Now, if you turn back in your Bibles to Revelation 19, which is on page 1247, what we're going
to think about this morning is a tale of two suppers.
But we're going to begin with what I think, anyway, is the greatest opening sentence in
fiction.
It comes from Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities.
It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.
It was the age of wisdom.
It was the age of foolishness.
It was the season of light.
It was the season of darkness.
It was the spring of hope.
It was the winter of despair.
And so it goes.
And Dickens' point as he begins that novel is that the same event, the event in question
is the French Revolution.
For some people, it was a wonderful moment.
For others, it was a terrible moment.
And central to the drama of the French Revolution and the Tale of Two Cities is the King of France.
And in particular, that cry, down with the king, pulling down the monarchy, the victory of the
republic.
That was a tale of two cities.
Well, we're thinking about a tale of two suppers.
And we use that title because we're coming to Revelation 19.
And the facts here in Revelation 19 tell us of the greatest remaining event in history.
The one great event that is still to come.
The return of King Jesus.
And the timing of this event will be experienced very differently by different groups of people.
We're going to hear that for some, this is a moment of great joy.
But for others, it will be a time of sorrow.
For some, it brings eternal salvation.
For others, it brings eternal judgment.
And central to this drama is King Jesus.
And central to the hope of the Bible, and we find it here in Revelation 19, is the promise
that in the end, goodness wins.
That evil falls and fails.
That the revolution against the true king does not work.
And that Jesus sets up his eternal kingdom.
It's Revelation 19 and the tale of two suppers.
Vital to this chapter as well is for us to recognize that again, while there's symbolic
language, this is a tale of true history.
It's one of the things, incidentally, that makes Christianity different from all the other
religions.
It's been well noted of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism.
That they're not rooted in historical facts.
You could take away any historical traces and their books and their religion would stand.
But Christianity is quite different.
It is entirely dependent on the facts of history recorded in God's Word being absolutely true.
Our hope and our faith is rooted in a real historical Jesus, who did come at a particular
point in history, the Son of God becoming one of us.
He did engage in a public ministry where he taught great things and he performed great miracles.
That there was a point in history where he really did die and then three days later he rose again.
And there are sources from those who are friendly to Christianity, sources who are opposed to
Christianity, that document that Jesus was a real historical figure and these events really happen.
And that's important as we understand how significant history is to Christianity to recognize what
Revelation 19 is telling us.
That the real Jesus will really return one day in glory.
That history is not in an endless repeat.
That we're not all trapped on a hamster wheel where history is going nowhere.
Jesus will come back.
We're being told here is the goal, here is the destination of history.
It's the eternal kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that takes us to our details, to the tale of two suppers and also the royal portrait of
Jesus that we get in this chapter.
And I hope as well that as we think about these details we get a sense of the urgency,
the call that there is within this chapter to seriously consider, to respond, to live in
light of the fact that Jesus is coming back.
Okay, so I said there was two suppers.
The first supper in the verse 10 verses is called the wedding supper of the Lamb.
When we listen to Revelation 19 being read, how did we hear it when we heard all those
hallelujahs?
And maybe we thought of Handel's hallelujah chorus.
Maybe it created that sense of here is a football stadium full of supporters celebrating some great
victory.
There's that sense of here is a group who are celebrating something wonderful.
Did you notice who is included in this shout and song of hallelujah?
Look at verse 1.
We hear it first as the roar of a great multitude in heaven.
So the voices in heaven are singing praise to God.
And then in verse 4, the attention shifts to those who are immediately around the throne
worshiping God.
And they too are singing hallelujah.
And then it shifts again to verse 6.
And we hear this great roar that comes from the earth.
Now it's all the people of God, all the Christians on the earth, singing with joy, praise to God.
There's a great song that leads to a great supper.
So to just think about the theme of these songs, there's three songs in these verses.
There's two different themes, but they're really two sides of the same coin.
One theme that leads to joy for God's people is that God saves His people from their enemies.
See how the song begins in verse 1?
Hallelujah.
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.
When God steps in decisively, when God acts to save, when God shows His power and glory
to save a people for Himself, there's joy.
Verse 2, there's joy because the judgments of God are true and they are just.
It is good news that our God loves justice even more than we do.
That the judge of all the earth will and must do what is right.
There is joy in knowing that there is a decisive judgment.
He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth.
He has avenged on her the blood of His servants.
There is decisive judgment on those forces that look to deceive people to turn them away from Jesus the King.
There is a decisive judgment on corruption, immorality, rejection of the rule of God.
And there is a judgment on those who persecute God's people.
Verse 3, reminding us about the fall of Babylon in chapter 18.
The song goes, hallelujah.
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.
There is that somber reminder of eternal punishment in this picture of eternal smoke.
So the question becomes, why does this theme lead to the hallelujah chorus?
