Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of the marriage of the Lamb, where Jesus celebrates His union with His people, highlighting that the ultimate purpose of creation is to provide a bride for His Son. He encourages believers to engage in the celebration now, as the body of Christ prepares for this glorious event through righteous acts and dedication. Bickle stresses the importance of the Holy Spirit's role in preparing the bride and the call for the church to proclaim the message of the Bridegroom, inviting others to come to Him. He also discusses the urgency of this message in a generation marked by brokenness and the need for believers to actively participate in this prophetic call. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a deeper relationship with Jesus as the Bridegroom and a commitment to share this truth with others.

19 is one of the most glorious chapters in the Bible that described the celebration of the great marriage of the Lamb. That day when the Lamb, Jesus, celebrates His wedding with His people throughout all of history. Verse 7 gets us right in the middle of that description and it says, let us be glad and rejoice. Let's enter into the celebration. Even now we enter into that celebration, but where all the saints from history will be glad and rejoicing together, giving Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has finally come as the idea. Because the Father's ultimate purpose for creation was to provide a family for Himself and to provide a bride for His Son, an eternal companion. That's why He created the human race. What was that His Son would have an equally yoked companion forever to rule the earth with Him and that this companion would be this corporate people would be near and dear to His heart and share all things with Him. Finally the marriage of the Lamb has come and the great miracle of history is that the wife has made herself ready. That the body of Christ, we're talking about in a generation on the earth before the Lord returns, there will be a generation that will respond to the grace of God in such a wholehearted way that the Bible says they will be prepared for that feast on that day. So this is more than just all the saints in the resurrection being prepared, but the wife has made herself ready. Verse 8, and to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. That the body of Christ, the bride of Christ will actually wear tokens of her dedication. That all the believers in the resurrection will have certain garments but that are automatically theirs, but in addition to those garments there will be garments that are depicting the specific dedication that the believers had to the Lamb when they were on the earth. Now in paragraph A, the wedding of the Lamb is one of the most significant days in human history and it is one of the greatest achievements of the cross that the body of Christ, the people of God, weak and broken people would be qualified for that level of relationship. And the fact that the bride will be ready is one of the greatest miracles of the Holy Spirit, one of the greatest works of the Holy Spirit in history. Paragraph B, Jesus is only going to come in context to a bride that's been prepared to that generation. Throughout history God's been building this storyline that it will crescendo in a body of believers across the nations and all the nations of the earth that will respond in such a way that they will be prepared for that day. A prophetic word that was going around the nations in the 80s and 90s was, to a people without mixture God will give the spirit without measure. And I believe that that's a true word that we're going to see happen in the body of Christ before the Lord returns. Now John entered into the celebration of that. He didn't wait till that day and neither should we wait till the resurrection to celebrate. Verse, I mean paragraph C, he was so overwhelmed by the revelation of what he saw that he actually fell down and worshipped an angel. I mean that's very inappropriate to do, but it depicts his state of being overwhelmed by the glory of what he saw. And part of what he saw was his own story. He saw his own destiny in this marriage celebration. Paragraph E, the truth of the wedding is not just a theological statement, it's your story. And when you see yourself in this story, I mean your name is on the page. It's not just about a people, you're a part of the story that will radically change your relationship with the Lord. I like the song that we were singing today that Tim Reimer wrote in the lyrics that this is the reason that I'm living. He says there's going to be a wedding. I will marry the Lamb. This is the reason I am living. And I believe that this is the reason we're living. We're being prepared by our choices now to have garments in that day. We'll actually wear our choices. We'll wear our love in our garments on that great day. Roman numeral 2, Revelation 22, 17 now gives us details of what it looks like for the bride to be prepared. The bride will be fully engaged with the Holy Spirit. That's what the prepared bride of chapter 19 looks like, fully engaged. And here in chapter 22, verse 17, it describes what the engaged bride, the bride engaged with the Spirit looks like. It says in verse 7 that the Spirit and the bride say come. Here John is giving one of the most significant and most informative prophecies about the end-time church. He's describing the church and the Holy Spirit saying the same thing at the same time. That the church is doing and saying what the Holy Spirit is doing and saying. Now this hasn't happened since the early chapters of the book of Acts where the whole church was in agreement in