In this spiritually enriching episode of Hope for Today, we delve deep into the scriptural promises of the second coming of Christ and the glory of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Bible teacher David Hawking walks us through the profound messages held in the book of Revelation, exploring themes of divine invitation, salvation, and eternal worship. Discover what it means to be called into the fellowship of God’s Son, and the significance of being invited to the eternal marriage supper with the saints of all ages.
He said, I am coming again. Hallelujah. Blessed are those who are invited and called to the marriage supper of the land. These are the true sayings of God.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s a blessing to have you with us for the midweek edition of Hope for Today. This world praises what is flashy, loud, temporary, and hollow. It celebrates man, applauds the moment, and pours out honor on things that just pass away, things that don’t last. Psalm 145, however, lifts our eyes far above all of that to the greatness of the Lord. He is not fading. He’s not failing. He doesn’t lose one spark. He will never lose one spark of His glory. He is greatly to be praised. Well, today, Bible teacher David Hawking returns with day two of his message, Hallelujah to Our God. Stay with us as we go back to the Word of God and see why the Lord alone is worthy of praise that never dies. First, we want to remind you about David’s book, The God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is just $20, but while it’s a powerful follow-up study to our current radio series, if you want to go deeper into the truths that we’re hearing in this radio series and keep growing in your understanding of who God is according to His Word, well, this book will be a real help. Get The God of the Bible by David Hawking. Again, it’s just $20 by calling us at 875-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And Bible is 24253. You can also get it on our website. The title again, The God of the Bible. Look for it at davidhawking.org. And here’s David with day two of Hallelujah to Our God.
SPEAKER 01 :
Let’s look back at chapter one of Revelation. In verse five, he said it was from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth, to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Chapter 1 of Revelation, there is no other way to have a white robe, to have that garment clean and fine that God wants for that wedding that he calls the marriage supper of the Lamb than to be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Are you ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ? Are you really? Not only our purpose and our preparation there, but notice the plan of God is also mentioned in chapter 19 in the marriage supper. It says in verse 9, blessed are those who are called. to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The plan of God is there. He called us to himself. 1 Corinthians 1.9 says we’ve been called into the fellowship of his Son. Hey, there’s a universal invitation that says, Romans 10.13, whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But there’s what we call an effectual call, a call that really works. It’s God calling you to himself. Jesus said, you didn’t choose me, I chose you. Jesus told a story about a wedding, Matthew 22. And at the conclusion, he said, many are called or invited, but few are chosen. Blessed are they who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Jesus said about a centurion who was a Gentile that he had such great faith. He said, I haven’t found that much faith in Israel. And in Matthew 8, 11, he said, many will come. From all the corners of the earth, many will come and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the married supper of the Lamb. We’re going to be fellowshipping with the saints of all the ages. That’s why I tell you this married supper is not in heaven during the tribulation as a lot of pre-tribulationists have taught. I’m a pre-tribulationist. I don’t even eat post-toasties. I’m really… committed to that, but I’m also a post-tribulationist. I’m pre because I believe the Lord’s coming for his church before the tribulation. I’m post because he’s coming to the earth in power and great glory at the end. And when the Lord comes and sets up his kingdom, the kingdom is likened unto a marriage and a wedding. And there’s a feast or a supper that inaugurates it. And so the beginning of the kingdom, which will be on earth, will be the married supper on earth as he will introduce his bride, the church of Jesus Christ. He will also have there at that wedding all of the Old Testament believers that couldn’t be in heaven because they wouldn’t have the resurrected bodies yet. Because at the end of the tribulation, the Bible says in Daniel chapter 12, is when the Old Testament saints will be resurrected along with all the tribulation believers who have died during the tribulation. And in resurrected bodies, in great glory, in setting up His kingdom on earth, the Messiah shall reign. Lord God omnipotent reigns. The married supper of the Lamb will begin it as all the believers of all the ages will be there. The thing I like in kind of a practical sense is that we’ll be eating in heaven. Amen? I think the great blessing there is eating and never getting fat. Two elderly ladies died and went to heaven. And the first lady was so excited at what she saw, she just couldn’t believe it. Her heart was just giving praise to God. She looked at her friend and her friend was crying her heart out. She says, what are you crying for? This is such a wonderful place. Matilda, I don’t understand your tears. Why are you crying? She said, to think we could have been here 20 years ago if it hadn’t been for Oat Bran. Is it not a