Why does this theme provoke a sense of joy in the hearts of God's people and in heaven?
Well, God's people are invited to praise.
Because when Jesus returns in final judgment,
that's when heaven and earth, the people of God can say,
it is now over.
The evil empire that set up its rule against God
has been replaced by an eternal kingdom of love that lasts forever.
That those who attack and destroy and look to defeat the people of God,
they are now decisively dealt with.
So peace can be established.
Do we see why that's good news for the people of God?
I think it can be a tendency for us as modern people to imagine that judgment is unworthy of God.
We could probably, if we're honest, live quite happily with a God who would overlook sin
and sweep sin under the carpet and accept everybody.
But it's not the character of God who's given this revelation and it's not the character of Jesus.
The message of this vision is that if there is a God who fails to judge,
if there is a God who fails to act with righteousness,
then He's unworthy to be the true God.
That for God to be holy, He must act against everything that is unholy.
And so Revelation reminds us that the righteous rule of God is shown in salvation,
but it's also shown in judgment.
And that reality has always meant good news for a suffering, persecuted people of God.
So that's one theme of the song, that God saves His people from their enemies.
The second theme, and this takes us to the wedding supper theme,
is that God saves His people for relationship.
And it's there in verses 6 to 10.
And this is where we pick up this wedding supper theme.
The greatest hallelujah of all is there in verse 6 and 7.
And so within these verses, there is this great sense of joy because
there is the prospect that one day Jesus will reign forever,
that the glory of God will fill the earth.
And for the people of God, there is joy because we get to be with Him forever one day
in that world made new.
We are invited to that feast of joy that never ends.
And so it's fitting that it's pictured as wedding joy.
The wedding of the Lamb has come.
Because weddings are a picture of shared celebration.
Weddings are a picture of a uniting of a bride and a groom.
And here we are being reminded this is God's goal,
for redemption history.
God made people so that we might live with Him and He with us.
And God has so worked salvation that in the end,
God will be with His people forever.
And that's a joyful thing.
In the Old Testament, there was joy.
Isaiah 26, there's that imagery of God setting up a feast on His holy mountain.
And the people of God invited, and tears are wiped away.
And in place, there's joy.
Think about all the parables of Jesus.
About feasting.
And about banquets.
It's an invitation to joy.
And then we have it picked up again here.
And we are being reminded that Jesus,
Jesus Himself, is the joy of His people's heart.
And there is a joy coming when our faith will become sight.
There's wedding joy.
He also speaks in verse 8 about the wedding clothes.
Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.
This bright, clean, white, pure clothing.
It speaks of purity.
But it also speaks, if you remember the idea of the Roman triumph,
white also speaks of victory.
So when an emperor or a great general won a decisive battle,
they would get a Roman triumph.
They could parade through the streets and everybody would wear white.
Notice that these wedding clothes are clothes that are given to the bride to wear.
And this reminds us something really important about the gospel.
That it is Jesus' blood that washes us clean.
God doesn't say to us by ourselves,
you must be pure.
Because we cannot be pure enough for God.
Rather, He sends Jesus to live a pure life
and then to die and for His blood to cover and to cleanse and to make us pure.
And likewise, the victory that we celebrate
is the victory that Jesus won at the cross
and that He shares with His people.
And so the joy comes because of the work of Jesus.
And then there's the wedding invitation.
The angel said to me, write this,
blessed are those who are invited
to the wedding supper of the Lamb.
And Jesus often told stories this way, didn't He?
Story of a wealthy man or a king
preparing a feast.
There's a moment of celebration.
The preparations are made.
The wedding is about to happen.
And the invitation goes out.
Come in.
Come and enjoy.
It's a time for feasting and celebration.
And here as we get towards the end of the Bible,
that invitation is still there.
There is still this note of opportunity.
The invitation to believe the good news.
That God has loved us so much
that He sent His Son Jesus into this world
to die in our place for our sins.
To believe that what Jesus did in the cross
is sufficient to free us from sin and from death.
And we have this good news delivered by an angel
that to accept the invitation to believe in Jesus
is to enjoy what the Bible calls blessing.
Life in right relationship with God.
Life from God and with God.
And so here I think is a reminder for us
that we cannot and we will never understand Christianity properly
without understanding that it is all about Jesus.
That we have, by God's grace, been saved by Him
and we are saved for life with Him.
That at the center of the story of redemption
is the Lord Jesus.
And the implication then
is that your heart and mine
must be captured by
His beauty, His goodness,
His love and His truth.
To understand that when Jesus invites us to Himself,
it's not a call to dull duty.
It's a call to the delight of our hearts.
This isn't an invitation
to a weekend overtime
and a life of drudgery
of following Jesus.
It's an invitation to a wedding.
It's an invitation to joy.
So that's the first supper,
the wedding supper of the Lamb.
And it speaks to us of joy.
