Stephen Kaung emphasizes the significance of the two marriages in Revelation, illustrating the spiritual union between God and humanity. He explains that the first marriage in Revelation 19 marks the beginning of the millennium, while the second in chapters 21 and 22 signifies the start of eternity. Kaung highlights the necessity of being clothed in the righteousness of the saints, which is developed through the Holy Spirit's work in our lives. He warns against complacency in our Christian walk, urging believers to actively cooperate with the Holy Spirit to prepare their wedding garments for the coming of the Lord. Ultimately, he reassures that God's purpose will be fulfilled, and all who are called will be gathered in His eternal kingdom.

Will you please turn to Revelation, the last book in the Bible. Revelation chapter 19. We'll read from verse 6 through 9. Revelation chapter 19 verse 6. And I heard as a voice of a great crowd, and as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of strong thunders, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, has taken to Himself kingly power. Let us rejoice and exult, and give Him glory. For the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. And it was given to her that He should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And He says to me, Write, Blessed are they who are called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb. And He says to me, These are the true words of God. And then chapter 21 from verse 1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea exists no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice out of the heavens, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be people, or God Himself shall be with them, their God. And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall not exist any more, nor grief, nor cry, nor distress shall exist any more, for the former things have passed away. And He that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He says to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And He said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to Him the thirst of the fountain of life freely. He that overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be to Him God, and He shall be to me Son. And finally, chapter 22, verse 1. And He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, going out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street and of the river, on this side and on that side, the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, in each month yielding its fruit, and the leaves of the tree for healing of the nations. And no curse shall be any more, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name is on their foreheads, and night shall not be any more, and no need of a lamp and light of the sun, for the Lord God shall shine upon them, and they shall reign to the ages of ages. Shall we pray? Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for gathering us together this morning. We thank Thee for the privilege of being invited to Thy table. We thank Thee for all the goodness, salvation, that Thou hast bestowed upon us. Lord, we come to Thee now with hearts of gratitude. We thank Thee for all that Thou hast given to us. We are unworthy, but Lord Thou art the worthy one. And as we continue in Thy presence, we pray that Thy Spirit will move among us, open Thy words to us, touch our hearts, and bring us into the reality of Thy word, that we may glorify Your name. We commit this time into Your hand, and trust Thy Spirit to do the work for the glory of God. Amen. A few weeks ago, we spoke that when you read the Bible from the beginning to the end, you will find that the Bible begins with marriage, and it ends with marriage. Now, of course, we are not talking about the marriage in this world. We are talking about the spiritual marriage, the union of God and man. For that is the purpose of God. How in the very beginning, through the marriage of Adam and Eve, we saw a glimpse of the union of God with man. The principle is very simple. Only that which is out of God can return and be united with God. Anything that is not out of God cannot be united with God. So, only that which is of Christ can be united with Christ into one. So, how important it is that in our spiritual life, it is but Christ, not ourselves, that can eventually be united to God. There is, therefore, much dealing in our lives. Not only our sins have to be covered by the blood of the Lamb, but even the self in us has to be dealt with so that it may be Christ in us and no longer we ourselves. And it is only that which is of Christ can return and be united with Christ. Now, this morning, we would like to go to the end of the Bible. And you'll find it is again on marriage. But when you read from chapter 19 to chapter 22, you'll find there are two marriages of the Lamb. Now, are they one or are they two? If you read carefully, you'll find there are two marriages. Why? Because the one recorded in chapter 19, you'll find time-wise, it begins millennium. But when you read chapter 21 to 22, you'll find that it begins with eternity. In other words, in these two marriages, you'll find they are a thousand years apart. The one you'll find in chapter 19 is the one that begins millennium. But the one in chapter 21 and 22 is at the end of the millennium, is the beginning of eternity. So, brothers and sisters, we find that even before eternity, there will come millennium, a thousand years. After the end of this age, the age to come is the millennium, a thousand years. And during the millennium, there will be a marriage. Now, who is the bride? That is a very important question. So, when we read chapter 19, we find verse 7. