Revelation 19, and I've made a mistake already. I've gotten up here without my glasses, and I'm not going to suffer through that for 30 minutes. I'm not going to make you suffer through it for 30 minutes, or 45 minutes, or an hour, or an hour and a half. Revelation 19, we're going to pick up where we've been studying in this chapter and just for help us get back into the context of what we have been studying. We'll begin again in verse 1 and read the first 10 verses of this chapter. Revelation 19 verse 1, And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his judgments. For he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever and ever, and the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. 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 a great multitude. in response to that command in verse 5, verse 6. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, 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 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, or clean and bright, 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, See thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So here again we read of this great Alleluia chorus. The martyred saints declare unto God, praise you Yahweh. Alleluia, praise Yahweh. And they do so, as we see in the text, because they say, Yahweh, You are faithful and just, and here is how we know it, because You have done just as You have said that You would do, just as You have promised, You have avenged our sufferings and our deaths. And then the 24 elders, us church, and then the seraphim in glory as well, say, Amen! Yes! Yes, true! Praise you, Yahweh. And then all the servants, to that command of verse 5, all of the servants of God in all of heaven join in in a number so great that it has a sound like roaring waters and mighty thunderings. Praise you, Yahweh. You are the reigning, omnipotent God. What a praise service in heaven. But today as we take another small step in this text, in this account, we can see clearly already that the praise does not end in verse 7 at all, but it actually continues. And as it does, another great revelation is given to us in verse 7. Look at it. Let us be glad and rejoice. This is the command. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him. Give honor to Him. That word honor there, you see it? It is the Greek word doxa. We get our word doxology from it. So, it's speaking, let us give Him glory and praise. Let us be glad and rejoice and give God glory and praise. Why? Look at the rest of verse 7. It tells us, for or because the marriage of the Lamb is come and His wife hath made herself ready. So again, this is important to note. Get our bearings straight here. We remember from our last lesson the place where all of this is taking place. John is seeing this vision where? Well, look in verse 1. And I heard a great voice of much people in heaven. Okay, so he is seeing this vision, he is looking into the heavens, or he is there, been transported in the mind and spirit to heaven itself. So John is seeing this vision in heaven itself. And here in verse 7 we find that there will be a marriage in heaven. A marriage between the Lamb. Who is the Lamb of Revelation? He is the Lamb that all lambs of the Bible typify. He is the Lamb of God. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That's who the Lamb is here. And then we see the words that accompany Him. We see the words, His wife. Who is the Lamb's wife? Or let me put it like this. Does Jesus Christ have a wife today? Yes. Yes, he does. He has a wife today. He has a betrothed bride today. And understand, understand, a betrothed wife, a betrothed bride, according to Jewish law, is so much a man's wife that the only way that they can be separated is that he would have to write a decree of divorce. He would have to divorce her. That's how much a betrothed wife, I know we get it a little mixed up with maybe engagements, it's much stronger than engagements. The only thing to break a betrothal is a divorce, okay? And in Jewish custom, the man would have to give the divorce. So Jesus Christ has a bride, he has a wife. You're all familiar with the passage, but turn over to Ephesians 5, and you can go ahead and put a marker in there because we're gonna be coming back and forth a little bit here. Ephesians 5 verse 22, this gives us a hint of this relationship and again tells us about the wife of the Lord Jesus. Ephesians 5 verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. as unto the Lord." And immediately we think that's all about our marriages, but in the latter of the chapter, verse 32, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. So, this whole message here, though it has to do with our own marriages, it is mainly speaking of Christ and the church. He is Christ, the groom, and His wife, the church. So wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. He is the head of His wife, and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, her husband, so let the wives be subject to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as or like Christ also loved His wife, the church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself, a glorious church, a glorious bride, a glorious wife, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Matter of fact, verse 29, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord, the church, even as the Lord does his own bride. So put your mark there, we're gonna be coming back to that. So we see, yes, the lamb, the Lord Jesus, he has a wife. It's not a coming wife, he has a wife today. That's very important for us to understand. We most of the time don't understand that. We most of the time don't draw those lines. But he has a wife