A Glimpse of the Consummation

A GLIMPSE OF THE CONSUMMATION

Unpacking and applying Revelation 19:1-9

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: May 3, 2026

Series: The Basics of the Christian Faith

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

We have need of patient endurance. When we pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” we are acknowledging that we live in a world in which spiritual challenges are all around us. We must put on the whole armor of God in order to stand our ground against the schemes of the devil. We must remain vigilant, being watchful over our own hearts, keeping our life uncluttered by sins. And we must remember the ultimate victory that is promised to those who walk faithfully with the Lord, to those who persevere in the “work of faith” and the “labor of love” (1 Thessalonians 1:3). In Matt Redman’s song “You Never Let Go”, we sing:

“And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles”[1]

The calling upon us in our day-to-day lives is to hold on, hold fast, remain faithful, and make ourselves ready for the great day of celebration that God has promised. “For you have need of endurance,” writes the author of Hebrews, “so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” (Hebrews 10:36)

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says,

¹ After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
²     for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
    who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

³ Once more they cried out,

“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

⁴ And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” ⁵ And from the throne came a voice saying,

“Praise our God,
    all you his servants,
you who fear him,
    small and great.”

⁶ Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
⁷ Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
⁸ it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

⁹ And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” (Revelation 19:1-9)

THE WORLD SYSTEM WILL COME TO AN INGLORIOUS END

Revelation 19 stands forth as a faithful witness to the judgment of the world and the vindication of the church that will come to pass at the end of the age, all in God’s perfect time. In light of Revelation 19:1-19, I invite you to ponder three vitally important realities with me.

The first reality that I would like us to consider is that the world system will come to an inglorious end. When I say ‘world system’, I am not referring to the world in general terms. The world is God’s handiwork, the work of His hands, the creation that He made. Even though the world is afflicted by the fall, it will share in the glory of redemption: “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

What the ‘world system’ is

When I say ‘world system’, I am referring to the powers of evil at work in demonic beings and in unrepentant human beings who have organized themselves in opposition to God, in opposition to the Messiah, and in opposition to the Church. This ‘network of evil’ is characterized by the love of power, wealth, and pleasure, and the hatred of God and people. This ‘world system’ is propped up through propaganda, and its messaging bombards us constantly. This ‘world system’ is, in effect, a political and economic system that demands your allegiance. Play by the rules, and you can buy and sell and have your fill. But if you refuse to pay homage to the beast, then the ‘world system’ will see to it that you suffer.

The ‘world system’ is personified as “the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality” (Revelation 19:2). According to Revelation 17:18, this great prostitute “is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 17:18) When the Book of Revelation was written, “the great city” must have been understood as the city of Rome, the seat of the expansive Roman Empire. This great city is referred to as “Babylon the great” (Revelation 17:5, Revelation 18:2): “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” (Revelation 17:5) So you can see that this great city is an ungodly center of wickedness, of abominations and impurities (Revelation 17:4).

This great city has captured the political powers, for we are told in Revelation 17:1-2 that “the great prostitute who is seated on many waters” (Revelation 17:1) is one “with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality” (Revelation 17:2). Further, the spirit of the city’s harlotry has captured the hearts of ordinary people: “with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk” (Revelation 17:2). While sexual immorality can mean sexual immorality, it can also mean spiritual adultery, for in the Bible sexual infidelity is sometimes used as a metaphor for spiritual infidelity.

As it happens, the great city’s influence is worldwide, for “the great prostitute… is seated on many waters” (Revelation 17:1) and these waters “are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages” (Revelation 17:15). The spirit of the city is the spirit of the world, all set in opposition to God: “For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality” (Revelation 18:3).

Finally, this great city also captured the economic powers. As far as the ‘world system’ goes, big power and big money almost always travel together. At the end of the day, the political power brokers of the world and the economic power brokers of the world both drink their fill from the same source. So Revelation 18:3 goes on to tell us not only that “the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her” but also that “the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living” (Revelation 18:3). Power, wealth, luxury, and pleasure are all mixed together in toxic rebellion against God. And the propagandists and false prophets of the world constantly attempt to draw you into the orbit of the great prostitute.

