Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #35 of Revelation chapter 18 and we are going to read Revelation 18:23:
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
Again, it says, “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee.” This is speaking of Babylon, the kingdom of Satan, which is the kingdom of this world and it includes all the unsaved, whether in the churches or outside of the churches. For over 2,000 years, the Gospel was found within the churches and congregations. That was where the light of the candlestick shined forth in the midst of the churches of the world, but Christ came out of the midst of the congregations and God removed their candlestick at the end of the church age, May 21, 1988, in the 13,000th year of earth’s history. Judgment began at the house of God and the Great Tribulation got under way. Then 2,300 days later when the first part of the Great Tribulation came to a close, on September 7, 1994 God, once again, began to evangelize the earth and poured out His Holy Spirit a second time to recover the remnant of His people and He saved a great multitude from the nations of the world. The light of the Gospel remained dark within the corporate churches, which numbered as many as two billion people out of the seven billion people in the world.
But outside of the churches, primarily through the electronic medium, God brought the true and faithful Gospel to save that great multitude of scores of millions of people, outside of the congregations. That was where the Gospel light was still shining brilliantly, as the Word of God covered the earth like the waters cover the sea. The Word of God was everywhere in the world it seemed – it was on billboards, radio, internets, satellite TV and the people of God walked the streets of many cities of the earth sharing Bible tracts. The light of truth was shining brightly. God’s Word always has purpose as it goes forth and it will accomplish the purpose He sent it to do; it will not return to Him “void” or empty. And the purpose was to save that great multitude and complete the task of evangelization of the earth in order to save the last of God’s elect. It did accomplish that purpose and only then did God shut the door of heaven and put out the light of the Gospel all across the face of the earth on May 21, 2011, exactly seven thousand years from the flood. The door was shut “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee,” in the nations of the world. The light of the Gospel ceased to shine in a saving way where man could “see” the light and the light could penetrate the darkness of a man’s heart and create a new heart and a new spirit through that glorious Gospel light.
Then it goes on to say in Revelation 18:23:
…and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee…
The bridegroom is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us turn to John 3:28-29:
Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
Of course, John the Baptist was speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the bridegroom and John rejoiced because of the bridegroom’s voice and the voice of Christ is His Word. He is the Word made flesh, so the voice of Christ is the Bible. The Word of God is the voice of the bridegroom, so if the voice of the bridegroom is no longer being heard, it means the Word of God, the Bible, is no longer being “heard.” And if the Bible is not being “heard,” there cannot be salvation: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” or by the voice of the bridegroom. Again, it does not mean that Bibles have been removed or that you cannot find the written Word or you cannot find the Word preached. The Bible can still be widely found in abundance in the world. Anyone today can even find the Bible online and hear it. Many poor people have phones today and they can find a Bible site and listen to the Bible through their phone. Yet, all the while they are listening to or reading the Bible, they are missing one necessary ingredient for salvation, which it the Holy Spirit to open up the ears of the hearer: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” In time past during the day of salvation, God would send forth His Word and it would be physically heard and if that individual was one of God’s elect, the Holy Spirit would work through the hearing of the Word to create “spiritual ears” so the person could hear on a whole different level; the individual could hear the “voice of Christ” and be drawn to Him and receive a new heart. But it is not happening any more. The voice of the bridegroom is not heard any more at all in the world (Babylon).
You know, in the Book of Jeremiah there are actually a few verses where God uses this same type of language. Historically, it is referring to Judah, but, spiritually, it relates to the judgment upon the churches. For instance, it says in Jeremiah 7:34:
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.
This is language to show that God’s judgment upon the churches and congregations is to cause “the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom,” to cease.