today. The Lord Jesus Christ has a wife today. And his wife is his church. And by the way, so we don't get confused, who is the church in our text in Revelation 19? Who is the church here in heaven? Who is the church there in heaven? Is it Ella Grove Baptist Church in heaven? Is it Sister's Missionary Baptist Church? Is it Sovereign Grace Baptist Church here or there? Yes. Yes it is. The church in heaven in this text is all of the Lord's churches throughout the entirety of this present age collectively. You might say, well that sounds like universal church. No, that's not universal, but that's the closest it's ever going to get. Because that's going to be all of His churches gathered together as a local visible assembly in heaven. All the churches gathered collectively assembling there in heaven. Actually, we've already seen them represented collectively throughout the book and in this chapter as well in the 24 elders. Notice, understand this, the church is not all believers. Remember I told you the last lesson that there is a distinction of people in this text and we see it here again. We have the wife, a marriage between the Lamb and His wife, but then in verse 9, and we'll get to it in a minute, there will be others that are said to be blessed because they are called, or literally, they are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. So, these that are invited, these are not the bride. The bride is not invited to her own wedding, is she? No, we can understand that. No, these are called or invited guests. So, and they're in heaven, There's only one entry into heaven, that is believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So we can see just in this one little text here that there's a distinction between His bride and other believers. We can see that. And remember, this too is for, this is all in heaven, get this word, before. All in heaven, before the great coming of Christ, the day of the Lord that begins in verse 11. We're not going to get to that today, but it's before that in time, in the process of time. All in heaven, you have the church and believers before verse 11 when the Lord comes in His glory. As a matter of fact, as we think about this marriage, To understand exactly what is being revealed here, we need to understand a little more about the marriage customs of this culture. The marriage customs of this Bible. It's really amazing. I've studied it through the years and even in this particular study, it's amazing how the marriage customs of this culture shine their light on so much New Testament teaching. On much more than what we might imagine. It's all through Testament, there are bits and pieces that connect with the marriage customs of this culture. So I'm going to give you a rough skeleton of the marriage custom. I'm going to give you some words. I'll try to spell it for you, so you'll know if you hear about them down the line, you'll know what people are talking about. So in this culture, as we think about this, when the Bible says marriage, It is most every time referring to the customs of Jewish custom to marriage, so it's important that we understand that. It all begins in their culture and the customs. It all begins with what is called the Shiddukin. The Shiddukin, S-H-I-D-D-U-K-I-N. Shiddukin, a very important word. This is when the father arranges, when the father of the groom, when the father of the groom, I guess you could say the groom, groom and the bride, but really, when the father of the groom arranges, when the father of the groom selects, when the father of the groom elects the bride for his son. That's the way it's done. The father selects, he chooses, he elects a bride for his son. Think about this, church. Are we not chosen of the father for the son? That's exactly what Scripture reveals We are chosen of the Father for Christ said, all that the Father giveth me. So, we have been chosen of the Father for the Son, the Shadukah. That's where it begins. And then a Ketubah. K-E-T-U-B-A-H. And I'm sure this is a little bit of a redneck Greek Hebrew, but you get close to it. The Ketubah. The Ketubah is a marriage contract. It's drawn up and agreed upon in church. Here is our ketubah, it's the new covenant. It's the new covenant sealed with the promise and the blood of our groom. That's our ketubah. And then a mohar, M-O-H-A-R, a bridal payment is made. The groom makes a payment for his bride. He pays a price for his bride. And ye are not your own, where you are bought with a price. There it is. That is the mohar. The price that was given for us, church, 1 Peter 1 verse 18, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed, you were not purchased with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by the tradition from your fathers, but you were purchased You were purchased. The bridal payment for you was the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. We just read it. Ephesians 5.25. Husbands, love your wife even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Gave himself for it. That is the mohar. He is the mohar. The bridal payment. So the groom would give a bridal price for his bride, and then there would be a dowry received from the bride, which in our case, church, here's an interesting thing, we have nothing to give. We have nothing to give but one thing. One thing. Here it is. In that same verse, you are bought with a price. You are bought with a price, therefore, glorify God in your body spirit which are gods who bought you, purchased you for his son. So that's the dowry. After the contract has been drawn, the father chooses, the contract has been drawn, the financial arrangements have been made, then a mikvah, M-I-K-V-E-H, a mikvah would be performed. It is a ritual cleansing. That's what it was. The bride and the groom would undergo this ritual cleansing. 