Midweek Bible Study | Revelation 19:1-10 | Gary Hamrick

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] who's looking forward to the second coming of christ so let's read about it in revelation 19. if you'll take your bibles and go to revelation 19 where almost bringing revelation to a close here and anytime jesus decides to return would be fine with me especially in light of everything right now happening our eyes are fixed on jesus and looking forward to his imminent return all right revelation chapter 19 i'm going to pray in a minute but first let me bring us up to speed where we are and if you are just now joining us for our study of revelation welcome and those of you online tonight welcome as well uh but let's go back to the timeline on the back wall and uh be reminded that we've been the last few months in the middle of the timeline because we've been looking at revelation 6 through 18 which talks about the tribulation period the great difficult days that are coming upon the earth we need some more great difficult days don't we well the good news is that i believe we're taken before the ultimate tribulation comes that that's revelation 4 and 5. but revelation 6 through 18 is the bulk of the book of revelation dealing with the events that are going to be coming upon the earth as god's final wake-up call to an unbelieving world to a god forsaking christ rejecting world there will be great and terrible cataclysmic events that will happen on the earth all orchestrated by the hand of god to wake up a sleeping world and some will get saved and some will reject god some will humble themselves and some will become even more hardened in their hearts towards god but it is going to be his last and final boarding call if you will so we've been spending our time over the last several months in chapter 6-18 and it's very it's a very difficult passage you know section to read when you talk about you know death and destruction and cataclysmic events that are coming upon the earth so it is refreshing to know that we are going now to chapter 19 which is talking about jesus's second coming he's coming again and we're looking forward to that now remember his second coming is really in two phases the first part of the second coming is when jesus raptures the church he only comes in the clouds the trumpet call of god is sounded the dead in christ rise first we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them to meet the lord in the air and so we shall be with the lord forever that's what paul writes in first thessalonians chapter four and so there's going to be a trumpet call of god the current christians who are upon the earth at that time will be snatched from the earth we will be taken physically from the earth and uh and and so we will be with the lord forever now after that event happens there are seven years of tribulation but at the end of the seven years of tribulation which culminates with the battle of armageddon jesus will come and this time he comes all the way to the earth he comes the bible tells us back to the same place from which he ascended which was where mount of olives in jerusalem right so he comes back to the mount of olives he comes back to jerusalem he ends the battle of armageddon he overthrows the armies that are opposed to god and to israel and to god's redemptive plan and he establishes his kingdom on earth for a thousand years but we're getting ahead of ourselves just for now chapter 19 is about the second coming of christ when john when christ comes to the earth when john writes by inspiration of the spirit chapter 19 it's really a chapter about sounds and sights he is going to record different things that he hears and different things that he sees the first half of the chapter are about the sounds that he hears that's verses one and six we'll see in a moment where he talks about how i heard and and and so he talks about things that he hears in heaven first part of chapter 19 which is the only part we're going to look at tonight are the events that he hears happening in heaven and then the second part of chapter 19 are the sites that he describes and he talks about how he sees different things that's verses 11 17 and 19 and the sites are about events that move from heaven to earth culminating in the second coming of christ and the punishment of the antichrist and the false prophet that's all in chapter 19. we're not going to get through all of that tonight but for the time being the sounds of revelation 19 he says in verse 1 and you can circle in your bibles i heard where he hears heaven rejoicing over the destruction of the great harlot that's in reference to chapter 17 and 18. i'll just briefly remind us of that in a moment and then in verse six he says again and i heard and he talks about how he heard heaven rejoicing over the wedding banquet of the lamb what exactly is that that's going to be the topic of tonight but just real briefly the second half of chapter 19 deals with the sights the things that he sees and he writes in verse 11 i saw and he talks about the second coming of jesus with the saints coming back to the earth and then he sees in verse 17 the destruction of the armies gathered for war at armageddon and then he sees in verse 19 the punishment of the beast which is the antichrist and the false prophet in the lake of fire so it's a combination of things that he hears and things that he sees and then he writes them down and records them for us here in chapter 19. so we're going to only be looking tonight at the events that he hears