paradox that we worked so hard to stay here? Absent from the body and present with the Lord, Paul said, my true desire is to be with Christ, which is far better. I think you ought to eat right, okay? Enjoy your time here to be more healthy and all that sort of thing. But listen, food doesn’t commend us to God whether we eat little or much. The Bible’s very clear on that. So don’t get so excited about it. Now, if you really like to eat, praise God, you can do it at the marriage supper of the Lamb. I don’t know what’s going to be served, but you’ll like it. Believe me, you’ll like it. What a day that’s going to be. I think a lot of us wonder about it. Is it really true? Isn’t it interesting how this ends in verse 9? Because not only is our purpose and our preparation mentioned in the plan of God, but God’s promise. It says, these are the true sayings of God. The timing is good. It’s almost like, is it really true? Is there really going to be something like this? These are the true sayings of God. Look at chapter 21. You’ll see the same thing. In chapter 21, verse 4, he says some wonderful, beautiful words to all of our hearts. that one day God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain. For the former things have passed away. And then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. How interesting. Interesting. Is it all true? These words. Turn to chapter 22. After telling us about the beauties and glories of heaven, in chapter 22, verse 6, he said to me, these words are faithful and true. And to back it all up, look at how it ends in verse 20. He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming quickly. Why are these words the true sayings of God? Because they’re backed up by the truthfulness, trustworthiness, the veracity of Jesus Christ himself. Jesus said to his disciples, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You believe in God, then believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. These are the true sayings of God. He who testifies it says, surely I come quickly. He’s either telling the truth or he’s the greatest liar and imposter the world’s ever seen. At best, a lunatic with delusions of grandeur. He said, I am coming again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Blessed are those who are invited and called to the marriage supper of the land. These are the true sayings of God. In the third paragraph, back to chapter 19, verses 11 to 16, we’ve said not only hallelujah for his sovereign majesty that he is the Lord God omnipotent reigning, but also hallelujah for our coming marriage. I want to say also in conclusion, hallelujah to our wonderful Messiah. Our wonderful Messiah. And I want to focus on three things. One, what he is called to. what he is called. Look in verse 11. It says, he who sat on him was called faithful and true. You see, the reliability of Christ is again mentioned to us. He’s not lying. It’s impossible for God to lie. He’s faithful and true. You can rely on him. He said, heaven and earth may pass away, but my words will never pass away. He said, not one jot or tittle of any of it will go unfulfilled. Every last bit of it will be fulfilled. He’s called faithful and true. Look at verse 13. And his name is called the Word of God. John, the same writer of Revelation, wrote in his gospel, chapter 1, verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He wrote in John 1.14, the Word became flesh. The Word is referring to the revelation of God. You see, logos in Greek is also in English. Biology, ology, logos, the study of life. Literally, logos is the revelation, the understanding of something. Zoology, the study of life also. We sometimes think of the differences there. But theology, the study of God. Literally, it’s a revelation of God. ology, unveiling, understanding, seeing it, displaying it. The Bible says in John 1.18, no man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him, He’s revealed Him, He’s put Him on display. What’s the name of the last book of the Bible? The Revelation, the unveiling, the apocalypse, the unveiling of Jesus Christ. It’s putting Him on display. So you say, what is He called, our wonderful Messiah? He’s called faithful and true, dealing with the reliability. He’s called the Word of God, dealing with the fact that He is the everlasting revelation of the eternal God. Third, look at verse 16. He has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. That refers to his reign, that he is the sovereign one who will reign over everything. King of kings and Lord of lords. By the way, I look for unique ways to witness. Do you? I think this is a society that isn’t paying attention. And so I look for all kinds of crazy and unique ways to say something about our Lord in some kind of situation. And when I say these things up here, I’m not trying to be wacko for wacko’s sake. I have a point. I want to drop some seed thoughts into your brain that you might join me in this crazy form of witnessing, okay? Because I think people need to be confronted. Now, some of you are getting very upset right now, but just relax. When you go into a store, you’re going to buy some sweats because basically it’s cheap. So you’re going to go get some sweats. They come in all colors, you know, sweatpants. Have you noticed the preponderance of sweats that have something down the thigh? It might say Adidas or Pima or, you know, something else. You know, it’s got it down the side, man. Hey, is that sharp? Is that sharp? This is your opportunity. You can say, I’m looking for something that has on the thigh something. King of kings and Lord of lords. You like it? Okay, try something else. I don’t care. He has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. What he is called caused me to say hallelujah to our wonderful