What a joy it is to be able to open up the Word of God and to look into it, and to have the Spirit of God speak to us through it. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel? We are now in Mark chapter eight. We're going to look at the first 10 verses of Mark eight. And I've entitled my discourse to you lessons from Jesus miraculous feeding. This is a detailed account by an eyewitness, probably Peter, who discipled and informed Mark. And what a wonderful privilege it is to be able to take ourselves into these scenarios, and see what Christ has done. And what he's continuing to do today, follow along as I read, Mark, chapter eight, beginning in verse one. "In those days, when there was again, a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, 'I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with me now three days, and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from a great distance.' And His disciples answered Him, 'Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place, to satisfy these people?' And He was asking them, 'How many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven.' And He directed the people to sit down on the ground. And taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks, and broke them, and started giving them to his disciples to serve to them. And they serve them to the people. They also had a few small fish. And after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well. And they ate, and were satisfied. And they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over, of the broken pieces. About 4000 were there and He sent them away. And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples, and came to the district of Dalmanutha." There are many lessons that we can learn when we look into these historical narratives. And certainly here, as we look at this particular one, we see that Jesus has compassion for people regardless of who they are, as should we. We can also see that Jesus is able to meet all of our needs from His infinite resources. And he is aware of what those needs are, indeed, he is both omniscient, as well as omnipotent. We also see through these miracles that Jesus is indeed who he says he is, that He is God very God, that we might worship Him. Moreover, through these miracles, we can anticipate the glories of the Messianic Kingdom to come, and the eternal state that will follow in the new creation. And I trust you are learning and applying these kind of realities in your life. And if not, frankly, you're forfeiting God's blessing in your life. Especially in these dark days of unrestrained wickedness that we see all around us, the satanic blinding, the militant unbelief. May I remind you that we live in a world where the light of Christ is being extinguished by Satan and those who belong to him, although it will never ultimately be extinguished. Jesus said in John three beginning in verse 19, "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." And certainly we can all rejoice in our salvation, that God gave us eyes to see the light of the glory of Christ. The apostle Paul reminds us of what we have in our salvation in Ephesians five beginning in verse eight. There we read that, "you," speaking of believers, "were formerly darkness. But now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light." And certainly, the mockery of this god hating, immoral world is both sickening to behold, indeed, it is tiring to endure. But remember, the darker the night, the more brilliant the light. And this is what we see as we behold the infinite perfections of Christ in this particular narrative. I've given you a little outline, we're going to see three basic categories here that I think will be helpful. We're going to see a model of unconditional compassion. We're going to see a confirmation of infinite resources and a preview of coming glory. What I'd like for you to do is put yourself in the position of one of the disciples. In that day, you've been traveling with the Lord for two or three months, you've witnessed many miracles in the northern regions of Tyre and Sidon, pagan, Gentile, dark regions, and then you've traveled south on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, into the region of Decapolis on the south eastern shores, and you've seen massive crowds coming to Jesus, you've been a part of all of that. In fact, Matthew tells us in Matthew 15:29, "And large crowds came to him, bringing with them those who are lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others. And they laid them down at his feet and he healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel." But during this extended journey, you have enjoyed the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has instructed you on many things. He continues to encourage you, challenge you, exhort you, prepare you for what lies ahead. And one of the things that you've noticed is that he's been breaking down all of the racial barriers between Jew and Gentile and he has given sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, a living illustration of your need to be able to see and hear what the Lord would have for you, that you might fully embrace the reality that Jesus is who He says He is. God, very God, deserving of our breathless adoration and worship. And now Jesus is about to perform another astounding miracle, to underscore these wondrous truths. The feeding of 4000 men, plus women and children, probably a group of people, as we shall see that are about 15,000, maybe 20,000 people. Let's look