Revelation 19:1 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: (Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God)
THE BRIDE VS THE HARLOT
Why are they saying “Hallelujah!”?
1. Because the Harlot is judged.
2. Because we are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb (and we are the Bride ☺)
Why would the host of heaven rejoice over such massive destruction of a city, a system and a multitude of people?
This is related, I think, to the Revelation 5, where no one was found worthy to open the scrolls-to release the judgment of God and to hand over ownership of the earth back to God. John weeps convulsively because no one was found worthy. In Chapter 19, we have the flip-side of that. The entire Host of Heave rejoices because God’s wrath has been poured out, and “the kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our LORD and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever”.
Hallelujah!
All of the rebellion, the filth, the hurt, destruction, war, famine, pestilence, suffering, evil and tyranny of this world have now been destroyed. It has come to an end. It is over. Finally.
Hallelujah!
There will be no more suffering or sin or tyranny, or crying or pain anymore forever.
Hallelujah!
The Meaning of the world
Halle-means Praise
Lu- means you (really ye, or y’all)
Ja- is the shortened name for God, Jaweh
Praise You the LORD
We are exhorted and exhorting to praise God because the end of evil on earth is come & the beginning of the righteous reign of God has begun
And the marriage supper of the Bride and the Groom is announced
And This Bride is a sharp distinction from the Harlot of Revelation 17 & 18
In Contrast is the Bride of Christ, who has gone through a process of preparation for the wedding.
I like the way Jerry Shirley put it:
We need to prepare for this marriage, and go thru 4 beauty treatments before the big day!
1. Justification: inner beauty [at salvation]
2. Sanctification by:
• Scriptures = “washing of water by the Word”
• Supplication = prayers of repentance
• Suffering = we don’t like this one as much, but He uses it to knock off the rough edges sometimes / conform us to image of Christ / it is on the fires of suffering that the dross is removed!
Examples:
Moses on backside of desert / David running for his life from king Saul like an animal / Peter being sifted like wheat / Paul being beaten, stoned, imprisoned…anyone used greatly of God has been sanctified by God, partly thru suffering.
3rd treatment: *glorification—a new body! [at rapture]
4th: Then there’s the actual *consummation at the judgment seat of Christ / our one on one interview w/ Jesus Christ, where we will be judged / rewarded, much will be burnt up by fire!
[on the positive side: all our faults and failures will also go up in smoke! The final beauty treatment is over, and we will be presented to the bridegroom w/out spot or blemish!]
THE BRIDE AND EARTHLY MARRIAGE
There is another side to this-the Wedding Feast of the Bride & the Lamb.
I think the point of this passage is not the Marriage-at this point it is only an invitation. I think the point is to draw a contrast between the Bride of Heaven (that’s us) and the Harlot of Revelation 18. Babylon, the Harlot, was the haunt of every evil creature and demon. She was a prostitute, adulterous-which means she was married, yet was still a prostitute. The Bride is not like that.
At this point it may be helpful to draw out the image a bit more.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. . . . — 30 for we are members of his body. . . . 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:24-32
Marriage is an institution which most people in India, I think, still understand. But it is a city under fire. Even setting aside that the definition of marriage is changing all over the world; we allow people to marry who have never married before, nor is it only a matter of many marriages ending before life ends. The issue is not just divorce rates, but that many more people than any other time since records have been kept are waiting to marry, and many never marry, but only cohabitate-or live together.
I think Jeff Strite was right:
Now in the Bible God doesn’t use the term “living together”.
Actually, God calls it fornication, immorality, impurity.
And He doesn’t . . . use statistics or personal testimonies to explain why it’s wrong.
He just tells us – don’t do that! . . . Don’t substitute something that SOUNDS good for something that actually IS good!
Jeff Strite http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/welcome-to-the-wedding-feast-jeff-strite-sermon-on-salvation-132387.asp?page=0
Today, less than a quarter of all children in the US are growing up in a traditional family, with one mother and one father who are their genetic parents. Most Western nations are following the same trend. Asia is following after and will eventually catch up. This means many people in the world can no longer relate to what the Bible means when it refers to marriage. We need to define marriage according to the Bible in order to understand passages like Revelation 19.
Marriage, to make sure we are clear on this, is the joining of one man to one woman for life - a life of emotional relational and sexual fidelity to that one person, of sharing all things, including possessions, family, friends, income, and life itself - becoming truly one in all things. This union makes it possible to bring new life into this world in the context of a loving, united, safe home. This is the biblical definition of marriage. And it is on the basis of this definition that God reveals His plan for our future.
THE ADULTEROUS CITY VS. THE CITY OF GOD
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4
Everything about Babylon kept people from God. The false religious system of Babylon gave people a chance to indulge their religious tendencies without having to submit themselves to Almighty God. The political associations of Babylon enabled those who desired power to rise in society without concern of ethics and truth. The economic system of Babylon enabled people to enjoy great wealth without concern about charity, to enjoy comfort without conscience, and pleasure without accountability. Babylon is a dwelling place without God.
The New Jerusalem, the Holy City, the Bride of Christ, is the dwelling place of God and of His people. God dwells in the city, and the city is made up of God’s people-the foundation stones are named after the disciples. The gates are made of the Pearl of Great Price-the Church. The stones of the walls are the same stones as those on the breastplate of the High priest-each stone representing each of the twelve tribes of Israel-representing the People of God. We are the dwelling place of God for all eternity.
In the old-fashioned way of looking at marriage, what is the big difference between a couple before marriage and after marriage?
Before marriage they live their lives separate. After marriage, they share their life together. This is what the last several chapters of Revelation are about. Now we “see through a glass dimly”. Now we live our lives struggling to hear God’s still, small voice. Now we live in a world where God sometimes seems hidden-He seems far from us. Then we will live in the very presence of God, and we will, indeed and in every form of reality, be the dwelling place of God. There will be no further division between God and His people. He will walk with us in the cool of the day, and now the whole day will be cool, and there will be no night. Forever, fully united, one with God Himself. That is something worth celebrating. That is something worthy of a shout of Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! to the Lamb