Messiah. Secondly, look at how he is crowned. Verse 12. On his head were many crowns. You know, the Bible says that Christians are going to be crowned. Every time it speaks about Christians being crowned, it uses a different word than this one. It uses the Greek word Stephanos. Stephan, Stephen, means crown. Stephanos is a crummy crown. I’m sorry, but it’s crummy. Okay, so it’s special in what it represents, but it’s not anything, really. When a guy wins a race in Greek games… The official, who’s, you know, sometimes they’re big shots and sometimes just, you know, average guys. But anyway, the official is going to put a little laurel wreath on top of his head. It’s just a bunch of twigs, people. That’s all it is. They might put a ribbon through it, but it’s twigs. That’s all it is. It isn’t worth anything. It’s what it represents. And what God says is, I’m going to give you crowns. We get all excited. I think some of you are really into those jewel things. You know what I mean? You’ve got gold stacked up in your head and jewels and all that. That’s in your mind. But whenever God speaks about Christians being crowned, he just says, well, we’re going to give you a little twig deal and tell you thank you. It’s what it represents, having the Lord say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou in the joy of thy Lord. But when he came to Jesus… Got to be a change. And so he takes the Greek word diadems, which everybody in the ancient world knew only belongs to he who is most high. He who is top dog. And it said on his head are many diadems so that we would know how he is crowned. You got your hymn book there. Turn to number 345.
SPEAKER 1 :
345.
SPEAKER 01 :
Looking at how he is crowned. A songwriter expressed this in this glorious song called Crown Him with Many Crowns. Sometimes there’s a little clue about lyrics or music. Would you look at the clue that’s on the right side up near the top? It says diademata. Diadem. That’s the Greek word for crowns in Revelation 19. How interesting. Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity. Crown Him the Lord of love. Behold His hands in His side, rich wounds yet visible above, in beauty glorified. No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight, but downward bends his wandering eye at mysteries so bright. Crown him the Lord of life, who triumphed o’er the grave, who rose victorious to the strife for those he came to save. His glories now we sing, who died and rose on high, who died eternal life to bring and lives that death may die. Crown him the Lord of heaven. one with the Father known, one with the Spirit through him given from yonder glorious throne. To thee be endless praise, for thou for us hast died. Be thou, O Lord, through endless days adored and magnified. Crown him the Lord of years, the potentate of time, creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime. All hail, Redeemer, hail, for thou hast died for me. Thy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity. And all God’s people said, Hallelujah. Back to Revelation 19. We look at how he is crowned, what he is called. But let me give you the final one. How he is clothed. Verse 13. He’s clothed so uniquely that some have called this gross, abhorrent, contradictory, amazing. It says his cloth, verse 13, was dipped in blood. There are some that have not handled this well in church history and thought maybe it’s a typology here referring to the blood of the cross. No, it’s not. Verse 15 says he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. These are quotations from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 63. When we’re talking about the Messiah who will come, where will he come? And the prophet says, who is this coming from? Basra. Basra, B-O-Z-R-A-H in English, is a city on the eastern plains we call Jordan today. It’s the natural place where all the armies of the world that the Bible predicts will assemble against Israel would indeed be. What he’s going to do is come to Basra. And the Bible says he will trample out the vengeance of Almighty God against all the nations of the world that came against him and his people. He will slaughter and the blood will be everywhere and flow as high as the horse’s bridles. And he will come up Mount Olives like all the ancient kings did in victory ascent when they conquered. And he will come up and put his feet on Mount Olives. No, he’s not coming from the sky and standing on Mount Olives as we’ve taught for years. That isn’t what the Bible says. His feet are going to stand there because He has conquered. And that’s a place of victory as it overlooks the city of Jerusalem. And what will He look like? His clothing will be dipped in blood. For He is King of kings and Lord of lords. And He raises the sword of victory to the sky. And all of heaven and all of earth bows the knee and proclaims Him King of kings and Lord of lords. I can’t wait. How about you? That’s my Savior. That’s my King. That’s my Lord.
SPEAKER 02 :
Amen. That’s David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David’s back in just a bit to close out our study for today, so stay right there. Right now, though, Matt’s here, and we’re going to talk about some powerful resources that are going to level up your time in God’s Word. and help you understand who God is. Jim, you know, when listening to a message or sermon, I wish I had 100% recall and retention. Too often we hear a biblical truth that ministers to our heart or an application that would be perfect to share with a friend. Yeah, something that would be tremendously helpful and life-changing. Yeah, but we can’t get it written down. Nope. It’s lost from memory, right? You can’t write it down and later you can’t remember it.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, right?
