Okay, Shabbat Shalom. We are going to read today, this is the last message of the year 2011, and we are going to read in the book of the Revelation today, once again, we are beginning today in Revelation chapter 19, and Revelation chapter 19 really deals with two important things that are yet to occur in the future. Revelation chapter 19 deals, number one, with the marriage of the Lamb. And the second thing that Revelation chapter 19 deal with is with the second coming of Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of this world. We're gonna deal today with the help of the Lord with the first part of Revelation chapter 19, verses 1 to 10.

And really, it's a beautiful passage to read because it takes us to future event that is going to happen in heaven that we call the marriage of the Lamb. Let me read those verses first of all, if you follow with me the first ten verses of Revelation 19. And after these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are His judgments. For he has judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Hallelujah! And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah! And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.

And I heard, as it were, the voice of great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him, and he said unto me, Se thou to it not, I am thy fellow servant. And of thy brethren that have the testimony of Yeshua, worship God, for the testimony of Yeshua is the spirit of prophecy.

And I'll stop with the reading today here in verse ten. I had in mind to read the rest of the chapter earlier in my meditation, but I felt before the Lord it probably would be more suitable to take the first ten verses in this ministry meeting and to deal with this theme, wonderful theme of the marriage of the Lamb. This is something that is so precious to the heart of every child of God, looking forward for the day when there will be that great reunion where all the redeemed company in the church age, beginning from the time that the Spirit of God came down to this world in Acts chapter two, ending with the rapture when the Lord will catch up those that belong to Him in the church age, and together we're going to be with Him. There will be a great time where the marriage of the Lamb will occur.

But just before that, beloved brothers and sisters, before we talk about the marriage of the Lamb, we would like to be reminded of what's happening here in chapter 19 of the Revelation. Remember that actually, officially, according to the study that we have already made, that at the end of chapter 16 of Revelation, the Tribulation have ended. It was there when the seventh angel poured out his vial, Revelation 16 and verse 17 into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done. The Tribulation have been over. It is done. It is finished. It is over.

But then the Spirit of God, by divine design, have given us chapter 17, chapter 18, which we have covered already. And in chapter 17 we discover details concerning the destruction of religious Babylon. We have already spoken of the fact that Babylon, in Hebrew, Bavel, Bilbul, speaks of confounding and confusion. And while the true church is in heaven, there is a false church here on earth which is confused, which is a mixture of all sorts of religious belief, and that which is not in accordance with God, and God have allowed the leaders of that future there of the tribulation period to destroy religious Babylon.

That the Antichrist will seek to take a place where he will seek worship for himself, and he will destroy religious Babylon. Then we talked about chapter 18, and we discover that it's not only that the religious Babylon will be destroyed, but political and economical Babylon will be destroyed. That city of Babylon headed up there, and all the world have been nourished by that city. All the kings of the world have committed fornication with that city. All the political rulers of this world have been mingled with this city of Babylon, where the Antichrist have been influencing this world. And you remember we said that the merchant and the shipmasters and the kings of this earth will weep and will wail because Babylon, the city, and the whole economical system have been destroyed.

And if you remember, we read at the end of chapter 18, where they said they cried when they saw the smoke of the burning of that city, in verse 18 of chapter 18, what city is like unto this great city? And they cast dust on their heads, and they cried weeping and wailing and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships on the sea and so on, and now in one hour she had become desolate.

So we got information in chapter 17, religious Babylon, in chapter 18, political Babylon and economical Babylon, how these two system or the two Babylons have been destroyed. Now, in chapter 19, we get a little more information now of what's going on in heaven. Before the Messiah final coming into this earth. And so in these ten verses that we read today, we really see here the hallelujahs that have been shouted in heaven by those that belong to the Lord. In other words, we see the four hallelujahs of the glorified saints of God in heaven. Now let me just say one or two more things about the word hallelujah. You know, hallelujah is a Hebrew word that we who live in Israel often use to praise God. We use the expression hallelujah. The word lehalel or halel, it simply means praise.

