Ready for the Lord’s Return

Transcript

GR 2049
07/22/2018
Ready for the Lord's Return
Revelation 19:1-10
Gil Rugh

We're in Revelation and we come to chapter 19 in your Bibles. Let me just say a little bit of how we are going to proceed here. There is much in chapter 19 and we go into chapter 20, so what we are going to do for these two weeks is cover all of chapter 19, the first ten verses in our study today and then we'll do verses 11-21. There will be things that we will somewhat gloss over but we will then pull some things together as we go into chapter 20, so some things we will just be mentioning or briefly talking about. But we will go back, this will have to do with judgments that will take place and so on. But I didn't want to break for an extended period of time in the middle of chapter 19 so if you think we have passed over some of these things lightly, we'll look more in detail after we get back into our study when I return.

We are ready for the return of the Lord as we come to Revelation 19, but really all the Bible has been anticipating this event—the coming of Christ to earth to establish the prophesied kingdom. We are ready because God has brought His judgment on Babylon, the city and the system, the Babylonian religious system in chapter 17, the political and commercial dimension of that kingdom. Satan has finally succeeded in bringing together his kingdom in one central place with a capital, with a city, in contrast to Jerusalem which God prophesied would be the capital city of the world, under the leadership of Jesus Christ. Satan has established the capital in Babylon with a ruler, the Antichrist. And the center of worship being the Antichrist in contrast to Christ. And Satan and his system have been judged in chapters 17-18. So, the whole satanic system has been destroyed, now God can establish the kingdom that He has prophesied.

You understand all that is going on in the world is Satan constantly moving and working the kingdoms of the world and his people to direct worship away from the living God and to himself. He tried with his final push to accomplish that in Revelation 17-18. Come back to Matthew 4, and this is where Christ is beginning His ministry on earth at His first coming where He offered the kingdom to Israel but it was rejected, He was crucified. In the plan of God that was the provision of God for our salvation. But at the beginning of this ministry on earth the devil meets Him in the wilderness and attempts to lure Him away from the plan of God. And we'll just break into this in Matthew 4:8, “Again the devil too Him,” referring to Christ, “to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” You see something of the awesome power of the devil where here he could display before Christ all the kingdoms of the world at one time and the glory that characterized those kingdoms. And he offers it all to Christ, saying, verse 9, he said to Christ, “to Him, all these things I will give you” the rulership of the world on one condition, “if you fall down and worship me.” Obviously Christ rejected that saying, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” But that is the purpose and the goal of the devil and all the maneuverings and working in the world today, every false religion, every kingdom, every nation, Satan's goal is to be the center of worship, moving the world toward the time when he can have authority, worship can center in his counterfeit kingdom with his counterfeit Christ, offering himself as God.

We have seen the failure of that as we move through the book of Revelation. Chapters 17 and 18 have brought the crushing end to what we call the Babylonian system. With the end of that system we are ready for the return of Christ. You'll note in Revelation 18:20, “Rejoice over her, oh heaven,” over Babylon and its destruction, “and you saints and apostles and prophets because God has pronounced judgment for you,” for God's people, “against her,” Babylon and all associated with that city and that system.

So, as we come to chapter 19, this is really the hallelujah chapter of the Bible, for here the word hallelujah appears four times, the only four times the word hallelujah appears in the New Testament. It will be used four times in the first six verses, in verse 1, in verse 3, in verse 4 and verse 6. And it is the response of heaven to the instruction given in Revelation 18;20, “Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, prophets because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.” So we come to chapter 19 and the first ten verses are the celebration and anticipation of heaven of the event that we have been looking for—the return of Christ to establish His kingdom on the earth. That will bring us to Armageddon in chapter 19 and open the way for the establishing of the kingdom as we begin Revelation 20.

So Revelation 19:1, “After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven,” this heavenly sound, “saying hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God.” Hallelujah. It is taken over from the Old Testament, it is used 24 times in the Old Testament in the book of Psalms. And there it just means praise God. “Jah” on the end of that, “hallelu,” sometimes we sing hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, that is praise. And jah is God, or simply praise God. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. He is the One to be praised, to be exalted. This is in the context of His bringing judgment on the wicked.