closely at this climax to Jesus Gentile ministry. Verse one, "In those days when there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, 'I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with me now three days and have nothing to eat.'" Now, imagine this dear friends, you're in a desolate desert wilderness. It's hot, it's dry. There's no food. The only water that you would have is the water that you carried with you or perhaps some springs here and there. No other sources of food, and you really haven't eaten in three days. When I fast for a day, I get hangry. Right? Are you that way? You've been sleeping on the ground and Jesus, frankly, has just had a magnetic draw. You can't take your eyes off of him, you can't stop listening to him. You are overwhelmed with all that you're seeing. Spellbound. Is this, indeed, the Son of God, the Jewish Messiah? Now bear in mind, the environment in this second feeding is quite different from the first feeding that you see in Mark six, about verse 35 and following. The first feeding was on the north eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in the springtime. It would have been around Passover, so the hillsides would have been thick with green grass. In fact, Matthew tells us in Matthew 14:19, Jesus ordered them to sit down on the grass, okay? And John says, and John 6:10, Jesus said, Have the people sit down now there was much grass in the place. But now in the second feeding, several months have passed by. The summer sun has done what it typically does in an arid region, and any grass that is there is going to be weathered. The first feeding of the 5000 was in a less arid region and it was surrounded with with farms and villages. So there were some places that you could go to get food, but the second feeding of the four or five 4000, is on the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee, a desolate wilderness, no food sources, it would be much like Southern California, I remember when I lived there, they said there were two seasons in Southern California, green and brown, right? Green and brown. And it would have been brown here in the second feeding. Verse six, "and he directed the people to sit down on the ground," not on the green grass. Matthew 15:35, says the same thing. Now Jesus is fully aware of the spiritual needs as well as the physical needs of the people. In fact, he was more aware of their needs than they were. They were mesmerized by what they saw. And of course, that would have been rather dangerous, because you're going to have to eat, and some of them are going to have to travel a great distance to get to their homes and to a source of food. So Jesus calls his disciples to come over to him, and he expresses his compassionate concern. And this takes us to the first point in our little outline, a model of unconditional compassion. Verse two, "I feel compassion." The word in the original language means to have deep feelings within one's bowels. You know, as we would say it, it just gets me right in the gut. That's the type of concept that we have here to have a profound sympathy in one's innermost being. "I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with me now, three days and have nothing to eat." And he says, "If I send them away to their homes, they will fade on the way and some of them have come from a great distance." Now, as we think about this, beloved, I want you to remember that God is a God of compassion. We read about that a little bit ago in our scripture reading. In Exodus 33, beginning in verse 18. Moses says, to the Lord, "'I pray you show me your glory!' And He said, 'I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord,'" referring to YAWEH, "'I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.'" Isn't it interesting that the first attribute of Yahweh self proclamation is that he is a compassionate God? Meaning that he genuinely cares about men and women and boys and girls that he has made in His image, and he has enormous tenderness for them, for their needs physical as well as spiritual. And later when Moses ascended Mount Sinai after Israel's sin, of erecting and worshiping a golden calf, we read in Exodus 34. "Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, the Lord God, compassionate, and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth, who keeps His loving kindness for 1000s, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin, yet, will by no means leave the guilty unpunished." So indeed, our God is a compassionate God. And we're reminded of this in this particular narrative, even during the wicked reign of Jehoahaz in ancient Israel. The LORD spared Israel of ultimate military defeat that would lead them into exile. Why did he do this? Well, all because of his compassion, along with his promise to the patriarchs, to give their descendants the land. Because of his great mercy and compassion towards Israel, He spared them. We read of this in Second Kings 13, verse 23, "But the Lord was gracious to them, and had compassion on them and turned to them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from his presence until now." I find it interesting even with Israel God knew all along that his people would rebel. In fact, he ordained to allow that to happen, to manifest the glory of His attributes. He knew as well that we would rebel, and yet he has saved us by His grace, right? And even though God knew Israel would, quote, "act corruptly," Deuteronomy 4:25, and, quote, "do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, causing