When you say hallelu, you say praise ye. When you say hallelu-yah, you say praise ye Jehovah. This is a Hebrew word that is being used today by many in the world, many of the nations of the world use that one Hebrew word many times in many areas of the worship of Yehovah, the worship of the Lord Jesus. And here we find out now the first time in a New Testament, this is the first time in a New Testament where the word Hallelujah is mentioned. And it is mentioned four times, and it is only mentioned in this chapter, Revelation chapter 19 verse 1, verse 3, verse 4, and verse 6.

The Apostle John now, seeing a sight and hearing with his ears things that are amazing, the praising, the Hallelujah song in heaven. And so in verses one and two is the first hallelujah mentioned there in heaven, and there is the hallelujah to God because He judged religious Babylon. Look, it says here, and I'm reading verses one and two, it says, And after these things I heard a great voice of much people, now it is in heaven.

And they said, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God, for true and righteous are His judgments, for He has judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with the fornication, and has avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. This is the first hallelujah that these saints in heaven are singing. Now remember that actually the ones who are singing, it is the church that is already in glory, Revelation chapter 4, already around the throne, Revelation chapter 4 and chapter 5, and it is the saints that are praising God now, saying hallelujah, praise ye the Lord, because God had finally judged the false religion.

It is called here again in verse 2, this judgment fell upon the whore, or the harlot. We already discussed it in chapter 17, this harlot is none else but that false religion, false Christianity, false ways of teaching the things of God. That is the one that God has judged. And so the people in heaven, the redeemed company in glory, the saints, are praising God and saying to Him, Praise ye Jehovah. Why? Because God had finally dealt with religious Babylon. You see verse 2 at the end, she, it says here, true are righteous I judgment, for he has judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth of her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. Apparently, brothers and sisters, as we have already looked at it in chapter 17, what this false religious of Babylon, or false church have done, She have corrupted, as it says here, this whole universe, this earth, with her fornication.

You know, false religion, influence upon people in the world have caused them to be dissatisfied, worshipping false gods, idolatry, and all kind of things that were wrong that the false church have taught when the false church remained here in the tribulation period. And the Lord avenged the blood of God's servants. Now this is also very interesting because the servants of God are never called to avenge themselves. If somebody have done something wrong to us, the Bible teaches us, both in the book of Deuteronomy to the nation of Israel, and in the book of Romans chapter 12 to the church, that we are never called to avenge those that have wronged us. God said to Israel, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

And so finally he dealt with these false churches, John called her the whore, the harlot, which have corrupted the whole earth. So there is a singing, the hallelujah. Now, you know, the thought here is not that they were happy that somebody was just being punished, but they were happy that God finally gets his own way. They are happy, they are satisfied, they are rejoicing that God's purposes and mind are finally getting to be activated, that God get his own way, and all the false religion have been set aside. That's why they can sing hallelujah. God is righteous in his judgment. It says the true and righteous are your judgment. When God judge someone, he's just, he's fair, he's truthful, he's pronouncing judgment upon someone correctly.

When we pronounce judgment upon somebody else, we often do it wrongly because of our sin nature, but not God. God, as it says here, His judgments are true, and His judgments are righteous. That's why we can sing Hallelujah here in verses one and two. So the first Hallelujah is because God judge religious Babylon finely, and it is the heavenly company who are singing this first Hallelujah.

Then the second Hallelujah is found in verse three, and this second Hallelujah is the Hallelujah to God because He judged also the political Babylon, the city itself, and where there was not only religious system, but economic system and political system which rule this world. This is found in verse three. It says here, And again they said, Hallelujah!

And her smoke arose up for ever and ever. You remember when we talked about the city of Babylon that will be rebuilt in the Tribulation period, where the false Messiah will rule the world from that city in the future, that even though he will situate for himself an image in the city of Yerushalayim, but he will not always remain there. He will be in the city of Babylon, and from that city he will rule over this world. And we remember, we study, we saw that when God burned that city, the smoke of the city will remain. And as it says here, for ever and ever, apparently, brothers and sisters, that in that city of Babylon, There will be, during the millennial age, when there will be beauty all over this earth, apparently that city of Babylon will remain burning.