And we are just going to look at one reference in the Old Testament, come back to Psalm 104. And this is the first use of hallelujah in the Psalms, in Psalm 104. I just want you to see the context. Verse 31, you see a similarity to the kind of context we have in Revelation 19, “Let the glory or the Lord endure forever, let the Lord be glad in His works. He looks at the earth, it trembles; He touches the mountains, they smoke. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God while I have my being,” and so on. Look at verse 35, “Let sinners be consumed from the earth, let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord all my soul. Hallelujah.” And that last statement translated praise the Lord, you have in the margin of your Bible, is a translation of hallelujah. The first use of the word hallelujah we have in the Old Testament, and here we have it in the Psalms. It will be used 23 more times. But you see the context, verse 35, “Let sinners be consumed from the earth, let the wicked be no more.” In the context he says “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, hallelujah” that sin will be dealt with, that the devil will be defeated. Judgment has come on wickedness.

Come back to Revelation 19. This sound of praise is in the context of judgment on the wicked. We want to be careful that we take our theology out of the Scripture, not read our theology into the Scripture. I'll talk a little bit about that with you this evening. Here some people think, I just can't believe that God would be so violent and destroy the wicked like He will. Some of those are good people, but God says we are not. He says “there are none righteous, there are none who do good. All of us have turned aside from worship and faithfulness to Him.” We guilty and condemned. That's why we need the redemption and salvation He has provided. So, He is a God who will bring judgment. It is “hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God.” Three statements about our God here. Salvation, He is the God of salvation. It is a declaration of God's victory over sin and the devil, evil. He has brought salvation, it is a victory. This is what creation has been anticipating.

You want to turn back to Romans 8, and we will get into more details of this in a future study, but in Romans 8:18 Paul says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Now note this, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” And the revealing of the sons of God is going to take place in Revelation 19. “For the creation,” verse 20, “was subjected to futility.” This was according to the plan of God because of sin. Verse 22, “For we know the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this but we ourselves having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves,” believers, “groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body,” the anticipation of this final realization. Sin has brought corruption into the world, sin has brought misery into the world, sin has brought the defiance of humanity against God. But there is coming a time, even the creation experiences the impact of sin, the non-human creation. Obviously here it is groaning. Well God's ultimate salvation now is about to be realized, the curse will be lifted from the earth, the desert will blossom like the crocus, or sometimes called the rose. That's what it has been anticipating. In this context we will be revealed before all creation as God's sons. We will see that shortly in Revelation 19.

So, come back to Revelation 19. “Salvation belongs to God,” He is the God of salvation, the salvation and redemption offered to us now, the salvation provided in Christ. And remember all of Revelation goes back to that seven-sealed book in Revelation 5 that only Christ, the Lamb of God, was qualified to unseal and thus bring creation to its God-appointed end and conclusion with a redeemed creation in an eternal kingdom, with the wicked removed to an eternal hell. So, He is the God of salvation and we are about to realize that in the greatest possible way.

The second thing said, glory. Glory belongs to God, The honor, the majesty, the credit, if I could use that word, He is recognized as the majestic God, sovereign over all. The One worthy of worship, the One to be honored. Isaiah 42 and again in Isaiah 48 records God saying, “I will not give My glory to another.” We will enjoy a glory in His presence someday, but He is the God of glory. All glory is His. Any glory we have has come from His grace bestowing it upon us. So, we will get bodies that have been glorified, bodies of glory as we dwell in His presence for eternity. He is the God of glory, He is the God of power. These all belong to God.

Power, we get the word dynamo, dynamite, dynamic and so on from this word. Indicates power. We just transliterate it over. He has demonstrated His power, He has destroyed the Babylonian system. He has crushed the greatest attempt the devil has had and made to usurp the role that belongs to God alone. We say how foolish for a created being like the devil to challenge the power of God. But fallen man does it every day, we see it openly displayed in the defiance of sinful people. We think, “how can the devil be so foolish as to defy the power of God? How can puny human beings . . .?” I mean, the devil is a being of such power, he had authority over the kingdoms of the world. What is puny man? It is all we can do to get up and get ourselves ready to get going this morning. And we defy the power of the living God? And think we will survive and not experience judgment? How foolish. “Power belongs to our God.” It was demonstrated.