such unity with the Holy Spirit that they did and said what the Spirit was saying and doing. That's certainly not happening right now in the body of Christ globally. Here and there it might be happening, but certainly not wholesale. But it's going to change before the Lord returns. What a glorious reality. Well what will that change look like? Well chapter 22, verse 17 gives us a very significant insight into what it looks like to be engaged with the Holy Spirit. Verse 17 it's the Spirit and the bride together saying come. Now you'll notice that that cry come has two different directions, two different dimensions to it. It says let the one who hears say come and let him who thirsts come. And so the first to respond are people on the earth. They're coming to the Bridegroom King, to the Messiah as the Bridegroom God. Now later in verse 20, a Jesus speaks and he says I am coming and then John cries even so come Lord Jesus. In verse 17 the cry come is actually to people that the people would come to the Bridegroom God. Verse 20 it's the Bridegroom God coming to the people. So there's two dimensions of the coming that is important to understand here. Paragraph B, the Holy Spirit there's a prayer dimension and there's a proclamation dimension that the Spirit is inspiring through the church. I mean it's the Spirit praying and the Spirit proclaiming but he's doing it through the church. So there's an intercessory dimension, the prayer part, and then there's a messenger dimension which is the proclamation part. So the bride is intercessory praying and the bride is a messenger they are proclaiming. So you'll notice in paragraph B there's a vertical dimension, the prayer part, we're crying upwards come Lord Jesus. But there's a horizontal, there's a messenger dimension we're crying to people come to the Lord Jesus but particularly as the Bridegroom God that's the context here. Paragraph C, now when we pray come Lord Jesus and the Spirit prays come Lord Jesus through the church there are at least three different applications that we can highlight here. Number one it's to come near us. When we say come Lord Jesus as individuals we're praying come near us. Now the Lord's always with us, the Lord lives in us. I mean so he's always with us but we're talking about that experiential nearness where we we sense his presence and feel his presence touching our heart. I mean in worship this morning as you were worshiping the Lord in essence you were crying part of the worship come to us, I mean come near us, touch our hearts, warm our hearts with your love. Well there's a second way we pray come Lord Jesus. It's here in number two come to us in revival or come to us in justice or break in in power in a different specific region of the earth you know whether it's a nation or a city or whatever you're focused on. But there's a third dimension that we say come Lord Jesus and that's come for us. In other words it's when he comes in the sky in flaming fire with all the angels and he captures the raptures the saints and they're transformed the second coming of Christ. Now we don't pray the third part come in the sky we don't pray that right now that's not what the Holy Spirit's not inspiring that prayer. We can express our longing for him to come oh we long for the day but the Holy Spirit knows there's a number of prophecies that have to be fulfilled from the lips of Jesus himself before he can actually come in the sky. So but we can pray Lord draw near us come to us in revival come to us in justice break it in power so in those dimensions we're praying for the Lord we're saying Lord come quickly. Top of page two. Now this is the generation the Lord returns is the first time in history in that generation and it's my opinion we're in the early days of it that's not a revelation that's just an opinion it's my personal opinion I don't know for sure I could be wrong but I think we're in that early days of that generation and if not I don't think it's too far down the road if we're not but in that generation it will be the first time where the Holy Spirit will universally emphasize the revelation of the Messiah as a bridegroom and the body of Christ as a cherished bride. Meaning that truth has been well established in the Old and New Testament. I mean the Old Testament prophets made it clear the Messiah is a bridegroom God and the redeemed would be a cherished bride. The New Testament makes it clear and so for two thousand years though it's been clearly in the Bible Old and New Testament the Spirit has not emphasized this truth globally in a universal way. He has stirred up a little group here and a little group there and touched this man or that woman through church history and they would proclaim this truth but universally I mean it hasn't happened in most of by far the majority of the body of Christ through history hasn't really interacted with the the truth of the Messiah as a bridegroom God. They've known him as king they've known him as Savior some have known him as healer but not as a bridegroom with desire they're more familiar with a king with power and one who forgives. Well notice that in this verse the spirit of the bride say come it's the redeemed in her bridal identity. It's not the spirit in the family of God. It's not the spirit in the body of Christ. It's not the spirit and the kingdom of God. It's the spirit and the redeemed in their bridal identity. This is a new reality that will be established in the generation the Lord returns across the whole world across the whole body of Christ. Now we are always the family of God we're always the body of Christ. This verse is not minimizing or demeaning that part of our identity in God but it's indicating