[Originally preached 25 January, 2004]
Revelation 19.6-10
Today, we come to a climax of the book, but one that is a little out of place. The focus of our text is the marriage of the Lamb, the event when Jesus and His bride, the Church, are finally joined as one. In this John briefly pictures the beginning of the new heavens and new earth after the return of our Lord. This is the beginning of eternity for the saints. I say that it is out of place because this doesn’t actually happen until chapter 21. We still have the destruction of the beast, the false prophet and their leader, Satan himself. But John has done this sort of out-of-place thing before. For whatever reasons, he does it here again. We will focus our attention on the basic image of the text: a wedding. We’ll look at how this image helps us to understand heaven. Let’s start with a couple of preliminary thoughts.
I hope you noticed how the beginning of heaven is described. We do not have an essay here with all the theological details of the specifics of heaven. Instead we have a picture, an image of a wedding feast. Now, why does Jesus do it this way in this revelation that He gives to John? Why doesn’t He give us a straightforward prose statement that we can study? I realize that I have touched on this before, but it bears coming back to. We see in this another example of how the Scriptures relate to the whole person. It’s not just a matter of the intellect. There is more to us than that. Here, we see how the Scriptures draw upon our memories and appeal to our emotions. It paints a picture that we all can relate to. The image of a wedding, and all that is associated with it, is rich with meaning. It is something that will stir our affections as well as stimulate our thoughts. And that is important if heaven is to be something longed for and not just something analyzed. In this we see how God relates to us. He appeals to the whole person. There is a lesson in this about how we are to relate back to God. Having correct ideas is not enough. Beware of relating to God with only the mind. God is not in the process of redeeming minds. He is redeeming people. Among other things, this has something to say about how we worship Him.
Let me offer another preliminary thought. Why is it that Jesus chose the image of marriage? Was it a matter of His searching about for something appropriate and coming upon our marriage customs? ‘Ah, people understand marriage. I think I’ll use that.’ Not at all. We didn’t create marriage. God did. And He created it in order that it might be used as an image of something greater. All that God created, whether physical things or institutions, have been created for the purpose of revealing something about who our God is and how He relates to us. Jesus told us that He is the true vine and the true bread. That says something about the bread we eat and the vines we see growing. They are pictures of something else with lesson to teach us. That explains why God established an authority structure in the family, the state and the Church. That even has something to say about the law of gravity and why the sky is blue. Understanding this affects how you look at creation and how you respond to the Creator with your own creativity.
Now, let’s look specifically at the wedding in our text. I want you to think about some of the weddings that you’ve been to. Let’s single out some aspects. First, a wedding is a time of happiness. Now, here I want you to remember how I’ve made a bit of a fuss in the past in distinguishing happiness from joy. I’ve told you that happiness is rooted in the circumstances of the moment, the things that you can see and feel. But joy is different. Joy doesn’t look at the circumstances. It looks beyond them to what God is doing. And so, sometimes we rejoice even though we do that through tears of pain because the circumstances aren’t pleasant. I’ve told you that this is an important distinction because the pleasant circumstances of any moment will change and fade away, and because the circumstances that we face are so often unpleasant. Once a wedding is over we return to life in a very fallen world. The happiness of the moment passes away. But that will not happen in heaven. There is no returning to a fallen world after the wedding. There is no ‘after the wedding’. The happiness that we feel at the great wedding of the Lamb will never pass away. In fact, I think that it’s safe to say that joy will be redefined. There will be no rejoicing even though … In heaven joy will be the same as happiness. And so, from one perspective, the point of your salvation is your happiness. The goal of the redemption that Jesus paid so much for is that you might be happy with the happiness that you feel at a great wedding. And remember who the bride is at this wedding. It’s you! The bride is the Church, the people of God. All of you will have the happiness of a bride on her wedding day. And it is a happiness that will never end. Now, remember the difference between what is true and what is counterfeit. Babylon, the prostitute, offers happiness. But it is a fake that will not last and the end of which is death. True happiness is being married to Christ. So, when you think of heaven, tell yourself, ‘I will be totally happy there with a deeply satisfying happiness that will never end, ever.’ Hold out for what is true.
What else is there about a wedding feast that can help us with our text? You never attend a wedding feast alone. Almost by definition, it is a gathering of friends and family to rejoice together at the great event. Likewise, heaven is a grand party that we enjoy together. A wedding feast is a time of enjoying good food and drink – which is another theme of Scripture that bears some investigation. It’s a time of being with those whom you love, with time just to enjoy being together. And if it’s a good Jewish wedding, there’s always music and dancing. But whatever the specific traditions, it’s a time for the community to get together to have fun. And that’s what heaven is, both the fun part and the community part.
