Our scripture reading this evening is from the book of Revelation 19, verses 1-9. Hear the word of God as it comes to you this evening. Revelation 19, verses 1-9. After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. For his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. Once more they cried out, Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne saying, amen, hallelujah. And from the throne came a voice saying, praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great. Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, Like the sound of mighty peals of thunder crying out, hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. Thus far, the reading of God's precious word. May he add his benediction to it. Well, we've come through the many Passion Weeks, the glorious Resurrection, Lord's Day, and we recognize, do we not, that resurrection guarantees the blessed resurrection of every true believer in the final day of judgment. And so when we think of Resurrection Sabbath, we think of future, we think of glory, we think not only of strength to live out this life in the assurance of faith to the glory of Christ, but one day to be with Him, resurrected in body, soul and body reunited, and forever to dwell with Him in that perfect land where all evil is walled out and all good is walled in. And so tonight, I want to speak to you about that future resurrected life of glory with Emmanuel in Emmanuel's land. And the first thing we need to notice is that one of the most amazing things about this future with a resurrected Christ and our resurrected bodies, if we're believers, is that Heaven and Christ in the Bible are nearly synonymous. Have you ever wondered why the Bible doesn't speak very much about dying and going to heaven? It speaks more about dying and going to be with Jesus Christ. The reason is Christ is the sum and substance of heaven's glory. An old Scottish divine, Samuel Rutherford, said, were there a thousand heavens piled on top of each other, my Lord Jesus would be the centerpiece of them all. You see, to be in heaven with Christ is really what makes heaven heaven. In fact, that same Rutherford said elsewhere, for me to be with Christ is heaven. So when I'm not with him, I'm not in heaven. If I could possibly be in heaven without him, It wouldn't be heaven for me. Now, why is it that heaven is so focused on our glorious Savior? Let me give you several quick reasons. One reason is, of course, you can't get there without Him. You can't get to heaven without the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I stand upon His merit, writes a poet, I know no other stand, not in where glory dwelleth, in Emmanuel's land. Secondly, Christ is really the center of heaven because in heaven, faith will become sight of Him. Peter describes our present situation. He says, We love a Christ whom we have not seen, in whom though now we see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Isaiah puts it this way, Your eyes shall see the King in His beauty. And third, heaven is Christ-centered because in heaven every believer always shines there in full conformity to the image of Christ. We shall be like Him. You know, the very word Christian means little Christ. Not that we are Christ, of course. That's false mysticism. But little Christ in the sense that we're like Him. Well, in heaven that will be perfected. Heaven will shine Christ in his full image in every believer. And he shall be the firstborn among many brethren. And what bliss it will be to be without sin, to be as holy as Christ is holy. What bliss it will be to be in that place where it will be impossible to be unchristlike. And then fourth. Heaven is focused on Christ because His glory is always preeminent there, as Paul writes to the Colossians. His praises will never go old. He Himself is the light of heaven. There's no need, says John, for a sun or a moon in heaven, because the Lamb is the light thereof. But finally, a fifth reason that heaven is so Christ-centered and a reason seldom preached about today, is because in heaven, the living church will be married, married to Jesus Christ and will love Him in a perfect utopian marriage, a perfect bride and a perfect bridegroom, so that our engagement or our betrothal to Christ in this life will turn into an everlasting marriage, a marital union with Him in glory forever. You know, that theme is actually fairly common in the Bible. We just sang seven verses of it from Psalm 45. But it's also in Isaiah 54, Isaiah 62, Matthew 9, Matthew 25, John 3, 2 Corinthians 11, and of course, Ephesians 5. And sprinkled. throughout the book of Revelation. So I want to bring you tonight to the apex verses of this grand and glorious theme, the ultimate fruit of the resurrected Lord of glory, eternal utopian marriage with Christ in heaven. From Revelation 19, and we'll focus particularly on verses 6 through eight, six through eight. Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, like the sound of mighty peals of thunder crying out, hallelujah, for the Lord, our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints." The marriage of Christ and His church. I have just four thoughts to bring you tonight. Simple thoughts. The wedding, the bridegroom, the bride, and the guests. Wedding, bridegroom, bride, and guests. Presently, if you're a believer, you are betrothed to Jesus Christ. The Bible uses also the word espoused. And what these words mean is something a bit more than what we think of when we think in terms of engagement. Engagement is a very serious thing in our culture. It means you intend to marry that person, and yet you can break an engagement Tragic though that may be, you can break an engagement without having to go before an authority and getting some kind of annulment. In Bible times, when you were betrothed to someone, you did that in front of an authority, and you couldn't break it unless there was some absolute compelling reason. And even then, it was very difficult to do. And so from the day that a couple was betrothed to each other, till the day of the wedding, they were considered by the people, even though the wedding had not been consummated physically, to be husband and wife. That's why the angel could say in the whole situation with Joseph and Mary, and Mary becoming pregnant, that Joseph should not put away his wife. even though he wasn't fully married to her yet in the sense we use the term marriage. And so with the betrothal, the bridegroom would pay the bride's father a dowry, that is a bride price. And according to Jewish tradition, the marriage agreement drawn up at the betrothal was then committed into the hands of the best man. And when the wedding day came, both bride and groom would then dress in fine clothing, Isaiah 61 tells us, and the bridegroom would come to her home to get her and her friends, take them to her new home where they would feast, often for a week, sometimes even up to two weeks. Now what the Bible says... is that all true Christians are betrothed, espoused to Jesus Christ. And they should be jealous of that espousal. That's the way Paul puts it when he writes to the Corinthians. He's alarmed that the Corinthians might leave the gospel. For another gospel, he says, because I have betrothed you. I've been a matchmaker. I have betrothed you to Jesus Christ. I'm jealous that you remain a chaste virgin bride for the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is angry and bitter against anyone that would lead the Corinthians into spiritual adultery against this glorious espousal to Jesus Christ. He says, I betrothed you to Him. And Paul argues that on the basis that Christ has paid the bride price for all true believers. And therefore, when you're a believer today, you are legally and inalienably belonging to Jesus Christ. And the message of resurrection is that He's on His way. He's coming. He's coming again for His bride, the church, to lead us home to His Father's house, where He will present us spotless before His Father in heaven. and there will be a wedding procession. And that day, says our text, and says John throughout the book of Revelation, festivities that will not last for a week or two, but forever and forever. We will be beholding Christ, beholding His glory. We will be married to Him. You see, the story of salvation is a love story. And the covenant of grace is a marriage contract. Before the worlds were made, God the Father chose a bride for His Son and drew up a marriage contract between them. And this wedding involves choice, not mutual attraction. You see, God chose you, dear believer, in eternity and gave you to Christ who bought you at Calvary and took you as His own through the preaching of the gospel. And now He will soon be on His way again to take you home to be married to Him forever, to enjoy intimacy and fellowship with the Son of God to a degree you've never imagined before. That's the post-resurrection, glorious, heavenly marriage of the sacred scriptures. And the whole Trinity is involved in this wedding. The whole Trinity. The Father gives us His Son as our bridegroom and gives us as a bride to the Son, Ephesians 5. In verse 25 of that chapter, we are told that Christ purchases His bride with His blood and death. He's involved. And we're told in Ephesians 1.14 that the Holy Spirit is given to us as an earnest or a guarantee, a down payment if you will, commonly symbolized in Bible times as what we would call an engagement ring today. So that just as a bride, a bride-to-be rather, looks at her engagement ring and says, one day I'm going to be married to the man I love, so when you feel the inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit and you may have that kind of assurance you heard about preached this morning from 1st John that the marks and fruits of grace are in you and you can observe them and say this is God's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes when that happens you see that work of the Spirit and the Spirit himself is like an engagement ring And you can look at God's work in your own life, and you can say, I know in whom I have believed. And this Holy Spirit is a down payment, a guarantee, an earnest, an engagement ring that one day I shall be fully and perfectly married to a perfect bridegroom, is a perfect bride, and there will be indeed a utopian marriage in heaven forever. And so we can scarcely imagine the glory of that wedding day. What a glorious day it is. Never has there been a more worthy bridegroom than Jesus Christ. Never has a man gone to greater lengths, humbled himself more, endured more, accomplished more in the great task of winning his bride than Jesus Christ. Never has a father planned a bigger feast than the Heavenly Father for this eternal wedding. Never has a more powerful pledge been given than the pledge of the Holy Spirit to this bride. Never has a more glorious residence been prepared as a dwelling place once the bridegroom finally takes his bride. Great