of similarity between the topic and the image; in this case, the topic is the church, the image is a bride – what's the point of similarity between the two, or points of similarity?  So, the question, then is, what does this metaphor of our marrying Christ actually mean – what are the points of similarity between a human bride and a human wedding, and our relationship to Jesus Christ?  Well, there are a number I could give you, but let me give you the main ones that just jump off the page of scripture.  Here are the points of similarity.

Let's start in terms of our relationship to Christ – there are a couple of points of similarity that are drawn out very clearly in the New Testament.  First of all, as a human wife is called to love and submit to her husband, we as believers are called to love and submit to Jesus Christ; that's the first point of similarity.  In Ephesians 6:24, Paul finishes that letter by saying "Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an incorruptible love."  You see, to be a Christian is to love Jesus – in fact, 1 Corinthians ends by saying, let all those be damned who don't love Jesus.[SR2]   The point is, to be a Christian is defined as loving Jesus – so, we are called, like the wife is called to love her husband, we are called, as the bride of Christ, to love Christ.  We are also called to submit to Him – Ephesians 5:24 says, like wives to their own husbands, the church is subject to Christ in everything. We are responsible to submit our wills to the will of Jesus Christ – that's a second point of similarity in this metaphor.

But most of the stress in this metaphor comes on the other side, and that's Christ's relationship to us – let me just pull out several points of similarity between Christ's relationship to us and that of a bridegroom and a bride. Number one – Christ's love and delight for us is like that of a bridegroom for his bride.  Christ's love and delight for us is like that of a bridegroom for his bride – three times in Ephesians 5, we learn that Christ loves the church, and He demonstrates that love in the price that He paid to redeem us. Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her."  He demonstrated that love; He delights in us, He loves us and delights in us.  I love the picture in Isaiah 62:5 – listen to this, "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you."  Isn't that a beautiful picture?

You know, this past July, Sheila and I celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary – we happened to celebrate it in the hospital the day after her surgery – but we celebrated our anniversary, and I still vividly remember our wedding day.  I remember waiting there in the front of the chapel and watching the back door open and seeing her standing there, then seeing her walk down that long chapel aisle to me there in the front.  I remember standing hand in hand, smiling and laughing together and enjoying one another – it's one of life's most wonderful moments.  Believer, do you understand?  If you've repented and believed in Christ, that's how Jesus Christ thinks of you!  All of us who know Him, it's how He thinks of His church; He loves us and rejoices over us as a bridegroom does over his new bride on the day of their wedding – that's Christ's attitude toward His church. He can hardly wait until we're all together forever – the Lord Jesus loves His church.

There's a second point of similarity that we need to point out in terms of Christ's relationship to us, and that is Christ's commitment to care for us is like a faithful husband's care for his wife.  Ephesians 5:29 says Christ "nourishes and cherishes" the church – the word nourish, in Greek, simply means to feed.  In other words, He provides for the church's, for your physical needs – every physical good thing you enjoy in this life comes to you from your Shepherd King.  And the word cherish – I love that word – it's only used one other time in the New Testament, where it describes the tenderness with which a new mother treats her nursing child.  It's about an attitude, a disposition – that's how Christ thinks about us; He handles us with the same care and tenderness.  He's committed to care for us.HeHe'sHe

A third point of similarity is Christ's eternal covenant with us is like a faithful bridegroom's covenant with his bride.  We stand in front of a pastor, and we stand in front of witnesses, and we make covenant promises to each other.  Covenant is simply, we make legally binding promises in the context of a relationship – we say I will, I will do this and I will do this and I will do this, and we covenant together.  Well, guess what?  Christ has done that with us.  In Matthew 26:28, in instituting the Lord's Table, He said of the cup, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Jesus says, listen, I'm going to seal My covenant promises to you, not with a ring, but with My own blood. Hebrews 10 talks about that new covenant that we enjoy.

Number four – and I think this is the key point of similarity in our text – Christ's relationship with us, Christ's relationship with us, is like the loving, personal friendship and companionship in the best of human marriages. And I say it that way because I realize that maybe you're single and you grew up in a home where your parents didn't enjoy that kind of relationship, or sadly, maybe you're in a marriage where you don't enjoy that kind of relationship; maybe you're unequally yoked. But understand this – as you think about the best human marriage you know, and you see the loving, caring personal relationship between them, that's the nature of Christ's relationship with us, but elevated to a divine level.  Do you understand the primary reasons God created marriage was for companionship and mutual labor?  Genesis 2:18, "The Lord God said, 'It is not good for man to be alone'" – there's companionship – "'I will make a helper suitable for him'" – there's mutual labor, side by side, walking through life together. Similarly, the New Testament picture of marriage describes the loving, personal relationship that Christ has today, and will have eternally, with us as His people.  John 14:3, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." He wants to be with us, just as a loving husband and wife want to be with each other.  Look at Revelation 7 – here, the context is those who come to faith during the seven-year Tribulation and are martyred for their faith, but how they're described is just like all believers.  Verse 16 of Revelation 7, "They will hunger no more, nor thirst anymore, nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to the springs of the water of life, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."

