Revelation 6. Now, tonight I have the privilege of teaching another section out of the book of Revelation. We're going to study Revelation 19, verses 1-10. But, I want you to understand that this section is very much like the book of Psalms. In fact, it rivals the Psalms in praises. Every praise psalm has a call to praise and a cause to praise. This pattern is seen here in Revelation 19. But, to better understand the call and the cause to praise, let me set the stage in my introduction by a short analogy. I trust that you will be encouraged, that you will be challenged tonight from this passage. But before we dive into the Scriptures, please give me your attention and listen carefully to this could-be realistic scenario. Imagine yourself a suburban husband or wife. You have diligently raised your four children in a responsible fashion. three elder sons, and one daughter. She's the youngest by six years. Because of your diligence, support, and faithfulness, your children all have succeeded in academics, sports, and employment. You nurtured a loving home with an atmosphere of mutual respect and humility. You encouraged community service, requiring all of your children to volunteer regularly around the city to the needy. Your two eldest sons are now married with children Your other son attends the university several hundred miles away, but your daughter is still at home finishing up her senior year of high school, playing volleyball, cheerleading, and working at the local restaurant as a waitress. On a Friday night in May, two weeks before prom and one month before graduation, your daughter fails to come home after working in the restaurant. Where can she be? What has happened to her? You become frantic. This is not like her. You finally call the police at 2 a.m. Oh no. Two days later, her body is found in a ditch ten miles from your town. When you are forced to positively identify her body at the morgue, you cannot believe your eyes. It is gross, grotesquely horrifying what has been done to the body of your little girl, the one you always called Sweetie. Police quickly tracked down a repeated felon, a convicted sex offender, who Sweetie served in the restaurant on the fateful night, Friday. He waited for her, drugged her, violated her and mutilated her body. All three of your sons rant and pace around the house wanting just 30 minutes alone with the animal who killed their little sister. For weeks, months, you can't sleep. You can hardly eat. How can any human being do such a thing to our precious little child? The funeral is devastating. Friends and family from everywhere pack the large Lutheran church. The court date drags on for months. Evidence abounds to his guilt. including videotapes, DNA samples, blood in his car and upon his clothes. Still, the judge and jury and defense attorney keep dragging out the proceedings with mistrials, appeals, and delays. Finally, after nearly five years of agonizing testimony, publicity, the jury comes back in the hands of the judge of verdict. a piece of paper. The room is packed with family, relatives, friends, reporters, and even ordinary citizens enraged with the violation. The judge opens and reads the words loudly without emotions. Guilty on all charges with a sentence of life imprisonment, no chance for parole. Now as you, the mother or father, how should you react to the verdict of justice? How should you respond to the condemnation of a vicious, murderous rapist who took your sweetie away from you forever? You can rejoice. You can celebrate the justice which has now been served toward the crimes against your daughter and her family. This is what is happening in Revelation 19, verses 1-6. There is a great celebration of the vindication, the revenge or the vengeance brought upon Babylon because of the blood of God's people. You should be in Revelation 6. Follow with me as I read v. 9-11. When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge Our blood on those who dwell on the earth? than a white robe was given to each of them. And it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed." They are appealing, these martyrs, in the first part of the tribulation, to vengeance, to their blood being avenged by God Almighty. And we are thankful that justice will be served. But they are crying, how long? And the answer is, more shall be saved, more shall come to salvation, so we will wait until the perfect time. Turn with me to Revelation 18, please. And I told you at the end of this plausible scenario in our modern society that you can rejoice, you can celebrate at the justice being done on a gross violation to another human being. And in God's Word, we find in Revelation 18 verse 20, at the end of God's judgment, at the end of seven years of tribulation, at the end of seven years of rightful, just wrath being poured out upon the earth dwellers and upon Babylon, we read in verse 20, Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her. Finally, after in some cases, thousands of years of injustice, God avenges the blood of His people. And He commands them to rejoice at this true and righteous judgment. Now, we come to Revelation 19. Now, we come to the passage where man is finally permitted to celebrate fully God's justice. After all this judgment, seven years of pouring out the grapes of wrath upon rebellious man, he says, through an angel, chapter 19, verse 1, After these things, I, John the Apostle, heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah! 