will be the rejoicing. Great will be the exultation. There's no limit to the glory given to the Father through the Son on that great wedding day. And so, John breaks out. with the heavenly choir, alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come. What a wedding. And it will be, what a wedding, because what a bridegroom. That's our second thought tonight. What a bridegroom. The marriage of the Lamb is come. I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but lambs don't get married. But Jesus Christ is here pictured in His capacity as a Savior who gets married as a Lamb. Now you have to understand, of course, the book of Revelation is full of symbolism. And one of the symbols of a Lamb is that a Lamb suffers and becomes a sacrifice and that's particularly true in all the biblical prophecies from the Old Testament onward related to Jesus Christ. And so we read already in Revelation chapter 5, thou art worthy to take the book to open the seals of it for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And so this Lamb Symbolically now, you see, pictured as a lamb, lays down his life for his bride. In other words, the marriage of the lamb is come, means that initially, this is a very one-sided love affair. That's why John could say, and perhaps you heard that this morning as well, we love Him because He first loved us. So you have to kind of, when you think about this marriage in heaven, you have to kind of dispense with our Western idea of two lovers gazing into each other's eyes and starry-eyed with love fall into deep love. That's a Western view of marriage. It's different in many parts of the world, still today actually. Some parts of the world, yet today, the ancient Eastern custom is followed that the parents of a bride often decide who the bride is to marry. Some cultures, she had very little to say about it. Other cultures, she would commit to marriage, agree to it, without ever seeing her husband. Just think of Isaac and Rebecca. Will you go with this man? She's never seen him, and she says, I will go. You see, in some ways, this is the kind of marriage we have with Christ. We love him. We love him now. But we only love him because he first loved us. And in this marriage, you see, he loved us when we were utterly unattractive and undeserving. My wife and I just got back from doing a conference in Portugal, Friday, and after the conference was over, some people, you know how you get together and you take pictures, and a couple wanted to take a picture, my wife and me in it, and took a picture, and the man looked at the picture afterward, and he goes, ah, he said, I'm the only ugly one here, and the camera will never change anything. He was not an ugly man by any means, But you see, in his self-reflection, as he looked at that picture, he found himself unattractive. And when a believer, when you look at yourself, you find yourself unattractive because you're stained with sin everywhere. But the beauty of this marriage, you see, is that God loves his own from eternity without seeing any beauty in them, but out of pure, free, sovereign grace. He loved us while we were unattractive. But He also loved us while we were undeserving. He loved us while our carnal minds were still at enmity against Him. And nowhere is that picture better than in the book of Hosea, where Hosea, the prophet, is commanded by God to go out and to take a wife of prostitution. And that's what happened. Gomer had a succession of affairs, and when her youth and attractiveness were spent, she ended up in the slave market. But Hosea found Gomer in the slave market and bought her back, not to exact revenge on her for the rest of her life, but out of sheer love. Sheer love. He was a faithful husband to her, despite her unfaithfulness to him. That is the picture of Christ's love to you, dear believer. When we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The Christian gospel is the justification of the ungodly. When we were sinners, when we were unclean, unfaithful, promiscuous, He loved us. John says, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them to the end. He loved them to the furthest limits of love. He loved them all the way to Calvary. Jesus having loved His own, the Bible says, love them to the end. depth and the height and the breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, it surpasses knowledge. Jesus Christ loves you, dear child of God, beyond your wildest imagination. He loved you so much that He gave His blood. He loved you so much, He paid the dowry price to have you. with His own blood, to free you from the penalty of sin, to take away your every debt. You know, we once had a friend who worked for us, and she had been married for a number of years to a chiropractor, and made good money, and he actually became a millionaire, and he put his money in an offshore account, More than a million dollars. Thought it would get more interest and so on. And then he got cancer and he died. And she needed some of that money and she wrote to the people that had it and she found out it was a fake offshore account and she couldn't get a penny back. So suddenly she was in debt. By the grace of God, she met a man from Ontario who fell in love with her and he wanted to marry her and she First didn't know she loved him, but then his love won her over. But the day she married him, all her debts were wiped away. And she got financial stability as well as love. And you see, that's what happens in marriage