photo: CCO public domain

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude,
like the roar of many waters and
like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Revelation 19:6-8

This is a passage of hope as we think of our future at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

We studied Hosea this past week. If you haven’t read it, it is the story of the nation of Israel. By then, it was the northern Kingdom that had been judged by GOD using the nation of Assyria. Assyria was an evil, vicious nation that loved to torture their enemies. They left what was left of the conquered nation in their land and intermarried with them. That is what happened to Israel’s northern 10 tribes. They lived in the area that was called Samaria during Jesus’ day. The Samaritans were Jewish half-breeds and looked down on to such a degree that the Jewish people would walk around that area to get where they needed to go to avoid contact with the Samaritans.

An amazing picture of prostitutes becoming brides…redeemed and pure for their Bridegroom!

What an amazing picture of the people who had been called GOD’s people. But they had continuously rebelled against GOD and His commands to them…over and over! Now, they could only be likened to prostitutes because they wh*red after other gods. They had gone against His first command…you shall have no other gods before me.

They followed after every god, and there were many to choose from among the heathen gods around them. So GOD was allowing the nations around them to start raining judgement on Israel.

In a sense, we can look on our salvation as being saved from slavery to prostitution, in worship to other gods rather than the one true GOD! Imagine how someone who was once a prostitute would feel when she was accepted and loved by a good man who wanted to marry her and be committed to her for life!

That is what happens when Christ redeems us for Himself. The fulness of that commitment happens here in this passage. Of course, we don’t want to see ourselves as prostitutes. But when we pursue and worship anything or anyone other than Jesus, that is what we are.

Death brought life…forgiveness, freedom and redemption!

The beauty of it is that Christ died in order that we could be forgiven and freed from our slaveries. The joy of that wedding banquet will be bliss!

It will truly be a glorious reunion around that banquet table, won’t it? We will all be there purely on His merit, not our own because we have been redeemed by His precious blood.

As far as the eye can see, there will be people from every tribe and nation singing together and praising Him. It is unimaginable how glorious and delightful that day will be…and it will not be limited by time!

Even so, come Lord Jesus!