You see, Christ promises, for all who are His own, an ongoing, personal, intimate relationship like that in the best of human marriages.  Imagine the relationship He had with His disciples when He was on earth – but imagine that relationship when they are made perfect; that's the kind of relationship Christ wants to have with us, His people. In Revelation 21:3, "I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men'" – God is going to pitch His tent among us – "'and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.'"  That's the picture of this image – that's true, not only during the thousand-year reign of Christ, the millennium, but forever, in the new heavens and the new earth. Robert Thomas, in his excellent commentary on Revelation, puts it this way – listen carefully.  "The figure of marriage denotes the intimate and indissoluble union of the community of believers with the Messiah."  That's the picture – "intimate, indissoluble union."  All heaven will one day break out in praise because the marriage of the Lamb has come, because that relationship becomes reality.

There's a second element of this fourth reason for heaven's praise, and that is the bride of the Lamb is ready.  The bride of the Lamb is ready – and that readiness begins at the end of verse 7 with the bride's preparation; notice "His bride has made herself ready."  Verse 8 goes on to say, "It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints."  The church's wedding dress is "the righteous acts of the saints."  Now, don't misunderstand – Christians don't become Christians because of their good works; Titus 3:5 says, "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy."  Nobody ever makes it to heaven on their good deeds; we're saved by grace alone through the work of Christ alone, received by faith alone.  And after salvation, even, our good works are not our own; we're not the source of them, and we don't earn them – they're a gift of God's grace; we just put them on.  It's in that sense that the church, as a bride, has made herself ready – we simply put on good works as the garment that was given to us by Christ's grace alone. Our righteous works are not how we earn heaven, but they are evidence of our existing relationship with Jesus Christ.

That's the point in verse 8 where we learn of the Lamb's preparation – not only the bride's preparation, but the Lamb's preparation.  Verse 8 says, "It was given to her" – John loves that expression; it's a divine passive, here meaning it was given, or granted, to her by Christ, "to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean."  Fine linen describes expensive, beautiful cloth made from flax.  Bright means glistening, shining, radiant, often used of a white robe, as it is often in the Book of Revelation.  Clean means free from any stain, any spot – it's pure.  We get a white robe.  Now, here's where you have to be careful and use biblical discernment – in Revelation, the Christians' white robes are used with two different meanings.  First of all, the white robes, at times, stand for the gift of imputed righteousness – at salvation, by grace, we receive by faith the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and it's that that makes us right with God.  2 Corinthians 5:21, "God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  In Revelation 7:14, it describes believers like this, "They have washed their robes and made them white" – how? "In the blood of the Lamb." You see, our white robes often describe the reality of our justification, that God has declared us righteous, not with our own righteousness, but with the righteousness of another, what the Reformers used to call alien righteousness – alien to us. It's as if we have borrowed Christ's robe and we have put on His robe of perfect righteousness, and that's how God sees us, and it's on that basis that we're accepted before God.

White robes are also used, however, for the gift of personal righteousness – after salvation, by grace, God enables us to do righteous deeds.  But those righteous deeds don't make us right with God; they simply are an expression of the fact that we are already right with God.  The clearest example of this is Ephesians – look back at Ephesians 2, one of the most famous verses in the Bible.  Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, it's not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."  So, we are not saved by works; it's God's gift to us by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.  However, verse 10, "We are His workmanship, and we are created in Christ Jesus" literally unto "good works, which Christ prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."  So, we're not saved by good works, we're saved unto good works; we're saved by grace alone through Christ alone, and we are saved unto good works that God has prepared us to walk in.  So, in the first case, the white robe represents our justification, our being declared right with God; in the second case, the white robe represents our sanctification, that we are increasingly becoming like Jesus Christ.