Outwardly, this great prostitute, this great city, this world system, is beautiful and opulent. “The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls” (Revelation 17:4; see also Revelation 18:16). Great power, great wealth and luxury, great beauty and pleasure, great marketplaces and trading centers – but it is all a façade, external appearances that mask the underlying heart reality of pride, mammon worship, sexual escapades, ungodly alliances, and hatred of the Lamb. “[She] glorified herself and lived in luxury” (Revelation 18:7). She said in great pride and presumption, “I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning [i.e., distress] I shall never see.” (Revelation 18:7) There is nothing more grotesque than for a civilization to think that it can prosper on its own apart from God.

The ‘world system’ will come crashing down

In the end, this ‘world system’ comes crashing down. The phrase “single hour” is used three times in Revelation 18 to describe the suddenness of the judgment that is brought up “Babylon the great city” (Revelation 18:21):

“Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.” (Revelation 18:10)

“Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in the fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls! For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” (Revelation 18:16-17)

“Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste.” (Revelation 18:19)

Their entire world is undone in a single hour. And all who had put their hope in that world are overcome with grief. In Revelation 18:9, “the kings of the earth… weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.” (Revelation 18:9) In Revelation 18:11, “the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore” (Revelation 18:11). The collapse of the economic system is total. In Revelation 18:17-19 “all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea” (Revelation 18:7) cry out and weep and mourn.

The entire world is undone, and the ordinary sights and sounds of ordinary people attempting to live their lives in that world, come to a crashing halt:

“Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,

“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence,
    and will be found no more;
and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,
    will be heard in you no more,
and a craftsman of any craft
    will be found in you no more,
and the sound of the mill
    will be heard in you no more,
and the light of a lamp
    will shine in you no more,
and the voice of bridegroom and bride
    will be heard in you no more,
for your merchants were the great ones of the earth,
    and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.
And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
    and of all who have been slain on earth.”” (Revelation 18:21-24)

All music and merry-making, all production and manufacturing, all light and lighting, all weddings and wedding festivities – all over and done. We ought to feel a sadness in our heart for every human being who is putting their hope in a world that is destined to perish. We ought to feel a sadness in our heart for every human being who has bought the lie and been deceived by the sorcery of the great city. We ought to feel a sadness in our heart for every human being who was misled to believe that God’s prophets and saints were the bad guys, for the great prostitute raged against God’s prophets and saints and put many of them to death.

A word of application: “Come out of her”!

In all this, there is a word of application to us who profess to follow Jesus. The word of application is found in Revelation 18:4-5. In the midst of this great judgment scene, a voice from heaven turns to address you and me who have gathered together in the name of Jesus:

“Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” (Revelation 18:4-5)

We must continually hear this word of exhortation, for we are continually surrounded by the influences of the ‘world system’. How often are we tempted to ‘cozy up’ to the ‘world system’! How often are we tempted to believe that we can have our fill of the world now and still have our fill of heaven later! How often are we tempted to act and think and feel just like the world does! And so the heavenly voice beckons us, “Come out of her, my people”! In the same vein, Saint Paul told us,

“Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you” (2 Corinthians 6:17).

And to this Saint John adds his own counsel:

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life–is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

Brothers and sisters, live your life in such a way that when the ‘world system’ goes up in smoke, you don’t have to lament the loss of your treasure. If you hitched your hopes to the world system and laid up treasure on earth, then you will have to weep and wail at the catastrophic loss. But if you followed Jesus and laid up treasure in heaven, beyond the reach of moth and rust and thieves and judgments, then you and your treasure are safe forever in the hand of God.

GOD WILL JUDGE THE WORLD SYSTEM AND VINDICATE HIS PEOPLE

The second reality I would like us to think about is the reality of divine judgment: God will judge the world system and vindicate His people.

