What is Heaven?
What is Heaven Like?
The High Calling of Marriage
Matthew 22:1-14
The Story of Heaven and
The Glory of God.
(Part 2)
Revelation 19:7-9 (KJV)
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him:
for the marriage of the Lamb is come,
and his wife hath made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, Write,
Blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
And he saith unto me,
These are the true sayings of God.
Throughout the Testimony of God: Faithfulness, Loyalty, Fidelity, Honesty, Trust, Humility, and Intimacy are intertwined character qualities that depend upon each other to build relationships that are deeply desirable–Holy, Pure, Good, Kind, Loving, and Ever Growing–in Peace, and Faith, and Grace, and Truth.
Such relationships are safe. They are strong. They are protecting. They are Caring. They can put other’s needs ahead of their own. Because they produce an overflow in the heart: They are Giving. They are Generous. They produce an abundance, and they make room for everyone in the family to prosper, and mature into godly, heavenly, and lovely beings. This whole package of goodness, is called by God, “Righteousness”. It means to have right standing before God. Those who walk with God in His Righteousness, are said to have clothed themselves in His Righteousness.
“And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”
Such relationships built upon God’s Righteousness allow God’s Love to Prosper.
By Faith and obedience to God and His Word: We build up righteousness, and we overcome sin. We overcome greed, selfishness, jealousy, arrogance, lust, envy, selfish ambition, and the wicked desire to control others, and the temptation to manipulate others, to cheat others, the need to feel superior to others, to steal from others, to harm, to lie, to have wandering eyes, to commit adultery, to fornicate, to rape. We overcome the temptations to commit acts of violence, and every harmful and detestable evil that can harm a family, or an individual. We do this I having a healthy fear of God and a strong desire to avoid the wrath of God–which we know is coming upon all disobey God and break covenant with God, and break covenant with one another.
Righteousness is the standard upon which godly marriages are built.
Without God’s righteousness built into the foundation of any marriage or personal relationship, such a relationship will be vulnerable to attack by evil Temptations, and will inevitably, and predictively produce broken relationships that will eventually destroy one another, one little bit at a time. One criticism at a time. One resentment at a time. All it takes is: One seed of jealousy. One seed of dishonor, of disrespect, of dissolution, and once these seeds develop, mature, and grow into their full fruit in due season, then the inevitable end is near. Anger, Hatred, Rejection, and Divorce will result.
The opposite of God’s Righteousness in relationships is Sin.
Sin will destroy any and every good relationship. Sin’s character qualities are ALL opposite of God. Sin embodies everything wrong with individuals and relationships–and Sin will destroy them overtime. Sin is what causes selfishness, fights, wars, jealousy, hatred, and murder. Sin leads a person away from God’s Kingdom of Righteousness, and into Satan’s Domain of Wickedness. And at the end of the day, Satan’s Road of Sin is leading everyone on it, down into the pit of Hell. That is where everyone following that way, will end up on their final day. Hell and the Lake of Fire were prepared for the Devil and his angels as we learned from the “What is Hell? Series” (Matthew 25). Everyone following Satan’s Sin will share in Satan’s Reward.
The ultimate picture God uses to present the kind of relationship he desires to have with his children is the marriage relationship.
The ultimate marriage relationship is a picture of the union of one soul been joined to another. And the two become one. And they share all things together. And they willingly, and joyfully, give everything they have to one another. And there is no lack between them. And out of their union, out of the fruit of their righteousness together, they are able to produce a new generation of righteousness, that will be able to go even further, and higher, and deeper than they themselves have gone.
In Heaven, and in God, our heights and depths of relationship will have no limit. Because in God we are relating to an infinite being.
In other words, we are being joined in a marriage type of relationship to one who has infinite knowledge, infinite wisdom, infinite love and sacrifice, infinite generosity, infinite beauty, infinite patience, infinite mercy, infinite grace and favor, infinite trust and fidelity, infinite goodness and kindness, infinite creativity. In other words, we will never be bored, when we open the door to the infinite life that God has invited us to enjoy with him. And in Heaven we compound the infinite possibilities and magnitude of grace and truth in relationship to God and multiply them by what we will experience in ALL our relationships to one another. There will also be no limit of growth in our relationships to other saints, and other angels, and all the other living mysteries we will have the privilege to encounter IN HEAVEN.
All of this is far beyond our ability to conceive in our hearts at this time, therefore, in the wisdom of God, He has given us a picture that we can relate to, the picture of marriage. And yes, it is an imperfect picture, especially due to the corruption that man has polluted it with. But in its pure form, in the original intention and plan of God, and in its Righteous, marriage and the union of two souls becoming one in grace and truth, is the best picture we can even get that comes close to the invitation God has made to those who will receive his invitation, in His Full and Perfect Plan of Salvation. Marriage is the Picture he wants us to see, one of beauty, one of purity, one of perfection, bound together by pure love. ❤️
May His Picture speak volumes to you …
Matthew 22:1-14 (KJV)
1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. [This actually happened in A.D. 70]
8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.* 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
* Please note: that speechless man speaks volumes to us. No wedding garment means he had no righteousness. And he knew it, and that made him speechless. Without God’s righteousness living inside of him, he had nothing to build and eternal having a relationship upon. Another words, he didn’t belong there. He couldn’t sustain life and truth and relationships, as a result he was like a disease in the camp that needed to be removed. As such he needed to be bound hand and foot and cast out of the presence of God, or there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And hear God gives us his most formidable warning: many are called, but few are chosen.
Revelation 21:9 (KJV)
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
Revelation 19:7-9 (KJV)
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Revelation 22:17-21 (KJV)
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. 20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Revelation 21:1-2 (KJV)
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.