FRIDAY
As we saw yesterday, there is rejoicing in heaven at the judgment of Babylon. Whereas Babylon is made a wasteland with no singing or work or light or celebration, heaven is full of these.
Revelation 19:6-10
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
6 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. 7 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; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
The joy in heaven is described as a wedding celebration. Wedding celebrations in the ancient world often lasted for days. They were joyous occasions as they are today. Jesus often used weddings in his parables and attended them, as the wedding at Cana reveals. There, Jesus did his first miracle of turning water to wine (see John 2).
The people of God are described as the bride of Christ. The Old Testament often employs this image of Israel being married to God (Isa. 49:18; 54:5; 61:10; 62:4–5; Jer. 2:2, 32; 3:1; Ezek. 16:7–14; Hosea 1:2; 2:2–20; Mal. 2:11). This is the best illustration of the covenant relationship that the people of God share with God. The church is also described as the bride of Christ (Rev. 21:9; Eph. 5:22-24; 2 Cor. 11:2). This image implies fidelity on the part of the church. Like a bride is to be faithful to her husband, so the church must remain faithful to Christ and not worship any other gods. Remember, the metaphor of sexual immorality is often describing idolatry.
The marriage ceremony also implies that the full unity is established. The unity that the church experiences now with Christ will be fully realized in the new creation.
The church makes herself ready by donning the righteousness of Christ and walking in his commands.
We also see a contrast between Rome being depicted as a prostitute and the church being depicted as the bride of Christ. Rome, although she looks splendid and seems to have the power now, is full of evil and corruption. The church, although now she looks small and frail, will be glorified in the new creation, at the judgment of God, as the bride of Christ.
The term blessed is best understood as referring to the good life. Those who have been invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb (the church) are truly living the blessed life even if they aren’t experiencing the power, luxury and wealth of the merchants and the kings now. They will reign and celebrate in eternity in the new creation.
John falls to worship the angel who makes this declaration. The angel quickly rebukes him and tells to worship only God. This scene makes it clear that Jesus thinks of himself as God. After he rises from the dead and Thomas worships him, Jesus doesn’t rebuke him as this angel does here (John 20:28). All throughout the book, praise and worship is given to the Lamb with no hesitation.
Note the description of believers in verse 10—they are those who hold to the testimony of Jesus. They are the ones who didn’t take the mark of the beast and worship Caesar. They are those who didn’t cave to the pressures of wealth and luxury. They are those who remained faithful witnesses to the truth of Jesus and the way of Jesus in the midst of Babylon. To do this, John adds, is the spirit of prophecy. Christians who do this are prophetic witnesses for Jesus within Babylon. This, again, is the driving application of this book.
Additional Content
Within the Prophetic Witness framework, the church cares deeply about justice but is suspicious about teaming up with Babylon to achieve it. If the church has the opportunity to reform the state, work with the state to pursue good, or establish justice in society, it must do so as the church—as imitators of the crucified Lamb, whose power is derived from sacrifice and self-giving love. The exiled church doesn’t battle the beast by using beast-like means of coercion and worldly power.
The Prophetic Witness view isn’t moderate or centrist, because it doesn’t situate its political identity somewhere on the spectrum of Babylon’s political options.
The Prophetic Witness view resists the spectrum of options created by Babylon—left, right, center. It believes that the church can be concerned about evils that exist on one side of the political spectrum without thinking that the other side is particularly faithful in confronting those evils. Christians are invited to see the world through a different lens. We view it through the cross, where sacrifice is power, humility is honor, and loving your enemies conquers dragons.
We can have opinions on Babylon’s cultural issues: abortion, war, immigration, sexuality, health care, and so on. But we are called to view these issues through the lens of the cross rather than through Babylon’s tribalistic lenses. Communities of the cross should absolutely care about justice and confront oppression. It’s part of our identity. Yet we don’t just follow Babylon’s script of what this caring must look like. We pursue justice and righteousness by being the community of the Lamb—by embodying the kind of polis most citizens are trying to vote into existence.
Sprinkle, Preston M.. Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire (p. 135). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.
Additional Content
Worship to this banger from 2012
Reflection
Reflect on your ability to be a prophetic witness against the Babylon-like aspects of our country. Aligning too closely with one party or candidate may diminish our ability to prophetically confront the evils within that party or candidate. Do you see the world primarily through the lens of the cross and the kingdom of God?
Reflect on your approach to confronting evil. Do you seek to do so primarily as the church, followers of the crucified Lamb, or do you seek to do so primarily through the means of Babylon—power through coercion, intimidation or violence? (Remember, we talked about how we should use the justice system and even military power as the God-ordained institution to carry the sword to confront evil. But what is your primary lens? Again, is it the cross or something else?)