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. And it was given to her that He should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Now, here we find the bride is the one who was given to be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Now, here you find it is not Christ, our righteousness, rather it is the righteousnesses of the saints. There is a great difference there. Brothers and sisters, when we come to the Lord, the Lord becomes our righteousness. We had no righteousness of our own. We were sinners in the sight of God. But if we believe in the Lord Jesus, if we accept His blood, we will find that Christ becomes our righteousness before God. In other words, He gives us the standing before God. Before we believe in the Lord Jesus, we could not stand before God. Why? Because if we should stand before God, we will be smitten to death due to our sins. But thank God, if you have believed in the Lord Jesus, your sins have been forgiven and Christ becomes your righteousness before God. You can stand before God because you are covered with Christ. But if you read carefully, you will find the white and linen, fine and linen, bright and pure is the righteousnesses of the saints. In other words, it is not Christ our righteousness. It is the righteousnesses of the saints. You know, when we come to God, we are closed with Christ who is our righteousness. Otherwise, no one can stand before God. But what you find, the white linen that the bride is closed with is called the righteousnesses of the saints. It is a different righteousness. Now, what does it mean? It means that after we have been righteous before God in Christ Jesus, we need to have another closing over us. And that another closing is our wedding garment. And another closing over and above, the first closing, which is Christ our righteousness, is called the righteousnesses of the saints. Now, you remember when the prodigal son came back, the first thing the father did was to close him with fine cloth, fine closing. But that is Christ our righteousness. But after we have come home, after we are closed with Christ our righteousness, then it is God's will that by the grace of God, we will develop a righteousness in our life, which is called the righteousnesses of the saints. If you turn to Psalm 45, Psalm 45, and you have a marriage here. In verse 13, all glorious is the king's daughter within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. So, in other words, the first closing of the virgin is the closing of Christ. We cannot stand before God by ourselves. The only standing we have before God is when we are closed with Christ. He is a closing of wrought gold. Because gold in the scripture always stands for God. So, as we come to God, we are closed with Christ. And it is the first closing we have in verse 13. But when you read on to verse 14, and he shall be brought unto the king in raiment of embroidery, the virgins behind her, her companions shall be brought in unto thee. In other words, after he had been closed with wrought gold, then he had to be put on another clothing, and that is his wedding, her wedding clothing. And another clothing is a raiment of embroidery. Brothers and sisters, do you see the difference? The first one, he is closed with wrought gold, which represents Christ, our righteousness. Otherwise, we have no standing before God. But to be married to Christ, you need a marriage clothing. And the marriage clothing is a raiment of embroidery. And I believe we all know what embroidery is. When a woman is doing embroidery, you find it is a very tedious work, because it is stitches by stitches. Patiently, you find that he embroidered the clothing. So, this represents the patient work of the Holy Spirit. How the Holy Spirit, after we have believed in the Lord Jesus, has patiently embroidered into our life our wedding garment. We believe we all experience this. After we have believed in the Lord Jesus, after we have our standing before God, then how about our daily life? We find that in our daily life, the Holy Spirit who dwells within us is doing an embroidery work in our life. Stitch by stitch, patiently, without giving up, he continues to do the stitching until you have a garment of embroidery. And this garment of embroidery is called the righteousness of the saints. You notice the word righteousness here is in plural number. It is not the first closing, which is the righteousness of Christ, is in singular number. But this righteousness is in plural number. In other words, it is the righteous acts that we, by the working of the Holy Spirit in our life, as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit and deal with our life. It is like embroidery work, stitch by stitch. The Holy Spirit is daily working in us to work Christ into our living so that all that we live, it is no longer we, but it is Christ who lives in us. The apostle Paul said, it is no longer I, it is Christ who lives in me. And how does he live in you and in me? He lives in you and me through the working of the Holy Spirit. Why is the Holy Spirit dwelling in us? What is he doing in us? As you read the scripture, you'll find the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit is one. And his work is nothing but to stitch Christ into our lives. It is a patient work because how often we find we rebel against the Holy Spirit. In our daily life, the Holy Spirit who dwells within us is patiently working Christ in us. Anything that is not of Christ in us, or to say that what is our self, self-life, which is not Christ's life, he will remind us. He will touch us. He will show us. And if we cooperate and willing to listen to the voice of the inner spirit, then we find we will be embroidered. And brothers and sisters, you realize how patient is this work. After we believe in the Lord Jesus, as long as we live on earth, in our daily life, you are not alone seeking to be like Christ. You cannot do that. The Holy Spirit who dwells in your spirit is working in you. He is telling you what is Christ, what is not of Christ. And as he