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Hey, I’m going to invite you today to Revelation chapter 19. It’s where we find ourselves, Revelation chapter 19. And as we get into this chapter, I want you to know, out of all the chapters of Revelation, I pick my favorite and it’s Revelation 19. So I get to talk about my favorite chapter in the book of Revelation today. But one of the reasons I love this chapter is because it’s a unifying chapter to to the entire narrative of the Bible. And when you read Scripture, you come to find out. Out of the 66 manuscripts that make up our Bible, there is one grand story that God is telling us. And it’s it’s the redemption of God made known for for us because of what he’s done for us. It’s a grand redemption story that is the narrative of the Bible, and it is important for us to know that, in an intellectual sense, that the Bible is one grand narrative story. All of it points to Jesus and ultimately what he does for us so that we can find freedom in him that is intellectually important to know, but it’s also intended for us to make it personal that while you look at the narrative of God’s redemptive story, it’s also critical to recognize that God continues to tell that story in us every day. And hopefully you can say that about your life this morning and your relationship to Jesus. And if not, by the end of this, I hope that you have found your identity in Jesus, because one of the most profound things of the Bible is no matter how much you continue to study it, and it’s important to study it, it’s also how it becomes this intimate expression of what Jesus has done for me.
And I can know him personally. And one of the joys that I have as a pastor is getting to hear that redemptive story in your life over and over, how God is moving in each one of our hearts and lives to bring about his story of redemption in our lives, transformed in him. And you don’t have to be a pastor to do that. All you have to do is talk to people to know that story. But it’s a beautiful work that God does in us. In fact, it tells us if you ever read the book of Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine. It reminds us those those famous verses. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. So our salvific work is not achieved by anything that we’re doing, but what Jesus has done on our behalf. It’s a gift not of works. But then it goes on and says in verse ten, and you’re created in Christ Jesus for good works. So now it’s saying that you are you are God’s masterpiece, and his hand is is painted all over you.
His beauty made known in your life. And, you know, for for me, I, even in my own life, find that reflected in what Jesus has done in my heart as I’ve come to know this story in a in a personal way, that there is definitely a major transition in my life in who I was before Jesus and now who I am because of Jesus. I think it’s beautiful if if you grew up in a in a home that knows the Lord and at a young age you come to know Christ and you don’t carry the battle wounds of this world. But for me, that wasn’t the case. I came to know Christ in college and and who I was before Jesus and who I am now because of Jesus is a drastic difference in my life, and it’s something I’ve never got over and something I know for the rest of eternity. I will never get over. Just the goodness of knowing Christ and the richness of of walking with him daily. And as I think about what it is to know Jesus, I also recognize that we walk in a broken world and none of us do it perfectly. And so as you look at Revelation chapter 19, that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Is is living resolved despite adversity? How do I not only come to know Christ, but really just continue to honor him with our life, knowing that we live in a fallen and broken world? And Revelation 19 really begins to open up that can of worms.
And recognizing the the worship of God’s people in position with with this one individual identified for us that that wages war against God’s people and, and also lures this world into Temptation. And if I give you point number one, we’ll read the verses after this. But in order to live, live resolved, despite adversity, we’ve got to do this. We must all acknowledge we have a problem that needs conquered. We have a problem that needs conquered. Meaning, I don’t want to be so arrogant as to come across saying this now that I know Jesus, my life is perfect and everything is just dandy. But but to realize that I’m not perfected yet in Christ. And so I still walk in a fallen and broken world. And I’m susceptible to temptation. But man, I want to honor Jesus. I want my life to to to live for Jesus and to make Jesus known and and to glorify God and the way I conduct myself and and be a blessing to others. I hope all of my days of my life are faithful to the Lord in that. But. But I know that in the flesh has the ability to rear itself up at any time. So. So how can I be faithful to do that? Revelation chapter nine, verse one says this. After this, I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.
