Blog
Revelation 19:1-10 (Part 4)
By Joe Haynes
January 20, 2023
If it is correct that the Amen, Hallelujah! of the twenty-four elders and four living creatures in verse 4 predicts the end of all Gospel preaching, and marks the day when the fullness of the Gentiles will finally have been brought into the Kingdom of God (as Paul predicted in Romans 11:25), then what are we to make of another group crying out “Hallelujah!” and praising God in verses 6-10? If all the elect from the nations, the Gentiles, will have, by this time, been saved, who is left?
The picture of the Bride prepared for the Lamb alludes to OT Scripture
Isaiah 54:1-8
God restores Israel as His bride.
"Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married," says the LORD. 2 "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. 4 "Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. 5 For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. 6 For the LORD has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. 7 For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. 8 In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you," says the LORD, your Redeemer. (Isa. 54:1-8 ESV)
We need to try and read this with some context from Isaiah, and how Isaiah predicted the coming of Jesus Christ.
Remember in the Gospel of Matthew, right after Jesus finishes preaching the Sermon on the Mount, he goes into Capernaum and heals many people’s diseases and casts out many demons. And Matthew says, in Mat 8:17, “this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah,” and quotes Isaiah 53:4. “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: "He took our illnesses and bore our diseases." (Matt. 8:17 ESV). So read Matthew 8:17, then Isaiah 53:4. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. (Isa. 53:4 ESV). Isaiah 53:5-6 goes on to magnify the saving work of Jesus like this:
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-- every one-- to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa. 53:5-6 ESV)
And Isaiah 53:11 adds that, “the righteous one, my servant, [will] make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities…” Well that’s how Isaiah 53 anticipates the ministry of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 54 picks up on that and carries it further.
What God’s righteous servant, whom Matthew said is Jesus Christ, what He makes possible is a miracle of wonderful grace to Israel. You see, back in Exodus 19, God invited Israel to be His chosen people but Israel broke that covenant. According to Isaiah 53, God piled up the guilt of all of Israel’s sins on Jesus, the righteous servant. And in Isa 54, His sacrifice makes it possible for God to bring Israel back into a new covenant relationship!
4 "Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. 5 For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. 6 For the LORD has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. 7 For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. 8 In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you," says the LORD, your Redeemer. (Isa. 54:4-8 ESV)
D.A. Carson’s NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible says, “In light of what the servant enabled, God invites Israel to move back into the relationship with him that he first offered at Mount Sinai.” (Isaiah 54:1) And again, that Study Bible adds that what Jesus, the Righteous Servant, makes possible is the restoration of “Israel’s marriage with Yahweh.”
… Israel, who thought herself a “barren woman” (v. 1), is restored to her “husband” (v. 1), who is also her “Maker” (v. 5; cf. 17:7: 45:9, 11; 51:13), with the result that she will have many children again (54:1–3). The nation will not disappear under the wrath of God, but will grow and multiply as Yahweh had promised to Abraham. The return from exile is a preliminary and partial fulfillment of the final ingathering of all God’s people that has been inaugurated by Christ.[i]
Now is it fair to connect this prophecy of Israel being restored as a bride to God, to this passage about the Bride of the Lamb in Rev 19? Yes, I think so, for two reasons.
First, because of the very personal way verse 7 speaks of “His bride”. Matthew tied Jesus to Isaiah 53. The restoration of Israel in Isaiah 54 is made possible by the way Jesus fulfilled Isaiah 53, making Israel “His bride.” But secondly, John alludes to Isaiah 54:11-12 just a bit later in Rev 21:19. But before that, look what comes next, right after the verses we just read from Isaiah 54: The Lord says,
" 10 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you. 11 "O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. 12 I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones." (Isa. 54:10-12 ESV)
This is what John alludes to so poetically in Rev 21:19.
The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. (Rev. 21:19-20 ESV)
What we read here takes some imagination to behold. First Israel is portrayed as a bride restored to God; then Isaiah shifts to seeing her foundations as a city being built up again by God, made beautiful with jewels. John sees the bride of Christ, and then also sees her as a city, the New Jerusalem, alluding to these prophecies about Israel in the process. Which all seems to indicate that the Jewish people, that is, Israel, will be included in the glorious future predicted here for the Bride of Christ.
Hosea 2:16-23
The bride imagery is prominent in the prophet Hosea, but when John directly quotes a bride prophecy from Hosea, just a little later in Rev 21, he confirms that this theme of the Bride is meant to be understood in light of Hosea’s prophecy too.
