In Scott Brown's sermon, 'Let us Be Glad and Rejoice,' he focuses on Revelation 19, emphasizing the call for believers to praise God with 'Hallelujah' for His omnipotence and the forthcoming marriage of the Lamb. Brown highlights the contrast between the harlot in Revelation 18, symbolizing the world's corruption, and the purified bride in Revelation 19, representing the church. He underscores the significance of the Lamb, Jesus, as a sacrificial savior who redeems and sanctifies believers, urging them to prepare as a bride for the marriage supper of the Lamb. The sermon also stresses God's sovereignty, urging the congregation to trust in His plans amidst worldly uncertainties in 2022. Brown calls for active sanctification, encouraging believers to purify themselves in readiness for this divine union, reflecting on God's eternal promises and the joy of the anticipated heavenly feast.

Please open your Bibles to the inerrant, all-sufficient, holy, sweeter-than-honey Word of God, To Revelation 19 and find verse 6. I'll read through verse 10. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings sang, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.

And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him.

But he said to me, see that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Let's pray. Oh Father, I pray you would take these words and burn them into our hearts that we would receive with meekness the implanted word not miss a word of Scripture for the day that you would come and equip the Saints that you would comfort the sorrowful that you would make well those who are ill, and that you would save any who are lost.

Pray that you would come and strengthen your flock today somehow through these words by your Holy Spirit. Amen. So please be seated. So this being the first Sunday of the new year, this I hope will be some help to all of us to be the backdrop of our life in this coming year in 2022 that this key word in Revelation 19 would serve as your war cry and that's the word, hallelujah, hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. I reminded everyone last week that this word hallelujah is the second person in plural imperative command, which means y'all praise the Lord.

It's a call that the church makes to one another. And it's of course a picture of multitudes in heaven who are crying this out. They're crying hallelujah. It's a sound like thunder. It's a sound like many waters.

And they're telling of the wonderful things that have happened and the things that are happening. It's a picture of heaven. And they're identifying five historical realities that are taking place and have taken place, but it's all about this drama of the rescue of a bride, which is what the entire word of God is all about. But for us as a local church, this really is the reality for every believer. These things are the things that are spoken of that have happened in our lives and that will happen in our lives.

So they're very, very wonderful. And I pray that these realities would really grip our hearts. Now, remember the context of this section of Revelation. The pictures in Revelation 18, all the way to the end, picture the victory of Jesus Christ over the devil and the exaltation of the church. All of what was promised to the church comes due.

All of God's glory finally falls upon the Church of Jesus Christ. Revelation is about the church and it's about God's power in his son to rescue his church. And so you have these pictures of victory and in the previous chapter in chapter 18 you see these contrasts to that in chapter 19. This is really the story of two women. One is a harlot and the other is a bride.

In chapter 18 you have a harlot. In chapter 19 you have a bride. In chapter 18 you have a harlot that's corrupting the world. In chapter 19 you have a bride that's being purified. In chapter 18 you have a funeral.

It's a funeral for Babylon because God finally puts Babylon underground. And here in chapter 19 you have a wedding. And in chapter 18 you have the sorrows of those who they really rested all their hopes in this world and on their pleasures, and they're weeping. But in chapter 19, they're singing, hallelujah, hallelujah. They're singing to one another, The multitudes are singing to one other.

Y'all praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And this word is repeated all over. And the people here are thrilled with an omnipotent God, with a marriage, a promise is kept in a betrothal, and a wedding dress, and all these things that are listed here. And so we've already covered this hallelujah for the fall of Babylon in the previous section, because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth by her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her.

Again they said, Hallelujah, her smoke rises up forever. So those who lived in the world are thrilled with the fall of Babylon and all the abuses that that harlot wreaked havoc upon their lives. But now in verse seven, let us be glad and rejoice. That's the whole theme that's here before us. And I really do pray that this church, this local church, would be filled with the sense of these words that are here and all the things that are documented that really are in our future as a church of Jesus Christ.

This is the surpassing greatness of the power of Christ to those who believe. And, you know, you might think of what's up ahead for 2022. You know, I was looking at headlines about 2022 just this morning. I'll just read some of them from major news sites. Worse before, worse before it gets better.

New York shatters COVID record. Europe eyes tighter rules. Futurologist predicts tormented year as robots take jobs, water runs out. Lead articles talking about the cancellation of celebration and things like that Associated Press headline on New Year's Eve New Year's Eve muted by Omicron many hoping for a better 2022 the stock market overvalued by 70% So there's all kinds of news out there, but here's the reality. The Lord God omnipotent reigns.

