Revelation | May 4, 2026

Start your day with a short, Scripture-centered devotional from Paul Michael. In about seven minutes, you will hear the Word, reflect on its truth, and be encouraged to live it out in everyday life.

Revelation | Righteousness

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Transcript

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Welcome to your daily devotional with me, PMV. Last time we began the last major section of the book of Revelation. We've now made it to Revelation chapters 19 through 22. And today we'll pick up at Revelation 19, verse 6. Okay, Revelation 19, 6 reads, and I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. So this title of God as the Lord God omnipotent is used all through Revelation. It was first used in chapter 1, verse 8, and we will see it again in chapter 21, verse 22. This speaks of God's power over his creation. Notice the last word of verse 6 reigns. Again, the Lord God omnipotent reigns. He is in control. And he is bringing his creation to his purposed end that he has planned. This is another reason to praise him because he reigns. But one day as she went to the temple, she poured out her heart before the Lord. She told God that if he would grant her a child, that she would devote him to the Lord's service. Eli the priest saw Hannah as she cried out to the Lord, and Hannah was blessed by Eli for believing God and believing Eli's word to her, and that God eventually did give her a child. And she believed God, his word at that time for her, and before the child was born, as she was about to leave from the temple at that time in her interaction with Eli, she said in 1 Samuel 118, and she said, Let your maidservant find favor in your sight. So the woman went away, uh went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. Now that may seem like a small thing, but here's the point. She trusted God for what he had promised, and it made a difference in her life now. She trusted God to be faithful to his word. She trusted that he who reigns would fulfill his word to her. She hoped in what was to come. And she did have a child and named him Samuel, and Samuel was a mighty prophet of God and anointer of kings. But it all began with a broken-hearted woman who trusted God's promises, and that the God who reigns would fulfill his promise, and that he was worthy of praise, even as she waited on the fulfillment of what she was promised. You see, God is worthy for he reigns. And sometimes when all else fails, or even just at the beginning, it doesn't have to be when all else fails, we are just to praise God for who he is and for what he's promised to do, as the King who reigns over all. So moving on, verses 7 through 10, read, Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready, and to her it has been granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, Write, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, See that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Okay, in these verses, the return of Jesus is likened to a marriage feast. In ancient Israel, the Jewish wedding really began with the engagement. Their engagement was not like ours today. When a woman and man were engaged in a Jewish community, it was a very binding agreement. Engagements, in fact, could only be broken by divorce. And unfaithfulness during the engagement process or time period was actually considered adultery. So during the engagement, the groom, also known as the bridegroom, would prepare his house for his bride. He would also prepare a large feast, the marriage supper, that could last up to a week long. And at the point in time that the bride didn't know, the groom would come with his wedding party to then receive the bride to himself. He would take her from her parents' home and he would bring her to his home and the feast that had been prepared. The time of arrival of the groom was kept secret from the bride. Her responsibility was to keep herself in a state of readiness for her groom to watch and to wait. Do you see the connection between the ancient Jewish wedding and the church as we await the return of Jesus? Jesus has betrothed us to himself. In a sense, the church is in the engagement period as we are the bride of Christ, waiting for him to come and to take us home. One day he will come for us, but our responsibility now is to wait and to watch, to remain faithful, to be found ready when he comes. As we continue on, we see, excuse me, as we continue on, Revelation 19, we see that this image is used of the marriage supper, referring to the return of Jesus, and he's going to take us home to this heavenly feast, and it's not just in the book of Revelation. Jesus pointed to this, in fact, in the Last Supper, when he shared this with his disciples right before he's crucified. He took the cup, he drank it with his disciples, and in Matthew 26, verses 28 to 29, he said, For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Here's what's remarkable about that. Even as Jesus was preparing to go to the cross, he was looking beyond the cross to the day he would feast anew with us in heaven. And why is it called the marriage supper of the lamb, uh specifically of the lamb? Well, do you remember how Jesus was described early on in Revelation chapter 5? He was described as the Lamb who had been what? Who had slain been slain. Do you remember the song that was sung before Jesus the Lamb? In Revelation chapter 5, verses 9 and 10, it reads, And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and you have redeemed us to God by your blood, and of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. So the only reason we can look forward to this heavenly feast is that Jesus the Lamb has been slain for our sins. As we have seen time and time again, it all comes back to Jesus. It's all for him, it's all about him. It is the marriage supper of the Lamb. I want to point out one more thing about these verses. Notice how we will be clothed. Revelation 19, 8. Let's look at it one more time. 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. Now we are clothed in fine linen, clean and bright. This is in contrast to Babylon, which we saw in Revelation 17 and 18. But also verse 8 says that the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Okay, well, what does that mean? Well, first of all, we know that our works do not save us. The Bible compares our righteousness outside of Christ as filthy rags. We can never earn God's favor. We can never be good enough to be accepted by God on our own. But second, as we believe in Jesus unto salvation, we are made new. We are given God's Spirit, and we are to walk in righteousness. We're not saved by our good works, but we are saved for good works. In fact, works that God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10 lays it out perfectly. Listen to these verses. Ephesians 2, 8-9, first of all, says, For by grace you've been saved through faith, that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Okay, so these verses make it clear that we're saved by grace through faith, it's not of our own works, right? But then verse 10 says, For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. So verses eight and nine make it crystal clear that we're not saved by our works, but we are saved to walk in the good works and the righteousness that God has prepared for us. We are to be about the righteous works of God. So do you see the connection here? The only reason that there will be a marriage shepherd of the Lamb is because of Jesus. It's all about Him. But Jesus, our bridegroom, expects us to be clothed in righteousness when He returns for us. Righteousness is the way of life for the Christian as we await our bridegroom to come. If you love God in whom there's no darkness and no sin, well then why would unrighteousness be a part of your daily life? If you're filled with the Spirit of God, how can righteousness be anything but your everyday lifestyle? You know, I'm not preaching legalism. No one is perfect. But we must not let this excuse of, well, no one's perfect be an excuse for unrighteous living. Have you ever heard people do that? They will say, well, no one's perfect, as if that's some blanket covering for any sin. Look, my friends, the only covering for sin is the blood of Jesus. And if you are truly saved, then you will want to walk in the righteous works that God has prepared in advance for you to be about. Thank you for joining me today. I pray this has been a blessing to you. For more information, go to pmvministries.org. And as always, I hope you have a great day.