Sermon

”Heaven’s Hallelujahs” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Wed PM

Bethel Baptist Church | Hillsville, VA

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  1. 19 is where we are at tonight, and I

  2. want to I want to preach on this thought

  3. that comes straight from the text. Here

  4. heaven's hallelujahs. Here, as in I'm

  5. listening, I'm hearing heaven's

  6. hallelujahs. We're going to see that

  7. come up. In fact, when we read our text

  8. here in just a moment, I want you to

  9. repeat some words with me as we read

  10. through the text. In Revelation chapter

    Revelation 19 chapter mention

  11. 19, when I get to the word that I want

  12. you to repeat, I'm going to pause and

  13. say

  14. together.

  15. And then we'll say the word together.

  16. And we'll do that several times. This

  17. same word that I'm going to draw your

  18. attention to is going to show up several

  19. times throughout our our verses. So,

  20. look at Revelation 19 beginning in verse

  21. number one.

  22. And after these things, I Here it is.

  23. Heard. That's not the word, but that's a

  24. word that I want to draw your attention

  25. to. So, I heard. And then if you look at

  26. verse 11, this is next week, but John

  27. says in verse 11, "And I I saw." So, if

  28. you want to divide Revelation 19 into

  29. just two basic divisions, you can divide

  30. it into the sounds of heaven and then

  31. the sights of heaven.

  32. So, the first 10 verses are the sounds

  33. of heaven, here heaven's hallelujahs,

  34. the sound of heaven, and then below

  35. that, the rest of the chapter is the

  36. sights that we see in heaven. And we'll

  37. talk about that here in a few weeks, but

  38. tonight we're going to look at the

  39. sounds of heaven, here heaven's

  40. hallelujahs. Let's read our text and

  41. then I'll show you this timeline. Verse

  42. number one, "And after these things, I"

  43. That is John the the revelator. "I heard

  44. a great voice of much people in heaven

  45. saying" Here's our word. Together now.

  46. Hallelujah.

  47. "Salvation and glory and honor and power

  48. under the Lord our God. For true and

  49. righteous are his judgments, for he hath

  50. judged the great which did corrupt

  51. the earth with her fornication, and hath

  52. avenged the blood of his servants at her

  53. hand." "And again they said" Here it is

  54. again. Hallelujah.

  55. Let's do it again. All together now.

  56. Hallelujah.

  57. "And her smoke rose up forever and ever,

  58. and the four and 20 elders and the four

  59. beasts fell down and worshipped God that

  60. sat on the throne saying, Amen."

  61. Together.

  62. Hallelujah.

  63. "And a voice came out of the throne

  64. saying, Praise our God all ye servants

  65. and ye that fear him both small and

  66. great. And I heard." There's our key.

  67. We're talking about the sounds of

  68. heaven, as it were, the voice of a great

  69. multitude and as the voice of many

  70. waters and as the voice of the mighty

  71. thundering saying, All together.

  72. Hallelujah. "For the Lord God omnipotent

  73. reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and

  74. give honor to him. For the marriage of

  75. the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made

  76. herself ready.

  77. And to her was granted that she should

  78. be arrayed in fine linen clean and

  79. white. For the fine linen is the

  80. righteousness of the saints.

  81. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are

  82. they. That is one of the Revelation's

  83. Beatitudes. Blessed are they

  84. which are called unto the marriage

  85. supper of the Lamb.

  86. And he saith unto me, These are the true

  87. sayings of God. And I fell at his feet

  88. to worship him, and he said unto me, See

  89. thou do it not. I am thy fellow servant

  90. and of thy brethren that have a

  91. testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the

  92. testimony of Jesus is the spirit of

  93. prophecy."

  94. Let's throw that timeline up there and

  95. let me walk through this with you to

  96. ground ourselves. This is not my

  97. timeline. I hope you can see that well,

  98. semi well at least. This is This was

  99. created by uh Gary Hamrick of

  100. Cornerstone Chapel who pastors in

  101. Virginia. Uh and this is his outline of

  102. the whole book of Revelation. Now, I

  103. want to show this to you tonight uh and

  104. just kind of break down where we've been

  105. so far, and then there's a transition

  106. that's taking place in the book of

  107. Revelation. And so, this will kind of

  108. give us the context of where we are.

