Simple Faith

Bill Henry: Are you a Christian? Are you worshipping God? Those two go together.

Guest (Male): Thanks for being along for Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel. Have you ever wondered what the future holds? We all do from time to time. So many have come and gone who claim to know the future. God alone knows what's to come. That's a fact.

Today we're going to get a fascinating glimpse into the future of this world when Jesus returns to reign on the earth. It's a message from Revelation chapter 19 called The Marriage Feast of the Lamb. Here's Pastor Bill Henry.

Bill Henry: I love my grandbabies. We've got one due any day. But I'm telling you what, let's all go to heaven together. That's my view. I want to see my Jesus. There are some people in heaven that I miss dearly, some people very close to me that I've lost over the years. I can't wait to see them, but they're way second on my list of people to see.

I want to see my bridegroom. I want to see my Jesus, him who died for me. He loved me so much, and he who never leaves me nor forsakes me. The driving force behind our doing these acts of righteousness is to bless our Jesus, to love on him. I love the biblical fact, though, that apart from him our righteousness is filthy rags.

Apart from the Lord, our righteousness is filthy rags. We could do nothing to please him, to bless him, to make ourselves lovely to him before we've been born again of the Spirit of God. In other words, we can't do all these acts of righteousness thinking, "I know I've done all these bad things and now if I do these good things, it'll make me look better to the Lord." Imagine a pig who comes out of the slop and the mud. Just throw some lipstick on it and put a wedding dress on there.

Those are the righteous deeds that we think of as righteousness and how silly we would look. No, we need to be born again of the Spirit of God and then our righteousness is now made complete in Jesus Christ because he is our righteousness. In Romans 5:19, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Isaiah 53:10 through 12 says, "Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him, as he has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offering, he shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." And here it is in verse 11: "Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities."

"Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors." That's Jesus Christ. His shed blood now makes us righteous as we've been cleansed from all unrighteousness. We are covered in the glorious righteousness of Jesus Christ now.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21, it says this: "For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him." In Christ, we are now righteous. Thus, as we seek, as we're partakers of the righteousness of Christ our Lord, now we can go forward as we are walking in loving obedience to his word by the divine power of his Holy Spirit now living within us.

We can do these works of righteousness, not only for his glory but for his pleasure, to be preparing ourselves. So let us be those who are purposeful about doing things in God's word that are righteous, by the power of the Holy Spirit who is righteous, and then we're also clothing ourselves in his righteousness. We are preparing ourselves, much like what we read in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 9 and 10.

"I also want women to dress modestly with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds appropriate for women who profess to worship God." Go beyond the thing for women at this moment, but look generally for all of us to adorn ourselves, again, for our Lord in good deeds, in righteousness. A paraphrase says verse 10 this way: "But doing something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it."

When we walk in loving obedience to the Lord through his word, we should look at it as, "Lord, I'm just becoming beautiful for you. I'm becoming more and more like my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." It's interesting. John says here in our text that this garment is the righteous acts of the saints. While it's true that we're saved by grace through faith, one commentator said this: he said it's also true that our faith is designed to be active and not passive.

God means for us to put it to work. Some time ago, he wrote, a man told me, "I have been a dead weight for many years around the church's neck. I've let others carry me and always pay the check. I've had my name upon the rolls for years and years gone by. I've criticized and grumbled too; nothing could satisfy. I've been a dead weight long enough and beginning now I'm going to take a different track. I'm going to pray and pay and work and carry loads instead and not have others carry me like people do the dead."

I love what the commentator closes with. He says, "That man has begun to put on his marriage garments." That's it. I love this. Now look at verse 9 as we continue. "Then he said to me, write, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." Who are these who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb? You already have the bride, you have the Lamb, so now we have this marriage supper, this celebration that is coming together.

These are the witnesses. These are the family members. These are the friends of the bride and groom who will come to celebrate it. Again, I like how another commentator describes it. He says, "One of the false interpretations that has plagued the church is the concept that God deals with all saints exactly alike. Instead, a literal interpretation of the Bible distinguishes different groups of saints. Here, the bride is distinguished from those who are invited to the wedding supper."