1 Corinthians 6.11, And such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And 1 Corinthians 5.25, Husbands, love your wives just like Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Why? That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word because he would present it to himself a glorious church, a glorious wife, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. The mikvah. That is what the mikvah of their culture really typifies. This ritual cleansing. It shows how Christ cleanses His bride. And then the betrothal period We are probably most, in our understanding of a betrothal period, we are probably most familiar with Mary and Joseph's betrothal period. A betrothal period, or it's called, one of the words for it is kedushim. K-I-D-V-E-U-S-H-I-M. And it literally means sanctification, a setting apart. And listen, you can apply this. It applies. It lays right on our lives as believers. It all lays right down. It is a setting apart. Here's what happens. The groom, he would return to his family's home. his homeland, and begin to prepare a place for him and his bride to live. And the bride, while her groom is gone, she would be making her wedding garments. She would be preparing, and waiting, and watching. She would be set apart, separated for her groom, and she would be watching for him. Which, guess when he's going to come? When is the groom coming? Only at the time the father approves. Remember what Christ said, only the Father knows the time of His coming? There it is. That's what He's talking about. The groom would go and prepare this place, and then the Father would come, and when it was ready, He would say, okay, it's ready, now go get your bride. And that's exactly how it works. John 14.1. It's a wonderful passage, but it's really wonderful when you realize that the language actually speaks. Jesus here, the groom, talking to his bride, they're about to enter the betrothal period. The father has selected them, the contract has been drawn, the new covenant, the mohar has been paid, or about to be They're about to enter the patrol period, the ritual cleansing and then the patrol period, and Jesus says this to his bride, let not your heart be troubled. Don't worry, you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions, and you probably know that that word literally means dwelling places, and this is why it's so important to understand. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you, his bride. I go, he's going to prepare a place for his bride. 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 you may be also. That is a groom talking to his betrothed bride. That is wedding speech, marriage speech, a caduceum. patrolma period. And then when the preparation was complete, upon the father's approval, like a thief in the night, or as a surprise, the joyous chauffeur, the trump would be sounded, the midnight cry would go forth, behold the bridegroom cometh, and the wedding party would be gathered in the streets and the groom would come. and catch away his bride and he would carry her to the place of the Nisuin. N-I-S-S-U-I-N. He would carry her to the place of the marriage itself. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage, the Nisuin, the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife hath made herself ready. This is the same imagery that Christ used in the parable concerning the virgins in Matthew 25. Turn over there, hold your spot here in Revelation, but turn over to Matthew 25. And this might help fill in some of the gaps for you. Matthew 25 verse 1, Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. So this is the wedding party, and it's interesting if you realize the context of who Christ is talking to. He's talking to a nation who has rejected him for the most part. He's not talking to his church here. Remember, he's given parables. He talked in parables because he said it is given to the first members of his church, given to you to know these parables, but to the ones that it was actually, would be held under and accountable for it, he spoke in parables. So this is really, he's talking not to his church here, not to his bride, he's talking to the wedding party. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. He was coming for his bride, and five of them were wise, five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh, go you out to meet him. And all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you, but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you neither know the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man is coming." That's the very imagery that Christ used in this parable is that of the marriage itself, spoken of here in verse 7. And then, once the bride and groom were married, the marriage would be consummated And they would return to their family and to their friends, and as much as a seven-day feast, that was probably pretty standard, a seven-day feast of festivities would begin. And you see this in verse 9, the marriage supper. 