  109. What we've already studied is the church

  110. age. You see that labeled on there,

  111. Revelation 1 through 3. That's the seven

  112. letters to the seven churches of Asia.

  113. We've talked about that months ago now.

  114. Then we've also seen the rapture of the

  115. church and that scene in heaven in

  116. chapter 4 and chapter 5 around the

  117. throne of God. And then we've spent a

  118. great deal of time the last several

  119. months we have spent expounding the

  120. period of seven years of tribulation,

  121. and that is recorded or described rather

  122. for us in Revelation 7 through or

  123. Revelation 6 through Revelation 18. So,

  124. the majority of the book, chapter 6

  125. through chapter 18, where we have spent

  126. several months working through that, uh

  127. this this is showing us that tribulation

  128. period. And John is recording what he

  129. sees of the tribulation that is to come.

  130. And now we come to Revelation 19.

  131. And Revelation 19 really through the end

  132. of the book is going to record for us

  133. the second coming of Christ and his

  134. rule, his sovereign reign and his

  135. sovereign rule. So, that's the That's

  136. where we're moving into these last

  137. several chapters.

  138. Chapter 19 through chapter 22, we're

  139. going to be talking about sights and

  140. sounds and scenes and songs that are

  141. taking place both in heaven and on

  142. earth. So, in the broad context, if we

  143. want to put an umbrella kind of overall

  144. of these chapters, this is what we're

  145. talking about, Christ's second coming,

  146. Christ ruling, Christ is reigning. And

  147. uh really, we get to these chapters and

  148. this is the high point of the book of

  149. Revelation. This is what I've been

  150. wanting to get to for months now. This

  151. is why I decided to preach through the

  152. book of Revelation was chapter 19

  153. through chapter 22. This is the high

  154. point. This is what we're anticipating.

  155. This is what we're expecting to come one

  156. day. And so, we get this this these

  157. moments now, these few chapters to talk

  158. about it, and it's it's wonderful. We

  159. can go back to the Revelation slide I

  160. think from here. If you would like that,

  161. we can get that to you and you can take

  162. a closer look at that timeline.

  163. So, the tribulation period ends with the

  164. destruction of the system and the city

  165. of Babylon, that eighth world kingdom.

  166. We talked about that in small group on

  167. Sunday as well when we went through the

  168. book of Daniel and the parallel there.

  169. So, the final kingdom, that eighth world

  170. kingdom, the kingdom of the Antichrist

  171. is crushed and done away with, and that

  172. happens in Revelation 18. We've talked

  173. about that. Now we come to chapter 19,

  174. and it's written in two basic sections.

  175. Verse 1 through 10, the sounds of

  176. heaven. And then verse 11 through 21,

  177. the sights of heaven and earth.

  178. We could say it maybe this way. Verse 1

  179. through 10, the hallelujahs, and verse

  180. 11 through 21, Armageddon.

  181. Or maybe we could say it this way. Verse

  182. 1 through 10 is the wedding, while verse

  183. 11 through 21, the war.

  184. Verse 1 through 10 is communion

  185. with Christ. Verse 11 through 21 is the

  186. conquering of Christ.

  187. So, it's I'm just trying to tell you

  188. communicate that there's two divisions,

  189. and we're going to look at the first one

  190. tonight, and I will tell you it will be

  191. several weeks before we get back into

  192. this uh in Revelation because

  193. next Wednesday night, Lord willing,

  194. brother Jeff Rose is going to be

  195. preaching our Wednesday night service

  196. next week. So, that's going to be a

  197. treat. We're looking forward to that. Uh

  198. brother Jeff maybe I don't know if he's

  199. watching right now. Maybe I shouldn't

  200. say. He used to pastor. If that was

  201. wrong, if you didn't want that out

  202. there, you you can tell me later,

  203. brother Jeff. Um

  204. but brother Jeff used to pastor, and

  205. he's been a great blessing and great

  206. encouragement to me. So, he's going to

  207. be preaching next week. Then I'll be out

  208. of town the next two Wednesday nights.