So, the marriage of the Lamb has come, the bride of the Lamb is ready – the third element of this final reason for heaven's praise is the marriage supper of the Lamb is imminent.  The marriage supper of the Lamb is imminent – verse 9, "Then he said to me," and he here is probably, and almost certainly, the last angelic speaker introduced back in chapter 17, one of the angels with the seven bowls.  "He said to me, 'Write, "Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb."'"  What is this marriage supper, and what does it picture? Well, it pictures the eternal blessing of the saints.  It pictures the eternal blessing of the saints – verse 9, "He said to me, 'Write, "Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb."'"  The angel commands John once again to write, and he talks about a supper here; the word supper, the Greek word was normally used for the main meal of the day, typically in the evening.  It could refer to just any old everyday dinner; other times, it referred to a formal meal with guests, a special banquet – and clearly, that's how it's used here, because the adjective tells us this banquet is a marriage feast.

Now, this beautiful image of a marriage feast grows out of the Jewish marriage customs of the first century – in the Jewish wedding in the first century, there were three parts.  First of all came the betrothal; in the presence of witnesses, the man and the woman, their families agreed on the terms of the marriage, and the arrangements for the wedding begin.  When all the arrangements were complete, a date was set.  Secondly came the procession and the wedding itself – once all the arrangements had been made and the day had come, the groom left his parents' home with great fanfare, usually in the early evening with torches and everything else and marched with a huge crowd through the streets of the city to his wife's home, to his bride's home.  And then he took her back to his parents' home where an addition had typically already been made to the family home for the couple to live – that's still the practice in the Middle East.  It was there the marriage was consummated.  The third part of the Jewish wedding was the wedding feast – it followed, obviously, the consummation of the marriage ceremony, and that feast could last for up to a week.  And you thought your kids' weddings were expensive?  Imagine providing food, all three meals, lodging, for all that are invited for a full week!  That's the background of this powerful image – the New Testament uses the parts of a Jewish wedding to describe the relationship between Christ and His church. The church was betrothed to Christ in eternity past by sovereign election, and His dowry was His own life – we sing it, "From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride, with His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died."  The wedding and the wedding feast are coming – it's the time for the bride to prepare for the wedding; how does she do that?  Well, verse 7 says she "makes herself ready," but as we saw, it's "given to her" by Christ Himself; He prepares her, or as Ephesians 5 puts it, He wants to "present to Himself the church in all her glory, with no spot or wrinkle or any such thing."[SR3]   The procession and the wedding are coming. In the Rapture – we studied it a couple of weeks ago – Christ will come, and He will take His bride with Him back to the Father's house, where He is making a room for us.

Now, in context, it's not exactly clear when this wedding and this wedding feast will occur – there are three views of the timing of these events. Some say they happen during the seven-year Tribulation in heaven; others say, no, they happen on earth at the very end of the Tribulation.  The third, I think, is the most likely and best option, and that is, this wedding feast initiates with the thousand-year reign of Christ, lasts through that thousand years, and even into the eternal state.  Why do I think that?  Well, in the New Testament, the image of a feast is often connected with Christ's kingdom. In Matthew 8:11, Jesus says, "I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven."  So, the kingdom, the thousand-year reign of Christ, is often compared to a feast.  Matthew 26:29, Jesus says, "I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."  So, there's often a connection – and there are other passages as well.  Also, here in chapter 19, Christ's millennial kingdom and the wedding of the Lamb are closely connected, implying the same timeframe – so, I think the wedding feast likely occurs; it initiates with the beginning of the millennium and occurs throughout the millennium and possibly even into the eternal state.  Here's what John Macarthur writes, "Betrothed in eternity past, presented in the Father's house since the Rapture, the church is now ready for the wedding ceremony to begin.  It will coincide with the start of the millennial kingdom and stretch throughout that thousand-year period, finally consummated in the new heavens and the new earth.  The bride concept will be expanded to include not only the church, but also the redeemed of all ages."  So, folks, the marriage supper of the Lamb, then, is a picture of God's personal, close relationship with His people that He has to some extent now, but that He will have in such greater form in the future kingdom and in the new Jerusalem. No wonder the angel says, "Blessed are those who are invited" – those invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb enjoy the greatest blessing possible for human beings.  Attending this wedding feast will be the greatest joy that you have or ever will experience in this life.  By the way, the Greek word for invited here, literally translated in Greek, is the ones having been called – I think that's a reference to the effectual call where God, through the gospel, calls us to Himself.

