Latest / The Daily Word / September 14 – Preparing the Bride
Transcript
- Cory Barnes: Hello everyone, it is Pastor Jenny here, and it is September 14th. We are in Revelation chapter 19 as we continue in our life journal reading plan. And so here we are. It's exciting. It's a good day in Revelation 19. We are kicking off the chapter Songs of Victory in Heaven. And so I love this chapter. It's much better than my last chapter that I got to share with you guys. That was opening it up with the bowls of just judgment, and it was only eight verses. This one definitely gave us much more of an encouragement, much more to work with as we were looking to hear from the Lord. 21 whole verses, but I'm just gonna share a few with you today. So let's start with the fact that the first portion of this chapter. again it's titled, or at least in mine in the New Living Translation, Songs of Victory in Heaven. So right away you can put your self in the frame of mind of we're in a worship service. we're worshiping. And so we actually see really kind of four courses, four worship songs. And the opening verse says this, after this, so John, after this, I heard what sounded like a vast crowd in heaven shouting. Praise the Lord. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. His judgments are true and just. He has punished the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the murder of his servants. So I want to highlight what this first song is really talking about with God, because a lot of times when we talk about God, we're talking about his mercy and his compassion and his love. But we have to remember that the book of Revelation is really highlighting the fact that when Jesus returns, he came first to us as the lamb. He was the sacrificial lamb. But when he comes back this next time, he's returning as the lion. And as that lion, we see here that salvation and glory and power belong to God. And he is coming back to judge, judge the earth. And his judgments are true and just. He is a God of justice. And it says this that he's punished the great prostitute. So we're looking at his wrath has come down on all the the the evil and the wickedness. I was just talking with some people recently and they're like, you know, sometimes I wonder in fear, is God's anger gonna be poured out on me? Well, no, God's anger isn't gonna be poured out on us as believers, but God does have his wrath and his anger. and right here in this particular worship service, God is being worshipped for the fact that he is a true and just God and we can stand on the fact that his word is true and we know that to be true of him. It's it that last part of this particular worship song is he has avenged the murder of his servant his servants because he's a true and just God. And so they're worshiping and praising him for the fact that he is a God of justice. Now, I want to skip down to verse six. So you have a couple of other choruses in between. And we go on to verse six that says, Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd, or the roar of mighty ocean waves, or the crash of loud thunder. It said, Praise the Lord, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and let us give honor to him, for the time has come for the wedding feast of the lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear, for the fine linen represents the good deeds of God's holy people. Now this is a really beautiful passage in which if you think back to The Gospels where even Jesus Himself referenced the great feast that would come and the wedding. And so, of course, we know here that it's referring to the bride being the church. And I want to remind us of a few things that scripture is going to talk about to us as it relates to our standing and right relationship with God. So there's gonna be Two graces that we encounter when it comes to the grace of God. We have justified grace. Pastor Gill talks to us about this. It's gonna come out of I believe it's Romans 5, 2, where the scripture tells us because of Christ's sacrifice, because of what Jesus has done in his blood that was set shed. Pastor Gill words it like this: it's just as if I never sinned. And so it we are justified by Jesus, by the sacrifice that he made. So that's going to be that saving grace, that unearned, undeserved, unmerited grace and favor of Jesus. That's going to be justified grace. Also and you know another way that you may have heard it or maybe you're learning for the first time today. Imputed righteousness. In other words, that's the grace that God gives us. He puts it to into our account. Like we're accounted. It's in the legal law of the courts of heaven, it's been accounted, we have been accounted and made righteous because of what Jesus has done. So we that's being g given and highlighted for us again in this verse verse eight, where it says, She, referring to the church, has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear. And so that's where Christ. She gave us that's or he excuse me, he gave us that's that imputed righteousness, that justified grace. But so it was given to us, and it says, for the fine linen represents the good deeds of God's holy people. But I want to highlight too where there is an a second part of this where there's a cooperating grace, or also known as an imparted righteousness that comes where we have justified grace, where we've got that saving grace from God, but we have this. Cooperating grace, where the church as the church, we have a responsibility now that we've received that impartation, that imparted grace to cooperate now with the grace of God, to walk in obedience. So verse 8, she's been given the finest of pure white linen to wear. But just as any bride is, you know, that wedding dress is bought or that wedding dress is given to her, she's still got to put it on for the wedding. And so that's what we today as the church are doing, we are preparing ourselves as the body of Christ, as the church, as the bride of Christ, we're preparing ourselves for this day. So let me read this with that in mind. Let me read that again. That that choir sings, Praise the Lord, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice. Let us give honor to him. For the time has come What a joyous occasion. The time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. There's that cooperating grace. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear, for the fine linen represents the good deeds of God's holy people. So let me pray for us as we celebrate and rejoice, knowing that Jesus sits on the throne, that victory is his, that we are. waiting for his return. He is the soon coming king. And as the church, we have received by faith his grace, but we do have that responsibility to cooperate now with that grace we've received, to step into who he's called us to be as his bride. So Lord, we come before you. We thank you, Jesus, that you are our soon coming King. Lord, we thank you that you're our Savior, that you're our healer, and you're our baptizer with the Holy Spirit. Lord, I pray for anyone today that is listening, God, if they have not received Jesus as their Savior, Lord, that right now their heart and their ears, their eyes would be opened to that saving, imparting grace of the good news that Jesus has come, that Jesus is and was and always will be, and that he gave his life so that they could have life evermore. Lord, I pray for those reaching out for healing today. Would they know, Jesus, that you are our healer and that healing is ours through you? Jesus, I thank you that you didn't leave us alone, but that you promised us the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, I declare anyone who desires to receive that impartation and empowerment of the Holy Spirit would receive that right now. And finally, I thank you, Jesus, that you are our soon coming King. We wait with hopeful expectation that you will return. And we look to you, keeping our eyes on you, not looking to the left or to the right, to every news headline for what's to come, but we keep our eyes focused on you, Jesus. For as the end of this passage says It is the Jesus. It is you that fulfills all prophecy. It's the word of your testimony that fulfills the prophecy. All prophecy, all of these prophecies have pointed to you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.