In his sermon 'Alleluia, Babylon is Fallen,' Scott Brown explores Revelation 19:1-8, emphasizing the themes of worship, holiness, and the renunciation of worldliness within the church. He contrasts the downfall of Babylon, representing worldliness and false promises, with the rejoicing of God's people over the salvation and omnipotent power of God. Brown highlights four pictures in Revelation 19: the fall of Babylon, the marriage of the Lamb, the marriage supper of the Lamb, and the war. He emphasizes the importance of being thrilled by God and His attributes rather than worldly things. The sermon underscores the inseparable nature of God's judgment and salvation, urging believers to align their emotions and dispositions with God's truth and to find their ultimate joy in His omnipotence and salvation.

Please have your Bibles open to Revelation 19 and I'll be reading verses 1 through 8. This is the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter-than-honey word of God. Praise the Lord. Verse 1, after these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God for true and righteous are his judgments because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication And he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her again They said hallelujah her smoke rises up forever and ever and the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne saying, Amen, Hallelujah. Then a voice came from the throne saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, and those who fear him, both small and great.

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 saying, 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. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for leading us into these words.

Your word is truth. We need your words to define us, guide us, and that your words would thrill us today, Lord, to focus us on these words of life today. Amen. Please be seated. The beauty and the power of a church is found in its worship, in its holiness, in its renunciation of worldliness, and its love for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A passage like this is a marvelous passage to equip this church to find its happiness. And ultimately, what defines a church and what defines an individual Christian is what they find thrilling. And this passage here is full of beings who find particular things thrilling. And I pray that as you raise your children, as you nourish your own heart, if you're a single person or a father or a mother, that what you would find yourself doing is to fill your heart with the things that are truly thrilling. We often find things that fill our hearts that really aren't thrilling for all eternity.

But this passage brings us to these kinds of things. So in this passage, well you've already seen it, this brings us face to face to the word Alleluia. This is a second person plural command which means y'all praise the Lord. Y'all praise the Lord. When we were singing that earlier We were singing, y'all praise the Lord, sing hallelujah, y'all.

OK. And and this was allowed like thunder, like the sound of many waters. That's how they do it in heaven. Now, I'm always struck by how God desires to shape our emotions, how he desires to shape our dispositions and the way that we think about everything. And you know, this being the Christmas season, there's so much happiness in the air, but there's a lot, there's heaviness with a lot of people at Christmas time.

You know, researchers say that it's a really hard time for single people and things like that. You know, one of my neighbors in his 40s over a two-month period lost his wife to cancer. I was walking around yesterday and I was just thinking about him celebrating Christmas with his wife gone and one of our dear, one of our very dear brothers lost his father just a few months ago and our hearts really broke. I know that the season is difficult for some and yet God, God does desire to call us higher. He calls us into his joy.

Even in the midst of our sorrows, he wants to cast a vision of hope. I hope that's true of anyone here who is in that condition. It's interesting that a spirit of melancholy can fall upon a person during the Christmas season. And I think it probably did for me. But here in Revelation, we have God's intent to expose the people of God to the realities of the world and really the most beautiful things in life.

And so as we arrive in Revelation 19, we find this joyful response of God's people in the salvation that God has given them in the fall of Babylon, in the marriage of the lamb. And you have these scenes, as we've seen many times, these remarkable scenes, these snapshots, these pictures of the glory of God. There are four pictures in Revelation 19. We're only going to cover two of them today. The first picture is a picture of doctrine.

And of course, the pictures in Revelation are all pictures of some doctrine or some beauty of God. And so you have these doctrines and pictures. And the first picture is the picture of a multitude singing because Babylon has fallen. That's the first picture. It's a declaration of God's omnipotent power and salvation and in the destruction of The great abuser of our souls the devil second the second picture is picture of a wedding This is really beautiful.

I can't wait to get to that part The hallelujah chorus from handles Messiah comes from this section in Revelation 19. Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. What a beautiful phrase. And then thirdly, there's a supper, the marriage supper of the Lamb. We'll get to that next week.

And then finally there's a war beginning in verse 11, and we'll get to that probably in the following week or something like that. But what we find here is a contrast. Chapters 18 and 19 in Revelation strike a sharp contrast. It should instruct us. It should help us to understand the world.