And I pray that that really forms our disposition and all of who we are in the coming year. So I think a passage like this can help us think about the new year coming up To help us to understand God's plans for us. These are God's plans for the church. This is your future this is your life and Write it on the tablet of your heart This is the backdrop of everything going on in your life when you when you find yourself in this place with this multitude You'll be saying the same thing you're gonna look back on your life and that's what you're gonna be saying You're gonna say Lord you are so wise you are so powerful in your omnipotence You are so good to me. You did so much for me.

That's what you'll say. So you might as well say it now and So my goal this morning really is to try to be Somewhat like the Apostle Paul the Apostle Paul told one church that he was a fellow worker for their joy. So I pray that God would do that and I know that the joy of the Lord is your strength and as the scripture makes so clear. And the great backdrop of your life, hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Now, this is the gospel in pictures, as we've seen many, many times.

Now, I'll give you a little roadmap through this passage. You have an outline in front of you that shows it to you, but I'll just tip you off about what I wanna say here. First of all, praise the Lord for his omnipotence. That's verse seven. Y'all praise the Lord for his omnipotence.

And then secondly, praise the Lord for his promise. This is his betrothal promise. And we celebrate it here this morning. And then thirdly, praise praise the Lord for the wedding garments that he's given to you. You're wearing wedding garments if you know the Lord.

And then praise the Lord for the wedding feast. In heaven you'll experience the most wonderful feast you've ever experienced for all eternity. And we're going to celebrate a foretaste of it right at the end of this preaching when we celebrate the Lord's Supper. It'll help us remember what is in store for us. And then finally, praise the Lord for the spirit of prophecy.

That all the prophecy has one single message. Jesus Christ is Lord. Well, we learned that in the first three verses of Revelation. That Revelation really is about Jesus Christ and so we want to see him and all of these things. So that's where we're going here to sing hallelujah sing hallelujah for these these marvelous things And first of all sing hallelujah for his omnipotence That's in in verse 6 verse 6 and I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering saying alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigns.

Wow again thunder many waters as we've heard before you know this is the church singing This is how we ought to sing. You know, often we don't sing with the kind of vigor that we see here, but we should learn how to do that, absolutely. We ought to crank it up a bit, don't you think? Yeah, absolutely, let's crank it up. So, but they're looking back in history and they're singing hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigns.

Everything that happened in all of history is subsumed under that word. You know, many years ago, I took my son David to a cabin for a week, and we were going to plan for the next five years of his life. He was 13 years old. And we planned, we went there to spend a whole week planning the next five years of his life until he was 18. And so we planned what we would read, where we would go, what men we would be around, what would we build.

We identified specific things that we were going to do. And I said, David, I want us to transport ourselves to the time when you're 18. And I want us to think of this time as, we're standing at age 18, but we're looking back at the corridor of time. We're looking back over the five years, and we did this, and we did this, and we did this, and we did this, to look back at what had happened. And In a sense, that's the perspective of this passage.

It's standing in a place, but looking back across the corridors of time. And to see what God has done, and that's what you'll do. You'll look back and you'll see that God's plans were perfect for you. And you will say, Lord, you were perfect in all of your ways in my life. That's what you'll say.

You might as well say it now. This is the sovereignty of God. Notice The Lord, God, Omnipotent, those three words, Lord. This is the word that indicates, you're saying Lord and Master. God, this is the word Theos, the supreme being who sustains and he owns everything.

And then omnipotent, this is only, this word is only used to describe God, the absolute power of the universe. And it means that God reigns. This is the sovereignty of God. Now listen up. You've heard the word sovereignty of God many times, haven't you?

Look at the middle part of that word. What's the word in the middle of sovereignty? Reign. Reign. The Lord God omnipotent reigns.

He is sovereign and and he reigns. We've used that word many many times sovereignty. But you gotta look at the middle of that word that tells all. Your times are in his hands. There's a time for everything under heaven and he has all things in his hands.

You know yesterday I was reading the first three chapters in Genesis. It was so beautiful to me. You could just see the omnipotence of God in creation, the beauty of creation, the skies, the seas, the fish, the animals, and even the gold is good in Eden. Just beautiful, beautiful. He made the worlds.

