The Tale of Two Suppers
AI Transcript
Good morning, Redemption Parker. Happy New Year. Good to see you guys. Why don't you begin making your way to Revelation 19. Revelation chapter 19 is where we'll be this morning.
I once lived in a friend's basement. He was also my pastor. And this friend of mine, well, we spoke in two different languages. I'm from Southern California. So when I get excited, I say things like, sick, dope, or gnarly. My buddy's from Wisconsin, so he just grew up on cheese and proper grammar. Every now and then, he'd invite me to dinner.
But he'd say it like this, Hey Rick, feel free to join us for supper. I'd be like, sup bro. No Rick, supper. You want to do supper with us? The term still hasn't caught on in the Eisenberg household, but maybe it should. I've looked up the origin story. I think my friend's on to something. Supper, or the old French word super, meant the evening meal.
The meal taken after a long day's work. The meal in which you feast. Well, eventually medieval Europeans ate their main meal in the middle of the day, which they called dinner. Long story short, what I call dinner is actually supper. My friend's right, though, like most people from California, I'm probably not going to change my terminology. But then you come to the Bible and the word we have for the evening feast.
Well, supper. The Greek word we see for things like the Lord's Supper or Marriage Supper of the Lamb or the Supper of God is most often translated that way because it's speaking of this evening feast. The banquet, a formal evening meal. This is supper. And like
Most of you guys know, suppers are a huge part of life, right? Like anything worth celebrating must culminate with a meal, a feast, a banquet, a party with food. Think weddings of any context or religious festivals of all sorts, from the Passover Seder to the Christian Eucharist. Think family milestones like birthdays, anniversaries, family reunions, and...
funerals for sure holidays Thanksgiving Christmas night Easter New Year's Day the fourth of Fourth of July there's also meals for rites of passages like baptisms graduations retirement parties there's also meals for victory celebrations like receptions for a political victory or a team banquet for a sport championship we can go
on and on and on. And this is not particular to our context. This is is crossed. This is cross-cultural. A good supper or a feast is part of life and it can be the the culmination of joy, the the confirmation of a relationship, the the the celebration of a covenant, the reward after a struggle.
gathering of a community could be the symbol of abundance, life, or belonging. Or if you've ever had supper at Pastor Mark's house, a time to enjoy God by letting your taste buds rejoice. We know anything worth celebrating includes a feast. And then we come to Revelation 19, where we're going to see that every single person
Each one of us has a destiny and that destiny is a supper. The question that will hit us this morning is this, which supper will you be attending? Again, all humanity, every single person to walk this earth is headed toward a supper, a feast. One will be filled with happiness, joy, elation.
pure celebration, the other will be filled with grief, agony, pain, regret, destruction. My hope this morning is as we unpack Revelation 19 and the tale of two suppers that we would begin our New Year Redemption Parker yearning for one of these meals. And that is we hunger for this
Supper we would find ourselves ready eager and longing for the second coming of Christ That's where we're headed this morning the the second coming of Christ and the tale of two suppers So if you're not already there revelation 19 is where we will begin. I'll start here in verse 1
After this, I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, Hallelujah. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God for his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. Once more they cried out, Hallelujah.
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne saying, Amen, hallelujah. And from the throne came a voice saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him small and great.
But we've taken a little break from Revelation for our time in Advent and the holidays. But quickly, we are reminded where we left off. The prostitute or Babylon, as we've been warned about over the last two chapters. Babylon, this anti-God city. In Revelation, he's speaking about Rome. But like we've seen, this is anywhere Rome-like. Yes, this is...
even America. At one point Babylon seduces many to follow her ways and those who do not, those who followed the lamb instead because they were citizens of the city of God, well, she killed. Revelation 17 told us she was drunk on the blood of the martyrs. Well now her fate is sealed. Finally she
is judged. Her empire has come to an end. Remember, God is about to usher in new creation. He has to do some decreation. All evil must go. And at this, heaven is excited. Look at the celebration John hears. Verse 1, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven. And what are they doing?
Worshiping God salvation and glory and power belong to none other than God himself his judgments are true and Just what a what a turn of events It wasn't long before Jesus tells us to Bless those who who persecute us and to turn the other cheek
Paul in Romans says respond to evil with good. Do not repay. Leave that to God. Vengeance is not ours but the Lord's. And that's what's happening here. End of verse two. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants. Verse three. The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. God will have the last say friends.
