Praise & Wedding Preparation (19:5-10) © 2010 John Rothra Ministries

5 And a voice came from the throne, saying, Give praise to our God, all you His bond- servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great. 6 Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are true words of God.

10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Two parts of passage Believers worship in song (vv. 5-8) Preparation for marriage supper (vv. 9-10) Vv. 6-8 are response to Jesus call for believers to sing in v. 5 All believers join in, regardless of who or where they are

Volume described as loud using progressively louder images: Multitude = unnumbered crowd Many waters = refers to waves crashing on shore at Patmos Thunder = recalls Mt. Sinai and multiple references in Revelation Like heavenly song (v. 1), song begins with Hallelujah (i.e., exuberant joy)

Two parts to believers song: Praises God, gives him glory because of his sovereignty Joy over coming wedding and the brides readiness The bride is the church She is dressed by God in pure white robes Represents good works One of few times a metaphor is clearly explained

Invited guests = true believers Only believers are part of the bride of Christ Some see v. 9 as related to predestination, but that is not its focus; it shows that only believers are blessed They are blessed because they alone have victory in Christ over the Dragon, Beasts, and Babylon

The message is true because God is true True relates to Gods nature (cf. 19:2) Carries OT idea of the trustworthiness, faithfulness of God John begins to worship the angel Never worship anything created God alone is to be worshipped (cf. Exod 20:3; Deut 5:7; 6:13-15; Matt 4:10; Luke 4:8; and Rev 15:4)

The angel reminds John that prophecy (forth-telling and foretelling) is always about promoting Christ Jesus He is the King of kings He is the Messiah He is the bridegroom

Victory is oursguaranteedif we believe in Christ Jesus! We must live as victors, faithfully doing Gods work of proclaiming Christ We must remain loyal to our bridegroom (Jesus) Praise God in all we do!