4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who is seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And from the throne came a voice crying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.” 6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
God was the one king who was able to stop the military might of Rome. God reigned then, God reigns now, God has always reigned, and God will always reign. God reigned prior to the fall of the Rome, and God reigns after the fall of Rome.
The word “Hallelujah” in the New Testament occurs only here in verses 1, 3, 4, and 6. It is a translation of the Hebrew phrase, “Praise ye Jah [Jehovah],” and is being used here by the 24 elders and the four living creatures in the very presence of God. The word “Hallelujah” is a beautiful word, but sadly it is used more often than not today with no thought of God. “Hallelujah” includes within it the very name Jehovah, and his church should treat that word accordingly even if the world persists in using it in vain.
In verse 6, we have yet another reminder that what John is seeing and hearing is a vision. “And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings.” John is reminding us that he is describing a vision, and it an important reminder, particularly for the closing chapters of the book.
The word “Almighty” in verse 6 occurs 10 times in the New Testament — once in 2 Corinthians 6:18 in a quotation from the Old Testament and nine times in Revelation. The term denotes God’s sovereignty over all of creation. Rome believed that it was almighty, but it was vert badly mistaken. Almighty God created the universe, and Almighty God reigns over the universe — including Rome! That is a vital lesson for nation builders in any age! “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” (Psalm 127:1)
In verse 7 we meet a third woman — the wife of the Lamb — to go along with the radiant woman we met in Chapter 12 and the harlot we met in Chapter 17. The harlot, however, is no more. And now that the harlot — that great enemy and rival of the church — is gone, it is time for a wedding. It is time for rejoicing. The phrase “rejoice and be exceeding glad” occurs only one other place in the Bible. In Matthew 5:12, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” The images in this chapter are a beautiful illustration of that statement by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
But did the martyrs go to Heaven when they died? Didn’t they go to bosom of Abraham as Lazarus did in Luke 16:22? Don’t they have to wait until the end of time to begin enjoying their heavenly reward? I don’t think so. It is true that Lazarus went to the bosom of Abraham with a great gulf fixed, but it is equally true that Lazarus died before the cross. The Bible teaches that faithful children of God who die after the cross go to Heaven when they die. That was certainly the Apostle Paul’s expectation who, writing under inspiration, said in Philippians 1:23-24 — “For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.” Paul didn’t mention Abraham’s bosom in those verses. Instead, when Paul departed this life he expected to be with Christ in Heaven. Is someone really going to suggest he was wrong? After all, this side of the cross, what remains to keep us from the presence of God? Hebrews 10:19-22 answers that question: Nothing! —
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
In the Old Testament, the relation of God to his people was often referred to as a husband and wife relationship. (See Hosea 2 and Ezekiel 16, for example.) It was natural then for the relation between Christ and his church to be described that way in the New Testament, and that is what we find, for example, in Ephesians 5 and Romans 7. We also find that here in Chapter 19, where there is a marriage between Christ the Lamb and a woman who can be none other than the radiant woman of Chapter 12 who fled into the wilderness to escape the dragon. At that point on the timeline, that woman in Chapter 12 represented the church. Earlier on the timeline that woman represented the faithful remnant under the Old Covenant who brought forth the son of God according to the flesh, but under the New Covenant that woman represents the church, the bride of Christ.
But verse 7 tells us that the marriage of the Lamb has come. What does that mean? To help us answer that question, let’s first consider another question: What exactly does this marriage symbolize? Well, what would we expect it to symbolize? What has just happened? What have the people of God just been commanded to do? Look at 18:20 — “Rejoice over her, O heaven, O saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!” They have been commanded to rejoice, and that is exactly what we see them doing. The marriage and the marriage feast are used to illustrate the joy of God’s people in Chapter 19 just as the joyous feast of the tabernacles was used for that same purpose in Chapter 7.
