Revelation - Part 19
Notes
Transcript
Last week we covered a lot of ground
For the sake of time we skipped over some of the song about Babylon falling
But if you had a chance to read it yourself
You would see that we covered the most important and interesting parts of that victory song.
The victory song ended in Chapter 19 verse 5
And tonight we will pick up with a change of scenes
where another song of celebration is being sung.
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
In verse 6 we are shown an image of a massive crowd of people.
It is hard to imagine how many souls this multitude contains.
This would be everyone who has ever been saved.
Some might argue that only those saved during the church age are considered the bride of the Lamb.
But even if that were true, the multitude would be billions of people I believe.
At its birth, the church was 3,120 people
And shortly there after they added 5,000 more
and then Acts chapter 6 says they started to multiply
Addition wasn’t sufficient after a couple of years
They had to just start multiplying
The Jews couldn’t stop them.
The Romans couldn’t kill them.
And the world was turned upside down by the church at a rapid pace.
There were millions of Christians in just a very short amount of time.
Today, according to research, there are some 2.1 billion Christians worldwide.
Pentecostals make up 25% of that number.
However, if you take out the Roman Church and her Eastern Sister
Pentecostals now make up 60% of all non-Catholic Christians
And the number is climbing at a rate of about 34,000 per day
That’s right
34,000 people per day are currently being filled with the Holy Spirit
Which amounts to over 12 million new Pentecostals per year
And that is based on Pew and Gallup research polls.
And I believe the number is much higher.
Surely we are seeing the fulfillment of Joel 2.28
28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
So, in verse 6 of our text, they are singing a song of celebration
It says the reason is because of Lord God Almighty Reigns.
And verse 7 the song continues…
7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;
So, these billions of Christians are giving the Lord God Almighty praise
And it is because the marriage of the Lamb is about to take place
and finally the wedding day is here
and the Bride has made herself ready.
Let me just briefly point out that the making ready is credited not to the Lamb
But to the Bride
It does not say the Lamb has made the Bride ready
It says the Bride has made herself ready.
Now, the Roman church devolved into a very legalistic form of church
They were, and still are very pharisaical
I picked up a Catholic prayer book once in a Thrift store
and flipped through the pages
Only to find that each page had a prescription for what to do in every situation they could imagine
On one page they prescribed 10 hail marys and fasting for 30 days to do one thing
and on another page, the said to do something else some random amount of times for some other thing.
They had prescriptions for praying for health,
for repenting for a certain kind of sin
for preparing for baptism
and so on and so forth
As a result, the Protestant Reformation did a 180
and overcorrected to the other side of the highway
by saying that we are Justified by Faith alone
and we shouldn’t do anything at all to make ourselves ready
We just need to believe in Jesus and that is that
Nothing a person can do will get themselves ready
Because of this overcorrection
Even baptism was considered a work of the flesh by many
No longer are we baptized to be saved
We only do it because we are already saved by faith alone they say.
But here in our text we see that it is in fact the Bride that makes HERSELF ready
You see, there is a middle road.
The truth is usually in the middle
The Romans are in one ditch of legalism
The Protestants are in the other ditch of complete abdication of personal responsibility.
In the middle, there is a Bride who makes herself ready.
Jesus even told a parable about the 10 virgins
5 were foolish and were not ready
They tried to make themselves ready when the Bridegroom came
but by then it was too late.
If we are going to be at the marriage supper of the Lamb
We have to make ourselves ready
Now, you can’t do that without the Grace of God
Without the blood of Jesus
Without faith in His perfect work
But you also can’t get ready by continuing in sin
without repenting of your sins
by refusing to be baptized and filled with His Spirit
refusing to live in holiness and righteousness
refusing to become more and more like Jesus each day through submission to his perfect will.
The Bride has to make herself ready
You can’t even begin to do that without the help of God’s Spirit
You can’t even desire to do it without His love growing inside you
So, don’t think you are taking credit for making yourself ready
If you do it without Jesus, you’ll fail, and even if you could succeed you’d have the wrong prideful spirit.
It is God in you that gives you the power to make yourself ready
That is true holiness
Simply submitting to Jesus. Turning from what your flesh desires, and letting him turn you to what His Spirit in you desires.
Which is why verse 8 says…
8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
The bride was granted the right to clothe herself
She had to clothe herself
but she had to first be granted the right to do it
Jesus did the granting
but the bride did the clothing
and her clothes were bright and pure
And John says, the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
Not the righteous thoughts.
It isn’t the thought that counts here
It is the deeds
Not the hearers of the word
but the doers
Not the ones that worship Him with their mouths
but their hearts are far from him
The bride is wearing pure white linen,
not because of what she thought, or believed, or said, but
because of what she DID.