with Jesus Christ. When we were up to our necks in the debt of sin, Jesus Christ, dear believer, loved you with an everlasting love, and he paid for your every iniquity, took away all your debts. did everything you needed to have done for you to make this into a wonderful and a glorious marriage. He's an amazing, amazing bridegroom. And so what happens in the marriage of a Christian to Christ is that God the Father looks around for the best he could find and he settles on his son and he matches that son up with the worst he could find, sinners like you and me. And he instigates, in a one-sided way, this marriage. And then we fall in love profoundly with this bridegroom. So that we can say with Paul, he is my all and in all. And all my debts are transferred to his account. My sins are taken over by him. His righteousness is given to me to replace my unrighteousness. He is altogether lovely. There's no husband like Jesus Christ. Are you looking for a good husband? Well, he's the best. Do you want a match who has honor and greatness? There's none like him. He's King of kings and Lord of lords. Do you want riches and treasures? His riches are the best, for they last forever. They're infinitely great. They'll satisfy your every desire. Are you looking for a generous heart in a spouse? Well, there's no one so generous in his joy, in his mercy, is Jesus Christ. You want wisdom and knowledge, He's wisdom par excellence. And He knows all things, He's omniscient. Are you looking for beauty? He's altogether lovely. Are you seeking someone who will truly love you? He's love itself, love that is higher than the heavens and deeper than the seas. You want a husband who's honored and esteemed? Well, this husband is adored by the saints and angels. Do you seek a match who will never die, never leave you a widow? He's the immortal, eternal King of Kings. He's the resurrection and the life. Behold the Lamb of God, the bridegroom. Do you know Him? Have you received Him? Are you betrothed to Him? Have you come to Him, repenting of your sin, throwing yourself on His mercy? Will you have Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to be your Savior, to love, to honor, and to obey from this day forth and forevermore? Will you have the Lamb of God to be your husband, the sin-bearer to be your bridegroom? If you will have him as your bridegroom, you're invited. That's what John says, you're invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. But if you won't have him, you won't have him at all. Dreadful will it be on the judgment day to fall into the hands of the living God unprepared. But now our text moves from the wedding to the bridegroom and from the bridegroom to the bride. It says in verse seven, let us be glad and rejoice and exalt and give him the glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. You see, the bride wants to know what she should wear. She wants to pick out what will please the bridegroom. My daughter got married just a year and a half or so ago, and that was one of her questions. I want a dress that pleases my husband-to-be, my fiance. She's earnest, isn't she, to get a good dress, to be dressed well, to look good. her very best for her bridegroom. And you see, that's how a believer is. In this life, you see, our life is a preparation to meet Christ on the judgment day. And we want to be at our very best for Him. We want to look right for Him. We want to be holy as He is holy. We want to be conformed to His image. And we can't wait for the wedding. My daughter was checking off the list. Oh, that had to be done so many days ahead of time. Okay, she got that done. She had everything done before the deadline date. She's so eager to get married to her bridegroom. And you see, that's the picture we have here. The bride making herself ready before the wedding. Paul speaks of it like this, 2 Timothy 4. I am now ready to be offered. My time of departure is at hand. I've fought a good fight. I've finished my course. I've kept the faith. There's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. And not to me only, then listen to this, but to all them also who love his appearing. See, a betrothed Christian is longing for the consummation of a wedding in glory. John Kelvin put it this way, he who does not hanker to be with Christ in glory has made little progress in the Christian life on earth. Charles Spurgeon put it this way, it ought to be a daily disappointment when our Lord does not come instead of being as I fear it is a kind of foregone conclusion that will not come quite yet. Are you longing? Are you longing for this bridegroom? longing for Him to return, longing to be with Him, longing to be in this utopian marriage, longing to praise Him face to face. What a glorious thing this is, to desire a Savior who desires to be with us. You see, a picture of that is the Lord's Supper, isn't it? He said to his disciples, with great desire, I have desire to have this meal with you. It's a type of the eternal Lord's Supper, where there's feasting forevermore with Jesus Christ. You see, the King of heaven, greatly desires you, dear believer, for you are lovely in His sight. The King of kings will make you His queen, and He who rules over the whole universe will make us the queen of heaven. For the angels will be our servants, and the King will take us by the hand and lead us to paradise, His own personal garden, where we will live with Him forever." Now, this whole imagery of King, Queen, of a male-female, of