SPEAKER 02 :
No, no. Well, this month, Hope for Today is offering a dynamite resource bundle, David’s original sermon notes and outline packs for all 27 of his teaching series in the New Testament. You know, these are the sermon notes and outlines he used to preach everywhere. each and every message and they reflect his extensive study and prayerful applications and these sermon notes are reflective of that study the sermon notes help you capture the lessons and applications and encouragement from the message each message in a new testament series in a comprehensive but concise format get in touch today and purchase the study notes outlines packs for all 27 of my dad’s teaching series in the new testament the bundle is just 75 and Get this and you’ll be ready for each and every upcoming Hope for Today radio series in the New Testament. Or you’ll have a ready foundation for your own study or to teach a group study. And your purchase or donation will also help the ministry of Hope for Today. And please remember to pray for Hope for Today. Yeah, please do that. Amen. And also, Matt, we want to remind you that our current radio series, The Attributes of God, this is available on MP3 CD, the complete series, for just $20. All 16 messages in the series. To order, visit us online at davidhawking.org. Or call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. Or if you’re listening in Canada, 888-75-BIBLE. And as the Lord leads, would you prayerfully also consider sending a gift of support to hope for today? Your donation helps keep this broadcast on the air and helps us continue sharing the truth of God’s word without compromise. You can even set up automatic donations and give that way each month as long as God supplies for you to do so and lays the ministry on your heart. To make a donation by mail, write to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7OAKS, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. To give by phone, call us at 875-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Or, of course, you can also make that donation securely online at davidhawking.org. And as promised, here again is David.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s my Savior! That’s my King! That’s my Lord! There’s only one response that any of us can give to this. It’s the same one that we read in verse 10 that John gave. The Bible says, I fell at his feet to worship him. He’s talking to the angel. The angel said, you can’t do that. I’m your fellow servant, your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus, what he has told us, is the spirit of prophecy. It isn’t just finding facts about when he’s going to come. The issue of prophecy is to worship God, to understand where it’s all going to end up. Praise the Lord. Look at chapter 22, verse 8. I, John, saw and heard these things, and when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. He said to me, See that you do not do that, for I am your fellow servant of your brethren, the prophets of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. Philippians 2 says in verse 9 that God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that he’s Lord to the glory of God the Father. You still got your hymn book? Turn to 3.26. Notice on the right, please, again at the top, what does it describe it? It calls it diadem. Many crowns from Revelation 19.12. Diadem. It gives you the understanding of how the song should be sung as well. All hail the power of Jesus’ name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him what? Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel’s race, ye ransomed from the fall. Hail him who saves you by his grace and crown him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe on this terrestrial or earthly ball… To him all majesty ascribe and crown him Lord of all. Oh, that with yonder sacred throng we at his feet may fall. We’ll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all. And all God’s people said, Hallelujah to our Lord God, King of kings and Lord of lords. And our hearts go out to everybody here in the audience who’s listening right now, and you don’t know in your heart that you’re ready for that great event. You don’t have on the right clothes. You’ve never been washed in the blood of the Lamb. You’ve never come to make a commitment to Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for you and rose again from the dead. There is no other hope. There is no other way. There is no other Savior. There is no other coming King. He is our Messiah. And our prayer is that you’ll give your hearts to him before it’s too late. Father, I thank you for your wonderful word. And I thank you for the good news of the gospel that Jesus died for our sins and rose again and one day shall return in power and great glory. I pray for those in our audience who’ve never made a commitment to Jesus Christ. That, God, you’d help them now to put their trust in you before it’s too late. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER 02 :
Amen. And friend, would you like to know more about what it means to have a real relationship with God through Jesus Christ? We’d like to offer you a free booklet by David called What is Christianity? and a free Bible study by mail. There’s nothing to sign up for. Just ask for them. You’ll receive them. Again, What is Christianity? and the Bible study by mail. These are free if you don’t know Christ, if you’re not yet a Christian, or if you’re new to the Christian faith. They’ll help you understand Christianity, the gospel, and it’ll help you find real hope in the Lord. Visit us online. Use the contact form at davidhawking.org or call us at 875-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. In Canada, 888-75-BIBLE. The Bible is 24253. Well, next time, David begins a message called The Incarnation of God. Be sure to join us tomorrow right here on Hope for Today.
