 Let's open our Bibles to the book of Revelation. We're in chapter 19. We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 10. As mentioned, we had so many announcements today. It's quite a few things the Lord is doing in our midst and I invite you to be part of those things. You know, if you're a young adult to be in the young adult study, if you're able to come to the men's study on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday night, we're going through the book of Job. There's so many things that we would invite you to be part of. And if you've never been to Israel, we'd love to have you go with us. If you're able to, we'd love to have you with us. I'm going to hopefully firm up the dates. As mentioned, it's probably the last week of March into the first week of April. We're firming up the price on that too. And we've got quite a number of people who've shown interest and I really do believe that we will be able to have, unless the Lord would choose otherwise, we'll be able to go to Israel, God willing, next year. And we have several churches that have joined with us who want to go with us, including Brennan in Brennan Bealer's Fellowship, Holland Davis' Fellowship. A friend of mine named David Maestas, who's the pastor of Calvary in Los Lunas, New Mexico. And others, and Microsiola, I think, is wanting to go with us from Ontario. And so anyway, if you've never been to Israel or if you've gone and would like to go again, obviously we'd love to have you with us. It's one of those things that Pastor Chuck used to say that a trip to Israel was like a year in a seminary. You get such a great feel of the Bible and all. We'd love to have you go with us. Well, today we're in Revelation 19. We're going to look at verses one through ten. As we continue, I had mentioned last week that we were going to look at the second coming. And it turns out I'm a false prophet, please. Nobody throw any rocks at me. But I was working on this study and I knew I'm not going to be able to do that. So we're going to go one to ten versus one through ten. And we're going to see how heaven rejoices. And you'll see why as we go through this passage. So we'll begin here in chapter 19 at verse one. We'll read verses one through three and I'll give you some background in order for you to get a grasp of what is taking place. It's going to be a reason why I need to give a background here. And you'll see it in just a moment. So beginning at verse one, reading the verse three, Revelation chapter 19, after these things, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his judgments, because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication. And he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her. Again, they said, Alleluia, her smoke rises up forever and ever. So what we see here is a word of praise. Alleluia means praise the Lord. We'll look at that in just a moment. But it's a word of praise. And he's speaking about a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven. And these voices are lifting up praise to God as Christians. We have all people are to be quick to give God praise and gratitude. And we do give him praise and gratitude because of all that he has done for us for his goodness that he has shown towards us. And we also praise God because believe it or not, he has commanded us to do so in his word. We are commanded to give him praise Psalm 150 verse six, let everything that has breath praise the Lord. The Bible actually commands us to give him praise. And so we do. We praise him because we love him. We praise him because we love his word and we desire to keep his word. We praise him for so many reasons. One is we praise him because he's given us access to himself. He's done so through Jesus Christ. Without Christ you have no access to God. But Jesus Christ came so that I might have a relationship with him and access to him. Jesus made it very clear. I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. So we have access to God and because I can come to God and I can bring my praise to him. I can bring my petitions to him. I concerns to him. I can come to him and I do so through Jesus Christ. Well obviously because his word commands me to and because he is worthy I praise him. I have a relationship with God because of Jesus Christ who made it possible. In the book of Hebrews in chapter 10 verse 19 that verse tells us that we can have boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus Christ. And so we have access to God and even as a Psalmist in Psalm 95 verses 1 and 2 said, he said, oh come let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs and praise. Let us come to him. Let us praise him. Let us make a joyful noise to him. Now when you read the words joyful noise you may wonder what that means. I did. First time I ever went to Israel was in 1983 and I went with my pastor Chuck Smith and several others and we were at the western wall that's been called the wailing wall but the western wall there in Jerusalem and as we were there there were people having a bar mitzvah and there were there were women who were raising their voices making a loud noise and and all and and I asked my pastor I said, why are they doing that? Why are they raising the voices that way? And he says, because the Bible says make a joyful noise into the Lord and that's what they're doing. This is the sound of joy and so we've seen that first hand. We've been there and the Scripture says that we're to enter his courts with praise. We make a joyful noise unto the Lord. So as believers we give praise to God because he has blessed us. We have entrance into his courts. We come with singing in praise and and he has blessed us. Like it says in Psalm 103 verse 2, bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits. When