works in you and reminds you of that, if you cooperate, if you listen to the inner voice of the Holy Spirit, and you're willing to be dealt with, then daily, gradually, as long as you live, you'll find you'll gradually be delivered from your own self, and you are being closed with embroidery garment, your wedding garment. So, dear brothers and sisters, it is very important that after you are saved, as long as you live, you need to experience this embroidery work. Now, sometimes we have the mistake, and the mistake is we say as long as we are saved, that's it. So, after we are saved, we don't care how we live, because we think that we are guaranteed to go to heaven. But, brothers and sisters, we are greatly misunderstood. Why? Now, it is true, if you believe in the Lord Jesus, He is your Savior, and He will save you, to the uttermost. He will save you eventually. So, that is true, that one day, you will have your place in heaven. But, brothers and sisters, it is not that simple, because what about your daily life on earth? Can we, as Christians, be careless in our daily life, thinking that we are saved after all? Isn't that enough? Like some people say, if my two legs are in heaven, I'm satisfied. But, brothers and sisters, you may be satisfied, but God is not, because God's thought is that you be like Christ, that Christ be your life. So, everything that is in us, which is not Christ, the Holy Spirit, He will remind you. I believe we all have that experience. After you are saved, suppose you're a person who used to go to a certain place. But, after you are saved, you find that where you are going to that certain place, somehow you'll find within your heart, there is someone saying, now you are a Christian. Do you think it is right for a Christian to go to that place? Or, you may be someone who likes to boast, and as long as you boast, you feel good about it. But, after you are saved, you are doing the same thing, and when you are boasting, you find a difference. Why? Because you find a still small voice within you saying, it is, is it true, or it is not true. But, you cannot have it. You keep on boasting. But, afterwards, how do you feel? Now, before, after you boast, you feel good. But, now, after you boast, you feel bad, because you feel that you have done something not right. The Holy Spirit is working in you. He is working so that Christ may be your daily life. As Paul said, it is no longer I. It is Christ who lives in thee. Now, how can it be it is no longer I? The secret is, the Holy Spirit who dwells in us is guiding you, and leading you, and telling you what is not of Christ in your life. And, He is helping you to get rid, as it were, of your own selves, and let Christ be your life. So, brothers and sisters, we who have believed in the Lord Jesus, that is not the end of it. That is the beginning of our Christian life. In our daily life, the Holy Spirit is working, and He is faithful. He will begin with small things in our life, because He knows that He begins with big things. You may not be able to listen. So, usually, you'll find He will begin with small things, with places that you go, with things that you usually do, with your words. Do you have such experience? I believe we all have such experience. The problem is whether you listen or not. If you do not listen, and if you do it a number of times, gradually, you'll find that still small voice gets smaller, and smaller, and smaller, until finally, you cannot hear it anymore. That doesn't mean He is not talking. He is, because He is faithful, but you cannot hear. And if you live like that, what will be the result? You are saved, but you do not have your wedding garment. Now, what does it mean? It means that when our Lord shall return, you will not have the privilege of being married to Him for the millennium time. You remember the parable of the ten virgins. In Matthew 25, it tells us there are ten virgins. Now, by virgins in the scripture, it means that they are devoted to Christ, and they are ten virgins. And you find they have a torch with them, and the torch represents our life, because there is oil in the torch. The torch is burning, and they all go out to meet the bridegroom. But as they meet the bridegroom, and the bridegroom is delayed, they all fell asleep, and that means they all died. These ten virgins represents Christians who have died through the ages, because Christ had not come yet. Now, if you read it with chapter 24 of Matthew, you find there are two. You know, as the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of God. And He shall come, and He shall come. Two will be grinding the mill. Two will be working in the field. Two will be sleeping. You do not find six here. You find two here. Why? Because the earth is round. In some place, it is early morning. In other place, it is noontime. In still other place, it is night. So actually, you have two here, and two represents those Christians who are living at the coming of the Lord. And the Lord knows their spiritual condition, whether you are prepared for Him, or whether you live for yourself. So when He shall come, He will come as a thief. Now, the thief never blows his trumpet before he's coming. He knows exactly when you are not ready. And suddenly, he comes. And a thief never comes to get your garbage. I often say, if a thief will come to get my garbage, I hope he'll come every night. But strangely, a thief comes. He always comes for your treasure. He knows where your treasure is. And after he got your treasure, before you realize, he's gone. That's thief. Our Lord Jesus will come as a thief. He knows us. He knows who is really living for Him, and who is not. And those who live for Him, He will take. And those who does not will be left behind. And those who are left behind have to go through the Great Tribulation. Now again, I always say, to Christians, the Great Tribulation is another