This points to a problem. One of the lessons that we all have been taught to a greater or lesser extent is the devotion to privacy. We have learned that there are some things that we are never to discuss: how much you earn, where you’re struggling in your marriage, your abiding sins and more. And it is this attitude that is such an obstacle to community. This attitude creates the walls that keep us apart. But all of that will be gone in heaven. There will be no secrets there because we won’t be afraid any longer. And that will be so freeing. Now, I’m not saying that the goal is for us to be able to spill our guts to anyone passing by. But one of our goals while we are here is to begin to learn about and put into practice the sense of community that we will experience in fullness there.
Our wedding traditions match our text in another way. Traditionally, in our weddings the bride is dressed in white. It is a sign of purity. In our text we see that the bride is dressed in fine linen, bright and pure. Think about your sins. There is much evil that comes from our sins. One of those evils is how our sin results in obstacles to our relationships. Is there any marriage in which there is never a disagreement? Aren’t there still sins that trip you up in your relationships with good friends? Sadly, this is an essential element of this life. There is always some evil intruding itself into our relationships, bringing grief and frustration. Isn’t this especially the case when it comes to our relationship with Jesus? Are you never disappointed in yourself when you’ve blown it again in your walk with Christ? But this will not happen in heaven. There will be no sin. You will be clothed in white, a symbol of your purity. And so, your relationship with Jesus will flourish without ever being interrupted by even one of your sins. Never again will there be the frustration and grief and shame that sin brings. And that will also have its pleasant affects on your relationships with the others who will be there. No obstacles. No problems. No forcing yourself to ask for forgiveness - again. It will be completely gone. So, next time you feel the frustration of sin, remember the wedding day is coming when all that will be past.
At the heart of any wedding are the very public making of vows. Here, each says to the other, I bind myself to you from this day forward. There is also the very private consummation of the marriage on that first wedding night. Because of these two aspects of the wedding day something mystical happens. There is the bonding of two persons together. It’s more than just a change of name and address or even the change of legal status. Something more profound and almost incomprehensible takes place. In a good marriage there is the intimacy of heart and soul as well as of body. Yet, in too many marriages, we have two people who are like the twin rails of train tracks. They are going in the same basic direction. There is the tie between them to keep them together and yet they are still separate. They are still really two. In a good marriage the two become one. Something profound has happened. Listen to Paul.
"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31-32
Here, again, we see that marriage here is a picture of something else there. On the coming wedding day, your bond with Christ will be dramatically changed. Something mystical will happen. Now, we are engaged to be Christ’s. The wedding is not yet. There is a bond but it is not the bond of marriage. But when the wedding day arrives, something mystical will happen. There will be a fundamental change in your relationship with Jesus. I have no idea what it will be like, but I know that the union of two into one pictures it and so I know that whatever it is, it will be outstanding! Here is something to anticipate even though we don’t really know what it will be like.
Now, my last thought. I just referred to the notion of being engaged. The wedding day has not yet arrived. We are awaiting that day when Jesus will return. And waiting is hard. Add to that the significant fact that we are not an especially patient people. Now, remember that Babylon the prostitute lurks and she knows that we are impatient. She also offers happiness and pleasure. But the happiness that she offers is fleeting and the pleasure she promises is nothing like the lasting bond with a soul mate. Remember the danger of falling for her wiles as you await the wedding day. Many have fallen. Don’t assume that you won’t. But at the same time, consider how a bride looks forward to her wedding day. Consider the excitement, the anticipation, the preparation for that great day. That also applies to our text. The return of Christ, the great wedding of the Lamb, will most surely come. Are you anticipating it? Are you preparing for it? Is it something that you look forward to with great eagerness? In all of our debates about the end times it seems that we have lost the excitement of our coming wedding. The date is set. It’s just a matter of time. Nothing will help you more as you strive to live faithfully in this present evil age than a yearning for the age to come, a yearning for the wedding day. Meditate on heaven and the coming wedding feast. And that’s not just something to do this afternoon. Every day, relate the good and the bad of this life to what you can expect of heaven. As you enjoy the good things that God gives you now, remind yourself that those things can only get better there. And when you have to deal with the evils of this age remind yourself that when you get there those sorts of things cannot happen. Your happiness there will never be disturbed.
One day Jesus will come back. On that day we all will be wed to Him and we will enter into an eternity that is beyond comprehension. Think about that. Look forward to it. Be assured that it will happen.