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. So that is the little rundown of the marriage customs of this culture. I really encourage you as you're studying the New Testament to keep that in the back of your mind because it's all through it. And it helps us to understand exactly what the Lord is talking about on many occasions. So we see it is revealed here that the marriage and the marriage feast, the marriage supper, all of this happens where? In heaven itself. And when? Well, all of this happens between this moment now today, this moment now today, and the events beginning in verse 11, which we'll get to next time, the coming, the glorious coming, the day of the Lord, the glorious coming of Jesus Christ. This we should know, church, there is a glorious day coming for us. A glorious day. The Father hath chosen us for His Son. The King that we've been looking at. The King of all kings. Wow, how blessed are we to be chosen of the Father. There's nothing in us that should never stir our pride up to be chosen to such an exalted state. freely by the grace of God, chosen for His Son. We are chosen of the Father for His Son. He has drawn the contract, the everlasting covenant of grace, the new covenant, the better covenant. The bridal payment has been made. And the payment is just staggering. The groom, the Lamb, gave Himself for us. He gave His own life for us. He gave His own blood for us. He gave everything for us. Everything to purchase us, to redeem us. And today, He is preparing a place for us. That's where He's at right now, preparing a place for us in His Father's land, Emmanuel's land. That's my favorite part of the Pilgrim's Progress, Emmanuel's land. And now, in just a little while, He will come and He will catch us away. And we will be united forever with Him in Heaven. Just read John 17 sometimes. There He's talking about His wife. Look at His desire. Look at His desire. The desire He has for His wife. Gather them all to yourself and we would be brought together that they may behold my glory. What a day. Songwriter was right, wasn't he? What a day that will be when my Jesus, I should say, when I look upon His face, the groom who gave His life. Before we finish here, though, there's something else I want us to see. A declaration is made here, and it is very important that we understand it. Verse 7 again. Verse 7 is just full. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, doxology, glory and praise to God, for the marriage of the Lamb is come. Here it is. And His wife hath made herself ready. The time of the marriage has come in this day, in this coming day, in this sure coming day. The time will be that the time for the marriage will be present. And the wife of the Lamb hath made herself ready. And that literally means she has adorned or she has dressed herself. She has dressed herself. She has made herself ready. She has been faithful to her betrothal agreement. She has been faithful to her dowry arrangement. She had nothing to give, but just honor and glory to her agreement. And she has been faithful to that. She was purchased with the greatest of all prices, the greatest of all bridal gifts, And she has not forgotten that. And she has not neglected Him, her Beloved. But He has had her constant attention, her constant allegiance, her constant desire, her constant love. That's really what it's saying here. His wife hath made herself ready. He left her at the beginning of the betrothal period for a period of time. And there has not been a time when she has been unfaithful to her betrothal period. That's what it's saying. She's made herself ready. She's been readying herself for His coming. for this glorious day when she would be reunited with her groom once again. She's not neglected him, not forsaken him, not forgotten him. And then notice verse 8, 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." Now here is both personal responsibility and pure sovereign grace. Here is both perseverance and preservation of the saints. His wife, the wife of the groom, the wife of the lamb, has made herself ready. Literally, what it's expressing here is she has been set apart for this day, but she has set herself apart for this day. There's emotion behind this. She has been set apart, but she has set herself apart. We should understand, church, we have a duty and we have a responsibility to prepare ourselves for this day. This is biblical prophecy. What biblical prophecy that we have looked at so far, especially in our Old Testament studies, what biblical prophecy has not been fulfilled? And when it was filled, was it not filled in perfection? then understand this is going to be fulfilled. This is biblical prophecy. And it's going to be fulfilled. In perfection, soon, in heaven, there is going to be the marriage of the Lamb. Him and His bride will be united together. The betrothal period will end, and they will come together, and they will be together forever. And we have a responsibility and a duty to prepare ourselves for this day. Really, it's more than that. We have a duty and responsibility to prepare ourselves for Him. To prepare ourselves for our Lord. To prepare ourselves for our Bridegroom. To prepare ourselves for our Beloved. And it's such an important duty. And it's such an important responsibility. The wife hath made herself ready. She's been faithful to the betrothal agreement. We've got to get a hold of that church. Because the scripture says in 1 John 3.3, it says, for everyone that hath this hope in him, and that hope is talking about the coming of Christ, it's this. Being reunited with Christ. Everyone that has that hope within him purifies himself. It's our responsibility to love our Lord and to love the coming of our Lord. And as we wait in this betrothal period to be obedient to Him and submissive to Him and love His Word and be obedient to His Word. Don't you know, you do know if you've ever dated someone or been engaged to someone, you linger on every word. And especially if there's a distance between every word that is sent to one another, you linger on every word. Well, that's the picture of all of this. What love is greater than this love? There is no greater love than this. Let me just say, there is no greater lover for this bride than this groom. Don't you think we ought to linger on every word that he sends to us, that he has sent to us? We