Revelation 19:8-10

Is Your Testimony about Jesus?

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on May 23, 2021 at Beacon Church.

Well, again, at that same Sabbath dinner when Jesus told the parable about the wedding feast, someone made a comment about how blessed everyone will be who gets to eat together in the Kingdom of God. I get that. I often imagine what those banquets, those meals, what those parties will be like! But in addition to the error of those guests who went for the honoured seats and of the host who liked to invite important people, this man seems to have had assumptions about who God will allow into His Kingdom. Jesus had something to say about that. So he told another parable about a man hosting a great banquet and inviting lots of guests. Guests who didn’t come. (Luke 14:16-24) But what was really shocking, in Jesus’ story, was the excuses they made for not coming. All the excuses Jesus listed were biblical, legitimate reasons why a man should be excused from going to war when the army is called up, according to Deut 20:1-7. In Deuteronomy, a man shouldn’t have to go to war if his death would leave a major life event unfinished. For example, if a man had just built a house but never lived in it; or planted a vineyard and never tasted its grapes; or gotten betrothed to a woman but not consummated the marriage. Those are the sorts of major life events that should prevent a man from going to war but they should never be more important to God’s people than the coming of His Kingdom, than our invitation to the Lord’s banquet. In Revelation 19:8-10, in this scene about the Lamb and His Bride, John teaches his readers three truths about the second coming of Christ that should change the way you wait for that day.

God gives us our righteousness (v8)

This is the idea behind John’s explanation in verse 8, “it was granted to her to clothe herself…” The verse before this describes the second coming of Jesus Christ, the day when He arrives, like a wedding day. In the Book of Revelation, the main character is “the Lamb who was slain” but is alive again, and ruling with God on His throne. The Lamb is Jesus Christ. And the Bride is His Church, the people of Christ. And where verse 7 says “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)—we give God glory when the Brid has made herself ready because God gives the Bride her righteousness. Verse 8 explains that “it was granted to her to clothe herself.” In other words, the picture here suggests that because the bride had nothing to wear to her own wedding, God gave her wedding dress: “…it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure…” (Rev. 19:8 ESV).

The suggestion is not necessarily that she had no clothes but that she had no suitable clothes. If this was described like most wedding dresses, you might think the bride wanted a special dress for her special day. You might think that what she had was simply not formal enough, or out of style. But verse 8 does not describe her dress in terms of its cut or embroidery or sequins. Even the colour is not so much "white" as "bright"--bright and clean. This isn't saying she had no clothes but that she had no clean clothes. Not that she had no dress but whatever she could provide for herself was soiled and dirty. So garments were provided for her, "bright and clean." Now I said that this means “God gives us our righteousness” because that’s how the wedding dress metaphor is explained at the end of verse 8—as “righteousness”. “…for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints,” (Rev. 19:8 ESV).

Verse 8 explains that when we're talking about the bright and clean linen wedding dress, we're really talking about righteous deeds. But it says, the wedding dress (the “fine linen, bright and pure”) is the "righteous deeds of the saints." Think about what that means: these deeds belong to the saints (they are "of the saints"); these deeds are things the saints "do"--that's what "deeds" are: things people do; and while they belong to the saints and they are performed by the saints they are not deeds the saints were able to provide for themselves. They had to be provided for the saints—“it was granted to her to clothe herself…” So the Bride, the Church, the people of Jesus Christ, have to be covered and clothed in righteous deeds we do, but they are righteous deeds God has to give us to do.

But this raises the problem every single Christian should already be very familiar with: our deeds are not what they should be. Meaning our metaphorical clothes are not “bright and pure” but stained and dirty. This is what the Bible tells us though. John, in his letter called “First John,” says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us," (1 Jo 1:8). And Isaiah said, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment…" (Isa 64:6a) If you are honest with yourself you know that the clothes you are wearing are not pure, righteous deeds. You know that you are stained and covered with sin. So what are we going to do about it? Well right after John said “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,” he told us what we can do about it: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," (1 Jo 1:9). If you will pray and ask Jesus to forgive you and cleanse you and clothe you with His righteousness, you will never have to stand before Him and be found naked and dirty and ashamed; He will do what He has promised—He will forgive your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness. And He will cover you and clothe you and make you worthy to be one of His people, His Church, His Bride.

