Nicholson, Boyd: Toronto Easter Conference 1978-03 ~ Because He Lives

He's seated. I'd like to introduce our second speaker this time, Mr. Boyd Nicholson, to the Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter five, and we shall read from verse twenty to twenty seven. One nine. Verse one to verse nine. In our first session together, we affirmed a great truth as a result of a risen Christ. Because he lives, he will bring us through. On our second session together, we affirmed from scripture another great fact. Because he lives, he will raise us up. I'd like to look into these verses together with you and affirm from these scriptures this great truth. Because he lives, he will bring us in. Between the fall of Babylon, the anti-bride, in chapter eighteen, and the fall of the beast, the Antichrist, at the end of chapter nineteen. a great episode takes place in heaven. It is introduced by a mighty fourfold chorus of hallelujahs. Nowhere, nowhere else in all of the New Testament do we discover the word hallelujah, save only in this chapter, and that in rapid succession within a few verses. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. But nowhere else in all of the New Testament. These hallelujahs are most significant. This is the hallelujah chorus of heaven. I'm sure many of us have attended Messiah's, uh, Handel's Messiah. And I suppose one would have to be like a stone to be unmoved, when at last the choir stands, and without a signal the audience rises, and a hush falls over the company. And then, as with one single voice, the choir sings the Hallelujah chorus. If that does not cause the soul to thrill and the spirit to leap in anticipation, then there is something sadly wrong. But oh, I ask you, if all the choirs in Toronto were gathered together, even our own notable group. If all the choirs in Canada and the United States and around the world were gathered together in some super auditorium, and if by some wonderful ability of musical direction they could be brought together under the signal of the greatest conductor that the world knows, if they were to sing the Hallelujah chorus, what would it ever sound like? But oh, I suggest to you today that all that musical excellence and all the sounds of those wonderful hallelujahs is only but the barest prattlings of an infant compared to what we have read of today. When forth from the throats of a multitude that no man can number, as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thunderings, says the Bible. This note of praise is sounded forth. Hallelujah! Hallelujah. What a moment. What is it that calls forth this mighty peon of praise from an unnumbered multitude. Well, there are four great hallelujahs, and the first, we might call it the hallelujah of redemption, verse one. For the leading note in this is Is salvation. salvation. You know, African music is not like ours, I learned as I visited Central Africa some time ago. But there's a very significant character to it, which I came to enjoy very much. I'm not speaking now of hymns that have been translated out of English into native languages and sung to tunes known in the English tongue, but African singing, where they themselves have written their own hymns with their own expressions and used their own musical talent to express it. And one of the characteristics is that there is usually one voice that calls out at the beginning of the v- of the verse or the phrase, the leading thought, and just sings out a word, perhaps one that I have on tape. The voice calls out at the beginning, imani, faith, and then comes the verse. That's the theme, the leading note that gives the key, and this is what we have here. Oh, I don't mean that they will sing it in Swahili or with a Scottish dialect even. I do not really know the language of heaven. I know the music of heaven, that's bagpipes. But I really don't know the language of heaven. Get used to them, brother. Forgive my folly. But the leading note of this first hallelujah is salvation. Because this hallelujah signals that salvation is at last completed for the church. From the penalty and the power and at last the very presence of sin. And I say, what a hallelujah that's going to be. Hallelujah. Sin, this old wicked heart, this failing flesh, these wandering minds, all left behind farewells, broken ties, everything that is the result of sin, everything gone, not even the scar of sin remaining. And when at last that moment comes and the church has been gathered in, this will be the first great hallelujah. As our brother has pointed out, that wonderful word upon the cross, finished. That word concerning the judgment of the world, finished. Here is a hallelujah that tells us that at last for the church, the work of salvation is finished. Oh, it was secured before the world was, and it was settled at Calvary, but here it will be sanctified to the experience of the church. And then will go forth that mighty praise. Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. Or in a word, he did it all. The second hallelujah is the hallelujah of retribution. Verses two and three, And the leading note of this hallelujah is judgment. True and righteous are his judgments, for he hath judged the great whore. This hallelujah signals that vengeance has been administered to the false church for her defilement and destruction. Babylon, the great whore has been judged. Spawned away back in Genesis at Babel, in the slime pits of Babel, that's where it began. For it says they used brick for mortar, uh, used brick for stone and slime for mortar, and there spawned in the slime pits of Babel a system that grew and spread its evil influence like a great octopus around this world. And in the previous chapters we read of that great system, Babylon. Judged for her illicit relationships with the world and the flesh and the devil, drunken with the blood of the saints. At last, God has dealt with this wicked system. And when at last she is put down, the false church comes forth a mighty hallelujah. She, God has been avenged of the blood of his servants at her hands. That will be a great hallelujah. Mind you, we don't appreciate that, perhaps, in our countries. In the Western world that has known in recent century very, very little of persecution. But just for a moment, while we sit in comfort in Toronto, think of our suffering brethren in other lands and in the past, whose blood has been shed in violent death at the hand of the wicked Babylon. That'll be a great hallelujah. The third hallelujah is in verse four. This is the hallelujah of realization of the will of God in his penalty on the false church and his purposes for the bride. What are those purposes? The marriage of the Lamb to his chosen bride. Oh, won't that be a mighty amen? When at last this great purpose is realized, the fruit of Calvary. He gave himself for it, the Bible says. This marriage of the lamb is the realization of the delight of God the Father in bringing this joy to his son. We remember the parable away back in Matthew twenty two of the king who made a marriage for his son. The purposes of God in heaven will be realized in the marriage of the Lamb and his chosen bride. This marriage is the realization of the anticipation of the Lamb of God in entering into the joy that had been set before him. The joy that was set before him, that enabled him to endure the cross, and this was part of the joy, the fulfilling of the longing of his heart for the bride. The life that none could take from him, he gave that he might purchase her. The love that no waters could quench is satisfied at last in the bride he's going to share his eternity with. That's the love song of heaven. The love song of heaven. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. But there's another hallelujah in verse 4, in verse six. We might call this the hallelujah of regal majesty. And the leading note of this hallelujah is, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. This hallelujah signals the authority, the acknowledgement of the authority and power of the Lord to reign unchallenged in his own universe. Won't that be a mighty hallelujah? When from a great multitude, with the voice of many waters, the voice of mighty thunderings, Hallelujah. Now, as this mighty chorus sinks into silence, the Lord commands John to write the fourth of seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation. Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, it's important that we note the distinction between the marriage of the Lamb and the marriage supper. These are distinct and different, though of course connected. Perhaps we should ask, what is the marriage of the Lamb? It is that event in the heavens in which the church shall be visibly united to Christ, in his character as the Lamb of God. He was slain before the foundation of the world in the purposes of God. He bore the sins of the world in the experience of history. But he did it all to get a bride that would satisfy his heart. Now, we have no way of understanding this, and all we can say is perhaps what Madame Guillain said in her lovely little poem. That thou shouldst be a god to me, and be the god thou art, is darkness to my intellect, but sunshine to my heart. To help us understand something of this wonderful relationship between the Lamb and his bride, there are many lovely pictures of brides and bridegrooms in the Bible, and let's just quickly glance at four of these. The first, of course, Adam and Eve. In Genesis two verse eighteen, the Lord says, it is not good that the man should be alone. Adam, as the Son of God, for so he is called, was put to sleep, the woman brought forth from his side and presented to him. What a beautiful picture. It is not good that the man should be alone. Beloved, think about this. The Lord Jesus Christ has been sitting in lonely splendor at the right hand of the majesty, waiting. Waiting for almost m two thousand years. For what? Waiting for the word of the Father. My son, go and get her. He will burst through the blue, with a mighty voice, the trumpet, the shout, and he'll sweep out of this old earth the bride he died in anguish to redeem. And Jonah came out of the depths of sorrow and darkness at the end of chapter one of that little prophecy named after him. The very next words at the beginning of chapter two are these: And the Lord said unto Jonah the second time, Arise and go. And I see in that a beautiful picture of the moment when my blessed Lord will hear that word of authority from the Father, which by his sovereignty and omniscience he has chosen not to know the day nor the hour. And the Father will say, arise and go, and he will come for his, his church. So here we see then Eve as the bride, sharing his life. And the application is very evident, and we hardly need to spend time to discuss it. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. This life is in his son, and he has given us that life. So we share his life, the very life that invades the spirit the moment we are born again is the very same life that throbs in the Son of God at the right hand of the Majesty, and the bride will share his life. Another lovely couple is Isaac and Rebecca. Isaac is seen as the father's only Isaac. Received back in figure from the dead. And it's the father who sends the servant into the far country to bring a bride back for his son. Why is the Lord going to take you and I to heaven? Did you ever ask yourself that question? Well, you say, of course, to make us happy. No, he's not going to do that to make us happy. God is not taking us to heaven to make us happy. God is taking us to heaven to make his son happy. Oh, we shall be happy. We shall be full of joy. But the prime purpose is, first of all, to satisfy the heart of his own son. The last verse in Genesis twenty four, and that's a beautiful chapter, Rebecca being sought by the servant. The last verse of that chapter goes something like this, when, uh, Rebecca sees Isaac and she covers her face with the veil, signifying now she is his alone. It says that Isaac took her to be his wife, and he loved her, and he was comforted after the death of his mother. Oh, beloved, what has Calvary meant to our Savior? The hours of anguish, the darkness, not only physical, that men could not see with their eyes. That was the outward expression of what was happening in the inner spirit of the Lord when God forsook him. Oh, the cost of Calvary. When at last he gets his bride home, he will be comforted. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and he shall be satisfied. Oh, I'm so glad about that. When he looks upon his bride, when he sees the marks of Calvary in his own hands and feet, he will say on that day that it was worth it all. Joseph and Asenath. If Adam and Eve are a beautiful picture, Eve sharing the life of Adam, Rebecca is seen as sharing the love of Isaac. But Joseph and Asenath, Joseph sold by his brethren, though innocent, punished as a criminal, afterwards exalted to the right hand of the throne, a beautiful picture of Christ. Asenath is seen here as a bride, sharing his glory. Boaz and Ruth, another beautiful picture. Boaz, the mighty man of wealth, becomes the kinsman redeemer so that he can have Ruth for his bride. Beautiful picture of Christ and his bride. Here Ruth is the outsider, brought in, seen as the bride sharing his wealth. These pictures would be well to study and to enjoy, and many others. As to the marriage itself, when will it take place? Well, we understand it will take place following the bema, or the judgment seat of Christ, where all his people will be called to give an answer as to the sort of service that they performed. Not the size of it, nor the success of it, but the quality of it as to its faithfulness. And there we must give an answer, being called to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and there the Lord will go into the matters of our service and our personal lives, and then rewards will be given, or loss will be the result. After the Bema, but before the Lord's return to the earth to deal with his enemies, bracketed between those two great events is the marriage of the Lamb. But where will it take place? Well, doubtless it will be take, it will take place in the heavens, somewhere in the heavens, because at the rapture the church is caught up to be with the Lord, and when he comes to do b- to do a battle with his enemies, he comes down leading the armies of heaven out of heaven, so that somewhere in the heavens this marriage will take place. But who composed the bride of the Lamb? What discussions have been carried on about that subject? Well, some say Israel, but at this point in time, Israel, at least part of Israel, is on the earth passing through great tribulation, so it can't be Israel. Some say the godly, obedient Christian, the spiritual saints looking for his retirement. But the marriage is never shown in the scriptures as a reward for faithfulness, simply an act of grace, and the very picture of it demands that all the body be presented as one to Christ. We read that in Ephesians five. In Ephesians five it seems that this union between Christ and the church