Revelation 19.6-10
Today, we come to a climax of the book, but one that is a little out of place. The focus of our text is the marriage of the Lamb, the event when Jesus and His bride, the Church, are finally joined as one. In this John briefly pictures the beginning of the new heavens and new earth after the return of our Lord. This is the beginning of eternity for the saints. I say that it is out of place because this doesn’t actually happen until chapter 21. We still have the destruction of the beast, the false prophet and their leader, Satan himself. But John has done this sort of out-of-place thing before. For whatever reasons, he does it here again. We will focus our attention on the basic image of the text: a wedding. We’ll look at how this image helps us to understand heaven. Let’s start with a couple of preliminary thoughts.
I hope you noticed how the beginning of heaven is described. We do not have an essay here with all the theological details of the specifics of heaven. Instead we have a picture, an image of a wedding feast. Now, why does Jesus do it this way in this revelation that He gives to John? Why doesn’t He give us a straightforward prose statement that we can study? I realize that I have touched on this before, but it bears coming back to. We see in this another example of how the Scriptures relate to the whole person. It’s not just a matter of the intellect. There is more to us than that. Here, we see how the Scriptures draw upon our memories and appeal to our emotions. It paints a picture that we all can relate to. The image of a wedding, and all that is associated with it, is rich with meaning. It is something that will stir our affections as well as stimulate our thoughts. And that is important if heaven is to be something longed for and not just something analyzed. In this we see how God relates to us. He appeals to the whole person. There is a lesson in this about how we are to relate back to God. Having correct ideas is not enough. Beware of relating to God with only the mind. God is not in the process of redeeming minds. He is redeeming people. Among other things, this has something to say about how we worship Him.
Let me offer another preliminary thought. Why is it that Jesus chose the image of marriage? Was it a matter of His searching about for something appropriate and coming upon our marriage customs? ‘Ah, people understand marriage. I think I’ll use that.’ Not at all. We didn’t create marriage. God did. And He created it in order that it might be used as an image of something greater. All that God created, whether physical things or institutions, have been created for the purpose of revealing something about who our God is and how He relates to us. Jesus told us that He is the true vine and the true bread. That says something about the bread we eat and the vines we see growing. They are pictures of something else with lesson to teach us. That explains why God established an authority structure in the family, the state and the Church. That even has something to say about the law of gravity and why the sky is blue. Understanding this affects how you look at creation and how you respond to the Creator with your own creativity.
Now, let’s look specifically at the wedding in our text. I want you to think about some of the weddings that you’ve been to. Let’s single out some aspects. First, a wedding is a time of happiness. Now, here I want you to remember how I’ve made a bit of a fuss in the past in distinguishing happiness from joy. I’ve told you that happiness is rooted in the circumstances of the moment, the things that you can see and feel. But joy is different. Joy doesn’t look at the circumstances. It looks beyond them to what God is doing. And so, sometimes we rejoice even though we do that through tears of pain because the circumstances aren’t pleasant. I’ve told you that this is an important distinction because the pleasant circumstances of any moment will change and fade away, and because the circumstances that we face are so often unpleasant. Once a wedding is over we return to life in a very fallen world. The happiness of the moment passes away. But that will not happen in heaven. There is no returning to a fallen world after the wedding. There is no ‘after the wedding’. The happiness that we feel at the great wedding of the Lamb will never pass away. In fact, I think that it’s safe to say that joy will be redefined. There will be no rejoicing even though … In heaven joy will be the same as happiness. And so, from one perspective, the point of your salvation is your happiness. The goal of the redemption that Jesus paid so much for is that you might be happy with the happiness that you feel at a great wedding. And remember who the bride is at this wedding. It’s you! The bride is the Church, the people of God. All of you will have the happiness of a bride on her wedding day. And it is a happiness that will never end. Now, remember the difference between what is true and what is counterfeit. Babylon, the prostitute, offers happiness. But it is a fake that will not last and the end of which is death. True happiness is being married to Christ. So, when you think of heaven, tell yourself, ‘I will be totally happy there with a deeply satisfying happiness that will never end, ever.’ Hold out for what is true.
What else is there about a wedding feast that can help us with our text? You never attend a wedding feast alone. Almost by definition, it is a gathering of friends and family to rejoice together at the great event. Likewise, heaven is a grand party that we enjoy together. A wedding feast is a time of enjoying good food and drink – which is another theme of Scripture that bears some investigation. It’s a time of being with those whom you love, with time just to enjoy being together. And if it’s a good Jewish wedding, there’s always music and dancing. But whatever the specific traditions, it’s a time for the community to get together to have fun. And that’s what heaven is, both the fun part and the community part.