That's how sovereign he is. He is omnipotent in 2022. In Daniel 2.21, this is very clear, and he changes the times and the seasons He removes kings and raises up kings. You'll see that happen in 2022 he gives wisdom to the wise you'll see that in 2022 and knowledge to those who have understanding. The Bible also says that he makes some men fools, he makes some men deranged, he will do that.

Every deranged man or woman in the world, you'll know how it happened. God did it. There's omnipotence expressed in heaven, everything that happens in the heavens. The weather, The calamities that come from the heavens Will happen at the wave of God's hand Daniel 435 he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and no one can restrain his hand. I'm glad for that.

No one can restrain his hand. He's omnipotent over everything you will do in 2022. Psalm 135 verse six makes this very clear. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and in the earth, in the seas and in all the deep places. So we ought to, as a church, we ought to be praying for one another to be filled up with the knowledge of God, be filled up with the knowledge of his will.

That's how the Apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesian church in Ephesians 1 19. He prayed that they would know what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand. You know one of the things that I'm so thankful for about my own father is that he said things to me over the years that made it, that brought me back to the sovereignty of God. Even the very last words of his life, the very last words that he spoke, He said, son, the Lord knows what he's doing. I remember when my dad was sent off to World War II to go fly, his father who was a pastor flew drove down to meet him before he went to Japan to join the war against Japan.

And my grandfather handed him a Bible, a little Bible, I still have it. In fact, I showed it to a lot of your kids the other day, one day. And he handed that Bible to my dad. And he said something that my dad said over and over again. He said, the Lord goes before you.

He was just quoting the Bible. He was just quoting the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. The Lord goes before you. And this is what will be true. Are you comforted by his omnipotence?

Are you resting in his everlasting arms? Lay all your plans before him. That's what you should do in 2022. Submit every moment, your every moment to him. Remove every sin before him and walk with him so this is allelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigns let that Let that define you and your attitude toward everything in the world.

And then secondly, hallelujah, let us be glad and rejoice. Why? For his promise, for his promise to marry. This is verse 7. There was a betrothal covenant that was made, a marriage betrothal sealed by a covenant to the Church of Jesus Christ and what you'll You will look back and you'll see how God kept his promise to marry you Because you're betrothed to Christ now, but he will keep his promise to marry you finally At this great scene here and so in verse 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife has made Herself ready now.

So this marriage is announced but there's something that's implied here And that is that that there was a time lag between the betrothal and the marriage. The marriage has now come, but it's been 2, 000 years since the covenant was made, the marriage covenant was made. And This is the way that marriages were engaged in the ancient world. There was a betrothal and then after some time there was a marriage. And this marriage, betrothal, was sealed with a covenant.

It was sealed with a promise. Now, when you will look back and you will see how God kept all of His promises to you, you'll remember the betrothal covenant and that it was an everlasting covenant. And you were in church, and every Sunday, you celebrated the feast that symbolized that covenant because God has made promises he will keep you he will hold you fast He will never leave you or forsake you. He made a promise. It's a betrothal promise.

And the Bible calls it an everlasting covenant. Now we're waiting, you know, during this time of waiting for the final marriage, there are storms that we endure, you know, the joys and trials that follow from above, as the hymn writer said. But this is a story of redemption, it's a story of love. It really is a love story. A man rescues a woman, A husband wraps his arm around his bride and he holds her until the end.

This is just the, This just points to the tragedy of divorce and husbands and wives that are disconnected. But this sinless bridegroom embraces a fallen bride and he holds her fast and he carries her through everything. And it's the covenant that keeps them together. It's not emotions that keep a marriage together, it's a covenant that keeps a marriage together. And the weddings in John's day were composed of a betrothal covenant.

And then the bridegroom departs to prepare a place. John 14 verses one through four speak of this. Jesus says, I go and prepare a place for you. The bridegroom makes a covenant, a betrothal covenant, and then he goes away. And so far he's been gone for 2, 000 years.

But he's coming again. And he will keep his promises and he will marry you You know the Apostle Paul bore witness to this and to the Corinthian Church and 2nd Corinthians 11 too, he says, I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband. And you'll see the jealousy of God, by the way, when we get to verse 11 next week, where there's a war, you will see God's jealousy in his wrath against the wicked who have abused his church. He's jealous for his bride and there will be hell to pay. He's that jealous.