which is found for us in the first 10 verses of chapter 19. so i'm going to read those 10 verses and we're going to pray and then we're going to dig out these first 10 verses together tonight so take a look in your bibles here revelation 19 starting at verse 1. he says after these things i heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying alleluia salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the lord our god for true and righteous are his judgments because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her again they said alleluia her smoke rises up forever and ever and the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped god who sat on the throne saying amen alleluia and then a voice came from the throne saying praise our god all you his servants and those who fear him both small and great 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 saying alleluia for the lord god omnipotent reigns let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife his bride has made herself ready and to her it was granted to be a raid and find linen clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints and then he said to me this he some of your translations say angel and you'll see in a moment it becomes more clear it's an angel right blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the lamb and he said to me these are the true sayings of god and i fell at his feet to worship him notice this he's thinking he needs to worship this angel but he said to me see that you do not do that i am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of jesus worship god for the testimony of jesus is the spirit of prophecy let's pause there for tonight and pray lord thank you for this time in your word and thank you lord for this reminder that you're coming again and we look forward to your imminent return and we pray that you would find us waiting and watching and faithful and we love you lord and we just thank you that you first loved us so continue to stir our hearts to be people who are so aware of your imminent return that we we consider this hour as as the last hour so that we can be more faithful and so that we can be more diligent to try to witness to people who need to know you so we we thank you lord for this time in your word bless our bible study we ask in jesus name lord and we also pray that you would just bless our nation continue to have mercy on our nation and all that we're going through right now lord just continue to guide and direct we we pray for our president we pray for congress we pray for all that is uh happening this week we pray lord for your your peace and your protection and and lord just just bring unity and bring um just your your grace upon us lord in many ways we have brought upon ourselves um your um your disfavor and um we just ask lord for your mercy be with us lord as a nation we pray in jesus name and everybody said amen so he writes here we're going to go verse by verse verse 1. he says after these things the greek there is made a taltah and he's referring to the things related to chapter 17 and 18 that had to do with this harlot or some translation say prostitute or this chapter 17 was about the religious system that is coming upon the earth this one world religion chapter 18 was about this one economic system this one political system and and so john says after these things i heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven so heaven is occupied during this tribulation period this is where the saints are being kept safely and and he hears sounds of rejoicing now what we're going to find here in chapter 19 are sounds of rejoicing in fact the next word there in verse 1 is alleluia and you're going to see that word repeated four times in the first ten verses there's rejoicing in heaven there's rejoicing in heaven because the time of god's justice and judgment has come there's a time of vindication that is coming upon the earth a lot of times we get confused when we see the wicked prosper when we see things happening where injustice is not dealt with and and we wonder sometimes why has god allowed this and why is he allowed that and why are the wicked allowed to prosper and and why is it that things that seem to be wrong don't get judged and we need to be reminded that those things will get judged in their time and that god records every injustice and he records everything that is evil and he sees those things and he will bring justice upon the earth and what we're seeing here in chapter 19 is rejoicing among the saints in heaven because they see now that the time of god's vindication is coming to pass that there's a time of god's justice that is coming to pass and so he says here after these things i heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying alleluia now alleluia is the greek transliteration of the hebrew halal so when some of your translations say hallelujah with an h alleluia starting with an a is just the greek transliteration of the same word hallelujah is a combination of two hebrew words halal which means to praise or to worship and the yah part is reference to the name of god yahweh so it's halal yahweh it is praise the lord that's what hallelujah means but so hallelujah and alleluia are really the same thing it's just a greek transliteration of the hebrew but again it's used four times here uh in the book of revelation it's only used these four times and it's all found here in chapter 19 in in the first uh really the first six verses so the sound in heaven is rejoicing praise god