And in this worship night, going off in heaven as Babylon is judged, we get the word, hallelujah. Now I know we've put this word into many of our worship songs, but did you know Revelation 19 is the only place this word comes up in all of the New Testament? Four times here in this chapter. Now, hallelujah is not an original Greek word.
It's a Hebrew word. And so what we have here in chapter 19 and the New Testament, including Revelation, is written in Greek. But what John does here in Greek is simply reproduce this Hebrew word. Hallelujah. Hallelujah literally means praise or even you all praise. Yah, just a shortened version of
Yahweh, God's covenant name that out of reverence for him is often not used in full. So hallelujah, praise Yah, or praise the Lord, or y'all praise the Lord. And this word hallelujah is most often associated with praise after a big rescue, most notably the Exodus. When God's
powerful hand rescued his people out of slavery in Egypt. There's a whole section of Psalms called the Hallel Psalms, Praise Psalms, and here we have the great multitude in heaven in which we've seen prior, the 24 elders, the four living creatures, and a voice from the throne having a worship party. Now if you remember,
From chapter 18, we had the sound of lament. But now we hear the shouts of praise, all praising God for the salvation of God's people through the judgment of Babylon. All throughout scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, you could say the Bible is about God's glory, God's salvation through judgment.
Well, let's get to the suppers. First supper, number one, the marriage supper of the lamb. Look with me at verse six. Verse six and following. 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.
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. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, You must not do that. I'm 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.
What a scene, right? Remember, Revelation is supposed to hit us deep in our gut, our core, spark our imagination. Can you picture this? John hears verse 6, what seems to be one voice, and yet it's a great multitude. And yes, it's worship, but unlike anything we've experienced.
I remember being at a pastor's conference in Louisville, Kentucky, where 10,000 voices were worshiping God at the top of our lungs. At times, I just had to take a step back and look around and take it all in. And the worship leader at times would stop playing the piano so that we can just sing acapella. It was amazing. And yet nothing like this.
Like the roar of many waters, I've stood just feet from Niagara Falls. So intense, it left me speechless and feeling quite small. And yet nothing like this. Like the sound of mighty peals of thunder when I moved from Orange County, California, where we don't go outside when it's sprinkling.
And I moved to Norman, Oklahoma, where they named their basketball team after the weather. And in my first three months, I hid from a tornado, saw lightning like I didn't know existed and felt thunder so powerful it shook me to my core. And yet nothing like the scene we have for us. What's the multitude crying? Hallelujah. You all praise God for
the Lord Almighty reigns. Are you kidding me? Can you imagine this scene? Imagine being here, worshiping like this. Does anyone want to worship like this? Can I get a hallelujah? That's actually not bad for the nine o'clock church. And why such a celebration? Look at verse seven.
for the marriage of the Lamb has come. God created the world to get a bride for His Son. And the marriage of the Lamb here in Revelation 19 has come. Now before we understand this marriage of the Lamb and the suppers that will ensue, we do need to understand a bit about marriage from a first century Jewish context.
In the days of the new Testament, there were three steps in getting married and engagement or what they called a betrothal preparation for the wedding and the wedding or marriage supper itself. So first the engagement, this betrothal ceremony was a big deal. And the future bride would leave his house.
He would travel with his best man to his hopeful bride's house. There, if you were the groom, you wouldn't shoot the dad a text asking for his daughter's hand in marriage. You would look him in the eyes and you would pull out your wallet. In those days, the bride was bought with a price. When the groom paid
this purchase price, the marriage technically went into effect. And they were still engaged and they wouldn't live with each other for quite some time. But this engagement was a big deal. Like if you split from here, it'd be considered a divorce. So think Joseph and the Christmas story, right? He finds out his fiancee Mary is pregnant.
And before the angel shows up to calm him down, what does he want to do? He needs to divorce her. Also in this engagement period, the soon to be bride was considered set apart. She was consecrated for the groom. At the end of the betrothal ceremony, a new covenant was established. It was sealed by the drinking of a cup of wine.
where the betrothal benediction was proclaimed, this cup is a new covenant. Over the next 12 months or so, the groom would be preparing a room for his soon-to-be bride in his father's house. And the soon-to-be bride would be preparing herself for this marriage, this big wedding supper. When this period of engagement
Ended the groom dressed up and ready would roll out with his crew and head back to the bride's house now everyone knew about the time frame when all this was going to go down, but nobody knew the exact time the exact hour Often just to add an element of surprise the groom would show up around midnight As he arrived the shouts would begin. Here is your bridegroom
come out, come out to meet him. And so of course the bride would come out with her maidens and they would be carrying lamps. They would meet the groom and head back to the father's house where the wedding feast, the supper would take place. And this supper would last anywhere from seven to 14 days. Imagine picking up that tab, dads. And now I hope that little
Context does help us understand a little bit more our situation Jesus has Purchased a bride friends the cost because of our sin was high His own life think about that for a second He bought a bride with his own blood at the Passover with his disciples
Before he heads to the cross, he takes a glass of wine and says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. On his way to the cross, he tells his disciples that I'm going away for a little while. And then he says to prepare a place for you in my father's house. Friends, did you hear what Jesus is saying? He is our groom.