"Instead of dealing with all alike, God indeed has a program for Israel as a nation and also for those in Israel who are saved. He also has a separate program for Gentiles in the Old Testament who come to faith in God." He continues, "And in the New Testament, he has a program for the church as still a different group of saints, and again, in the book of Revelation, the tribulation saints are distinguished from the other previous groups."

"It is not so much a question of difference in blessings as it is that God has a program designed for each group of saints which corresponds to their particular relationship to his overall program. Here, the church described as the bride will be attended by angels, by saints who are distinct from the bride." I have to say, I fully agree with this. Even though we're the same in Jesus Christ, we all have different roles.

Just as a Jewish believer may have a different role than a Gentile believer, just as a husband believer will have a different role as a wife believer, just as someone who has the gift of encouragement will have a different role than someone who has the gift of teaching, etcetera, etcetera. They're all distinct, but at the same time, we're all saved. We're all equal in the eyes of the Lord. He just has different administrations for us to do.

You see, all groups are equally saved. All groups are equal before the Lord, yet the Lord has different roles for each group. The New Testament church is called the bride of Christ. Those Jewish and Gentile believers that come to faith in Christ during what we call the church age would be from Acts chapter 2 to the time of the rapture of the church, the great tribulation, the 70th week of Daniel.

Basically, as the rapture comes and the Lord takes his bride, the church, to be where he is, those who come to faith after the rapture will not be part of the church. They will be saints. They will be saved equal in the eyes of the Lord, but they will be tribulation saints. They will have a different work, a different way that the Lord is going to use them. Again, the tribulation saints are equally saved, equal in the eyes of the Lord, just a different role to play.

Look at our text, verse 9. It says, "Then he said to me, write, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." As we just read, I believe that those who are called will be the Old Testament saints that were looking forward to Jesus Christ, looking forward to the cross, and looking forward to the promised Messiah. This will also include those Gentiles in the Old Testament who basically came alongside and believed in the God of the Jews.

This will also be the myriad of tribulation saints as they come to witness and celebrate, the angels, and the creatures of heaven. I think "blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb" refers to all coming together to worship God, all coming together to celebrate at the marriage supper of the Lamb. It's interesting, some commentators believe that this marriage supper of the Lamb also will correspond with the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Even into the thousand-year reign of Christ, that will basically be part of the wedding supper, the celebration of the Lamb. That very well could be. As we come into verse 11, we're going to see Jesus returning, preparing to return. Notice at the end of verse 9 it says this: "And he said to me, these are the true sayings of God." Then I fell at his feet to worship him. John the Apostle, the beloved Apostle of Jesus, after everything that he just saw and everything he just heard, is so in awe.

When the angel of the Lord finally turns and speaks to him again, John just falls down at his feet to worship him. It's interesting because in verse 10 it continues, "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." Turn over to chapter 22 with me real quick. We see where John does this again.

Revelation 22, starting in verse 8, says, "Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. And he said to me, see that you do not do that, for I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and those who keep the words of this book. Worship God." Back in our text, verse 10 continues, "See that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant, of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God."

We need to be careful who we worship. Back in the '90s and into the early 2000s, it almost became a big thing in the church to worship angels. You'd have all these books being written about angels and all these false, unbiblical things. There was one about it wasn't really Gabriel in the Bible, it's supposed to be Gabrielle, so it's actually a female. If you notice in the world, they always try to take these angels and sissify them or weaken them.

It's a terrible thing because when you look at the angels throughout the word of God, they are mighty beings. One angel can wipe out an entire army. I can understand John just falling down at his feet to worship him. But notice here, do not do this. Hey, bonehead, don't do that. What are you doing? Get up! I'm your fellow servant. I have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.

Beloved in Christ, may we be those who are careful to worship God, and please not the God that perhaps we've been raised with, not the God of some other whatever, not the God that even you might think. It's the God of the Bible. It is the God of the word of God. Be careful with that, especially in the days that we're living in. Deception is growing like crazy.

Secondly, I love these texts where the Apostle John is corrected by the angel where he says, "Don't worship anyone but God," because to me it's another proof text that Jesus is God. Why do I say that? Turn with me briefly to John chapter 20. You'll remember when Jesus first appeared to the apostles in the upper room. There was a fellow that wasn't there; his name was Thomas.