husband-wife. Remember, it's stripped of its sexual connotations. Sometimes women feel a bit excluded when the doctrine of adoption is preached because the New Testament only speaks of the adoption of sons and not of daughters. But women are included as adopted daughters, and the word son really is non-adoptive. It's germane. It's not just sons. It's also daughters. It's every believer included. We've got to understand this marriage concept the same way. We shouldn't feel queasy as men, especially in our day, when we think about being married to Jesus Christ. It's not a sexual thing. It's a close relationship thing in a good, healthy sense. And so don't stumble at this. This is a glorious, beautiful, intimate relationship in a positive way where Jesus Christ takes his people and forms them as his bride so that they may commune with one another in an intimacy far beyond anything known in this world, even beyond that which is known in the best marriage on earth between husband and wife. This is what the old divines called mystical union, intimate mystical union with the Lord Jesus Christ. So that they can sing with the psalmist, when I in righteousness at last thy glorious face shall see, when all the weary night is past and I awake with thee to view the glories that abide, then, then I shall be satisfied. Now in most weddings, A bride wears then a special gown. She's chosen it, she's paid for it, and she wears it for the bridegroom. In this wedding, however, something slightly different happens. Our second daughter, our youngest daughter, works in a bridal gown store, and she sells wedding dresses, and one day, A young lady, well, middle-aged lady, I guess, walked in and said, my husband's got cancer. I want to renew my vows and I want to do it in a wedding dress, but I don't have the money to pay for a dress. Is there any way I can get a free dress? My daughter says, I don't know. I don't think so. The woman walked away, and my daughter's feeling really bad, and so she ran after her, and she said, wait a minute, she said, if you can go to a wedding gown store, or rather, a thrift store, and you can get a wedding dress, maybe you can get one for $10 or $15, and you bring it back to me, I will alter it so it fits you, and I will put on decoration so it's beautiful for you, and I'll do that all for nothing. And that's actually what happened. Lady found a dress for $10 or $15. She brought it back to my daughter. My daughter spent two weeks working on this dress. She made it absolutely stunningly beautiful for this lady. This lady renewed her vows before her husband passed away. I said, wow, that's really great. But you see, there's something even better. For the child of God, you don't even have to pay the $10. It's completely free. Isaiah 61.10, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He's covered me with a robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels. See, God does everything. It's completely free, sovereign grace. And so we wear this robe of righteousness on our glorious wedding day as the realization of our imputed blamelessness and holiness through Christ who presents us, Ephesians 5, 27, without spot and without wrinkle before the Father in heaven. He's redeemed us, says Paul, Titus 2. from sin's guilt and purifies us to be zealous for Him. So this gown is, in the very first place, the robe of Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to us in our justification. And as we read in Zechariah, Christ takes off the filthy garments of our guilt and clothes us with a clean and beautiful clothing of His own merit. And His obedience is therefore imputed to us, charged to our account, so it is as if we have never sinned in the sight of a holy and a righteous God. And that's why you read in Revelation 7, 14, when the question is asked as people enter into heaven, who are these people that are coming into heaven? The answer is, they are those who've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. How did they make them white? or by trusting in Christ alone for justification from the guilt of all sin. But now notice, there's something fascinating in this text. You notice in verse 8, it was granted her, so it's a gift, right? It was granted her, that's a gift, to clothe herself, so this is God's sovereign grace and justification, with fine linen, bright and pure, If you stop right there, you say, well, this is just God's complete free gift, justification by faith alone. That's all this dress is. But then you read this, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. Righteous deeds of the saints. And the bride gets herself ready. So how do these things jive together? Well, when you're saved by grace alone, what do you do? You go to work with truly good works by the grace of God to live to God. And so justification always produces sanctification. And righteous deeds of the saints, you see, therefore refers to the effort the bride puts forward. Salvation is not something where you just get saved by sovereign grace and then you say, well, let go and let God because I'm saved no matter what happens to me. No, once you're saved by grace, by the white garments of Christ's righteousness, that garment is decked out with the beautiful decorations of good works that become visible to others so others can see in you the Lord Jesus Christ. And so sanctification always follows justification. The bride will always show her love for the bridegroom. in her activity, in her work, in her