So what then does verse 7 mean when it says that “the marriage of the Lamb has come”? Let’s start with what it does not mean. We know that Paul often described Jesus’ love for his church as the relationship between a husband and a wife, and many commentators have used the closing chapters of Revelation to develop elaborate theories about Christ’s marriage to the church.
Max King, whom we discussed in our introductory lessons, teaches that Jesus was married to literal Israel until the church appeared, at which point Jesus was betrothed to the church while still married to Israel. But when Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, Christ was divorced from Israel and married to the church. That theory sounds more like a soap opera than Scripture! King’s theory is baseless and, in fact, is contradicted by Paul’s pre-A.D. 70 descriptions of Jesus’ relation to the church in such passages as Ephesians 5:23-32 and Romans 7:4-6.
In fact, the church is described sometimes as being married to Christ and other times as being betrothed to Christ. Ephesians 5 describes the relation between Christ and the church as “one flesh,” which is more than a betrothal. (Recall Matthew 1:18 — “After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.”) And remember also Romans 7:4 — “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” That, too, is more than a betrothal.
But in 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul wrote, “For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Is the church married to Christ or just betrothed to Christ? Is there a contradiction? Of course not. Neither is literally true, but both are figuratively true. Just as in the Old Testament, these descriptions of the church being married to Christ or betrothed to Christ are illustrations intended to show the love of Christ for his church. Sometimes that love is shown as a marriage, while other times it is shown as a betrothal with the marriage yet to come.
In fact, Paul used marriage in various ways to describe the church. In Ephesians 5, for example, he used marriage both to describe Jesus’ love for the church and to emphasize the need for purity in the church. In Romans 7, he used marriage to describe not the relation of the entire church to Christ but instead the relation of an individual Christian to church. Romans 6 and 7, studied together, describe baptism as a wedding ceremony in which we enter a covenant relationship with Jesus. In short, even outside of Revelation, the symbol of marriage is used to describe different aspects of the church and of a Christian’s relationship with Christ. Here in Revelation 19 we see yet another aspect — the joy of the church in its victory over Rome.
A central theme of this book is that Jesus loves his church and is intimately concerned with its welfare. How better to illustrate that love and concern than with a marriage? How better to illustrate the great joy of the church than with a marriage and a marriage feast? The context here is unrestrained joy, and a marriage is used to symbolize that joy.
As for the elaborate theories that have been developed based on these closing chapters, I like what Jim McGuiggan has to say on that subject:
It’s not out of place here to say a word or two about using figures to build doctrines on. If the doctrine is not clearly taught in other plain sections of scripture, it’s a foolish man indeed who founds a school on a figure! Haven’t we seen enough of this in the world? We’ve had men fill us with their types, double applications, and allegories.
The fine linen, bright and pure, that the bride is wearing in verse 8 is a sharp contrast to the worldly apparel that the harlot was wearing. The bride of the Lamb, as Ephesians 5:27 tells us, is without “spot or wrinkle or any such thing,” but is “holy and without blemish.”
And isn’t there a lesson there for us? We are the bride of Christ without spot or blemish, and we must always give Christ our very best. After all that this book of Revelation has told us so far about Christ and his church (and the most beautiful descriptions are yet to come!), how could his church possibly fail to give him its very best? But do we? I fear sometimes that the modern church has settled into a bed of comfortable but deadly mediocrity (if we even reach that high!) — mediocre discipleship, mediocre evangelism, mediocre preaching, mediocre teaching, mediocre singing, mediocre obedience. Jesus deserves and demands our very best. God sent his very best into this world to die for us — how can we respond with less than our own best? Remember Malachi 1:6-13 —
A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the LORD of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’ “You offer defiled food on My altar, But say, “In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the LORD is contemptible.’ And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the LORD of hosts. ... You also say, “Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,” Says the LORD of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; Thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” Says the LORD.
That was God’s response in the Old Testament when his people brought him something less than their best. Do we really think he responds differently today when his people do the same thing?
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