Verse 2 gives the reason that salvation, glory and power belong to God. “Because,” that's the reason, “His judgments are true and righteous, for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His bondservants on her.” Now this hallelujah in heaven, “salvation, glory and power belong to God because His judgments are true and righteous.” People like to come to the Word of God and make the alterations as though God won't do judgment. I don't think God would send anyone to hell; I don't think God brings that suffering and misery; I just don't think God does those kinds of things. Think again. We start our concept of God by creating Him in our minds, then we try to support what we have created in our minds with the Scripture, then we proceed to worship our own creation. That's what Romans 1 says, “we worship the creation rather than the Creator.” That comes down to our own personal thing. We think we ought to make what God is, and we ought to make Him according to what we would like. His judgments are true and righteous. We don't want to have to be embarrassed about the judgments of God, we don't have to apologize. We get to the end of chapter 20 we will have an eternal hell, that will all be previewed at the end of chapter 19.

He is a God of judgment and His judgment on this world with the destruction of billions of people, remember, through this seven years, culminating with the destruction of Babylon are a cause of giving Him praise because His judgments are true. He is the God of truth, He is the God who cannot lie, He always functions according to His character. There is no external standard outside of God, the standard is what God has revealed about Himself, His judgments are always true. They are exactly what they must be. The wicked must be punished, sin must be dealt with. That's why Christ went to the cross. But those who do not avail themselves of that provision . . . God is true. If you don't have Christ as your substitute and representative as a result of believing in Him, then God's judgment falls on you personally. He is the God who is true and His truth is revealed in this book. We have it recorded for us in black and white, the very words of God. And here He is telling us His judgments are true. So I don't have to wonder, is God a God of judgment? Yes, He is. They are true judgments, they are exactly what they must be.

He is righteous, His character. The problem people have, again they create God in their own image, rather than seeing themselves in the image of God that has been defiled by sin. He is a righteous God, sin must be punished. It must be judged according to God's standard, not man's standard. Man sets himself up to create what he thinks God ought to be, then sets himself up to decide how God ought to judge. And we see the mess and confusion of the world, everybody running around, ranting and raving about this and that. And all we have is a mess. God is the One who is true and righteous, and so are His judgments.

It is demonstrated in the fact, when we get to this point, “He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, has avenged the blood of His bondservants on her.” Two things here, He has judged this sinful system. It is a religiously corrupt system who is turning the worship of the world against and away from the living God. It was persecuting the people of God. You understand the only people in the world that the devil is opposed to are the people of God, everybody else belongs to Him. They worship him, they serve him, all the religious systems of the world. That's why in time, when God allows, the devil can bring it all together into one center. It is all his. Remember, these are all the kingdoms of the world. I can give them to you. And in God's timing, he will give them to the Antichrist. And, sovereignly now, bring together all with the sovereignty given to him under the ultimate sovereignty of God. What do they do? They persecute God's people. They are constantly on the attack against truth. Sometimes it is more overt with the persecution, the slaughter, the killing that has taken place in the seven years leading up to this time of anyone who is a believer, of the Jews. That has happened down through history as Jesus said during His earthly ministry, “which of the prophets didn't you persecute,” speaking to the very religious Jews who claimed they were the ones representing God. How man has so twisted and confused himself with his corrupted mind.

But, now comes time for God to avenge His people. Come back to Revelation 6, again much of this has been previewed and we get to the ultimate realization of it. In chapter 6, as the seven-sealed book that only Christ could unfold, that contains everything down until the establishing of the kingdom, provided by the redemption of the Lamb. The One who was qualified to open the book because of the redemption He provided or there would have been no redemption and no eternal kingdom of the saved. So, Revelation 6:9, “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God, because of the testimony.” And “they are crying out,” these martyrs, “How long oh Lord,” verse 10, “holy and true.” You see there He is holy, righteous, He is true. “Will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Why does it go on and on and on? Even down through history people have given their lives and suffered and died terribly for the testimony for Christ. It seems at times the devil is winning. We look at what is going on in the world today, is the world becoming more righteous? More holy? More open to the truth? No, it seems like the devil keeps winning. As God told the martyrs praying here, wait, even more are going to die giving their testimony for Me. But then judgment will come.

So here, back in Revelation 19, God has avenged the blood of His servants on her. Now we know who the victors are. They thought they won when they killed those Christians, they thought they won when they did this and that. No, they didn't, God was just waiting for His time.