there's a time in history where the revelation of the Messiah as a bridegroom will come to the forefront and it will capture the attention and the hearts of the body of Christ worldwide. Now I believe that the very escalation the increase of this focus in the body of Christ today last 10 or 20 years is in itself a sign of the times. I remember in the late 80s when the Lord stirred me up with the truth of Jesus as a bridegroom. It was a new idea. I mean I technically knew about it but I'd never thought about it or studied it or talked to God about it or preached about it and the late 80s the Lord made a real point that he wanted me to do that so I began the journey and I had a research team and I said find anywhere across the world where somebody's preaching on this like I don't know anything about it and the Lord said talk about it and I don't know you know what to say and I was very disappointed because my research team and they were diligent they found very little information in the body of Christ currently I mean 25 years ago is what it was they couldn't find sermons or books on it or anything hardly and a few little references through church history and I said well Lord how am I gonna do this I guess it's gonna be the Bible you know I got mr. so I started reading though anyway I'm just joking about that obviously it's the Bible but here's my point I'm making here is that in the last 10 or 20 years there's a volume of material being published in sermons and seminars and people talking about it worship songs multitudes of worship songs on this theme in the last 10 or 20 years my point is I'm alerted something new is happening on the horizon of the body of Christ right now the church the redeemed are beginning to see themselves as a cherished bride and they're beginning to see the Messiah as more than a Savior but as a bridegroom with desire for them paragraph e now over the years men have said bride of Christ I don't want to be the bride of Christ they think that they're gonna end up having to wear a dress or something you know that the bright now you don't have to wear dress nothing like that the bride of Christ is describing a position of privilege like sons of God women are sons of God they are in a position of privilege they have access to the throne of God the power of God and as the bride of Christ it's a position of privilege we have access to his heart to his emotions and so what do you want is power or you want his throne and power or his heart and emotions well the answer is you get to have both you don't have to pick one or the other and but the Lord is is allowing us to know that he doesn't want us serving him at a distance he wants us relating to him intimately in nearness that's the message that the bridegroom God is wanting to convey to his people paragraph f the bridegroom message is about his emotions about his affections about the beauty of Jesus his commitments to us that he sees us as I he cherishes us as his bride that he wants a relationship of nearness not just service doesn't want us just doing tasks for him at a distance but he wants us relating to him in nearness paragraph G now that's very important very strategic of the Lord to reserve the revelation of the bridegroom God to that final generation of natural history that generation that the Lord would return in because in that generation the Bible makes it clear that it will be the most sinful seductive perverse generation in human history there will be more sexual brokenness in that generation broken families sexual brokenness all over the earth lots of lonely people feeling of feeling isolated abandoned bitter I mean it will be a generation where multitudes of humans will be devoid of human love where sin and temptation and perversion will come to a whole new height and it's in the midst of that where the Holy Spirit says I have an answer we've already thought it through we're going to unveil the glory of the bridegroom's heart the Messiah's heart and I tell you the love of Jesus will be more powerful than the lust and the perversion in the society and temptation the love of Jesus will be more powerful than the bitterness and the pain of feeling abandoned and lonely and it's the revelation not of the king but of the bridegroom with desire that is going to touch that very very specific now of course the revelation of the king is very important but it touches other different dimensions of the kingdom not only will that that generation be the most sexually broken seductive and and perverse it will be the most violent generation there it will be the generation with the most oppression with the Antichrist Empire but I tell you the love of Jesus will over overpower fear like it will overpower lust and it's like the Lord saying I've already planned something very special for that hour in history I'm going to unveil the beauty and the glory of my son and how he feels for his people with an emphasis that I've never given before I can imagine the father saying something like that Roman numeral three well we've we talked a moment about the the intercessory aspect of the Spirit of the Bride saying come come near us come to us come for us we talked about those three real quickly now we're going to talk about the messenger aspect that it because the Holy Spirit and the bride are not only saying come in prayer they're saying come as a proclamation as a message and God's called his church to be intercessors but he's also got his called his church to be messengers and so we're going to look at four different statements here in verse 17 and each of these four statements they imply action they are there there's an implied exhortation to action and each one of these four