You notice this after these things I heard a loud voice in verse 1. Did you see that? After what things? Well, after the fall of Babylon, after those things, where the dark underbelly of the world was exposed and revealed in Chapter 18, the unbelief, the fornication, the tyranny of the devil was exposed in such graphic and really almost brutal terms. And now you have the goodness of God revealed in chapter 19.

And it's interesting if you compare these chapters. In chapter 18 you have a harlot, in chapter 19 you have a bride, in chapter 18 you have a harlot that's corrupting, and in chapter 19 you have a husband who's saving. In chapter 18 you have a funeral. In chapter 19 you have a wedding. In chapter 18 you have the kings of the earth and those who love this world, they are weeping, they're gnashing their teeth, but in chapter 19 there are hallelujahs for the fall of Babylon.

And you know when I think of Babylon I think of all the false promises that Babylon has offered us. Many of them believe some of those promises, some of them, we still believe some of them. And we need to rid ourselves of belief in the false promises of Babylon and her fornication. You know fornication in Revelation 18 is really a picture of unbelief. Fornication is unbelief.

Unbelief is fornication before God. And of course, you know fornication in physical terms is just a picture of spiritual terms of fornicating before God, going after another God, going after something that doesn't satisfy, going after something that God did not give you. So all these things are here. You know, in chapter 18, you have the lost, and in chapter 19, you have the saved. So that's where we are in these two chapters in Revelation.

By the way, you know the exaltation of the beauties of God and his kingdom are just going to soar in the next few chapters all the way to the end. We are in Hallelujah Zone in the book of Revelation. And so it's such a marvelous place to be. Well, if you have an outline in front of you, you can see I've divided this passage into two sections, and we'll just speak of these verses. The first is composed of verses one through five, and I've called this, you know, Alleluia for the fall of Babylon, and Alleluia for the power of God in salvation so we read verse one after these things I heard a loud voice and a great multitude in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God.

And there it is, Alleluia, second person, plural, and it's a command. And like I said before, it's not just something that you say, it's something that you say to one another. You say, hallelujah, y'all. Y'all sing hallelujah. In other words, join with me in singing praises to God.

This is one of those Hebrew words that was transliterated and is pronounced just like it was in Hebrew among the Greeks, but it's the word halel to praise. And then Yah, the name of God, Jehovah or Yahweh, Almighty God, praise God, the Almighty. And I was so blessed that we sang that song, praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation. Oh, my soul, praise thee. It's such a beautiful song.

But this is the first time this word appears in the entire New Testament in Revelation 19. It's never used anywhere else in the New Testament. It appears all over the Old Testament, but it's found only here, these four times in six verses. And it's this call to praise for what? Well, there are several words here.

Do you see them in the text? Glory. This means heavy. This means real. Praise God for his reality, for his heaviness in a good sense, his solidness.

And then honor. That means worth. Sing hallelujah for his worth he's worth everything he's worth giving your whole life and power this has to do with his ability I was thinking about psalm 138 8 He is able to accomplish what concerns me. He's able, that's power. It's that famous word dunami and then salvation.

And I think that's the heart of it. This is praising God for salvation to be rescued from Babylon, to be pulled out of the jaws of the devil. And I think that this term salvation refers to not just eternal salvation, but to the deliverance, the daily deliverances from sin, the sanctifying work of God in your life to continue to turn your face away from the world and toward he whom really satisfies. And so it's a declaration of God's power in salvation. It really points us to one of the most important things that we can understand.

Only God can save. What other power could have saved you? What else could have turned your head? Money? Well maybe, but it would have turned you in the wrong direction.

But God is the only one who has power to save. That's why the Apostle Paul tells the Ephesian Church, this church that lived in a highly sexualized society, people were in bondage there. If you ever walk through the city of Ephesus you can see it even today. In Ephesians 2 8 the Apostle tells that church, for by grace you have been saved through faith. It's only by grace.

And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast salvation is only of God in John chapter 6 verse 44 Jesus said the same thing in a different way. He said, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. You can't come to God unless God draws you. And then he says, and I will raise him up at the last day. You know, you might be here today and you think, well, I think God is drawing me.