You know there's this beautiful line in Hosea 2 19, I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me forever. That's marriage. Some of you, you know you're thinking about marriage, you think you're gonna get married someday, I'm sure you will. But you think about that for a minute, especially if you're a man and you wanna be a husband, what you're gonna say is, I make a covenant to you forever.

Nothing can unhinge it. It's forever. It's so beautiful. So He paid, he made a covenant, and he paid for the bride with his blood. He shed his own blood in payment.

That was the bride price. And then if you look at the parable of the 10 virgins, the bridegroom comes at midnight. Surprise. It will be a surprise to everyone. And so you have this promise to marry, and then you have a real marriage.

But notice what the, it's an odd marriage, because you get married to a lamb. So yes, it is true. Revelation is full of figurative language. You're not really marrying a lamb, okay? But you are marrying, you are marrying, you are marrying a person who is like a lamb.

And this, this is a picture of love and this imagery of the of a husband who is also a lamb. Isn't that interesting? The husband is a lamb. We need more husbands like that. And of course he's not a literal lamb, but the terminology really has to do with the guilt of sinners and the relationship of the lamb to sinners.

And it has to do with what you do with your sins. What are you going to do with your sinful nature and your sinful acts? What do unbelievers do with their sins? What do what do believers do with their sins? Well, Believers have a lamb who is a sacrifice for their sins.

You know, the word lamb occurs 28 times in Revelation in these 22 chapters. And of course, you know that, you know, lambs were used as sacrifices in the Old Testament. You know in Genesis 2 28 the first mention of lamb where Isaac asked his father where's the lamb and this is the imagery of a savior and of a husband, because Ephesians five makes it very clear that a husband should be like this lamb. John 1.29 records one of the most dramatic moments in the history of redemption where John announces that Jesus is the Lamb of God. He says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

So this imagery of the lamb, we have to understand what it means. It has to do with redemption. It has to do with forgiveness. It has to do with what is done for sins. In Isaiah 53, we read he was a lamb led to slaughter.

When the Ethiopian eunuch was riding down the road, he wanted someone to guide him and he was reading the scripture and here's what he read. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter as a lamb before it shears is silent and so this is the matter of the lamb he is a lamb and you can rejoice you can rejoice that he's the lamb. Now in 1st Peter 1 9 it's made very clear that our redemption was secured by the blood of a lamb. It reads like this, you are not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of the blood as as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. And the Bible has much to say about this.

Now this is why they're singing hallelujah. This is why we can sing hallelujah, sing it every day. Because what the lamb does is he deals with sin. He deals with our sin. And in Hebrews 9 28 it says that he bears our sin.

In Isaiah 43 25 he blots out our sin. In Isaiah 38 17 he throws our sin behind his back. In Micah 7 18 he casts it into the bottom of the sea in Psalm 51 to he washes it white as snow in First Corinthians 6 9 he washes it off in Leviticus 16 25 He burns it with fire. In Isaiah 43, 25, he sweeps it away. In Galatians 5, 24, he crucifies it.

In Romans 6, 6, he does away with it. In Isaiah 6, 6, he purifies it with a coal. In Psalm 103 verse 12 he removes it as far as the east is from the west. This is the Lamb of God who is slain before the foundation of the world. In Psalm 103 12 he removes it.

In Micah 7 19 he treads it underfoot. In other words, he stomps it with his feet. In Micah 710, he throws it. In Romans 4-7, he covers it. In Colossians 2-14, he cancels it.

In Isaiah 53 he lifts it from our shoulders And I in Psalm 32 he does not charge us with it in Isaiah 53 6 he lets it fall on him on his shoulders In Ephesians 1 7 he lavishes it with grace. In Isaiah 44, 22, he hides it behind a cloud. In Colossians 2, 13, he nails it to a cross. In Hebrews 8, he wipes it out, in Hebrews 8 12 he forgets it, in 1 John 2 2 he destroys God's anger and wrath over it through his propitiation. But the Lamb of God became sin for us.

He became sin for us. So when you read of this, alleluia for the marriage of the lamb has come all of this has to do with Salvation it has to do with the most important thing in your life And he marries a bride he He marries a fallen wife and he keeps his promise to hold her all the way to the end. That's his promise to you. He will hold you to the end. I don't know what your emotions are about your own life, my guess is you don't think you're so hot.

But the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And the bride, these are the people who love the Lord. These are the people who were justified by faith. These are the people who lost their hope in their own righteousness. And they love the commands of God and they were faithful to the end.

