SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/22/2015
9:11 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 Marriage Supper of the Lamb
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
19:7-10
Message of the
verses: “7 “Let us rejoice and be
glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His
bride has made herself ready." 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in
fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the
saints. 9 Then he said to me, "Write, ’Blessed are those who are invited
to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’" And he said to me, "These are
true words of God." 10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said
to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren
who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’”
So far in our look at this section we have not really
looked at the verses, but wrote of things that had to do with what marriage is
all about, but today we will get into a look at what these verses have to say.
We have mentioned that the Lord Jesus Christ went into
heaven 40 days after His resurrection from the dead and left His bride (the
church) on planet earth. As we look
again at the way the Jewish wedding went the bride while waiting would get
herself ready to meet he husband, and when the Lord comes at the Rapture the
bride will have had time to make herself ready.
Let us take a look at Philippians 2:12-13 which speaks of this readiness
that the bride was to do in preparation for the Lord’s return: “12 So then, my beloved, just as you have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with
fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” We see in these verses that we as believers
are to work out our salvation, but this does not mean that we are to word for
our salvation, but then Paul goes on to say that it is God who is at work in
you, so through the Holy Spirit God is making ready the bride for His Son. Paul writes the following in Colossians 1:29 “For
this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily
works within me.” John MacArthur writes “The
bride has made herself ready in the power of God, by the grace of God, through
the work of the Spirit of God. Purged from
all sin and impurity (cf. 1 Cor. 3:12-15), she is a flawless, blameless,
unblemished virgin.”
Now since all of this has happened to the bride, and we
mentioned that at the Rapture is when the bride goes to be with the Lord Jesus
Christ, and after the Rapture the judgment seat of Christ will be held so that
the works that the Lord has for His children to accomplish while in the body
are judged to see if they were done. Sin
has already been judged, so this is not judgment for sin, but to see the works
of each believer and those that were not done through the power of the Holy
Spirit will be burned up, and those that have will not be burned up. Now after that we can see that the bride was
given “to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean.” John MacArthur writes “Fine linen was
expensive and beautiful cloth shinning, or radiant (cf. its use in Acts 10:30);
kataros (clean) is translated ‘pure’
in 21:18, 21. Such dazzling garments
were worn earlier in Revelation by angels (15:6), and will be the clothing of
the armies of heaven (made up of both angels and the redeemed saints) that
accompany Christ when He returns to earth (v. 14).”
Now this fine linen which is worn by the bride represents
“the righteous acts of the saints.” When
a person is saved they were clothed with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ, which is imputed to them, but this is different “for by now the church
is clothed with a righteousness of its own” writes John Macarthur, and he goes
on to say that “the gloried believers are intrinsically righteous, like the
holy angels. Now longer will the church
have only an imputed righteousness, but also then an imparted holy
perfection. The promise of 1 John 3:2 ‘Beloved,
now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will
be. We know that when He appears, we
will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is’ (cf. Rom. 8:19-21) is
then fulfilled.” “19 For the anxious
longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to
futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that
the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into
the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
Now we want to look at something else the angel says to
John: “Write, Blessed are those who are
invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’”
A while ago we talked about different beatitudes that are found in the
book of Revelation beginning with 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 20:6; 22:7, 14). This one we are now looking at is number four
with three to follow. This word blessed
means happy, joyful and it is said that those who are invited to the marriage
supper of the Lamb are blessed, and they will be full of joy and also be
happy. MacArthur writes “That they are
invited guests marks them as a distinct group from the church, since a bride
would hardly be invited to her own wedding.”
So we beg the question who are these guests?
Let us look at Matthew 8:11 “"I say to you that many
will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” Next
Luke 13:28 “"In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth
when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of
God, but yourselves being thrown out.”
These are similar verses with Luke 13:28 also mentioning the prophets,
so we believe that these who are invited will be OT saints. A look at Hebrew’s chapter 11 which is the
faith chapter mentions the heroes of the faith and these will be invited as
they also are OT saints. Mtthew 11:11
tells us that John the Baptist, who is the greatest of all OT saints will be
invited. “"Truly I say to you,
among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the
Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
John MacArthur now answers what may be on some of your
hearts as he writes “Some may question why the church age believers should be
granted the honor of being the bride, while believers from other ages are
merely guests. But one may equally ask
why God singled out Israel to be the covenant people. The only answer to both questions is that God’s
sovereignty purposed that it be so (cf. Deut 7:7-8). ‘7 “The LORD did not set
His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the
peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the LORD loved
you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you
out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand
of Pharaoh king of Egypt.’ It must be
remembered that the wedding imagery is just that; imagery that is not reality,
but pictures God’s intimate union with His people. There will be no ‘second-class citizens’ in
God’s kingdom, just as all the participants in a wedding enjoy the
celebration. And it the new heavens and
the new earth, as noted above, the imagery of the bride will be expanded to encompass
all the redeemed from all the ages (21:1-2).
“Israel looked forward to this great wedding
banquet: ‘6 The LORD of hosts will
prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged
wine, choice pieces with marrow, And refined, aged wine. 7 And on this mountain
He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which
is stretched over all nations. 8 He will
swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all
faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For
the LORD has spoken.
‘9 And it will be said in that day,
"Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.
This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His
salvation." 10 For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, And
Moab will be trodden down in his place (Isa. 25:6-10a)’
“Isaiah 26:1-4 records one of the joyous songs the
redeemed of Israel will sing: ‘1 In that
day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city;
He sets up walls and ramparts for security. 2 “Open the gates, that the
righteous nation may enter, The one that remains faithful. 3 “The steadfast of
mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You. 4 “Trust in the
LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.’ Verse 19 of that chapter describes the
resurrection that will bring the Old Testament sains to the banquet: ‘Your dead
will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout
for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth
to the departed spirits.’
We better stop here and try and finish this section in
our next SD as we do not have too much more to discuss.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It is a good
question to ask why the Church is the bride, but then I have to realize that it
is all about the Lord who is the One who has called me, saved me and is in the
process of sanctifying me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Allow the Lord to do that sanctifying work in
my heart each day.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Joshua and Caleb” (Numbers
26:65).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who did Emperor Nero accuse
of burning Rome?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/22/2015 10:03 PM
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