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Transcript: Welcome to “5 Minutes with Pastor Lutzer.” I’m so glad that you joined us again today for this particular program. It’s actually part of a larger series, entitled, “The King Is Coming” and if you’ve been with us for previous episodes, you know that we began with the Rapture of the Church and then the Judgment Seat of Christ, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and we conclude that today and then, well, next time it becomes very dark. We begin to talk about the Great Tribulation. I hope that many of you subscribe to this program. Of course, we also hope that you pass it along to others because I believe that God wants us to be transformed by His word and prophecy will help us to focus on the future.
Well back to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We discussed last time how the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints are going to be together. We ended by reminding ourselves that Jesus is going to serve us, which is astounding. And what is He going to serve us? Well He’s going to serve us some very good wine. Remember when Jesus turned water into wine in John chapter 2? How everyone said, “Well, normally you give people the best wine at the beginning and then that which is mixed with some water near the end, but you have kept the best wine until now.” You see that’s why Jesus said to the disciples, “I will not eat the fruit of this vine until I drink it anew with you in the coming kingdom.” We don’t know what else is going to be on the menu but we are going to drink wine together, and I’m sure it’ll be very very special.
As I’ve emphasized before and this, of course, is in Revelation 19—I’m going to reread a couple of verses here: “Let us rejoice and exult and give Him 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.” And then of course you have the invited guests, that we pointed out last time were Old Testament saints.
I want us to emphasize this: In most weddings today, the bride is the center of the attention. I mean, the groom shows up; he stands at the front of the altar but nobody—nobody looks at him particularly. He has to be there but that’s not the focus of the attention. It all has to do with the bride but this marriage is entirely different. The focus is going to be on the groom. Many years ago John Stott tells the story about how a man by the name of Paul Gibson, who was an important person and leader in Oxford University. A portrait was painted of him. And when Paul Gibson looked at it he actually paid tribute to the painter and said, “When people look at this, they aren’t going to say, ‘Who’s that man?’ They’re going to say ‘Who painted the picture?’” I believe throughout all of eternity, the question is not going to be so much, who are the redeemed, but rather who was their redeemer. It’s all going to be about Jesus. And what a time it’s going to be.
No wonder the text says “Let us rejoice and exult!” All that is coming in our future.
Now I want to end by emphasizing the fact that during this period of time we are betrothed to Christ. And if you were with us, you remember in a previous episode, I emphasized how important it was during the betrothal period, we call it the engagement, that the bride and the groom could test one another to see if they were going to remain pure and committed to each other and not run off to other lovers. The Apostle Paul said these words to the people at Corinth. He emphasized the fact that they are betrothed to Christ. And then he rebukes them. He says, “I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” Now if for example the bride were to discover during the betrothal period that her husband-to-be was unfaithful or if he discovered that she was, that was a great breach of the contract of engagement. And that would be a good reason actually, I’m sure, for divorce. I want to be clear here. What I’m saying is this. This is the betrothal period. Are we being true to Jesus, our husband, as the bride of Christ? Are we keeping ourselves pure for Him or are we running off to other lovers? That’s the challenge I want to leave with you.
Now next time we’re going to be talking about the Great Tribulation period. We’re going to be speaking about globalism, the rise of antichrist. As I like to emphasize, be sure to subscribe, let others know about this program because our intention is to speak to your need and encourage you as you run the race of life. So, as for today, you just go with God.