You remember, and I'm going to take you back for a moment into chapter 18, if you just go back into chapter 18, we read in verse 2, And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon, the great is fallen and fallen, and is become a habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit. And a cage of every unclean and hateful birds. You see that? It become an habitation, a demonic habitation. The hold of every false spirit, the cage of every unclean thing, and the habitation of demonic activities. And if you go back down a little bit further, and you will notice that it's also speaking about the burning of that city in the next verses in chapter 18. So that Hallelujah song is because of the fact that the city will arose in smoke. I'm reading again verse 17, 18, and 19 of chapter 18. For in one hour so great riches is come to naught.

And every shipmaster, and all the company of in ships, and sailors, and as many as had trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried. When they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city? And they cast dust on their heads, and they cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea, by reason of her costliness, for in one hour she is made desolate. So the saints in heaven are praising Jehovah, saying, Hallelujah, because finally, brothers and sisters, finally this economic and political rule over this world will have an end, when the ruler that will rule gonna be the Messiah and not the Antichrist, the counterfeit Messiah, when there will be true judgment and not false judgment that is going on here. In this world.

Just think about it, how many time you feel like somebody wronged you in this world? How many time you feel like you wronged somebody else here in this world? How many time you think, you look around, you see things are just unfair here in this world. Look what's going on in the world today. In many nation where there are rulers who lead and rule with oppression their own people. And how many people are dying because there is an unjust rule here in this world. And even for us as believers, how many times we deal with each other unjustly, in a wrong way because of our sin nature.

But there's coming a day, at the end of the tribulation, because right now these saints are singing to God the Hallelujah because it is done, it is finished. And they're praising God and they say, we're not going to have any more false religion, but we're also not going to have any more false economical system and false justice system. We're going to have the one that is just to rule and to reign over this earth. So they sing that Hallelujah song in verse three as well, the second time. Now he's moving on and notice the next verses, verses four and five, here's the third Hallelujah is being sung by the saints. It says there, verse 4 and 5, it is the hallelujah to God, declared to him out of the throne of God, because something is going to come very soon. Look, verse 4, And the four and twenty elders, remember those four and twenty elders, this is the church.

We already find them in chapter 4 and 5, that this is the heavenly company, represented by the twenty four elders around the throne. And then we find out the four beasts, they fell down and they worshipped God. And the one who sat on the throne, and they said, Amen, Hallelujah, and a voice came out of the throne saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great. So now we have right from the throne, from the midst of the throne there, where the throne was surrounded by the church, the twenty-four elders, the throne was surrounded by the four living creatures, as it says here in verse four, or four beasts.

And out of the throne came a voice saying, Hallelujah, that voice says out of the throne, Praise God, all you servants, and honor him or fear him, both small and great. And that word for fear here is not to be afraid and scared of God, but is giving the reverence that he deserve. Give him the honor that he deserve. That's what the voice that came out of the midst of the throne is saying to everyone, give God the honor that he deserve. And brothers and sisters, we have to admit that in our life, it's like a school for us that we need to learn to give God place in our life.

To give him the honor that he deserve, to give him the rights that he deserve, and we are struggling over this every day of our life today, because we still are here, we still have this weakness, the sin nature, but once we're gonna be around the Lord, once we're gonna be with Him, we are going to hear this exclamation, to give God what belong to Him, to praise Him, and to reverend Him, to give Him the reverence that he deserve because of who he is. So, hallelujah, the religious Babylon destroyed. Hallelujah, a political and economical Babylon have been destroyed. Hallelujah, you, thanks, give him that which belong to him, give him the praise, and respect him, and fear him, and honor him, because of who he is.

And then we have the next hallelujah, and this is very beautiful, because the next hallelujah, in verse Seven and eight, really, it is the hallelujah because of the fact that there is the marriage of the Lamb. When I was reading this a few times, listening to that over the week and reading the text and rereading the text, and I tell you, this is so precious. You know, I had the privilege of officiating quite a few marriages in the time that the Lord have allotted me, quite a few marriages, uniting a man and a woman publicly in marriage, and it is such a privilege to do so and to see that sight. But you see, usually, brothers and sisters, in an ordinary wedding today, we are all waiting for the bride to come. And we are all anticipating when the bride is coming, and we all, when we look to the back, and we see the door open, and finally we see the bride is standing at the door.