statements the statements are very brief but if if we if we search it out these statements have a have a significant implications to each one of them now when I talk about messengers I don't mean just people who preach in an auditorium on a microphone I'm talking about messengers it's one-on-one discipling messengers we're calling people to come to the bridegroom God in the counseling room in the classroom in homeschooling whether through art or drama or media or writing or social media all those kinds of ways there's multitudes of ways to call the people to come to the Lord the bridegroom God that as a bride you're calling people to come to the bridegroom is the idea that's the the clear intent of this verse is that we're calling people now when we call people we're not only calling unbelievers that's evangelism we're also calling believers to come to the bridegroom God that's called discipleship and so both dimensions that messenger element again whether it's one-on-one whether it's a small group setting whether it's drama art music song writings you know blogging whatever it is those are many ways where we can engage in the participate in this prophetic message from Revelation chapter 22 verse 17 now it's important to understand the context of chapter 22 verse 17 that it is the end and it's a a summary of sorts of the final section of the book of Revelation and the final section of the book of Revelation chapter 19 to 22 these four chapters they sum up the book of Revelation and in many ways they sum up the whole New Testament and in many ways they sum up the whole Bible these four chapters bring the thing to a head the understanding of the Messiah and in a very very specific way Jesus the Messiah is set forth as a bridegroom king and judge very specifically these three facets of his many facets of who he is incidentally at the very end of Jesus is teaching ministry before he died on the cross in Matthew 24 and 25 he showed himself at the very end as bridegroom king and judge he did that as well when he met his disciples in Matthew 24 and 25 he said I'm bridegroom king and judge and so at the end of natural history that's what the Holy Spirit is going to emphasize he's a king with power he's a bridegroom with desire he's a judge with zeal and he's zealous to remove everything that hinders love that's called the judgment of God his judgments are about love his judgments are about confronting everything that hinders love and moving it out of the way and there's no contradiction between Jesus as bridegroom king and judge there's no contradiction in any dimensions of his personality well let's look at the first statement of verse 17 paragraph B it says the Spirit and the bride say come and the implied exhortation to action is we are we are deliberately to cultivate a relationship where we're living in agreement with the Holy Spirit we're doing what he's doing and we're saying what he's saying and so the Holy Spirit is the lead in this verse it's the Holy Spirit and then the bride responding under the Holy Spirit's inspiration and under the Holy Spirit's leadership so when it's the Spirit of the bride crying come it speaks of us the body of Christ engaged deeply with what he's saying and what he's doing and he's praying and he's proclaiming those are the things he's saying and doing and again the proclaiming can be done in very very different ways that I talked about a few moments ago through through our drama and the business communities many many ways one-on-one discipling counseling parenting homeschooling we convey the message in all those various ways paragraph one it's not just that we disciple believers in this revelation of seeing Jesus as a bridegroom king a judge and disciple believers as seeing themselves as a cherished bride and calling them to commit to walk out the first commandment that's really the discipleship in one sentence those kinds of reality we're calling them to live fascinated by the beauty of God and exhilarated by the love of Jesus beloved when we live fascinated by his beauty and exhilarated by his love then it's a whole different thing to it we obey him with a whole different mindset than if we're at a distance from him thinking about how burdened it is burdensome it is to obey him and do what he wants to do there's a whole different grid when we see the bridegroom king and judge well it's not just about discipleship but it's also about evangelism now notice here in Matthew 22 and Jesus is final public sermon to the nation of Israel this is this is the very last public message he gave then he went to the cross I mean he had some more private meetings with the twelve but here's his final public meeting message he says the kingdom of heaven is like a king who arranged a marriage for his son Jesus is saying my father is arranging a marriage and I am the son here's his final message to Israel I mean his final public message bridegroom king and judge you see it right here in Matthew 22 all three of them come together he says in the king the father in this parable send out his servants the evangelist to call the people to tell them they're invited to a wedding now notice that the message isn't that you can escape hell although I love the message you can escape hell very important message it's a biblical message but Jesus is shifting the the way he's presenting what these servants are to say from escape hell and have a little bit easier life in this age that's not the message it's come participate in a wedding so but this is a an idea the Old Testament prophets established so the the Jews in theory were familiar with this but I imagine this was a bit startling when he he conveyed the gospel message as an