him to scatter the people among the nations," Deuteronomy 4:27 "and serve their gods," verse 28. Nevertheless, let me read the prophecy that he made to Moses, Deuteronomy four and verse 30. "When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them." Indeed, God will not permanently reject Israel, but will honor His covenant promises to Abraham. His compassion and faithfulness will lead ultimately to the restoration. Now, as we come back to Mark's gospel, we know that later, Jesus compassion was revealed in a most dramatic way, when he approached Jerusalem, for the what is often called the triumphal entry. Actually, it was a time of great sorrow for him. A time of Lamentations, he, his soul was in an agony over the superficiality and the self deception of the people. And he judged them for this. Remember what Luke tells us in Luke 19:41, "When he approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it." There is his compassion. And here's what he said, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes." To be sure Jesus wanted to model compassion for his disciples. He wanted them to see it and experience it firsthand. Especially his compassion toward those that had been canceled in his culture, namely those unclean Gentiles. We must ask ourselves would the Lord describe me as compassionate, truly sympathetic to those who are in need. By the way, this means a whole lot more than just writing a check to help somebody out. True compassion is going to roll up your sleeves, you're going to get your hands dirty. You're going to get in the presence of people, you may even touch them, look them in the eye and minister to them. I remember the times I've been in Siberia, we would go to small churches at times, and there would be people there that had never seen an American, and never seen a pastor. And I remember on a number of occasions, the old men would come up and take me by the hand, and begin talking to me in Russian. And fortunately, I had a translator, tears running down their eyes, and they're translating, and we're trying to interact. But they were so thankful that I would come and spend some time with them. And they would want to ask questions, they would want to say things, they would bring glory to Christ. And I remembered as well, when we would go to some of these small churches and desolate areas. They don't have rest homes. When you get old, you basically die. But the churches would care for the widows. And I remember one of the pastors telling me, "now when you go in to see the widows know this, they're all going to want you to hold their hand." And I remember going into these little shanties of places that they had, on the little church grounds, some of them just rooms off of the small little churches. And these dear ladies all wrapped up in all of their coats. And they would want me to sit down with them and take them by the hand and they would weep. And we would talk and I'm not saying that to put a feather in my hat, but I was just really convicted that that's what compassion looks like. It's a lot easier to write a check than it is to get in the presence of people that are in desperate need. And that's what we see here in this text. You know, God has shown us what this looks like. And a number of passages of Scripture may remind you of what James one verse 27 says, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." Hebrews 13, verse three, "Remember the prisoners, as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also." Do you identify with the suffering of others, who suffer physically even as you suffer in your own body? Proverbs 19:17, "one who was gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his good deed." Do you realize that compassion for the spiritually ignorant and rebellious was one of the primary qualifications of a High Priest? Because it revealed an awareness of his own sin, his own frailties, his own shortcomings, Hebrews five beginning of verse two says that "he can deal gently," the word could be translated,he can have compassion, "with the ignorant and misguided since he himself also is beset with weakness. And because of it, he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins as for the people, so also for himself." In other words, when we have an honest evaluation of our own sinfulness, our own weaknesses, that will animate our hearts to have compassion for others who are in similar conditions. We're all exhorted in Romans 12, "to rejoice with those who rejoice" and what? "Weep with those who weep." By the way, one of the greatest acts of compassion is that of evangelism, to proclaim the gospel to those who walk in spiritual darkness, who are dead in their sins. I mean the world has no answer. They're always trying to legislate something else, you know, well, if we legislate gun control, then everything will be okay. Well, no, we've got to legislate woke ideology, and then we'll have the utopia that everybody wants, and on and on it goes. It's all just a fool's paradise. I mean, God must change the heart right? Normally the gospel will do that. You show me a professing Christian that has no burden for the lost and I will show you a phony Christian. I will show you a person who has no understanding of what God has truly done for them by his saving grace. True compassion will never be ashamed of the Gospel. In fact, I'll give you a practical illustration of what you can do to show compassion. Boldly tell people the truth of who Christ is, for example, write onyour, whatever pages you use Facebook, I