And all the eyes are focused on the bride. And we even sing that song, Here come the bride, here come the bride. And we're all looking, and we are wondering, what does she wear? How does she look? What a white, beautiful white gown she is wearing. And we are all looking, and in amazement, at the beautiful bride that is marching forward, to come forward, to marry that husband that is waiting for her, right in the front. But in heaven, things are gonna be different, beloved brothers and sisters.

In heaven, the focus is not the bride, but the focus is the bridegroom. In heaven, we are not going to be occupied with ourself. We are going to be occupied with the bridegroom himself. We're going to be so much engaged with the bridegroom. We are going to be so much occupied with the bridegroom. Why? Because the main focus of the marriage is the person of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who he is and what he has done. You know, we're going to read the text, but there is a hymn that I really love to sing. We have been singing it many times, and it takes us to the future day when we read. It's a song that is called The Sands of Time Are Sinking.

You just look around and you see the sands of time are sinking. Look around, you see what's going on in the world around us. Things are sinking, things are going downwards. The nations of the world are disturbed. There's all kind of problems that are occurring here in this world. But for the believers, for the Christians, for the Messiah followers, we have a hope one day to be with the Lord. And the writer was writing this in the last stanza of this song. He says this, The bride eyes, not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face, I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace. Not at the crown that he gives, But on the pierced hand, the lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land. You see, the writer is saying, listen, when we're going to be in the presence of the Lord, we are not going to look at the garments that we have, we are not going to look at ourselves, but the bride is going to look at the bridegroom's face.

And at his hands and his feet that have been marred, that have been pierced because of the work that Yeshua the Messiah have done for us when he died for us on the tree. And so it's so beautiful to think about it because in heaven things are going to be different than on earth. Yeshua is the subject, He is the theme, He is the prospect, He is the one the bride is going to focus on. And so look what we read here in this next Hallelujah verses, in verses six and seven. Look what we read, And I heard as if it were a voice of great multitude, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.

You see, it is interesting that the fourth hallelujah is in connection with the marriage of the Lamb. And it says here that all are to be rejoicing and give honor because the marriage of the Lamb is come. And then it says his wife made herself ready. Now, here it is something that I think it is important for us to bear in mind as we think about this marriage of the Lamb. First of all, I want you to know that it doesn't say the marriage of the bride or the marriage of the wife, but it says the marriage of the Lamb.

That's remind us, of course, immediately of what happening, what have happened years before, when the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, took the nature of man and became a man, God became a man, and He went all the way to the cross of Calvary. That takes us all the way to the time when He became the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of this world. That takes us back, when we read this statement, the marriage of the Lamb, it takes us back to the cross.

Where the lamb was judged for the sin of this world. He was that lamb that Isaiah was speaking about. As a sheep he was led to the slaughter. He was the lamb that men rejected him. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. But the Lord laid upon him, the son, the Messiah, the iniquity of us all. He was that lamb of God. John declare of him in John 1 29, Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of this world. And so it says here it is the marriage of the lamb. It is his marriage ceremony that is going to come to pass. And then it says that his wife made herself ready.

Now it is interesting. Why is it that the Bible call the church now his wife Already, if she's only going to get married and be now the bride. Now you see, it is interesting that actually, brothers and sisters, the church is already the wife of Christ, the wife of the Messiah. You only a bride once when you actually have the marriage ceremony itself. And when Yeshua have died for us on the three years ago, and all of us and millions others have accepted him, we have already are united with him positionally, but we are awaiting the day when the marriage ceremony is going to occur.

The marriage ceremony itself is going to be in heaven. It's not going to be here on earth, the ceremony itself, because what we see here that the church is already in heaven, and now there is going to be a marriage ceremony, but the wife has to make herself ready for the marriage ceremony itself. Now how does the wife make herself ready for the ceremony itself? You see, that's what we learn. You know, people often ask, when will we be judged for all the sins that we have committed as believers? You know, we have come to know the Lord, and for some of us for ten years already, twenty years, thirty years, forty, fifty years, and somehow along our life as believers, we are forgiven. Our sins have been dealt once and for all, but we still sin here in this world.

And if we are to come into the marriage ceremony when there is this defilement in us, it's not going to be pleasing to the Lord. So apparently, there will be something that happening in heaven after the rapture of the church, before the marriage, that we all going to have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Now for that I would like you to turn to two passages in the New Testament.

