After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power to our God, for His judgments are true and righteous; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged the blood of His servants from her hand.”…And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God…saying “Amen! Hallelujah!”…
And I heard something like a voice of a great multitude and like a voice of many waters and of strong thunders saying: “Hallelujah, because our Lord God the Almighty began to reign, let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, because the wedding of the lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself; and it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
And he said to me, “Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” And I fell before his feet to worship him. And he said to me, “See that you do not do this; I am a fellow servant of you and your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19: 1-10
The above is an interlude between the judgment of end-time Babylon and Christ’s appearance to fight on behalf of His people.This interlude, John’s style of writing, is actually taking place after the 2nd coming.
First is a description of the response to Rev. 18: 20’s call to rejoice over the destruction of Babylon. In heaven are the angels, plus the multitude of all of the redeemed from earth. They are joined by the twenty-four elders and the four living beings.* All are giving thanks and praise to God for his true and righteous judgments that punished Babylon and that avenged the spilled blood of His servants.
Secondly, the passage tells us that the adoration of God then turns into a call for rejoicing over the wedding of the lamb – the union between Christ and his bride, the church. The church prepared herself with loyalty and faithfulness. Her righteous deeds were the result of a righteous character given to her and developed by the indwelling Christ. The mentioning of this wedding supper is part of the vision’s interlude. The wedding supper isn’t actually taking place at this time. That will happen after the wedding itself – the Second Coming.
Next, the angel speaks a spiritual anomaly. He says that we who overcome are blessed to be both the bride and the invited guests to the wedding supper. It is a surety because the promise comes from God Himself.
Brimming over with joy at these things, John falls at the angel’s feet to worship him. However, that is a no-no. For no matter the high status of any secular or religious person, or spiritual entity, only God is to be worshiped. The angel makes the point that he, like John and all others who have the testimony of Jesus, is a servant of God.
The testimony of Jesus, the angel goes on to say, is the spirit of prophecy. That means the Spirit who speaks through the prophets. It must be noted that in the end-times, in which we live, the church again possesses the prophetic ministry; this in terms of not just exhibiting the prophetic gift but in being faithful to the prophetic message as well.
Very importantly, I’m not talking about all Christian churches as a whole. The spirit of prophecy is manifest in a particular group. Rev. 12: 17 says that group is God’s end-time remnant church; a group characterized by keeping God’s commandments (including the 4th one) and holding to the testimony of Jesus.
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* Read The Twenty-four Elders. Who Are they? and The Four Living Creatures. Who Are They?