In other words, we will be wearing all the good works He has give us, and we will be cleansed from all the bad things we did. That's like what Paul said in Ephesians 2: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Eph 2:10 ESV) And Psalm 132 says, “Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy." (Psa 132:9 ESV) The righteous deeds that will cover you, and me, and all who believe in Jesus, all who are part of His Bride, on that day when He returns, are righteous deeds God prepares for us, appoints for us to do, and that He Himself causes by what He does in us: It’s like Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 61—

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. 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. (Isaiah 61:10-11 ESV; emphasis added)

The first truth John teaches his readers about the second coming of Christ is that God gives us our righteousness and that should change how you live while you wait for Him to come, shouldn’t it? It should make you think twice about assuming He will love you if you are good, or pure enough, or righteous enough; it should remind you never to be proud of how much better or more righteous you are than someone else; it should cure you of pride and self-confidence and teach you a deep and profound humility. Like Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7) I mean just think about how Paul describes Jesus in Colossians 1!

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (Colossians 1:15-18)

Jesus does not want a bride who secretly thinks He is lucky to have her. Remember when King David thought he should build God a house, God said, “Would you build me a house to dwell in?” (2 Sam 7:5) When Solomon finished building God’s Temple, he confessed, "…will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!" (2Ch 6:18 ESV) The Bride will make herself ready by clothing herself with the righteousness God gives. And she will be made beautiful by her humility and the look on her face, when she finally sees Him arrive, will be pure adoration.

God gives us His blessing (v9)

“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). There is something incredibly solemn about what John is told to do in verse 9. He is told to write. Every precedent in Revelation where John was told to write, carried such divine authority, together with the confirmation in verse 9, that "these are the true words of God"—it’s not hard to see why he falls down and worships when he hears this. But let’s come back to that. First, have a look at this blessing.

This was a blessing from God Himself (v9b!); the fourth of seven such blessings in Revelation: The first was in Rev 1:3. "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." (Rev 1:3 ESV) The second was in Rev 14:13, "And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!"" (Rev 14:13 ESV) The third blessing was in Rev 16:15, "Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!" (Rev 16:15 ESV) So when the angel makes sure John writes this down, and when the angel then confirms the blessing is directly from God Himself, John’s readers learn that God Himself is giving His blessing on this marriage. And it’s even more solemn because it’s the 4th blessing. But there’s something else as well…

At that Sabbath feast Jesus attended in the home of a Pharisee, Luke 14:7 says,

…He told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:7-11)

It's an incredible honour to even be invited to attend the marriage supper of the Lamb! But dear Christian, you are not invited to be a guest at this wedding. Imagine your surprise when an usher comes and takes you from a table in the back corner and seats you at the head table! Imagine your delight when you then realize the seat next to you is where Jesus will be sitting! Imagine your joy when you finally understand, you're not just a guest. It's your wedding! No wonder the angel made sure John wrote this down! Because this is hard to believe! There could not possibly be any honour ever given, in the entire history of the Universe, than being invited to be joined together and united to the Son of God! Blessed indeed! Happy indeed! That day has not yet come when we will sit with Jesus and feast with Jesus, but we’ve already received our invitations! It makes you wonder, doesn’t it, why we get upset when we feel slighted, or unappreciated, or disrespected. We only have a little while to wait for the Bridegroom to arrive. How foolish then it is when we get cranky about not getting to sit at the head of the table now! How short-sighted when the blessing of being invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb fades from our minds and we think and feel and act like big events in our lives now are more important! But Lord, I just bought a house, and I haven’t even had a chance to move in yet! But Lord, I just bought some property I haven’t seen yet! But Lord I just started a business I’m really excited about! The second truth John teaches his readers here, about the second coming of Christ, is that God gives us His blessing, and shouldn’t that change how you wait for Jesus? The third thing John teaches his readers, then, is…

We give Jesus our worship (10)

Before I read verse 10, let me linger for a moment on this idea of being invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. No Christian has yet experienced the whole point of becoming a Christian. What we’ve received is the Promise. Today is Pentecost Sunday when we remember the gift of the Holy Spirit to the whole Church in all the world with unprecedented power and purpose! John Piper once said, “…The people of God in this period are to be a people born of the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit to bear witness to "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ."[i] From Pentecost until the second coming of Christ, this is the age and era of the Church living in the power of the Holy Spirit. But it’s not the goal. It’s the engagement, not the wedding day. This is so important for Christians to understand but I think it’s exactly at this point that many make shipwreck of their faith.