So it’s recognizing we’re true glory is to be attributed. But then it says, verse two, for his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. Once more they cried out, Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. So in Revelation we’ve discovered together these two kingdoms positioned against one another. Right? There’s the kingdom of God for which we are created to belong to. God’s original design with creation was to know him intimately, intimately in relationship, and to glorify him and all that we do. That’s why he told Adam and Eve in the garden, be fruitful, multiply, and bless to take the Garden of Eden and spread it all over the world. So that was God’s kingdom. But but man men rebelled against that and in so doing brought destruction on on humanity and on this world. This, this world that we live in is not the it’s not the world that God intended, but it’s the world that we discover because of rebellion against him. And this is represented Revelation through through the idea of a fallen Babylonian society, a kingdom of Satan, one that’s identified as as following this great prostitute. And this idea of this prostitute is important. In fact, when we look at Revelation 19, we’re going to see three figures that are talked about and understanding how these figures play out in in our own relationship with the Lord is, is, is significant for us, and especially in terms of being faithful to God with our lives.
But we’ve got to acknowledge that in the midst of, of this calling to to glorify God, as you see expressed in this passage, that there is there is one who wages war against us, who desires to tempt us, and is seen as this this great prostitute and this idea of this great prostitute is, is this temptation to to lure you into spiritual adultery? It’s as if to say this, that your heart was intended to belong to someone, but instead of giving your heart there, your heart is, is is raptured or captured by by something else or someone else. And you give yourself over to its pleasures for your purposes and forsake the one you were intended to belong to. In fact, this idea of the prostitute helps us really think about what drives sin. The idea of sin we talk about in terms of spiritual adultery. What this great prostitute represents, it’s helping us realize that, you know, the idea of sin is simply more than just something that you do that’s wrong in another way, I could say it like this. The idea of Christianity is in living a Christian life is more than just simply a duty, a job that you you live out, but rather at the root of either one of those things is is what your positioning your heart towards.
Meaning when. When I sin long before my sin becomes an action, there’s already a captivation of of my heart to belong to whatever that action will entail, right? Before I ever do something, I’ve already given myself over to it for which my conduct would be made known. It’s why in Proverbs chapter four verse 23, you’re you’re told as as people in this world guard your heart, for from it flows the wellspring of life. It’s why in Matthew chapter 12, Jesus says to us in verse 34, out of the heart, the mouth speaks. Meaning what drives what you do and what you say is something deeper at the core of what you’re giving yourself over to. And if you want to know what drives sin in our lives, what breeds that temptation is the seed of sin is made known in our heart. And then when it’s birthed, it gives way to our actions. But long before it becomes an action where we where we should find ourselves as people rather than walking in the path of sin, is to recognize that that’s that’s what the the great prostitute wants to do. It wants to take my life and lure it into this temptation. But my my heart is intended to belong to the Lord. It was created for him. In fact, one of the ways that you can tell what truly has your heart is seen by by moments of reflection.
When you have times of peace. What I mean is, when you’re the busyness of life subsides and you’re left unto yourself, where does your mind go? What do you think about? What does your heart long for? It’s an indication of where you are belonging, right? Or we could say it this way when with the resources that you have in life, the talents, the time, the possessions that you carry, what do you devote those things to? And Jesus very pointedly said at one point that where your, your, your money goes, that’s an indicator of where your heart is, where your treasures are. It’s taking those resources and attributing them to something that’s identifying for us, an idol. Now, I’m not saying to all of us that if you’re if your heart’s really given over to the Lord and your free time, everyone needs to sit and rock in a corner and just say to themselves, just thinking about God, just thinking about God. You know, I’m not trying to make us weird, but what I’m what I’m trying to say is what I’m trying to say is in those moments, what’s directing your heart? Are you saying, Lord, you, you, my heart belongs to you and you’re guiding me. So therefore, Lord, as I think about making a decision, how do I navigate that knowing that you are Lord of my life? God, how do I dedicate myself to to to to things in this world, knowing that you’re your king, sovereign over me? So the the trajectory of my, my life is indicated by really the thing of which I’ve given my heart to.