The first one is in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 for a moment. If you turn with me there, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul says this to the believers already, those that have come to know Yeshua the Messiah, he said to them this in verse 11, For other foundation can no man lay that is laid, which is Jesus the Messiah. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If a man's work abide, which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. See, the Apostle Paul had spoken to the Corinthian believers. They were already part of the wife, if you will, they were part of the church of the bride of Christ. But he's telling them, listen, you are going to live now here in this world, look, how are you building, how are you dealing in your life here in this world? And so he said to them, listen, you are either built with gold and silver and precious stone, or you are built with wood, hay, and stubble.

And what he's really saying is that every man's work shall be made manifest. When it's going to be made manifest? In the day that it shall be declared, because it shall be revealed, so as by fire. This is in verse 13 of 1 Corinthians chapter 3. And you know, that tells us, brothers and sisters, that often time in our life as believers, we have quickly sin coming into our life. Hebrews says in chapter 12, the sin which does so easily beset us. We get defiled when we walk here in this world. A time we get tempted, a time we go in a wrong direction, a time we do things that are not pleasing to the Lord. Now when we're going to come to the presence of God for the marriage union, do you think any of that which is not right before God will be retained?

Not at all. God will have to remove it in order to make us ready for the marriage union itself. And that's why he said here in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, every man's work shall be made manifest. In other words, he will have to deal with the believer's life and remove everything that is not done for him, being set aside, to burn it with fire. So only that which we have done for the Messiah will remain, so we will enter into that marriage ceremony suitable to His presence, pure and suitable for the marriage itself, for the marriage union. You notice that he says, and it's so beautiful to know, that if a man's work shall abide of what he have built thereon, he shall receive reward. But if man's work shall be burned, then he shall suffer loss, but, notice he continue, he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. So we learn from that, praise God for that, that our salvation does not depend upon our works.

But the works are definitely desired by God to be works that are pleasing to Him, that are honoring Him, and that which will give to Him glory. Turn to 2 Corinthians this time, chapter 5, and here the apostle gives us a clear statement in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10. He said, therefore we must all appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or whether it be bad. This is verse 10 of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Now don't get mixed up with the two judgments that the Bible teaches us in the Scripture. Here the Bible called it the judgment seat of the Messiah. In Revelation chapter 20, we have the great white throne judgment. Those two judgments always have to be kept apart, to be separated or distinguished. The judgment seat of the Messiah is only for believers.

The great white throne judgment is only for unbelievers. The judgment seat of the Messiah is only for believers in relation to their works on earth. The great white throne judgment is only for unbelievers, and it is because of the rejection of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. The judgment seat of Christ that we have here is going to be after the rapture, before the marriage of the Lamb. The great white throne judgment gonna be at the end of the millennial age, at least thousand years later.

The judgment seat of the Messiah is for believers who once they have been purged, they are going to be eternally with the Lord in heaven. The great white throne judgment is for unbelievers, and there, from there, they are gonna be cast into the lake of fire, eternally separated from the Lord. You see, brothers and sisters, I just want us to see that at the marriage of the Lamb, the believers are going to come. Pure and cleansed and standing at that marriage ceremony with that white garment, purged and cleansed because number one of what the Messiah have done for us and number two because of the fact that everything that we have done in our life wrong as a believers is going to be totally burned and cast into the fire. Now go back to Revelation chapter nineteen.

And I want you to read now with me in verse eight. Revelation nineteen and verse eight. Look what it says. To her, this is to this wife who are going now to be a bride at the marriage of the Lamb, to her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen. And then it says it added, clean and white For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Now, again, I want to emphasize something that is very important here. We are not saved by our own righteousness. In fact, the Apostle Paul said it in the Book of Romans that he, by nature, is a sinner. He has no righteousness of his own. And he also have taught us that the righteousness of God without the law is manifest being witnessed by the law and by the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith.

So we have received righteousness already when we have believed in Yeshua the Messiah. But here, in additional to the fact that we have already are cleansed and washed, here in this text here we find out that when we get to the ceremony itself, The righteous acts of the saints is that which is the fine linen, that it is the white and fine linen because God is now purged away every wrongdoing, every sin that we have done, and He completely set this aside. So what we learn here from these verses is that before the marriage is going to happen in heaven, the judgment seat of Christ will occur before that.

