Revelation chapter 19 verse 1.
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.
For 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.
And again they said, Alleluia, and her smoke
rose up forever and ever.
And the four and twenty elders and the
four living creatures fell down and worshiped God
that sat on the throne saying, Alleluia, Amen.
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.
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.
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.
And to her was granted that she should
be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of
the saints.
And 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 saints of God.
May the Lord add his blessing this evening
to this solemn and yet happy portion of
his work.
I have no intention this evening of making
comments on the opening verses of the chapter
which refer to that day of judgment when
God acts against his enemies.
We do rejoice tonight because in reading the
verses we find that above and beyond all
of the actions of men, the Lord God
omnipotent reigns, and our confidence is in God.
Rather, I would direct your attention to verses
7, 8, and 9, where reference is made
to the marriage of the Lamb.
I think the last phrase of verse 7
is one of the most gracious phrases in
all of the Bible, for it reads, For
the Lamb, pardon me, for his wife hath
made herself ready.
All of us here tonight who belong to
the Lord Jesus and look forward to that
day of his return and to our presentation
to him on that occasion realize that what
Paul said about himself is true of us
and is true of all God's people, that
we are what we are through the grace
of God.
And when this verse says, his wife hath
made herself ready, we know that that readiness,
that preparation is the work of the Lamb
himself and of the Holy Spirit in our
lives.
But as we mentioned this morning, the Lord
Jesus is coming back, and the Bible tells
us, especially the New Testament, that his people
will be presented to him.
It will be a glad, happy, and glorious
moment when in his likeness and in full
glory we are presented to him.
Let me suggest to you tonight that there
is at least a threefold preparation in the
New Testament for that moment.
It begins when we turn backwards and remember
the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A number of portions could be read this
evening, but I would like you to notice
that in the book of the Revelation, and
you need not turn to it, reference is
made to the fact that through his blood
he has freed us from our sins.
He has freed us from our sins.
That is the fundamental, basic preparation for that
day when we shall see him face to
face.
As a matter of fact, without that shedding
of blood there would be no possibility that
we would ever see the Lord Jesus, that
we would ever be presented to him in
holiness and in purity.
Just recently in the Dominican Republic, not far
from where I live, the government opened a
great, beautiful plaza.
I think it must be the largest in
all of Santo Domingo.
A very beautiful work of art.
It consists of a great plaza around which
the highway passes, and then in the center
there is a great archway.
I am not going to guess how high
it is, but you can see it from
all over.
And standing under the archway is the image
of a mother, and she holds in her
hands the body of her son.
This great plaza is called La Plaza de
la Independencia, Independent Square.
The mother is representative of all of the
Dominican mothers over more than a hundred years
who have lost sons and daughters as that
people sought their independence.
First of all from Spain, then many times
from Haiti on the same island, and then
in more recent years from the dictator who
ruled our country with an iron hand for
so long.
No one knows how many, but hundreds of
thousands gave their lives over a hundred years
to attain the independence that we have today.
And our people remember, and they honor their
dead, those who gave their life for our
independence.
But there is no independence in the world,
not in the United States, or any other
place in the world that can be compared
to the freedom that a man or a
woman receives through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
No wonder that the book of the Revelation
opens with a doxology of praise to the
Lord Jesus, because through His blood He has
freed us from our sins.
He has set us free and brought us
into fellowship with God.
Most of you know that here tonight are
familiar with the Bible.
You will remember the exodus of Israel when
the blood was shed and applied to the
door, the sign that a people had been
bought by God and they were brought out
of slavery and through a long, dark forty
years of wandering and finally into a promised
land.
The story is a gripping story, but the
spiritual reality far surpasses the story of the
book of Exodus.
And many of us here tonight know how
sweet it is to come into fellowship with
the Lord Jesus and to be free from
that bondage of sin.
Now that, I repeat once again, is the
foundation of the work that God has done
in order to bring us and to present
us in His presence without spot and without
blemish.