And here in this passage, you see how how God’s people are expressing that in light of this great prostitute, they’re recognizing, here’s this moment at her downfall. But yet the attitude of their heart is one of praise. And you see that in this word. Hallelujah. This is the word give praise to God. The Hallelujah or Hallel. And your is the word for Yahweh at the end of Hallelujah. So this is giving praise to God, and it gives us the reason why they’re giving praise in these verses. We’ll look at it in just a second. But one of the things I want you to, to, to recognize in this passage. Is this this word Hallelujah. It’s used here in verse one. It’s used in verse three. It’s used again in verse four and verse six. Those are the only four verses in all of the New Testament that the word Hallelujah is used. In fact, when you read the Bible, the only other section where you truly find the word Hallelujah is in the Book of Psalms. And you don’t find it even throughout all of Psalms. You don’t find it really until Psalm 100 to 100 and 50 or 150. It’s peppered in those last 50 psalms of the 150 Psalms.
This word. Hallelujah. And I love that this is the only place that this this word is used in the New Testament. Not because I don’t think we should use it. I think it’s an important word to use, but it’s it’s as if to say, we we’re saving this moment in God’s redemptive story, being told for a, a particular place, because there’s no better word to express how significant this is for our lives. So Hallelujah, praise God. And when I, when I, when I picture this, what’s taking place in these first three verses that John’s having this moment as he’s writing to us this letter in Revelation, here’s John, he’s experiencing this worship. And and when you consider what John is saying here, this is all of God’s people throughout history that belong to Jesus, gathered together in one place, lifting up their voices in unison and in praise to God. How powerful this would be. At one time when I was in in high school, I had the opportunity to go to an NBA game. It was my first NBA game I got to go to, and I watched the Charlotte Hornets versus the Boston Celtics, which that year I think they were more terrible than the jazz are this year. So it wasn’t a great game. But when I got there, it was it was in Charlotte and there was a massive blizzard. Two feet of snow. City of Charlotte doesn’t even own a snow plow.
And so it was like me and five people that made it to this game. And they actually the storm was so bad they delayed the game by an hour, and anyone that showed up on time, they actually got to let you go down on the court and meet all the players and the coaches and and the only player that was worth anything on either of those teams at that time was Kevin Garnett. I got to meet Kevin Garnett, but the rest of them didn’t last long in the NBA. But one thing I found out when that game started, the game started and we went to our seats that we were assigned to, but there were so few people there that they let you sit courtside if you wanted to, but not having a crowd there. The game was so boring that no one at that point, when they announced you can sit next to the on the courtside, no one even cared. No one moved. We all just sat in our seats. I mean, people all the way up in the in the nosebleeds, they’re like forget it, it’s not worth the walk. And you begin to realize how much a crowd makes a difference and just appreciating the moment. And here’s John in this, this, this moment. And he’s hearing, could you imagine the power of one voice through a multitude of people just praising God? How how incredible this would be.
Can I can I tell you one of the reasons this is a little bit selfish of me? Many of you might think when we gather in worship, the reason I sit up front, if you know my seat, it’s right here. No one ever take this. But. But if the reason I sit there, it’s not because I’m a pastor. I could sit anywhere. That doesn’t matter. But the reason I sit there is because of moments like this in Revelation 19. This is where I think to myself, this opportunity to gather in God’s people and worship really is as close as I’m going to get on this earth to what’s being described here, that I get to sit in the front and be engulfed by the sounds of your voices being lifted up and praise to your King. And it just it reminds me of this passage, like I said, one of my favorite passages to reflect on what it means to be before the presence of this king who has given everything for me. I mean, what word could you possibly use to express this? But hallelujah, praise to him! And it goes on to tell us why they’re motivated this way in the midst of the temptation of this prostitute, here they are pursuing their king. And they’re not perfect, but they’re they’re pursuing their king. And remember, I told you Revelation for us is this is a book written in the midst of persecution, and God’s people are being worn down by this persecution.