  209. And uh

  210. or or I'll be out of town the next

  211. Wednesday night, and then we have a

  212. missionary the next Wednesday night. So,

  213. a lot of things going on the next So,

  214. we'll be several weeks before we get

  215. back to this. Uh so, just kind of keep

  216. this outline in your mind, and when we

  217. get back to Revelation, we'll come back

  218. to chapter 19. We'll pick up the second

  219. half of the chapter.

  220. We noticed a word that we said several

  221. times, four times in our text verses,

  222. the word hallelujah.

  223. It's a transliteration of the word that

  224. we're probably more familiar with here

  225. in the South, and that is hallelujah.

  226. It's the same word. It's hallelujah in

  227. the Greek. It's hallelujah in the

  228. Hebrew, and uh we say hallelujah. The

  229. Hebrew word is hallel, that is to

  230. praise, and then Yahweh, God. So, the

  231. hallelujah literally means praise God.

  232. That's what the word means. And we see

  233. that word, same word, used four times in

  234. our text. Uh four different times we

  235. hear from heaven them saying,

  236. Hallelujah.

  237. This is how John opens chapter 19. This

  238. is the scene that he's seeing or the

  239. sound that he's hearing. And my question

  240. tonight that I'm going to answer for us

  241. is I wonder why the saints are singing

  242. hallelujah in heaven.

  243. I I wonder why they're singing

  244. hallelujah. Why is it that John is

  245. hearing this chorus from heaven over and

  246. over in these opening verses?

  247. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

  248. Hallelujah. Let me give you five reasons

  249. straight from the text tonight. We'll

  250. break it up and walk through. Number

  251. one, they're saying hallelujah for his

  252. ways.

  253. Hallelujah for his ways. Look at verse

  254. number one again. John says, "After

  255. these things, I heard" Sounds of heaven.

  256. "A great voice of much people in heaven

  257. saying, Hallelujah."

  258. And here's what they continue to say.

  259. "Salvation and glory and honor and power

  260. unto the Lord our God." They are

  261. describing the ways of our God.

  262. There is salvation. That is his

  263. redemption. John chapter 14 and verse

    John 14 chapter mention

  264. number six says, Jesus speaking, "I am

  265. the way, the truth, and the life. No man

  266. comes to the Father but by me. There is

  267. only one way to heaven and that is

  268. through Jesus. So, they praise him for

  269. his salvation. Then his glory, that is

  270. his exaltation. Then his honor, that is

  271. his edification. And his power, that is

  272. his jurisdiction. He is over all things.

  273. Now, it's interesting that in the Greek,

  274. you don't see this in the English and I

  275. wish that you did.

  276. But in the Greek, every one of these

  277. words every one of these Greek words has

  278. the definite article attached to it.

  279. You know what that means? In English, it

  280. would read then like this. You know what

  281. the definite article is?

  282. It's the word the. The. So, it would

  283. read like this.

  284. A great voice of much people in heaven

  285. saying, "Hallelujah. The salvation and

  286. the glory and the power and the honor

  287. unto the Lord our God."

  288. Every one of them connects us to the

  289. definite article. Why is that important?

  290. Why would that be significant? Because

  291. they're saying there's only one.

  292. That's what the definite article does.

  293. In grammar, it it means exclusivity.

  294. There's only one. So, when you look at

  295. it and you think about it in that way,

  296. there's only one who can save. There's

  297. only one who can redeem. There's only

  298. one who deserves the glory. There's only

  299. one who deserves to be exalted. There's

  300. only one who deserves honor. There's

  301. only one who is worthy of being edified.

  302. There's only one who has all power.

  303. There's only one who has complete

  304. control and jurisdiction over the

  305. affairs of the world. There's only one

  306. who is sovereign. There's only one who

  307. is in control. There is only one whose

  308. way is perfect. That's the squire song

  309. that John hears. That's what he hears

  310. coming from the portals of heaven, that

  311. there is only one Lord who is worthy of

  312. our worship. There is only one who is to

  313. be lifted up and exalted. There's only

  314. one who is sovereign and in control and

  315. his name is Jesus. Listen to me,

  316. friends. Let me make a practical

  317. application tonight. Yesterday, we got

  318. bad news if you were watching the polls.