But the blood has brought forth not just
freedom.
You know, in the Dominican Republic we have
political freedom.
We are not like the new nations of
Africa that are restless in their newness and
that are full of antagonism towards the countries
of Europe that dominated them for so long.
In the Dominican Republic our national independence goes
back now over a hundred years.
We have been freed politically from Spain and
from the power of Haiti, but in our
freedom in the Dominican Republic we have not
yet, in over a hundred years, found what
we are nationally looking for.
We seem to pass from one crisis to
another, as perhaps as you do in the
United States or most of the other nations
of the world.
But we find in Colossians 1 that the
Lord Jesus, through His blood, has not only
given to us freedom, but we find in
this chapter that we have been reconciled to
God.
And I read to you in Colossians 1,
verse 19, the words of the Apostle Paul,
and it reads as follows, For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness
dwell, and, having made peace through the blood
of His cross, by Him to reconcile all
things unto Himself.
By Him, I say, whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven, and you,
in the sense of something very special, and
you that were sometime alienated and enemies in
your mind by wicked works, yet now hath
He reconciled in the body of His flesh
through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight.
There is a great purpose in the work
that God has done for us.
He has freed us from the power of
sin, but the purpose is reconciliation with Himself
and to be brought into a state of
peace in the sense of order, of stability,
of purpose in our lives.
And with all due respect to the different
philosophies of the world today, it is only
the Christian who finds real purpose to his
existence in the world.
That's because we have been reconciled back to
God and been brought back to God.
We are in a state of peace, of
order, and of purpose.
But not only this, you may remember that
in the book of Genesis there were two
brothers, Cain and Abel, and Cain rose up
one day and in cold blood he murdered
his brother.
And God came to Cain and He said,
Where is your brother?
Now Cain made some excuses, but God pressed
the issue and He said to Cain, What
have you done?
For the blood of your brother cries unto
Me from the ground.
It was blood that cried for revenge, and
God heard the cry, and He came down
and He dealt with Cain.
How beautiful to come to the New Testament
and find, as we remembered this morning, that
the Lord's violent death at Calvary, both physically
and spiritually on our behalf, His blood shed
for us, speaks of better things than the
blood of Abel.
For His blood pleads our cause for mercy
and grace from God.
Thus in the blood shed by the Lord
Jesus there is no call for revenge, but
an offer of forgiveness, of cleansing for all
of us who receive Him as our Savior
and Lord.
I remember, and I know you're all familiar
with this incident, but I remember how deeply
it impressed me when as a young man
I read for the first time concerning the
death of Charles Hayden Spurgeon, that great master
preacher in England so many years ago.
Gathered round his bed were a few friends
and relatives and as he came to the
end of his life, this is what Mr.
Spurgeon said, my brethren, my theology has become
very simple.
It consists of four words, Jesus, die for
me.
Now that blood shed two thousand years ago
is the only possible basis for our presentation
before the Lord Jesus on that coming day
of His glory and His power.
No wonder in the book of the Revelation
you find the four living creatures, and then
the twenty-four elders, and then that great
number of angelic beings, and then the whole
creation caught up in a new song of
praise to the Lamb that was slain.
For it is through that blood that God
has set the basis of bringing us back
to Himself.
But there is another aspect to this preparation
and I would like to mention it to
you now.
Please turn with me to Ephesians chapter five
where Paul speaks again of this relationship between
the Lord Jesus and His people as that
relationship which we think of in human terms
as marriage.
Ephesians chapter five and verse twenty-five, husbands
love your wives.
Even as Christ also loved the church and
gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the Word, that He might present it
to Himself a glorious church, not having spot
or wrinkle or any such thing, but that
it should be holy and without blemish.
Now this work referred to in verses twenty
-six and twenty-seven is the expression of
the deep love of Christ for His people.
It is described in these words that He
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the Word.