But John’s writing and saying, don’t lose hope. Continue to worship Revelation as a worship book, saying, Look to Jesus. It’s going to be fulfilled. All the promises will come true, and every bad thing done to you will become undone. This is that’s what this book is about, motivating the soul and the trouble that we experience in life and the richness of who Christ is, that may we, we may glory in his presence forever. And if you look in verse two, it goes on and tells you why, it says, for his judgments are true and just. So, so they’re saying, look, this is why we’re worshiping God at the at the very end of verse one. Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God. And here’s why. Because he’s true. Everything that he said, every promise being fulfilled. The grand story of God’s redemption made known and he is just to fulfill it. He’s the one that has the power to execute all that he’s promised. And so they’re seeing all of this culminated in in history. And. And John’s experiencing this rejoicing. And in verse three once more they cried out, Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. So there’s this finality to this that when you even think about this morning, the weight that’s on your own shoulders and the stress of life, all of that being undone and the presence of God, every terrible thing that’s happened to you in life, all of it made untrue because the presence of of Jesus and his justice over you.
And so they’re rejoicing in this. And then in verse four and five, he goes on and, and he says, and the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne saying, Amen. Hallelujah. And from the throne came a voice saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great. And so the thing that’s driven them forward is this reverence for who God is, this fear of the Lord. I mean, out of all the things in life, you could entrust yourself to the great authority who is only worthy, for that is the Lord himself. And so these are God’s people that are walking in life in reverence of who he is. And that’s that’s what I want for me. That’s what I want for you. I hope you want it for yourself. But how how do I do this faithfully, knowing that there, there is the this brokenness in life. And there’s there’s a problem that we all face that needs conquered. How do we do this? And I want us to consider this in the next few verses. We’re only going to look at the first ten verses of Revelation. But but just two, two thoughts I want us to focus on as we consider our own life in faithfulness to Jesus.
It says this in your notes. Therefore I will number one, root myself in God’s promises. I will root myself in God’s promises. So this is what the early church has done here in this passage. And they’ve found God to be faithful. But this is what God’s calling is for us to to root ourselves in, in his promises. And I love the richness of this passage and how John describes it for us, because he introduces us to another figure here. And this figure becomes important for us to understand the theme of the Bible. He says, verse six, then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. The image that John has here is very similar to what you find in the Exodus story. When God gives his Ten Commandments the power of God’s presence made known. And so they’re they’re hearing this. And then verse seven, he says this. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory. For the marriage of the lamb has come. The marriage of the lamb has come. The. This phrase is is rich with imagery in the Bible. And when you think of how God’s people are celebrating the presence of the Lord, I think all of it is culminating in this idea. The marriage of the lamb has come.
It’s this moment as God’s people, we we should look forward to. The marriage of the lamb has come. There’s a the idea of of a dowry, really that’s being painted for us here in this, this marriage of the lamb. But when John is saying this, it’s important for us to recognize he’s he’s mixing metaphors. He’s taking the idea of the lamb and what it represents, and the idea of marriage and what it represents for your relationship and mine, which which means for us this morning, all of us are being painted as a bride, right? So, so this is significant, right? We went from this, this lure, this temptation, this giving of our life to this prostitute who’s just using us. And ultimately, we’re using her to now being embraced as a bride that belongs to something different, someone different. And this is what you’re made for. Now I know, guys when I tell you you’re a bride, it’s not something we necessarily get excited about. I can’t wait to be someone’s bride. Right? But but here’s here’s something I think that’s critical for us to know. A lot of Scripture is written from a masculine standpoint, and a lot of the images are drawn from a masculine standpoint. And so you can tolerate being a bride just for today. Okay. So but this this imagery is important for all of us to know. And why is John saying this? You know, when you think about the idea of, of a bride in the Bible, the the Bible begins with a picture of a bride.
And here it is, the Bible’s ending again with with a picture of a bride. And even when you turn to the Gospels, for example, you were to read the Gospel of John. Revelation is written by John. But that’s not the only book John’s written. He’s also written some letters, three letters, epistles. And then he’s written the Gospel of John. And when you read the Gospel of John, it gives this grand introduction to Jesus in the first 18 verses of chapter one. If you want to know a theological understanding of who Jesus really is, first 18 verses of John articulate for us theologically who Jesus is, and then the rest of the book is sharing how Jesus then lives out, that that theology of who he is. And one of the first things that you come to in John chapter two is a miracle that demonstrates who Jesus is. In fact, you see many miracles that demonstrate who Jesus is. Now, I want you to know if I were in charge of, like, the PR firm for introducing Jesus to this world, the way that I would choose to do it is much different than the way John chooses to do it. I mean, I would be like, okay, let’s let’s send out invites to every rich, Powerful, popular. Whatever person you can think of, let’s get the biggest stadium we can find.