guess, perhaps, First Corinthians 6:19 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." And then add what he says, "such were some of you." But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God, beloved, share your testimony, unleashed the scripture on people. That is compassion. This is the kind of compassion that Jesus modeled, and many were saved. And many were persecuted, including the Lord. So Jesus felt compassion for the people vecause they had remained there with him now three days, they had nothing to eat and if he sends them away, they go a long distance to go, they might faint. Verse four, "And His disciples answered Him, 'Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?'" Now, obviously, the disciples knew that he was able to feed all of the people, he had just done that a few months before in a very similar situation. But what they question was whether or not the Lord Jesus was going to miraculously feed these unclean Gentiles? That was the issue. I mean, they weren't even allowed to eat with Gentiles, much less, have their Messiah create food, and give it to them, and then eat with them. But what Jesus was about to prove, is that ethnicity was not a qualification for divine blessing. Ethnicity has nothing to do with admittance into the kingdom of God. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, in Christ alone. Now notice verse five, it says, "And he was asking them, 'How many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven.'" The idea here is he's asking them, it's almost like how many loaves do we have? How many loaves? I want all...how many loaves do we have? He wants to make sure they all know just seven. All right. That's what he's doing. Now, of course, Jesus knew. It wasn't like he ever lacked information, alright? He's omniscient, he knew the amount. But he asked them in order to underscore the miniscule amount of food that they had, which was greatly disproportionate to the vast need of the crowd. Moreover, this would magnify the miraculous nature of the creation that was about to take place, and more importantly, put his deity on display one more time for them, and for everybody else, in case you disciples have any doubts, remember, there's just seven loaves. So we've seen a model for unconditional compassion. Secondly, now, another lesson that's about to be learned here is, is just a confirmation of infinite resources, verse six. "And he directed the people to sit down on the ground." Then it says, "and taking the seven loaves." Now, let me stop here. The term loaves here in our culture, we think of a loaf, you know, somebody's got one of those big loaves of bread that you all will give us from time to time, by the way, I love sourdough. But you know, and it's kind of hard to break those things off. That's not what this is. These are basically flat cakes, that's the idea. That's what they have, and they could easily be broken into smaller pieces for distribution. So, "and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them and started giving them to his disciples to serve to them, and they serve them to the people." Now, folks, this is staggering. Here we have instantaneous, ongoing, spontaneous creation of bread from the hand of the Creator Himself. You know, when I read these things, I'm always reminded that this is my Creator, this is my Savior. This is my Lord. This is my king, and yours as well, if you know and love Christ. I'm reminded of John one and verse three, "All things came into being through Him and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being." And here's a great example of that. Colossians, 1:16. And following, "For by Him, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him. And for Him, He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." This is my Jesus, I hope he's yours. Now, imagine being one of the disciples, you're watching all of this. Along with others that I'm sure, were asked to come and help with the distribution, I was thinking about this, the Lord probably had them be seated in groups of 50 and 100, as in the feeding of the 5000, that's recorded in Mark six and verse 40. And, of course, this was necessary for orderly distribution. And so we've got 15, maybe 20,000 people, you start doing the math, you know, maybe a couple 100, 250 groups of people, it's hard to say exactly. So you're gonna need lots of help. Imagine if you go to a group of 50, maybe 75 people, maybe 100, imagine carrying that many of these flat cakes, and you've got it, no, you're gonna have help. And you're watching all of this. By the way, imagine if it was just 12 of them. And they're going back and forth to a couple of 100 groups of people. I mean, they would have all starved by the time they got their bread, right? So all of this is going on. Now, think about this, Jesus could have just as well, miraculously, just put the food right in their lap. Whoa, there it is. Wow, you see that? You get...I mean, he could have done that. But why didn't he do that? Well, the text doesn't say, but I think it is a tenable hypothesis to assume that Jesus wanted his disciples to be involved in the miracle, that they might experience the compassion, these filthy, unclean Gentiles that you are now serving. Moreover, he wanted them to experience the sheer joy of that compassionate service, along with the power of Jesus. Don't you know they were watching his hands? It just, it just kept coming. I'm sure if I was there, I would be speechless. He's just creating that. Think of the lessons that the disciples learned