Who are the guests in this verse?  Well, there's disagreement, but there are two basic views of who these guests are.  One view says that the guests are believers from Old Testament Israel, while the bride is all New Testament believers – and that's possible.  But I tend to lean toward the second view, and that is, the bride and the guests are one and the same; together, representing Old and New Testament saints; bride is simply a collective term, meaning all of us, and guests are individual believers.  But, regardless, make sure you know this – no believers, Old Testament or New Testament, are going to be second-class citizens at the wedding feast or in Christ's kingdom.  It's overwhelming – think about it for a moment; just let it sink into your mind. These pictures represent God's commitment and desire to have a close, personal relationship with us as His people – that's why, in verse 9, the angel "says to me, 'These are true words of God.'"  The promise of being included in the marriage supper of the Lamb is so overwhelming, so stunning, that John needed, and we need to be reassured that they're true.  Macleod writes, "Is this invitation to come to Christ, to participate in His glorious kingdom, a delusion, a sweet hallucination?  No – the angel assures John, 'These are the true words of God;' it's going to happen, this is the promise of God Himself."  So, the marriage feast, then, pictures the eternal blessing of the saints – the communion, the fellowship, the relationship that we will enjoy with our God.

Secondly, it calls for the eternal worship of our God – verse 10, "Then I fell at his feet to worship him."  John was so overwhelmed by the message of eternal relationship with God that he fell to the ground and worshipped.  He worshipped – but the angel immediately forbids it; notice, "He said to me, 'Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God.'"  You see, the only right response to God's words is awe and worship, just not of the human or angelic messenger, but of God Himself.  Listen – when you consider, when I consider the context here; when, like John, I consider the eternal relationship that Christ is promising me, and that He is promising to all who have repented and believed in Him, that we get to be with Christ – if I can put it in these terms, we get to hang out with Christ for eternity; we get to be like His disciples were in the first century, we get to know Him and fellowship with Him and eat meals together.  When I think about that, like John, I can only respond in worship.

Thirdly, the marriage supper of the Lamb emphasizes the eternal center of God's plan.  It emphasizes the eternal center of God's plan – it all comes down to the Lamb. Notice verse 10, "For the testimony of Jesus" – probably here John means the testimony about Jesus, the message about Jesus – "is the spirit," meaning is the heart, is the soul, is the core, "of prophecy."  The message about Jesus is the heart of all prophecy – Jesus is the eternal center of God's plan.  That's why Ephesians 1 says it's God's plan to "sum up all things in Jesus Christ;"[SR4]  it's why Colossians 1 says it's God's plan to make sure that He "comes to have first place in everything."[SR5]   That's the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Now, very quickly, there are three crucial lessons in this passage; let me just give them to you; three crucial lessons.  Number one – human weddings are merely a faint echo, a flawed portrait, of our eternal relationship with our God in Christ.  The next time you go to a wedding, and you're rejoicing with the bride and groom, rejoice over the fact that your God longs to have a close relationship with you for eternity.

Number two – you can only get into Christ's wedding feast with the wedding garment He provided through His death for sins.  The only way you get into Christ's kingdom, the only way you get into heaven, the only way you get into the fellowship with Jesus Christ, is if, like those saints in chapter 7, verse 14, you wash your robes in the blood of the Lamb.  In other words, you repent of your sins against Him, and you fall down and cry for mercy, for Him to apply His death against your sin so that God can forgive you for your rebellion against God, that He would make you new and He would make you His own.  You have to have His wedding garment to get into His wedding feast, and my prayer is you'll do that, even today.

Number three – Christ is the eternal center of God's plan, and He ought to be the eternal center of everything you are.  You know, for a thousand years, Ptolemy and his disciples taught that the sun revolves around the earth; they taught that the earth is the center of the entire universe – then Copernicus showed up, and there was a revolution.  Many Christians need a Copernican revolution – a revolution in which they come to understand that everything revolves around Jesus Christ.  Let me ask you this morning, Christian – is Jesus Christ truly the center of your faith, is He the center of your affections, is He the center of your future plans, is He the center of your family, is He the center of your heart? He is the eternal center of everything – it's God's purpose that He would come in your life "to have first place in everything."  Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for this passage, for what we learned here together – Lord, use these truths.  May we anticipate the reality – "now, we see through a glass, darkly, dimly, but then face to face."[SR6]   Lord, remind us that the relationship that we enjoy now with You, as sweet as it is, is nothing compared to the eternal relationship we will enjoy in Your presence forever.  Father, fill our hearts with joy; help us to live in anticipation of that – may all the "stuff" that looks so attractive in this life fade in comparison to the glory of that reality.  And, Father, for those who are here this morning who don't know You, help them to see they don't get into Your feast without the garments You provide through Your Son, and may they cry out today for that forgiveness, for that cleansing.

We pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.

 [SR1]Tom said “many” here instead of “mighty.”

 [SR2]A paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 16:22.

 [SR3]Ephesians 5:27a.

 [SR4]From Ephesians 1:10.

 [SR5]From Colossians 1:18.

 [SR6]1 Corinthians 13:12a.