In our study of Matthew, we covered chapter 22
where Jesus tells a parable about this wedding feast.
And someone there was dressed inappropriately and was also speechless.
And that person was booted out of the wedding
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.
12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
So, you can’t just show up to the wedding without the proper garments
And Gal 3.27
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
When you are baptized, you “put on christ”, which literally means you are clothed with Christ.
12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
Here, we find the intruder was not only dressed incorrectly,
but he was also “speechless”.
Jesus said in…
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The Greek word for “sound” here is foni.
It literally means speech.
Everyone who is born of the Spirit, you will hear the speech of it.
Which is why Jesus said right before this..
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
There are many people being invited to the wedding who are not born of the water and the Spirit
But Jesus made it clear
The bride isn’t getting in unless she makes herself ready.
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: 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.”
10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
In verse 10 we find that no one can be worshipped but God alone.
Worship here is describe as falling at his feet.
This is what many people do with idols today
Some churches even have idols of former church members that they bow down to their feet
They change the wording of it
They call them icons
They call them saints
But they are idols
They call it veneration
They call it intercession
but it is worship
They call it a Cathedral, they call it a Basilica
but it is a temple
In John’s 1st letter, his last words were:
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
That is the end of his letter
Keep yourselves from idols
Don’t let anything get between you and Jesus.
10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
So, this verse is clear, don’t bow down to anyone or anything but Jesus.
The angel then says that he is a fellow servant with John
Meaning, he is doing the same work as John
They are on even ground, in this regard only
Now, we know according to scripture that men are below Angels in the created order
But in the work of witnessing about Jesus
We are on the same mission
This angel is admitting they angels help us to carry out the testimony of Jesus
So, remember that when you are witnessing about Jesus, that angels are there to help you.
They are backing you up.
They are fellow servants.
On the same mission
with the same goal
Which is to tell people about Jesus Christ.
10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Now, the last part says that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Testimony of Jesus
Is witnessing about Jesus
It is about spreading the Gospel
and the Angel just said that he was helping John and John’s brethren to accomplish that mission
And then He says, that mission of spreading the Gospel is the Spirit of Prophecy
Meaning, the reason for prophecies like the ones being show to John by these angels, was to aid in the mission of spreading the Gospel
That is why it is important to understand Revelation
People shy away from it because it is hard
Because it is confusing
but this Angel said these prophecies were given to John to help us testify about Jesus
That means, I need to know them and understand them
because I believe one day, we will use the information in this book to bring a lot of people to that wedding ceremony with us.
The White Horse Rider
The White Horse Rider
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.
13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.
14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.
15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God,
18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”
19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.
20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
Who is the rider on the white horse?
This is pretty plain to see, that it is of course Jesus.
We will look at just a few of the descriptors used to identify Jesus as the rider.
But it isn’t just Jesus.
It is God manifested in the flesh
Which we know because of the title “WORD OF GOD” that is given to the rider in verse 13.
That is the LOGOS.
The same title given to God the Father in John 1.1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And then vs 14 says…
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So, Rev 19.13
13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.
… is certainly talking about Jesus based on that description alone, we can be certain.
But I want to reiterate that Jesus is not the second person of the Trinity
Jesus is God manifested in the Flesh
The Word was God, and the Word was made flesh.
That is what Isaiah 63 says, which is quoted heavily here by John.
1 Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.”
2 Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel.
4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come.
5 I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me.
6 I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
Isaiah goes on to describe this man with blood stained garments as our Savior who was afflicted.
8 For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.” And he became their Savior.
Then he goes on to describe him as the same God that parted the Red Sea:
11 Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit,
12 who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name,
And then Isaiah makes it plain who this man with blood stained garments is
16 For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.
So, the WORD of God, is God himself manifested in the flesh.
Jesus is the same God that parted the Red Seas and brought his people out of Egyptian slavery
And it is that same God that is going to return riding on a white horse to defeat the Antichrist. at the end of the 7year period that Daniel and John prophesy about.
Verse 11 says he is called “Faithful and True”
And we already know who that is according to John…
14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
It also says he has a name written on his head that only he knows.
This appears to be another connection John is making back to the letters to the seven churches.
17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
Verse 15 mentions the rod of iron, and treading the winepress of the fury of the wrath…
15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
We read about that winepress of wrath in Is 63 a moment ago.
2 Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?
6 I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
That wrath is also mentioned in Ps 2, along with the referrence to the rod of iron:
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury…
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
So, it is very clear that John is seeing a vision of the Second coming of Jesus, which is immediately followed by the battle of Armageddon.
19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.
It will be a swift victory
and the ending will find the Antichrist will be captured and cast into the lake of fire.
20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
Right after this, we will have the 1,000 years of peace.
And we will pick up on that topic starting next week
