Series: Revelation: The Best is Yet to Come

Title: “Why worship Jesus Christ: His wrath and wedding?”

Scripture: Revelation 19:1-10 (Commentary helps listed at the end)

Bottom line: We worship Jesus Christ because of who he is and what he’s done. We exist to worship him and enjoy him forever.

“Mission for God exists because worship of God doesn’t.” -John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad

Introduction:

“Imagine boarding an airplane, having the doors close, and then hearing the pilot announce that as soon as he gets the plane off the ground he’s putting his nine-year-old son in the pilots chair. How relieved would you be if near the end of the flight, after many dips, dives, jerks, and polls, the pilot announced that he had taken control of the plane? When God begins to reign, the world will finally be ruled as it should be.“ -Hamilton

Afghanistan we’ve seen injustice and evil…

We will have reason to celebrate one day!

John piper wrote that the reason the mission of God exists because the worship of God does not. Let the nations be glad

What will get us through is this truth:

Last week’s Bottom line: “The future is bright even though the day is dark.”

This week’s bottom line: We worship Jesus Christ for who he is and for what he’s done. We exist to worship him and enjoy him forever.

Last week in Revelation 17-18 we saw the downfall of Babylon and how those seduced by her are drug down with her into destruction with her. Are you in that crowd? God calls you out today! (V. 4)

This week we see God praised for his character and competency. His character shines as he acts in accordance with that character in judging the whore and giving her what she deserves.

Context:

We have seen:

• Jesus and his churches (1-3)

• The throne and judgments of God (6-16)

• The whore, the King, and his bride (17-22)

  • Last week we saw the fall of Babylon

  • This week we see heaven celebrate him

  • Next week we’ll see his return! (Second coming)

Outline:

This passage gives us two huge reasons for why we worship Jesus. And they don’t even include that fact that he CREATED us or that he is the RISEN Christ defeating death and living forever (which should be reasons enough!).

So, in case we needed more reasons to worship Jesus, here they are in Revelation 19:1-10

In light of Jesus’ return in chapter 19, a vast crowd will praise him the Lamb of God:

I. The celebration in Heaven (19:1-10)

A. Praising the Lamb for his wrath on a corrupt whore (19:1-5)

1. The reasons for his judgment (19:2): This false religious system is condemned on two counts.

   1. Corrupting the earth with immorality (19:2a)

   2. Murdering the saints of God (19:2b)

2. The rejoicing over this judgment (19:1, 3-5)

   1. The song (19:1b, 3, 4b-5): It consists of one great, grand, and glorious word: “Hallelujah!”

   2. The singers (19:1a, 4a)

      1. A vast multitude (19:1a)

      2. The 24 elders (19:4a)

B. Praising the Lamb for his wedding to a chaste wife (19:6-10)

1. The clothing of the bride (19:6-9): She wears the cleanest, whitest, and finest of linens.

2. The chastening of the apostle (19:10): John is rebuked for attempting to worship the angel who is revealing these things to him.

II. The confrontation on Earth (19:11-12) (NEXT WEEK)

Conclusion:

Have you been invited to the wedding feast?

Have you accepted the invitation?

How are you preparing to be part of the bride of Christ?

Pray

Notes:

Why we worship Jesus:

Hallelujah = Praise Yah or Yahweh = Praise the Lord = Praise Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords.

4X - nowhere else in the NT; found heavily in the Hallel Psalms

Who God is

• Savior

• Glory, attributes of God

  • Love

  • Truth

  • Holiness

  • Power

  • Knowledge

  • Omnipresence

  • Omnigoodness

  • Immutability

• Truth & Holiness

• Avenger

• King, sovereign ruler

• Bridgegroom; Groom

• Provider of Holiness

What God’s done

• Saved us from sin and death, shame and guilt, babylon the whore, and hell itself.

• Present in His people (Holy Spirit)

• True and just in his judgments (esp. against babylon and Satan.

• Avenged all injustice

• Rules with all authority and power

• Betrothed to His people

• Clothed His people in righteousness

Who am I in light of this?

• His servant who rightly fears and reveres him

• His saved/rescued one

• Worshipper of Jesus Christ

• Bride of Christ

What do we get to do as a result?