She is the Lamb's wife. So interesting contrast, right? You have a harlot in chapter 18. Now you have a wife who's cared for. The harlot is thrown down.

The wife is held in everlasting arms with all the promises kept. And then verse 7, the wife has made her ready. This is the third, the third thing to sing, hallelujah. This has to do with her wedding garments. Remember your wedding dress.

Everybody, everybody who's a Christian has a wedding dress on. You can't see it. It signifies salvation. And, but she's being sanctified and she's done her part. That's one part of this.

She has made herself ready. By the way, you girls who are not married, make yourself ready by being holy. Become a holy woman. Every man needs a holy woman. And the best thing that you'll ever have in your life is a holy man.

So look for a holy man and don't compromise. But the groom wants the wife to be pure, but the wife has made herself ready. The wife is doing what her husband wants her to do. She's made herself ready. She's taken action to make herself ready.

In other words, she was bought for a price and a promise was made. Now she wants to be pure, therefore be holy. The lifestyle Flows out of the desire to be pure. This is sanctification. This is the doctrine of sanctification Justification is the effortless work of God to cleanse you from your sins Sanctification is the effort-filled work to cleanse yourself from unrighteousness and to turn away from Sin the bride has made herself ready.

There's activity there are deeds think about the New Year. What are the activities? What are the deeds that you need to crank up? Crank it up and well, she was born again. She lived by faith.

She obeyed her husband. She gave herself to the things of God. She was pure before God. And that's, that's maybe a question for the new year. What are you going to do to make yourself ready?

You are a bride. What are you going to do to make yourself ready? You are a bride. What are you going to do to make yourself ready for this wedding? Remember this.

Your passivity is an enemy to your soul. Being passive about your sanctification is an enemy to your soul. The focus here is on the cleansing of the bride and what the bride does for herself for sanctification. And you have this doctrine of justification and sanctification right here in this text, but it's in the song Rock of Ages. Be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure.

Those two things. You're saved from wrath that's justification, you've been made pure and that is actually part of the work of sanctification. Now here's a question. Is there some act of obedience that you're delaying? Is there some act of obedience that you're delaying?

You delayed it in 2020, maybe 2019, maybe your whole Christian life. And you may be you're afraid. Is there some act of obedience that you've been delaying. It's such a blessing to just to be able to continue to walk with the Lord. You know my mom, I'll give you an illustration of this, my mom came up to me on New Year's Eve and she said Scott do you remember what happened on this day in 2017?

I said mom I don't remember. She said your father was baptized on New Year's Eve 2017. Now some of you might not know the story. I was preaching on a Sunday night right here on the Baptist confession chapter on baptism And I was preaching through the thing on baptism and I walked down right here and I was doing something And my father said to Mike, Mike, get my son. And so we had a little meeting.

And my dad said to us, he said, son, I've been stubborn. He's 94 years old at this point. He's 94 years old. I've been stubborn. I've never been baptized.

I was baptized as a baby. I've always known I should be baptized, but I've never been baptized. Would you please baptize me?" So then on New Year's Eve 2017, several of you lifted my father into this baptistry and he was baptized. Our whole church had the privilege of seeing a man being sanctified, a man who wanted to continue to walk with the Lord, a man who wanted to do something that he should have done a long time ago. What a blessing it was to see that.

All of us are like that though. We're all like that, and we all knew that when we saw this happen. Is there some act of disobedience that you've been delaying the abandonment of? Is there something that you need to do? But it's the ministry of the word that sanctifies.

That's very clear in many places. It's the word of God. This is why the most important meeting that you have every week is here, is the worship of God and the declaration of the word of God. It's the most important time of your week. And we really believe that as elders.

We want you to cherish it and make it sacred and be right on the edge of your seat every second of these services. It's a holy time. It's the holiest time of the week. Don't be walking around, don't be going to the bathroom. This is the time where God is designed to sanctify his people.

It's so important. We're sanctified by the washing of water by the Word. You know, this service began with the Word of God. Did you notice that? That was an attempt to sanctify the saints.

Don't miss it. Don't come late. Don't come before the Word is read in the morning. Come to be sanctified by the Word from beginning to end on the Lord's Day. Don't miss a lick.

You know, what are you doing with the Word of God to make yourself ready? That's how you make yourself ready. You do something with the Word of God. If you want to be made ready, you've got to be in the Word of God. You know, the elders of the church are designed to help the church be made ready.

