Revelation Sermon - 47

Revelation: Worship Only God

Revelation 19:9-10

1. Introduction – Last week was a glorious occasion. We caught a glimpse of our future.

a. It was an incredible look at the lengths God went to in order to secure a bride for his Son.

i. It was a glorious look at how Jesus, the groom, will one day return to take his bride, the church, to live with him forever.

1. I hope and pray that you had time to ponder and rejoice over the beautiful and astounding truth we studied last week.

b. The passage reminded us that Jesus doesn’t simply put up with us. It reminded us that Jesus’ love for us is powerful and affectionate.

i. Jesus loves us, his church, as passionately as a husband loves his wife.

1. I’ve been living in Revelation 19:1-10 for almost a month now, and every time I read it, I am overwhelmed by the strong love of Jesus.

c. The verse from last week, vv.6-8 also reminded us that we must be ready and prepared for Jesus’ return.

i. We don’t know the hour or day, so it is our task to ready ourselves.

1. And we ready ourselves by doing the good works that God has prepared for us to do.

a. We prepare by remaining faithful to Jesus, by doing anything and everything we can to deepen our relationship with him.

d. In today’s passage, we hear a blessing spoken over the guests who are invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb.

i. And then we see John’s response to this vision. He is overwhelmed…and his response is to worship – but he directs his worship towards the wrong source.

1. We’ll study how that happened and what it means in just a few minutes.

2. Write This – Our passage this morning starts with a command. It’s a command that’s repeated throughout the Revelation.

a. At critical times in this letter John is told…write this down.

i. And as readers and students and interpreters of God’s Word – we have to pay attention to these markers.

1. John is told in chapter 1, by Jesus himself…write down ALL that you’re going to see and send it to the 7 churches in Asia Minor.

a. At the beginning of each of the letters to the 7 churches, Jesus says… “To the church in _____________, write…”

i. John is told by a voice in heaven in 14:13, “Write this…Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on.

ii. And here in 19:9 – again John is specifically told to write… “Blessed are those who are invited…?

1. When we see these words, it should function as a highlighter for us. Write this down…

a. As readers we should perk up a little bit, because what’s to follow is going to be really important.

3. Blessed – So what’s so important that it required a literary highlighter? What does the go on to say?

a. The angel goes on to speak a blessing – a beatitude.

i. At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel – there’s this section from vv3-12 called the Beatitudes.

1. Each verse starts with the word “Blessed…” Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the merciful…

a. Each beatitude speaks to an attitude or circumstance – and then goes on to speak about why and how they are blessed.

b. Blessed, we use that word a lot, don’t we? Do we know what it means? The Beatitude in Matthew 5 all start with the Greek word makarioi – and it means happy, but on a deeper level the word makarioi means fulfilled.

i. In the Beatitudes spoken by Jesus in Matthew 5, it is speaking about the fulfillment that comes our way when we are merciful, poor in spirit, when we are peacemakers… and so on.

c. And here in Revelation 19:9, we also have a beatitude. Makarioi, Blessed, fulfilled are those who are invited to the marriage feast of the lamb.

i. A few points to consider.

d. First, this isn’t the first blessing, this isn’t the first beatitude we’ve come across in our study of Revelation.

i. It’s actually the 4th…the 4th of 7.

1. Just like the command to “write this”… at various points through this Revelation…a critical times – we have these incredible blessing statements.

e. In 1:3, a verse we keep coming back to, makarioi, Blessed, fulfilled are those who read these words, who hear these words, and obeys what it says.” That’s a beatitude.

i. It’s a statement right at the beginning of this wonderful letter that what we are about to read is not scary or depressing…but we are actually fulfilled, we are blessed by God when we read, hear and obey these words.

1. In 14:13 – another beatitude. Blessed are those who die in the Lord.

a. At a time when Christians were dying at the hands of the government… at a time when God’s judgment was being handed out… there comes a beatitude.

i. Reminding us that if we are in the Lord, it is actually a blessing to die.

