The best thing about studying Revelation is that it confronts you with the future, and with God. It confronts you with an inescapable picture of a future that gets very bad, and then very, very good for Christians. And it paints a picture of the God we need in 2013. The God who saves, who reigns and who invites. So let’s see how God saves in verses 1-5 of Revelation 19.
It’s pretty clear
from verses 1 and 2 that God saves through judgment. Looks whose speaking in
verse 1, a loud multitude, the inhabitants of Heaven praising God because of
the fall of Babylon. They say ‘hallelujah’ because God has reclaimed His
rightful place in the world. Babylon worshiped gods that did not save, but
God’s salvation is real. Babylon claimed glory for herself, but all glory in
the universe is rightly given to God. Babylon set herself up as the most
powerful city ever, but God’s power wipes her out. Salvation, power and glory
belong to our God, and to no one else.
What’s the cause of this praise? God’s judgment! We’ve been
saying all along that how we feel about God’s judgment helps illustrate how we
feel about Him. Well does God’s judgment make you sing? This is how we are
going to be saved, by God cutting away the sin and evil in the world,
destroying it, setting fire to it, according to verse 3, and rescuing us. Does
that thought make you sing? But God’s judgment is not only just in a strict
judicial sense, but it’s also right in a more worldly sense. It’s vengeance.
Babylon killed the saints, and now Babylon herself lies defeated. Her judgment
is irreversible and eternal. Hell is infinite, because God is infinite. Sin
against God is infinitely bad.
There’s two images, two themes that run through these
verses. Praise and judgment. We must realize that God’s judgment is nothing to
fear, but something to look forward to, as long as we are right with God. And
the next time you’re tempted, lured, seduced by sin, remember that sin will
only ever end in loss and regret. Remember that the smoke from her goes up
forever and ever.
So we’ve seen that God saves though judgment, and in verses
6-8, we see that God reigns. Verse 6
tells us that the crowd in Heaven turn their attention from praising God for
what He’s done to praising Him for who he is. He is sovereign, He is in charge
and He always has been. This is so important for us to remember in this day and
age, when it’s easy to feel as if God has dropped the ball. But He hasn’t, He
reigns, and He always will. Again the crowd praises with a loud hallelujah. We
can praise God because His reign means the end of evil and corrupt government,
His reign on earth will mean the end of the persecution of Christians.
Rebellion will end, and finally the world will be ruled as it should be.
Imagine how good that day will be, when everything works, at every level of
life and government, as it should! No wonder the crowd rejoices, and exults,
and revels in the glory of the reign of God.
And it gets better. The wedding day has come, and the bride
is finally ready, and finally pure. God had first ‘married’ Israel at Sinai,
but they had been unfaithful to Him. Then in Hosea 2:14-23 we learn that God
will make a new covenant, a new engagement with His people, and that one day
will be consummated. John the Baptist said that his joy in Jesus was like the
joy of someone at their friend’s wedding. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of
Heaven was like a wedding feast, and that we should be ready as a bride is for
the groom. Paul taught us in Ephesians 5 that marriage only exists to give us a
picture of Christ and the church.
Can you imagine what a great feast, what a great celebration
this will be. Think of how a Adam rejoiced when he first saw Eve, think of how
a man rejoices when he sees his wife on his wedding day, think of how we will
rejoice to see Jesus on that day. Never has a bride been more faithfully
pursued and won, never has a Father spent more on the celebration of a wedding,
never has guests been more ready. Never has a bride been as loved as this,
never has the groom done more to prove His life. There has never been a wedding
celebration like this. There has never been a love to rival the love that God
has for His people.
Verse 9 tells us that the church will be clothed in white,
which John explains is the righteous deeds of the saints. We learned earlier in
7:14 that this crowd had washed their robes in the blood of the lamb. Faith in
Jesus and being washing in His blood is the only way to righteousness.
So which ending do you want? Judgment or salvation? Victory
or defeat? And finally, blessings or cursings?
Verse 9 tells us that blessed are those who are invited to this supper.
Blessing here means happy, looked upon with favour by God. Those who have faith
in Jesus will be invited, will be looked after, and will be loved by the God
who invites. Think about how this would’ve made the original readers of this
book feel. Revelation probably would’ve been read all in one go in church
meetings, so they would have been faced with the fact that they were going to
face awful trials, suffering and maybe even death because of their faith. But,
maybe ten minutes later, they hear that Jesus is coming for them. Jesus, full
of love and power, full of gentleness was going to come and get them, and take
them to the wedding feast, and they’d be together for the rest of time. Imagine
how that would have felt for them. It would have made everything that they went
through seem like it was worth it, everything that they suffered would seem
small compared to their reward.
Jesus is enough. He is overwhelmingly enough.
John is so overwhelmed by this message that he falls down
and worships the angel, before being strongly rebuked. Only God is worthy of
worship. We can trust John’s message because it is the spirit of Jesus.
Look at the blessing you stand to gain by following Christ.
Will you be on the side of the one who saves, who reigns and who invites. Or
will you be on the side of the beast, who lies and loses, who leads you astray
and is conquered, will you be in the city that burns forever. Sin will only
lead to regret, Jesus will only lead to joy. There are pleasures forever at His
right hand.
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