• Please him; gladly submit to him

• Live for him with my life he saved from eternal destruction and damnation

• Rejoice and shout hallelujah because of who he is and what he’s done. Worship God!

• Enjoy him and his wedding feast forever.

Better questions:

• Are you invited to the wedding feast?

• Have you accepted your invitation?

• What’s keeping you from accepting that invitation?

• What does your life say?

• What needs to change?

Hallelujah = (You) Praise Yah(weh)

BQ: Why only used here (4X in Revelation)? Why do we worship and praise Jesus like this here?

Reason 1 - Because Jesus Christ delivers his people from the Whore (Babylon).

Psalms 113-118 are the Hallel psalms. The thread that runs through them is the Exodus. They are sung before, during and/or after the Passover Celebration. They recall God’s deliverance from and judgment of Egypt. (The Babylon of that day)

Jesus and his disciples likely sang one or more of these as part of their Passover celebration at the last supper. (Mark 14:26)

We worship Jesus because he delivers us from Babylon (the world, the flesh, the devil).

Babylon = the great city, the whore, mother of whores, the power that opposes God’s purposes and oppresses God’s people.

1500 BC Passover meal celebrates deliverance from Egypt won through the coming Passover lamb (Jesus).

AD 30 Wedding feast celebrates deliverance from Babylon won through blood of the lamb.

Reason 2 - Because of the coming marriage supper of the lamb. (Eternal feast) Because he calls us and then makes us ready by empowering us to be ready for his arrival. (Cf. Phil 2:12-13) “Therefore, the multitude cries, “Hallelujah!” The bride (the Church) is ready to enter into the feast, which lasts not 7 days, not even 14 days, but forever.” -D Johnson

Throughout the OT, the arrival of God’s kingdom—new heaven, new earth, new Jerusalem, new Zion—is spoken of as entering a great feast.

See Isaiah 25:6

Rev 19:7 & 9

Parable Matthew 22:1-14

King is God the Father

Son is Jesus

All who didn’t RSVP to invite and dress appropriately are judged

“Let us rejoice and be glad” only shows up twice in NT:

1. Rev 19

2. Matt 5:11-12

“Let us rejoice and be glad” Why? Because the vindication of Jesus’ disciples is taking place.

Case: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” is a discipleship book—a document to hope make disciples. (Darrell Johnson)

Jesus’ great commission is go make disciples of all nations, all ethnic groups. This book shows us what it means to be his disciples. These images help us.

Images:

• Great city (Babylon) vs The Greater City (New Jerusalem)

• Whore vs Bride

Titles and images: Disciples are:

• Priests

• Co-regents with Jesus

• Witnesses

• Martyrs

• His Bride

1st Church (Ephesus): “Left your first love.” (2:4)

7th Church (Laodicea): “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into you, and eat with you as you with me.” (3:20) Echos love poem in Song of Solomon 5:2

“I stand and knock”

“Hear my voice”

“Opens the door”

4th Church (Thyatira): “Jezebel who seeks to seduce Jesus’ bride into bed with Babylon the whore.”

Ephesians 5:25-27

Marriage customs of 1st century Judaism:

3 steps in getting married:

1. Engagement (betrothal)

2. Prepare for wedding

3. Wedding supper itself

1. Betrothal ceremony

Prospective groom and best man leave father’s house and travel to prospective bride’s house. Finalize arrangements and settle on “purchase price”. (She is bought at a price, 1 Cor 6:20)

As soon as paid, marriage technically went into effect. Legally bound to each other but not sleeping or even living together yet. She was declared “consecrated” to the groom (set-apart) exclusively for him.

A new covenant established between the sealed by drinking wine over a benediction was pronounced: “This cup is a new covenant”

The groom leaves bride’s house and returns to father’s house for 12 months while he prepares a room there for them to live in.

During this time the bride prepares herself for the wedding (and marriage).

While not sleeping or even living together these 12 months, they were legally and spiritually bound to each other. “So binding was this betrothal agreement—this covenant—that if a man died during the betrothal period, she was considered a widow. To breach the betrothal agreement was the same as divorce.” (Think Joseph and Mary)

“At the end of the betrothal period, the bridegroom, dressed in festive attire, and accompanied by his best man and friends, would make his way back to the bride’s house. Although everyone had a rough idea of when the groom would come, they did not know the exact day or hour. Usually, to add the element of surprise, he would arrive around midnight. His arrival would be preceded by the shout, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out. Come out to meet him” (Matt 25:6). Then, wiht great joy, the bride, veiled and accompanied by her maidens, who were carrying lamps, would come out to join the groom and his attendants. Then the wedding feast itself would begin!”

