Revelation 19:6-9

The Ultimate Graduation Experience

Revelation 19:6-9 Shp Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF
Key verse 19:7 Graduation Ceremony Triton College 6-5-10

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.”

Graduation time is such an exciting time. People have been preparing for years. It is the “pay off” after lots of hard work. It is a time where we are recognized by our mentors and our peers. It is an adventurous time, a springboard launching us into a bright new tomorrow, full of expectation. GRADUATION. Whether it is from Middle school or High School, this is your day and we applaud all of our grads today.

With five kids, I am beginning to get a taste the excitement of graduation. Hope had a graduation ceremony passing from grade 5 to 6. She and Mark even rented a limo to take them to school last Friday. Augustine graduated from grade eight. He had an honors night, an honors banquet and all of his friends went to Subway. Now he is here today to give honor and glory to God. He did it all. Graduates really like to celebrate. Jenn was invited to eleven graduation parties. (I don’t think she will go to them all of them.) But now we are here to celebrate the graduation of seven people, young Christians in our family of faith.
Hopefully, this is not going to be your only graduation. There will be many more graduation events. What about your graduation from College? Daniel already has on his Facebook page, Olivet Nazarene University graduate 2014. Some may be getting their master’s degrees. I had three graduations after high school. Then there are graduations in life. What about when you get promoted on the job; establish a family; see your kids grow to be blessings to their community and generation; and for those who are so called, planting a new church or bring a missionary? These graduation experiences go on throughout life. For those who are in Christ, the ultimate graduation experience will be our graduation into the Kingdom of God. It is a graduation that we must remain excited about and be prepared to celebrate throughout our journey on earth.
Part l: The Wedding Banquet Of The Lamb (6-7a)
What will this ultimate graduation be like? Look at verse 6. “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.’” It will be a very joyful time filled with millions upon millions of believers. They were so numerous that their voices sounded like the roar of rushing waters. They are so overwhelmed by God in all of his glory that they could not contain themselves and they kept turning to each other, saying over and over again, “Hallelujah!” and “Our God Almighty reigns!” Let’s practice with the neighbors on our right and on our left. Wow! It does sound like the sound of rushing waters!
This heavenly graduation ceremony will be like a wedding banquet. Let’s read verse 7. “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” I think that we have all been to a wedding banquet. They are very joyful with lots of food, family, music, laughter and dancing. This passage is about the beautiful wedding of the Lamb. Jesus is the Lamb of God. Our Father God is preparing the wedding of his Son Jesus to his bride, the Church (Rev 21:1-4); which includes you and I and all those who are in Christ. In the kingdom of God we will be surrounded by so many brothers and sisters in Christ. Our joy will overflow as we give glory honor and praise to Jesus Christ. Though many things seem to be happening in your lives at this time, exciting things, but, there is one thing that is the most important…God is preparing the wedding banquet for his Son, Jesus the Lamb, and he wants all of you to be part of it. God is so full of love, joy, hope and expectation about this wonderful banquet and he wants us all to be also.
Part ll: The Bride Has Made Herself Ready (7b- 9)
How should we respond to invite to this wonderful graduation banquet? Look at verse 7b, “…and his bride has made herself ready.” How can we make ourselves ready? There are a lot of things to say. The whole Bible is about getting ready to spend eternity with Jesus forever. But we can learn from our own present graduation experience. First, to get to graduation requires planning. In the ninth grade you plan out the courses for the next three years, making sure that you will end up with the right amount of credits. If you don’t have the right amount of credits, then guess what? You don’t graduate. But if you plan well then you have a very good chance to finish. In our Christian life, you need to plan ahead seeing the course that is set before you. You can’t see every detail in your journey of faith, but there are some requirements. Jesus says, in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one come to the Father except through me.” Learning Jesus is the curriculum. The word of God is the course description. The Holy Spirit is our class counselor. Bible study is where we begin to plan out our coarse work until that Great Graduation Day!
Second, graduating means faithfully studying hard. There is a universal truth: If you don’t study hard, then guess what? ...You don’t graduate. You have to deny yourself every single day, sometimes staying up late at night to get readings done and write papers. Working like this makes some students declare, “My brain hurts. That’s why I can’t do my dishes.” Following Jesus in life and into the Kingdom of God requires some hard work too. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Your graduation is not end of hard work. It is the being point of finding your own personal cross and following Jesus all the way to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Indeed there are hardships to be embraced on our journey to the kingdom of God. Paul said in verse Acts 14:22b, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” Paul himself suffered a lot in order to advance the kingdom of God. Paul taught the disciples the way of the cross. We do not have the same hardships as Paul. We are not going to get stoned to death, nor have we got the burdens of a young growing world wide church on our shoulders. But we must go through many hardships if we are going to live as Christians in this world. The kids are experiencing being ignored from their classmates because they do not get involved in the worldly pursuits. In our busy lives we need to stop and make time for Jesus and his word. This is a hardship because our hearts are torn in many directions. Offering up our talents to God is a hardship, because you need to practice and be at certain places at certain times in order to co-work with other Christians. This is a hardship. Sometimes we need to spend gas money or conference fees, offerings etc. These are all hardships in this tough economy. We are not promised a cushy life with no struggles when you come to Jesus. But we are promised a joyful, victorious, meaningful life. Lets face it, there will be many hardships on our way to that great and glorious heavenly banquet and the sooner we accept this the happier we will be in Jesus. (Luke 9:23)
Graduating requires staying focused. You must stay focused for four years, not getting distracted and finishing your work on time. If you loose your focus and take it easy, do you know what happens? You don’t graduate. In the same way getting ready for the wedding banquet of the Lamb requires focus. That is why the author says in Hebrews 12:2, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Graduation time in not a time to “de” focus. Rather, now that you have practiced for years focusing on your school studies, you should be very good at focusing the eyes of your hearts on Jesus.