We come to verse 3, we have the second hallelujah. “They said a second time, ‘hallelujah. Her smoke rises forever and ever.’” You see all this celebration in heaven relates to the judgment on this Babylonian system. Those in heaven now see it from God's perspective, how righteous it is, how true it is that He should judge the wicked and deal with it. Babylon has been defeated, her smoke rises forever and ever. That doesn't mean the smoke itself will keep going up, it is a figure of speech and a picture like we saw. Remember the great millstone thrown into the river? It sinks down to the bottom. What does it indicate? That city will never exist anymore, all remnant of it is gone. That's the point of the smoke going up forever and ever. Its destruction is complete, it is final, it is done. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, like other cities like Tyre, talked about with their judgment. This kind of judgment indicates they are done like we saw in Isaiah 34, the prophecy of Isaiah, the city will never exist anymore. That's what it is indicating here.

“Hallelujah, her smoke rises up forever and ever.” It is over, it is done. We'll talk about another rebellion after the millennium, but that is not Satan establishing a kingdom, setting up a ruler. This is it, that Babylonian system is done, Babylon is finished, never to rise again. Isaiah 34:10 prophesied that.

Verse 4, another hallelujah. “And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne, saying amen, hallelujah.” You get the idea this repetition in heaven, hallelujah, praise God. He has dealt with this satanic system. We become sentimentalized and then try to alter. No. All those gathered in heaven will see sin as God sees it, the awfulness, the horror of it, the necessity of it being judged finally and completely. So, the 24 elders, and we talked about this earlier back Revelation 4 and 5, representing the raptured church. And the four living creatures, these are the creatures that serve in the proximity of the throne of God in heaven, evidently a category of angelic beings. They fall down and worship God who sits on the throne, realizing God's power and authority in judgment is a cause of worship. So, in heaven they bow down to worship the God who has brought judgment. They are not going to be moaning and saying, this is too bad. Billions of people died, I just wish it hadn't . . . No, they will be rejoicing, it is time, the time of judgment has come. So, there is celebration, there is worship in heaven.

Every part of God's Word is true, and as we have studied together, it ought to move us to worship. We talked about hell. Well, I don't like to talk about judgment. It doesn't make me feel like worshiping. Then we better adjust our thinking because in the very presence of God in heaven there is worship over judgment on sin.

Then a voice comes from the throne in verse 5. Now it is not God speaking, it comes from the throne, from the proximity of the throne, like we saw these angelic beings around the throne. We know it is not God speaking, but it is coming from the direction of His throne with His authority, because it says “give praise to our God.” So this is part of the creation here. “All you His bondservants,” it's the word slave, all you His slaves, “you who fear Him, the small and the great.” And those who belong to God are identified as His slaves. This includes all created beings who belong to the living God, unfallen angels and redeemed people. We have been redeemed to be the slaves of the living God. Romans 6 says we were “slaves of sin,” we have become slaves of God and of righteousness. We “are not our own,” you are not your own, “you have been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.” If you are a child of God, your life is not yours, your body is not yours. You belong in your entirety to the God who purchased you for Himself. What greater honor, what greater privilege—slave of the living God.

Give praise to our God, all you, His slaves. His slaves are you who fear Him. He is a God to be feared, and that has that reverence, that honor given to Him. And there is that element of the desire that I am not in any way to displease Him. They are those who fear Him, He is the God we want to honor in every way with all of our being. We will have finally been redeemed and glorified, then we will be able to do that with the purity that we don't even use today. The small and the great, there is no distinction here, we are all categorized as slaves, those who fear Him. Doesn't matter whether you were small, insignificant, unimportant person, whether you were a great or powerful or wealthy person. We come before God as His slaves, those who fear Him. We don't come there and say I get an in . . . I read about a prominent man from a prominent family in our country a number of years ago and as he was dying he sent a letter to the Pope. And that made the news, he had a private letter he sent to the Pope. But you understand, that doesn't give you any “in” with the living God. The idea, I'm important and I can get my letter to the Pope and the Pope will get me. When we get to heaven we're going to be revealed, slaves of God, those who fear Him. That's why we honor one another and are willing to serve one another and so on.