opportunity to overcome. Because through the Great Tribulation, there will still be those who woke up, wake up. They realized what had happened, and they began to really seek the Lord earnestly. During the Great Tribulation, there is still a chance for some to be overcomers. So, I say it is the mercy of God. But anyway, the Ten Virgins, they represent the Christians throughout the ages who have died. They all went out to meet the Bridegroom, but because of the delay, they fell asleep. That is, they died. Then the voice comes. The Bridegroom cometh. They all woke up, and that means they all be resurrected. That is 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4. They will all be resurrected, but there is a difference. The wise ones have extra oil in the vessel, so they can pour the oil upon the torch. The torch will be brightened, and they will all, they were able to go to meet the Bridegroom. But the five foolish virgins, they are foolish because they do not have extra oil in the vessel. They may fill their vessels with other things which they consider as important instead of extra Holy Spirit. And because of that, they were cast into outer darkness during the Millennium Time. So, brothers and sisters, we need to have a wedding garment. You remember another parable? When the king had his son's marriage feast ready, he invited people to come, and when they refused, he asked, go to the street, go to the lane, and force people to come in until the house was filled. Then he came in, and he saw one of them did not have the wedding garment. In other words, the king prepared the wedding garments for every guest, but one feel that his own garment is good enough. He does not need the wedding garment prepared by the king. So, he came on his own, as it were, and because of this, he was thrown out into outer darkness. So, brothers and sisters, do not feel that because you have believed in the Lord Jesus, so you can live afterwards as you like. Not too early. You have to remember, as long as you live after you are saved, this is the opportunity for you to have that wedding garment ready for you. You have to cooperate with the indwelling Holy Spirit and learn to be delivered from your own self and be filled with Christ. So, here you find we need that wedding garment, and a wedding garment is called the righteousnesses of the saints. Why? Because it is our righteousnesses accumulated during our lifetime. We are doing the right thing before God. We are allowing the Holy Spirit to touch us, deliver us from ourselves, and fill us with Christ Jesus. This is our wedding garment, and this is the garment of embroideries. So, dear brothers and sisters, our life as a Christian on earth is very important. Daily, we are building up our wedding garment, and thank God if he should come today and we have that wedding garment ready, we will be united with Christ during the millennium time. So, the Bible says we will reign with Christ for a thousand years. Brothers and sisters, for a few years. Now, maybe you live long as I am. If you live over a hundred, compared with a thousand, it is almost nothing. So, let us be wise and not be foolish. Thinking of having to enjoy ourselves during a few years, we miss a thousand years of reigning. So, dear brothers and sisters, in chapter 19, we find it was a marriage to start the millennium, the thousand years. And those who are married will reign with Christ for a thousand years. Then we find, from chapter 21 and chapter 22, there is another wedding. Another wedding of the Lamb. But if you read carefully, you find it is a wedding in new heaven and new earth. This old heaven and old earth will pass away. The millennium is over. And after the millennium is over, eternity to come will come in. And in eternity to come, you find in the new Jerusalem, the foundation of the city bears the name of the twelve apostles. While the gates, twelve gates, bear the name of the twelve tribes of Israel. Now, what does it mean? It means that in eternity, all the work of God throughout the ages will all be gathered together in that new Jerusalem. Nothing of the work of God will be lost. So, here you'll find not only all the Christians, all who really believe in the Lord Jesus, they will all be in the new Jerusalem. And all the Israelites in whom the Lord God has worked, they will all be in the new Jerusalem. In other words, all the works of God throughout the centuries will all be there. Thank God that all will have his name and the Father's name in their foreheads. And they will all be kings, reigning, ruling with Christ for eternity. So, dear brothers and sisters, even those who have lost millennium kingdom, they will be casting out of darkness, weeping, gnashing their teeth, which means they repent. And because of their repentance, they will be disciplined in outer darkness. We do not know exactly what will be happening because God is always positive and never negative. But we only know that even though they were in outer darkness, repenting, but during that period, God will complete them. Because in Romans chapter 8, we find whom God has called, he will justify. Whom he has justified, he will sanctify. Nothing will be lost. In eternity, everything will be gathered together to the glory of God. So, this is what you'll find in the scripture. And hopefully, hopefully, we will be encouraged. Dear Lord, we want to thank thee for thy mercy and grace, which is everlasting. We thank thee that once thou hast called us, thou wilt work in us until thy purpose is fully realized. Dear Lord, do allow us not to be complacent. Allow us to really cooperate with thy Holy Spirit in us, that we may really live, not for ourselves, but for thee, as long as we are here on earth. Lord, pray that when thou shalt return, none will be left behind, but everyone will be taken. Lord, it is the prayer of our hearts. Hear us, O Lord, in thy name.