The Te Deum Of The Redeemed

19:6-8 And I heard a voice which sounded like the voice of a vast multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty crashes of thunder.

"Hallelujah!" they said, "because the Lord our God, the Almighty, has entered into his kingdom. Let us rejoice and let us exult, and let us give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has prepared herself, and it has been granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, shining and pure." For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of God's dedicated people.

The final shout is the praise of the host of the redeemed. John goes out of his way to heap up similes to describe its sound. It was, as H. B. Swete puts it, like "the din of a vast concourse, the roar of a cataract, the roll of thunder."

Once again John finds his inspiration in the words of Scripture. In his mind are two things. First, he is remembering Psalms 97:1 : "The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice." Second, he says: "Let us rejoice and exult." There is only one other place in the New Testament where these two verbs (chairein, Greek #5463 , and agallian, Greek #21 ) come together--in Jesus Christ's promise to the persecuted: "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven" ( Matthew 5:12 ). It is as if the multitude of the redeemed sent up their shout of praise because the promise of Christ to his persecuted ones had come abundantly true.

Next comes the marriage of the Lamb to his bride. That picture stands for the final union between Jesus Christ and his Church. R. H. Charles finely says that the marriage symbolism "denotes the intimate and indissoluble communion of Christ with the community which he has purchased with his own blood" a communion which is "first reached in fulness by the host of the martyrs."

The thought of the relationship between God and his people as a marriage goes far back into the Old Testament. Again and again the prophets thought of Israel as the chosen bride of God. "I will betroth you to me for ever," Hosea hears God say, "I will betroth you to me in righteousness" ( Hosea 2:19-20 ). "Your Maker is your husband; the Lord of hosts is his name," says Isaiah ( Isaiah 54:5 ). Jeremiah hears God say and appeal: "Return, O faithless children, for I am your master" ( Jeremiah 3:14 ). Ezekiel works out the whole picture most fully in Ezekiel 16:1-63 .

The marriage symbolism runs all through the Gospels. We read of the marriage feast ( Matthew 22:2 ); of the bridechamber and the wedding garment ( Matthew 22:10-11 ); of the sons of the bridechamber ( Mark 2:19 ); of the bridegroom ( Mark 2:19 ; Matthew 25:1 ); of the friends of the bridegroom ( John 3:29 ). And Paul speaks of himself as betrothing the Church like a pure virgin to Christ ( 2 Corinthians 11:2 ), and for him the relationship of Christ to his Church is the great model of the relationship of husband and wife ( Ephesians 5:21-33 ).

This may seem to us a strange metaphor. But it conserves certain great truths. In any real marriage there must be four things which must also be in the relationship between the Christian and Christ.

(i) There is love. A loveless marriage is a contradiction in terms.

(ii) There is intimate communion, so intimate that man and wife become one flesh. The relationship of the Christian and Christ must be the closest in all life.

(iii) There is joy. There is nothing like the joy of loving and of being loved. If Christianity does not bring joy, it does not bring anything.

(iv) There is fidelity. No marriage can last without fidelity, and the Christian must be as faithful to Jesus Christ as Jesus Christ is to him.