There may be some illustration here of that
Old Testament ceremony of the labor in the
tabernacle and also in the temple, symbolic of
regeneration as we come into the presence of
God.
Perhaps a more correct rendering of verse twenty
-six would be as follows, that He might
sanctify it, having cleansed it with the washing
of water by the Word.
That is, there is a work of cleansing,
of washing, that God has done in our
lives that will enable us on that coming
day to stand before the Lord Jesus, now
listen to these words, a glorious church, without
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, and
that it should be holy and without blemish.
There is no possibility that it refers to
something that we achieve.
This rather is the direct work of God
through washing and regeneration as He brings us
into that state of cleanliness, spiritual cleanliness, in
His presence.
The doctrinal term, the theological term, is justification,
that we have been justified from all our
sins.
Now, the great purpose of the Lord Jesus
is to sanctify it, having cleansed us with
the washing of water by the Word.
You need not turn to it, but let
me read to you from Titus chapter three
and verse four, a similar thought from the
same author, Paul, but after that the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man
appears, not by works of righteousness which we
have done, but according to His mercy, He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost.
Now in Ephesians five and in Titus three,
there is reference to a basic fundamental work
of God in our lives, and then there
is reference to an ongoing work of God
in our lives day by day.
The fundamental work is the washing, the regeneration.
Peter says that we are born again, born
anew, by the God who has spoken, worked
in our hearts, and He has cleansed us.
In Titus, one has suggested these three thoughts.
The washing is a change in condition.
We were once soiled and tainted and spoiled
by sin, but God has washed us.
It is a change of condition.
This thought of regeneration is a change of
status.
We have been born into the family of
God.
Back in Ephesians chapter five, the phrase that
corresponds to these truths is, having washed us
by the water of the Word, that regeneration
and cleansing, the direct work of God in
our hearts.
But the ongoing work in Ephesians five is
that work of sanctification.
And here in Titus chapter three, the renewing
of the Holy Ghost, that renewal is a
change in disposition.
When the Spirit speaks to grow more and
more into the likeness of the Lord Jesus.
You are all familiar with the apostolic exhortations.
We are not to grieve the Holy Spirit.
We are not to quench the Holy Spirit.
We are not to resist the work of
the Holy Spirit, for He has been given
to us to lead us on day by
day, that what we are now will correspond
to what we will be on that day
when we stand before the Lord Jesus.
And He works in our hearts.
All of you tonight who have had pastoral
experience, and I know that many of you
have, know what Paul means when he writes
in 2 Corinthians chapter eleven and speaks about
that church at Corinth and says as follows,
Would to God you would bear with me
a little in my fall, and indeed bear
with me, for 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.
But I fear, but I fear less by
any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Paul, who has already written about that glorious
day when we shall be presented spotless, holy,
blameless in the presence of the Lord Jesus,
is anxious, is working, is fearful that this
local congregation will be drawn away and will
not go on steadfastly in the things of
God.
And as a true pastor, he works and
he prays that he might help them on
in their Christian experience to present them before
the Lord Jesus as a chaste virgin.
All pastors have that burden.
Paul talks about carrying the care of all
the churches in his heart, for though we
know what we shall be in the purpose
of God, it is God's design, it is
the longing of the Spirit of God, and
it is the pastor's burden that the people
of God now will grow into that likeness
morally day by day.
This is done as we come to the
Word of God, as we spend time in
the presence of God, as Peter says, as
we grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first pope that ever used the word
Gregory was known as Gregory, and he died
in the year 604.
He was pope for approximately 15 years, and
he wrote these words, Holy Scripture is the
letter of God Almighty to his creatures.
Learn God's heart in God's words.
And as we come to this book, we
move right into the heart of God to
understand what he is like, and it is
the Spirit's intention to make us like children
of the highest, that we will correspond and
show forth those virtues that belong to the
Lord Jesus.