Only God can draw you. And praise the Lord for the moment when he is drawing you. Drawing you out of your lusts, out of your idolatry, out of your trust in the things that don't satisfy. In 1st Peter 318 the Apostle tells those he's writing to, they're scattered abroad, they're scattered all over the place for the persecutions most likely. And he tells them, he says, for Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

We're brought to God. Salvation is of God. And this hallelujah is for that fact that salvation is of God. It's by the power of an omnipotent God. Nothing could wrench you out of the arms of the devil except God.

And what a blessing that is. You know in Matthew 1 verse 21 we read about how an angel appears to Joseph and he tells Joseph about Mary and this is what he says, he says, she will bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus and get this for he will save his people from their sins he's the only one who can save their salvation in no other name but Jesus Christ now this is this is very similar to the other scenes in the book of Revelation that are like this. There are many that are just like this scene and they all teach us the value of God, the beauty of God, and they teach us why we should worship God and actually how we should worship God. Hey, so we're a local church, right? And we gather together to worship God.

So these passages should be so instructive, they should teach us how to operate together, how to sing together, how to engage the Word of God together, how to worship together. Now I'm gonna walk through them, and there are six of them, and we're gonna read them. So I hope you have your Bibles open to revelation. But what we read here in chapter 19 is a consistent theme. You'll see it as we read them and we'll come right up to this scene here and you'll say, wow, God is trying to tell us something.

Like he's emphasizing it over and over again. You know, whenever you read something over and over again in the Bible, take note. And this is one of those things. And these passages that we're going to read together, they teach us what is in store for us. And they teach us so that we can be happy in this world and in the world to come.

They all show the superiority of God and the delight of God's people. So we're going to take a tour. We're going to take a tour that's going to lead right up to Revelation 19. But because ultimately what defines a church, what defines an individual Christian is what they find thrilling. And all of these passages are about people who are thrilled.

They are so thrilled with God. So go to chapter four, open your Bibles to chapter four, find verse nine. Here, the hallelujahs are belted out because of God's work in creation. Chapter 4 verse 9. Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne who lives forever and ever the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying you are worthy oh lord to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they exist and we're created you know when we gather together as a local church, we come as created beings.

God created us and he brought us together to worship him. Look at chapter five, verse 11, five, verse 11. This really speaks of the riches of God's wisdom in the slaying of his Son for sinners. Verse 11, chapter 5, then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was 10, 000 times 10, 000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Would you say that they are thrilled with God?

And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them I heard saying blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever And then the four living creatures said, Amen. And the 24 elders fell down and worshiped him who lives forever and ever. And then find chapter seven verse nine, verse 9, chapter 7 verse 9. Again this is being thrilled over salvation. After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God and look at how thrilled they are.

Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever, amen. Look at how thankful they are. And then go to chapter 11, verse 15, chapter 11, verse 15. These are thrilled with God's everlasting kingdom.

Verse 15, then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God saying we give you thanks oh Lord God Almighty their happiness just is uncontainable The one who is and who was and who is to come because you have taken your great power and reigned the nations were angry and your wrath has come and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that you should reward your servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear your name small and great and should destroy those who destroy the earth and then go to chapter 14 verse 2 here they're worshiping using a new song that nobody else ever sang before. And I heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters and like the voice of loud thunder. You know God must like the sound of many waters and thunder because he talks about it all the time and people are happy with it.

And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one could learn that song except the 144, 000 who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women for their virgins. These are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed among men being first fruits to God and to the lamb.

And in their mouth was found no deceit for they are without fault before the throne of God. And then go to chapter 15, find verse 2. And here this is a song of victory over enemies, particularly harkening back to the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army getting swallowed up in the Red Sea and people of God walking free. Verse 2 of chapter 15, And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark, and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the lamb saying great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty.

Just and true are your ways, O King of Saints. Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you are holy, for all the nations shall come to worship and worship before you for your judgments have been manifested." Well in our text in Revelation 19 it's obvious that this is part of a long string of texts that are connected. They're intimately connected. Much of the language is the same, but they all have one thing in common and that is God is the only one who can thrill you And these are the ones who are thrilled with God.

Because what defines a church is what thrills that church. And what defines a Christian is whether they're thrilled by God or by Babylon. And So these passages give the reasons to worship God. And in our passage it's the power and the glory and the truth and the holiness and the wrath of God. That's worth giving thanks for.