We call him doubting Thomas, although I think any one of us who weren't there may have probably felt the same way. Thomas didn't believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. We come to this portion in John chapter 20, verse 26. "After eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, peace to you."

"Then he said to Thomas, reach your fingers in here. Look at my hands. Reach your hand in here, put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." And Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God." Underline that in your Bibles, highlight that, or circle it, because notice in verse 29, Jesus did not say, "Thomas, don't call me God." No. It says, "Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed."

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." That's us, by the way. We haven't seen, and we believe. We're more blessed than Thomas, believe it or not. Notice the Lord did not rebuke Thomas here. Why? Because he is God. If Jesus wasn't God, it would be sinful of him not to rebuke Thomas and say, "Hey, don't call me God," just as these angels do with John.

But because Jesus is God, he is worthy of the praise of Thomas. Back to our text, Revelation 19:10: "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." In the New Living, it says, "For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus." All the prophecy of the Old Testament and all the prophecies of the New Testament point in one direction, and that is to Jesus.

In the Amplified, it says, "For the substance or the essence of the truth revealed by Jesus is the spirit of all prophecy, the vital breath, the inspiration of all inspired preaching and interpretation of the divine will and purpose, including both mine and yours." I even like how the Living Bible says it. "The purpose of all prophecy, of all that I have shown you, is to tell you about Jesus."

In the Expanded Edition, it says, "For the testimony concerning Jesus is the spirit, the disposition or characteristic of prophecy, the forthtelling of God's word." Again, as the New Living said it, the essence of prophecy is to give clear witness of Jesus. That's what prophecy is all about: Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. And guess what? God is returning. Jesus is coming back.

This is the only book in the entire world that gives us prophecies that have been coming true for millennia. If you don't know this, the prophecies of Daniel and the Grecian into the Roman Empire were so accurate that the scholars back in the 1700s and 1800s said, "Oh, it can't be. It was all written after these things happened." Well, guess what? The Lord unearthed the Dead Sea Scrolls, confirming everything was written far before.

God's word is true. Buddha doesn't have any prophecies to look up. Muhammad doesn't have any prophecies to prove that this book is real. As we look at prophecy, even as we see Israel being a nation today... why do you think Satan is trying so hard to discount, "Oh, that's not the real Israel"? There was a guy from Calvary Chapel just this last week, he's with the other part that broke off from us, and they're just going further and further away from God's word.

They say, and this is where the replacement theology goes, "Well, the Israel that's there right now isn't the real Israel. God will replace them one day." You know what? That's a false teaching. That is not from the word of God. God has not forsaken his people. He will not forsake them because God told us time and time again he was going to bring them back to their land over and over again from the four corners of the earth.

May 14th, 1948, a nation was born in a day. "Shall a nation be born in a day?" the Bible says. Yes, because God has made it so. By the way, it wasn't for Israel; it was for God. Israel are still God's beloved chosen, as we are his people. We are his bride. But guess what? It's not about us as bride; it's always about Jesus. And so as Jesus has brought Israel back to the land, don't believe the lies because these are prophecies that have come true before our eyes.

If we start to say, "No, no, these aren't those prophecies," we start to disbelieve more of the word of God. As we see all nation against nation and nations coming together against Israel, they will not prevail. That's what the word of God says. Notice again within our text, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Don't be afraid to bring up prophecy when you're witnessing or even to deepen your own faith.

Go look at the prophecies that have been fulfilled. Look at the prophecies Jesus fulfilled. I think that the reason we just read that is because I believe that to be the introduction of the finale of the book we're in. Because in the next verse and on, we're going to see the heavens open. We're going to see he who is called faithful and dependable riding on a white horse, Jesus Christ, returning to rule and reign upon the earth. Oh, glory hallelujah.

Guest (Male): This has been Simple Faith from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today we brought you a message from Pastor Bill from his new series in the book of Revelation. If you'd like to hear today's message again or share it with someone, it's available at our website to either watch or listen, and you can actually download an audio MP3. We have a large number of Pastor Bill's messages archived, and you can find them all at simplefaith.org. That's simplefaith.org.

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