with all of this. Again, one of the big lessons was to show compassion to all people regardless of who they are. But also, the lesson that they would need to depend upon in the days ahead, in times of great persecution. A lesson that would go something like this, I know that my god can supply all of my needs according to His riches and glory. I know that I can trust in him. I can trust in Him for my daily provisions. Isn't that what Jesus said in Matthew six verse 31, "Do not worry then saying, 'What will we eat? or What will we drink? Or what will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." Now back to the text, verse seven, "They also had a few small fish," and by the way, they would dry fish, this is very typical in that culture. "And after he had blessed them he ordered those are these to be served as well." So here comes the second course. I have to share with you whenever I think about these things and think man don't you know that bread and that fish was absolutely delicious. I'm sure they were saying "I have never had such good bread or such good fish." I mean, you talk about fresh right I mean, it was just created. Verse eight, "And they ate and we're satisfied. And they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces." Interesting term there that Mark uses terms "spyris" in the original language for basket. This speaks of a very large basket, you might call it a hamper. It was made out of wicker or rope and it was used for carrying provisions. In fact, this is the same term used for the basket that Paul got into when he went over the wall in Damascus in Acts 9:25. And Mark's use of this term, I might also add, is in stark contrast with the term for basket that was used in the feeding of the 5000. There the term "kophinos" was used in Mark 6:43. And this was a stiff, smaller basket, it would hold about a gallon to two and a half gallons, kind of a little wicker basket. The Roman accounts indicate that it was essentially a Jewish traveling bag, an ancient version of what we might call a daypack. Later, Jesus also made the distinction between these two baskets. When he asked his disciples in Mark eight, beginning of verse 18, "Do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5000? How many baskets?" And there uses the term coffin us the small basket, "How many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up and they said to him 12. Then he says, "When I broke the seven for the 4000, how many large baskets," there's the term from, from from a spy Iris, "how many large baskets full of broken pieces that you picked up and they said to him seven." So you see a distinction there, which, by the way, refutes along with other other issues that we could see in the text, it refutes this idea that there was just one miraculous feeding. There were really two. Now back to verse eight, "And they ate and we're satisfied." They were satisfied, you know, think about this, only Jesus can satisfy our physical and spiritual needs as his image bearers. And that's what happens here. "And they picked up seven large baskets full of what was leftover of the broken pieces." Now, obviously, the people had all they wanted to eat and the text doesn't say this, but I'm sure anything they had to stuff some extra bread and fish in, they did that for their trip home, because there's just so much of it. There's plenty of leftovers. You know, Jesus is never stingy in his blessings, right? Unlike, I don't know, we got some frozen meals the other day, sometimes I'm in a hurry. I need the microwave I needed, you know, well, the thing said something like chicken cheese, broccoli noodle, something. All right? So you heat it up. And guess what it basically is? It's noodles and you have to go on a search and destroy mission to find a little piece of chicken. And when you do its some little hard piece of something that tastes like Purina dog Chow, you know? That's not how the Lord blesses. All right. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, right. Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to think we are children of God. Paul says, "And if children, heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." And then Mark concludes the narrative. He says, verse nine, "About 4000, were there." Matthew 15, verse 38, adds further clarification, those who ate were 4000 men besides women and children, so there was probably closer to 15,000, maybe 20,000 people. Then at the end of verse nine, it says, "And he sent them away." I don't want to make too much about this. But I noticed that in the original language, the term for sent them away, can be used in two different ways. It can mean to dismiss or get rid of, or it can also mean to liberate, to set free or to pardon. And knowing Mark's use of irony here perhaps what he is alluding to is the Jewish leaders would dismiss the people get rid of them and they would leave unsatisfied. When Jesus sends them away, they've been set free. Maybe some of them were pardoned because they came to faith in Christ. But certainly physically, they went away satisfied. And so that's what we have here. And then verse 10, "And immediately he entered the boat with His disciples and came into the district of Dalmanutha." By the way, this is about a year away from the cross. Now, he's going to return according to Matthew 15:39, to the region of Magadan. This would be up near Capernaum. So he was going to get on the boat and gonna go back up to the north end of the Sea of Galilee, to Capernaum, and the town of Magdala, there in