We also read the same kind of language in Jeremiah 25:8-11:
Therefore thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words, Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith JEHOVAH, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
This passage is laying out the judgment of God upon the churches during the Great Tribulation period. The king of Babylon is a type of Satan and the Babylonians represent the kingdom of Satan that take over the camp of the saints; the people of God are being trodden under foot. Notice that God gives a reason: “Because ye have not heard my words.” The churches had Bibles and they heard God’s commandments on one level, as to how they should conduct themselves and the law ordering the corporate church. For instance, a deacon was to be the husband of one wife and raise his children well and he was not to be divorced. Women were not to teach men and usurp authority. But the churches did not “hear” God on those points and they did not hearken to Him on the doctrine of baptism, the doctrine of salvation and how the Bible teaches the way of salvation. They did not hearken in doctrine, after doctrine, after doctrine, so the judgment of God was that He would “take from them the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.” As it says in Revelation 18, it would not be heard any more. They did not hearken to God’s commandments and, therefore, the punishment of God was to remove the ability to hear spiritually, which meant no more salvation in the churches and congregations for the “seventy years.”
In Revelation 18, it is not speaking of the churches, but it is speaking of Babylon. In Jeremiah 25, Babylon was the tool or instrument of God’s wrath and Nebuchadnezzar was a servant in the hand of God to smite the churches and bring judgment upon them. But, remember, God has pointed out several times that when the judgment upon the churches is complete, He will turn His attention upon Babylon and spoil them that spoiled His people – He takes vengeance for His temple. Now He is giving the cup (of wrath) to Babylon, which had been in Babylon’s hand and had been given to the churches and congregations of the world. So the absence of the voice of the bridegroom and the bride first occurred within the churches and now is happening in the entire world. The reason is that the cup of God’s wrath is first given to the city called by His name and then it is given to the nations of the earth.
God says He has taken away the voice of the bridegroom and this is Christ. There is no question about this. Also, when it comes to the bride, there is no question that the bride represents the body of believers, God’s elect. It says in Isaiah 62:5:
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
God is the bridegroom and this is another proof text that confirms it. Christ is God and God is also the bridegroom and the children of God, the elect that were chosen before the foundation of the world, are the bride of Christ, as we read in Revelation 21:1-2:
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Then it says in Revelation 21:9-11:
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
Then the chapter goes on to describe this beautiful and glorious heavenly city and this city pictures the entire company of God’s elect and everyone that God saved is a part of New Jerusalem. They are the bride of Christ and Jesus is the bridegroom and, therefore, when the Bible says, “and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee,” God is declaring that the Word of God will not be heard any more and the believers who had the task to be a messenger of the Word of God will also not be heard any more.
Let us put it in terms we can understand. Someone can sit down to read the Bible on their own and as they read they are hearing the Word of the bridegroom because it is the Word of God. They are reading and “hearing” on one level, such as reading comprehension, but the “voice of Christ” is not heard on another level because the Holy Spirit will not spark a new spirit within that individual reader and that person will not become saved. If he is not saved already, he will never be saved, no matter how much of the Bible he may read. Also, someone can carry the message of salvation from the Bible and they can continue to insist, “It is just like any other time and God is still saving. He is still a merciful God, so let us tell people to go to God and beseech Him for mercy and God may still save.” Well, if anyone hears that kind of witness from a professed believer and this person is telling them all the right things, like “Salvation is of the Lord. God saves by election and God is the one that has to make the choice,” even if they are declaring the true and faithful Gospel and if they told it to a 1,000 people, or more, not even one of these people would become saved.
Typically, when an elect person would share information from the Bible that was true and faithful to the Word of God, God could work through that to draw the hearer if that individual was one of the elect. But, this is not happening any more because all the elect have been found; God’s salvation program has concluded and, therefore, the voice of the “bride” no longer operates in that way: “and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee.” This makes any proclamation encouraging people to go to God and beseech Him for mercy total vanity. It is all empty talk. There is no substance to it. There is no power behind it. There is no spirit within it.
It is, therefore, the same kind of “talk” that was taking place within the churches and congregations throughout the judgment of God upon it – the churches continued to bring their gospel and they encouraged people toward salvation, but it was all vain and empty talk because there was no Holy Spirit operating in the midst of the congregations. The light of the candle was out in the churches and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride was not heard within the churches during God’s judgment upon it. And now the exact same spiritual circumstances apply in the entire world and that is the reason why God’s people will not give anyone false hope and false encouragement by telling them that God is still saving when He is not saving. It is not a loving thing to do or a kind thing to do or a right thing to do, because it is not true.