he says and forget not all his benefits. The word benefit speaks of his blessings. Don't forget how God has blessed you. The Psalmist in Psalm 22 verse 26 said it like this. He said, the afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise the Lord and he goes on to say may your hearts live forever. When he says that the afflicted shall eat and be satisfied, we thank God for his blessings. We thank God for his provisions. We also give praise to God because of his goodness and his mercy. That goodness and mercy that he's shown to us. Psalm 106 verse 1 says praise the Lord. Give thanks to God to the Lord for his good for his mercy endures forever. So we give God praise. We're commanded to he's blessed us. He's provided for us. He's made it wonderful for us to live and have relationship with him. And so there are so many reasons in scripture that are given to give praise to God. But in this verse in this passage, it's interesting because we give praise to God because he has judged the wicked. The judgment of the unrighteous is something that truly righteous and I'm going to develop this with you. The judgment of the unrighteous is something that the truly righteous actually rejoice in. And it isn't a self-righteous desire for people to get what they deserve. You know, you're sitting at a stop sign and somebody blows pass and goes right through the stop sign. A cop pulls them over and you say, yeah, he got what he deserved. No, it's not that kind of, it's not that kind of rejoicing. No, they got what they deserve. No, it's actually a holy desire for our good and loving God to be vindicated. The truly righteous long for a better world where holiness and righteousness rules. A person who loves the Lord longs for a world where God is reverenced and his love and his mercy flows. And so this person who desires to see God move and be glorified and to be revered, you know, well, when they see the world in such pain and so morally polluted, it actually breaks their heart and they begin to mourn. When they see the evil, it does something to you. It bothers you. You actually mourn over the evil of this world. That's what, that moved the heart of a man by the name of Lot. When you read your Bible, the man Lot was actually Abraham's nephew. And Abraham and Lot, their herds had grown so much that they began to be a bit of a problem between the herdsmen. And so so much so that they couldn't live together anymore, if you will. They had to depart. They had a, they had to separate. And so they stood looking over this particular area and Abraham said to his nephew, and this was really, really generous of Abraham. He didn't have to do this, but he looked at his nephew when he says, if you go to the right, I'll go to the left. If you want to go to the left, I'll go to the right. You need to choose. And so Lot looks and he sees Sodom and Gomorrah. He sees that, that area and it's so beautiful and everything. Well, he decides to, to go and he live in, live in a place called Sodom. Now in Genesis 13 verse 13, that verse says that the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. But Lot chose to live in sinful Sodom because the area was so beautiful. But over time, he grew very grieved over the decadence and the evil of that city. Now we all know of one of those sins that caused God to judge Sodom and Gomorrah, but Ezekiel gave us other sins to be aware of. And in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel 16 verses 49 and 50, this is what he wrote. He said, this was the sin of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters, the daughters were the smaller cities around Adma, Zebuim and Zoar. Genesis 14, 8 gives the names. She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, unconcerned. They did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them as you have seen. So Sodom actually became, and Gomorrah and the sister cities became proverbs. It became, they became pictures of God's judgment on evil. While Lot was living there in Sodom, but as he was living there in Sodom, his heart was grieved by what he saw every day. He was finally delivered from the city and it's evil. The Bible in 2 Peter 2 verses 7 and 8 gives us insight. It says, at the same time, God rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a good man who was sick of all the immorality and wickedness around him. Yes, he was a righteous man. Now, notice who was distressed by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. A truly righteous person gets distressed over the evil. They don't get used to it and they don't make excuses for it. You get distressed by it and you pray that God would save those people, of course, but also deliver us. You see, believers live in the world, but the world is not to live in the believer. So, when you see and you hear so much blasphemy towards God, your heart becomes grieved over this and it's not a self-righteous desire for vengeance. Again, it's a desire for the name of God to be vindicated. God has brought judgment on wicked Babylon. The saints are to rejoice. Now, in Revelation 6, 9 and 10, the tribulation saints that had been martyred had cried out for justice. We saw that when we went through chapter 6 and they had asked God, how long? How long will it be until you judge those who have harmed us? When are you going to avenge our blood against these people? Well, that time has come. Again, some say heaven's rejoicing over judgment of wicked. Well, that seems cruel, but these people had had the greatest opportunity to repent in history. Think about it. We've been going through the book of Revelation and these are people in the seven-year period and these are people who had survived these judgments. They had survived the seal judgments. They had