God judges the ‘world system’

It’s not merely that the ‘world system’ dies of its own accord (although anything that is built on a faulty foundation will inevitably collapse in due course), but the more fundamental issue is that the ‘world system’ dies because God pours out His judgments upon it. “God has remembered her iniquities” (Revelation 18:5). “[She] will be burned up with fire, for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.” (Revelation 18:8) “Babylon the great city [is] thrown down with violence” (Revelation 18:21) as an act of divine judgment. Therefore, the great multitude of God’s people cry out in praise at the beginning of Revelation 19:

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality” (Revelation 19:1-2).

This is good news. God is holy and just, gracious and wise, faithful and true, and He is utterly opposed to the corruptions, sorceries, idolatries, immoralities, injustices, deceptions, abominations, and cruelties by which the ‘world system’ has polluted the good world that God made. What would you think of a god who let these corruptions and cruelties run rampant over the world forever? The entire Bible declares that God will judge the world in accordance with His righteousness: this is good news for God’s faithful people, but it is bad news for those who hitched their hopes to the ‘world system’.

Take heart, O weary saints: “Salvation and glory and power belong to our God” – not to the great prostitute, not to the great city, not to the kings of the earth, not to the merchants of the earth (and the billionaire oligarchs who underwrite the whole thing), not to the beastly powers and the false prophets, not to the great dragon who is the father of lies. “The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty” (Psalm 93:1). And the cry of Psalm 94 will be answered:

“O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!” (Psalm 94:1-2)

Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, all of history has been moving toward this great day of reckoning. There were many previews along the way: God poured out judgment upon the ancient world in the flood, upon Sodom and Gomorrah, upon the Egyptians, upon the Canaanites, upon the Babylonians, and on and on it goes. Even the Northern Kingdom Israel, and the Southern Kingdom Judah, had to undergo judgments because of their rebellion against the Lord. In Revelation 17, human rebellion has reached a climax, a rebellion that is global in scope and rises up to heaven in scale, and so here in Revelation 18-19 divine judgment rises up to meet it, bringing the whole ‘world system’ to a complete end.

God vindicates His own people

It is important to observe that when God judges the ‘world system’, He does at the very same time vindicate His own people: “for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” (Revelation 19:2) God’s judgment is in favor of His people and against the world system: “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!” (Revelation 18:20)

From Psalm 2 we learn that the ‘world system’ sets itself in opposition to the Lord and His Anointed, that is, in rebellion against God and the Messiah. Of course, this rebellion against God and the Messiah also gets expressed in the form of persecution against God’s people. So one of the primary characteristics of the ‘world system’ is that the system’s power brokers persecute, slander, and slaughter God’s faithful people:

“For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets” (Revelation 16:6).

“And I saw the woman [the great prostitute], drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” (Revelation 17:6; see also Revelation 18:24)

In persecution, whether it be the ‘soft persecution’ of slander or the ‘hard persecution’ of slaughter, in persecution we share in the sufferings of Christ. We experience what it means to belong to Christ and not to the world. We experience what it means to belong to a Savior who suffered and bore a cross and died. We experience what it means to die to the world and to entrust ourselves to God’s care. We experience what it means to be unhitched from the ‘world system’ and to have our confidence in Christ and in His everlasting kingdom.

A word of application: wait patiently upon God

In terms of application, this truth calls us to wait patiently for God to bring His plan to fruition:

“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.” (Revelation 6:9-11)

Our job is to remain faithful, whatever the cost. God will avenge on our enemy any harm that our enemy did to us. To us belongs faithfulness, faithful endurance, patient waiting, quiet trust. To God belongs judgment, vengeance, and vindication. And when God enacts judgment, vengeance, and vindication, we will recognize in the glory of a God who loves what is true and who cares for His people. And our response will be “Hallelujah!” – not once, not twice, but three times (Revelation 19:1, 3, 6). “[The] twenty-four elders and the four living creatures” will add their own “Amen, Hallelujah!” (Revelation 19:4) And we will heed the voice that beckons us “from the throne”: “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.” (Revelation 19:5)

GOD’S PEOPLE WILL BE UNITED TO THE LAMB IN HOLY SPLENDOR AND JOY

The third reality that I want you to see is that when the final pages of this present age are brought to their conclusion, God’s faithful ones will be united to the Lamb in holy splendor and joy.

