Actually, you have to have several aspects of Jesus to get the proper picture. One of the things to see is, Jesus is also a judge. As a judge, He will come to remove all oppression, and all injustice. He will remove everything from the earth that opposes love. Why? Because He's a passionate lover, and He won't let anything stay that would hinder love. So in order to understand what Jesus is like, you've got to see Him not just in one of those pictures, but in all three. You've got to see Him as the bridegroom, who loves us passionately; as the King, who has power to change our lives, and desires to rule over all the earth; and as the judge, who will come and address all issues of injustice, and all issues of wrong.
Now if you only have a picture of Him as the bridegroom, you get all sentimental; Oh, Jesus, you love me, and I love you; and oh, having a wonderful time, and I just want more. If that is all you have, you actually become weak and ineffective, and we don't live out what we're called to do. We need to see Him not only as the one who loves us, and enjoy that; but also to see Him as a King, and He has a kingdom, and there are ways of living that bring blessing, and there's an order He wants to establish. We see Him as judge, we understand we need to deal with issues in our life first, because God calls us to judge with Him.
All of these aspects of Jesus that are important, and they turn up all through the Bible. Let me just show you a few places they turn up. Want you to have a look with me; just hold Matthew 25, we'll come back in a moment. Look into Revelation 19. Now you'll look, and when you start to look at the Bible, just look for how Jesus is presented, and you'll find He's presented in different places; Song of Solomon, He's the groom. The Book of Kings, He's a King. The Book of Revelation, He's the groom, and He's the King, and He's the judge. Now look at some of these things here, in Revelations, Chapter 19. Look at this, and it says in verse 7: let us be glad and rejoice, and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the lamb has come; and His wife has made herself ready, and to her was granted that she would be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; so it talks about the groom, and the wedding. The marriage supper - Verse 10 - of the lamb has come, so there He is, the groom.
Now look at Him in Verse 11. Now I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse, and He that sat on him was called "faithful and true and righteous", He judges and makes war. So now He's not just a bridegroom, and it's not about a wedding; it's about a war, a global war. Do not think there'll be peace forever. God speaks of an end time, and a global war when He will come, and it'll be messy. It'll be very messy. A large number of peoples will die during that season, when the Lord comes again, to establish His kingdom. Everything that opposes love will be confronted and dealt with.
Notice it says: He comes to judge and make war. His eyes like a flame of fire, on His head were many crowns. Look at this, verse 14: the armies of heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him; so He's going to be doing this with His people. Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword to strike the nations, and He will rule with a rod of iron; and on His robe is, in fire, a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lord. So again you see, the coming of the Lord, John saw something yet to come, and He saw at the end time a wonderful wedding feast and a marriage; and then he saw Jesus coming as a mighty King; and he saw a great war and the earth being judged. All are aspects of Christ, not just one; and when you look at Jesus ministry, you find it starts with a wedding, and ends with a wedding. Book of Revelation; have a look at Jesus' ministry, it begins at a wedding feast, it ends with a marriage supper.