So if you can just imagine, the church will be raptured here in the beginning of the tribulation, and we are all seen in the presence of the Lord in glory, and sometime within those seven years, there will be what is known to be the judgment seat of the Messiah. It is there where the Lord will remove everything wrong that we have done. He gonna burn it totally. So when we are appearing at the marriage ceremony, we are going to be totally removed from any defilement, in anything that is wrongdoing, totally purged and clean, as it says here, white, clean, fine, linen, the righteous acts of the saints. And that is good to know, because everything that we have done here in this world, even as believers, going to ultimately burn and being set aside completely. Now, another thing that I think I wanna mention here before we're gonna move on to the next verses, that what we learn here from these verses, in verse seven and eight, we find that the marriage is going to occur in heaven.

But You will notice that the following verse, in verse 9, we're going to read about the marriage supper. And we learn from these two statements that in the order, in the biblical order that God had given in a marriage union, there are various stages in a marriage union. First of all, you have the arrangement for the bride. You know, in religious Jewish wedding today, just the same like in biblical time, if you want to have a bride for yourself, you don't go and ask the bride to marry her. Your father and your mother will already discuss this arrangement with the father and the mother of the bride-to-be.

In fact, if you remember when our father Abraham of old wanted to have a wife for his son Isaac, he didn't ask Isaac, who should I get for you? He sent the servant all the way to his family, and he told the servant to bring a bride for his son Isaac. There is an arrangement that had happened long before even the bride and the bridegroom even know each other. There is an arrangement that had been done by the parents. In fact, in some Jewish homes, the bride and the bridegroom never met each other until the day of the wedding.

They never met each other, but the wedding stuck. The marriage stuck. Why? Because it was in accordance with the will of God. Because when there is submission to God, the marriage remain and last, not like today, where things are no longer the same today in the world in which we live in. And so what happened, the arrangement for the wedding, for the marriage, is already pre-done by the parents. And it's the same thing with us, beloved brothers and sisters. You know, you and I, according to Scripture, we read in Ephesians chapter 1, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, according as He has chosen us in the Messiah before the world began.

You see, there was already an arrangement that was made in glory in heaven concerning the bride of Christ, the church. We have been chosen in the Messiah before the foundation of the world. This is stage number one. Then there is a second step in the order of the marriage union, in Jewish, biblical marriage union. It is once the arrangement had been made, Then there is coming a time where the bridegroom is coming to take the bride, to bring the bride to his father's house for the marriage.

And this is exactly what we find in Scripture when the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, said in John chapter 14, if you remember, he said to the believers there, even though the church was not yet formed, but he was in anticipation, he says, let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and I will receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. This is John chapter 14, verses 1, 2, and 3. You see, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, said that He's going to come to take His bride, His wife from here. He made His promise that He's going to come to fetch the bride.

And you know, that fetching of the church will happen at the rapture, when the time will come when He's going to snatch us out of this scene, and He's going to meet us in the air, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and we're going to meet Him in the air, and He's going to usher us into the Father's house, just before we're going to have the marriage of the Lamb. It is wonderful to see how the Jewish, Biblical Hebrew order of union of marriage is exactly the way that we see here in that book of Revelation. First of all you have the marriage of the Lamb in verse 7, and then you have later on the marriage supper of the Lamb.

So the first stage is the arrangement of the marriage, the second stage is the fetching of the bride, and the third stage is the marriage itself. And that's what we read here in verse 7. Rejoice, give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife made herself ready. And how we make ourselves ready, as I already mentioned, at the judgment seat of the Messiah, every defilement is going to be removed.

Out of each and every one that belong to that wife, to that bride of Christ, the bride of the Messiah. So beautiful. You know, when we're going to stand before the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, we are going to be suitable for His presence. We're going to be the one that He dearly saved us, forgave our sins, and paid for them when He died for us on the cross. And He want us to be beside Him, before Him, pure, in a suitable state for the marriage itself. Now, I think I should read one more verse, if you don't mind, in Ephesians chapter 5, just to drive it in a little bit further, so we can see it even clearer. You know that in Ephesians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul gave us the importance of relationships between husbands and wives, and then in chapter 6, between children and fathers and servants, and so on, the godly order in which the Lord desire things to be.