hallelujah salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the lord our god and by the way it's missing in our english bibles but if you look at the original greek manuscript the direct article the is used in front of every noun there so this is how it would really read and it's important because it's it speaks of there's no other type of salvation there's no other type of glory there's no other type of honor or power except that which belongs to the lord so the verse actually reads alleluia the salvation and the glory and the honor and the power belong to the lord our god salvation is in the hand of god glory and honor and power are god's and whatever is distributed to man is only a temporary earthly power but the salvation and the honor and the glory and the power belongs to the lord our god amen he's in charge he's on the throne he is sovereign and especially during these days man we just need to be reminded of that you know the world is getting a little nuts and i have a feeling this week it's going to get even nuttier and yet we have to hold on to the lord and not allow our fears to take over our hearts that we should be anxious for nothing but in all things repair and supplication with thanksgiving make our requests known to god and the peace of god that transcends all understanding we'll guard our hearts and our minds in christ jesus you know this is the hope of the church our hope is in the lord our peace is from the lord the salvation the honor the glory the power belongs to the lord our god and so he's in control we need to distrust him and verse two says for true and righteous are his judgments notice that for true and righteous are his judgments because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication so god will bring to bear justice where there is justice needed and truth where there is truth needed and he will avenge and vindicate and again you know the they are rejoicing in heaven because there there has been you know justice a long time coming this is why it says there that his for true and righteous are his judgments i'm going to read from psalm 73 you don't need to turn there but but in in psalm 73 the psalmist also wrestled with this whole idea of why is so much evil allowed to happen on the earth and it seems as almost as if god is oblivious to it well he's not oblivious to it and he's going to bring justice in his time and in psalm 73 the psalmist wrestled with this listen to this truly god is good to israel to such as our pure in heart but as for me my feet had almost stumbled my steps had nearly slipped for i was envious of the boastful when i saw the prosperity of the wicked for there are no pangs in their death but their strength is firm they are not in trouble as other men nor are they plagued like other men therefore pride serves as their necklace violence covers them like a garment their eyes bulge with abundance they have more than heart could wish they scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression they speak loftily they set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walks through the earth therefore his people return here and waters of a full cup are drained by them and they say how does god know and is there knowledge in the most high behold these are the ungodly who are always at ease they increase in riches surely i've cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocence for all day long i've been plagued and chastened every morning so the psalmist is saying you know i get disciplined by god all the while it seems like sinful people have it easy and they get by with stuff and they prosper even at that and then he adds if i had said i will speak thus behold i would have been untrue to the generation of your children when i thought how to understand this it was too painful for me the psalmist says i can't reconcile this how it is on the earth that wicked people are allowed to prosper this is the kind of thing we're reading in the book of revelation how is it so long that wicked people seem to go unpunished and things happen on the earth that seem to be so evil and unjust and then he adds when i thought how to understand this it was too painful me for me until i went into the sanctuary of god and then i understood their end and so sometimes we have to have this eternal perspective and what we're reading in chapter 19 of revelation is this eternal reality the perspective of which is that there are things on the earth that are going to happen that are ugly and evil and sinful and unjust and terrible but god is going to reckon there's going to be a day of reckoning for all of this and so when we go into the house of the lord and we get that eternal perspective when we remember okay our hope is in the lord and heaven is our home and we're only citizens you know passing through because our ultimate citizenship is in heaven and so we have to fix our minds on this and we have to get our focus on the lord because there is going to be a day when god will deal with all of this but in the meantime we have to live among it we have to endure it we have to trust the lord and we have to just rely on him and so in revelation 19 here is if true and righteous are your judgments lord because he is judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her now this is a reference you can flip back if you'd like to chapter 6 of revelation in revelation 6 verses 9 and 10 when john was writing about the the seals being opened one of the things that he saw in the fifth seal it's revelation 6 verses 9 and 10. he says