Time for the Marriage!


Revelation 19:1-10
1After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,
“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
3Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”
4And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5And from the throne came a voice saying,
“Praise our God,
all you his servants,
you who fear him,
small and great.”
6Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
7Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
8it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Heaven breaks forth in a mighty praise and shouts of “Hallelujah!” as Jesus prepares to gather His bride, the Church unto Himself. The imagery of Christ as the Bridegroom and the Church as His bride runs throughout the entire Bible. Now in Revelation 19 this miraculous event is about to take place.

“Hallelujah” is a word that the people of God use so often it almost becomes common; but it anything but common. It is the highest form of worship for our Mighty God. When you say “hallelujah” you are saying “Praise Yahweh!” Using God’s name to bring Him glory is one of our greatest gifts. The word “hallelujah” needs to be spoken with reverence and awe, for you are speaking the very name of God and there are four such hallelujahs in this passage.

“In the New Testament, “hallelujah” appears only in Revelation, and in Revelation it appears only in this chapter (19:1, 3, 4, 6). ἁλληλουϊά is a transliteration of the Hebrew words הַלְלוּ־יָהּ and means “Praise Yah,” with “Yah” being a shortened form of “Yahweh.” In the Hebrew Old Testament “hallelujah” appears exclusively in the psalms, though similar expressions are found in Isaiah 62:9; 64:10; Jeremiah 20:13; 31:7. In the Hebrew it does appear within psalms.”
Brighton, L. A. (1999). Revelation (p. 485). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House.

Here described in glowing terms Christ and His bride are brought together. The bride has been prepared by the blood of Jesus, washing her and making her pure and worthy to even be in God’s presence. Not only has purity been purchased for her (the bride price) but she has been enabled and empowered to do good works by God Himself. As with all things in the God’s plan, He is the Actor and we are the grateful recipients. We appear twice in this scene as both the wedding guests and the Bride.

John is so overwhelmed by the beauty, grandeur, and grace of this scene that he falls down in worship. Of course the angel immediately stops John from worshiping anyone but God. I think that one can forgive John for this lapse. A scene of this kind of beauty must have been totally overwhelming after witnessing the horrors of Babylon. I may have fallen down too.

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