ought to love His church. His church is His bride. We ought to be faithful to it. Faithful to our responsibility. faithful in preparing ourselves, using the tools and the gifts that He has given. You understand? That's what this is all about. That's what the gifts of the Spirit are about. It's not about doing some religious thing. It's about preparing ourselves, being in preparation, being faithful to our betrothal agreement, waiting, anticipating, longing, desiring the coming of our groom. He gives us all these tools, the earnest of the spirit. Prayer. We can talk to him. We can get closer to him than on a phone. We can talk to the groom and he'll talk back. Talk to the groom and then open this book. He'll speak to you. He'll speak to you. He's promised his presence with us. We're to use all of these tools that He's given us, encouraging one another. You know, it's a little different picture, but it's the same picture. These virgins, the bride, the wedding party, they would encourage the bride. He's coming. He'll be coming soon. He'll be coming soon. He'd be coming soon. They'd have fellowship together. They'd be arranging and getting all the stuff. You women know how it is. Get all this excited, ready, getting the wedding stuff ready. Same picture. That's what we are to do for one another, church. We're getting ready. Setting ourselves apart. Setting ourselves apart from the defiled. Setting ourselves apart from the things that He hates. setting ourselves apart for Him. In other words, in marriage language, it is incumbent upon us to be faithful to our husband. We understand that, right? To be faithful to our husband. I know it's a little weird maybe for us husbands, for us men, to think this way, but that's the reality. It's about position with Christ. It's the reason much of the time in God's Word, when He says sons, that's greater than if He said daughters. in the customs of this book. It is a higher privilege, a higher position, let's put it like that, a higher position when he calls his sons than if he were to call the women daughters. That's the reason, often times in Scripture, women, you're called a son. Don't begrudge that. That's the highest position. That's the place with most honor. And the way, that's the same thing here, this picture that he's drawing, it's not about male, female, it's about position. I heard Brother David O'Neill, a pastor in Tulsa, he said, you know, it's one thing. It's one thing to be in heaven, walk the streets of gold, see the New Jerusalem. He said, I'm not really interested in just being in heaven. The bride's going to live in the house with Christ. Think about that, it's about position. It is of most importance to us that we be faithful to our husband. We're not to be negligent. Say it like this, we're not to be whorish. We're not to be unthankful, we're not to forget him. We're not to forget that he is coming to take us to himself. What kind of In our culture, what kind of engaged bride would it be who forgot about her groom? What other things consume her where she just forgot about her groom? It wouldn't be much of a bride, it wouldn't be much of an engagement, would it? She's made herself ready. Her constant attention has been on the coming of her groom. Church, our work, our function, what we do as the Lord's Church is more than some religious something that we're supposed to do because that is just what you do when you're religious. Church, we are the betrothed bride, the wife of the Lamb of God. We have been given to Him. The covenant has been made. He gave Himself unto sin and unto death, unto our sin and our death so that we might be His, so that we might be fit for Him. washed, cleansed, without blemish. Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were justified. What kind of bride would the king of righteousness have? Righteous bride, pure bride. And that's what he's made us, brothers and sisters. That's what he's made us and now we are waiting for him. Now we are waiting for his return. Now his return consumes our life and consumes our mind, right? No, but it would. We got a glimpse of this. we would be making ourselves ready. If we really understood what this life is compared to the life to come, all the things of this life would be so small. We'd be making ourselves ready. We'd be preparing ourselves for glory and for Christ. If we really understood that soon he will come, the promise of his coming would mean something to us. He has promised to come and take us to Himself, that where He is, there we may be also. That's what it is to be a part of His church. In our day, more and more, church is nothing. It's nothing. There is this resistance against the authority of the Lord's church. against the authority that it owns over our lives, and make no mistake about it, you might resist it. What a shame. We understood the privileges that God has bestowed upon us freely by His grace by placing us in His church. We're not friends and guests. We're the bride church. We're the bride. Matter of fact, this church should not and does not request and expect anything of its members other than what God expects of us. We're his bride. What does it mean to us? to be a part of the bride, or to be the bride, let's just say it like that, to be the bride of Christ. Christ Jesus, the Lord, the King of glory, to be his wife. What does it mean to us? Why would we resist the authority that God puts over us? It is nothing more than what a groom would expect of his wife. For him to be faithful, for her to be faithful, for her to be thoughtful of him, mindful of him, obedient to him, submissive to him, not neglectful, not poorish. But yet we resist, don't we? Sometimes. And I'm gonna tell you the real reality, get right down to