Revelation chapter 19 verses 7 to 10 is our text. We'll begin our reading at verse 1. Again, this is the inspired and infallible Word of our God. Revelation chapter 19, beginning at verse 1. After these things, I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God because his judgments are true and righteous. For he has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his bondservants on her. And a second time they said, hallelujah. Her smoke rises up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who sits on the throne saying, Amen, Hallelujah. And a voice came from the throne saying, Give praise to our God, all you his bondservants, you who fear him, the small and the great. Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him. For the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous act of the saints. And he said to me, write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are true words of God. Then I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, do not do that. I'm a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. This is God's gracious word able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Amen. Be seated and let's go to the Lord again together to seek God's face upon the preaching and the hearing of his word. We do pray, oh God, that you would cause your face to shine upon us now. Through the revealed word, that you would be pleased, O Lord, even as you've given this glorious revelation of yourself, that you would open our eyes to understand, give us understanding through the help of the Holy Spirit. We believe the promises that you've given concerning your word, O Lord, that it never returns to you void without accomplishing all that for which you send it forth, and that your spirit attends the Word, and especially the preaching of the Word, both in its proclamation and in its hearing. So, our God, we come looking to these promises, pleading them before your throne, asking that you would be gracious to us now, for Christ's sake. Amen. We get our exposition of the 19th chapter of Revelation last time by examining the fourfold hallelujah, of verses 1 through 6. This is the response of heaven's multitude to the exhortation of chapter 18 and verse 20. Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her. God's saints are called to praise God for His judgments, to rejoice in His judgments upon the wicked. And here, in the vision to John, the sights and sounds of God's wrath poured out upon Jerusalem, the great harlot, bring forth joyful strains of worship from the hosts of heaven. Psalm 104 verses 35 with its hallelujah captures the theme of these hallelujahs in Revelation 19 verses 1 to 6. Let sinners be consumed from the earth and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Hallelujah. The first hallelujah, verse one, offers praise to God for his sovereignty. That first hallelujah praises the Lord for his sovereignty exhibited in his great salvation and in the judgment of the great harlot, Jerusalem. The fourth hallelujah also praises God for his sovereignty, this time shown in the marriage of the Lamb to his bride. The fourth hallelujah is connected to verses 7 through 10. That hallelujah in The exhortation in 7 to 10 flows out of this hallelujah in verse 6, for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Today's text in verses 7 to 10 is an exhortation to celebrate the union of Christ to his church. It's a very important theme. Find this theme throughout the scriptures, especially in the Apostle Paul, in those words that he often repeats, in Christ. We have been baptized into Christ Jesus. We've been raised in Christ Jesus to new life. Over and again, Paul stresses this glorious union of the bride of Jesus Christ with her glorious Lord, their Savior, the Lord Christ himself. Look at this the marriage supper of the Lamb today under two headings. In the first place, the necessity of preparation for the marriage supper. And secondly, the blessedness of the invitation to the marriage supper. The necessity of preparation for the marriage supper and the blessedness of the invitation to the marriage supper. In the first place then, the necessity of preparation for the marriage supper of the Lamb. It's important to recognize the connection in the context between the judgment of the great harlot Jerusalem, representing apostate Israel, and the marriage of the Lamb to his bride here in verse 7. The destruction of the great harlot and the marriage of the lamb and the bride, the divorce, and the wedding are correlative events. Because Babylon, the great harlot, is Jerusalem, her destruction is in effect her divorce because of the great harlotry. of God's people, God's apostate people. God has finally put her away. And that's why the scene immediately shifts to the marriage of Christ and the Lamb of God to the new Jerusalem, the church. The fact that in this vision, the new Jerusalem replaces the old Babylon It makes it even clearer that Babylon, in Revelation, this symbol of Babylon is the old Jerusalem, apostate Israel. The existence of the church as the congregation of the new covenant marks an entirely new age in redemptive history. God wasn't merely taking Gentile believers into the old covenant, as he often had done in the old covenant economy. Rather, he was bringing in the age to come, as Hebrews 6 verse 5 calls it, the age of fulfillment. Pentecost was the inception of a new covenant. With the final divorce and destruction of the unfaithful wife, old Israel in AD 70, the marriage of the church to her Lord was firmly established. Matthew 5 and verse 12. Our text alludes to that passage. The opening words of verse 7 allude to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5, verse 12. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. God has vindicated both his Son and those who follow him. He has vindicated the martyrs who cried out to him. Revelation 6.10, those martyrs who were under the altar, who cried out to God, asking, when will you avenge us? When will we be avenged? And verses 7 and 8 show that the existence of the great harlot The false bride, unfaithful Israel, served as a necessary preparation for the marriage of the true bride, faithful Israel, the remnant of believers in ancient Israel, and the church of all ages to the Lamb. The oppression and temptation of the great harlot city were, so to speak, the fire that God used to refine the saints in order that they would be prepared to enter the heavenly city. That's what Jesus said in his letter to the church at Smyrna, Revelation 2, verses 10 and 11. Do not fear what you're about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison so that you'll be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. That's what the Apostle Paul teaches in that very familiar passage in Romans chapter 8 verses 28 through 30. We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, these he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, And whom he predestined, these he also called. And whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. Oppression in this world, temptation in this world, trials in this world