The deacons of the church are supposed to do everything so that the elders can focus on the ministry of the word and prayer for the sanctification of the church. But what do the people in the church do to make one another ready? Lots of things. Oh, we're gonna have a series on this this month, later on, on the church. But what are you doing to make this bride ready?

Like are you making ready the bride when you relate with your brothers and sisters here? We have a time of fellowship, the fellowship meal, and we really pray that that's a time where we're making one another ready. We're not making chit chat about economics and things, we're talking about making one another ready. So there are two parts to this. The bride makes herself ready.

She trains herself. First Timothy 4, 7. He says, he says, train yourself. Reject profane and old wives' fables. In other words, get rid of the fantasy of your life.

Get rid of the fantasy stuff. And exercise yourself toward godliness, for bodily exercise profits little, but godliness is profitable in all things. Having promise for the life that now is and that which is to come. And stop doing the things that don't make you pure. First John 3, 2 makes this very clear.

We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is and everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself as he is Pure there's a work of sanctification. Purify yourself That's the the thrust of the bride making herself ready. Let's be a church that we're making ourselves ready as a church. Do everything you can for your sanctification. Here's some questions for the New Year.

What will I do this year to fill my mind up with a knowledge of God's will. Here's another. What do I need to do to be more attentive to the Word of God every day of the week and in this church when it's preached? Another question. What needs to stop in my life?

Another question. What burden will direct my energies this year? Another question, what biblical commands will direct my money? Another question, what routines should I establish? Another question, what people should I encourage?

Another question, is there any restitution that I need to make? Another question, is there any reconciliation I need to initiate? Well there's lots to do in 2022, but it all is wrapped around the sanctification of the saints by the word of God. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth.

And there's this, but there's, there's an, an antinomy here, a seeming contradiction. We cleanse ourselves, but he also cleanses us. Verse eight, and to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen. In other words, someone is arraying her in fine linen. Arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

So this has to do with with the cleansing of God. It's God that makes us able to do the works. That's the idea. It's all of grace. That's why Paul said that we are, his workmanship created for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, Ephesians 2 10.

So there are works that we will walk in, but God is the one that actually made them happen. That's why when we are in heaven, we take our crowns and we throw them down because we know that we weren't responsible for making them yes we did work but God was doing it work so that we would work that's how it works Gregory Beale in his commentary on this verse on the garments of the bride, he writes this, the clothing represents salvation and righteousness. That is deliverance from captivity. So these garments are a metaphor for salvation. Your garments actually are a metaphor for salvation.

So whatever you wear you should wear it for the glory of God alone not for your glory but for the glory of God in salvation and I don't know how all that works in every every facet about your garments but your garments are a metaphor you have them on today thankfully And they are a metaphor for salvation. So don't minimize your clothing and don't maximize it unrighteously. So you're covered with the robes of righteousness. He covers you with his robes. Don't you love that song?

We haven't sung it in a while. I am covered over with the robe of righteousness which Jesus gives to me. I am covered over with the precious blood of Jesus and he lives in me. What a joy it is to know my heavenly Father loves me so and gives to me Jesus. When he looks at me, he sees not what I used to be, But he sees Jesus, the robes of righteousness.

His robes for mine, oh wonderful exchange. Clothed in my sin, Christ suffered neath God's rage. Draped in his righteousness, I'm justified. In Christ I live, for in my place he died. So there's much to say about this bride robed in fine linen.

It's all over Revelation and other places in the Bible. We could go many places where this language appears in Isaiah 52, in Isaiah 61, It appears in Revelation 21. This is a theme in Revelation and of the whole Bible. One of the great things about Revelation is it always makes you go back and see the origins of things in Isaiah and Daniel and all of those places. But this is a call to the church, our church, to understand her purity inwardly and her beauty outwardly as being shaped by the Word of God, the sanctifying power of the Word of God.

That's what should make you. Why are you the way you are? It was the Word of God that did it. Why do you think the way you do? It's the Word of God.

Why do you feel the way you do? It was the Word of God. God did it. God did it all. He gave it to me.

And then the wedding feast, verse nine. Hallelujah for the feast. There's this feast for everlasting fellowship in verse nine. Then he said to me, right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the lamb. And he said to me, these are the true sayings of God.