zeal. Now what is that then exactly? What does verse 7 mean when it says, the wife has made herself ready? Well, what is sanctification? Paul puts it this way. It's two things, he says. It's putting off the old man, and it's putting on the new. It's that simple. He says, put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communications. Lie not one to another, seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds. And then Colossians 3 verse 12, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, the fruits of the Spirit. Once you're saved in Jesus, the same Jesus who justifies you, gives you sanctifying graces, it's granted to you, even your sanctification is a gift to you, but you are sanctified and you are involved in that work. You are involved in those righteous deeds. And the end result is, hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. So Christ reigns over every part of your salvation, over your justification, over your sanctification. And that's why Paul says, again in Ephesians 5, Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify her and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So this is the beauty of the bride. She's made beautiful in the whiteness of the bridegroom, the whiteness of his righteousness, and that whiteness glitters by the righteous deeds of the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit in her, which she also is involved with, so that the saints can see her righteous deeds. And that's why. Have you ever wondered, five times in the New Testament, we are told that on the day of judgment, we will be judged by our works. Not because those works merit anything, but because those works are reflective of being saved by grace alone. Our sanctification visualizes our justification. You can't be justified and not produce works. And so, here you have just a beautiful testimony of this in Revelation 19, in the very gown of the bride, which is white with imputed righteousness, and which is bedecked with sanctifying righteousness. But then finally, verse 9, you read of the guests. Verse 9 says, the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the supper, marriage supper of the Lamb. They are invited. And you say, now what is this all about? Who are the guests? And you get commentators who try to do this very literally. And they say, well, the guests are somehow the angels looking at... No, no. Remember, Revelation is a symbolic book. And here's the beauty of this fourth, my last thought. The beauty of it is this, there's a sense in which Jesus Christ is married, put married in quotes, to every single individual believer as if that individual believer were his only bride. And there's another sense in which the entire redeemed church is the bride of Christ. And that is played out also in church on earth. Isn't that true? I mean, tonight, just how would you feel if you were the only one in church tonight? It'd be a whole different chemistry here. You gather with the people of God in church, corporately, confessing the same thing. It's a foretaste of heaven where it will be perfect, where there'll be no hypocrites, no unconverted people at all, and every single person will be part of that corporate bride, the guests at the wedding. And yet every single believer will also be an individual bride, personally, to know Jesus intimately. And so heaven will be a place of great festivity individually and corporately in marital union with Christ in this intimate beatific way of heavenly ecstasy and heavenly intimacy. And we will see him face to face. That's what John says also in this chapter. And it's a glorious confession. And I want to close with that with you tonight. Face to face. Think about that. The Old Testament scripture says no one shall see His face and live. Revelation says we will see Him face to face. All because of grace, you see. And in heaven, you won't have to look away because He's too holy. The angels in heaven cover their faces with their wings in His presence because of His holiness. But you will be able to gaze upon Him. face-to-face. It's a miracle. It's a wonder. You know, recently, we had a new student come to our seminary, another student from Nigeria, and one of our regular Nigerian students came to introduce me. He came to introduce him to me. And when he met me, he just kind of looked at me and looked away and looked at me and looked away. And his friend noticed that. He said, now, wait a minute. He said, you're not in Nigeria now. And in Nigeria, apparently, when they're, you know, something like seminary teacher, you're not supposed to look him in the eyes. It's an insult to look face to face. You're in America now, he said. And in America, it's rude not to look at people. So you've got to look at him. You've got to look at him face to face. I saw the poor guy. He tried to look at me then. He managed about a half a second instead of a 16th of a second. But he looked away again. He just could not handle it. And you see, that's a picture, isn't it, of Christians in this life. So often we get glimpses and glances of the Lord Jesus, but we hesitate to take the freedom that is ours in Christ to gaze upon him. But one day in heaven, there'll be no looking away, no distractions from this world. We'll be able to gaze on him and focus on him and center on him. And as Thomas Shepard the Puritan said, bottom on him, that is, put all our foundations in him and gaze upon him face to face. What a glorious day, what a glorious day, what a