Galilee. Magdala, by the way, was the hometown of Mary Magdalene. It was also where Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood. I might even add that it's a town that's been recently uncovered by archaeologist, last time our group was in, in Israel, we were able to see that, it's an amazing place. It's very close to Tiberius and Israel. So we've seen a model of unconditional compassion and a confirmation of Christ's infinite resources. And I want to close this morning with something else that we see. And that is a preview of coming glory. It's so easy to read these passages and just kind of leave them in that context and fail to see what they can point to. Throughout Jesus ministry, we know that he performed many astounding miracles, most of which aren't even recorded miracles, that left both Jews as well as Gentiles just speechless. But his two miraculous feedings, one to predominantly Jews, the first one and the second one to predominantly Gentiles, when he points to something even greater than his deity, I believe that it points to a preview of coming glory, especially with respect to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Here I go to Revelation 19 verse nine, we read, "Blessed it are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." I want to take you for just a few minutes into Revelation to expand upon this point. In Revelation 19, we see the fullness of Christ reign coming to fruition, that time when Heaven is going to explode in heavenly praise. The end of verse six "Hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns." This is now the fullness of the messianic kingdom that has come in. The kingdom of God, remember being the central and unifying theme of Scripture, the ultimate goal of biblical history, that consummating bridge between the end of human history and the eternal kingdom and the splendors of heaven. And in verse seven of that chapter, we read how the multitude of the redeemed are exclaiming, and verse seven, "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." The metaphor of marriage and bride is used in the Old Testament to depict the covenant relationship between God and His people Israel, both past and future. It pictures the deep personal union between God and His people manifested by his elective love for them, and their responsive obligation to be faithful and pure. And likewise, the apostle Paul uses this metaphorical imagery to describe the relationship between Christ and His Church. And we see this as well here in the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19 and verse seven, and even in the description, later on of the New Jerusalem, in chapter 21, verse two which the apostle John sees, quote, "coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." So as we look at Scripture, we see that, that with ethnic Israel, with the church and even with this new Jerusalem, the marriage and bride and metaphor symbolizes the covenantal love of God for His people. The perfect union with God that characterizes the redeemed, the inestimable beauty that God bestows upon his bride and her spotless purity. Now to fully grasp the transcendent glory of this text regarding the marriage of the lamb with the bride that he has made ready, a little background is necessary. The ancient Hebrew marriage consisted essentially of three parts. The first part was the betrothal or the engagement period, called the "kiddushin." And this included a contract whereby the couple were considered legally married. The trial usually lasted about 12 months, and it was a time for them to prove their sexual purity, to prove their faithfulness, and a time for a young man to go away and prepare a place for his bride. And then the second stage was that of presentation. And what would happen is that at the close of the betrothal period, the groom would go to his bride often unannounced, and take her to his father's house and present her to family and friends. Over a period typically of one week, lots of festivities during that time. And at the end of the presentation, the bride would return home briefly. She would gather her things as well as her bridesmaids, and then the groom and his groomsmen would go to the bride's house and escort her and the bridesmaids to the ceremony. I was able to witness this particular aspect in Old Jerusalem a number of years ago when I was there, an amazing sight. And then you have the third aspect the third stage, and that is the "huppah", the ceremony itself where actual vows are exchanged. And after the ceremony, a final meal would take place followed by the physical consummation of the sacred union in the couple's private chamber. Now, this imagery, beloved, dominates our Lord's relationship with his bridal church. And I might also add that it is crucial for our understanding of the prophetic literature as his bride. We were betrothed to Christ in eternity past, by his uninfluenced, sovereign will. Paul described this in Second Corinthians 11 in verse two, "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy for I betroth you to one husband, so that to Christ, I might present you as a pure virgin." Currently, the groom to whom we are betrothed is preparing a place for his bride. Jesus said in John 14 "In my Father's house are many dwelling places if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also." And the period of betrothal is also a period of sanctification as we are being prepared by the Spirit of God for that day of presentation, that process of sanctification whereby the Spirit of God, through