We need some pyros, we need some smoke, we need some whatever. Like big band performing before this. I mean, he’s going to have like, this WWE introduction out into the audience. We’re going to say, here he is. Right. That would be more like my idea of how we should introduce Jesus to this world. We got to go big. But when you read the Gospel of John, that’s not how John introduces Jesus to the world. In fact, when John starts talking to us about the miracles that Jesus performs to validate who he is as the Messiah, I think out of all the miracles that we know Jesus does in the gospel, I would be like, let’s lead with resurrection, resurrecting people from the dead. How about that one Jesus? He did that one a couple times. Let’s start with that one. Let’s go big. But the first miracle John chooses in John chapter two is turning water into wine. Now that is bizarre to me. I don’t know about you, but I find that weird. Out of all the things you could pick, like blind man can see and a lame man can walk. Yeah. Any resurrecting the dead, any of those things? But he chooses turning water into wine. Now, why in the world? And then when you read that miracle, it’s even more bizarre. Like when when Jesus’s mother comes to him and says, Jesus, they’re running out of wine. This will be embarrassing for the family.
Do something. And in verse four, this is what Jesus said, woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. When I read that, like I’m picturing in my mind, Jesus must be a teenager because he’s saying his mom, I’m on the couch right now. I’m not getting up. That’s what I feel like Jesus is saying here, right? And so when I read verse four, I’m like, oh, miracle’s not going to happen, okay. You know, but then you read verse five and it says this. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you, which I found so weird because I thought, Mary, he just told you he wasn’t going to do anything right. That’s what I and for my 21st century mind, might perceive Jesus as saying, until I understand what Jesus actually means by what he says, because the idea that Jesus is Saying, what of what Jesus is saying here becomes critical for us to understand this passage and what John is getting at. What Jesus actually says is my hour has not yet come. And what Jesus means by this is I’m going to do the miracle. But this isn’t the real miracle, right? Jesus is in a wedding, but he’s saying to his mom, but mom, this isn’t the real wedding. Jesus has his eyes on something greater. So Jesus is willing to do the miracles, but he wants us to know that this isn’t the miracle.
So his hour has not yet come. And then as you turn through the the pages of the Gospel of John, when you get to John chapter 14, Jesus says something interesting here. This is to put it in a context. Jesus is at the final hours of his life. He’s in the final night of his life when he’s about to be betrayed and he’s in the upper room with his disciples. And then he gives this interesting statement. He says, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father’s house, for many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself. That where I am, you may be also. If you remember in these moments Jesus in the upper room with his disciples, he’s celebrating Passover. And the Passover was what they have celebrated for hundreds of years, from the days of Moses, when God delivered them from Egypt to slaves, and the first night that there was a Passover. God tells them to take a lamb. This is where in Revelation 19, John’s mixing metaphors, the marriage supper of the lamb. And they were to take that lamb and sacrifice that lamb, and they would apply the blood of that lamb to their doorposts, that when the death angel came through Egypt to bring judgment, anyone that applied the blood of the lamb to their life, that death angel would pass over and they would be set free.
And so that that lamb became this ultimate image of the one lamb who would truly liberate his people, which is Jesus. And now, in these final moments, Jesus is celebrating Passover with his disciples as that final lamb, the true Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. As John says in chapter one, verse 29. But when Jesus is celebrating Passover, we now honor that as communion. But when Jesus is celebrating Passover, he breaks communion with his disciples. And what’s taking place here is what’s being described in John chapter 14. This this picture of communion is also represented as a dowry in the first century when when a young man wanted to marry a young woman, he would go meet with the father of the bride, and he would talk to the father about a dowry that he would pay to the father in order to receive that bride to himself. And when the father and that son came to an agreement, they would partake of communion with the bride to say that the the agreement has been made, and now these two will be wedded. But before that wedding took place and the marriage was fully consummated, they would partake of communion. That young man would get up from that table, and he would go home and immediately start building a place to receive his bride unto himself.