1. Psalm 116:15 says, “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of one of his saints.”

a. Your good works will follow you, and perfect peace, rest and worship awaits those who die in the Lord.

ii. In 16:15 – Jesus himself says, “Blessed are those who keep themselves ready for my return.”

1. This is a concept we’ve studied a lot over that past few weeks…as God’s people, as Christ’s bride, we must be ready for the sudden and unexpected return of Jesus.

f. And here in 19:19 – another beatitude is spoken at this exciting time. Blessed, happy, fulfilled are those who received an invitation to the marriage feast of the Lamb.

4. Mixed Metaphors – Now hold on a second here…aren’t we mixing our metaphors a bit here?

a. In verse 7&8 God’s people are described as the Lamb’s bride, but here in v.9, just one verse later – now we’re described as invited guests??? How can we sort this out?

i. Let’s state the obvious, yes, the metaphors are mixed, but in apocalyptic writing this often happens as a way of enhancing or heightening the expectation.

1. Think of it this way, the church, the whole worldwide body of believers who have had their sins forgiven by Jesus…

a. The body from every nation, tribe, tongue and language…that is the bride of Christ.

i. However, the individual members of the body, of the Bride, of the church…the individual members are described as the invited guests.

b. Let’s explore this, why is it a blessing…why is it fulfilling to be an invited guest to the wedding feast of the Lamb?

i. Think of it this way…your salvation is an invitation to this wedding feast.

1. Just like a regular wedding, you are invited by someone. You just don’t show up at weddings…you have to be invited to the party.

c. Well here too, at the wedding feast of the Lamb, people don’t simply show up – an invitation must be extended.

i. And this invitation is extended to us by God. It is once again a reminder that salvation belongs to God.

1. He extends his invitation, his offer of forgiveness to us…

a. He may use human means to extend that offer, but salvation, the invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb, comes from God alone.

d. And the amazing point of this blessing is this…if we have received God’s salvation now, it secures our place at the reception then.

i. There is an assurance to our salvation. Our present salvation will be rewarded in eternity.

1. Yes, through faith in Jesus our sins are forgiven; yes, we are put into a right relationship with God; we are made a new creation and we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit…

a. And all of those benefits we can never lose. The Scripture is clear that once we are saved by the blood of Jesus, by God’s grace through our faith…we can never lose that salvation.

i. There’s assurance of these things in the present.

e. But this verse looks beyond the present in to the future. There is also a future security…our salvation now secures an invitation then.

i. Forgiveness of sins through the blood of Jesus is incredible. Benefits and blessings and assurance and hope and joy and love and mercy now… and a wedding feast with Jesus in the future.

5. Meaning what – So what does this mean for us on earth at this moment? It means that we don’t have to wait in order to celebrate.

a. If our future is secured, if our salvation leads to benefits and blessings now AND in the future… it means we can fervently worship NOW.

i. How exciting it is to be a Christian. Do you believe that? It is not a listless, joyless, no fun experience.

1. We are blessed; we are fulfilled. As Christians we have experienced firsthand the love, grace, and forgiveness of the Lord God Almighty.

a. We have communion with him. We converse with him through prayer. We read about his nature and character through his Word.

b. There is great joy in this life! Do you believe that? Joy of sins forgiven. Joy of a relationship with God.

i. Joy of living in community with other believers, joy of an assured and secured invitation to the wedding feast at Jesus’ return.

1. And the joy of our future – and believe me it will be a joyous occasion – the joy of our secured future has to spill over in to the present.

a. We don’t have to wait to celebrate.

c. As Christians we must fervently worship God now – as a precursor and rehearsal of the praise in eternity.

i. If you are in Christ, saved by grace through his death and resurrection – you have been given an invitation to the heavenly banquet…

1. So now, even now, raise your voice and cry out, “Hallelujah! Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to God.”

a. Being a Christian is an exciting and joyous experience.

6. Worship – and in verse 10, we finally see John’s reaction to this scene.

a. Remember, we started out in chapter 19 with the echoing chorus of Hallelujah – worshipping and praising God simply because of who he is.

i. The vision continued with the fulfillment of a promise.