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." His servants shed by her." Again, they said, Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever. The evidence of her judgment is ascending before our very eyes. We see here a passage of rejoicing and celebration for the righteous judgment of God performed upon the fornication and murderous acts upon God's people by the great harlot, Babylon. As we've seen here in chapter 18, verse 20, they are commanded to rejoice in heaven. And truly, they do rejoice. Now I must ask you a question. How have we gotten to this point? How have we gotten to see, in a sense, criminal justice and righteous act of justice being performed upon the people of earth who have rebelled and rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Well, I must take a little bit of time to bring you up to speed, especially if you haven't seen our series on Revelation. And for those of you who have forgotten some of these things, I'll try to take a short time to review Revelation through some PowerPoint slides. First of all, we see the Lord Jesus Christ is the revelation of the book of Revelation. It is the revelation of Him, the Alpha and the Omega, the slain Lamb, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah. We have seen in Revelation 1 that John received this revelation via an angel from the Father, the Son, and two him through an angel. And he saw it and he wrote it down." And we see in Revelation 1.19 the outline for the book. Write the things which you have seen, the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. This is an outline of the sections of the book. And the translators have divided the chapters accordingly. How do they lay out? Revelation 1 is a revelation or image of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the things that He has seen, the Apostle John. The things which are are chapter 2 and 3, the seven churches. The things which will take place after this is from chapter 4 and following. the things he saw, the things that are, and the things that shall come to pass." Chapter 1, verse 19. And you can see I've divided up just a little bit the chapters. Chapter 4 and 5 are the angels. and bringing the messages to the churches, worshiping in heaven. No, excuse me. Chapter 2 and 3 are the seven churches. And chapter 4 and 5 are worshiping the Father in chapter 4 and the slain Lamb, the worthy, redeeming Lamb in chapter 5. Tribulation is from 6 to 18. We're looking at chapter 9, which is the beginning of Christ's second coming. It's a pre-celebration to His appearing, His second coming, His revelation. The judgments we find in chapter 20. The millennial kingdom is at the end of chapter 20. And then the new heavens and new earth, the new Jerusalem is described in chapter 21 and 22. Christ, the Great I Am. The book of Revelation, you will miss the main meaning and the thrust of it if you miss the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the Lord. He is the Almighty, the All-Powerful One. We see that He said, I am the One who lives, was dead, and am alive forevermore. Revelation 1.18. We see that He knows our works in 2 and 3 when He evaluates the church. He knows every thought that I thought today and every action I did, for He knows all and He is the One who evaluates. He is the One who is worthy to take the scroll because He was slain. He is the One who is worthy of worship, for He is the sacrificial Lamb. He is the One who exercises wrath upon the earth for the judgment of God. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. The one who comes back and reigns upon the earth. And we see the entire book divided up into chapters. And it's laid out for us to understand that first of all in the beginning, it refers to the time of John and what we are going through as far as the church age. The age of grace. And then with the rapture starts chapters 4 and 5. And the church is in heaven worshipping before the throne with the angels. And tribulation starts 6-9. It's for seven years. Christ comes back. Chapter 20 is His millennial kingdom. And then again, as I said, the new heavens and the new earth in 21 and 22. I'm going to skip a few things here. Pastor Roxer was a little bit long on that, and if I take too much here. Suffice to say is, Revelation is an opening into the heavenly things and the future events that God Almighty is going to perform upon the earth. Now, turn with me if you would, again, in your attention to Revelation chapter 19 verses 1 And we'll read again. Revelation 19, verse 1, After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. We can see here, after seven seal judgments, after seven trumpet judgments, after seven bowl judgments that calculated three-fifths or more of the earth's population will die, multitudes will be saved, the judgment is complete, and now it is time to celebrate that judgment. It has been commanded, and here we see a loud voice saying, Hallelujah! Salvation, glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. Why is there celebration? Because the Lord God Omnipotent reigns. He is the One who is in control. He is the One who is overseeing this judgment. He is the One worthy for us to celebrate. All heaven is celebrating His character and His works. They are celebrating Jesus Christ, our Lord God, and they're celebrating what He has done. How is He described here? Well, it's similar to what we find in Psalms. Psalm 145, verse 10 says this, All your works shall praise you, O Lord, and your saints shall bless you. So we are praising His works and we are praising His character. Just like they were doing in the Old Testament. The great celebration that we see here is as I said, look at chapter 18, verse 20 again. Rejoice over her. O heaven, and you, holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her." They're celebrating the judgment of God. This rejoicing of, we could call it, victory day. So they're celebrating because they've been commanded. In verse 20, it is a command. You rejoice over her. Now the scenario I used earlier is a very emotional one. But when you look around and read the paper, these types of things happen in our society. And families go through great grief and great hardship and great loss and great suffering because of these villains on earth. Can you rejoice when the verdict is handed out? Yes! you can celebrate because justice has been served. And here they are commanded. Here they are celebrating its victory day. Here this long-awaited vengeance has been executed for their people. And finally, they are reflecting upon the Lord God and His character. Who is celebrating? It is a multitude. Look at verse 1 of chapter 19. a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven. All of heaven is gathered together celebrating, hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. And I'm not certain if it was just one time they said it, but it seems as though it's repeated, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. a recognition in verse 1 of our God. These are the angels. These are the saints. These are the martyrs in heaven saying, praise be to our God. How do they celebrate? Well, there's no dancing. There's no wild drinking party at the stadium parking lot. But instead, with their mouths, they're doing one thing. They are singing out praises. Hallelujah. It means praise be to our God. Their words and accolades of exaltation to their God. It has been called in verse 1-6, the Hallelujah Chorus, of revelation. It is the heavenly song of revelation. It is called, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, four times. And in fact, this word is only found in the New Testament right here. It's from the derivative of two Hebrew words. Hallelu, which is an imperative verb in the Hebrew meaning you give praise. Hallelu. The Yah is a shortened version of the Hebrew name for God, Yahweh. You praise your God is basically the direct translation for this Hallelujah. Hallelujah? Why? Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to our God. You have to have something to praise. You're called to praise. You praise your God. And He tells you what? The cause to praise. Why? Salvation and honor and glory and power belong to Him. Not to those rebels. Not to those persecutors. Not to the beast. Not to the fornicating harlot. Not to Satan. But to our Lord God. It's a call to praise. And here's the cause to praise. Salvation. His grace, salvation through Jesus Christ to all who believe. It is repeated throughout the book of Revelation. Our attention is brought repeatedly in chapter 1 to the Savior. Chapter 1, verse 5, the One who was slain for us. Chapter 2 and 3 repeatedly referred to it. Chapter 4 and 5, the worthy Lamb. And we see again and again that this salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. May we stop one moment here. May we take a pause to think. May we do a see-law as the praise psalms take. Take a little bit of time. Is He worthy to be praised for your salvation? If you're sitting in the audience tonight and you are working for your salvation, in the back of your cranium, you are thinking, well, I deserve part of that praise. Maybe not directly, but in your conscience, when asked directly, you think, well, I have done this and I have done that. In the Bible, no one will receive praise for the salvation we receive apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. He is worthy. Look at Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 with me. For by grace you have been saved through faith. That is not of yourself, it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest anyone should boast. It is a grace salvation that a holy, righteous God has come down and provided for us in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. A free salvation that was fully paid for by the sacrificial lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. He shed His blood on that cross. He died in our stead because our sins deserved a penalty of death and He paid for it. He cried out, it is finished. He was buried for three days. He was raised again from the grave, demonstrating the work had been completed. He had finished the work. God was satisfied in propitiation. We now are reconciled to Him by faith when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. Our responsibility is simply to trust in the Savior. And then God takes us positionally from in Adam, dead, to Him. to a new life in Christ. the moment you trust in Him as your Savior, the moment you believe on Him, the Lord Jesus Christ who died for you as your substitute and was buried and rose again the third day, now you are alive to God. You have spiritual, eternal life. The results of your faith in Christ is eternal life, a position in Christ. Call the child of God and you will be in Revelation 19, verses 1-6, singing those praises. I will be there. Will you be there? Have you trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? Or in the back of your mind, are you still depending upon yourself? It must be a grace salvation. It must be through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. If it is not, it is not a divine salvation. It is a man's salvation and you are under condemnation for works. So, again, it is a free gift. And you can sit there with the heavenly multitude singing, salvation is mine through the Lord Jesus Christ. And He deserves the glory, the magnificence, the majesty, the excellence of His character. He deserves the recognition. He deserves the honor and exaltation and respect and reverence that only He has earned. He deserves or has the power and has now judged and controlled and reigned. And in fact, we'll see in just a little bit that He brought about the harlot's destruction and judgment through both the beast and through the bold judgments that the angels brought forth, the mighty angels brought forth by His decree. The Lord our God, He is ruler. He is King. He is eternal. He is deity. He is not a golden idol or the works of man's hands. Look at Psalm 69 here, verse 34. Let heaven and earth praise Him. The seas and everything that moves in them praise the Lord. Everything. The multitudes in heaven are praising Him. This is thousands of years previous. Psalm 150, verse 6. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. That's exactly what we're saying. It's emphatic. You praise the Lord. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. So we have this celebration going on. Let's continue on in Revelation 19. Not only is He worthy of salvation and glory and honor and praise because of His character and His works, the heavens are praising His judgment and His destruction of Babylon the Great. Babylon the Great has been judged. Therefore, verse 2, there is celebration. Follow with me as I read verse 2. 