invitation to a wedding he says in verse 9 going to the highways and the byways and when you meet the unbelievers the Gentiles of the nations when you meet them invite them to a wedding not just to have a few friends and get forgiven get their passport stamped so they go to heaven when they die get a little bit of money because Jesus is blessing you I mean I like all those I like friends I like a little bit of money and I like not going to hell I really like those but Jesus is saying invite them to participate in a wedding that's the core thing that he was pressing here now the heart of the good news the heart of the gospel is that we enter into relationship with the king we call unbelievers to participate in beauty and love and dignity so much more than just dutiful service where they grit their teeth and stand at a distance and wonder why God has such strange commandments that are invasive in their life we're inviting unbelievers to a relationship with a man who loves them beyond anything they can imagine top of page three let's look let's look at the second statement the first statement is the Spirit and the Bride say come that depicts the unity of the the intentional cultivating of the unity between us and the Holy Spirit and the second statement let him who hears let them join in and take hold of the message and let them begin to say come it's not enough that that somebody would tell you the message the Lord saying when you hear the message and it registers with you you move from a recipient only and you become one of the promoters of the message you say come is what he's saying engage in the prophetic message of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit is prophetically proclaiming this message and he wants the body of Christ worldwide to hear it and then after they've received it there then they they they always receive it we were we're receiving more and more and more as all of our lives is the idea but then they become promoters of the message themselves let's go to number two the Holy Spirit wants every believer to hear and say this message imagine a billion believers in the earth a billion and the great harvest all of them hearing and participating in this beloved to the degree that you hear this message to that degree the body of individual believers will participate in the end time move of God I mean people want to be prepared to to participate in that great move of God whether it's in our day or it's down the road after our day but I tell you this a person will only participate in that move of God to the degree they hear and receive the message of the bridegroom God because that's what the Holy Spirit the end time move is going to be about the bridegroom king and judge being made known in power to his church there's a lot of groups around the earth that are really buying into this and still much of the church is unaware of it they just think of it get a few friends get a little happier life have a more cheerful day be encouraged in the things are doing and that's it and the king is saying I have so much more that I want you preoccupied with than just the affairs of your everyday life statement number three let him who thirst come and the idea is once your thirst is awakened you can have as much of the understanding as you want as much as you're thirsty for as much as you desire you can have so anyone that's thirsty come to the bridegroom king over and over and over this this state of constantly coming to the bridegroom king is the idea statement number four he says let him take the water freely it's not enough that the message is presented to you that's not enough that you drank drink a bit in your initially your thirst is been quenched the Lord is saying you have to take hold of this you have to engage yourself in this message yourself don't wait for the passively wait for the message to overtake you you actively take hold of it's like when Jesus said the kingdom of God suffers violence in the the violence spiritually violent he meant the resolute they will take the kingdom by force meaning they won't wait till just things unfold they're gonna go after it in an aggressive way and so that's what he's pointing out there Roman numeral five I mean Roman numeral four now in order to understand these four statements in verse 17 that we just looked at in order to understand it more fully we need to go back a few verses because verse 17 is actually the middle of the conversation often when we teach on this passage we start in verse 17 but in reality we're in the middle of the paragraph for the middle of the idea that Jesus is making known it's better to start at the beginning of the conversation and so we go back to a verse 12 where Jesus speaks directly verse 12 to 15 and then verse 16 he talks directly about our life choices and how they have eternal consequences Jesus is talking in verse 12 to 15 about the eternal consequences of our life choices then in verse 16 he changes he goes now let me tell you more about me that you don't know I am the root and the offspring of David I'm the bright and the morning star and verses 12 to 16 lead right up obviously to verse 17 and verse 17 is actually a response to the verses right before it to the truths in those verses right before it so in verse 12 he says I'm coming quickly Jesus is talking to John he goes but I'm coming with a reward and I'm going to give it to everyone according to their works according to the deeds they did now beloved most of our deeds of obedience are small and they go unnoticed they're not big dynamic things that everybody sees and they make a big impact most of our deeds of obedience which are expressions of loving Jesus are acting in humility