Revelation 19:6-8 - The Glory of Christmas: The Lamb

INTRODUCTION

We come this morning to the final study in this short series on the Advent.

The next series I plan to begin next week, if God is willing, is a 3-month series on “Difficult Passages”.

If you would like to prepare for next Lord’s Day, I plan to be looking at Psalm 44 as a psalm of lamentation.

For the present series, we began looking at the Reason for Christmas: which is the innate and imputed sin we are born into.

Then we looked at the Promise of Christmas - the Eternal Son of God, very God of very God, who became flesh.

Last week, we looked at the Purpose of Christmas: to reconcile God’s people, whom He chose and loved before anything was created,

To reconcile them to Himself.

This week, we will turn our attention to Revelation 19:6-8 as we look at the Glory of Christmas: the Lamb.

Please open your Bibles with me as I read our passage for today:

[READ REVELATION 19:6-8]

One of the real delights of the Book of the Revelation are the many songs and lyrics found throughout the book.

The main part of our passage today is one of those songs of praise.

You may go to many other songs in Scripture to show the glory of Christmas:

The announcement by the angels to the shepherds.

Mary’s song of praise after she is told she would bear the Messiah - called the Magnificat.

Zechariah’s song of praise after his tongue is loosed at John’s birth - called the Benedictus.

Simeon’s song of praise when the baby Jesus is brought to the Temple - called the Nunc Dimittis.

And any one of the dozens of songs that come in the earlier chapters of Revelation.

But wrapped around the Glory of Christmas is the lasting effect of Christmas -

And so we are looking at the last song we find in Scripture - the song of the church.

The Glory of God

I won’t take time to read the chapters leading up to this song, but it’s important, I think, for us to understand where it comes in the book.

And before we begin, I would ask each one of us to leave aside all our pre-conceived ideas about the timing of the events of this book.

Because this morning, I don’t intend to tease out the mysteries of prophecy,

But to read this book of Scripture as it is: a book of comfort to the church.

It’s not necessary to assume every reader of this book, that everyone who gets something out of it, will be grievously persecuted.

But it IS necessary for believers to acknowledge:

1. That our Lord will return.

2. That He reigns even now as we wait for that great Day.

3. And that everything He has done in justification and sanctification of His people is for His own glory.

In the chapter before, chapter 18, we are told of the fall of Babylon the great,

A city of godless idolatry and worldly wealth, power, and prestige.

This great harlot of a people did not simply fall because of their own failures;

They were cast down by God Himself.

They were judged and condemned, unseated from her high place on the earth and cast into the depths.

For our purposes this morning, stop your mind all together from straying to the theories about the identity of Babylon, and see the songs:

We see one angel bringing God’s judgment,

Another warning and guarding God’s people from her calamity.

We see the mourning of the kings of the earth, allies of the great ungodly city.

We see the mourning of the merchants who have nowhere to sell their goods.

We see the sailors weeping at her sudden fall.

And we see the mighty angel finishing the judgments on her.

All that was just chapter 18.

Then in chapter 19, we find first the cry of a heavenly multitude.

Then the word from the Throne of God in verse 5 commanding praise.

And then, in the verses we are looking at today, we find an even greater multitude.

And contrary to the heading in many of your Bibles, we aren’t told in the text that this multitude is in heaven.

Revelation 19:5–6 “And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.” 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.”

The Eternal Son of God came to earth, became flesh, was born as an infant, lived, died, and rose from the dead so that He would take His place WITH HIS PEOPLE.

I invite you this afternoon or this week to read the songs of praise the inhabitants of heaven and earth declare,

From the throne of God to the lowest dust of earth:

They aren’t rejoicing over Babylon’s fall -

They are rejoicing over God’s perfect judgment,

His complete and good justice.

He is “The Lord our God the Almighty” - and He reigns.

Verses 1 and 2 of chapter 19, the cry of those in heaven, is the exultation of those who have given everything they had for the sake of the gospel:

Revelation 19:1–2 “After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.””

These men, women, and children declare the rightness of God’s vengeance upon those who spilled the blood of God’s servants.

Who reveled in the iniquity and immorality of the fallen world to the very end.

The view of these heavenly saints is unobstructed by sin;

It is pure praise for the God who cares for and defends His people.

Listen to their cry, as loud as when they cried from below the altar “How long, O Lord, until you avenge our blood?”

It is done.

His wrath is poured out.

And after the voice comes from the throne of God in verse 5, we see an even greater multitude crying out.

Like I said before, we are never told that this second multitude is in heaven.

I think that’s because it isn’t - or at least not all of this multitude are in heaven.

The martyrs began the praise;

And now it is taken up by every believer in heaven and earth.

The sound of that chorus, like the roar of many waters and mighty peals of thunder,

That description was used earlier in the book to describe the voice of the Reigning Christ (1:15).

I think this second chorus is the ENTIRE church - every believer alive on earth on the last day and every believer in heaven.

Their words aren’t a celebration of their faithfulness;

They aren’t a remembrance of their loss.

Revelation 19:6–7 “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 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;”

The church, in unison, is crying out to the glory of God alone.

He reigns.

And He has called a bride for the Son forever.