the power of His word, primarily is conforming us more and more into the likeness of Christ. The apostle Paul speaks of this in Ephesians five, verse 25, "Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water and the word that He might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless." Now I believe that the presentation will occur at the time of the rapture of the church, when he comes for His bride unannounced and he takes us onto himself as his pure virgin, the sanctified church. And then during the seven years of Tribulation upon the earth, the raptured church will be presented to the heavenly hosts, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and blameless. And at the end of the seven year celebration, it will be a time of the final ceremony, and the marriage supper of the Lamb. That marriage supper of the Lamb will begin with and coincide with the earthly kingdom. And ultimately, the ceremony will extend throughout the entirety of the millennial reign of Christ with the final consummation occurring in the new heavens and the new Earths, the New Earth along with the descent of the New Jerusalem. Again, Revelation 21:2, "coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband." And there in the new heavens and new earth, a glorified bride which will include all of the redeemed throughout all of redemptive history, will live in perfect union with her bridegroom in the bridal city, the New Jerusalem. And as we look at the text, in Revelation, this is the final theme of that great heavenly song. It evokes praise for the love of God for his bride, verse seven, "let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." And by God's grace, and by His power through the Spirit, He is making us ready, Verse eight says, "and it was given to her to clothe herself and find linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." And here we see that the stunning attire of purity that was worn by the angels, referred to back in Revelation 15 and verse six. Now that adorns the bride and what an amazing transformation has taken place. We know that at salvation we are clothed with the imputed righteousness of Christ. But now the righteousness is no longer imparted. But it is intrinsic to our glorified state, as his bride forever and ever. And finally, the promise of Romans 8:19 will be realized that is the "revealing of the sons of God" in verse 21, when we will be "set free from the slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." As I think about this, imagine when all of this was revealed to John on the Isle of Patmos. How exhilarating it would have been for this weary apostle to now be able to see all that is being declared and to be reminded of what he wrote in first John three and verse two, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be, but we know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." Then in closing back to Revelation 19. Finally, we see how an angelic messenger speaks to John most likely the one that was one of the angels of the seven last plagues, who initiated his role as John's guide back in Revelation 17, verse one. Verse nine says, "And he said to me, 'Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" This is so precious. These invited guests, dear friends represent the Old Testament saints, whose bodies will be resurrected at the end of the tribulation in connection with Israel's restoration, we see this for example, in Daniel 12, verses one and two. In fact, John the Baptist was a prime example of this. Remember, Jesus described him as the greatest of Old Testament believers, Matthew 11:11, yet John described himself as a quote, "friend of the bridegroom," John 3:29. The invited guests will also include the tribulation saints, who have died and have been glorified as well as those who are still alive when Christ returns. And then at the end of verse nine, Revelation 19, the angel said, "These are true words of God." And then I'm sure this is more than John can handle. He's so excited verse 10, he's caught up in the triumph and he says, "I fell at his feet to worship. And he," referring to the angel said to me, "Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus." By the way, isn't it fascinating, even the angels are the Lord's servants, and they to give witness to Jesus? The angel says "worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Said differently, he who has the spirit of prophecy, will convey Jesus testimony. Dear friend, I hope you know and you love and you serve the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and King. I hope you know that only in him will you find pardon and forgiveness of sins and eternal life. It is only found through the blood of Christ that can wash away your sins. If you've never trusted him, I pray that you will today. And I challenge all of you who do know and love Christ, to learn well the lessons that we see in this magnificent historical narrative. So that we will all share his compassion with those with whom we come in contact with regardless of who they are. And that we will trust in His infinite resources, regardless of how difficult the days might come, and that we would also anticipate his coming glory. Knowing all that he has in store for those that he has made to be His own possession, his bridal church. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for the magnificent truths of your word. May they take root in our heart and bear a magnificent harvest to the praise of your glory. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.