when he opened that is jesus when jesus opened the fifth seal i saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of god and for the testimony which they held and they cried with a loud voice saying how long o lord holy and true until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth see those who accept christ during the tribulation period will be martyred they will be killed for their faith and so the souls of those saints are crying out lord how long are you going to wait until you avenge our blood for what was done against us well it's now happening here in chapter 19. this is what john sees happening in the future and that's why he ends verse 2 saying he that is the lord has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her so here in revelation 19 it's a fulfillment of the longing of the souls crying out there in revelation chapter 6. so back here in chapter 19 verse 3 again they said that is the saints in heaven they're rejoicing and they said alleluia her smoke rises up forever and ever so it's the ashes of of ancient babylon who uh the one world economic system and political system now coming to an end that was chapter 18 and so they're rejoicing that all of this all the earthly religious political economic systems have come to an end and the saints are rejoicing now that the one true god the one true messiah the one true king is now showing himself in terms of his power and his glory and his honor salvation he's avenging the blood of the saints he now is going to bring justice and so they're rejoicing in all of this and the rest of verse 3 says and the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped god who sat on the throne now the 24 elders are a representation of the rapture church in heaven the four living creatures earlier in the book of revelation are those angelic beings that attend to the lord around the throne they fall down they worship god who sat on the throne saying amen here's the third time alleluia verse 5 then a voice came from the throne saying praise our god all you his servants and those who fear him both small and great verse 6 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 saying hallelujah for the lord god omnipotent reigns and let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage notice this the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife or some translation say in his bride has made herself ready now this is this is ancient language related to a jewish wedding we're going to talk about it in the time we have remaining and to her it was granted to be a raid and fine linen this is all a picture of the bride clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints you know when paul was writing to the church in corinth he said i desire to present you as a virgin holy and pure to to the groom the bride presented to the groom now in biblical typology or language the church the new testament church is is pictured in the bible as a bride and jesus is the groom and he's coming again for this wedding banquet this is what chapter 19 is about here this great wedding banquet the lord is coming and the bride has made herself ready and she's she's adorned herself in in beautiful fine linen which is a picture of the church in righteousness having been forgiven of our sins through christ in verse 9 and then he this is the angel said to me right blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the lamb now remember the word lamb is the most used title for jesus in the book of revelation 28 times 28 times jesus is referred to as the lamb because he wants to be known as that redemptive savior the lamb who gave his life for the sins of the world the one who was slaughtered and shed his blood on our behalf for our sins so there's this marriage reference here the marriage supper of the lamb and he said to me these are the true sayings of god and again verse 10 where he he's so overwhelmed he finds himself falling down to worship this angel but the angel corrects him and says see that you don't do that i am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of jesus worship god okay not me for the testimony of jesus is the spirit of prophecy i want to talk to you in the remaining 15 minutes or so we have left about a jewish wedding parallel because it will help us to better understand chapter 19. so we have to kind of remove our western mindset of what a wedding is like and we need to go back centuries um and in some cases it's still preserved in jewish weddings today not entirely but but in in some respects to a new testament wedding banquet because this is all the language that is being used here so that we understand what is actually going to happen when christ returns again so in order to first grasp the parallel let's go back to some of the original ideas of weddings jewish weddings back in new testament times a jewish wedding was typically divided into three parts the first was the betrothal period now the betrothal period was a time during which there was a contract agreed to by the two dads of the bride and the groom weddings back in that day were arranged marriages and uh you know the older i've gotten the more in favor of arranged marriage as i am all right i the whole dating thing the whole that it's just messy and you know people trying to you know make connections through tinder which is nothing but a bunch of hookups and all this kind of stuff and and dating apps and all it just has become this wild time of just trying to figure out you know be simpler just dads arranging the marriages all right