What God has joined together, no man can separate.

There are no petitions or prayers for anything related to themselves;

No more cries for justice or protection or provision.

Because [Isaiah 52:10] “The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”

The people of God are seeking only a single thing: God’s glory.

And because here they have beheld that glory, that is more important than comfort,

More important than food or drink.

Even the air they breathe is only as important as the praises it enables them to shout.

The promises of God, secured by the infant in the manger who was the sinless man on the cross,

Are now completely fulfilled by the risen Christ.

Some who are shouting these praises were severed from this life for the name of Christ, killed because of their testimony of the gospel;

Some who are shouting these praises are children, murdered before they were born, because they were defenseless,

The nearest thing to innocence on the earth.

And some who are shouting these praises are standing in the ruins of the earth under full judgment,

Smelling the smoke and hearing the laments of the ungodly who still refuse to repent.

And in the middle of their words here is still a call to repentance:

Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory...

Some, both in heaven and earth, had been driven out, persecuted for the sake of Christ;

And some, both in heaven and earth, had lived in relative peace.

But EVERY VOICE who takes up this cry, 100% of the church, has this in common:

Every single one of them was chosen, called, justified, sanctified, and preserved in faithfulness by God - to His glory alone.

Some of you may wonder at times, as I have, what would make men, women, and children remain faithful in the face of the terrors and hardships the enemies of God inflicted on them.

And in these three verses, we see the answer:

We don’t endure because we are pathetic, inoffensive sheep;

We endure hardship for the sake of Christ BECAUSE He is the Lord of Glory.

We endure because Jesus Christ IS the victor.

His retribution is terrible for His enemies,

And our orders as servants is to not take vengeance for ourselves.

We endure all the difficulties of this world BECAUSE we will reign with Him.

2 Timothy 2:10–13 “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.”

What are the insults or the taunts of people when we know we have a glorious life ahead?

Of what value are those sins you leave behind for the sake of the glory that lies ahead?

I promise you, on that day when you stand before our Lord, you will not desire a single mote of dust from this fallen creation, much less those things that would try to make a separation between us and God.

The martyrs who endured flames knew that we have a Redeemer who will come with eyes of fire.

They knew their testimony was a glorious offering before the only God.

And they knew, and so should we, that the sins we shun and kill are a GIFT of God to us -

That we are ABLE to reject sin for His sake.

That we are FREED from sin for His sake.

See verse 8 - Revelation 19:8 “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 harlot Babylon was dressed in purple and scarlet, gold and jewels and pearls, drunken on the blood of the faithful witnesses sent to her.

But the church - no such adornments.

Like Esther, we come to our King without makeup and artificial beauty.

It was GIVEN - GRANTED - to the church to clothe herself thus.

She wasn’t given elaborate costumes and regal attire.

She is given simple and pure linen.

And that simple clothing are the righteous deeds of the saints.

Simple obedience;

Simple faithfulness to declare God’s glory;

Simple love for our Lord.

There is no greater beauty than that to our God.

Hear how the angel describes the difference as he talks about how the world attacks God’s people:

Revelation 17:14 “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.””

Called, chosen, and faithful.

That’s who you are if you are a believer.

That’s who you are if you are a part of this church made mighty in Him.

And He, the Lord of lords and King of kings, the Reigning Lamb, will conquer all who oppose Him or attack His beloved people.

One final thing before we finish this morning: we see the Bride has made herself ready, but where is the Bridegroom?

Look ahead just a few verses to verse 11:

[READ REVELATION 19:11-16]

The Bridegroom doesn’t enter His wedding dressed in sparkling wedding garments;

Even as the Bride declares her abiding love for Him and hope in Him,

He rides in on a white horse, arrayed for battle.

Our great Lord arrives, conquering everything, unstoppable.

His enemies are humiliated, put to flight, and destroyed before Him because they dared blaspheme God and harm His bride.

All the opposition of all the foes of the earth is subdued with hardly a word.

There is no great battle scene;

There is no desperate strategy.

There is only the conquering Lamb, victorious in every way over every thing.

That Lamb is the baby in the manger,

The rabbi on the cross;

The Risen and Conquering Lamb,

The Beginning and the End.

The stable doesn’t end with the cross,

Nor does it end with the empty tomb.

It doesn’t end with a great ascent into the sky.

The stable ends with the great Lamb, covered in blood, rescuing His bride and bringing her to Him forever.

If you are His this morning, take comfort and instruction in His great purpose for you:

To grant that you will be clothed in righteous deeds.

If you are not His this morning, even if you have fought against Him and His people,

Even if you call yourself an atheist or agnostic or skeptic,

Even if you think you are a pretty good person and have a better-than-average chance to get into heaven on your own merits,

Please hear me when I tell you from Scripture:

You have NO CHANCE AT ALL to be saved from God’s wrath outside of Jesus Christ.

You have one - and only one - hope:

Repent of your sin.

That means leave behind your sin, turning away from it, and seeing it as the stinking pollution it is.

And come to Jesus Christ in faith, asking Him to save you from your sin.

To free you from your sin.

To change you from a citizen, a slave, of this world into His freed and beautiful person.

He promises that if you come to Him repenting in faith, He will save you.