survived the trumpet judgments, even the bowl judgments, these terrible judgments. And as this was happening, they've heard the gospel preach. They heard it from the 144,000. The two witnesses, the angel, they've heard it. Many of them have heard it from those who had been converted and to come to faith in Christ. They've been listening and hearing that gospel. They've seen judgment as it's been poured out. In Revelation chapter 6 verses 7 and 8, that revealed that the fourth seal judgment had fallen and one quarter of the population had died. And if you were to look at the population as it is today, that would mean about 1.9 or 2 billion people had died in that particular judgment. Chapter 9 verse 15 revealed the trumpet judgment and one third of the people died. That's another 2 billion people. Half of the world has been judged. Half of the earth's population has died. And think of it again. Think about what we've seen from chapter 6 to 18. They've experienced famine, pestilence, earthquakes, polluted oceans, hail and fire, meteors, polluted drinking water, demonic activity. They've seen war, sores on their own bodies, darkness, scorching heat. They saw Babylon destroyed. And they've been given so many opportunities to come to faith in the most trying of times, but they refuse to change. The Bible says something in Hebrews 4 verse 7 where it says again, He designates a certain day saying in David, today, after such a long time as it has been said, today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Do not harden your hearts. So many people hear the gospel and they willfully harden and reject what they're hearing. And God says, look, I love you, but I'm righteous. God would say in His Word and I'm bringing judgment. Don't harden your heart. Come to faith in me. But they refuse to. These people have gone through in chapter 6 through 18, hell on earth. They've seen so much. But the oceans, the creatures in the oceans had died. The smell of pollution of the dead and rotting corpses. Their own drinking water had been turned to blood. They've gone through so many things and yet they refuse. They harden their hearts. But like when the door was closed on the ark. Well, the door of opportunity has now closed on them. So the rejoicing is not simply because they're happy that God judges stiff neck sinners. It's because Jesus gets the glory as He has crowned earth's true kings. It's like when it's like when the 24 elders in Revelation 11 verse 17 said, we give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come because you have taken your great power and reigned. And they look at over the earth how it's been destroyed. Everything has been so messed up. John MacArthur said something. He said, I've told environmental is that if they think humanity is wrecking the planet, wait until they see what Jesus does to it. I think that's a good point. Well chapter 19 picks up where chapter 16 had concluded with the seventh bold judgment. And John now returns to what occurs at the end of the bold judgments. Now remember in Matthew 24 verses 21 and 22, Jesus said that the tribulation would be a time of incredible pressure and pain. He said, for then there will be great tribulation such as not has not been since the beginning of the world until this time. No, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. So as we've gone through chapters six through 18 of Revelation, we've come to see what He was saying. Jay Vernon McGee, many people know of his name. Jay Vernon was on every radio station in the world, I think. Jay Vernon. And he said, Revelation 19 marks a dramatic change in the tone of revelation. The destruction of Babylon, the capital of the beast kingdom, marks the end of the great tribulation. The somber gives way to song. The transfer is from darkness to light, from black to white, from dreary days of judgment, to bright days of blessing. This chapter makes a definite distinction in Revelation and ushers in the greatest event for this earth, the second coming of Christ. It is the bridge between the great tribulation and the millennium. So when commercial Babylon was destroyed, we saw how the world cried out in despair and sorrow. We saw that there was a response of the kings of the earth, the merchants who were standing at a distance for fear of her torment. How they were weeping and even the ship masters and sailors, how they cried out, they mourned, they wept and they wailed. And they saw the destruction while chapter 19 begins with a response given to the invitation that had been recorded in chapter 18 verse 20 where it says, Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her. Rejoice, he says, rejoice heaven, rejoice apostles, rejoice prophets, God has avenged you. And so that's what we pick up here in chapter 19. And so verse 1, after these things, John writes, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. John begins by saying after these things, when he says after these things that marking a new vision, he's given us a new insight. And he says, notice in verse 1, he said, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Alleluia. So this response follows the destruction of Babylon in all its forms. As the people of the world are wailing, crying, heaven explodes in united praise to God. At first, the loud cries of Alleluia are coming from angels in heaven. Millions of angels are crying out in worship and praise to the Lord. And the angelic choir bursts out in praise. They cry out Alleluia. They cry out salvation, speaking of deliverance. They cry out glory, referring to God's moral glory in judgment. They cry out honor, referring to what he deserves and power, referring to what he displayed in judging Babylon. So it begins with the angels, but we'll get to verse 5 and that