We're ready for another hallelujah. You see it is almost like heaven can't stop, we are at such a climax of human history here, ready for the return of Christ, not to come to earth as a humble human being born in a stable, but to descend from heaven in power and great glory. “I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters, like the sound of peals of thunder.” You see, how do I express this, it's like the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters, like the peals of thunder. Just trying to emphasize, this is powerful. We know what that's like, if you've been to the ocean you hear it roar with great power. When you have a breaking out of a thunderclap that vibrates your house, it gets your attention. That's the picture here of this voice, and it is saying, “hallelujah.” You ought to practice this at home so we will be ready, get in our best voice. But we'll get a better body to do it with.

“Hallelujah, for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.” This is the climax of it. Why have we been celebrating the judgment on the Babylonian system? Because heaven realizes this is what we have been anticipating. Now God's reign will be manifest. He has always reigned in His universal kingdom and rule, but now the reign of God which Satan tried to usurp and replace. The satanic counterfeit has been destroyed. “Hallelujah, the Lord our God the Almighty.” And we had His power declared in verse 1. This is a different word, Almighty. And that just translates it pantokratos, the pan on the front is all, He is Almighty, He is all power. Satan tried to usurp that power, to oppose that. God is the Almighty, He reigns. It ends exactly where He said it would. The reign of God on earth in the person, particularly, of His Son.

So, verses 7-10 are going to bring us to the celebration now. He has talked about the judgment but this verse 6 gives us the transition to decide that we are looking forward to. Christ returning and us returning with Him. The focus comes on Christ and the bride of Christ, the church. “Let us rejoice,” verse 7 says, “and be glad and give the glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” You are aware, in the Old Testament Israel was called the wife of God the Father. With the coming of Christ, the church is identified as the wife of Christ, here called the Lamb. We are joined to Him because He is the Lamb, going back to Revelation 5, who made the sacrifice that provided for redemption. Otherwise the book of Revelation would have had to end on the judgment and destruction of all. That couldn't happen because God had promised a redemption through a Savior.

So “rejoice, be glad, give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. His bride has made herself ready.” This ought to be probably one of the most exciting passages of Scripture for us as believers in the church. This is us. Now I look out here, you look pretty good, but a heavenly bride . . . It will take the sovereignty of God to bring this about. But this is us. “The marriage of the Lamb has come, His bride has made herself ready.” You and I will be here, we will be here. “It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen.” Given to clothe herself in fine linen. What does this represent? “For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

Important here, we're not going to go into it, we'll talk about it as I mentioned, after chapter 19 when I pull some things together. The church was raptured before this seven-year period began, caught up to meet Christ in the air and taken to heaven. The model, and I have several pages here we'll skip over, we'll talk about it more later. But the pattern, Christ came to get His bride, took her back to His Father's house. There the marriage is formalized. That is followed by a celebration with all the invited guests, maybe like we would call today a reception. The wedding pattern is a little different, but there all the friends are invited to come and celebrate the marriage. That's the picture here. Now the bride is ready and clothed in the garments provided. But you'll note, it's not just the righteousness of Christ directly credited to our account. The fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. So, the church has been judged and evaluated and rewarded. There is a judgment coming for the church.

We don't have time to look at all the verses, but come back just to one, 2 Corinthians 5. And we'll look a little more in detail at this because I don't think we take it seriously enough as believers. We can be comfortable frittering away a lot of our life thinking as long as I am saved and not in any gross sin, everything is fine. But there is a seriousness about serving the Lord and being accountable to Him. He is talking about death and the anticipation of death and what it means for a believer in this section, began at the end of 2 Corinthians 4, but coming down to 2 Corinthians 5:5, “He who prepared us for this very purpose is God who gave us the Spirit as a pledge.” The Spirit was given to us as a down payment, like earnest money, guaranteeing that God would complete the transaction. How do I know I am going to be glorified? God promised me in His Word and gave me the Spirit to dwell within me to secure that. “Therefore, always being of good courage and knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. We walk by faith, not sight.” I mean, I know when I leave this body, I'm going to be with the Lord. How do you know? I believe it because God said it. That's what we have. “We are of good courage, I say, prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be home with the Lord.” And that would be better. It is sad when we have a loved one knows the Lord, who dies. But we know for them, even though we are grieving over our loss and separation, and that is fine, but we also at the same time rejoice. They are in heaven, enjoying the glory of God's presence. “Therefore, we also have as our ambition,” because keep in mind, “whether at home or absent, we want to be pleasing to Him.” Christians are to be ambitious people, ambitious to please Him. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” No one is going to be saved by his works, but all the judgments of Scripture are based on works. And that includes the judgment of believers. And we have other passages we can look at when we look more deeply into the judgments of Scripture.