conveys that it will be completely and exclusively the church that was espoused to him. He was chosen in his love in eternity, purchased by his blood in history, purified by his lordship in the present time, and one day will be glorified at last in eternity. These things we find in Ephesians chapter five. Let's think of the beauty of the bride. This is what the newspapers always write about. They never say the bridegroom was dressed in a dark blue suit, and thus and so, but they always say the bride thus and the bride this. The beauty of the bride is the big thing on that day, as far as we are concerned. What about the beauty of the bride? Well, she is beautiful. On that great day, she will be exquisite in beauty because this beauty was imparted to her judicially by God. Because then she was accepted in the beloved, perhaps in the language of the Song of Solomon, she herself might say, oh, I am black, that is, burned in the sun. But the, but the bridegroom responds, but beautiful. He sees that beauty in her. That beauty was imparted to her judicially. But that beauty is being developed continually now by the work of the Holy Spirit. We read that in second Corinthians three in verse eighteen, but we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are being transfigured from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit. Darby translates that verse so beautifully. And that beauty will be completed instantly, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. We who form that body, and that whole company will be instantly transformed and perfected in beauty. And this beauty will be displayed eternally. We read in Ephesians five twenty seven that he is going to present it to himself a glorious assembly. No spot, no wrinkle, no blemish. That's viewed negatively. No spot. That's the stain of sin's accidents. There won't be any of that. No wrinkle, that's the mark of sin's habits. No blemish, that's the ugliness of sin's disfigurement. When at last the church is presented to Christ, presented to himself, there will be none of that. Viewed subjectively, we read in this text that she made herself ready. That is on earth. She did not make herself ready at the judgment seat of Christ. As far as the church is concerned and individual members of it, it is a passive experience, receiving reward or receiving suffering loss. But she made herself ready by the progressive sanctifying of the life in love to Christ while on earth. Paul says to the Corinthians in second Corinthians seven and one, having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. It's that chosen loyalty that is going to be reflected. She has made herself ready also by acceptable service that will stand the test at the Bema. Viewed objectively, we read that it was granted to her that she should be arrayed in fine linen, bright and pure, and the fine linen is the righteousnesses, the righteous deeds of the saints. Our privilege in heaven, then, it says it is granted to her, is to wear the garment of manifest righteousness. Not literal linen, but the garment of manifest righteousnesses. All the good deeds and the good works done in the name of the Lord Jesus, and done many of them secretly and hidden, will then become an outward glory to be seen and admired by all. What a sight for wandering angels to behold. The bride at last gathered home, all glorious within, radiant with the very beauty of Christ and dazzling in the brightness of her own bridal garment. Now the hallelujahs of heaven have hushed. There she is, in all her beauty. The diamonds and the stones and the wonders of the New Jerusalem can add no beauty to her, because her beauty is the very beauty of Christ. Rebecca, in Genesis twenty four was given a fore- a jewel for her forehead and bracelets for her hands. The jewel dignified her countenance, beautified her countenance, and the bracelets dignified her ministry. But when the church is gathered home, she will not wear a jewel upon her brow, but his name shall be in her forehead, and that will be the diadem she will carry with her as the sign of divine approval, as the badge of divine authority, and as the evidence of eternal loyalty. She will wear that as a diamond upon her, as a jewel, the name of her beloved. By the way, we're living in a day when that lovely name is being besmirched and trampled under feet of godless men. Dear Christian, pray God to give you courage to speak a word for that lovely name when you hear it taken in blasphemy. For that is the name you will bear upon you through endless ages. So the hallelujahs have hushed. The bride steps forth. Angels, step aside. Here comes the bride, and she takes her place at the side of the lamb, the Lord. She has come to love. She knows he loves her with an undying love. And she's glad now that her own love has been purged of its dross and purified at last. She looks upon his face and sees the marks of his love and his blessed person, and she basks in his smile. Every question that might ever be raised against her has been hushed at the judgment seat. Now