Lots of us know have had friends, good friends, fellow church-members, and relatives, even close family members, sons and daughters and parents and brothers and sisters, who have once made a profession of faith in Jesus only to change their mind later on. And it’s like people receiving their invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb and then, as life goes on, deciding, you know, they are a little disappointed in the invitation. The paper it’s printed on isn’t what they thought it would be; the font is a bit dated; the colors or design of the invitation isn’t really their thing anymore. And so they throw away their invitations because, frankly, an invitation can’t keep you warm at night. When the nights are long and cold and lonely, it’s easy to see how almost any warm body willing to share your bed is more attractive than an invitation. If you gave up on Christianity because you found it wasn’t enough, it’s like throwing out the invitation to your wedding because you thought that was all there was to being married. In verse 9, God gave His blessing, and the angel confirmed that God gave His word. And if you decided His word isn't good enough then you never knew him. Whatever your faith was about it wasn't faith in him. You really don’t know what you’re missing because you got Christianity confused with Christ. Now let’s read verse 10:

Then 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. (Rev. 19:10 ESV)

Why John fell down to worship the angel is not hard to see. He thought, somehow, that it was Jesus. Consider the precedents to this command to write, in verse 9. In Rev 1:11, the Voice of Christ commanded John, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." (Rev 1:11 ESV). Again in 1:19, it was Jesus who said "Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this." (Rev 1:19 ESV) So John wrote, as he was commanded by the Lord Jesus, to each of those seven churches:  In 2:1 Jesus commands John to write to the church in Ephesus, "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 'The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands." (Rev 2:1 ESV) Then in 2:8, to Smyrna; Then in 2:12, to Pergamum; Then in 2:18, to Thyatira; Then in 3:1, to Sardis; Then in 3:7, to Philadelphia; Then in 3:14, to Laodicea, each of these seven times it was the voice of the Lord Jesus that gave John this command, "Write"--just like in 19:9. John was programmed to expect the one commanding him to “write” was Jesus. And then, in verse 9, the one speaking to John even said, "these are the true words of God"—and again, it was like Jesus Himself said in 3:7, "'The words of the holy one, the true one," (Rev 3:7 ESV); and like in 3:14 when Jesus said, "'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness," (Rev 3:14 ESV).

So I have no trouble understanding why John fell on His face and worshiped, the words he was hearing he had heard before, the command he heard he had heard before, the authority he heard he had heard before when He heard the voice of His Lord and Saviour. And while the words were indeed the Lord's words, the voice was not the Lord's voice but you can easily understand how John might have become confused when in reality, in verse 9, the one speaking was not Christ but only His messenger. It is tragically common for people to blame Christ for things His human messengers do.  Lots of people have given up on Jesus Christ because of things Christians have done. Lots of people get confused between Christianity and Christ and throw out their invitations. But here, instead of casting blame in the wrong direction, John offers worship in the wrong direction. John fell down and worshiped the wrong person in his vision. But that was before he did as he was told and wrote it all down. By the time he wrote it down, he was no longer confused.

It was later on, after this, when John sat down and began recording in a book all that he had been shown in this incredible vision. So it does make me wonder why the Spirit inspired John to include his blunder in this Scripture? Why make a permanent record of his error in worshiping an angel instead of reserving his worship for Jesus alone? I think it’s because of what the angel said about Jesus: “‘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,” (Rev. 19:10 ESV). The angel is saying, in other words, “Don’t worship the messenger, worship God.” And by God, he means Jesus. Faithful messengers, human or angelic, preach the deity of Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the “spirit of prophecy.”

Angels, like all John’s “brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus” (i.e., fellow Christians), are just Christ’s servants. What we hold and keep and proclaim, the message we share and preach, is “the testimony of Jesus.” We are just His witnesses who tell others about Him. “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Or as someone has said, “Spirit-inspired prophecy focuses on the testimony give by and about Jesus Christ. Christians are to be God-centred, but prophecy also points us to the centrality of Jesus and his majesty and greatness.”[ii]

John taught his readers three truths about the second coming of Jesus: he gives us the righteousness we need; God gives His solemn blessing to everyone He invites to be united with His Son; and for these reasons, we give Jesus our worship.

Colossians 1:17-20 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.