And in John chapter 14, this is exactly what Jesus is describing for you and for me, that he has come to pay a dowry for your life. And the dowry was agreed upon with the father, and and the dowry payment was his life for you and for me, that sacrificial lamb. He has given everything for you that your heart would then belong to him. And now we find ourselves in in this position as God’s people, waiting for that moment when he will return to receive us to him. And my father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. Behold, I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also. What’s interesting in Jewish law during this time period is once that young man and that young woman agreed upon that that dowry, and they partook of communion together. When that young man left to prepare a home for his bride. If anything happened to that young man, if that young man was to pass away, that young lady would have been considered a a widow in society. She belonged to him. Because the same thing is true for you and for me. Jesus paid a dowry for you and for me with his life. The sacrificial lamb. Sometimes people have this erroneous idea. They think that the payment needed to be made to Satan. Which is not true.
The payment was made to the father because God is a holy God and we as people lie in his wrath. But Jesus covered us in grace by giving his life for you and for me, that the righteousness of Christ could be made known in us. We belong to him. So that when you go on in this gospel story and you get to John chapter 16, look what Jesus said. He said, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. When you’re concerned about your future, it’s hard to have peace. But when you know your future is secure, there is peace for the soul. You think in this upper room the disciples have been told Jesus is going to die. And now they’re not only worried about Jesus, they’re worried about themselves. And all that they’ve worked for for these last three years is just evaporating before their eyes. And now they’re they’re concerned what’s going to happen. And Jesus is helping them to understand this is exactly this is exactly working or working itself out exactly as he has determined. And so verse 33, because of that, he says that you would have peace. He says, in the world you will have tribulation. But take heart. I have overcome the world. And then chapter 17, it starts when he when he had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, look at this, Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your son that your son may glorify you. Finally, Gospel of John chapter two Jesus said to his mother, my hour has not yet come. I’m here for a wedding, but not this wedding. And now, in John chapter 16, the dowry is being paid for his bride. His hour has come. Jesus giving everything for. For you and for me. And this. The Bible begins to paint this incredible picture of what this marriage is about in Christ. That your heart is made to belong to him. And so therefore, when you think about how do I be faithful to the Lord? First I’ve got to root myself in his promises to understand what Jesus has done for my life. That that as he’s given his, his, his heart for me, he’s given his life for me so that my heart would belong to him. I’m created for him. So that then. Point number two, we would embrace. I would embrace my Christ given position. I would embrace my Christ given position. You no longer belong to the broken world that we live in, but rather you belong to a different kingdom because you belong to a different king, not the great prostitute, but to Christ himself. And in being his bride there is this identity that you take on. And so in verse seven, second half of the verse, it says, And his bride that’s the third figure, and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.
For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, write this blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So here you see in verse nine, he John, is being told by the angels, right? This invitation, this is something all of us want to RSVP to. We definitely don’t want to miss this. We want to belong to this because Jesus has given this invitation to you to be his bride. And so for you to receive this identity and stand in this position is significant for our lives. And he tells us that we have made ourselves ready by taking this invitation from Jesus. We have made ourselves ready. Now we could ask the question, what does that look like? Do I need to do something? Do I have to perform in a certain way to make God’s God’s love avail to me so that Jesus will receive me? And the answer is that for us, it’s not about what you do. It’s about what he’s done. In fact, if you were to read Revelation chapter seven and verse 14, it describes the way the church has prepared themselves for this moment and what it says is they have taken their garments that are filthy, and they have dipped it in the blood of the lamb to make themselves pure.
It’s the righteousness of Christ made known. In fact, in John chapter six, verse 28 and 29. At one point Jesus was asked, what must we do to avail ourselves to God? And Jesus responds, believe in the one who gave himself for you. The perfection of Christ made known in our life now, certainly because of that, will do things for him. But it’s not what makes us righteous. It’s Jesus alone who makes us righteous. Who paid that dowry for for you and for me. Which is why this idea of marriage is so important when you think about, out of all the things God could have used to communicate, what a relationship with him was like, he uses marriage quite often. And marriage represents a few things for us one. It’s comprehensive meaning. When you read about marriage in the beginning of Genesis, God says to Adam and Eve that two shall become one flesh. That you belong together. You’re intertwined to each other. And so when you live your life, you’re mindful of how that impacts both of you and the decisions that you make. And the same is true for us in the Lord, that my heart doesn’t belong to anything else but him.