Come back to Revelation 19. But when it says in verse 8 “the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints,” it means that they have been judged and evaluated by God and now their clothing displays the righteous deeds they have done. Not to earn their salvation, but as faithful servants, slaves, of the living God.

“Then He said to me, ‘write, blessed are they, those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And He said to me, ‘these are true words of God.’” Isn't it interesting, He is the God who is true, His judgments are true, His words are true, His promises are true. And he says, “blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” These are true words of God. The marriage supper of the Lamb is the kingdom. The bride has made herself ready, she will be unveiled. Remember we read in Romans 8, “the whole creation groans in anticipation of the unveiling of the sons of God.” We return with Christ in all the glory that we have from Him as His bride, and we are revealed to the world. We are going into the kingdom, that's the marriage supper of the Lamb.

“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Now in the pattern as I mentioned, of the oriental wedding, and we'll talk about the steps later in another study, but when the wedding had been formalized, they were formally married, then they come to the wedding feast. Then the bride is displayed with all her glory, with the groom. It is the friends of the bridegroom that are invited. You remember John the Baptist? He said, “I am not the bridegroom, I'm just a friend of the bridegroom.” He is not the bride, he is not the groom, he's just a friend. Friends are those who are not part of the church, this will include Israel, it will include others who have been saved.

The marriage supper of the Lamb. Come back to one passage, we can't just skip over it entirely, Matthew 25. And these are judgments we have to look at that will take place, really, in the context of the setting up of the kingdom before we can begin Revelation 20. You have a series of judgments that take place and there is a series of them here, including Jews and Gentiles in Matthew 25, in connection with the coming of Christ. Remember the ten virgins? “The kingdom of heaven will be compared,” Matthew 25 begins, “to ten virgins. They took their oil lamps, go out to meet the bridegroom.” Now the bridegroom is coming. What does it mean, the virgins are going out to meet the bridegroom? They are not the bride, these are virgins going out to meet the bridegroom. It's a picture of the bridegroom coming with his bride, we are ready for the wedding feast. “Five were foolish, five were prudent.” So, you have the wise and the unwise. The five who were wise were prepared, their lamps had oil and so on, in the picture of being prepared. The five foolish were lazy, they were sleeping, they didn't get oil, so they would be ready whenever he came. The point being, you have to be ready because once he comes it is too late.

Verse 5, “While the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy, began to sleep.” At midnight the announcement comes, the bridegroom is on his way. Those who had prepared were ready, their lamps could be lit. The others, they didn't have any oil. So, they had to go out to get oil in the picture. Verse 10, “While they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast. The door was shut. Later the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, open up for us.’ He answered, ‘I do not know you.’” Do you see the picture that is being portrayed? Those who are ready for the coming of the bridegroom with his bride for the wedding feast. This is for Israel, talking about the separating out of Israel. It will also be true in the parable of the talents that follows. Then we will have the judgment of the Gentiles alive at the Second Coming with the sheep and the goats. But the picture is those Jews who are not ready when Christ returns will be closed out of the kingdom. And we'll see, as we study more, Matthew 24 makes clear there will be weeping and wailing for those people. So that's the picture we have.

Come back to Revelation 19. There are a number of things going on here, but the bride has made herself ready, had been judged in the presence of Christ, is not returning to be unveiled as the bride of Christ. These are true words of God. As you read through Revelation, it is clear as God began and as He will end the book, you better study this book carefully because the blessing is on those who heed it. Remember Paul wrote to Timothy, “be sure to discipline yourself to accurately handle the Word of truth.” That's what makes us pleasing to God. You say, “Lord, I never got into that.” Well that's not an excuse. That God would give us His Word and we wouldn't think it is worth the seriousness of attention? That's why the church can become guilty of trivializing the Word, not just by denying it, but by treating it lightly, giving little talks that include a few verses. This is serious business with God. “These are true words of God.” And do you think He doesn't expect us to examine His Word carefully to see what they mean? To understand it properly and be prepared accordingly? These are true words of God.