And then there's of course this other reason, it isn't just salvation, it's also the destruction of Babylon. That's why the hallelujahs are being sung. God has brought judgment on Babylon and the result is praise. The great Pharaoh, the great abuser of your soul, the great liar is cast down. The one who's lied to you about what's truthful, about what's pleasurable, about what's good.

He's thrown down and there's a lot of happiness for that. You know, people, You know, Christians, they understand the devil has abused them and lied to them, and they grieve over the ways that they believe those lies. But here you find them rejoicing, because it's over for Babylon. And so, verse two, for true and righteous are his judgments because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication and he has avenged on her blood, on the blood of his servants, shed by her. So rather than looking to God, she looked elsewhere.

She was a spiritual fornicator, and she corrupted the earth. We read in other places where Babylon, the beast, the false prophet, the devil, the serpent of old, It says in Revelation that he deceived his followers. He lied to them. And they got caught up in the lie and were never set free. It's such a tragedy.

But here Babylon, Babylon is judged. You know Babylon in the Bible, all through the Bible, Babylon shows up. It's a symbol of worldliness. Babylon is composed of the heart that is satisfied by the philosophies of the world, by the entertainments of the world, by the artists and the writers and the politicians of this world, the immorality, the materialism, the pleasures of this world. Babylon is the expression of man's pride and self-sufficiency.

That's what Babylon is. And now this Babylon has been cast down. And this section here really displays one of his attributes. Remember, in Revelation you find doctrine in pictures. This is a picture of God's judgment.

God is judged. This is one of the attributes of God. So one of the attributes of God is here in a picture and it's the destruction of Babylon. There are so many pictures. You know I've been going through Revelation documenting the pictures of the doctrines.

I hope someday to bring a message just on the pictures. This would be a kid's message that I need. But This is his attribute as judge. He is the judge of all the earth. In the Bible, judgment is never separated from salvation.

There's always a two-edged sword in God's judgment. The deliverance from Egypt was both a judgment and it was a salvation. At the cross there was both a judgment and a salvation and the final judgment will be the exact same pattern. The sheep and the goats will be separated and there will be a judgment and there will be salvation. Judgment and salvation are intertwined.

If you don't like the judgment of God, you can't like the salvation of God because they're never separated in the Bible. Some people are very put off with the judgment of God and that's a tragedy because it means they're put off by the salvation of God as well. Now again, you have Babylon destroyed. I think this can be difficult for us. Are you sympathetic with this command to praise God, to sing hallelujah over the destruction of Babylon, of all the worldliness in the world, you know, is that something that you can do in your own heart?

Now, I mean, let's see this in its most vivid form. This angel is praising God for hell. This angel is praising God for hell. This angel is praising God for the casting of Babylon into hell. And do you believe that those who reject Christ, who are worldly, who are spiritual fornicators, should they be judged?

Should they be judged like Babylon? Should they be thrown like a millstone, like we read in chapter 18? Like a millstone into the bottom of the sea. You know, we are commanded to love. We are commanded to love our enemies.

We are commanded to pray for those who persecute us specifically. But at the same time, you know, we might recoil at singing Alleluia for the destruction of Babylon because the problem with Babylon is that Babylon is composed of people, people that you know. You know their names, you do business with them. And so it can be difficult to think like God, but frankly Growing in maturity means that you start to think more like God about everything. A lot of times we can't give thanks for the judgment of the wicked because we're immature.

We don't think like God. Our sense of truth is often marred. Our sense of justice is often skewed because of the world that we live in. But growing in maturity means that you love the things that God loves and hate the things that God hates. And, you know, we already have this sense in the world, right?

I mean, when someone really bad is taken off the scene or is killed, I mean, there's a sense of, yes, this is a good thing. Well, even more so, God sees the evil world and he's come to judge the world with salvation in his hand for those who still have yet to turn to him. We often minimize our sin. The Bible calls our sin a filthy rag. The Bible calls our sin scum.

We're called cursed, fallen. That's what God calls the unrepentant. But we often flatter ourselves too much about our sin, but God sees it as it really is. But look at the finality of this. Look at the word forever.

Her smoke goes up forever. It's over. This is a picture of the finality of the judgment of the wicked and the gathering in of the saints. You know, Romans 1 really tells why, Romans 1 18-25 tells us that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. Because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them in other words everybody knows for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. So that's why.