“First, there was a brief ceremony involving the word, “take.” The groom would “take” the bride from her home. Thus the Hebrew expression, “Take a wife”. free the groom “took” the bride, the whole bridal party would make its way to the groom’s father’s house. There they would find the wedding guests gathered and dressed in special robes. The feast would take off! It would last 7 days, sometimes 14 days.”

“About AD 33, in Jerusalem, Jesus is havin gthe Passover meal with his disciples in an upper room. He takes a cup of wine, gives it to his disciples, and says, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood.; Jesus then tells them he is leaving. Wha’ts more, he tells them that they cannot come where he is going—-yet (John 13:36).

Then John 14:1-3

“Do you hear what Jesus is claiming? He is the Bridegroom, the headband of the people of God. We are his bride. He has paid ‘the purchase price’ with his own blood. He has sealed the engagement with a cup of wine; ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood.’ He is preparing a place for us in his Father’s house. And he is coming to take us to himself to be his forever.”

“We have been betrothed! We are engaged to Jesus Christ!” -Darrell Johnson

“Hallelujah! The time has come for the marriage feast.” Send out the invitations. “Blessed!” “Blessed is everyone who is invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Look at Rev 19:7-8 “And the bride has made herself ready…was given to her to clothe herself…”

Tension here like throughout the NT. On the one hand, “The bride has made herself ready.” On the other hand, “And it was given to her to clothe herself.” Which is it?

It is the same tension found in Phil 2:12-13: “So then…work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Who’s doing the work? Us or Jesus? The answer is both.

“He calls us to himself. Then in relationship with himself, he begins to free us, especially from captivity to Babylon, and begins to empower us to live a new life. Our new life leads to new deeds, “the righteous deeds of the saints” (19:8). Yet it is because of his power at work in us—that we are able to do the new deeds.” -D Johnson

What does all of this mean for discipleship right now? At least 6 Things:

1. If we are engaged to the Lamb, then we have a powerful picture of the nature of Jesus’ love for us.

   1. He loves us as his friends

   2. As his brothers and sisters

   3. As his temple

   4. As his body

   5. …But as his BRIDE! Wow!

2. If we are engaged to the Lamb, then we are very secure.

   1. Bought at a price: his own blood.

   2. We are not our own any longer—we are his!

   3. New covenant he’ll never break

3. If we are engaged to the Lamb, then the fundamental issue of discipleship is loyalty. The issue is fidelity. We do not want ot be found in bed with another lover. Babylon, the whore, is very seductive. We cannot be engaged to 2 brides.

4. If we are engaged to the Lamb, then sin is worse than we thought. Sin is adultery.

   1. It is not only missing the mark.

   2. It is not only twistedness.

   3. It is adultery. Profoundly relational.

5. If we are engaged to the Lamb, then the call to loyalty is a call to be ready. It’s a call to intimacy.

   1. He’s gone away to prepare a room in his Father’s house. (21-22)

   2. While he’s gone, are we preparing ourselves? “The righteous acts of the saints”

6. If we are engaged to the Lamb, then the call to discipleship is a call to simplicity.

   1. We are too busy. Too encumbered.

   2. No wonder we lose intimacy.

   3. Lack of margin kills intimacy. -Andy Stanley

   4. Think back to when you were engaged…we MADE time to be together.

   5. Being in love simplifies things.

   6. The call to discipleship is the call to do whatever it takes to stay in love with Jesus.

Other Illustrations:

Main commentary help:

• Exalting Jesus in Revelation by Daniel Akin

• Revelation by Jim Hamilton

• Revelation by Paige Patterson, New American Commentary series

• Breaking the Code by Bruce Metzger

• 2020 Sermons by Matt Chandler

• ESV Global Study Bible

• Bible in One Year by Nicky Gumbel

• Bible Knowledge Commentary

• The Outline Bible, Wilmington

• Discipleship on the Edge, Darrell W. Johnson