1. Jesus promised that if he left and prepared a place for his people, he would come back to get them.

a. In vv.7-8 we see that promised fulfilled.

b. In v.9 – a blessing is spoken over these invited guests. I imagine John’s heart was so full that it was about to burst. And in verse 10 we’re told that John’s response is to worship.

i. But this is a strange episode… john has been given a glimpse of Jesus’ return…

1. He’s heard the echoing Hallelujahs…he’s heard the proclamation about the marriage feast of the Lamb.

a. And in response…he falls down and worships the angel? Why would he do that?

c. On the surface this seems absolutely ludicrous. But it’s actually more common than you think.

i. Us human beings are natural born worshippers. The question is not, “Will I worship?” the question is “Who or what will I worship?”

1. And John is so overcome and overwhelmed by the magnitude and majesty of what he’s seen, he beings to worship the messenger.

a. The angel immediately pulls him up. Reminds him that they are both servants of God… The angel reminds John that only God is worthy of worship.

d. This verse reminds us that however glorious any person may appear to be, we must never grant worship to anyone but God. No matter how compelling the message, no matter how powerful the book, we must never worship humans… Worship only God.

i. This kind of behaviour happens when we begin to venerate preachers and authors.

1. Even in the Christian word, we have these people known as celebrity pastors.

a. Pastors whose personality and charisma, use of social media, are celebrated…sometimes more than God is celebrated.

e. Some famous preachers are excellent, Bible preaching, God fearing pastors – others are not. In it for fame and to have their ego stoked.

i. But just because God has granted someone a particular gift – we must never worship messenger above the God of the message.

1. We must never celebrate a preacher of the glorious message that’s present, or the author of a book that wonderfully explains the glory of the gospel.

a. We can show gratitude for the message. We can respect the author, but we must never venerate or worship a fellow human being.

ii. Sometimes as I’m researching, I fall into this trap of celebrating the author who wonderfully and powerfully explains the rich meaning of a certain text. But I have to remember the God who was at work in that author’s life.

1. Worship only God.

a. How easy of a trap is this to fall in to? John, the disciple whom Jesus loved…John, who once laid his head on Jesus’ chest, worshipped an angel when that worship should have been directed towards God.

f. We must be on our guard against this form of idolatry. It’s good to read. It’s good to listen to sound, biblically faithful preaching. Appreciate, respect, show gratitude for the work done, but always return thanks and worship to God. Worship him only.

7. Conclusion – As I said, I’ve been living in, studying, reading, re-reading, pondering and preaching on these 10 verses for almost a month.

a. Like I said a few weeks ago, 3 sermons on these verses, and we’re really just scratching the surface of what they mean.

i. These are incredible verses…some of my favourite in Revelation so far.

b. This picture should fill us with joy, hope, gratitude and anticipation.

i. Look at this scene – simply anticipating Jesus’ return overwhelmed John… the anticipation cased him to fall down and worship… Do you live with that kind of overwhelming anticipation at the return of Jesus?

1. Does reading this, hearing these words preached on for 3 weeks, does it cause you cry out, “Yes please, come Lord Jesus!” Has it caused you to be so overwhelmed you can’t help but worship?

c. There’s so much in these verses to cause us to worship. God is Almighty, but he is OUR God.

i. God is the source of our salvation, he is just and fair and true.

1. That God alone is worthy of our worship.

a. And best of all, like a groom going to get his bride…one day Jesus will come to get us…his people…his bride.

d. One day the wedding feast will commence and those of us who are in Christ will experience the blessedness of the wedding feast of the Lamb.

i. There is an excitement in this passage – excitement that will build for the rest of the letter.

1. There is anticipation in this passage – anticipation that will also build.

a. And the anticipation alone, looking forward to Jesus’ return, should be enough to fill us with such joy and gratitude that we can’t help but fall down and worship God.

e. Hallelujah, the Lord, Our God the Almighty reigns. Even now he is reigning. Therefore, let us be glad, rejoice and given honour to his name.