Because what was to be known about God was delivered through nature. Enough was delivered through nature. And enough was delivered through conscience. And then in verse four, the 24 elders and the living creatures worship. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne saying amen, hallelujah.

Now we've encountered the 24 elders these are representatives of the Old Testament and the New Testament Church, the the Old Testament 12 tribes of Israel, the New Testament 12 apostles this is representative of the whole of all believers in all ages what are they saying well they're saying amen that's a declaration that's like saying yes lord yes lord this is right. And then they issued this command, hallelujah. Y'all praise the Lord. Amen, this was so right. Now you all praise the Lord.

And look at verse five. Here you have some of the most remarkable, and I think very beautiful parts of this text. Then a voice came from the throne saying, praise our God, all you his servants and those who fear him both great and small. Now we don't know who is speaking from heaven. Somebody is, maybe it's an angel, but we don't know exactly.

The voice is not identified. But it's directed to those who love God and they're called servants. It's the word slave, slaves of God. A true Christian is a slave of God. Many years ago John MacArthur wrote a book called Slave.

Just to make this point, that when you come to Christ your life is not your own. He becomes your master and you follow him. You learn from him, stop learning from the world, start learning from Jesus Christ. That's the whole idea of being a slave. A slave has a very narrow focus.

And then there are those who fear him. You know, what does it mean to fear God? To fear God means to turn away, to fear God is to turn away from sin. You fear sinning. When you fear God, you fear sinning, you don't want to do it, you're running in the other direction.

To fear disobedience, to fear God isn't like cowering. It's actually like having such a high regard for God in his ways that you wouldn't want to violate any of his commands. And so you're running toward him. You know, the person who has a strong fear of God will not want to look at pornography. When you look at pornography, You're seeking pleasure in the place of lies.

And your fear of God is at such a low degree. You regard his beauty as something so little. You regard his truth and his purity as something so little that you would want to look at something that was so profane. So, and this, notice that this command is for both the small and the great. This both the small and the great.

You know whenever you're reading the Bible you should always ask you know who am I in the text? Who's he talking about? And here you have the small and the great. So are you the small or the great here? It's God that ordains the small and the great.

It's out of the wisdom and the goodness of God. And there's nothing wrong with being small. And there's nothing wrong with being great, depending on how you define it. But you know, especially when you're young, you want to make a great impact in the world. You want to do something great.

Sometimes it's because you actually want to be great. Can you relate with that? It was really all about you. The desire to do something great was really about you being great, not God being made great. But God, he ordains the small and the great.

There's nothing wrong with being small. There's nothing wrong with being content with what you have and who you are. It's God who are, by the way, he is the Lord God Omnipotent who reigneth. And he's the one who determines who's small and great. But here he's talking to the both the small and the great.

You know if you're a young preacher you want to you want to be the next Charles Spurgeon. If you're an entrepreneur you want to be the next fill-in-the-blank Jeff Bezos or something like that. You just wanna do something so great, be careful. It's a God who makes small be content. It's a God who makes great be content with what he gives out of his omnipotent hand.

You know, this small and the great concept pops up again in Revelation 20, because the small and the great both stand before the great white throne. Then I saw a great white throne, verse 11 in chapter 20, and him who sat on it from from whose face the earth and the heaven had fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life, and the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the book. So you shouldn't worry so much about whether you're small or great because whether you are small or great you're gonna stand before God.

God will bring all the small and the great before him. And then the scene shifts in verse 6. The hallelujahs are for divine omnipotence and the marriage of the lamb. That's verses six through eight. And in verse six, and I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and the sound of many waters as the sound of mighty thundering saying, hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigns.

That's the introduction to this scene of marriage. And we, God is omnipotent. In Hebrews 1 3 we see his omnipotence in creation. He made the world. In Daniel 2, 21, he governs every era of history and he changes times and seasons.

He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. In Psalm 135 verse 6 you see his omnipotence over actions. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all the deep places. In Proverbs 16 verse 9, he actually has omnipotence over man's heart.

A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. He is the omnipotent God. He is more omnipotent than you can even imagine. In Psalm 66 verse 7, we read that he has omnipotence over the nations. He rules by his power forever.

In Job 14 verse 5, he's omnipotent over the limitations of your life. Job says you have appointed his limits so that he cannot pass. God is omnipotent. He ordains your limitations. He ordains your movements.