Now, we have noticed that foundation preparation for
our presentation before the Lord Jesus, that awesome
price of his precious blood that was shed
at Calvary.
We have noticed very briefly how God through
his Word speaks to our hearts, and we
experience that washing, that regeneration from which flows
through all the days of our life, that
continuing work of sanctification, that renewing of the
Holy Ghost as he brings us more and
more into the likeness of the Lord Jesus.
But surely tonight you will agree with me
that that foundation work, which is the basis
of all that we shall be forever, and
what we are today as a result of
the Spirit's work thus far in our lives,
between those two things there is a tension.
All of us are aware of our failures,
of our shortcomings, not to say our sins,
of those things that happen in our lives
for which we are responsible that bring sorrow
to the heart of God and bring shame
on our own lives.
What we are now and what we shall
be then, there is no doubt that there
is a tension between those two things, and
it must be dealt with.
So when you come into the epistles of
Paul, references made to what he calls the
judgment seat of Christ, or in Romans, the
judgment seat of God.
Now, that is not a judgment of condemnation.
That is not a judgment of purgatory.
That is judgment in the sense of appraisal.
Let me read to you tonight just one
or two of these verses, going back first
of all to the Old Testament, where perhaps
the seed is planted of this particular thought.
We read, for God shall bring every work
into judgment with every secret thing, whether it
be good or whether it be evil.
Now, in the New Testament, we find these
words, for we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive
the things done in the body, according to
that he hath done, whether it be good
or bad.
Each man's work shall be made manifest of
what sort it is.
So then, each one of us shall give
an account of himself to God.
Language could not be clearer.
There is a day coming when we will
stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus,
and our lives must be appraised.
It ought not to be a frightening thought,
for surely none of us would want to
move on to those endless ages of eternal
glory, taking anything that belongs to sin or
to the things of this world, or to
self-centeredness.
They must be dealt with.
It is a solemn thought, for many of
us have used our energies at different times
in our lives for those things that are
not consistent with the character of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
We have given our time and our energy
and our talents, and all that we have
done is accumulate wood, hay and stubble.
Thus the day is coming when we shall
stand before him, and then we will fully
understand.
For from his point of view, we will
look back on our lives, and an account
will be given, and we will clearly see
that which has been of self, and that
which, on the other hand, has been the
result of the Spirit of God working in
our hearts.
That which has been of self will go
up in smoke, for that is a judgment
of fire.
That is an appraisal that must deal with
those things that do not belong in the
presence of God, and we will see them
go.
And I believe we will bow our heads
and thank God that now, once, all those
things that belong to the old nature, all
that has been done for self, will be
gone and forgotten forever.
I must not minimize the importance of that
experience, for the Bible clearly says that some
of us will suffer loss.
That is, those rewards that could have been
ours, those things that we could have done
for the Lord Jesus, and for which we
would have received just wages.
We will have suffered loss.
We have missed those opportunities.
On the other hand, there is a beautiful
verse in the New Testament which reads, Then
shall every man receive praise of God.
Perhaps God is far more gracious in dealing
with us than we are in dealing with
each other.
And as He looks at us, there is
that which the Spirit of God has brought
out, consistent with the Lord Jesus, and there
will be praise on that occasion for those
things that are in harmony with our Savior.
Thus, as we move on now for our
closing comments, and we think of that day
when the church will be presented before the
Lord Jesus, we have the thought of cleansing,
of forgiveness, of peace, of freedom.
We have had the application of sanctification growing
in the grace of the Lord Jesus.
We have had the tension between what we
are and what we shall be dealt with
at the judgment seat of Christ.
Now, in the portion we have read this
evening, we find that the people of God
are presented on that glorious day as the
bride to the Lord Jesus.
Let me take you again to the book
of Revelation and chapter 19, verse 7.
Let us be glad and rejoice and give
honor to the Lord Jesus Christ through Him,
for the marriage of the Lamb is come,
and His wife hath made herself ready.