So this is the marriage supper. Now we're talking about a marriage supper. There was a promise of betrothal implied in this passage where there was a covenant that was made. And then there was actually a wedding and now there's the feast the wedding feast you have these these things lined up you have an omnipotent God and all these things flow down to this marvelous event it's more than event it's an everlasting reality this is a picture this is a picture Whatever you think of a feast doesn't hardly hit on what this is all about, but it gives you an idea, right? It gives you an idea of this glorious thing.

And Christ, of course, he's the ultimate husband. He's the best husband that ever was, and he provides the ultimate feast. He's the most loving husband. He offers everlasting love. He's the most humble husband.

He sacrifices himself. He's the most thoughtful husband. He makes the most pure and perfect and unalterable plan that leads to glory. He's the most beneficial husband. He secures the freedom from condemnation.

He is the most helpful husband. He sends his Holy Spirit. He's the most lavish provider as a husband. He gives treasures in heaven and here he gives the best feast ever. The most thoughtfully conceived, most delicious, most everlastingly satisfying feast was given by this husband.

Well, what kind of husband are you? Oh my. I had to ask my wife that question this morning after reading this all week long. What kind of husband am I? Oh, by the way, verse nine is one of the seven beatitudes in Revelation.

I don't have time to go through all of them, though I would love to. But this is one of the Beatitudes. Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. You know, the Beatitudes, They're prefaced by the word happy or blessed. You know, the Beatitudes in Matthew five.

Well, this is one of the seven Beatitudes in the book of Revelation. I think I might have promised that we would do a whole sermon on the seven Beatitudes, but we haven't done it yet. We'll see if we get to it. But of course, seven is symbolic for completeness. And John uses that word happy for the supremely blessed.

If you want to be happy, you will be at the marriage supper of the Lamb you will be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb you will be called Christ says come come to me come to me all you are weary and loving happy laden he says come and eat come and eat my feast. Come to me. He calls us to come. Robert Mount's commentary on this text, he says, the wedding supper is not a specific feast that takes place before a millennium. It depicts rather the eternal relationship between Christ and those who have accepted his love.

The wedding supper lasts forever. So think of it that way. This is a supper like one you've never had. You know before Christ's arrest and crucifixion in the upper room, Jesus prophesied this moment of the marriage supper of the Lamb in Luke 12 37, But there's something in there that is so striking. He says, blessed are those servants whom the master when he comes will find watching.

Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, but get this, so he will have them sit down to eat and he will come and serve them. The ruler of the universe will come and serve the Church of Jesus Christ at the wedding for all eternity. He will come and serve you. He came to save you and He will come to serve you. He's the ruler who serves.

He's the servant who rules. So sing hallelujah. And then finally sing hallelujah for the spirit of prophecy. Verse 10. And I fell at his feet to worship him, and he said to me, see that you do not do that.

I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So John seems to be so enamored with this messenger he was he's so amazed sometimes amazement makes us think wrongly I think that's what happened with John. He does it again in chapter 22, by the way. He's overawed, but the angel reminds him that he's a fellow servant.

Both are servants. So he says, see that you do not do that. He's rebuked. And then there's an explanation. I am your fellow servant.

So There's a lot to say here about the doctrine of angels and the doctrine of men. Angels are created beings, they are messengers of God, so are we, but we're not exactly like the angels. But then you have this statement at the end of our text, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And what is that supposed to mean? Well, testimony, the word there is the same word for witness.

We get our word martyr from it of course but the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy so you should not avoid prophecy. Don't avoid prophecy because It's the spirit of Jesus that is the spirit of prophecy. I can't say it any better than Ray Stedman, who explained this. All prophecy points to Jesus. It is not designed to give us a calendar of the last days, though some read it like that.

No, the Spirit, the essence of prophecy, is to bear witness to Jesus. He is the central figure of all scripture. It is not events which we are to focus on, but the one who brings them to pass the Lord Jesus himself thus we are instructed here by the angel to focus our attention upon him so hallelujah Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy. So are you ready? Are you wearing your garments?

Are your garments clean and bright? Are they white as snow? Do you love your husband? Do you obey him? Do you respect him?

Are you so thankful that he's the lamb as your husband? Are you clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Do you sing hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigns? Do you sing hallelujah at the fall of Babylon?

Do you sing hallelujah to your brethren about the promise God kept at your betrothal? Do you sing hallelujah to have such a husband as this? Do you sing hallelujah for your garments that are spotless? Do you sing hallelujah to your brethren who have the Son, the Spirit of prophecy, the one who always speaks the truth to his children. Well, blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.