  319. And old Abigail Spanberger over there in

  320. Richmond, right now, she thinks she has

  321. all the control.

  322. Right? She's looking at those numbers

  323. and she's thinking, "I've got all

  324. control." But I've got news for Abigail

  325. Spanberger. She does not have all

  326. control. Jesus knew exactly what was

  327. taking place yesterday. Jesus is in

  328. control of it all. Jesus has the the the

  329. world in his hand. She's not in control

  330. of anything except what he allows her to

  331. be in control of. He's got a plan and

  332. he's got a purpose. There's only one

  333. who is sovereign and in control over the

  334. things of the world. And that's the

  335. choir. That's the song.

  336. That's what John hears. They're praising

  337. him. Hallelujah.

  338. For his ways. Write down number two.

  339. Hallelujah for his wrath.

  340. Look at verse two and three. For true

  341. and righteous are his judgments, for he

  342. hath judged the great that is

  343. Babylon, which did corrupt the earth

  344. with her fornication and hath avenged

  345. his the blood of his servants at her

  346. hand. And again they said, "Hallelujah."

  347. And her smoke rose up forever and ever.

  348. The system and the city of Babylon is

  349. laying in ruin and distress. The very

  350. best that the Antichrist could come up

  351. with is laying in duress. It's

  352. destroyed. And as the smoke of

  353. destruction rises from the earth, the

  354. song of deliverance can be heard from

  355. the portals of heaven.

  356. As the very best that the Antichrist has

  357. to offer, as the smoke of the ruin and

  358. destruction rises off of the earth,

  359. we can hear from heaven the song of

  360. deliverance, the song of praise.

  361. And I want to remind you tonight that

  362. the that in the end, evil does not win.

  363. But in the end, Jesus wins.

  364. And one of these days, we're going to be

  365. seated around the throne and the smoke

  366. of all the evilness of this world is

  367. going to be rising up off of the earth

  368. or what's left of it. And you and I will

  369. be seated around the throne of the most

  370. high God worshiping him because in the

  371. end, Jesus wins. Now, notice the

  372. judgment of Jesus is both described as

  373. true and righteous.

  374. He is perfect and he is right in judging

  375. sin. And there is coming a day when

  376. Christ will judge sin. There is coming a

  377. day when Christ will destroy the

  378. evilness of this world and you and I

  379. will praise him for his just and

  380. righteous judgment of sin.

  381. Write down number three.

  382. I've got five things and I've got to get

  383. to number five tonight. So, hang on

  384. until we get there. All right? Number

  385. three, they're saying hallelujah for his

  386. worship. ship.

  387. His worship.

  388. When you think about the word worthy, we

  389. sang about it a few moments ago. When

  390. you think about the word worthy,

  391. when you think about the word worship,

  392. the word worship, which has been

  393. convoluted in our society to only mean

  394. music, it means so much more than that.

  395. Music and songs are just the beginning

  396. of worship. They're just a small part of

  397. worship. But worship is so much more.

  398. Here's what worship means. The literal

  399. word worship comes from two words.

  400. Worth

  401. ship.

  402. Worship is literally ascribing. It is

  403. giving God his worthiness. It is saying,

  404. "You alone are worthy of my praise."

  405. That's what worship is. It's worth ship.

  406. And we see that for us in our text.

  407. Notice verse number four.

  408. And the four and 20 elders

  409. and the four beasts fell down and

  410. worshiped God that sat on the throne and

  411. they're saying, "Amen. Hallelujah."

  412. And a voice came out of the throne

  413. saying, "Praise our God and all ye his

  414. servants and ye that fear him, both

  415. small and great." In verse four and

  416. five, we hear another song being sung

  417. from the portals of heaven. You see,

  418. first of all, the saints. Now, you have

  419. to think back with me all the way back

  420. to Revelation chapter four. You see the

  421. phrase the four and 20 elders. That's in

  422. your Bible, right? Remember all the way

  423. back in Revelation chapter four, we saw

  424. the four and 20 elders. They were

  425. gathered around the throne. They were on

  426. that sea of glass and they were

  427. worshiping God at the beginning of the

  428. tribulation. Now, we're at the end of

  429. the tribulation and we see them again.