But when he talks about the husbands, and in their relationship to their wife, he says to the husbands in verse 25 of Ephesians 5, Husbands, love your wives. How? How should you love your wife? He says, even as the Messiah loved the church, the assembly, and gave himself for the assembly. And why he gave himself for the assembly, look at this verse 26 and verse 27, that he might set her apart, sanctify her, cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word.

And then he says in verse 27, that he might present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. You see, brothers and sisters, he is going to present the assembly to himself. He is going to present the ekklesia, the church, the body of Messiah to himself. And when he gonna present the church to himself, the church should be glorious church, having no spot. No wrinkle or any such thing, but that she or it should be holy and without blemish. That is the thought that we have. That's why he saved us, he forgave us, and as far as God's concerned, we are totally forgiven and dealt with. But as believers, our lives, which often time proven to be not always in a way that it should be holy and harmless, he need to remove this. And that's why we have the judgment seat of the Messiah, where everything that is done dishonoring to the Lord has to be burnt and totally set aside.

Now you notice that in Ephesians chapter 5 also, that the picture of the union between husband and wife is really a picture of the marriage of the Messiah to his own people, to the church. Look, it says in verse 32, this is a great mystery. But I speak concerning the Messiah and the Church, Christ and the Church. You see that? It's so beautiful. It's a mystery that ultimately He really gives us an illustration of the Messiah and His own people. This is amazing. So I'm back now in chapter 19, and so we said that a biblical Hebrew Jewish custom is, number one, there will be an arrangement for the marriage, number two, there will be the fetching of the bride, number three, there gonna be the marriage itself, and number four, there will be the marriage celebration or the marriage supper. And here we find out now, if you go please to Revelation chapter 19 and verse 9.

In Revelation chapter 19 and verse 9, we must distinguish between the marriage and the marriage supper. The marriage gonna happen in heaven, The marriage supper gonna be here on earth. And so we read in verse nine, And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true saying of God. Now, you see, he is now saying, John, I want you to write what you have seen, and I want you to write, Blessed are those which are called to the marriage supper. See, in verse nine, it's not marriage, only the marriage of the Lamb, but the marriage supper. The marriage have already happened, but there will be guests that are invited to come and to enjoy the marriage supper. According to most Bible teachers that I am reading or listening to, including from what my understanding of the Scripture, the marriage supper gonna be actually here on earth.

And it is gonna be here on earth where they will be joining, or those will be guests that will be invited to that marriage supper celebration. And in a Jewish marriage, a celebration takes about a whole week after the marriage union. And it's symbolically, some suggest that the whole millennial age may be the celebration of the marriage supper by the nation of Israel and by the nations of the world that will be redeemed out of this world. The marriage supper of the Lamb, and there are those that are invited guests. That are going to come to enjoy the marriage supper of the Lamb. It's going to be very interesting because when you just imagine, when you think of the celebration today, you think of the many guests who are coming, and they have received a special invitation.

And they come and they have cards in the front of the entrance of the building, and it says, here's your name, okay, here's your seat, come and enjoy the time of the celebration. And it's really symbolically here, we can see the whole Millennial Kingdom age, time, where there will be that great celebration, Israel restored, the bride, the heavenly company and the earthly company in their suitable place that God have in mind for them. And there will be those many guests from among the nations of the world who are saved individuals and nations who will participate in this marriage supper of the Lamb. John the baptizer was once asked by his disciples, they came to him, it said in John chapter 3, and look what we read in John chapter 3, Then came unto him, unto John and his disciples, and said to him, Rabbi, he that was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bear witness, behold, the same is baptizing, and all men go to him.

Look what John answered. John answered and he said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given unto him from heaven. You yourself bear witness to me, that I said I am not the Messiah, but I am one that was sent before him. Verse 26, 27, and 28, and then in verse 29 he says, He that has the bride, is the bridegroom.

He's speaking about the Messiah, that the Messiah is the bridegroom. He that has the bride is the bridegroom, but then he said about himself, but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoice greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This is my joy, therefore is fulfilled. He must increase and I must decrease. John is not part of the church. In fact, John the baptizer only introduced the Messiah at his first coming.