16 "And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.' 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. 21 "And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, 22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, 23 and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.'" (Hos. 2:16-23 ESV)
Romans 9:25-26 quotes from here in Hosea, verse 23, showing that part of the fulfillment of this prophecy graciously includes Gentiles, non-Jews, in God’s salvation plan. But God’s plan also still includes Jews, a remnant of Israel. Paul clearly says in Romans 9:27 that a remnant of Israel will be saved. But why only a remnant of Israel? Paul himself asks why the Gentiles are included in God’s plan while Israel stumbled—and shows that it was because Israel refused to have faith in Jesus:
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” Romans 9:30-33
Just a bit later, in Romans 11, Paul makes an explicit argument that God has a plan to redeem the Jewish people and restore national Israel in His covenant of redemption one day in the future. Now back to Hosea 2:16 and the theme of the Bride of the Lamb.
“Baal” was a word that also meant “husband”—but God will restore Israel as His bride and put all thoughts of idol-worshipping adultery far from Israel’s mind: there won’t be any reminders of how the Jewish people betrayed God. There won’t be any shadow left of Israel’s old Baal worship. Instead of rejecting forsaking God, Israel will now call Him “my husband”—the words literally mean, “My man.” Verse 20 says, “I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD,” (Hos. 2:20 ESV). Revelation 21:3 quotes this so beautifully—"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God,” (Rev. 21:3 ESV).
But then look at our text, Reve 19:7—Israel’s divine husband, God, is here revealed as none other than the Lamb, Jesus Christ! “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…” (Rev. 19:7 ESV). There can be no question that since in 21:3, God will be Israel’s husband (and also the Husband of all His redeemed people, including the whole Church as well), and that in Rev 19:7, the Husband is called “the Lamb”. There can be no question that 5:5f shows this Lamb to be none other than Jesus, of the tribe of Judah, and of the line of King David.
5 And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." 6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." (Rev. 5:5-10 ESV)
And there should be no doubt left in your mind that Jesus is exalted here as the Son of Man from Daniel 7’s prophecy, shown to be eternally equal with God the Father, to receive praise and prayers, worship and worth! But the glorious, merciful, gracious movement seen in linking the Lamb in chapter 5, with the Lamb in chapter 19, is that though God had seemed to forsake Israel for a little while, when Israel rejected her Messiah, the day is coming when God will bring her back to know the Lamb, the Heir of David, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the King of Glory, the Son of God, as her divine Husband in the flesh—and as Hosea prophesied, Israel will call Jesus, “My man”—“my Husband.”
Isaiah 61:10-11
Let’s take a closer look now at the wording of these verses, especially in Rev 19:7-8 about the Bride getting ready for her wedding day. We’ve seen that Revelation connects this bridal imagery to OT prophecies about the restoration of Israel. We’ve seen that this future restoration of Israel is clearly foretold in Paul’s letter to the Romans, and that it’s also alluded to by John in Revelation 21, with reference to prophecies in 54 and Hosea 2. Now though, in Revelation 19:7-8, the allusion to Isaiah 61 is striking. But when you begin to grasp why the praise of these people John heard alludes to that particular prophecy in Isaiah, the richness of God’s grace glimpsed here should leave you breathless. Let’s read Isaiah’s prophecy first.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. (Isa. 61:10-62:1 ESV)
Notice first, that in Isaiah, it says “I will rejoice” “my soul shall exult in my God”, whereas in Revelation, it is these people crying “Hallelujah” in verse 6, who say, “Let us rejoice and exult” as they lift their praises to “the Lord our God, the Almighty”. Scholars debate who the speaker is in Isaiah 61:10-11. Calvin took note that some see there a reference to Israel’s priesthood being dressed in priestly clothing and conclude this is a foreshadowing of Jesus speaking as our High Priest. But Calvin disagreed. He thought that was too big a stretch. The picture here is of God covering unrighteous people with God’s own righteousness. MacArthur also says this is a picture of God imputing righteousness to sinners. And Charles Spurgeon said about Isaiah 61:10,
When God looks at his people, he does not see them—he sees his Son. He looks through that heavenly medium and sees them in his Son. The Lord has covered them with the robe of righteousness. The children of God who weep because of their sins can be joyful in the Lord. We are righteous in the righteousness of Christ that God has imputed to us by faith in his Son.[ii]
Second, notice the wedding clothes. In Isaiah it says that God “has clothed me with garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness” and then compares that salvation and righteousness to how a bridegroom dresses for his wedding, and also how a bride “adorns herself” for her wedding. In Revelation, John says “the Bride has made herself ready” and that “it was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”. At the end of verse 8, John explains the meaning of the symbolic wedding clothes of linen, saying, “”the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints”—just as in Isaiah it says, “he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.”
In Isaiah it is a single voice speaking; in Revelation 19 it is not one voice but many. Not one person. Verse 6 tells us “the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out…”; verse 7 is crystal clear, “Let us rejoice and exult and give God the glory…!” Compare Isa 61:10 (I will greatly rejoice, my soul shall exult in the Lord) to Rev 19:7, “Let us rejoice and exult”—the one voice of Isaiah 61 is the voice of a multitude of people praising God in Rev 19:6-7!