  430. We don't see them during the tribulation

  431. except for maybe one or two times when

  432. John's attention is directed into

  433. heaven. But every time we see them,

  434. they're always in heaven.

  435. We see them at the beginning in heaven.

  436. We see them at the end in heaven. Does

  437. anyone remember who the four and 20

  438. elders are a representative group of?

  439. Me. That's me. I'm part of that group.

  440. The 20 and four elders is a

  441. representative group of the church of

  442. Jesus Christ. It's the New Testament

  443. church. In Revelation chapter four, the

  444. church is raptured out and we are seen

  445. around the throne of God before the

  446. tribulation begins. And now we get to

  447. the end of the tribulation and once

  448. again John's attention is directed to

  449. heaven, not earth, to heaven, where he

  450. sees the four and 20 elders, that is the

  451. church gathered around the throne

  452. worshiping our savior. And notice the

  453. song that they sing. They sing, "Amen

  454. and hallelujah." That is words of truth

  455. and words of praise. Now, I'm just going

  456. to throw this in here

  457. cuz we could use some help with this

  458. sometimes.

  459. You may not say amen very much down

  460. here.

  461. But there is coming a day when you are

  462. going to say amen. And sometimes I get

  463. up here and I get to preaching and I do

  464. everything I can to get an amen out of

  465. you and you don't give me one. You won't

  466. do it. You just won't say amen. But I

  467. can't wait till I get to heaven and I'm

  468. here and you're over there and I hear

  469. you saying, "Amen. Hallelujah. Amen.

  470. Hallelujah." And I'm just going to reach

  471. over and tap you on the shoulder and

  472. say, "You couldn't have done that while

  473. I was preaching once in a while?"

  474. Y'all okay?

  475. They say, "Amen.

  476. Hallelujah."

  477. Verse five, and a voice came out of the

  478. throne saying, "Praise our God."

  479. We see the command to praise that comes

  480. out of the throne. Praise our God. A

  481. command to praise. And then we see the

  482. congregation who praises. All ye his

  483. servants. Ye that fear him, both small

  484. and great. Everyone who is saved will be

  485. praising God.

  486. Let me give you number four.

  487. We've seen hallelujah for his ways.

  488. We've seen hallelujah for his wrath.

  489. We've seen hallelujah for his worship.

  490. Notice number four, hallelujah for his

  491. wonder.

  492. His wonder.

  493. Look at verse number six with me.

  494. And I heard as it were the voice of a

  495. great multitude and as the voice of many

  496. waters and as the voice of the mighty

  497. thundering saying,

  498. "Hallelujah.

  499. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." There

  500. is a great multitude. This great

  501. multitude, a great host of heaven. This

  502. is a thunderous choir singing to an

  503. almighty God.

  504. Man, sometimes here on this earth,

  505. we we just don't get it, do we? We go

  506. through our motions and we sing and we

  507. worship. I can't wait till we get to

  508. heaven and we get to hear a heavenly

  509. choir, a real choir. I love good choir

  510. music. In fact, I I watch churches all

  511. the time. I watch YouTube videos all the

  512. time. I go to churches as often as I can

  513. and my favorite churches to go to, my

  514. favorite services to be a part of, are

  515. churches that have big, vibrant choir

  516. ministries. And you hear those people

  517. start singing and you hear that choir

  518. start lifting their voices and you hear

  519. a multitude of people begin to sing the

  520. praises of God and there is something

  521. that is just energizing that makes you

  522. want to be a part of that. That makes

  523. you want to praise God. That makes you

  524. want to glorify him. Well, there's

  525. coming a day when we're going to hear

  526. choir music and anybody who says that

  527. choirs are not biblical has not read

  528. what's going to be in heaven. When we

  529. get to heaven, there's going to be a lot

  530. of choir music and I'm looking forward

  531. to it. There's going to be some great

  532. choirs. I'm going to be a part of some

  533. of those choirs. We see a great

  534. multitude, a great host of heaven

  535. singing this thunderous choir song. By

  536. the way, heaven is not going to be

  537. quiet.