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, or upon her, the blood of His servants shed by her. Now this is very significant. This harlot system, this Babylonian system has been in existence for thousands of years, but comes to its pinnacle in the tribulation period when God removes His restraint of the Holy Spirit and the church, and now Satan through his His supernatural power uses the harlot to persecute Israel, to persecute God's people who trust in Christ during the tribulation and do not take the mark nor bow down to the image. Turn with me to chapter 17 for a moment to see this harlot. She's a drunken harlot. Chapter 17, verse 1, Then one of the seven angels, who had the seven bowls, came and talked with me, saying to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great Harlot who sits on many waters. with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication. With her they fornicated. And the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication." Verse 5, "...and on her forehead a name was written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of Harlots and of the abominations of earth." I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement." This is John speaking. She has corrupted the kings of the earth, the people of the earth, and she is drunk with the blood of the martyrs. What does that mean? It means she is intoxicated with the destruction and the murderous hunting down of God's people. That's what consumes her. It brings her into a tizzy, in a sense, or out of control to do everything and anything to take on more blood. That's what it means to be drunk or intoxicated with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. It satisfies her to do these things. She is corrupt. She is evil. She is a system. Look with me at chapter 14, verse 8. Now this destruction has been predicted. This judgment has been coming for a long time. Babylon, way back by the prophets in the Old Testament, was predicted in judgment. But all of the details were not known until John received this revelation. Chapter 14, verse 8, And another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen. is fallen. That great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." Now, what is this Babylon? Now, Pastor Roxler did an excellent explanation in the past, but in summation, in summary, what is this Babylonian system? described as a harlot here in the sense of a religious side. A ecclesiastical, spiritual, religious harlot. A system that has worshiped idols and idolatry and has bowed down to the Queen of Heaven as we studied and read about in Jeremiah and other passages in the Old Testament. And so, the religious the religious, ecclesiastical, or spiritual side is referred directly as the harlot, especially here and in Revelation 17. But there's also in Babylon the political and commercial side. These are the ten horns on the beast. The commercial side of Babylon. And that commercial side overthrows the religious System of the Whore. And the two become one until the end of chapter 18. Now let me show you this in Revelation 17. Revelation 17 where the political system overthrows the religious system of Babylon the Whore. At the end of Revelation 17, 17 is more about the ecclesiastical religious side. 18 is all the commercial side. Because the ecclesiastical side, sometime after the midpoint of the tribulation, gets taken over or conquered by the beast and the kings under his control. Verse 16, And the ten horns, this political, economic, commercial side, which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. Now how does this happen? Do you know that it is in the providence and the plan of God? Verse 17, for God has put it into their hearts. Whose hearts? The hearts of the kings. The hearts of these rulers. To fulfill His purpose. To be of one mind and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. Just as in the Old Testament, God brought up and raised up nations to bring judgment upon His people. He has allowed and permitted the harlot. Never is He involved with evil. He did not cause evil. But in His plan, He allowed and permitted their power. Then He brings and lets the commercial political side judge them. for Him. And they rule until the destruction at the end of chapter 18. So we see this judgment that is being celebrated. We see the fact that this world system is corrupt. In fact, 1 John 2.16 and following says this, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. The world system. This is what Babylon, this is what the Harlot stand for. Lusts and pride of life. All ingredients are found here. in Babylon. James 4.4 says, when we become friends with this system, we are enemies of God. You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? So when we become buddies with this system, when we think like it, when we saddle up and coddle it, In a love affair, we are fornicating. We are adulterers and adulteresses to our pure and holy and righteous Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how are these judgments described? Chapter 19 again, please. Verse 2, For true and righteous are His judgments. Now, if you would go back and read through Revelation 6-18, and you see what God is doing upon the earth to the earth dwellers and the rebels, and to Babylon and the Harlot, you might say, oh, this is too harsh. You may be one who is highly merciful and sympathetic. And you might say, God is going overboard. No. True and righteous are His judgments. They're genuine. They're fit to the standard. They meet the righteous, holy standards. They are correct. As I said in my analogy earlier, when you sit at that courtroom and the verdict is brought forth, you can celebrate and delight because the law has totally been violated by an individual who has brought these things upon another person. His judgments are correct. They're proper. They're in the right. So you and I can rejoice in His judgments which will come to pass upon the great Harlot. And they've avenged the blood of His servants. Another reason they are celebrating is vengeance has been shown. Vengeance has been brought to His people finally. There is nothing worse for a court system than a corrupt judge. There is nothing worse than when police and legal means bring a criminal to court and a judge does not function righteously. But here, vengeance has been shown. In Myanmar, judges rule with bribes completely. And I've been told it's the same way in many parts of India. But here, they're celebrating the vengeance. What does it mean, vengeance? Well, to avenge means to seek justice for a violation or an offense. To avenge is to seek justice or bring justice for a violation or an offense. Scripturally, God says and declares and promises His faithfulness to bring about vengeance. Is it my job? to bring about vengeance? No. Never. In fact, God's people are commanded not to bring vengeance. Now, does that mean we do not seek court or righteous means? Romans 13 is very clear. That God gave sword, justice, up to capital punishment for human governments to bring justice and righteousness upon violations. The Old Testament law was an example of this. So yes, we can use legal means, but it is not our job to in our mind, I am going to bring vengeance. But God instead says through means like human government, not vigilante rule. I'm going to take the law into my own hands. But instead, he says faithfully, I will bring the judgments. It is not my job. We see in the Old Testament under law, Deuteronomy 32-35, Romans 12-19, Hebrews 10-30 repeating the same statement, the same promise. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Now, you may be having violations at your job by friends, by family, by religious zealots. You may be in El Salvador and your name may be Jose. And you're being persecuted to a measure. And you might lose your job. Should He bring vengeance upon those? No. He should entrust to His Savior. He should walk by faith, pray diligently, use what means are legal and right, but God says, vengeance is Mine. Now remember, it may be today, it may be in my lifetime, or it may be afterwards. One day, vengeance will come. That's why the martyrs could be burned at the stake. That's why they could sing. That's why Stephen could bow and say, Father, forgive them. Don't put this against their account. Let me again use your imagination. Imagine you're sitting in heaven with John the Baptist and you've lost your head for the testimony of Jesus Christ on earth. You're sitting with Stephen who was stoned in Acts 7. You're sitting with the martyrs of the tribulation and a few of the prophets of the Lord who were killed by Jezebel in 1 Kings. And you may all be waiting years, sometimes thousands of years to see vengeance in your case. Would you be here in Revelation singing out, hallelujah, the great whore who corrupted the earth with her fornication as now the Lord has avenged on her the blood of His saints shed by her. Yes. Vengeance is finally brought to pass. You can be with confidence that one day, the great harlot, one day God will bring upon them justice. And part of it will be at the great white throne, judgment. Continuing on, all heaven is worshiping All heaven is praising the Lord. Now, who is this that is doing this? The 24 elders are worshiping. Look with me at verse 3 and 4. Verse 3, again 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 sat on the throne saying, Amen, Hallelujah. So as the smoke is rising up, the judgment has been completed. The 24 elders join in with the celebration. And what do they do? They worshipped God. But their posture demonstrated a humility and a submission and a respect and an honor for their God. For they bowed the knee. They fell down just like they did in Revelation 4 and 5. They bowed down showing postural respect to their Lord and Savior and their God Almighty. And they say, Amen. What does Amen mean? It means, I agree! So be it. Let this be true. Hallelujah. Praise You, the Lord. It continues on with the worship. Verse 5, Who is it? A mighty angel joins in. Then a voice came from the throne saying, Praise your God, all you His saints and those who fear Him, both small and great and another. Praise our Lord is sent forth. Now he says, our God. I'm assuming it is an angel. One of the ruling angels. As you see in Revelation, I am so impressed with God's angelic beings. Mighty angels, archangels, angels carrying bowls, angels executing judgment, angels casting Satan and his demons out of heaven in chapter 12. Repeatedly, we see God's power demonstrated in His angelic beings. And here, a voice comes forth about our God. And He calls and commands all His servants Is that you here tonight? Are you saying amen with the elders and with this angel? It's an imperative. It is you, all of you, His saints, you praise our God. Not some, but all. And He is saying all of you right now, praise our God. I would say He is a heavenly, angelic cheerleader. Hey, all you, praise the Lord! He's calling out. All you servants, praise the Lord! John is viewing all of this. John is seeing this great exaltation of God Almighty. And how does it conclude in verse 6? Heaven is worshiping the Lord God Omnipotent, for He reigns. Verse 6, And I heard the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns. How does he describe it? In human form? The loudest things that he could think of? The sound of many waters. If you've been on an ocean or Lake Superior in a huge storm, crashing, crashing, crashing, thunderous crashing against there. He says, that's what I heard. It's like the sound of mighty thunderings. A crackle of thunder right in the tree next to you. Have you ever heard it? You about lose your hearing. It is so loud. The earth shakes from it. Have you been there? Thank God you weren't hit with it. But I can remember several times where it blew the power out, the fuses went out, and the tree was split very close to us. That's how He's describing this thunderous crescendo of hallelujahs and praise to our God." Now what is he referring to? Omnipotent. Omnipotent is Almighty. It is a word used several, many times actually in Revelation. And it simply means the Almighty, the Most Mighty, the Most Powerful, He who holds the sway or rules over everything, the Ruler of all. And it's translated mostly Almighty, like here in Revelation 1.8. I am the Alpha and the Omega. This is the introduction to the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, or His glory in chapter 1. I am He who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. Chapter 4, verse 8. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, who was and is, and who is to come. That's what is being said around the throne. to the Lord God Almighty. Revelation 11, 17, 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. What kind of God do you have in your mind? Is He omnipotent? Is He almighty? Is He small? The One in the Scriptures is omnipotent. Repeatedly we see this phrase of Him as He rules throughout the tribulation. Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints. Just like we saw before, righteous and true are Your judgments. Same concept. Revelation 16, 7. And I heard another from the altar saying, even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments. This is during the bold judgments. The most severe judgments of the tribulation period as they increase in magnitude and catastrophic consequences. And here, he says, they are righteous and true even though they are beyond my human ability to both accept and comprehend. Revelation 16, 14, again, for they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and to the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Speaking of, at the day of Armageddon when God will judge the earth and all of the earth dwellers will be destroyed. He's describing a time. So, I must pose this question. We see here, hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. But let me ask, who is reigning in your heart tonight? Have I done any type of accomplishment in preaching God's Word to raise Him up in your mind? I hope so. Think about this. Verse 1, hallelujah. Verse 3, hallelujah. Verse 4, hallelujah. Verse 6, hallelujah. For the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Now when we get to verse 6, we have the angelic cheerleader calling out, in verse 5, praise our God for all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great. The response is verse 6. Hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. It's mighty thundering and sounds of waters. I'm going to appeal to you tonight a little bit of role playing. I'm going to be the angelic cheerleader. I'm preaching tonight. I get to make the choice. I'm the angelic cheerleader. Guess who you are? The servants. The multitude of servants. All you His servants, those who fear Him, both small and great. So you may be very rotund here today, or you may be small. You may be old or you may be new. Small or great. However you define that. you his servants will you praise the Lord tonight you will be there if he is your Savior if you have trusted him you will be in this verse I will be there will be there exalting the Lord Jesus Christ I'm gonna call out and this is what I'm gonna say praise our God all you his servants and those who fear him both great and small and guess what you're gonna say Hallelujah. For the Lord God omnipotent reigns. We're going to do it several times. I want you to throw away your Scandinavian inhibitions. I want you to open your mouth wide because you're thinking what the Lord God has done for you and He has avenged the blood of all the martyrs, your fellow believers in Christ, the saints of the Old Testament. He's far better than any quarterback scoring a Super Bowl winning touchdown for the Vikings. And you will, you will call out then Praise Brett Favre, right? Jesus Christ is worthy of your praise. Let's try, you Scandinavians. Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both great and small. For the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let's try it again. Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great. Praise our God! Do you believe that? Yeah. I'll tell you, when we did that at Myanmar, we did it repeatedly. Those men said that was quite a significant time in our study when we went through the revelation because in about ten days we went from verse 1 to chapter 22. And you could see judgment, judgment, judgment. Atrocity towards God's people. And then you see finally the righteous, true judgment of God. And all God's people said, Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Not quite thunderous like a lightning bolt, but I'll take it from you Scandinavians. Now the focus of this passage now will shift. The focus of this passage has been behind looking back at this judgment. Looking up to the great God and Almighty who has made or brought justice and judgment upon the Babylonian system. Now, anticipation. Now, at verse 7 and following, the celebration continues with the anticipation of the marriage supper of the Lamb. The marriage supper of the Lamb. He says in verse 7, Let us be glad. Let us rejoice. And let us give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready." What is he saying here? Now, there is a great anticipation now. Judgment is completed. It is fulfilled. In all practical purposes, now when Jesus Christ comes, He's going to finish the job. He's going to wipe them up, but He's going to speak and it's going to be done. Blood to the bridles of the horses for 160 miles in Armageddon, the valley of Megiddo. It's going to happen. They all know it. It's done. Good is done. Judgment has been pronounced. Now, let us be glad. What does this mean? He says literally, let us rejoice exceedingly. That's what be glad means. But then rejoice says be joyful and glad and delighted. So they parallel. They're different words. But they mean the inner delight and rejoicing that comes with celebration. And then, give Him glory. Pass on to Him the majestic brightness, recognition, and exaltation that our Lord God deserves. Do you know that these are all subjunctive? Read verse 7 again. Let us. Let. It's an appeal. You may or you may not be glad. You may or may not rejoice. You may or may not give Him glory. For the marriage supper of the Lamb has come. You still have a volition there. Give him this glory. Give him this honor and be glad and rejoice. And his wife made herself ready." So we see here the anticipation of the marriage and the marriage feast of the Lamb. This anticipation for the marriage of the Lamb has come. It has arrived. Heaven is rejoicing for the marriage of the Lamb with His bride, with His wife, who is dressed in fine linen and clean and bright clothing has arrived. Verse 8, And 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. So here, this arrival of the marriage supper, and I'm going to describe it in just a minute, but the wife here has prepared herself for the celebration. Who is this bride? Who is this wife? It is you. It is me, if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. It is the church-aged believers, corporately called the universal church, the bride, of Christ. It is you and I who will be there, clothed in linen, fine linen, clean and bright. Ephesians 5, 25 and following describes the bride. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present to Himself a glorious church. not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." I will be the bride of Christ there at the marriage supper or the marriage and the marriage feast. You will be there if He is your Savior. Corporately, we are referred to as the bride of Christ. Now, when will this timing of the marriage supper of the Lamb begin? And what will you be wearing to this great feast? Well, I studied this out and I wrote some of these things out and then I found from a Jewish man Arnold Fruchenbaum, a very distinct and excellent explanation of what is taking place in Revelation 6-9. Bear with me as I read this, but it's a very good illustration of the marriage under the Oriental custom and Jewish practices of how they are betrothed, brought together, married, and then also celebrate with a feast. I read from the book, The Footprints of the Messiah, page 586 and following. In order to fully comprehend what is happening in Revelation 19 verses 6-9, it is first necessary to understand the Jewish wedding system that was common in Jesus' day. The Jewish marriage system had four distinct stages, all of which are to be found in the relationship of the bride in the church as the bride of the Messiah. In the first stage, the father of the groom made the arrangement for the bride and paid the bride price. The first stage might happen when the children are very young or one year prior to the marriage. Thus, a long period of time could transpire between the first stage and the second stage. Often the bride and the groom did not even meet each other until the wedding day. Think about that one, those of you who are engaged. Eventually came the second stage, known as the fetching of the bride. In the second stage, the groom would go to the home of the bride in order to fetch her and bring her to his home. This was often done in accompaniment with a wedding procession. However, the father of the groom determined when the fetching would occur. Furthermore, it had to wait until the groom had a place prepared for her. Then came the third stage, which was the marriage ceremony to which only a few would be invited. Finally came the fourth stage, or the marriage supper, or the feast, which would last for as long as seven days. Many others who were not invited to the ceremony would partake in the feast. All of these stages of the Jewish wedding system are to be found in the relationship of the church and the Messiah. First, the father of the groom made the arrangement for the bride and paid the bride price. In this case, the bride price was what? the blood of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. This was described earlier in Ephesians 5 verses 25-27. While the first stage has already been completed, the last three stages are still future. The second stage was the fetching of the bride. Almost 2,000 years have passed since the first stage was accomplished. Someday the second stage will take place when Jesus will come in order to fetch us, the bride, to his home. This fetching of the bride is referred to as the rapture of the church. The rapture of the church will be sometime before the beginning of the tribulation. God the Father will determine the timing as Matthew 24, 36 indicates. Furthermore, it will only come after Jesus has the place prepared, John 14, 1-3. The third stage, or the marriage ceremony, will take place in heaven just prior to the second coming at the end of the tribulation. This is described in Revelation 19, verses 6-8. The wedding announcement will be made, verse 6. The bride will finally be made ready, verse 7. And the reason the bride will now be fully ready for the marriage ceremony is because she will have her entire bridal gown on. This bridal gown is said to be the righteous acts of the saints. This teaches two things. First, it shows that the process of sanctification will be indeed completed. for all that will be showing on the bride are her righteous acts. Secondly, this also shows that the marriage ceremony takes place after the judgment seat of Christ, when the saints are rewarded for their deeds on earth. 1 Corinthians 3, 10-15. All the wood, hay, and stubble has been burned away, and all the gold, silver, and precious stones have been purified. Since many are bidden and invited to come to the marriage feast, this passage indicates that the marriage supper or feast will be a different place than the marriage ceremony. According to the Word of God, the Old Testament saints are resurrected not with the church before the Tribulation, but after the Tribulation. John the Baptist, who was the last of the Old Testament prophets, called himself a friend of the bridegroom and did not consider himself to be a member of the bride, the church. Hence, the many who are bidden to attend the marriage feast on earth are all the Old Testament saints and the tribulation resurrected saints after his second coming." So while the marriage ceremony will take place in heaven just before the second coming, the marriage feast will take place on earth after the second coming. And in fact, it would seem that the marriage feast begins the Millennial Kingdom and could run all the way into the New Jerusalem. Now again, there's much controversy and much speculation, but from my study and my reading, he summarizes it very well. So the timing of the marriage is in heaven. We're consummated with Jesus Christ. The feast, though, begins at His Second Coming. So here in Revelation 19, it's the anticipation. Let us be glad. Let us rejoice. Let us give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready. And 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. So I have to ask you a question. What will you be wearing to the great wedding feast? Will your gown be great and elaborate with many righteous acts of fine linen? Or will you be wearing a loincloth? Will your glorified body be arrayed like the dream wedding gown that every young lady has a dream about? Or else, man, I always think of it's going to be a tuxedo. I'm not looking forward to a wedding gown, but it's a fine linen. It doesn't say it's a dress here. It says we're covered with fine linen, white and bright are the righteous acts of the saints. It speaks of reward. It talks about the fact that we will be arrayed by the acts that were performed by the Holy Spirit in us as we yielded ourselves over to the Lord's service, as we depend upon Him, as He used