Chapter 21, verse 2, And I saw the
holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband.
The great mysteries of eternity are surely beyond
our clear and full comprehension.
How gracious of God to tell us something
about them in terms that we can understand.
Many of you here tonight of our sisters
in the Lord remember the day of their
marriage.
Many of us who are men remember that
day when our companions for life were united
with us in the presence of God and
of our families and of our friends.
This great moment of full communion between the
Lord Jesus and His people is described in
that terminology of bride, which speaks of youth,
which speaks of beauty, which speaks of purity.
All of us who know what we are
by nature cannot help but marvel at the
grace of God that can reach down and
pick up people like ourselves and do such
a tremendous work that we will come down
from the presence of God on that occasion
like a bride.
Youth, beauty, purity, seen in the church of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
The following verse in Revelation chapter 19, verse
8, says, And to her was granted that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white, for the fine linen is the
righteousness of the saints.
Many brides appear in the Bible.
Eve was the bride and she was deceived
for the downfall of herself and her husband
Isaac.
Many of you know the story of Rebecca.
She was the bride that deceived her husband
Isaac.
And then you have Rachel, the bride of
Jacob who schemed to have a son.
All of them have their defects, their shortcomings,
their moral blemishes.
But this bride is unique, for this bride
comes down from God and there is no
spot, there is no blemish.
The moral perfection of the church on that
day can only be measured by the moral
perfection of the Lord Jesus.
Words that are used to describe his perfection
when he came into the world are the
words that are used to describe the beauty
of the church on that day when she
is presented to the Lord Jesus.
The white dress speaks of the upright, just
and godly deeds or conduct of the saints.
If you are familiar with the Amplified New
Testament, the thought is expressed in those words.
May I pause for a practical note?
Remember, every time you give a soft answer
to any expression of wrath, you are acting
consistent with the character of the Lord Jesus.
It is like a thread in that fine
linen, white and clean, that will surround the
bride on that occasion.
I make the suggestion that that beautiful dress
of purity and cleanliness will be a testimony
to the work of the Spirit of God
in the lives of all the people of
God all down through the centuries as he
has worked to bring out in them that
likeness to the Lord Jesus.
There you have the sum total of the
work of the Spirit of God impressed on
the church and now revealed for all of
eternity.
That dress of fine linen, clean and white,
the righteous acts and deeds of God's people
under the inspiration and direction of the Spirit
of God.
Some of you are from Scotland and you
may remember Samuel Rutherford, that great man in
Scotland.
I read the story when I was a
boy and remember on the last day of
his life, while still in the dungeon where
he spent a great deal of time, because
of his faithfulness to God, he received by
a messenger a summons to appear that day
before the court, the royal court.
And as he read it he said to
the messenger, please take back this message.
I cannot come, for I have been called
this day to a higher court.
And within a few hours he passed out
of this world into the presence of God.
Samuel Rutherford wrote some beautiful lines that were
put into the form of poetry by a
woman, if I remember right, by the name
of Cousin.
But the thoughts came from Samuel Rutherford and
these words, we only have a few verses
in our hymn books, it's a long beautiful
poem.
But it goes as follows, the bride eyes
not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face.
I will not gaze at glory, but on
the king of grace.
Not at the crown he giveth, but on
his pierced hand.
The lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's
land.
The German mystic Tauer, who lived around the
year 1400, is quoted by Erich Sauer in
one of his books of having written these
words, that when at last God gives the
crown, he will not crown us, but he
will crown Christ in us, for only Christ
is worthy of a crown.
Thus that dress of fine linen, clean and
white, is nothing more and nothing less, but
the expression of the beauty in the Lord
Jesus, brought into our lives now by the
power of the Spirit of God, which will
be preserved and projected on throughout all of
eternity as that shining garment of his people.