But there's a second supper
called the Great Supper of God
that we meet towards the end of the chapter.
If chapter 19 of Revelation were an art gallery,
so you had hanging up on this side of the wall
the wedding supper of the Lamb,
if we pan over to this side,
there's another portrait of another feast.
But the mood is very much different,
much darker,
the color much darker,
creating a very different impression on us
as we look at it.
Gone is the joy of the wedding supper.
Now there is a sense of horror and despair
of the Great Supper of God.
And Jesus places that here in His Word
so that you and I would pay attention.
Again, so that we wouldn't be unprepared.
We wouldn't be taken by surprise.
And also that we wouldn't miss out on
the lasting joy that Jesus stores up
for His people.
So let's look for a moment
at the Great Supper of God.
There in verse 17,
I saw an angel standing in the sun
who cried in a loud voice
to all the birds flying in midair.
It's the birds that are invited.
Come, gather together for the Great Supper of God
so that you may eat the flesh of kings,
generals and the mighty,
of horses and their riders,
and the flesh of all people,
free and slave, great and small.
It's a very different scene.
This is the portrait of a battlefield
the day after the battle,
of bodies, of corpses lying on the battlefield,
of the vultures, of the eagles
swooping down to feast on those bodies.
It's a very graphic lesson,
a great reminder that unlike the French revolution
against the king,
which was successful,
at least for a while,
rebellion against God's king,
Jesus, the true king,
will fail,
will be punished.
And it speaks to us of the horror
of the final judgment that is real.
The imagery,
the end of verse 20,
of the beast,
and the prophet who spoke for the beast
being thrown alive into the fiery lake
of burning sulfur,
reminds us of real,
conscious,
eternal punishment
for those who say no
to the rule of Jesus.
The great supper of God
is there to warn us
that Jesus delivers final judgment
on his enemies.
The picture of armies coming together
and of the absolute destruction
of the forces of evil
reminds us,
as we've said so often,
that the battle between good and evil
is not a battle between equals.
The goodness will always prevail,
that God is on the throne,
that that victory that began
at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
and through his resurrection
will be completed at his return.
When Jesus returns,
that is the point
where there will be final
and eternal judgment
and final and eternal salvation.
So that Revelation 19
becomes an invitation
to serious reflection.
Perhaps there is no more serious question
to reflect on.
You know,
before we choose to write Jesus off
as insignificant,
before we make him incidental
to our lives,
to recognize
through these two suppers
that in the end
there are only two kinds of people.
There are those who bow the knee
to worship Jesus
and there are those
who reject Jesus.
And that our response
determines
which supper
we go to.
Is it one that will be
for us eternal joy?
Or is it one that will be
for us eternal judgment?
And to recognize
that the figure
who's at the center
is the king,
King Jesus.
And that we must trust him
if we are to receive joy
and if we reject him
we will certainly receive judgment.
And so let's look together
to see
something
of our king.
Let's look at
the royal portrait
that we're given
in verses 11 to 16.
But again,
just to stop
for a moment,
maybe you've seen
this portrait
last year.
The art world
raised its eyebrows
because King Charles,
our king,
had his first
royal portrait
commissioned.
It was unveiled
in May
last year.
There was this guy
Jonathan Yeoh.
You can see the artist
up there.
Painted in incredibly
vibrant colors.
That's his style.
He used red
because Charles often
likes to dress
like the Welsh guards.
You can maybe see
a butterfly
on his shoulder
to speak to us
a little bit
about his environmental
ecological concerns.
The art world,
I'm not an art person
at all,
but the art world
I read about it
was very divided
in its reaction
to this portrait.
But here's the thing.
Like,
whatever we think
of the portrait
and whatever the art
critics think
of the portrait,
it's important
to know what
King Charles
thought about it
because he had
it commissioned
and he was pleased
with it
and he wanted it
to be shown
to the world.
He felt that
this was an image
that he wanted
to convey.
Now take that idea
and apply it
to Revelation 19.
So we've used
the art gallery image.
So we've got
these two suppers.
Well,
hanging between
the two suppers
in Revelation 19,
connecting them together,
is another royal portrait.
And it's important
for us to recognize
that Jesus
has commissioned
this portrait.
That what we have
in verses 11 to 16
are truths about Jesus
that he wants us to see.
And I expect
as we reflect again
on the values
that we find there,
that there will be
something of a mixed
response to them,
perhaps in our own hearts.
We might find aspects
that surprise us,
aspects that shock us,
because it's the portrait
of conquering King Jesus
who comes to destroy
his enemies
and to establish
his eternal kingdom.
Let's look at
the details together
to appreciate
this portrait.
Just look at
the names of Jesus
that we find here.
Verse 11,
we find the first one.
The rider is called
faithful and true.
What are we being told here?
Jesus is faithful and true
to his calling
as God's appointed king.