are the fire that God uses to prepare his saints for glory. to prepare his saints for their union in marriage to the Lamb of God. Notice in verse 7 that the bride has made herself ready, but verse 8, it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, the righteous acts of the saints. It's a classical theological tension expressed here. The bride, on the one hand, prepares herself for seven, while on the other hand, she's given these garments. She's made herself ready. She, the text says, has made herself ready. But in reality, the righteous acts that she displays are given to her. Here is only apparent. The saints are justified by faith alone, but the faith that justifies is never alone. It's always followed by good works. Both are a product of grace. Justification is an act of God's free grace. Sanctification is a work of God's free grace. And a transformed life isn't only a proper response to the righteousness that we've been given through faith in Jesus Christ. It's a necessary response. And our text speaks of the necessity of our preparation for the marriage supper of the Lamb, the necessity of our preparation for the consummation of that marriage. Not only must we be given wedding garments, not only must we be clothed in white linen, the righteousness of Christ, but also clothed with the righteous acts of the saints, conformed to the image of Christ made like him in order to enter the celestial city of heaven. And therefore, the author of Hebrews exhorts us, chapter 12, verse 14, to pursue sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. Do our good works save us? Do they justify us before God? Well, of course, no, they don't. That justification comes through Christ alone, by His grace alone. It's a gift of God. But nevertheless, the writer to the Hebrews says that these two are vitally connected, that our justification and our sanctification are vitally connected, and that without holiness, without that sanctifying work of holiness, no one will see the Lord. In the flow of this vision to John, God is about to bring to pass a new creation, a church unspotted by her contact with the great harlot city. John sees a pure bride emerge. He sees one fit for God's perfect son, wearing garments of white linen. You remember that in John's gospel, The first thing Jesus did when he began his public ministry was to attend a wedding in Cana, John chapter 2 verses 1 to 11. This is far more significant than it looks. Remember, John's is the theological gospel. Synoptic gospels are understood as records of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, but John's gospel is different. It's a theological gospel, and everything in the Gospel of John works out the theology of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so as we consider the wedding at Cana, We can look at that as the entire ministry of Jesus Christ being viewed as a preparation for a wedding. The Old Testament background that we read in Isaiah 61 verse 10 has prepared us for this. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall exult. exalt rather in my God for he has clothed me with garments of salvation. He has covered me with a robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland and as a bride adorns herself with jewels." The Apostles understood this, that their mission The goal of their teaching was to ready the bride of Christ for her union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11 verses 2 to 3 to the church at Corinth, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you. as a pure virgin. So the joy expressed in chapter 18 and verse 20 and the praise expressed in the first three hallelujahs of chapter 19 verses 1 to 4 is for the judgment and removal of corrupt Babylon, apostate Israel, and the praise of the fourth hallelujah in 1906, as well as the rejoicing of 1907, are because Babylon's removal made room for the marriage that was God's intention all along. The church of all ages then, those who fear him, the great and the small, God's servants, Chapter 19, verse 5, raises its hallelujahs and rejoices with gladness and gives glory to the Lord our God, the Almighty, who reigns because the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. This is the first indication that we have that this book of Revelation is going to climax in a wedding. Chapter 21 and verse 2. But Christ's true bride has known about it all along because she has spent her time making herself ready. for the marriage supper of the Lamb. That's the New Testament's constant drumbeat. It pounds it out again and again and again. Let me show you just two of many passages that we could turn to in this regard. In the first place, 2 Peter. Chapter 2, verses 10 through 14. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming day of God? because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat. But according to his promise, we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwell. Therefore, Peter exhorts God's people, therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless, and blameless. And then, right next door in John's first epistle, chapter 3, verses 1 through 3, we see the same pattern of preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. John begins that third chapter, see how great a love the Father has bestowed on us that we would be called children of God, and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed upon him purifies himself just as he is pure. The necessity of preparation for the marriage supper of the Lamb. And that passage in 1 John, Chapter 3 and verse 1, speaking of the great love that the Father has for His beloved people, the great love that He's bestowed upon believing people, bringing them into God's family, brings us to our second point. The blessedness of the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb. In verse 9, John is instructed to write the fourth and central beatitude of the book of Revelation. There are seven beatitudes, seven blessings in the book of Revelation. This is the central, the fourth and central beatitude of the book of Revelation. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And the absolute certainty of this promise is underscored by the angel's assurance to John there in verse 9 that these are true words of God. God's people have been called out of the world to become the bride of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world. And these are true words. The angel who reveals this to John says, of course they're true words because they're the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostle John in this vision. And this is the greatest of the beatitudes of revelation. The greatest blessing that the believer enjoys. There's never been a worthier bridegroom. Never has a man gone to greater lengths, humbled himself more, endured more, or accomplished more in the task of winning his bride. Never has a wealthier father planned a bigger feast. Never has a more powerful pledge of love and fidelity been given in a marriage union than the pledge of the Holy Spirit given to his bride. We can't measure this. We can't comprehend this. We can't understand the length, the breadth, the height and depth of God's love in this marriage union of the lamb to his bride. It surpasses our understanding. Jesus Christ loves us beyond our wildest imagination. He loved us all the way to the cross of Calvary. And there on that cross, he paid the dowry, the bridal price, to free us from the penalty of sin. All of this because of the Father's outflowing, ever-flowing, overflowing love for his precious bride. He sought the best bridegroom that he could find, his only begotten son, to give him to the worst he could find, even hell-worthy sinners like you and me. Never has a more glorious residence been prepared as a dwelling place once the bridegroom finally takes his bride home. Great will be the rejoicing. Great will be the exaltation. There'll be no limit to the glory given to the father through the son on that day. Indeed, what a great blessing it is. to be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. John's response to this vision and the worship that he observes coming from the great multitude in the fourfold hallelujah is to join with them in worship. The announcement of this central beatitude, the greatest beatitude in Revelation, so undid John that he fell at the feet of this angel to worship him, only to receive an immediate rebuke. Don't do that. I'm a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God." What's happening here in this vision to John? In part, John is responding to a sight so full of wonder and so blessed that he thinks it must be divine. But this isn't a side of God. It's merely a fellow servant. It's an angel who's revealing God's divinity in the marriage supper of the Lamb. God alone is to be worshipped. It's never right to worship angels, no matter how wonderful they may be. God is to be worshipped. Verse 10 tells us, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Meaning of this last sentence isn't as difficult as it may appear. It's saying one of two things. Either that the Holy Spirit, taking spirit as uppercase, spirit, reveals Jesus as Lord, or that prophecy, lowercase spirit, does so. In either case, God alone is to be worshipped, including his Christ, and God glorifying worship places Jesus at the center. This is a wondrous vision. that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to John. The blessedness of this vision is beyond our comprehension. And we have today a constant token of the marriage supper of the Lamb It's the invitation of believers to come to the Lord's Supper. The Supper is the anticipatory meal of this coming consummation of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. We eat and drink until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11, 26. We anticipate what's before us, that is what the Supper means to us now in our union with Jesus Christ, as much as we look back on the remembrance of Christ's death on the cross, of what Christ has already done here in the Lord's Supper. And as in the Supper, There's a tension, as in all of Christian life, a tension between the already and the not yet, between that which has already happened and that which is to come. Lord's Supper is a reminder that there's preparation to be done before our union is consummated with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. And our catechism makes this clear. It makes this biblical truth clear. In 168 of the larger catechism, rather 171 of the larger catechism. How are they that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to prepare themselves before they come unto it? Listen to what are the authors of the Westminster larger catechism write here. They that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper are before they come to prepare themselves thereunto by examining themselves of their being in Christ of their sins and wants, that is, their sins and their lack of conformity to God's will expressed in Scripture, of the truth and measure of their knowledge, faith, repentance, love to God and the brethren, charity to all men, forgiving those that have done them wrong, of their desires after Christ, and of their new obedience. by renewing the exercise of these graces by serious meditation and fervent prayer. So there's a preparation to be made, and that preparation has to do with our progress in holiness. Whether or not we're progressing in the faith, whether or not there's evidence in our Christian lives as to that grand and glorious name of Jesus Christ that we profess. Our union with Christ, here and now, in the already, is to produce the fruit of holiness in our lives. And so the supper then is a token of the ultimate consummation of our union with Christ in heaven. And the shorter catechism reminds us that this is required, that preparation for the Lord's Supper required if we would worthily partake of the supper. Of course the writers here aren't saying that our preparation makes us worthy before God. We've already expounded on that. We've already Sad that nothing but the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, received by faith alone, makes us worthy before God. We don't come to the supper in our own worthiness. We come in Christ's worthiness and his righteousness, clothed in the robes of righteousness that we've been given through our union with Jesus Christ. But nevertheless, It's required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord's Supper that they prepare. And that preparation here is spelled out for us, even as the Apostle Paul spells out for us in 1 Corinthians 11, is the examination, is the examination of ourselves, of our knowledge to discern the Lord's body, of their faith to feed upon Him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience. lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves." So this vision to John in pointing us to the Lord's Supper as a token of that final consummation of our union with Christ in the marriage supper of the Lamb reminds you to be diligent in your preparation for Holy Communion. And Revelation calls you to view participation in the Lord's Supper now as anticipatory of the marriage supper of the Lamb to come. And with that ultimate consummation of this union with Christ in view, to pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, we bless your name for the beatitude of this section of the vision to the Apostle John. We bless your name, O Lord, for the blessedness of the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb, given only to those who have been clothed in white linen. We thank you, our God, for clothing us in the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would help us to understand. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches that holiness is necessary to enter the kingdom of God. That the pursuit of holiness is not an option. but that we are with zeal and with vigor to be pursuing holiness. That like you, O Father, are holy, we ourselves are to be holy in all of our behavior. Help us, O God, to take this important exhortation in Revelation seriously and to walk before you faithfully, working out our salvation with fear and trembling. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.