glorious future this shall be. And when we gaze upon him face to face, his beauty will be far beyond anything we ever imagined. You know, there was a 19th century young man who was blind. His name was William Montague Dyke. He was blind since he was 10. He was a brilliant young man, went to university, excelled, fell in love with a beautiful young lady, And they determined to marry despite his blindness. And then a surgeon came along and said, you know, I think I might be able to do a surgery that you might be able to see. And William agreed to do it. But he said, since the bandages have to be around my eyes for two weeks, I want the surgery done exactly two weeks before my wedding. Because when my bride walks down the aisle, I want my dad to come forward as best man and take the bandages away from my head and my eyes, because if I can see, I want the very first thing I see to be my bride. And that's what happened. His dad came around, the bride's walking down the aisle, his dad took the bandages off of his face and his eyes, and William could see. It was a very aristocratic body, nobody was supposed to say a word, but William just burst out. My dear, you are far more beautiful than I ever imagined. And you know, it's going to be just, that's just a faint shadow of what it's going to be like to meet Jesus face to face, to come by the rows of cherubim and seraphim, to hear the shouts and the cries, welcome home, sinner, saved by grace, and then to come through the pearly gates of celestial bliss and see Him face to face and cry out with the Queen of Sheba, the half of it was not told me, O greater Solomon, how majestic, how beautiful, how glorious thou art. and then to enter into intimate union with Him and never take my gaze away again, forever feasting in His presence, forever bathing in His smile, forever enjoying, knowing, and communing with Him? Do you know this Savior now? If so, you're on the way to a glorious future. And if not, you need to come to know Him. And He sends you an RSVP invitation tonight. He wants you to reply, will you have this glorious Savior? He comes to you as a servant came to Rebecca. Will you go, will you go with this God-man? And dear child of God, Since Christ is a jewel in heaven's crown, since He is what makes heaven heaven, make Him while you're tearing for that wedding day. Make Him the center of your life here on earth. And prepare yourself for the wedding day. And say, I will keep myself pure for the Lord Jesus Christ, He who has washed me and saved me. I will not tarnish His garments by walking in the world's ways and flirting with sin. but I will desire to bedeck myself with His sanctifying graces. And always remember, you're on your way to everlasting glory. There is a glorious future for the people of God, married to Jesus Christ in perfect marital union. And so let me close with this illustration. There was once a shepherd boy in northern Scotland, and he bedded down his sheep one night, And there was a ferocious storm that came through the valley where his sheep were. There had been a viaduct going across the valley where the train track ran. The train came every morning. And that night, the storm was so ferocious that the viaduct split and broke and the track was laying mangled in the valley when the boy woke up in the morning. So he ran up the embankment. And he signaled to the conductor when he was coming to stop the train, but the conductor just waved him away. So the boy threw himself across the track. The conductor slammed on his brakes, stopped the train just in time before the train would have gone over into the abyss. But he had to run over the shipper boy. Now people got off the train, they ran forward, they looked down into the valley, then they looked up at the train that had been saved from destruction, and then they looked at the mangled remains of the shepherd boy, and nobody said a word until finally one old man spoke. He said, that boy, that boy there, he saved my life. And I say to you, dear friend, if Jesus Christ is not your life now, you need to stop the train of your life. You need to consider your ways. You need to repent of sin. You need to turn to him. Because even right now, he throws himself across the track of your life in the gospel and says, I'm sending you an invitation, an RSVP. You can be married to the perfect bridegroom. Don't rest until you too can say, You see that God-man there on the cross? That God-man there? He saved my life. Amen. Let's pray. Great God of heaven, we thank Thee so much for the glorious future in heaven that Thy people have, through the resurrected Lord, who with body rose from the grave to be reunited with his soul as a forerunner of what will happen to us, so that we, with the whole man redeemed, soul and body, will one day be able to praise him forever, be married to him forever. Oh, help us then, Lord, to be clothed in the white garments of thy imputed righteousness, and to bedeck those garments with the righteous deeds of the saints, and to live wholly for him by thy grace. So come and bless us. Bless each one of thy children in the midst of this flock with a longing anticipation for that great and glorious day. But also, Lord, be with any who may not know thee savingly. Help them to flee from the wrath to come by taking refuge to Calvary and finding in Jesus Christ that only suitable bridegroom that can prepare them for an everlasting marriage of utopia. We ask all this out of free grace in Jesus' name. Amen.