  538. It says a description of this song is

  539. that it is the voice of It sounds like

  540. the voice of many waters and as the

  541. voice of a mighty thundering. There is

  542. nothing quiet about what's going to be

  543. happening in heaven. It's going to be

  544. loud and it's going to be energetic and

  545. it's going to be full of praise to the

  546. one true God.

  547. Notice what they're praising him for.

  548. They're saying "Hallelujah, for the Lord

  549. God omnipotent reigneth." The choir is

  550. praising God for his unending, never

  551. failing omnipotence.

  552. We use the word omnipotence in theology.

  553. What does it mean?

  554. It simply means all

  555. power.

  556. All power. He is all powerful. This is

  557. his might is on display. We praise him

  558. for his strength and for his might, for

  559. his power.

  560. Okay, we made it to number five.

  561. Give me a few more minutes and we'll

  562. wrap this up. Number five, they're

  563. saying "Hallelujah

  564. for his wedding."

  565. "Hallelujah

  566. for his wedding." Look at verse 10.

  567. "Let us be glad and rejoice and give

  568. honor to him."

  569. For what? What are we praising him for

  570. now?

  571. "For the marriage of the Lamb is come

  572. and his wife hath made herself ready."

  573. Who is the wife of Christ? Who is the

  574. bride of Christ tonight?

  575. Me.

  576. That's me. That's you. We are the

  577. church. We are the bride of Christ.

  578. "The wife hath made herself ready and to

  579. her was granted that she should be

  580. arrayed in fine linen." That's you and

  581. I. "Clean and white for the fine linen

  582. is the righteousness of the saints."

  583. "And he saith unto me, Write, blessed

  584. are they which are called unto the

  585. marriage supper of the Lamb. And he

  586. saith unto me, These things are true

  587. sayings of God." It's a beautiful

  588. passage that describes for us the

  589. marriage supper of the Lamb, which I'm

  590. sure you have heard

  591. uh preachers preach on and people talk

  592. about. One day, it will take place in

  593. heaven.

  594. And in order to understand the beauty of

  595. the text, we have to understand the

  596. marriage culture uh in Israel in which

  597. this was written, the time in which it

  598. was written. So, let me give you just a

  599. brief outline of Jewish wedding

  600. ceremonies. It looked like this. There

  601. were three components. First of all,

  602. there was a betrothal period.

  603. They had first a betrothal period. You

  604. probably recognize that word from when

  605. Joseph and Mary uh when baby Jesus was

  606. coming along and Mary was with child.

  607. They were in that betrothal period.

  608. Here's what that meant. The groom They

  609. had arranged marriages back then. So,

  610. Joseph didn't really get to have a

  611. choice in in who he got to marry. He was

  612. just kind of told this is the girl for

  613. you. And so, they have this arranged

  614. marriage. Uh Joseph is going to buy

  615. Mary. He's going to pay a price

  616. for his bride-to-be. Fathers get

  617. together. They arrange the marriage. The

  618. groom-to-be then buys the bride with a

  619. price. She and him are now considered

  620. married,

  621. but they do not live together and they

  622. do not have intimacy yet.

  623. After he buys his wife, they are

  624. betrothed. Legally, they are married,

  625. but they are not living together. Then

  626. Joseph was going to go and he was going

  627. to build a place for him and his bride

  628. to live. And this place would usually be

  629. attached to Joseph's father's house.

  630. So, he would buy his bride. They were

  631. now betrothed. He would take 1 year and

  632. he would go build a house

  633. on the side of his father's house. At

  634. the end of that time, when his house was

  635. built, the bridegroom, number two if

  636. you're if you're outlining all this,

  637. number two, the bridegroom returns.

  638. So, you have the betrothal period. He's

  639. going to pay the price. They're married,

  640. but they're not together. Then he's

  641. going to go build a house.

  642. When the time is right, he's going to

  643. come back. The bridegroom returns.

  644. And when he returns, he will take his

  645. bride.

  646. And together, they will go back to the

  647. place that he has prepared for his

  648. bride.

  649. And they will dwell in that place. Now,

  650. when they get there, we see a third

  651. thing that will take place. As they come

  652. into the city, into the town, there will

  653. be a great banquet prepared. Number

  654. three.