Graduating requires the support of family and friends. Imagine if you did not have a home to come home to. You wouldn’t have a quiet room to study. You would be hungry. You life would be insecure and unstable. But those who have stable families know how important they are in providing love; support; and encouragement. And isn’t it nice to come home to room, a fridge with food in it, reliable internet access. Likewise to prepare we need to surround ourselves with God’s people who can give us love; support; spiritual encouragement, especially who can pray for us. That is why Hebrews 10:25 reads, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
There is one major difference between the graduation you are experiencing now and the graduation we will experience at the wedding of the Lamb. Let’s read verse 8 all together, “ 8Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)” All types of graduations, in this world, are rewards for all the hard work that you do. But in the kingdom of God, there is only one way to get a fine linen robe to wear. Look at verse 8a, again. Especially the part that says, “…was given to her. …” It is truly by the grace of our Lord Jesus. It is given to us by God through faith in Jesus. Let me explain it this way…The robes have to do with righteousness. It has to do with how God sees us. Covering ourselves with our own righteousness is like wearing dirty, smelly, ripped rags for graduation gown. When we believe in Jesus God covers our dirty sins and gives us true righteousness by faith in his blood. (Ro 3:25-26) To enter heaven we must be clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is like us wearing bright, clean graduation gowns in heaven. This passage states that the graduation gowns are the righteous acts of the saints. These righteous acts are actions born out of our faith, like prayer, preaching the word, raising disciples, serving the poor, etc. They strengthen our faith in the blood of Jesus.
I really want to congratulate each of you on your graduation. You each got here through your forethought, your hard work, your focus, and the support of family and friends. Mostly you got here because of grace of God and the prayers and support of others. But what now, what is next? I hope that all of you may experience many more graduation experiences and the joy you feel today, you may feel over and over again. But I also want to keep your graduation on an eternal perspective. The ultimate graduation into the kingdom of God is what we must never stop longing for and being excited about. As excited as you are for this graduation day, may you be even more excited for the Wedding of the Lamb. And so, as you are launching out into the great unknown know who you are, the Bride of Christ. Spend the rest of your lives making yourself ready banquet of the Lamb. How? First, planning. Second, finding and carrying your own cross. Third, staying focused on Jesus. Fourth, gathering support and encouragement from people of God. And fifth, the most important thing, through faith, hold onto the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ given us through the shed blood of Jesus. This is your heavenly graduation gown. There is a great and wonderful promise for those that do. Look at verse 9. “9Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' " And he added, ‘These are the true words of God.’"