In closing, Revelation 19, verse 9, And he
said unto me, Right, blessed are they which
are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb.
And he said unto me, These are the
true saints of God.
We all know about a bride, we all
know about the dress of bride, and we
all know about the bridal reception, the wedding
reception.
These common things in our lives are used
by God to point us on to eternal
realities which undoubtedly are beyond our comprehension tonight.
But as we meet with our friends on
the wedding day to rejoice together, so on
that day we begin that eternal union of
full joy and happiness with the Lord Jesus.
I don't know how many of you friends
remember the Old Testament in our local churches,
and in that hymn book you find this
hymn, and I read one verse of it
to you tonight, Our home is with God,
and our path has been trod by the
faithful of ages old, and us he will
bring as on eagles' wings to our place
in the marriage hall.
Then shall we sing as the bride of
the King of the blood that has bought
us so nigh to bask in the blaze
of the Ancient of Days enthroned above the
sky.
Well we shall begin that eternal song of
praise and joy in that great mass.
As I close tonight, let me take you
back to a pagan, somewhat sensual Old Testament
story that has to do with a beautiful
young woman called Esther.
Many fair maidens were brought into the presence
of a king who had disposed of his
queen and was looking for a new queen,
and in the story of Esther you find
these words, And thus came every maiden unto
the king.
And the Bible says, Whatsoever she desired was
given her to go with her out of
the kingdom of the house of women unto
the king's house.
There was a great parade over a long
period of time as he looked for the
ideal queen.
When those maidens were brought into the royal
house they were given all they needed for
purification.
And the story says concerning Esther, And the
maiden pleased him, the keeper of the women,
and she obtained kindness of him, and he
speedily gave her her things for purification, with
such things as belonged to her and seven
maidens, which were made to be given her
out of the king's house.
And he preferred her and her maids unto
the best place of the house of the
women.
There was special favor and attention to Esther.
So when that time of preparation was over
and the maidens went into the king, they
could take with them anything they wanted in
order to impress the king.
There is a beautiful part about Esther, and
I leave it with you tonight, where the
Bible says, Now when the daughter of Abihail,
the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her
for his daughter, was come to go in
unto the king, she required nothing but what
Hagai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the
women, appointed.
What had been given to her was all
that she needed, and she asked for nothing
else.
And Esther obtained favor in the sight of
all them that looked upon her.
And the king loved Esther above all the
women, and she obtained grace and favor in
his sight more than all the virgins, so
that he set the royal crown upon her
head and made her queen instead of Esther.
All that she required was what had been
given to her.
Before the Lord Jesus left, he gave us
the promise, I will send you the comforter.
And the Holy Spirit was given in power
on the day of Pentecost, and he indwells
his people today.
And all that we need now to correspond
in our present lives to what we shall
be on that day we have in the
work of the Spirit of God.
If like some of the maidens, we go
outside looking for other things through selfishness, through
pride, whatever it may be, those things must
be dealt with and removed at the judgment
seat of Christ.
But if our lives are open to the
workings of the Spirit of God like Esther,
we require nothing else.
And on that great and glorious day, we
will be loved by the Lord Jesus, honored
and glorified forever, as he himself presents to
himself the bride for which he died two
thousand years ago.
At the close of the Bible, again the
term bride is used, and you need not
turn to it.
The Spirit and the bride say, Come.
The answer comes from the Lord Jesus.
Surely I come quickly.
And then the response again from the people
of God, Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus.
We await his coming, and though we know
so little about it, we have this great
comfort that on that day we shall be
presented without spot in the glory of the
Lord Jesus.
Please take your hymn books, and we'll sing
hymn number 629, words written by Mr. J.
N.
Darby almost a hundred years ago.
And is it so, I shall be like
thy son?
Is this the grace which he for me
has won?
Father of glory, thought beyond all thought, in
glory to his own blessed likeness brought.
Let us stand this evening and sing the
last three verses of hymn number 629.