Verse 10, “Then I fell at his feet to worship him.” The angel is giving him this revelation. You can understand, this is overwhelming. I have a heavenly being unfolding these truths of God. John didn't know anything else but to fall down and worship him. The angel immediately rebukes him, and the amazing thing is, John is going to repeat the mistake. Perhaps a word of encouragement recorded for us, we do stumble here, even at this late stage. John makes a serious mistake. He “falls down at the feet of the angel to worship him, but he said to me, ‘do not do that. I am a fellow slave of yours and your brethren, who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.'” There is only one subject of worship, that is God. Angels are just slaves like we are, to do the bidding of God, to carry out His will. I am a fellow servant, fellow slave of yours. No, these are key words, it's the word dulos. We have several words for servant, but this is a word, we often translate it servant, but slave. The angel says I am a fellow slave. This is the word slave, I'm a slave with you. I am a slave of the brethren and your fellow believers, fellow slaves “who hold to the testimony of Jesus.” The testimony of Jesus is the truth that Christ has taught, and particularly relevant to this book.

Come back to Revelation 1:1, “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to show to his bondservants,” his slaves, “the things which must take place.” So, you see the testimony of Jesus is the testimony that Christ has given regarding God's plan. God gave it to Christ, Christ gave it to the angel, the angel gave it to John, and John wrote it for us. It all directs our attention to the living God and worshiping Him. So, Revelation 1:3 said, “Blessed is he who reads, those who hear the words of this prophecy and heed the things which are in it.” I don't know . . . What a great tragedy it is that so much of the church of Jesus Christ today writes biblical prophecy off as one of the non-essentials. A correct understanding of the book of Revelation is not that important. What does God have to do? He tells us at the beginning, this is from Christ.

Then the angel says we are motivated, back in Revelation 19:10, because of the testimony Christ has borne regarding these things. We are all fellow slaves, John, you can't make that kind of mistake. Now it is not a crushing rebuke, but it is a stern correction. I'm giving you the word of Christ here that He got from the Father. You worship God. “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” He is the One who has unfolded this. Next time somebody tells you, I don't think the book of Revelation is that important, say, “you think Christ just talked for nothing? You don't think the words Christ gave . . .?” Yes, I believe the Gospels. A lot of people try to limit what Christ said to the Gospels, those that begin to dismantle Scripture. No, the very word of Christ is right here, it came directly from the Father through Christ. Just like Christ said in His earthly ministry, I don't speak of My own initiative, I tell you what God has given Me, My Father. So serious truth, it is true truth, as Francis Schaeffer used to speak of. True truth. There is only one kind of truth, it is true truth, but truth like that is God's truth.

A serious thing if you don't believe in the judgment of God, if you don't believe in the reality of coming judgment. Can't change what is true. That's why it is so important, this is a book of salvation, it's a book of condemnation. It is a message from God, the God who tells us the future. How gracious is He. We marvel at the devil who will know this book, imagine if he stood here he could quote it from memory from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation. And he'll spend an eternity in hell. Now think about that! It's not enough to know about the Word, not enough that you come and learn all this, and I was raised in this church, and I've been here, I know a lot of what it says. Until you believe that Jesus Christ is the One who loved you and died for you in your unworthiness, your sinfulness, your guilt, and trust Him, all you have is a collection of knowledge like the devil. Like a lot of the children of the devil. Truth unbelieved is truth that condemns. The gracious thing about God is He gives us His Word, He invites us to His salvation. Perhaps He brought you here today to experience that. He brought you here as His child to take this truth to heart and have it shape your life.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. It's not an empty word, it's not an irrelevant word. It is truth. You are the God who is true, You cannot lie. Every word You have spoken is truth. Lord, we would apply ourselves with diligence, earnestness, desire to handle Your Word accurately, correctly. How terrible it would be that we would be inaccurate with Your Word. We want to be workmen that are pleasing to You. May this truth grip our hearts. Lord, for any who are here who do not know You, may this be a day of salvation as they see themselves as You see them, as they are convicted of their own sin and guilt and place their faith in the Savior that they might become slaves of the living God, destined to eternal glory. We pray in Christ's name, amen.