  655. It's a banquet of rejoicing.

  656. So, the the They're arranged. They're

  657. put together. He pays a price for the

  658. bride. Then they are separated. They are

  659. married, but they're separated. He

  660. prepares a place for the bride. Then

  661. he's going to go return. He's going to

  662. get his bride, take her back to the

  663. place that he has prepared and there's

  664. going to be a 7-day feast, a 7-day

  665. banquet in which the community, the

  666. family, the friends, the bride, the

  667. groom, everyone celebrates

  668. this

  669. uh this marriage.

  670. Okay, so that's that's a brief outline.

  671. We could talk about more things, but

  672. that's a brief outline of what a Jewish

  673. marriage looked like.

  674. All of that is is a picture that Christ

  675. uses for his relationship and the

  676. church. Let me show it to you. Right

  677. now, you and I are in the betrothal

  678. period.

  679. On Calvary, Jesus Christ paid the price

  680. to buy his bride.

  681. The Bible tells us this. In 1

  682. Corinthians 6 and verse 20, the Bible

  683. says "For you are bought with a price."

  684. As the bride of Christ, as a Christian,

  685. you are bought with a price.

  686. Acts chapter 20 and verse 28 says "Feed

    Acts 20 chapter mention

  687. the church of God which he has purchased

  688. with his own blood."

  689. On Calvary, Jesus Christ paid a price

  690. for the church. On Calvary, he paid the

  691. price, the dowry is what it was called,

  692. for his bride, you and I.

  693. Then

  694. Jesus leaves. Now, right now, we're

  695. married cuz the price has already been

  696. paid. It's been finished. It's done. The

  697. The debt has been paid in full. The

  698. price has been paid in full. But Jesus

  699. has gone away for a period of time. And

  700. if you are familiar with John chapter

    John 14 chapter mention

  701. 14, you know why he has gone away.

  702. "Let not your heart be troubled." John

  703. 14, verse number one. "Let not your

  704. heart be troubled. You believe in God,

  705. believe also in me. In my Father's house

  706. are many mansions and I go to prepare

  707. you a place."

  708. "If it were not so, I would have told

  709. you."

  710. So, our bridegroom has paid the price

  711. for his bride. He's bought us with his

  712. own blood. He's left us in our place for

  713. a temporary time while he has departed

  714. to go back to his Father's house. And

  715. while he's at the Father's house, he's

  716. preparing a place for you and I

  717. while we're in this betrothal period.

  718. But there is the second element and that

  719. is when the bridegroom returns. And

  720. there is coming a day when our

  721. bridegroom will return. There's coming a

  722. day, could be any day now, in which the

  723. sky will separate from itself. Our

  724. bridegroom will come riding on the

  725. clouds and he will rapture us and call

  726. us up to himself. Continuing in John 14,

  727. verse number three, Jesus said "If I go

  728. to prepare a place for you, I will come

  729. again and receive you unto myself that

  730. where I am, there you may be also." So,

  731. he is coming back.

  732. And don't be confused.

  733. That is not what's taking place in

  734. Revelation 19.

  735. That takes place in Revelation chapter

  736. four.

  737. He comes back. He calls us up to

  738. himself.

  739. When we Sometimes, we get easily

  740. confused when we talk about the second

  741. coming of Christ.

  742. Christ is going to come back

  743. without ever stepping foot on this

  744. earth.

  745. And he's going to rapture the church.

  746. The Bible says we will meet him in the

  747. air. That's the rapture. That's not the

  748. second coming.

  749. The second coming is when he comes at

  750. the end of Revelation 19 and he sets

  751. foot on this earth and he wipes out

  752. everybody at the Battle of Armageddon.

  753. That's the second coming of Christ.

  754. So, what we're talking about, what Jesus

  755. said "I will come again." What's he

  756. talking about? He's going to come again

  757. in the clouds and call us to himself and

  758. we're going to meet him in the clouds.

  759. The bridegroom returns. He gets his

  760. bride. We're going to go running out to

  761. meet him.

  762. Uh I can just picture it Picture this in

  763. the Can you see the little girl, the

  764. little the little virgin girl who's

  765. supposed to be married and he's been

  766. gone for over a year preparing a house

  767. and he comes walking down the street.

