His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Pastor Matt VanderVen on what the Book of Revelation is really all about.

Matt VanderVen: The true spirit of prophecy always shows itself in being a witness to Jesus and pointing people to Jesus. Not bringing people down, not turning around and saying, "I have a word for you; don't get on that plane because you're all going to die." That is certainly not an encouragement, and that isn't drawing me closer to Jesus.

Maybe it will if you don't know Jesus and you think, "I have to get on that plane to go to work," but the reality is that it's an encouraging word. It draws you closer to Jesus and it points people to Jesus. Anything else is not from the Lord, and He told us to test the scripture.

Revelation and prophecy is all about Jesus Christ. I just need us to hear this this morning. If you really miss that, you've misunderstood the entire Book of Revelation.

Guest (Male): Welcome to His Perfect Love. As Christians, we all have a lot to be thankful for, not the least of which is the wonderful place God has prepared for us called Heaven. Today we return to Revelation Chapter 19.

After all of the wrath and destruction we've read about in the last few chapters, we finally get to the really good news. The incredible panorama of Heaven we see described here is enough to take your breath away. We're about to see what we're going to experience at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Here's Pastor Matt VanderVen with the details.

Matt VanderVen: In Second Peter chapter 3 and verse 7, he says, "But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition, destruction, of ungodly men." Is everybody seeing this here? God is not grammatically challenged.

Finally, since we're in the Book of Revelation, just turn to Revelation Chapter 14. Look at Chapter 14, verse 10. This is for the unbelievers in the Great Tribulation. He has also described what happens to them, too. Again, He's covered the bases—past, present, and future.

He's covered the bases for those that were Old Testament humans walking around under the law at that time; He described it back in Isaiah. Presently, He talked about it in Mark with the gospel that was given out, even quoting back to Isaiah. For those who have rejected Jesus Christ during the church age—our present—He has described the final outcome.

In the Great Tribulation back in Chapter 14, He's talking about what happens to those that reject Jesus Christ then. All aspects are completely covered here. Look at what He says in Revelation Chapter 14, verse 10.

Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead and on his hand, he himself also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, judgment of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image, who receive the mark of his name."

A cursory reading of the Old Testament shows that 404 verses in the Book of Revelation reference back to the Old Testament. 278 of those verses go back to Old Testament Scripture. That's why we meet on Wednesday nights, and I encourage all of you to be here.

We need to know our Old Testament scriptures. It's very important and helps us to understand the New Testament even better. Smoke rising is clearly in this context talking about judgment and destruction of the harlot and the world system.

We now have a very thorough understanding of verse 3 and what he's saying when he says, "And again they said, Alleluia, praise," because her smoke—the judgment and the everlasting judgment—rises up forever and ever. It never ends. God has judged the harlot, the world system, and all the wickedness and evil. It's all been dealt with.

Look at verse 4. "And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, 'Amen and Alleluia.'" We see these twenty-four elders and four living creatures again from the introduction back in Chapter 4. They are throughout Revelation and they're worshiping God who sits on the throne.

Verse 5 says, "Then a voice came from the throne saying, 'Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great.'" We hear this voice from Heaven again. It's most likely the voice of one of the angels that serves God at the throne. There's a personal pronoun there, which makes sense for us to believe it's an angel or some type of saint worshiping at the throne of God.

It mentions "the fear of the Lord." The construction of those words is interesting, and that phrase is used 300 times in the scriptures. Those standing around the throne have this reverential fear and love for their Lord. Turn to Hebrews Chapter 12 in your Bibles, and we'll look around verse 25.

Hebrews Chapter 12, verse 25 says, "See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on the earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, 'Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.'"

This "yet once more" indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken as the things that are made, so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

The saints were to have fear—reverential fear, respect, honor, and reverence. He says something very clear there as he closes that section: "Our God is a consuming fire." We even sing songs about our God being a consuming fire.

In Revelation Chapter 19, verse 6 says, "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, 'Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!'" This is the praise for the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Verse 7 tells us, "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." The bridegroom and the Lamb are there. The Lamb is the bridegroom and we're the bride of Christ. Verse 6 is the praise before the marriage of the Lamb.

It mentions the voice of a great multitude is "as" the sound of many waters and "as" the sound of mighty thunderings. Underline that word "as." He's giving us a comparison we can understand to show the enormity of it and how awesome it's going to be for us to be in Heaven praising God.

It's obviously going to be loud and enthusiastic worship. Nobody's going to be complaining it's too loud. I know in our house sometimes I'll turn up the TV because I'm getting older and my hearing is going, and somebody will walk in and say, "Dad, turn the thing down. I can hear it down the block." Some of you know what I'm talking about as we get more mature.

Nobody's going to be saying that in Heaven. We're going to be worshiping and loving it. It's going to be incredible. There will be an innumerable amount of us gathered and worshiping God with sincere hearts. It'll be beautiful.

It reminds me of the praise and worship when we worship here. God is not looking for a half-hearted effort; He wants all of our hearts. Alleluia. They are worshiping God for many things, but specifically for His omnipotence.