But he is not part of the church because the church was only born after the death of the Messiah and resurrection and ascension of the Messiah and the coming of the Holy Spirit. So John looked at himself as the friend of the bridegroom. In a sense, John is saying, I'm going to enjoy the time where I am going to be invited as a guest with all the rest of those who believe in the Messiah, in the Messianic Kingdom, to enjoy the marriage supper of the Lamb. That's what John is saying when John is speaking here concerning this. And then the Lord Himself was saying in Luke chapter 13, Yeshua the Messiah said in verse 28 and verse 29, He was speaking about the future day, and He says, There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God.

And you yourself are thrust out, and they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And this is what the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, was speaking about those that will believe in a future day and come to enjoy the kingdom of the Messiah and the marriage supper of the Lamb. Well, brothers and sisters, just to help us to understand the stages in a marriage is a very similar way in which you and I are participating in that relationship with Yeshua, the Messiah. He saved us, and the arrangement was done long before even we were born.

He have chosen us in the Messiah. The price was paid when the Messiah, Jesus, died for us on the tree. He's going to fetch us at the rapture. He's going to come to take us. This is the second stage, and we're going to be with Him in heaven. He gonna marry us in the marriage of the Lamb when we are going to be in heaven after the judgment seat of the Messiah, and we are going to enjoy the supper, the marriage supper in the millennial age. And so now I'm just gonna read the last verse here that we read, verse 10, in Revelation 19.

And look what happened with John. When he heard all this, John could not bear it. He fell at the feet of that one to worship Him. John was so overwhelmed with what these angels were telling him, so he fell at his feet, and he began to worship that angel. And look what this angel telling him. And he said unto me, See thou, do it not.

Don't worship me, this angel, this servant of God telling John, I am thy fellow servant. I am just like you. I am a servant of God. And I am just like your brethren that have testimony of Jesus, the Messiah. He says, I am not. I am not the one that you should worship. You should worship only the Messiah. I am an angel that's serving just like you are serving and your brethren are serving the Messiah. Don't you worship me. Don't you worship me. And then he gave a beautiful statement and the statement was, for the testimony of Yeshua is the spirit of prophecy.

The testimony of Yeshua is the spirit of prophecy. Brothers and sisters, listen. When we read prophecy, When we read any prophetic word that the Hebrews were called to write, to put on paper concerning the promised Messiah, every prophetic word is centered in the person of the Lord. We are not reading the Scripture in order to find out information, how many days and how long it's going to be. We are reading the Scripture, and we are reading from the Word of God, any prophetic word always must centered in the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Just like the prophets of Israel prophesied that He will come to be born of a virgin. In the fullness of time, the Messiah was born of a virgin. The prophet Micah said that the Messiah will be born in the city of Bethlehem.

Yeshua the Messiah was born in the city of Bethlehem. Then the prophet said that he will suffer, he will be rejected by men. Isaiah 53, Yeshua the Messiah was rejected by men, and ultimately have gone to the cross. All the prophets have spoken concerning the person of the Messiah. Why? Because the testimony of Yeshua is the spirit of prophecy. Every prophet, prophetic word centers in this person.

In the same way as he fulfilled the first coming, he will also fulfill the second coming. The same prophets also said that he is going to come and he gonna restore the nation of Israel to himself. He is going to come in the fullness of time, and he is going to restore the people of Israel to himself. So the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

He is the center, he is the object, he is the theme of the Word of God. From Genesis 3:15 as the seed of the woman, to Malachi 4:2 as the son of righteousness, Yeshua is the spirit of prophecy. Let us focus our mind now as we are ending 2011, and we are going to start tomorrow, 2012, in the will of the Lord. Let us make sure that we find him in the scripture, where we study the scripture, find him, focus upon the person of the Lord, get encouraged by him, and follow him, and live for him, and ask the Lord to help us to be faithful to him. And I tell you, there is only blessing is going to come our way. And as the songwriter says, I'm going to close with this, the bright eye is not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace.

Not at the crown that He is giving, but on His pierced hand. The Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's Lamb. May the Lord hasten the day that we are going to be participating in this great marriage of the Lamb. Can you say amen to that? Amen.