us. They were righteous acts produced by Him in an abiding, dependent, yielded vessel or branch connected to the vine. What will you be wearing? Paul said he knew he had a reward. He looked forward to it. Just imagine if you're a believer who struggles and fights the Lord's will in your life and you don't depend and yield to Him, you may have just a simple loincloth for that wedding gown. Others may have more. I don't know what I will have, but I think my desire is to be faithful to the Lord. I know my desire is to be faithful to the Lord, and I hope that's true of you. Now, be glad because every wedding feast guest is blessed. We see here, as we're wrapping up this passage here, that every person brought to the feast is blessed. It's the same word used in Revelation 1-3 where he says, blessed are they who hear and who read the words of this prophecy and do the things that are found therein. Blessed! We are brought blessing upon us as we obey and follow what's found in Revelation. But here, it's in the passive voice. God does the blessing. It's perfect. It's in the perfect tense meaning at a point in time you receive this blessedness that's at your salvation and it will abide the results and God does it to you. So who are these individuals? Well, these, at the guests, will be all the saints of God, of all history up until this point, His coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament saints. The tribulation martyred saints. And we will be there covered in righteous acts. Bright and brilliant. The dream wedding of every young lady. He says emphatically in the end of verse 9, these are true sayings of God. Why would He say that? If you were in the sandals of John the Apostle and you heard these things and you saw these things in your humanity, you would be like me and I would doubt. Could these really be true? It's emphatic. The word true is emphatic in the Greek. These are true. They are the true sayings of God. My friends, tonight, will you receive them as your own? Will you say, yes, I believe this is true. Yes, I know this is true. And I will only worship God and Him only. Not another created being. We are not to bow down to anyone but the Lord God Almighty for He is worthy for our worship. He is worthy for our adoration. He is worthy to receive salvation and honor and power and glory. And our lips should praise Him in hallelujahs. And our hearts should express it in praise and thanksgiving. John stumbles here, as I believe you and I could very well do, having read up to this point what has happened. The marvelous revelation from God and the things that are going to come about. He wants to be with those multitudes. He hears them. He sees what they're doing. And He wants to worship. And that's what I think happens. Verse 10, And I fell at His feet. Who's that? This mighty angel. to worship Him. And He said to me, see that you do not do that. I am 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." He falls. He must worship. He must enjoy the hallelujahs and participate. But he makes a mistake. He bows to the angel or the messenger. That is something we should never do. Do not bow to a pastor. Do not bow to another human being. And do not bow and worship an angel. We can do that. We give all the reverence, all the glory to Him, the Lord God. Sports figures are worshipped today. Rock stars are worshipped today. Politicians are worshipped today. Many gurus and false deities are worshipped today. But as we see here, Jesus Christ deserves it all. So may I ask you, do you have the testimony of Jesus? Have you trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? And are you worshipping tonight with the heavenly multitudes? What he's saying at the end of verse 10 is, I am a fellow servant. We are just like the angels. We bow before the Lord and take our instructions from Him because He is Lord, meaning Master and God, and He gives the orders. and of the brethren." We are companions who have the testimony of Jesus. Those who have been martyred, those who are singing the hallelujahs, I am in their camp. The testimony simply means that he had the testifying, the speaking forth of the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when he says the spirit of prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, He has the telling forth, or the forth-telling of these future events. He is simply the mouthpiece of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The angel is saying this, I am a fellow servant like you and the other brethren. I testify of Jesus Christ and the essence and the spirit of this testimony is Jesus Christ and His prophecy." What we see in the revelation of Jesus Christ. He is telling about Jesus Christ. His past work. and His future work. He is simply a mouthpiece as I seek to be tonight preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. So are you worshiping tonight with these multitudes in your heart? Amen. You cannot do this, though, unless you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Instead, you will be under judgment. You must come to the Lord Jesus Christ first to be a part of this heavenly hallelujah chorus. It is so simple. I appeal to you tonight, trust in Him. I appeal to you, come to Him by faith and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are here tonight and you have trusted Christ, continue to sing in your heart hallelujahs and let us practice for that choir chorus in those days with our Savior at the end of the tribulation period. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this opportunity to study and examine a portion of your revelation about your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord Jesus, You are worthy. And Father, may we learn more and more by Your leading, by Your grace, to sing out praises to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank You for this example. Thank You for the judgment and the vengeance that You will execute and that it is out of our hands. And so we trust you here and I ask that we could even see just how great and omnipotent and ruling, reigning God you are. All these things will come to pass. We bow before you tonight and respect and revere you and you alone. In Christ's exalted name I pray, Amen. With that, you're dismissed. Thank you. Any questions?