i'm kind of old school old testament that way i'm not really serious but sort of but anyway this is how it would work uh one dad of the of the groom would see another dad of of a potential bride and uh and marriages would be arranged when the bride and the groom were as young as two years of age and you you would just basically say i got a two-year-old boy here you have a two-year-old girl there how about we decide that when they get of marital age that they are going to be husband and wife and the two dads would shake on it and there would be a dowry paid it was like this contractual arrangement where a dowry would be paid so the father of the groom would pay the father of the bride in whatever form in the day cattle sheep silver gold whatever the bride price was agreed upon that's the price that was paid it was negotiable and that's will be paid and then there was this contract okay so that there would be this arranged marriage uh they would get then to a a place of meritable age which back in that day could be very young we you know they they went like old west virginia style and kentucky style just like we're gonna you know 13 14 15 let's just uh let's get them let's get them hitched pretty young and so they would be married off pretty young remember that mary was probably 15 years of age joseph was probably a lot older but you know it wasn't uncommon in those days for even teenagers to then get to this meritable age at which point the the contract would become engaged and there would be vows that would be exchanged a lot of times by the way dowry that was paid was considered alimony in advance if there was if if the marriage ever went south and um the woman was no longer married back in those days it would be very hard for her to survive so the dowry was paid in advance as a means to potentially support her in the event that there was a divorce that's the betrothal period so it was it was contractual there was a bride price that was paid vows were exchanged okay they would not consummate the marriage there would not be a marriage celebration yet what would happen at this point is that the groom would go off and he would build an addition onto his father's house there would be three to four generations that would live in the same home and so a groom would go off build an addition onto his father's house and he during that time he would be gone from his wife for a period of one year the levitical law even provided that he would be exempt from military duty during that one year of the betrothal period they were considered husband and wife even though they had not yet consummated the marriage remember joseph and mary back to the christmas story when jesus you know was conceived of the virgin mary because it was god in flesh they were betrothed the bride price had been exchanged they had exchanged vows and it was during this time that joseph was basically preparing a place for them to live as husband and wife but they were considered married it had they could only dissolve that marriage through divorce remember when joseph thought that that mary had been unfaithful to him during that betrothal period he had in mind what does the bible say he had in mind to divorce her quietly he didn't want to bring it a public disgrace but he wanted to dissolve the marriage because he thought she'd been unfaithful until an angel revealed to joseph that that which was conceived in her was of the holy spirit and then he was enlightened and then he took her to be his wife but they had no union there was to be no sexual intimacy during this betrothal period he would go off prepare a place for his bride and then he would return he would return for his bride and that was the second aspect after a year he would come back for his bride now for those of you who are familiar with some different parables that jesus taught this is matthew chapter 25. in matthew 25 jesus teaches a parable of the 10 virgins don't get hung up on their virginity they are basically represent 10 bridesmaids they are part of a wedding party and the and the parable of the 10 virgins went like this there were 10 bridesmaids whose responsibility it was to be watching for the return of the groom that he was coming that they knew a year later he was going to be coming and he would come at midnight and it was their responsibility in the dark those bridesmaids to take lanterns out when they saw him coming at a distance they would go out to meet the groom and then by their lanterns they would illuminate the way back to the bride so that then the groom could come and receive his bride in the parable in matthew chapter 25 it tells us that of the ten virgins five had the oil ready in the lamp and the other fives didn't jesus uses the parable to talk about there will be those who are not ready for him when he comes again there will be those who are not watching they're not prepared they are not ready the five virgins the five bridesmaids who don't have oil in their lamps turn to the five who do and say can you give us some of your oil and the other and the five refuse why you can't get to jesus on borrowed faith it has to be your own he teaches this parable to talk about when he comes again the third aspect then of a wedding was the wedding banquet itself when the groom would return for his bride he would take her then the interesting thing is they would hoist her up on this um uh banner and carry them the wedding party on their carry her on their shoulders lifting her up this is all beautiful typology i'll make the parallel connection in