Third, notice in Revelation 7, the reason why that multitude is praising God. Whereas in Isaiah 61, the reason is that God had clothed the speaker with righteousness and salvation, in Rev 19:7b, it says “for” the Lamb’s marriage has come, and “His Bride has made herself ready.” The multitude is not rejoicing for themselves but for a third party—for the Bride of the Lamb. The speaker in Isaiah 61 becomes a bystander in Rev 19. The multitude appears to be like guests at the great day of the wedding, rejoicing to see what God has done for His Bride. But the multitude are witnesses to this event, seeing it happen; they are not the Bride.
Again, the speaker in Isaiah 61:10, a symbol for Israel, says that the Lord has covered “me” with salvation and righteousness like a bridegroom and bride get dressed for the wedding day. And the witnesses in Isaiah 61 are “the nations”—" so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.” (Isaiah 61:11) But in John’s vision, in Rev 19:6-8, now Israel becomes the wedding guest, Israel is the multitude celebrating at the wedding, but what is shocking is that if we keep the speakers distinct from the Bride they speak about, Israel is seeing someone else’s wedding. And they call her, the Lamb’s Bride. John gives a bit more clarity in verse 8: the wedding garments stand for the righteous deeds of the saints. In Revelation, consistently, the saints are those who believe in Jesus Christ, the true Church of Jesus Christ.
So the picture we have here is a surprising twist. Instead of Israel being God’s bride, the Church is God’s bride. Christians are clothed in righteous deeds because God gave them grace to do those righteous deeds (v8: “it was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen bright and pure”). By way of application, this reminds us God declares us righteous when we believe in Christ by imputing Christ’s righteousness to us; but also God makes us righteous by training us and empowering us to live righteously in ways we never could without Him.
But what about Israel? What’s going on here? How can the prophecy of such joy for Israel, that God would impute righteousness to Israel, that Israel would be God’s bride, that Israel would be the sinners saved by grace according to Isaiah 61:10-11, how can that prophecy be taken away from the Jewish people and given to someone else? How can God replace the very people, ethnically Hebrew, national Israel, and marry Himself to those who are not ethnically Hebrew, national Israel? Does this mean the Gentile Church replaces Israel? If that were true, it would mean God transferred a promise He made to a specific people group, and gave that promise instead to another people group. It would mean that God broke His promise to one group, Israel, in order to fulfill the promise to a different group, the Gentile Church. It would mean that God breaks promises.[iii]
No. What we see here is so much better than that! We see here that God does take a promise made to Israel and widens it, and broadens it, and makes it bigger, in order to also marry Himself to Gentile Christians, believers in Jesus from all the nations of the earth—praise God! But we also see that God keeps His promise to Israel. That’s why this prophecy in Revelation 19:6-8 alludes so clearly to Isaiah 61:10-11. So that as we grasp what this scene shows us, we would realize that if God doesn’t keep the promise to save Israel, then even if He saves other people instead, it still would mean God did not do what He said He would do. We need to see that problem and feel the shock and horror of what that would mean. And then we need to let the Bible, here in these verses in Revelation 19, in this text, tell us what to believe.
First, it is the multitude of Israel rejoicing with Hallelujah’s when they witness the Bride Jesus has made ready, on that day when Jesus comes. They are not sad. They are not accusing God of breaking His Word. They are praising God for giving such incredible, amazing grace to sinners from all the nations of the earth and making a Bride for Himself from those who did not know Him.
Second, verse 8 is not the end of this passage. Verse 9 adds a blessing for the wedding guests. Like the blessing in the beatitudes.
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (Matt. 5:3-9 ESV)
It’s that kind of blessing here. A blessing of salvation. Of belonging to God. Of being one of the sinners Jesus saves. That’s the blessing here that the angel preaches and makes very sure that John writes down for everyone to read. “And 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.’," (Rev. 19:9 ESV).
What this means is that in the end, Israel will see a wedding taking place. Israel will realize and understand what God has done, in Jesus, for sinners from all the nations of earth who believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Israel will finally perceive that God has imputed the righteousness of Jesus Christ to the people who needed a Saviour. Israel will finally behold that God’s grace has trained and shaped and sanctified the people Jesus died to save, and given them righteous deeds to wear to their wedding—our wedding! And Israel will glorify and praise God, “Hallelujah for what the Lord our God the Almighty has done! Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory for Jesus has returned at last to be with the Church He has saved!” Israel will say that. And then, in another miraculous twist of grace, Israel will suddenly be joined to the Lamb. Israel will be unexpectedly clothed with Christ’s righteousness too. Israel will be joyously saved by grace in that moment. And Israel, instead of being there just as guests at the wedding, will be blessed beyond compare to be united to the Bride.
Verse 10 shows a stunned and amazed prophet, the Apostle John, so completely overwhelmed by the incredible message of the angel, that he forgets himself and falls down and worships the messenger. We’ll look at that next time.