This points to a problem. One of the lessons that we all have been taught to a greater or lesser extent is the devotion to privacy. We have learned that there are some things that we are never to discuss: how much you earn, where you’re struggling in your marriage, your abiding sins and more. And it is this attitude that is such an obstacle to community. This attitude creates the walls that keep us apart. But all of that will be gone in heaven. There will be no secrets there because we won’t be afraid any longer. And that will be so freeing. Now, I’m not saying that the goal is for us to be able to spill our guts to anyone passing by. But one of our goals while we are here is to begin to learn about and put into practice the sense of community that we will experience in fullness there.
Our wedding traditions match our text in another way. Traditionally, in our weddings the bride is dressed in white. It is a sign of purity. In our text we see that the bride is dressed in fine linen, bright and pure. Think about your sins. There is much evil that comes from our sins. One of those evils is how our sin results in obstacles to our relationships. Is there any marriage in which there is never a disagreement? Aren’t there still sins that trip you up in your relationships with good friends? Sadly, this is an essential element of this life. There is always some evil intruding itself into our relationships, bringing grief and frustration. Isn’t this especially the case when it comes to our relationship with Jesus? Are you never disappointed in yourself when you’ve blown it again in your walk with Christ? But this will not happen in heaven. There will be no sin. You will be clothed in white, a symbol of your purity. And so, your relationship with Jesus will flourish without ever being interrupted by even one of your sins. Never again will there be the frustration and grief and shame that sin brings. And that will also have its pleasant affects on your relationships with the others who will be there. No obstacles. No problems. No forcing yourself to ask for forgiveness - again. It will be completely gone. So, next time you feel the frustration of sin, remember the wedding day is coming when all that will be past.
At the heart of any wedding are the very public making of vows. Here, each says to the other, I bind myself to you from this day forward. There is also the very private consummation of the marriage on that first wedding night. Because of these two aspects of the wedding day something mystical happens. There is the bonding of two persons together. It’s more than just a change of name and address or even the change of legal status. Something more profound and almost incomprehensible takes place. In a good marriage there is the intimacy of heart and soul as well as of body. Yet, in too many marriages, we have two people who are like the twin rails of train tracks. They are going in the same basic direction. There is the tie between them to keep them together and yet they are still separate. They are still really two. In a good marriage the two become one. Something profound has happened. Listen to Paul.
"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31-32
Here, again, we see that marriage here is a picture of something else there. On the coming wedding day, your bond with Christ will be dramatically changed. Something mystical will happen. Now, we are engaged to be Christ’s. The wedding is not yet. There is a bond but it is not the bond of marriage. But when the wedding day arrives, something mystical will happen. There will be a fundamental change in your relationship with Jesus. I have no idea what it will be like, but I know that the union of two into one pictures it and so I know that whatever it is, it will be outstanding! Here is something to anticipate even though we don’t really know what it will be like.
Now, my last thought. I just referred to the notion of being engaged. The wedding day has not yet arrived. We are awaiting that day when Jesus will return. And waiting is hard. Add to that the significant fact that we are not an especially patient people. Now, remember that Babylon the prostitute lurks and she knows that we are impatient. She also offers happiness and pleasure. But the happiness that she offers is fleeting and the pleasure she promises is nothing like the lasting bond with a soul mate. Remember the danger of falling for her wiles as you await the wedding day. Many have fallen. Don’t assume that you won’t. But at the same time, consider how a bride looks forward to her wedding day. Consider the excitement, the anticipation, the preparation for that great day. That also applies to our text. The return of Christ, the great wedding of the Lamb, will most surely come. Are you anticipating it? Are you preparing for it? Is it something that you look forward to with great eagerness? In all of our debates about the end times it seems that we have lost the excitement of our coming wedding. The date is set. It’s just a matter of time. Nothing will help you more as you strive to live faithfully in this present evil age than a yearning for the age to come, a yearning for the wedding day. Meditate on heaven and the coming wedding feast. And that’s not just something to do this afternoon. Every day, relate the good and the bad of this life to what you can expect of heaven. As you enjoy the good things that God gives you now, remind yourself that those things can only get better there. And when you have to deal with the evils of this age remind yourself that when you get there those sorts of things cannot happen. Your happiness there will never be disturbed.
One day Jesus will come back. On that day we all will be wed to Him and we will enter into an eternity that is beyond comprehension. Think about that. Look forward to it. Be assured that it will happen.
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