He is faithful and true
to God's plan of salvation.
He is faithful and true
to his word
and to his promises.
The second name for Jesus
we find in verse 13.
His name is
the word of God.
Maybe that makes us
think of John's gospel.
In the beginning
was the word
and the word was with God
and the word was God.
And when Jesus is described
as the word of God,
it brings us to ideas
of creative power,
and authority.
And here is the one
who reveals God's glory.
And God's word
is also how he judges
and saves.
And then in verse 16,
we meet the rider
with the name written
on his robe
and on his thigh,
King of kings
and Lord of lords.
What a wonderful statement.
It's no Caesar,
no emperor,
no president
that rules and reigns.
reigns is Jesus.
There is no king
like Jesus.
There is no lord
like Jesus.
He is the greatest
of all.
And that's important
in this portrait
because as such,
he does have
the power and authority
to bring history
to God's intended purpose.
He does have
the power and authority
to set up
God's eternal kingdom,
and he will.
Think about the details
in the appearance
of Jesus.
Verse 12,
his eyes
are like blazing fire.
Jesus has a penetrating gaze.
Jesus is able
to burn through our masks
and burn through our defenses.
He is able to see
and to judge.
Verse 12,
symbolic language again,
remember,
on his head
are many crowns.
Here is a picture way
of saying
here is the ultimate king.
There are no others
who can claim
his throne.
He is absolute authority
and glory.
And then in verse 13,
there's this detail.
He is dressed
in a robe
dipped in blood.
tied up to the fact
in verse 15,
he treads
the winepress
of the fury
of the wrath
of God Almighty.
Here is a picture
of Jesus,
the warrior king,
fresh from battle,
fresh from victory
over his enemies.
Here is a force
such that no one
can stand against him.
No Pharaoh,
no Caesar,
no king.
But notice,
this isn't just
about the great.
Verse 18,
remember who's there,
the kings,
the generals,
the mighty,
all people,
free and slave,
great and small.
Judgment comes
on all
who oppose
Jesus,
the king.
And it reminds us
again,
in the dramatic
appearance of Jesus,
that for God's people
to live with him
in a kingdom of peace
that lasts forever,
to enjoy friendship
and love
and fellowship
that will never be broken,
there must be
a decisive defeat
of those enemies
that oppose his rule.
And we have the promise
that in the end
that defeat will come.
The final aspect
of the royal portrait
are his weapons of war.
Look at the weapons
of Jesus.
First of all,
verse 14,
as he rides out,
the armies of heaven
were following him.
Although it's really interesting,
it's a very dramatic picture,
we get this dramatic picture
of two armies
coming into battle,
but actually those
armies of heaven,
in the end,
they really don't have
to do anything
because the battle
belongs to the Lord.
It's his word
that speaks
and brings judgment
and brings salvation.
That connects
to the sword
that Jesus has.
And again,
notice the symbolism
in verse 15,
where is the sword?
Coming out of his mouth
is a sharp sword
with which to strike down
the nations.
Again,
it takes us
to the word of Jesus
that judges
and that saves.
Here is that reminder
that eternal destiny
depends on our response
to the word
of the gospel.
How do we respond
to the good news
that God has sent
his son Jesus
to live a life
of perfect obedience
that we should have
but that we failed to?
And then to die
on a cross in our place,
bearing our sin,
bearing the punishment
so that we could be forgiven,
so that we could receive
the spirit,
so that we could enjoy
life with him
if we trust in him.
And then there's
the iron scepter
in his hands.
Verse 15,
he will rule them
with an iron scepter.
It's the club
of the shepherd king.
He fights off predators.
He keeps his people safe.
In the end,
all those who oppose his will
will be crushed.
So Revelation 19
takes us to this gallery,
showing us scenes
of future history.
And standing right
in the middle
is this royal portrait
of King Jesus.
And he wants us
to know these details.
There's aspects
of Jesus' life
that I imagine
we're all familiar with.
We'll not least
something of
the mercy of Jesus
and the miracles of Jesus
and the compassion of Jesus
and the cross of Jesus.
But do we understand
that we need
this picture of Jesus too?
The warrior Jesus
who fights against
his enemies
and for his people.
Because again,
without the total defeat
of sin and evil
and death and darkness,
we can never be saved.
We would have
no eternal hope.
There would be no
hallelujah chorus,
but because he wins,
there's joy,
there is hallelujah.
We need this Jesus
conquering his enemies
and ours by way
of the cross,
who can promise
future resurrection,
life and joy and glory
because of his resurrection
and his return.
We need him
as the king of power
and glory
who invites us
to find our joy
with him and in him.
We need to receive
his invitation
to receive eternal life,
to be ready
for his return
so that that day
would be for us
the best of times,
would be the spring
of hope,
would be the dawning
of unbreakable joy.
Let's pray.
Amen.