Revelation, Chapter Nineteen

We already have noticed some verses from Revelation, Chapter Nineteen. Let us look a bit more closely at this chapter. It begins with exultant praise because of the destruction of Babylon, that is, of manmade, institutional Christianity. The true Bride of the Lamb has been forced out of manmade religion and now is ready to be with her Lord. The voice of the Bridegroom and the Bride will never again be heard in institutionalized religion.

. . . and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: . . . . (Revelation 18:23)

The head of man never again shall be on the Body of Christ. The Day of the Lord has come. The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

Now that the Bride has been removed completely from babylonish religion she is ready to be married to the Lamb.

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. (Revelation 19:7)

There are two passages of Scripture that announce the marriage of the Lamb. The passage immediately above, and the following passage.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)

These two events are separated by the thousand-year Kingdom Age.

It is the writer's point of view that the first event, Revelation 19:7, concerns a firstfruits of the Church, a holy, warlike remnant that will rule with the Lord Jesus throughout the Kingdom Age. The firstfruits makes herself ready.

In the second event, the Bride is presented as the glorious holy city, the new Jerusalem. In this case the Bride is made ready by others. We think the purpose of the thousand-year Kingdom Age is to perfect the entire Church so it will be prepared to descend from Heaven as the new Jerusalem, the eternal government of the earth.

The entire Church will not be ready at the beginning of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, that is, at the time of the Lord's coming. That the entire Church is not in the present hour a bride without blemish is obvious as we look about us. But there is a holy remnant that is overcoming Satan in the present hour, through the grace of the Lord Jesus, and these experienced disciples will be ready to rule with the Lord during the Kingdom Age.

The following verse is critically important:

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness [righteous acts] of saints. (Revelation 19:8)

Unfortunately the Authorized Version says "the righteousness of saints." The proper translation is "the righteous deeds of the saints." This distinction is of the greatest importance. If the Bride were to be clothed in imputed (ascribed) righteousness, then every believer would be ready to rule with the Lord.

But the firstfruits of the Bride is not clothed in imputed righteousness but in the fine linen of her righteous behavior, a righteous behavior produced as she has followed the Lord Jesus through the Divine program of deliverance from the love of the world, from the lusts of the flesh, and from self-will.

More than that, the militant righteousness of Christ has been formed in her. She is "terrible as an army with banners." It hardly is true that the Christian churches of today are terrible in righteous behavior, a terror to Satan and his followers. But there is a holy, warlike remnant in the present hour that soon will be a terror to the lords of darkness.

To be continued.