And so therefore, as I think about his promises and what he’s done and the position it now puts me, I am mindful of that as the way I live my life, because my life is for a different glory than the things of this world. In addition to that, when you think about marriage, it’s it is binding legally in the sense that when two become one, whatever you have as a single, you now own together. So if you’re full of debt, welcome to the debt. Right? But with Christ, what do we get? The richness of who he is made known. The wealth of Jesus poured over us. That’s why the Bible tells you in first Peter two nine that you are a royal Priesthoods that you you belong to him. And all that is Jesus is yours. And not only that, the idea of marriage is the most intimate of relationships, which is where you’re created to be in the Lord. Your life was made for him. And the idea of him giving his life as a dowry, his heart totally laid down for you, is to give you this invitation that you may know him in a personal way, as he has made himself known to you. Walking with the Lord. And then it says in verse ten that the testimony at the very end for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And here’s, here’s what John is saying.
This is the point of all of the Bible. The spirit of prophecy is in reference to all of Scripture. All that’s been recorded to you in God’s Word. The whole theme, the whole point was Jesus made known the redemption story of God in your life? In fact, one of the things that makes the Bible an incredible work of literature, even if you just if you just set God aside for a minute from a humanistic standpoint, the Bible is a marvel that no book in all of antiquity can even compare to it. Because when you think about the the themes of Scripture, what you see in this illustration, every, every white line there on the bottom represents a chapter of the Bible. That longest line there in the very middle is Psalm 119. It’s the longest chapter in the Bible. It’s by far the longest chapter in the Bible. In the book of Psalms is is the middle of the Bible. So that’s why you see Psalm 119 right there in the middle. But all those lines represent books of the Bible. And then these these arches are how the Bible is interconnected, the grand themes of Scripture being told over and over so that we can see the the Jesus as the main character in all of it. And here’s why this matters is that when you think about how the Bible was put together, you’re talking 1500 years over 40 authors, three languages, three continents, one theme, one theme.
There is nothing that compares to that. I can’t even keep a train of thought for five minutes. Right? One theme over this long. It is incredible how God’s grand story has been told for you and for me. And this is what John is saying as you look at this, this idea of this lamb who’s come for us giving everything to this dowry that we might belong to him. He’s saying the spirit of prophecy, this this is what this has all been about, the freedom that you have in Jesus. There’s nothing better you can do in these moments than just rejoice over a God who is faithful for you and for me. How do I then remain faithful? Saturating myself in the promises of God, walking in the position that God has given me so that I may honor God in all that I do to never get over this. This story is the story of God over my heart and yours. That the Bible is more than just this intellectual assent, but it becomes personal. I’ll end with this. We’re going to partake of communion together in just a minute. But there’s a famous reformed teacher by the name of John Knox. He was he was a pastor during a time period where it was very difficult to pursue Jesus and Christians were being persecuted. But at the end of John’s life, it was known of John that on his deathbed he requested, he said, would you please read Isaiah 53 for me? Because it’s the passage for which my soul was at first anchored in him.
As for John Knox, at the end of his life, he came to this place of Scripture that defined for him the kind of man that he would be because of who Christ was. If you ever read Isaiah 53, it’s that that passage that prophetically declares that Jesus is going to give his life for us on the cross. And John found his identity there. Now, I want you to know all the verses of the Bible are important, but there are certain verses of Scripture that become these pinnacle places where we root and anchor our identity and the way we choose then to live our life because of it. And just like John found himself in Isaiah 53, I think Revelation chapter 19 is another one of those chapters that reminds us of how fortunate we are because of the grace of God made known. God didn’t owe me anything. And because of that, I’m a hellbound sinner. But yet he gave me everything and giving me himself that I could find freedom in him. And because of that, then I am a person of peace and hope in this world, because the promises of God made known in my life.