will include the redeemed. They also will join in the praise. Now notice again in verse 1, they cry out Alleluia. Alleluia is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word hallelujah. Hallelujah simply literally translates praise the Lord. So Alleluia, that word Alleluia, is used four times in the New Testament. All four times are in this chapter. It's a picture of what is called uninhibited praise. It's interesting how one commentator pointed out that the word hallelujah, which we're all very familiar with, how the word hallelujah is first found in Psalm 104. And when it was first used, praise the Lord, it's expressed when the enemies of God no longer exist. In Psalm 104 verse 35 it says, may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more, then he goes on to say praise the Lord my soul, praise the Lord. Hallelujah that the enemies of God no longer exist. Well it's interesting that in Revelation it's used when God's enemies are judged. Heaven rejoices because God's power to save has been openly displayed. Now there had been a question asked by those who had been martyred for the faith we saw in Revelation 6 verse 10 how they called out in a loud voice how long sovereign Lord holy and true until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood. Well here their question has been answered. He avenged them on Babylon. In verse two for true and righteous are his judgments. He's judged the great harlot. Babylon's judgment has been declared to be true and righteous. He's judged this this system that was established by by Satan and anti Christ and he's avenged the blood of those who have been martyred. You see ever since the the birth of the church believers have undergone injustice in the world. There have been many times of unfair treatment the church longs for justice. The time of God's justice has arrived. It says to him belongs proper vengeance because he's the one who judges righteously. In Psalm 19 verse nine it says the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Justice is always paired with righteousness. Never forget that. True justice is righteous justice. And it says in verse two he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with a fornication. Again the great harlot is Satan's and anti-christ system that polluted the world. The evil polluted everything it touched and is right that it's been thrown down. Pollution can corrupt everything it touches. A while back now to illustrate how pollution couldn't corrupt. Our our plumbing in our house went bad right around the first of the year. Marie and I had we had dealt with that COVID and we had it for a while and and and now all of our plumbing backed up. We went into the bathroom and and the the septic had come out of the the the shower and overflowed in the bathroom and and it flooded the whole a third of the bottom floor there up everything and went into the laundry room and and so I thought you know well we'll just clean this up. I wasn't thinking about it but I did it again. So there you are you know there you are Marie clean that up I got things to do no um so there we are mopping it up and cleaning it up and everything and and finally my son Joseph and his wife Karina and our baby all of our living with us as they're looking for a home they sold their home and they're living with us right now and and so long story made short you know Joseph says I think that perhaps um perhaps the uh your insurance may cover this I thought maybe well I'll be honest with you I could go on for this long time. It took months for everything to finally be settled and everything I mean a bedroom was flooded the laundry room was flooded the hallway was flooded the bathroom was flooded shower is flooded then then we had the inspector come in and anywhere that water hit it was now infected so we had to remove everything everything cabinets every everything that that water hit we had to redo a full the whole floor redo the floor and this small bedroom that's been made into a play room for our grandkids everything was touched by that the septic polluted and that's kind of like what happens with the antichrist in his religion with his faith that he is presenting it just pours out and infects everything that has been hit it needs to be all cleaned out it has to be all doubt with and so this judgment is coming because everything that this religion this evil had touched polluted it and it's right that it's been thrown down in verse three again they said alleluia her smoke rises up forever and ever notice it says her smoke rises up forever and ever so that cannot speak of literal smoke because um it doesn't rise forever so it speaks of judgment it speaks of the judgment that has been brought upon her because that judgment lasts forever Matthew 25 46 Jesus said these will go away into eternal punishment the righteous into eternal life it lasts forever so speaking of a lasting punishment and judgment and verse four it says the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne saying amen alleluia 24 elders four living creatures we were in true introduced to them in chapter four the elders as well as the four living creatures and it speaks of them falling down before God in worship why do they do that they do that because that's the proper response to worship of an incredible God in Nehemiah chapter nine verse six we read you alone are the Lord you have made the heavens the heaven of heavens with all their host the earth and all that is on it the seas and all that is in them you give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before you so the elders represent the church and the four living creatures are high-ranking angels and so as this is taking place verse five then a voice came from the throne saying praise our God