the lamb and the bride are to be manifested as eternally, radiantly one, and to rejoice together and reign together through endless ages. Little wonder that the choirs of heaven, whoever that may include, join together and call forth our mighty one of praise. Hallelujah! Hallelujah. The marriage of the Lamb has come. But the festivities are not yet concluded. The marriage is a joyous occasion, but that's only enjoyed between the lamb and the bride. But there's the marriage supper. The marriage supper is the glorious celebration shared by invited guests. Now the invitation is inscribed in heaven. Revelation nineteen and nine: Write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, any contemplation of the marriage supper leads us to consider the prophecies and the parables which relate to the Lord's return to earth. These parables that were really given to the Jews. Now we have to be very careful when we're dealing with parables, don't we? Parables are windows. They are not foundation stones to build doctrines on. They are windows to let in the light. And I suppose almost every heresy that has ever grown up has grown out of excessive and extravagant interpretations of parables. So when we're looking at parables, we have to remember that the principle of interpreting parables is that they have one main truth, and we must not press the details to mean things that God did not mean, but that all the details of the parable are to subscribe to that one main truth that the Lord happened to be teaching at that time. And so there are some parables given to Israel, and we find not only parables, but other scriptures also. In Luke chapter twelve for instance, we discover something that might help us to discover where the marriage supper is going to take place. Will it be in heaven, or will it be on earth? Here the Jews are exhorted to be like those who wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding. Verse forty of Luke twelve, we haven't time to look up these verses. This relates to the coming of the Son of Man to earth. One of the great promises for the watching people, earthly people, is in that lovely chapter, Luke twelve verse thirty seven. We read an amazing statement that the Lord will gird himself, think about this, and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. What a beautiful picture. The bridegroom and the bride coming down, sending out the invitation, and to those who attend, he ministers to them. In Matthew twenty five, we have the parable of the ten virgins, and the bridegroom there is seen to come at midnight, Israel's midnight. The ready go in to the marriage. The unprepared are excluded. And this is also assu- associated with the coming of the Son of Man. In Matthew twenty two, we have the parable of the king's wedding feast. Some refuse, some despise, some react violently. Such a thing would never happen in heaven. Many are called, and the rejectors are destroyed. And some come in improperly dressed, and they're dealt with in discipline. In the fullest sense of the word, we might suggest that the Marriage Supper might well cover the whole period of the millennium, in which the inhabitants of the earth are called to share and celebrate and enjoy the gladness of the king and his royal concert. The Lamb has come to earth at the end of Revelation chapter nineteen to accomplish four things: to conquer and subdue his enemies, to judge the nations for their treatment of his earthly people, to set up his beneficent rule and to call Jew and Gentile to share the sweet communion enjoyed between he and his bride. The marriage supper has to do with the love of the bridegroom for the bride and their mutual desire to share its benefits to all who will respond to the invitation. It may not be a literal meal at all, but in fact it may just be a spiritual feast of heavenly joy. I rather think that's the new wine the Lord Jesus was speaking of. Not literal wine to drink, but the new wine of heaven's joy. And to share the sweet communion existing between the bride and the lamb. Multitudes are seeking to escape the hard facts of life, the sordid circumstances in which they may find themselves, the bitter disappointments, the sorrows and griefs, the heartaches, the unanswered questions, the dark forebodings of international problems, the economic uncertainty, and the personal burdens and heartaches of men and women. All these things drive men and women to escape from these hard realities. Some try to escape by artificial means, alcohol, drug addiction. Some try to escape by pleasure, immersing themselves in pleasure or sports, or even giving themselves over to licentious living, if by any means for but an hour they can escape the hard realities of daily living. Some try to escape by travel, and they think that by getting on a jet they can travel to some other place where there will be no problems. They believe the travel posters, and so they fly. Of course, they won't be the first. The great David said, oh, that I had wings like a dove, I would flee away and be at rest.