We are his
beloved blood-bought bride and our engagement period has already begun. Right now we are waiting for the day when our bridegroom appears, when the marriage supper of the lamb begins and he's coming at an hour we do not know. Are you ready? Is this even how you view
your Christian life as the bride of heaven waiting for this day longing for the appearing of your bridegroom. The marriage supper of the lamb where our engagement period consummates in union forever bliss with our Savior. Look at verse seven. Let us rejoice.
Exalt and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride us Has made herself ready What does that look like? Let's keep reading verse 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 Now before you think this is some marriage by works first the purchase
Christ was paid by Christ himself. From heaven he came and sought her and with his blood he paid for our ransom. But second, that doesn't mean the bride chills and does whatever she wants. This is why the apostle Paul says this about the church.
to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. Friends, moves, or in this passage, it gets ready for the day. John Piper in his most recent book on the second coming of Christ, he begins with a passage in 2 Timothy chapter 4. There it is. I have fought the good fight. I finished the race. I have kept the Faith henceforth.
There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day. Piper goes on to argue that Paul is speaking of this day, the day when when Christ comes back and the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place.
And yet just reading that passage, you might think Paul gets the crown because he fought the good fight. He finished the race. He kept the faith, all which are true. But then the passage ends with Paul saying this, not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. He doesn't say, not only to me, but to all those who have fought the good fight, rather to all those who have loved his.
This is faith, friends. Faith that looks like a longing for the second coming of Christ. A longing for our wedding feast. Martin Luther says we were saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. This faith moves.
It longs for his appearing. fights the good fight. And yes, it finishes the race. And so are you the bride of Christ and engaged to Jesus longing for this day? Everyone is headed toward a supper. If Christ is your only hope in life and in death, this is where
We are headed. This is our future. Oh, let's get ready for this day, church. And I love how this passage ends. John is so excited for the supper he falls down and worships the angel. The angel's like, dude, get up. We both worship God and God alone. Well, that's the first supper. Let's take a look at Supper Number Two, the great supper of God. So look with me at verse 11 and I'll read through the end of the chapter.
Verse 11.
Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems. He has a name written that no one knows but himself. He's clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called is the word of God. The armies of heaven are raid and fine.
linen white and pure were following him on white horses from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written king of kings and lord of lords then i saw an angel standing in the sun and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead and come
gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured and with it the false prophet.
who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. The tale of two.
suppers, all of the sudden the marriage supper of the, of the lamb takes a timeout. And we'll get back to that chapter 21 and 22 are glorious. we see the bride back again, but here John sees heaven opened. And if you've been tracking with this series, you know, the word open has been pretty big for us. It divides this book into four different. Yeah.
it these different windows in which John is able to peek through. And here we have the final one. As he sees heaven open, he gets a glimpse, a glimpse of the second coming of Christ. Now, if you've looked through our statement of faith or if you know any of the creeds, this phrase, the second coming of Christ should not be new.
This is a hugely important doctrine, a first rank doctrine, namely a hill to die on doctrine. And in here it is in its apocalyptic form in Revelation. If you remember the cry of the saints back from chapter six, how long, O sovereign Lord, holy and true until you judge the inhabitants of the earth? Well, the time has come.
The answer to that cry is now being fulfilled. This is the second coming of Christ. Joy for some, sorrow for others. In the first coming of Christ, he came as a little baby, humble and meek.
He ushered in this upside down kingdom. He taught us that weakness is the way. Like a lamb, Jesus was led to the slaughter to purchase his bride and inaugurate his kingdom. His second coming, he comes to consummate the kingdom. Consummate the marriage and this looks a bit different. On this day, this is where Paul says in Philippians, every knee will bow.
