After God has been victorious over the corrupt world, the crowd in heaven look at God's faithful people. It seems as though all nature has one great last shout to echo the 'Hallelujah' of victory. Crashing waves and majestic waterfalls blend with thunder like a mighty orchestra and choir to proclaim the 'Hallelujah' of Sovereignty. God is the undisputed Lord and Master of everything. He is almighty because He has all power and all authority to achieve whatever He chooses. Gone is the arrogant strutting of sinful humanity, absorbing Satan's lies to their own destruction and spoiling every part of God’s creation. The scene is set for the marriage of the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and His Bride, the church (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Heaven rejoices without fear. Their only suitable activity is to glorify the Lord. It is difficult to describe this powerful outward flow of praise, but all the attention is on the Lord and His excellence evokes a continuous selfless outburst of extreme admiration for all He is and has done. The anticipation is tangible. The time has come for the Bride of Christ to meet Him face to face. She will not have to manufacture her own wedding clothes because their 'robes of righteousness' are given to them by the Holy God (Isaiah 61:10), akin to the priestly robes of the Old Testament (Leviticus 16:4). Those who refuse to wear what God provides are not fit to be part of His Bride (Matthew 22:11-13); no one can come to the Father in their own righteousness (Luke 18:9-14).

How happy is every bride who anticipates her wedding to the love of her life. It will be so for every believer who is called to the wedding where Jesus is the Bridegroom. The angel in John's vision makes a special point of instructing John to write it all down, to encourage the church in hard times and to ensure that the church on earth knows that their destiny is with the Lord. He has committed Himself to their eternal welfare, because of His eternal love for them (1 John 3:1) – and their response of loving faith to His call to salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9).

This world, with its corruption of God's good creation, the sinfulness of human nature with its oscillations of pride and remorse, is not all there is. A bright future, full of love and glory, awaits those who are trusting in Jesus Christ. He will personally welcome us to His home (John 14:1-4), and we will reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 20:6). This amazing future is not a religious bribe to keep people in the church; it is a personal promise of a loving God to His children. When we look around we may be distressed, but when we look up we see the glory of heaven and of Christ waiting for us. That is assured to us by Jesus Himself (John 3:13; 14:3). The only reason we can live with confidence in an uncertain world is because Jesus has promised that we will share His glory and become His bride, loved and cherished for ever.