and servanthood and in giving and and and and loving those that don't love us and it's acting in the way the Sermon on the Mount describes and a lot of our works by the way every one of our works will be rewarded our works of obedience will be rewarded by the Lord on that day because they move his heart because when we obey he sees it as our love for him and it moves him and he remembers it even something as simple as giving a cup of cold water in his name he remembers it forever because he takes it personally now beloved most of our works again are small and unnoticed and they happen in our home they happen in our marriages with our families they happen in close relationships where we're familiar so it's easier to to take people for granted and close friendships and working relationships that's where works of love and humility happen a lot it's not just when you go on a ministry trip or a specific outreach some people think that's their works only those are obviously works but the works are what's happening in your conversation with your spouse or your parents or your siblings or your children etc your neighbors the people you work with like all those guys they kind of bug me that's what I'm talking about love me in that context I know your neighbors don't bug you but and my neighbors don't bug me either okay here we go because my mother-in-law is my neighbor I love my mother-in-law I just put that together I just went whoa she's amazing woman actually really amazing one you know I said this when she first moved here five years ago I'll say it again since I brought her up I've been married to my wife Diane we've been married 36 years and me and my mother-in-law have in 36 years have never had one strained exchange between each other she's never said one phrase that was negative to me in 30 in 36 years and and I trust I've not said one to her we've had that I mean that's a mother-in-law that you're blessed of God right throw that in since I brought her up okay let's go on to page 4 paragraph B well Jesus talks from verse 12 to 15 I didn't break it down but he tells them positive things that happen to the obedient and the negative consequences to the disobedient but what we do has eternal consequences and this is a critical part of the message the Spirit of the Bride say come I mean it's foundational to it but that's we'll talk about more at another time but in paragraph B which is verse 16 right before verse 17 Jesus says now let me talk to you about myself and who I am because who I am and this dimension of my ministry and my personality is critical to you engaging with the Spirit to cry come to the Lord in intercession to the cry come to the people in proclamation one way or the other now notice verse 16 and 17 how they just go right together I Jesus I am the root and the offspring of David I am the bride of the morning star and the response instantly is and the Spirit of the bride broke out in intercession and proclamation under the power of that truth so if you remove verse 16 well really verse 12 to 16 you're not going to have the bride moved under the power of those truths in the same way where they're moved to intercession and proclamation because that's what moves the bride is what happens from verse 12 to 16 well let's look at these four facets of Jesus's glory paragraph C we're going to look at Jesus as the root of David and Jesus as the offspring of David those are two different issues now these two titles emphasize his messianic heritage as the son of David these are two titles that are rooted in the Old Testament prophets anybody that understands the Old Testament Jewish prophets about the coming Messiah they know the Messiah will be the son of David and he will rule the whole earth on the throne of David in the city of Jerusalem now a lot of Gentile believers don't really think about a Jewish man coming to earth to rule the nations and they don't think about ruling and reigning with a man on the earth most Gentile believers think about worshipping Jesus in heaven far away and it's not about we do worship Jesus but Jesus when he comes is bringing heaven down to earth and we will be worshipping him for sure that's the premier thing we'll be doing but we will be reigning on the earth with a Jewish man and that's the context of the Messiah coming that the old that the Jewish community was very very familiar with well the root of David the offspring of David they speak of his dual nature of being fully God and fully man number one Jesus is the root of David meaning that he's the root system to David he was before David I mean the tree of David the root system Jesus was before David is what this is saying very clearly he's the support and supply of David the kingdom of David the throne of David the promises to David he came before him the idea is that he's fully God is the point here is that he stands behind all the promises that he gave to David the verse that comes to mind is John chapter 8 verse 58 when Jesus tells the Pharisees about Abraham he goes before Abraham was I am I am Jehovah long before Abraham existed and of course Abraham was a thousand years before David and what Jesus is really saying is that I'm the root system long before David was ever born I'm God I'm not just David's great great great grandson I'm David's God I am David's supply I'm the system I'm the root system that put him into existence is what he's saying but he's saying more than just he's God and he's before David number two he says I'm also the offspring of David I'm his great great great grandson the Isaiah calls it the branch of David he's the I'm a Jewish king from the lineage of David now Jesus is is human forever I mean when Jesus became