Revelation- 19 VERSE 4. And the four and twenty elders and
the four beasts fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne, saying,
Amen; Alleluia. 5. And a voice came out of the throne, saying,
Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and
great. 6. And 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. 7. 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. 8. And to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints.
A Song of Triumph. -
The Lord God omnipotent, the Father, reigneth, is the language of this song. He
reigns at the present time, and has ever reigned, in reality, though sentence
p 727 -- against an
evil work has not been executed speedily; but now he reigns by the open
manifestation of his power in the subjugation of all his foes.
"Rejoice, ...
for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself
ready." Who is the "bride, the Lamb's wife," and what is the
marriage?
A vast field for thought is here opened, and
material furnished for a more lengthy exposition than falls within the design
of this work. The Lamb's wife is the New Jerusalem which is above.
This will be noticed
more fully on chapter 21. The marriage of the Lamb is his reception of this
city. When he receives this city, he receives it as the glory and metropolis of
his kingdom; hence with it he receives his kingdom, and the throne of his father
David.
This may well be the
event designated by the marriage of the Lamb. That the marriage relation is
often taken to illustrate the union between Christ and his people, is granted;
but the marriage of the Lamb here spoken of is a definite event to take place at
a definite time; and if the declaration that Christ is the head of the church
as the husband is the head of the wife (Eph. 5:23), proves that the church is
now the Lamb's wife, then the marriage of the Lamb took place long ago; but
that cannot be, according to this scripture, which locates it in the future.
Paul told his
Corinthian converts that he had espoused them to one husband, even Christ. This
is true of all converts. But while this figure is used to denote the relation
that they then assumed to Christ, was it a fact that the marriage of the Lamb
took place in Corinth in Paul's day, and that it has been going on for the past
eighteen hundred years? Further remarks on this point are deferred to a
consideration of chapter 21.
But if the city is
the bride, it may be asked how it can be said that she made herself ready.
Answer: By
the figure of personification, which attributes life and action to inanimate
objects. (See a notable example in Psalm 114.)
Psa 114:1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of
Jacob from a people of strange language;
Psa 114:2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his
dominion.
Psa 114:3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven
back.
Psa 114:4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the
little hills like lambs.
Psa 114:5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou
fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
Psa 114:6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and
ye little hills, like lambs?
Psa 114:7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the
Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
Psa 114:8 Which turned the rock into a standing water,
the flint into a fountain of waters.
Again, the query may
arise on verse 8 how a city can be arrayed in the righteousness of the saints;
but if we consider that a city without inhabitants would be but a dreary and
cheerless place, we
p 728 -- see at once
how this is. Reference is had to the countless number of its glorified
inhabitants in their shining apparel. The raiment was granted to her. What is
granted to her?
Isa 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear;
break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with
child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the
married wife, saith the LORD.
Isa 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them
stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords,
and strengthen thy stakes;
Isa 54:3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand
and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate
cities to be inhabited.
Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed:
neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt
forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy
widowhood any more.
Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of
hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the
whole earth shall he be called.
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman
forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused,
saith thy God.
Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but
with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for
a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the
LORD thy Redeemer.
Isa 54:9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me:
for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth;
so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
Isa 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills
be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
Isa 54:11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and
not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy
foundations with sapphires.
Isa 54:12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and
thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
Isa 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the
LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
Isa 54:14 In righteousness shalt thou be established:
thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror;
for it shall not come near thee.
Isa 54:15 Behold, they shall surely gather together,
but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy
sake.
Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth
the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and
I have created the waster to destroy.
Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall
prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt
condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their
righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 54 and Gal.
4:21-31 will explain.
Gal 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law,
do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons,
the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born
after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are
the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage,
which is Agar.
Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and
answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which
is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that
bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate
hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the
children of promise.
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh
persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast
out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir
with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the
bondwoman, but of the free
To the new-covenant
city are granted many more children than to the old; these are her glory and
rejoicing. The goodly apparel of this city, so to speak, consists of the hosts
of the redeemed and immortal ones who walk its golden streets.
*******
Many and few. Where will we be?
More and more Satan
has dulled our senses to the point we mostly refuse to believe in any real
choice having to be made. We live our
lives, we don't mess with things that are too confusing to comprehend and if we
truly are leaving well enough alone, then that's just it, we should be left to
just live our lives to the best of our abilities and that is that. We don't
want to be concerned with an unknown future, or a predicted future that calls
for faith to believe. Faith isn't fact, and until it becomes fact, well why
bother with it? So, if people want
to believe things that aren't proven let
them, as long as we aren't forced to believe. And it is THAT sort of thinking,
of living, that will engulf the many. We MUST live by faith. We MUST believe in
what we are told by our God. What is told will come to pass. The Bride is being
made ready for the Groom. -
Rev 19:7- 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. 8. And to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints.
The marriage of the
Lamb is come.
His wife hath made
herself ready.
To her was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white-
The fine linen is
the RIGHTEOUSNESS of saints
And that
righteousness is Christ's given. We are given HIS righteousness. All our righteousness is as filthy rags, but
His righteousness is clean and white.
Zec 3:3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments,
and stood before the angel.
Zec 3:4 And he answered and spake unto those that
stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him
he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with change of raiment.
Zec 3:5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon
his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with
garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.
Christ will take
away our filthy garments, our unrighteousness and He will clothe us with a
change of raiment. His righteousness alone saves us, not ours. By His grace we are saved!
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them.
By HIS grace!
In HIS love!
In HIS name, the
name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, now and forever!!!!!!
Amen!
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