it. The real reality, why, it's very simple. and we resist, neglect, lose esteem, our estimation for the blessing of being the Lord's bride, we've really forgotten what this is all about, and really what it is about to be. We have forgotten what it is about to be. We have forgotten for all practical purposes that we, church, have been betrothed to the Lamb, and He is coming, and we are about to be joined to Him. Are we ready? Is that your expectation? Is that your desire? Have we made ourselves ready? Are we making ourselves ready? Are we preparing our wedding garment? That's what the betrothed bride would spend her time doing. As she made by hand that garment, the mind would be upon the coming day when her groom would come for her and take her away. Are we making ourselves ready is our mind and our lives upon him. So here in this text, we are to make ourselves ready church. And at the same time, yes, we are to make ourselves ready, but praise be unto the lamb himself. You'll notice he has given us our garments verse eight 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. It was granted unto her. The garments have been given to her. Yes, these garments are the righteousness of saints. Literally, the righteous acts of the saints is what that word means. The righteous acts of the saints. That's what these garments are. We're not going to do the Greek gymnastics It is the righteous acts of the saints. There's a whole lot of works-based nonsense that has been propagated from that phrase, but it should not be. It's very simple. These righteous acts are given to us by God's grace. They have been granted to us. What did Paul say? It's no new thing. Paul said, I am what I am by the grace of God. Back over to Ephesians 5, verse 25 again. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, for this reason, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. That's important, that He might do this. that He might set her apart, that He might cleanse her and wash her." How? With the washing of water by the Word. For this reason, that He might present it to Himself, a glorious church, a glorious bride, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So you see, Christ will present us to Himself a glorious, spotless bride. He will. He will. We have the prophecy right before us that He's going to do this. He will. We will be arrayed in perfect righteousness. But notice here, as a matter of fact, back over Ephesians 5, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. He will present us to Himself as such because He cleanses us by the washing of His Word. He sanctifies us, He cleanses us, He sets us apart by the washing of His Word. He gave Himself for us, He has, He is, He will. Marvelous, wonderful grace. But it's also His grace, what He does with His Word. cleanses us and keeps us cleansed. We have been granted this by the grace of God, by the power of His Holy Spirit. He's the only one that can make His Word effectual to our lives. We can't do that on our own. These righteous acts of the saints are not our own works. Now they come forth from this body. The work of the Holy Spirit wrought in us through the power of God's Word. That's what he's talking about here. And then one more thing back here in Revelation 19. This marriage of the Lamb to his wife, his church, and this marriage supper. Notice first, this marriage supper is prefaced with praise. Verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And then verse 9, blessed are those that are invited to come to this great marriage feast. There's the wedding, and then the marriage feast, the marriage, and then the marriage feast, and then look at verse 10. Immediately, John says, I fell at His feet to worship Him, this One that was showing me these things. And He said unto me, See thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant and thy brethren, that have the testimony of Jesus worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and that verse is the whole message unto itself. But literally, what I want us to see here is that immediately John falls to this vision of the marriage of the Lamb to his wife, and this marriage supper, he immediately falls on his face in worship. Does this not reveal to us that this is one great event in heaven? Well, let me give you a little heads up to just how great it is. John will do the exact same thing, the exact same thing in chapter 22, and it is after he sees the new heaven and the new earth. This equals it. It provokes praise and worship to God to such a degree that as John falls on his face here and tries to worship whoever this is in verse 10, we may get to that, he will do the exact same thing in chapter 22 when he sees when the new heaven and the new earth is revealed to him. This is one great event in heaven, brothers and sisters. So church, should this not prepare and condition our hearts today to understand, to help us to see what a privilege, what a gift of God this must be that he would give to us to cause us, to make us to be a part of this, that he would make us his bride to be. I mean, if those that are invited to just the supper are declared as blessed, what does this say for the bride herself? What does this say for us, Church? Well, I can tell you what it says. Wow. Wow. That's what this says. But really, what is our heart concerning this glorious blessing? Do we really esteem it as such? How valuable is the Lord's Church to you? How about your preparation? How about your readiness for your coming groom? You didn't think about it? Jesus Christ, the perfect son of God, gave himself to make us his bride. Can we really just forget that and go about our lives like he's not even coming? God forbid. May the Lord help us not to neglect him