a man when he was conceived in Mary's womb and took upon human nature he will be human forever there's never a time where he's not human anymore that's a remarkable reality that when he said yes to humanity he'll be human forever I mean the father I could imagine I'll make up the conversation are you sure son you'll be human forever if you become human to save them I'll do it I'll do it but not only is Jesus human forever he's Jewish forever did you know whatever nationality you are you'll be that same nationality a billion years from now you will still be what you is right now how's that for good English well that's a remarkable reality he's not just a savior he's a Jewish king and the Jewish king is coming back in context to a military conflict around the city of Jerusalem I'm it's real clear in the Old Testament prophets that the nations will gather around the city of Jerusalem we find this in Revelation 19 verse 19 the nations of the earth the kings of the earth are gathered around the city and they are warring against the city and particularly against Jesus himself and when Jesus says I'm the the greater David I'm his great-grandson I'm the son of David I'll sit on the throne of David I'm coming back to Jerusalem I'm gonna liberate the city I'm gonna rule the earth that's what this meant when he said I'm the offspring of David I'm the great great grandson the promised seed the promised grandson that's me I'm not only before him I'm after him as well what a remarkable reality paragraph D buddy Jesus is more than a Jewish king he's the bride in the morning star there's so much to each one of these phrases and I'm just giving you just a faint whisper of each one of these phrases in Revelation 2 17 I'm in 16 and 17 but these two titles give us insight into how Jesus will help Israel how Jesus will lead Israel empower Israel fight for Israel these verses are denoting that and again you have to go back into the Old Testament prophets in the New Testament as well in order to see the implications of these two statements of the bright star of God as well as the morning star well let's look at the bright star first well not only will he guide his people he'll fight for them I'll add the verse 2nd Thessalonians 2 verse 8 2nd Thessalonians 2 8 when Jesus stands before the Antichrist it says that the very brightness of Jesus's countenance will destroy the Antichrist when Jesus stands before the Antichrist the brightness will overpower the most powerful evil man in human history says in Numbers 24 just another prophecy a remarkable one that spoke about the Messiah back in Numbers 24 I don't have it in the notes he would come like the star of God and destroy all of his enemies through the brightness of who he is he would consume all of his enemies as the great star of God well there's many dimensions to Jesus as the bright star but number 2 he's also the morning star that's different than the bright star the morning star is bright but there's a little different connotation to this that in the early hours of the twilight of the early hours in the morning I mean as the dawn's about to break is what I'm trying to say that the morning star appears and it's we know it's the planet Venus it appears in the sky it's the bright shining star before there's you don't see any other stars and it is indicating the dawning of a new day and Jesus is saying he goes I will look I have it written here in Isaiah 60 I'll end with this in Isaiah chapter 60 verse 2 the darkness shall cover the earth that's the great tribulation deep darkness will cover the people's all the nations the people mean nations but in the time of the tribulation where darkness is increasing moral darkness but also physical darkness is spiritual darkness the Lord Jesus is going to arise over his people now when Jesus arises over his people that he's going to do it in two ways he's going to appear at the second coming that instant appearing but before that are those final years and months leading up to his actual appearing in the sky he's arising in his glory over his people the power of God will progressively increase and the revelation of Jesus he will be like the star that's rising in the time of darkness and when we see that increase of the anointing the body of Christ it's alive at that time when they see that they will take they will take encouragement because it's declaring the dawning of a new day he goes when I increase the release of my glory and when I appear in the sky I am declaring the new day is just around the corner and it will give tremendous confidence and courage to the people of God and of course there's much more to the morning star than that and then when the body of Christ is impacted by those truths from verse 12 to 16 they will cry out with urgency under the anointing of the spirit in full unity they'll say come Lord Jesus and they'll say to the nations come to the Lord Jesus as the bridegroom God beloved I want to enter into that now I don't want to wait till that day I've heard the message so I want to tell people come to the bridegroom King you've heard the message I want to encourage you today that you're gonna say in your heart with a new resolve even in a new commitment that Lord I've I've heard so now I'm gonna drink I'm thirsty but I'm gonna I'm gonna take hold of this I'm gonna go deeper I'm gonna go deeper I'm not just gonna let it take hold of me one day wait on it I'm going after it I'm gonna take hold of this thing and then I'm gonna make it known in whatever Avenue I can I'm gonna call whoever I can call to this glorious truth more than just get their sins forgiven I'm gonna call them into the great storyline of that hour of history amen and amen