He ordains where you live and the government under which you exist. He's even omnipotent over the evil that's done to you. And we learn about that in Genesis 50 verse 20, where Joseph says to his brothers, do not be afraid for I'm in the place of God, for am I in the place of God, but as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about as it is this day to save many people alive. Do you believe that? Do you believe the Lord God omnipotent reigns?

Do you believe that it was the goodness and the wisdom and the power of God that brought you where you are today? Are you resting in his everlasting arms? Is it thrilling to you to know that God is omnipotent and that he reigns in everything that's going on in the world today. In every single detail of your life, the Lord God omnipotent reigns. You know, ultimately, what defines a Christian and what defines a church is what they find thrilling.

And I hope this doctrine in pictures here is thrilling to you. It was so thrilling to those before the throne. They just couldn't get enough of it. They were so amazed at God's goodness and His love, His kindness, His power. And they could see it all and they could see it in God finally destroying Babylon and setting them free for all eternity.

And they were so thrilled with it. And then we have in verse seven this command, this appeal, 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 this is the climax of history right here in Revelation And the climax and the description of it continues to roll on until the end of this book. But this is a picture of God's love for his people. And he gives us the picture of a groom's love for his bride. And that picture is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. That's the picture of love. And so in this next section, we're just brought into this world of love. Jonathan Edwards, in his book, Charity and its Fruits, said, Heaven is a world of love. And it's pictured by marriage.

Marriage, marriage is a picture. The Bible describes love for God and God's love for man as being married to God. This next section talks about how you are married to God. You have both men and women have a spouse, a husband. Yes, even the men have a husband in heaven in that sense, not the same sense that we find today.

But Christ is a bridegroom. And you find this in different places. You find it in Matthew 25 in the 10 virgins. Five were wise and five were not. Five were ready for the wedding and five were not.

In the Old Testament, the saints were betrothed to God. In Isaiah chapter 14, Ezekiel 16, Hosea 2, marriage is a picture of God's love for mankind. And in the Bible, the picture of love is a husband who takes care of his bride, who nourishes her and cherishes her and washes her and gives himself up for her. That's the picture of marriage in the Bible. And so you know the Apostle Paul he speaks of betrothing the Christians in Corinth to one husband.

He talks about them as a chaste virgin to Christ, and Christ is the husband. And that's why in in Hosea 2 19, you have this language, I will betroth you to me forever. So this is the whole image of Christ and his church. Now, it's a very interesting passage. We'll elaborate on this next time.

But what's interesting about this passage is that this wedding comes off different than the weddings that we have today. In our weddings, it's the bride who has the focus. Everyone's looking at the bride. Everyone's standing up looking at the bride. Here in this passage, everyone's looking at the husband, looking at Christ.

And So we'll get into that picture more deeply. And we'll talk about this marriage, this marriage, and then this marriage supper of the lamb. And then on another week we'll talk about the war. Because here in this passage you have these various images of these great and wonderful things. You know, Samuel Rutherford wrote that song, The Sands of Time are Sinking.

The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. The lamb is all the glory in Emmanuel's land." So we're going to talk about that at length this whole matter of the wedding and the marriage supper. Before we do that I'm just going to read you something that Jim Hamilton wrote. He says, we can scarcely imagine the glory of that wedding day. Never has there been a worthier bridegroom.

Never has a man gone to greater lengths, humbled himself more, endured more, or accomplished more in the great task of winning his bride. Never has a wealthier father planned a bigger feast. Never has a more powerful pledge been given than the pledge of the Holy Spirit given to his bride. Never has a more glorious residence been prepared as a dwelling place once the bridegroom finally takes his bride. Great will be the rejoicing, great will be the exaltation.

There will be no limit to the glory given to the Father through the Son on that great day. Well, to be continued next week. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, I pray that you would delight us with all the things that are truly delightful, that we would be defined by the delights of your kingdom, of the love of Jesus Christ, of the power of the gospel, the truth of your word, the love of the saints, all of these marvelous things you've given to us. Oh Lord, that you would use us to preserve them in the world.

And Lord, I pray that if anyone has fallen short of the grace of God and does not know that grace, that they would find their greatest delight in loving and following and obeying Jesus Christ, lest they be destroyed like Babylon or lest they be raised up to pure delight for all eternity. Amen.