Marriage Supper of the Lamb

Revelation 19:7-9

Recap:

· A celebration has occurred over the fall of Babylon

· Many of those who are in heaven are there because of the Babylonian influence that resided in the world.

· There were Hallelujahs that accompanied the celebration, each of them with a reason for praising God.

· Those who are praising God, are numerous. So much, that when they combine their voices in praise that it comes across sounding like rushing water or powerful thunder.

Intro:

· Did you know that one of the most popular months for marriages is September / we are about to look at a marriage.

· The next few verses introduce us to a magnificent wedding.

· Now there is a lot of ugliness in the book of Revelation, but there is also a lot of beauty as well.

· It is not all judgment, but there is also love.

Vs 7 - A Ceremony

“Let us be glad and rejoice”

· Those (the massive crowd) who were speaking in verse 6 are continuing their statement here in verse 7.

· How excited are you about weddings? On a scale to 1-10, when it comes to weddings, how excited are you?

· We aren’t always excited for weddings when it is someone else’s, but how excited are you for your own wedding?

· I was happy when it was finally here. There was a lot of work and troubles, and decisions that had to be made, not everyone was happy about it.

· This isn’t a wedding to be depressed or agonize over, this is a wedding that should bring happiness!

· The wedding of Christ is the wedding of all time. This is the wedding we should be excited to see and be a part of.

· No sad faces at this wedding, no tears or regret when it comes to this wedding, this is a joyous occasion that is meant to be celebrated.

“And give honor to him”

· Now who is to wedding to honor? Jesus.

· In our culture, we put the emphasis on the bride. But this wedding the focus is not on the bride but on the groom.

· In Jewish culture, the groom would come and betroth his wife. This would be her time. But the wedding itself, was his time.

· We stand for the bride when she enters into the room, but this wedding we will rise and honor the groom who has made this possible.

· The bride in our culture is the one who pays for the wedding, but it is the groom who has paid for this wedding, and he did so with his life.

· All of heaven will give honor unto the one who has made this possible.

“For the marriage of the Lamb is come”

· Now what is a wedding supposed to be? A joining together of two people as one. This heavenly wedding is to represent the joining together of the church and Christ.

· Now remember, Jewish weddings are two parts. The betrothal and then the actual wedding.

· The betrothal is the part where the bride and the groom agree to marry, this is a binding agreement. The legal part.

· An example of a betrothal in the Bible would be with Mary and Joseph. They were legally connected, though the wedding ceremony had not taken place.

· The marriage, was the actual ceremony, the coming together. Very similar to what we see at weddings today.

· Now before a marriage there is an engagement period. This is the time for preparation and to get necessary things done.

· For instance, setting the date, picking out a venue, inviting people to come, getting the food prepared, just to name a few.

· This period could be a few months, to a years. In this case, there has been a long betrothal or engagement period. So, when John records that this marriage has come, this has been a long time waiting.

“And his wife hath made herself ready”

· Now why is the wedding taken so long to occur, well I think we find out the answer in these few words.

· Women can take a long time to get ready don’t they.

· We as the church / bride are taking a long time to get ready for the Lord. Now we shouldn’t be foolish in to thinking that the groom is never coming, or that we have plenty of time to get ready.

· There is a time appointed for this wedding.

· Example of the ten virgins found in Matthew 25

· Now we are not to be foolish with the time we have, we are to be ready and prepared for the coming of the Lord.

· Don’t be primping that you forget what time it is.

Vs 8 - Her Clothing

“And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen”

· What makes a bride beautiful? Well, I think we all can agree it is the dress.

· When a bride walks down the aisle in that white dress, there is just something marvelous about that moment.

· Now think about the cost of wedding dresses. I mean some of these dresses can cost into the thousands of dollars.

· Well the dress of this bride is so expensive, she can’t even afford it. But her husband grants to her the garment that she is to be dressed in.

· How many of you women out there, would’ve let the man pick out the dress? Many of you would probably been very hesitant to do that.

· Well, the groom has picked out the dress and is fine linen.

· For the common person during Biblical days, fine linen would have been out of their capability. This was reserved mainly for the wealthy and royalty.

· Here is a woman, who goes from rags to riches. No more dirty rags to wear, she is now dressed in the most elegant of garments, prepared for her by her husband.

“Clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints”

· Now this dress is shown to be clean and white. Think for a moment, when you see that bride, she is coming in that white dress, but wait a moment is that a mustard stain?

· How embarrassing it would be to come with some kind of stain on that dress. Well, this bride doesn’t have to worry about that, the dress she wears is clean and white.

· In fact, some translations share with us that the meaning here for white means bright.

· She is radiant. Why is she glowing? Well the dress has been made in righteousness of saints.

· Do you know when you go out there and shine for Jesus, you are adding to that garment.

· The good deeds, the acts done in name of Jesus, all of these acts of righteousness are part of the dress that this bride wears.

· I remember when I was a young child, going with my mother and grandmother over to a retail store and sitting over in the sewing section and they would be looking through all of the patterns that the store offered.

· Well, we are given the pattern to follow with Jesus Christ himself, and when we follow his pattern and do these good deeds and actions in his name, then friend we are helping to make that dress we read about here.

Vs 9 - The Called

“And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb”

· Now John is instructed to write once again, obviously what we see is that John has some difficulty in writing some of the things he is witnessing because of how wondrous they are.

· Here at this wedding, John is told to write.

· Now at a wedding, there are guest. Remember when you were preparing that list? Perhaps you had hundreds of people to invite, maybe you had a smaller wedding with just close friends and family, or maybe you had only a couple of others. But you had guest to witness the wedding.

· Well here at this wedding, there are guests as well. Who are they then? These are the redeemed of the other ages. Not the church age. The patriarchs, the prophets, those who came before the church.

· Now these who come to this wedding are blessed. What do I mean. Well, have you ever been to a wedding?

· Maybe you sat out there and watched the whole service, and then what comes after the wedding, the reception!

· I have been to some weddings that have put on full course meals. But none of those weddings are going to compare to this feast.

· Remember when Jesus was about to begin his ministry. He was at a marriage feast and they ran out of wine. Jesus then changed the water into wine and the guests of the wedding were questioning why they saved the best for last.

· Jesus was only in charge of the wine for that service, but here he is in charge of the whole meal. Can you imagine how good that is going to be.

· Now those guests who come to this wedding, they are going to be able to partake in this meal, and it is going to be wonderful.

· Now some would think that this is just some fancy story to make us feel better about life, that this really isn’t going to happen but listen to the next statement that is shared.

“And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”

· Now what we read here, this isn’t some kind of fairy tale that we wish would happen. This is going to happen.

· The wedding of all ages is going to come. Yes, it may take some time before it happens, but it is going to happen.

· Now what do we need to take from this, we need to be ready and preparing, and not disregarding what the Lord has told us.

· Do you believe the Bible? Do you believe what the Lord has said? Do you believe what scripture has taught and preacher has preached? Do you believe that Jesus is coming back for his bride? He is!

· You know why, because God said so.