all you his servants and those who fear him both small and great and i heard as it were the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings saying alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigns so the voice is unidentified more than likely an angel but a command is given praise God all you his servants all you his servants i want to talk about that for just a moment that's a common way of speaking of Christians that's because we are first and foremost God's servants we're God's children but we must also realize that we've been saved to serve and the understanding that we've been bought at a price is intended to bring humility to us and as a result of this understanding we get to see ourselves as those who have been blessed by God to be saved and called by God to serve him always i think that in today's church we need to be reminded of that and in first service i shared a few things i didn't prepare these in my notes the spontaneous thoughts that came and i'll share some of them with you right now and we live in a time when there are very few heroes and when you look out and you see who are being raised up as heroes or those to be emulated many times they're not people of moral character they're not people that that are actually called good or even righteous they're they're not these these are people very often who may be very outstanding at the at the craft that they that they practice they may be wonderful athletes or they may be somebody very powerful with a lot of money these are people that very often are used as the examples of heroic figures that we should emulate and and and i see that but they're not necessarily people that you as a christian would say i want to be like that you see because the heroic reality of a person is it's not the things that they do in terms of how they act in the sense of i i do do these certain things and this has made me this no it's something that's deeper than that it's something from the heart and what you what you see as i see as something heroic or a person that i can emulate somebody that want to be like it's going to be somebody who has character somebody that i i can respect as a person who who is is a good person but that's not necessarily what we have today and when you look at the world there's quite a number of people that are raised up and used as as as heroic figures people to emulate in all of that so what happens in the church while the church begins to wonder who can i look to as a model who can i look to as somebody that that i i respect and admire and might even want to emulate in the way that i live and and sometimes that can become a religious figure it can become a pastor it can become a well-known pastor well what happens sometimes with the well-known pastor who began as a servant and that's what made his fellowship grow and that's what made him someone that people admired well sometimes what happens is they begin to to bask in the adulation they begin to bask in the attention that they're given and begin to actually believe the things that are being said of them and at one time they had been known for humility but that can give way to arrogance and pride and what happens is we can undermine that pastor by giving him so much attention and speaking so highly of him not only to others but to him that he begins to believe his own press and that's a very dangerous place listen you don't need a heroic pastor you already have one his name is Jesus and he's the one you're supposed to look to he's the one you're supposed to look to and the church the church sometimes forgets that i i see that in in in um in our society quite often you know the person who never fails the person who is always victorious the person that i'm supposed to follow is jesus christ and and what i as a pastor i'm called by god to be is not the one who lords it over the flock but i've been called by god to model servanthood to be somebody who serves the lord we think of the the apostle paul and you read the bible almost half of the new testament was written by that man and he was a man unequaled in ministry as you read your bible you see that paul traveled the known world he shared the gospel he brought many to faith in christ to this day we read his writings and many come to faith through his words that have been jotted down ultimately he went to rome and while in rome we know that he was martyred now his ambition was to take the gospel to where no one had heard the name of jesus christ in romans 15 verse 20 paul said i have made it my aim to preach the gospel not where christ was named lest i should build on another man's foundation i want to go out and take the word to where people haven't heard the name of christ well what made him great one of the things that made him a great man is he didn't consider himself to be a great man he said in first carinthians 15 verse 9 a letter that he wrote he said i am the least of all the apostles i'm not worthy to be called an apostle after the way i persecuted the church of god in first carinthians 9 verse 19 he said though i am free from all men i've made myself a servant to all that i might win the more and so the greatest in the kingdom jesus said is the servant of all and jesus is the greatest in the kingdom therefore we we follow him paul said follow me in so far as i follow christ and so a command is given to all servants to praise god and at this command praise to god rises from all in heaven the angels the old testament saints raptured saints tribulation saints are all included it says in verse six it says as i i heard as it were the voice of a great multitude the sound of many waters this this mighty thundering gives understanding of mighty praise the worship and glory that was given to god rises in volume