a moment and take him take the bride rather to his father's house where there will be a banquet a seven day banquet and there would be great celebration and there would be you know this great participation of invited guests now do you remember the first miracle of jesus john chapter 2 when he changed water into wine that was at the wedding banquet of cana when people had gathered together to celebrate the wedding the marriage of this bride in this groom this was the time when the wedding was consummated the bride and the groom would physically sexually consummate their marriage so it was in those three phases there would be a betrothal which is more than an engagement period but it was this betrothal period where they were considered husband and wife but no sexual union then the groom would go away after a year he would come back for his bride and then take her to his father's house where there would be guests invited there would be this great feast it would last for seven days the couple would consummate their marriage smash the glass under their foot muzzle tough all right that was a jewish wedding feast and banquet and process here's the parallel when we think about the betrothal period this is what salvation is all about jesus paid the bride price with his blood okay he purchased us he laid down his life and with his blood he paid a price for his bride for us that was the price that he paid he's purchasing us he loves us he's entering into this covenant with us and then the next thing that happens is the rapture of the church where jesus comes to receive his bride now in john chapter 13 and 14 all of this is explained and this is marital language when jesus says in john 14 in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you it's all marital language just like a groom would go away to add an addition onto his father's house and be absent for a time jesus has gone to prepare a place for us in his father's house and he's gone for a time is everybody getting this we are living in the betrothal period right now the church has been purchased by the blood of christ we've entered into this marital covenant arrangement okay but christ has gone away he's gone to prepare a place for us now listen to the rest of john 14. in my father's house so many mansions if we're not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you and if i go to prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you unto myself that where i am there you might be also right so it's all this aspect of jesus is coming again we have to be ready we we are the wedding party now we are the bride we are to be looking and anticipating the return of the groom for the church don't be like the five foolish virgins who didn't have oil who weren't ready be ready for the imminent return of the bridegroom he's coming for his bride and this is the stage we're in in church history right now where we are anticipating the imminent return of the bridegroom for us the bride and we're looking forward to this day and so jesus is coming again and he's coming again to take his bride home then there will be this is chapter 19 of revelation this great wedding banquet of the lamb this is revelation 19 where christ returns to celebrate the marriage feast with the church this is the culmination of everything we've been waiting for and so in the closing verses of what we just read here between verses 7 and 10 this is what it is describing it is describing the day when we are finally with the lord we are feasting like a banquet in the presence of the lord because he comes for his bride to take him to his father's house and so we shall be with the lord forever amen and amen so next week read ahead because we'll get through the rest of of chapter 19 where chapter 19 talks about him coming on a white horse and he actually comes back to earth we're going to talk about how he ends the battle of armageddon he overthrows the antichrist he he punishes the antichrist of the false prophet and so this is what christ is going to do but but all of this we're looking forward to in terms of god's coming for his bride and may we be ready for his imminent return and watching and not be caught off guard because our bridegroom is returning for his bride amen lord we thank you that you are giving us these things in advance so that our hearts would not grow weary it's good to anticipate your return because otherwise lord we would be so heavy-hearted to think about just the hopelessness of this world but when we think about you returning and coming for us our hearts leap with joy we look forward to that day lord when you shall come for your bride and the ultimate consummation of this relationship will take place and we will be with you forever to enjoy your presence forever around your throne forever hallelujah we rejoice we praise you for the marriage of the lamb has come and the bride has made herself ready may we be ready lord and watching and hopeful thank you lord for loving us that you would come again for us that where you are we might be also forever and ever and ever this is our hope lord we love you in jesus name and everybody said amen and amen

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg virginia, great sermons by great preachers, what is revelation 19 abo, revelation 19 explained, the bridegroom of christ, Betrothal period, Bridegroom returns for bride, Wedding Banquet, Rapture of the Church, The Wedding Banquet of the Lamb

Id: OgmIkQAb-Co

Length: 38min 58sec (2338 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 14 2021