In Revelation 1:15, the voice of Jesus is “like the roar of many waters” (Revelation 1:15). Now in Revelation 19:6, “the voice of the great multitude” is “like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder”. All must give their undivided attention to this holy moment.

The great announcement

This great multitude of holy worshipers announce the fulfillment of God’s grand purpose to provide a Bride for His Son. The wedding day has finally arrived. The triumphant Lamb and the glorious Bride are ready to joined together in perfect union, the details of which it is impossible to describe. What shall only be known in its fullness on that day, cannot be adequately described in words today. But we have the testimony of God’s Word, and “the voice of a great multitude”, heralding the arrival of that indescribable day of glory:

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready” (Revelation 19:6b-7).

The Lord God Almighty reigns, and He has exercised His sovereign might in order to judge that great prostitute, that impostor queen, that usurper to the throne of this world. Jesus is the true King: He is “the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth” (Revelation 1:5). He has “freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5-6)

Unlike the great prostitute, the Church is the faithful woman, the glorious Bride, the true queen who is lifted up to the very throne of Jesus Christ. The great prostitute “was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls!” (Revelation 18:16) She appeared beautiful, but it was a sham beauty; she was masquerading as a glorious one, but her apparel was a manufactured disguise. But the Bride of the Lamb is truly glorious, and the first half of verse eight tells us that “it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”. The Father has exercised His sovereign might in order to bring about the marriage of His Son to the people that He had ransomed with His blood.

A word of application: let’s make ourselves ready for that great day

We need to give our attention to two phrases in Revelation 19:7-8 that emphasize our role in preparing for our union with the Lamb, and which press home this practical application: maintain your devotion to the Lord and make yourself ready for that great day. Let me say it again: maintain your single-minded devotion to the Lord and make yourself ready for that great day.

The first phrase is at the end of verse 7: “his Bride has made herself ready”. Notice that it doesn’t say that we were made ready by someone else, but instead that we made ourselves ready.

The second phrase is at the end of verse 8: “the fine linen [with which we are to be clothed] is the righteous deeds of the saints.” Our heavenly clothing is nothing other than the quality of our actual character expressed in concrete righteous deeds throughout the course of our life.

These two phrases push hard against an over-simplistic and reductionistic view of how people are ‘made ready’ for “the marriage of the Lamb”. The over-simplistic and reductionistic view is this: Jesus made us ready through His sacrifice, and the fine linen that we will wear is Jesus’ righteousness, end of story. The problem, of course, is saying ‘end of story’, as if Jesus’ sacrifice and Jesus’ righteousness are the only things that matter. Jesus’ sacrifice and Jesus’ righteousness are precious and priceless and foundational matters, but they are obviously not the only things that matter, because Revelation 19:7-8 is emphasizing a different aspect of what it means to be ready.

A both/and approach to readiness and righteousness

At this point I think it is helpful to remember Tom McGarvey’s concept of ‘both/and’.[2] On the one hand, we go to a passage like Ephesians 5:25-27 and remember that

“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)

The sacrificial love of Jesus, and His sanctifying and cleansing power, are the ultimate source of the unblemished splendor with which we shall shine at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

We also go to a passage like 1 Corinthians 1:30 and remember that Jesus is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. And we go to a passage like Romans 5:19 and remember that we were made righteous because of the obedience of Jesus. And even in Revelation we go to a passage like Revelation 7:14 and remember that the faithful ones are those who “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).

