AM Bible Study Group; November 19, 2009<\/p>\n
Revelation 19:1-10<\/p>\n
Theme: This passage describes the joy in heaven that will immediately precede the return of our Lord to earth<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In chapters 17-18, the story of Revelation was temporarily put on hold; and we were given background information about the destruction of ‘Babylon’\u2014that great ‘harlot’ city that will represent the summation of the Antichrist’s system of political power, ungodly philosophy, wayward religion, and materialism. When the story resumes, the next great thing that is described to us is the return of our Lord to the earth to conquer and reign (19:11-20:6).<\/p>\n Between these two things, we find this morning’s passage. It gives us a picture\u2014after the grim mourning of the earth over the destruction of Babylon\u2014of the great joy in heaven. The word “Alleluia!” is used\u2014which is the Hebrew form of “Praise God”. This passage is the only occurrence of that phrase in the New Testament; and it is found here four times (vv. 1, 3, 4, and 6).<\/p>\n I.\tTHE REJOICING OVER THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON (vv. 1-4).<\/strong><\/p>\n A.\t“After these things”\u2014which may mean ‘after’ the description of the destruction of the \t\t\tharlot city (chapters 17-18), and specifically the symbolic casting of the stone into the \t\t\twater (18:21-24); but which may more likely mean ‘after’ the pouring-out of the seventh \t\tbowl (16:17-21)\u2014we’re told that John heard “a loud voice of a great multitude in \t\t\theaven”. We’re not told who this multitude is; but it may be the same great multitude \t\t\treferred to in 7:9ff. They speak a word of praise to the Lord God\u2014attributing salvation, \t\tand glory, and honor (though some texts do not contain the word “honor”), and power to \t\tHim. These words are similar to that of the great crowd in 7:9.<\/p>\n B.\tThe cause that is given for this praise is because God’s judgments are “true and \t\t\t\trighteous”; and the context of these judgments is the destruction of the great city. We’re \t\ttold that she corrupted the earth “with her fornications”; and that God had avenged on \t\t\ther “the blood of His servants shed by her” (or literally, “the blood of His servants by \t\t\ther hand”). Here, the great cry of the saints in 6:9-11 is finally answered.<\/p>\n C.\tNote that there is a second cry of “Alleluia!” by this same great multitude. Apparently, \t\tthe praise to God for the fact of her destruction is separated from the endurance of her \t\t\tdestruction; because they praise God that “Her smoke rises up forever and ever” (see \t\t\t14:11). And then, a second group joins the praise\u2014the twenty-four elders and the four \t\t\tliving creatures fall down and worship God “who sat on the throne”, and say, “Amen! \t\t\tAlleluia!” All the beings of heaven rejoice at the destruction of this city! What a \t\t\tcontrast to the mourning of the world! (18:20).<\/p>\n II.\tTHE REJOICING OVER THE REIGN OF GOD (vv. 5-6).<\/strong><\/p>\n A.\tAnother voice is heard. This one is from the throne. Though we’re not told who this \t\t\tvoice is coming from, the fact that it comes from the throne suggests that it is from the \t\t\tLord Jesus (see Revelation 7:17). If this is so, then the Lord Jesus now calls forth praise \t\tto God; saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both \t\t\tsmall and great!”. Note that, if this is indeed the Lord Jesus, He has now made it \t\t\tpossible for those He addresses to speak of God with Him as “our God” (see John \t\t\t20:17).<\/p>\n B.\tWho are these that the voice speaks to? They appear to be distinguished from the Bride \t\t(mentioned in the next section). And this has caused many to speculate that they are the \t\tOld Testament saints, and the saints redeemed during the tribulation\u2014that is, the \t\t\tredeemed of God from before and after the church age. In response, a great multitude is \t\theard that’s volume staggers John’s capability of description\u2014first as the sound of a great \t\tmultitude, then as the sound of many waters, and finally as the sound of mighty \t\t\tthunderings. They all join in with another, saying, “Alleluia! for the Lord God \t\t\tOmnipotent reigns!” God’s reign through His Son\u2014the hope of the redeemed \t\t\t\tthroughout the ages\u2014is now about to be realized on earth!<\/p>\n III.\tTHE REJOICING OVER THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB (vv. 7-9).<\/strong><\/p>\n A.\tThis same multitude now expresses rejoicing over the “marriage of the Lamb”. This \t\t\twould speak of the Bride of Christ\u2014the church (Ephesians 5:25-33). Note that we’re \t\t\ttold that she has made herself ready. To her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, \t\t\t“clean and bright”. We’re told that the fine linen is “the righteous acts of the saints”. Do \t\tyou realize that you and I are making our own bridal gown now? May we live in a way \t\tthat makes us clothed in a worthy manner at His coming!<\/p>\n B.\tNote also that a voice (most likely the angel that first began speaking to John in 17:1) \t\t\tnow tells him to write: “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the \t\t\tLamb!” What a glorious wedding invitation! May many receive it and be there for the \t\tfeast! And note also that this is further strengthened by the angel who says, “These are \t\tthe true sayings of God”.<\/p>\n IV.\tTHE AFFIRMATION, IN IT ALL, OF THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS (v. 10).<\/strong><\/p>\n A.\tThe impact of all of this was too much for John. And then, he commits a great error. \t\t\tHe falls down and worships at the feet of the angel! How many have made a similar \t\t\tmistake\u2014overcome by the greatness of the message that they direct too much adoration \t\tto the messenger!<\/p>\n B.\tThe angel calls him (literally) to ‘see that he not do that’! He insists that he is simply a \t\t\tfellow servant with all who bear the testimony of Jesus. Instead, he directs John to \t\t\tunderstand something that ought to be writ large on all our study of Revelation, \t\t\t“Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” All prophecy\u2014\t\t\trightly understood\u2014shines the spotlight upon Him!<\/p>\n * * * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n It’s wise to hold our interpretation of this passage carefully. We aren’t told who the different entities in heaven are who speak in it. John himself, who saw these things, wasn’t led to say\u2014and perhaps, himself, didn’t know. But what we do<\/em> know for certain is that they\u2014who ever they are\u2014are presented to us as praising God and rejoicing loudly before His throne.<\/p>\n May we, by God’s grace, hate the system that heaven hates, rejoice over the prospect that it rejoices over, and have the central focus on Christ our Savior that it has!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Theme: This passage describes the joy in heaven that will immediately precede the return of our Lord to earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[288,295],"class_list":["post-545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-am","tag-rejoicing","tag-revelation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbABwv-8N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethanybible.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethanybible.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethanybible.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethanybible.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethanybible.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bethanybible.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethanybible.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethanybible.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethanybible.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}