Every tongue will confess Jesus is King King of Kings Lord of Lords friend in Jesus's second coming he comes to make war Now I know that that's not popular to say But but this is what love looks like when when perfect love acts toward sin Loving justice is
in the second coming of Christ. And who is it who comes out of heaven on a white horse, faithful and true? It's Jesus himself. He's the rider here. He our conqueror. Verse 11, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
We don't have time this morning, but it's worth meditating on Jesus from this passage. Eyes like the flame of fire on his head are many diadems. This is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. I love how his robe is dipped in blood. And though this certainly could be
The blood of his enemies, as I read this week and meditated on this verse, I believe this is his own blood.
picture this image that the king of kings covered in his own blood his his blood that paid sins penalty for you and for me. Those who in verse 14 are following him on their own white horses namely the armies of heaven but those who are not following the lamb.
Those who follow the beast, in other words, unbelievers, the second coming is when the Lord of glory declares war. Verse 15, his weapon of choice. his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. The double edged sword. Words of life for some, words of judgment for others. And what kind of war is this? Look at verse 15.
He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. The wrath of God for sinners is no joke. I love when I get to interview folks for membership. I love hearing y'all's testimonies. I especially get pumped when I hear about folks who grew up in the church, who are saved at
a young age. This is what I long for for my own kids. And unfortunately at times we think these people don't have powerful testimonies. But that's because we don't understand the wrath of God towards sinners. We think getting saved from drugs or strip clubs or premarital sex is more powerful than getting saved from the wrath of God. Friends, every
Christian testimony is the same because of Jesus and what he did for us We are saved from the wrath of God the Almighty Can I get a hallelujah? Well, it's the wrath of God that leads to supper number two which we just read but look at verse 17 again
I this is pretty heavy New Year's passage. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun with a loud voice. called to all the birds that fly directly overhead. Come gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great. What a scene.
The battle stage is set. This is Armageddon. And then in a blink of an eye, it's over. The beast, the false prophet, they gone. Thrown into the lake of fire and the rest, verse 21, slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse. And all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
Did you really expect a 12 round slugfest? When the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ comes back for his second coming, it's over. That's it. Michael Byrd says that this final section could be titled the end of evil. And before my...
Before my beloved Oklahoma Sooners played its final game against Alabama a few weeks back, I was trying to explain how the playoffs were to one of my daughters. I told her, if we lose tonight, honey, the season is over. They're finished playing no more games. She said, like forever? I said, not exactly. We'll be back next year. Of course we'll be better. Our team a year older.
optimist fan Not this war There's no second chances No do-overs when Jesus comes back a second time It's a wrap And so with that revelation 19 that the question we must ask how shall we then live? Daryl Johnson says John is telling us that everyone's destiny is a suck
Both of these suppers are prepared by God. One is a wedding feast for his son. The other is a gory feast for the birds who eat up the carcasses of God's enemies. With two suppers, I have two applications. First, if you're not following Jesus as King of Kings and not just the King of Kings, your King of Kings.
Like he calls the shots. If you're not taking up your cross and denying yourself and following this Jesus to call this morning is to come. Blessed are those invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. Consider this an invitation. Become the bride of Christ this morning by faith and faith alone. And second, for those of us who are
Christians who are the bride of Christ engaged to this bridegroom King Let's get married Let's get ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb by doing two things namely our mission our pee we exist to Enjoy Jesus and make disciples So I'll take this in reverse order in light of these two suppers
We make disciples. God has placed unbelievers in each one of our lives, from neighbors to family members, from friends to colleagues, from folks on your kids' sports teams to fellow classmates. Making disciples is not just the job of the leaders in your church. This is all of our ministry.
Here's how the Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, said it. Talk about urgency. If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap into hell over our dead bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.
And second, enjoy Jesus. The bride makes herself ready for that day by enjoying Jesus today. One of the ways Christians have been doing this over the course of church history is by reading the Word of God. One book I would tell you to get acquainted with as the bride of Christ is the Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon.
Now some recent interpretations make this book all about marriage and sex but that's not how this book has been used through church history. Throughout church history this this book has rather been seen as the Holy of Holies a book about Christ and his bride the church and one of the refrains from this book I am my beloved.
I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. We enjoy Jesus, friends, because Jesus enjoys us. Let me close by reading one of Jesus's parables from Matthew 25 and then we'll be done. It's not going to be on the screen, so just listen.
Then the kingdom of heaven, Jesus says, will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps as the bridegroom was delayed. They all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, here is the bridegroom.
Come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps and the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying, since there will be not enough for us and you, you go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut.
Afterward the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, Truly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Let me pray.