praising god for what he's done he's the lord god notice it says the lord god omnipotent and he reigns omnipotent means he has all power in Jeremiah 10 12 god used his power to make the earth his wisdom set the world in place his understanding spread out the heavens so we give him glory because he reigns and then it says in verse seven let us be glad and rejoice give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come his wife has made herself ready his wife has made himself herself ready let me share with you a few things about this for a moment there's something that has been lost on many in our generation and that is the importance of marriage it's been lost on many marriage is for many it's just an afterthought it's not even a necessity marriage doesn't matter to many people they think well why why do i need to get married i can live with someone i have babies with that we're a family and we've redefined what marriage is we've redefined what family is this society has done that and i think that the value of marriage has been lost on many and the symbolism of what marriage represents which is christ in his bride is not known by the world one of the things that i'm going to share a few thoughts with you about this in the ancient biblical times one of the things we need to know is that marriage was the greatest social event that was celebrated the greatest social event that was celebrated in israel wedding preparations and celebrations were elaborate they normally had at least three aspects if you will elements there was what was called the betrothal or the engagement which was normally arranged by parents this betrothal when you read in scripture the betrothal well the betrothal was a legally binding contract it had a dowry and the betrothal could only be broken by divorce the people who were betrothal or engaged were regarded as married and so it could only be broken by divorce that's why joseph would marry his espoused wife his betrothal wife had come and it turns out she was pregnant that's why the bible tells us that he was considering divorce because though they had not consummated though they had not been married in the more literal sense that i'll i'll show you that in this moment the only way to end that arrangement would have been a divorce and so often this this contract the betrothal would be signed before the children had reached marriageable age here's another thing that many of us in our in our day don't don't realize is that uh marriageable age during the time of of christ was 13 or 14 years of age when you think of uh mary some people think of mary as a young woman who would have been 18 21 whatever no mary was more than likely between the ages of 13 15 maybe 16 when she became pregnant with messiah she wasn't an older woman or an older young lady she was a young lady because they would get engaged in and married uh very often when they were 13 or 14 years of age and so one of the things that they did is they had what is called the engagement or the betrothal it was arranged by parents it was legally binding and they had a dowry a bride price that was called and it could only be broken by divorce but there was another and that was another part which was what is called the escort or the presentation and that was the time of of of celebration before the actual ceremony and then you'd have what was called the the uh celebration and that's when the groom and his attendance came for the bride they would then take her to her and her bridesmaids to to the ceremony and uh they'd have what is called the the marriage supper and that's when the bride is brought to the great festive meal at the end of the feast was a final meal and the groom would take the bride and consummate their marriage so this symbolism i want to develop it with you for a moment is fulfilled in the church the betrothal uh when the contract and dowry is decided we have that the bride price the redemption price was decided it's the blood of christ redemption the bride price was jesus's blood in 2nd Corinthians 11 2 and 3 Paul said i'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy i promised you to one husband to christ so that i might present you as a pure virgin to him but i'm afraid that just as eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to christ the betrothal is redemption the escort is the rapture and then the bridegroom comes for the bride in Matthew rather in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 16 and 17 it says the lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command with the voice of the archangel with the trumpet call of god the dead in christ will rise first after that we who are still alive and left behind will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the the lord in the air and so we will be with the lord forever so there's a time between when the contract has been drawn and then the groom comes for the bride and in that time the groom would have been preparing usually in his father's property a place of dwelling for them that's what Jesus said in john 14 to and three when he said in my father's house are many dwelling places if it were not so i would have told you for i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you to myself that where i am there you may be also so during this this betrothal thing and all when the contract was being signed and all the there would be a cup of wine a cup that would be shared to make the covenant which we see as a picture of communion but the but the groom would stand up and he would give a speech and this what jesus said is basically the template it's the it's a speech that that jewish grooms during his day would have said at the betrothal because jesus stood up and said and that's what the young man would