The Marriage of the Lamb.
Revelation 19:1-101And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: 2For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. 3And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. 4And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. 5And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. 6And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 7Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. 10And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:1‑10).
We have seen in chapters 17. and 18. the judgment of Babylon as a system. The judgment of individuals is a different thing altogether.
Babylon is a vast system in antagonism against God. It is the world as a system, and “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passeth away” (1 John 2:15-1715Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1 John 2:15‑17)).
Babylon is typical of the world as a moral system It is a system opposed to Christ and all His. “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18, 1918If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (John 15:18‑19)).
In the chapters we have been considering Babylon has a threefold character.
1. Religious and ecclesiastical—the Great Whore, entering into unholy and illicit connection with the world, committing spiritual fornication with the kings of the earth. She sits a Queen, Mistress over the world, false to her true character as “called out” of the world. No wonder she has stamped upon her forehead MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMITIONS OF THE EARTH. In contrast to the true Bride of Christ it is the World-Church.
2. A political system—the Woman sitting upon the scarlet colored beast, arrayed in purple and scarlet, decked with precious stones of every kind, her dignitaries displaying all the pomp, magnificence, and grandeur of the earth. What a contrast to the hunted, persecuted and oft-times martyred people of God linked by faith with a rejected Christ, quickened with Him, raised up together with Him, and seated in heavenly places in Him!
Babylon in all its threefold earthly glory is doomed to fall under the righteous judgment of God. Her plagues will come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine. The whole fabric of finance will burst like a mighty bubble, filling the world with dismay, “weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate (Rev. 18:1919And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. (Revelation 18:19)).
But if earth weeps and mourns, heaven will rejoice at the collapse of that vast system of religious idolatry and bloody persecution, of political intrigue, and commercial deception.
“Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her” (18:20).
This to some may seem a hard saying, but God is not unrighteous to forget the blood shed by man upon the earth, and Babylon, insensible to her own guilt, utterly indifferent to the holiness and righteousness of the God with Whom all have to do, to say nothing of the torture and misery she has heaped upon her helpless victims—Babylon, unrepentant, inherits the accumulated guilt of all the blood that has been shed upon the earth.
“And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth (18:24).
Slain, not only in the name of religion, but also, international wars, of aggression and trade.
Much People in Heaven.
On earth there has been weeping and wailing. The last days of the great crisis week of seven years are seen to be rapidly running out. The different bands of martyrs that have been noticed in our previous study of this wonderful book have gone to join the heavenly host.
“And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God” (19:1).
The time seems now to have arrived for the long delayed answer to the prayer— “Thy Kingdom come... for Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory.” The heavenly host are here heard using almost the identical words— “glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God” (19:1), only not now as a far distant prospect, but as an immediate actuality.
And who are these “much people in heaven?” Are they not the whole company of the redeemed in glory? Do they not include (1) all the saints caught up at the rapture, viz., O.T. saints and the completed Church, (2) martyrs under the fifth seal (Rev. 6), (3) martyrs under the beast (Rev. 13:1515And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. (Revelation 13:15))? They are here seen as an undivided company, voicing as one the triumphant Hallelujah’s of heaven over the long-delayed but righteous judgment of the great idolatrous persecutor of God’s servants (19:2), The Kingdom of God could not be established upon earth until the two opposing forces were put down—Babylon and the Beast. The first of these is now disposed of “and again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose tip forever and ever” (19:3). The judgment of the Beast and the kings of the earth is soon to follow.
A Voice out of the Throne.
It is solemn to think that nowhere in Scripture is found such a chorus of thanksgiving as here over the downfall of Babylon. Not once only nor twice, but four times does Alleluia! sound through heaven’s eternal arches. Angelic hosts (19:6) take up the strain, and the voice of Him whose voice was as the sound of many waters (1:15. 19:6)— the mind of heaven is one as amidst the mighty thunderings of omnipotent power they proclaim—The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
The Marriage of the Lamb.
Long centuries before the voice of the Spirit had proclaimed the espousals of the Church as of a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:22For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2)). The Church at Corinth was a local representative of the whole Church everywhere, for this we believe is the teaching of 1 Corinthians 12:2727Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Corinthians 12:27). “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” Of course the body of Christ in its entirety included all saints everywhere, but each local assembly represented the whole. What is true of the Body aspect, is likewise true of the Bride aspect of the Church. Now here, in Revelation 19. the marriage is about to be consummated.
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready” (19:7).
The harlot church united to the kings of the earth, and the chaste virgin united to the Lord of heaven could not exist side by side. The Great Whore must go to her doom before the chaste Bride appears side by side with the once rejected but now glorified Lamb in heaven.
Up to this point the saints in heaven are seen, as we have said, as one undivided group. They can each and all take up the song of Revelation 1:5, 6— “loved—cleansed—and crowned,” but now Babylon having been judged, the Bride is seen separated off from the rest to occupy a place of special nearness to the Lamb. The twenty-Tour elders embrace all the redeemed “caught up” when the Lord comes into the air. In this passage (19:4) they are mentioned for the last time for the different families in heaven are now being separately defined (“EVERY family, etc.,” Ephesians 3:1515Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, (Ephesians 3:15)—R.V.).
If the Bride holds a special place, there will be no jealousy in heaven, where all is sovereign grace. Here it is said she hath “made herself ready.” The blood of the Lamb made her ready-as to her title, as indeed will be the case with each individual saint in that day. Here it is a matter of manifestation with Christ in glory. The light makes everything manifest, not to the eyes of others, but to His with Whom each one has to do. The result of that manifestation at the Bema of Christ will be that the Bride as a whole will be seen “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.” No finger will be able to point out a single stain, all will have been manifested before God and the result will be seen by all—fine linen “granted” even though unmerited. How different the “scarlet and purple” of the meretricious harlot and the clean white linen of practical righteousness of the Bride “the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (19:8, R.V.).
The Blessed Guests.
From this point the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures cease from view, and the figure changes to the Bride and the guests called to the marriage supper. That is, the Church displayed as the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, and the remainder of the saints included under the twenty-four elders, namely, the O.T. saints seen as a separate company, blessed indeed, though not in the same position, called to the marriage supper as guest but not in the same relationship to the Lamb―
The Lamb is all the glory
In Immanuel’s land.
Some may think these distinctions unnecessary, but let us remember that, “these are the true sayings of God” (19:9).
The effect upon John of these stupendous revelations was to produce a feeling of reverential adoration, and he falls at the feet of the angelic messenger. But he is immediately prevented from creature worship, and angels, however exalted, are but creatures. God alone is to be adored―
“I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren, that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (19:10)
There are some Christians who profess to take no interest, and to find no profit from the study of prophecy. This verse is God’s condemnation of such an attitude. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. This sentence is reciprocal. What the Spirit has revealed in the prophetic Word is the testimony about the Lord Jesus that He would have sounded abroad, and so much the more as the day of its fulfillment draws nigh.