Underline "Omnipotent" and "God reigns" in your Bible. It means He has all power. I never grow tired of saying my God has all power. Do you ever get tired of saying your God is all-powerful? The Bible tells us that God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.

God is the only person that can ever be given those attributes. No other human being, angel, or immortal being can be compared to God that way. Your circumstances and my circumstances pale in comparison to God's ability and His love.

Consider the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual things we brought with us this morning that are vying for our minds and hearts. When we look at the fact that God is everywhere, all-knowing, and all-powerful, doesn't that do something to your soul? Does it not lift you up on eagles' wings and carry you? That's the whole point.

Verse 7 says, "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." This gladness and rejoicing is our natural response to His character and love. I don't think it's something we're going to have to rehearse; it's going to be heartfelt.

Those who love God are going to be ecstatic that we're in His presence and bringing the glory He's always deserved. One reason this great multitude is so filled with praise is because Jesus Christ is there in the midst of it all. We are joined to Him and never separated.

The only thing God could use in human terms to explain that intimacy was a marriage between a man and a woman. That was the only way to describe the intimacy that we will have with our Jesus. This marriage of the Lamb is a picture used frequently throughout the scriptures.

In the Old Testament, Israel is presented as God's wife, who was often unfaithful. We see this in Hosea Chapter 2, Isaiah 54:5, and Ezekiel Chapter 16. In the New Testament, the church is presented as the fiancée for Jesus, waiting for this day of marriage.

In the Jewish culture, a marriage involved two major events: the betrothal and the wedding. Being betrothed isn't like being engaged today. Our engagement is "light," but being betrothed meant you were already in a covenant relationship and had already made the decision to be wed.

They made those covenants before God. It wasn't like they were dating and courting to find out if this was going to work. This would normally be separated by a period of time, just like there's a Rapture of the church and then the wedding feast of the Lamb. We're waiting for God the Father to tell Jesus it's time to go get His bride.

It perfectly describes a Galilean marriage. When they were betrothed, the son would go back to his father's house and start building on to it so that he and his bride could have a private area. Things are so expensive today, and we can relate to that.

Many young people can't go out and buy a house right away, so they come back and live with the family. That's the way it was 50 or 60 years ago. There was a process where you were near the family and everybody helped each other. It was beautiful.

The point of all this is intimacy. While the house was being prepared, the son would be ready. One day the father would come in, and the son didn't know when. Jesus even said that He didn't know the time or the hour, and only God the Father knows.

The Father would go to the son and say, "Son, go get your bride." At that time, Israel had very tight-knit communities where everybody knew everybody. The son would wake up early in the morning and start knocking on the houses for all his best men.

Everybody would start forming a group and the women would come out for the bridal shower. This was a big deal and it wasn't hidden. The whole village got involved and was celebrating because marriage was meant to be seen.

The guy would have a hop to his step and finally get to the bride's house. She could probably hear all the commotion through the lattice and her heart would be skipping a beat, waiting to see her soon-to-be husband. The whole town would be gathered.

She didn't have to worry about her hair or her dress in that moment because she was already ready. What's the picture for us? Are we ready? The picture was one of excitement, enthusiasm, and joy. You would never expect someone to say, "I'm not ready yet, don't come now, Lord Jesus."

The whole town and village would be watching. The celebration would go on for at least a week and people would eat and have fellowship together. The cool part is that everybody was invited because everybody was supposed to see.

Celebrate what God is doing when He brings one man and one woman together. It's a beautiful picture of what we're to see. 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.

Focus on the phrase "it was granted." Believers are created for divinely prepared good works. The righteous acts are what fill that spiritual hope chest. In this perfect union with Jesus, His people will be clean and bright before Him.

The word "clean" reflects purity, loyalty, and faithfulness. "White and bright" means brilliantly bright. It's a color that depicts glorification. Paul spoke of his desire that Christians would be presented before the Lord pure.

In Second Corinthians Chapter 11, he says, "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ." This is given by Christ. You don't have to bring your own garment or have a perfect white gown.

It's the righteousness of Christ Jesus. That's why He tells us to put on Christ. You don't want to put on the wretched rags of your own past. You can't earn it or buy this outfit anywhere; it only comes through the imputation of His righteousness to humanity.

Everyone who comes to the wedding feast of the Lamb is given that garment. We're all going to look amazing. You're going to love the way you look, and God guarantees it. Verse 9 says, "Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb! These are the true sayings of God."

Jesus Himself eagerly anticipates the marriage supper. He spoke longingly of the day when He will drink of the fruit of the vine again with His disciples in the Kingdom. In the Jewish culture, the marriage supper was the best banquet anyone knew.

When he says "these are the true sayings," it's a necessary note of assurance for us. This will take place. Though it may seem too good to be true, it's going to happen. It's God's promise, and He's already given us the Holy Spirit as the deposit of His guarantee.

Verse 10 says, "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 gave the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.'"