say when he was uh settled on on getting married to the young woman he would stand up and he would say that he would say i i go to prepare a place for you and uh if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and i will receive you to myself that where i am there you may be also that was a prayer that or a statement that they would make during that time jesus just gave it to us in scriptural form that's what they would do i'm going to prepare a place for you in my father's house there are many mentions i'm going to go and i'm going to prepare a place for us as a dwelling place jesus actually did that during the seven year tribulation the raptured church will be waiting in heaven you see during that day the groom would be asked when are you going to get the bride and the groom would say to those who asked him only the father knows for sure because i'm waiting for my father's permission in command which once again when they asked jesus when are you returning he said only my father knows same kinds of things and so the church is waiting the church is waiting and notice how it says in verse seven let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come his wife has made herself ready his wife has made herself ready so the church is waiting for the conclusion of the wedding arrangements for us it's a joyful celebration it's time of fellowship the time of waiting will lead to the marriage supper which is what we're seeing here paul spoke of the church being the bride of christ in Ephesians 5 verses 25 through 27 where he said husbands love your wives just as christ also loved the church and gave himself for her that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the wash and of water by the word that he might present her to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she should be holy and without blemish you see it says the wife has made herself ready you know one of the things we have here in the united states and it's it's kind of how we talk about weddings and all this is people say well i've never seen a an ugly bride brides prepare themselves they get themselves ready they're prepared they're they're they're ready for for that new life it says in verse eight to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints and so the wife has become prepared we'll look at that in a little detail in just a moment but i you know that's a common saying you know she's beautiful the bride was radiant and they get the picture from here many of many do you know and and they'll say i've never seen an ugly bride and i was sharing with first service how that years ago now somebody had come and and had gone to the front and said could you know we we have our marriage license and the minister who was going to perform the wedding has has backed out and can the pastor here perform the wedding and they didn't go to our church and i was here and so they came and asked and everything seemed to be okay so i went out and i said sure and she was wearing her dress with a little veil and everything so i thought okay so we come and we stand and and the guy you know i'm doing the wedding and everything and at a certain point he before he lifted her veil and kissed her and all he he says by the way what do i owe you that's an awkward thing i mean you so whatever you think she's worth it's awkward so he gave me a dollar and then he lifted her veil and i gave him 50 cents back just kidding just just a little levity i don't know why i think that i just do just do it's so serious well break it up a bit shall we anyway let's get back um verse seven says the wife has made herself ready now she'd been made ready by jesus because he washed his bride by his blood in his word but she made herself ready by walking in the grace and power of god in colossians 129 Paul said i labor striving according to his power which mightily works within me so that's something we do by the way we we want to be ready voluntarily we don't take the grace of god for granted we don't extend it to cover over sins that we love to continue in and go to heaven that's not how it works when we got saved the grace of god was given to us in order for us not to continue practicing in sin but to be set free from its power and its domination and there are those who seem to have forgotten this and so let me repeat it that the grace of god is not given to me to give me permission to continue doing the things that christ saved me out of i don't want to be the pig who goes back to the to the mud i don't want to be the dog who returns to the vomit i want to be ready i am made ready by the power of the holy spirit obedience to the word of god i've been cleansed by the blood of christ and and also the the word of god has washed me and that's how it works and and so she has fine linen bright and clean that speaks of purity and beauty it speaks of radiance she's holy she's without blemish and that's how the churches is described in verse nine then he said to me right blessed are those who are are called to the married supper of the lamb he said to me these are the true sayings of god i fell at his feet to worship him he said to me see that you do not do that i'm your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of jesus worship god for the testimony of jesus is the spirit of prophecy and so the church is ready notice how it says in verse nine blessed are those who are called to the married supper now notice the the the wife the church is distinguished from the invited guests brides are not invited to their own weddings the great multitude represents the tribulation saints and old testament believers and then he says in verse nine these are the true saints of god which means we'll close with a couple of thoughts about that you can take him at his