But these aren’t the whole story. When Jesus rescues us from sin and death, He calls us to participate with Him in our own sanctification, in our own growth in practical holiness and practical righteousness. And though God justifies us and confers the status of righteousness upon us as a gracious gift, He also calls us to become practically what we already are positionally. Positionally, we are right with God through faith in Jesus. Practically, we must become like God in righteous conduct that reflects His holy character. This practical side of an active faith by which we walk day-by-day in fellowship with God and by which we grow in Christ-like character, is not optional. It is essential. We’re not called into a momentary transaction that gets us a ticket to heaven. Instead, we’re called into a transformational relationship with Jesus. This is why actual transformation is essential.

This is why, if you read the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, Jesus promises the glory of the new heaven and the new earth to those who remain faithful, not to those who have a bare profession of faith. Jesus says to the church in Ephesus: “[Repent], and do the works you did at first” (Revelation 2:5). Jesus says to the church in Sardis: “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God” (Revelation 3:2). What works? Works of love, works of faith, works of service, works of patient endurance (see Revelation 2:19). Who is part of God’s family? “[Those] who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” (Revelation 12:17) Who are the saints? “[Those] who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12)

So it is both/and: the true Bride is both anchored in the loving sacrifice of the Lamb and she is resolute about making herself ready for the day of consummation. Paul writes,

“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1)

John writes,

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3)

We purify ourselves in view of that future day when we will see Jesus and be united to Him in holy splendor and joy. We make ourselves ready for that great day.

It is both/and: the saints are both secure in the perfect righteousness that comes from God and is received “through faith in Christ” (Philippians 3:9), and they are resolute to live uprightly and honorably as followers of Jesus.

With Revelation 19:8 in front of us, we should have the sober realization that our everlasting apparel is going to reflect our actual character that has been expressed in habitual conduct. What are we going to take with us as clothing into eternity? Our deeds. Revelation 14:13 tells us that our deeds will follow us into eternity. Here in Revelation 19:8, the radiant Bride is granted the privilege of clothing herself in her own deeds, deeds that were done in fellowship with Jesus, deeds that were carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit, deeds that were done in anticipation of her long-awaited marriage to the Lamb. Through faith and faithful obedience and patient endurance, the Bride has made herself ready and lovely, not because she was insecure, not because she was vain, not because she was full of herself, but because she was and is full of love for her Lord.

Of course, those who are not part of the Bride, those who didn’t make themselves ready, those who didn’t seek to live a pure and holy life, they will be excluded from the marriage supper, and the clothing that they take into eternity will be their faithless and shameful deeds. But “[blessed] are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” (Revelation 19:9)

Seven promises of blessing in Revelation

The Greek word makarios occurs seven times in the Book of Revelation. Seven is a symbolic number – the number of completeness. The sevenfold blessing is:

• The first blessing: blessed are those who read, hear, and keep the words of Revelation (Revelation 1:3);
• The second blessing: “Blessed are those who die in the Lord” (Revelation 14:13);
• The third blessing: “Blessed is the one who stays awake” (Revelation 16:15);
• The fourth blessing (see below);
• The fifth blessing: “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection!” (Revelation 20:6)
• The sixth blessing: “Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” (Revelation 22:7)
• The seventh blessing: “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” (Revelation 22:14)

And right in the middle of the seven blessings is the fourth blessing, the one that occurs in our passage: “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” 

Generation after generation of God’s faithful ones have looked forward to the great messianic banquet at the end of the age, when the saints will recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with Ruth, Hannah, and Deborah, and we will enjoy together “a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, or aged wine well refined.” (Isaiah 25:6) We will be together with the Lover of our souls forever. Death will be swallowed up; every sorrow healed; all shame taken away; every sacrifice rewarded. And it will be obvious on that great day that all things worked together for our good, as we rejoice in the presence of our Lord forever and ever, amen.

ENDNOTES

[1] Matt Redman, “You Never Let Go”. From the “Beautiful News” album. Ⓟ 2006 Survivor Records

[2] Tom McGarvey is a member of South Paris Baptist Church and has often used the ‘both/and’ concept to describe complementary theological truths.