The Warrior and the City

Revelation 19:6-9

Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

Let us pray.

Father, You created all things so that Your Spirit might prepare a Bride for Your Son. Pour out that Spirit on Christian and Tara as they begin their life together. Fill them with joy and song, so that their marriage might be a sign now of the marriage feast to come. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, age after age. Amen.

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“Let us rejoice and be glad, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and the bride has made herself ready. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage Supper of the Lamb.”

The date was chosen before the foundation of the world. Messengers have spread into the highways and byways delivering invitations. Guests are assembled. At long last, it’s the wedding day of the Lamb.

We expect a bride in white, a bridegroom in the first-century equivalent of a tux and the apocalyptic equivalent of an orange bow tie. Where we expect a bridegroom, we see a rider on a white horse. Where we expect a tux, we see a blood-spattered robe. He’s not carrying a fashionable cane, but wielding a double-edged sword that extends from his mouth. He charges ahead to smite the nations, to rule them with a rod of iron, to tread the winepress of the wrath of God, and to slaughter kings whose flesh will be consumed by the birds of the sky.

Instead of a bride, we see a city that descends from heaven sparkling like jasper, made of gold so pure that it’s transparent as glass. Her foundation stones are precious gems, her pearl gates open day and night to receive the tribute of kings. As soon as she’s in focus, she’s a garden, with a river running through, the fruit of the tree of life forever ripe for picking, its leaves green for the healing of nations.

Come to the marriage feast. But we don’t see a bride and a groom. Through John’s eyes, we see a warrior and a city.

As was said in another context: This looks not like a nuptial.

Yet it is the nuptial, the wedding feast toward which all history moves. The whole aim of creation is summed up here, the date set when God determined to create humanity to be prepared by the Spirit as a Bride for His Son. As the first and future marriage, it’s the blueprint for all marriages. Jesus, the rider on the white horse, is the model husband; the church, new Jerusalem coming from heaven, is the model bride—models for you, Christian and Tara, as for every other bride and groom.

Every bridegroom, you see, must be a warrior. As soon as Adam received a bride, a tempter showed up. Adam was supposed to slay the serpent, but he cowered and watched as the serpent seduced his bride. Adam fell because he was not a warrior-husband.

Adam eventually worked himself into a fighting mood, but when he did, he attacked Eve instead of the tempter. He turned satanic, and became the first of millions of husbands to scapegoat his wife, which is ultimately a way of scapegoating God: “This woman You gave me.”

Jesus, though: Jesus is the Last Adam, a knight on a white horse with eyes fired by the Spirit. He’s ready to battle everything that threatens His bride. He doesn’t make scapegoats, but offers Himself as a scapegoat. He wears a crown, but no armor. He has no weapons but one, the sword that comes from His mouth, which is the Word of God.

This is Jesus, the model husband.

Every husband is to be a warrior-king fighting with the sword of the word. Every bride is the city-queen he defends. That may sound unfair: The guy gets to ride around with a sword, while the girl is stuck at home being protected. We know from Paul that the warrior-husband and the bridal-city are essential to one another. “In the Lord, neither is the woman without the man, nor is the man without the woman.” Hector needs Troy as much as Troy needs Hector.

A woman, Paul goes on to say, is man glorified, and that’s the keynote of John’s vision. The bride gleams like a jasper stone, the same stone that represents God enthroned in heaven. She is bright with the light of God and the Lamb. Measured with a golden rod, she is holy space, inviolable, kept only for her husband.

With her jewels and gold, she is Lady Wisdom, her treasure more precious than rubies. She wears bright linen, which are the righteous acts of the saints. Her cosmetics are kindness, generosity, and charity, her fruits the fruits of the Spirit. The city-bride is a garden of delights like the bride in the Song of Songs. Isaac, Jacob, Moses—each of their wives first appears by a well. The Lamb’s bride is not a well but a river, flowing with refreshing, enlivening water.

This is Jerusalem, the model bride.

Christian, if you think your wedding day begins a life of couch-potatoing with your can of Duff beer in one hand and the channel changer in the other, you’re headed for failure. If you’re a faithful husband and true, you won’t be dressed in a spotless tux for long. You’ll be wearing a robe dipped in blood, your own, because the only faithful husband is a sacrificial husband. If you want to be a triumphant warrior-husband, use the weapon of Jesus: Hear the Word. Submit to the Word. Let the Word cut and pierce, judge and renew you. Sing the Word. Speak the Word. Let the Word of Christ richly dwell in you, until the Word becomes a sword in your mouth.

Tara, you’re to be a bridal city, full of the light of the Lamb, consecrated to your husband, cosmetized by good works, a fruitful vine by the sides of the house. If you want to be a glorious bride, put on good works, adorn yourself with a gentle and quiet spirit. Treasure up wisdom. Put on the bright linen of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Speak the truth. Put on love, which is the bond of peace.

Christian, as you follow the example of Jesus the warrior-husband; Tara, as you are conformed by the Spirit to the image of the heavenly city: Together, you will become a living icon of the perfect marriage of the warrior and the city, the marriage that ends all marriages.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let us pray.

Father of our Lord Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, clothe Christian with Your Spirit, so that He may fight Your battles with the sword of Your Word. Adorn Tara with the jewels of wisdom and the good fruits of the Spirit. Bind them together, so that they might show the glory of Jesus and His church their whole life long. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, unto ages of ages. Amen.