word listen john is exiled on an island called patmos and to see all that he has seen such an overwhelming future must have been beyond him the church of his day was under attack he's exiled the thought of triumph the thought of the church actually being victorious worshiping that would have been difficult but in the midst of everything he's experiencing he's told trust and hold on to god and that's what we're supposed to do in the midst of the things that we go through we're supposed to trust and hold on to god faith if i see something in front of me isn't really faith that's an evidence that is there faith is is trusting even when i don't see it's holding fast knowing that god would not lie god is true he is not a man that he should lie neither is he the son of man that he should change his mind has he said it shall he not do it he spoke to a man in abram and he said to him you're gonna have babies you're gonna have so many if you could count the grains of sand or the stars in the heavens that's how many descended jew shall have and he's speaking to a man who is as good as dead and he was an old old man his wife was 90 years old shall i have pleasure in my old age she says within herself i'll have a baby god says oh no you don't trust in your own ability you trust in mind and that's what the church needs to be reminded of guys when the world is shouting with a megaphone of of bad news to all of us don't go outside don't hang around with friends all of the things we hear that has been going on 24 seven even the church gets the point where they start believing that you know my god is able my god is with me my god has not left me my god is preparing me my god is my god is strong i worship a strong god not not a weak god not a god made with men's hands i worship the god of the universe the creator of all things and because i do i'll trust in him and so he this is a bit beyond him and and he goes oh this is amazing this is but trust he says trust in the lord that's what he's saying these are the true saints of god and so when he hears this this is overwhelmed verse 10 i fell at his feet to worship and he said see that you don't do that i'm your fellow servant and of your brother who have the testimony of jesus worship god this is the testimony of jesus the testimony of jesus is the spirit of prophecy the central message of the old testament and the new testament is messiah for us to receive god's affirmation of our ministry life jesus stays in the center no cause no temporary condition no current concern should ever eclipse the gospel message jesus must remain front and center of all things and the fact that god will judge evil and welcome his children into his kingdom blesses us in philippians 320 our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the savior the lord jesus christ we eagerly wait come quickly lord jesus come quickly not so that we can escape but so that we may see you come quickly lord jesus and may i be ready may i may i walk in your spirit and and and may i love you and may i bring others to know you lord but come quickly lord because it's not that we want to run away from what life is it's that we want to run into your arms and we want to be with you but until that moment may we do the work of ministry may we tell people of the love of god may we encourage people to be separate and to follow him to live lives that are holy may we hunger for his word may we walk in his spirit may we love one another and may we serve him as his servants until the time comes when he says come up here and then at that moment we'll be able to look at him and see him face to face and we'll be able to look into the eyes of the one who cried for us in that garden and we'll be able to see the one who was the lamb of god who took away the sin of the world the one who was slain like a lamb and we get to see him and we get to say to him jesus we love you thank you for what you did for me thank you for what you did for me and with a with a celebration of of friends and family and that time's not that far from now guys it's not that far do not grow weary and well-doing for in due time you shall reap if you faint not well said hold fast hold fast jesus is coming soon father we ask that you would work in us and lord we would keep our eyes centered on you we are not to worship angels we're not to worship men we worship only you and john was so overcome by what he had seen for a moment he lapsed and the angel had to say you don't worship me you worship christ but let us remember that lord and may we hold fast to you and even as our eyes are closed our heads are bowed there may be some right now we need to get right with the lord perhaps you're watching on online one of the overflows are in this room right now and you know the spirit is saying it's time to get right with the lord as our eyes close our heads are bowed if you need to get right with them i want to pray for you would you raise your hand and let me pray for you right where you're at just raise your hand that i might see you father you see these hands that are going up in this place in jesus name i ask that you would reach down and touch each whose hand is raised father you know exactly what the prayer of their heart is and the need that they have we simply just ask that you would know them and meet these needs lord for your able i asked that if it's a matter of sin and needing to be right with you that you would wash and cleanse them as they say say to you god be merciful to me i am a sinner and may your spirit flow and work in their life from this moment on we yield to you lord and we trust you and we will follow you and we thank you bless you lord jesus you can put your your hands down and lord keep working in us we pray all of us in jesus name amen