  768. Can you imagine the excitement when he

  769. comes walking down the street and she

  770. sees him for the first time? She's

  771. married to him. That's her husband, but

  772. she hasn't seen him in a year and she

  773. just takes off running. I think the

  774. rapture might be something like that.

  775. Here comes Jesus in the clouds and we're

  776. just going to be like "We got to go.

  777. Here we go." and we're going to just get

  778. to him as fast as we can in the

  779. twinkling of an eye. We're going to

  780. leave this world and we're going to meet

  781. him in the air. And our bridegroom

  782. returns, gets his bride, and takes us to

  783. the place that he has prepared.

  784. Now, during the tribulation, 7 years is

  785. going to pass in the just a blink of an

  786. eye for you and I. We'll be in heaven

  787. casting crowns at the feet of Jesus.

  788. And in Revelation 19, we're told that

  789. there will be a marriage supper of the

  790. Lamb.

  791. So, that final component, that banquet,

  792. that 7-day feast, that banquet of

  793. rejoicing with all of the family and all

  794. of the friends and all of the community

  795. that would take place when that

  796. bridegroom brought his bride to his

  797. Father's house is going to take place

  798. between you and I and Christ in heaven.

  799. And one of these days, we're going to

  800. sit around a table

  801. in the Father's house

  802. with our savior, with our bridegroom,

  803. and we're going to feast, and we're

  804. going to fellowship,

  805. and we're going to It's going to be

  806. wonderful, unhindered, undistracted

  807. communion

  808. with our savior. That's what's being

  809. described for us in Revelation 19 verse

    Revelation 19:7

  810. 7 through verse 10. Let me conclude with

  811. this.

  812. There is a wedding that is coming.

  813. It's a wedding between the bride of

  814. Christ and Jesus Christ who is pictured

  815. as the bridegroom.

  816. There's going to be a great banquet at

  817. this wedding, and you and I who are

  818. saved are going to gather at this

  819. banquet. We're going to feast at this

  820. banquet. We're going to have fellowship

  821. with Christ at this banquet. We're going

  822. to see friends and family who have

  823. already gone before. That I may be even

  824. I don't know if this is true, but it

  825. could very very very well be that we get

  826. to sit beside our family. Wouldn't that

  827. be interesting if when we sit around

  828. that heavenly table, we get to sit with

  829. our friends and our families in our

  830. little group. That would be wonderful. I

  831. don't know if God will do that or not,

  832. but it would be cool if he did.

  833. There's coming a day where we are going

  834. to sit at the marriage supper of the

  835. lamb, and we are going to feast with our

  836. savior, and the bride of Christ, the

  837. church, which has been purchased by his

  838. blood, will enjoy his sweet communion

  839. and fellowship.

  840. Jesus Christ has already paid the way

  841. for every single person to attend this

  842. marriage banquet.

  843. So, here's my question tonight, and

  844. we'll go home.

  845. Have you handed out any wedding

  846. invitations lately?

  847. Have you told anybody lately about the

  848. wedding that's going to take place

  849. between the bride of Christ and the

  850. savior of the world? They're invited.

  851. Their way has already been paid. He's

  852. already bought them with the price. All

  853. they've got to do is receive the gift of

  854. salvation, and they can go enjoy the

  855. marriage supper of the lamb with us

  856. instead of the terrible tribulation that

  857. we read about in chapter 6 through

  858. chapter 18.

  859. All we got to do is hand out some

  860. wedding invitations.

  861. And go tell some people that Jesus has

  862. paid it all. That Jesus has paid the

  863. price.

  864. That they are invited

  865. to an eternity

  866. in heaven. Isn't that good? Isn't that

  867. wonderful? That blessed my heart this

  868. afternoon. Let's go out this week, the

  869. rest of this week, and let's go give out

  870. some wedding invitations.

  871. Let's go tell some people that Jesus has

  872. paid it all. That there's coming a

  873. ceremony. There's coming a banquet one

  874. of these days, and they are invited.

  875. Their way has been paid. Amen.

  876. Father, thank you

  877. for

  878. your