The Wedding Feast of the Lamb, part 2

Last week we looked at the circumstances surrounding the Wedding of the Lamb in order to make a connection with the Exodus, the Passover Feast and the Last Supper, to this Wedding Feast.

We also looked at the four-fold Hallelujah which as some had noted is the inspiration for the Hallelujah chorus.

Today we’re going to look at the second part of the Wedding Feast and examine what Jesus meant when he said that He wouldn’t eat of this meal until the kingdom of God comes.

Luke 22:15–18 NASB95

And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”

The Feast He is referencing is the wedding feast of the Lamb where Jesus says the Passover feast is fulfilled when the kingdom of God comes.

Today we will look at ancient Jewish wedding traditions and Old Testament prophecies, and how they tie into this last feast and in doing so we’ll see how the Passover comes to fulfillment at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.

Let’s Read Revelation 19:7-9; John 14:1-4

Ancient Jewish Weddings

These wedding customs had four major stages.

The Marriage Covenant

The Groom Coming to Get His Bride

The Wedding Feast

Departing for Home

Marriage Contract

There are three parts to this stage.

The Covenant

The Betrothal

The Preparation

The Covenant

First, a marriage covenant was signed by the parents of the bride and the bridegroom.

Let’s take a look at this covenant in the Old Testament - New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31–32 (NASB95)

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 31:33–34 (NASB95)

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Luke 22:20 (NASB95)

And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

The Bride Price

As part of that covenant was a bride price - The groom would pay a bride price to the parents for the rights to marry their daughter - In Jesus’ case, His blood

Matthew 26:28–29 (NASB95)

for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

The Cup

In ancient Israel the prospective groom after paying the bride price and setting the conditions of marriage with the girl’s father would pour a cup of wine, drink from it and pass it to the prospective bride.

If the bride drank from the same cup, it showed her accepting the groom’s offer and receiving that man to be her husband.

This is what Jesus was doing at the Last Supper with His disciples and then, by extension, all of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Matthew 26:27 (NASB95)

And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you;

The Betrothal Period.

Once the young woman accepting the cup from the man they were betrothed - legally binding.

They were considered husband and wife in all things except in that which produces children.

This Betrothal Period was about 1-2 years.

During this time the bride and bridegroom each would be preparing for the marriage and wouldn't see each other.

The Preparations.

Groom’s Preparations

At that time, the groom would leave the bride to be to go and either prepare a homestead, or to add on to his father’s estate and build a bridal chamber which would become their new home.

John 13:33 NASB95

“Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

John 13:36 NASB95

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.”

This becomes a foreshadowing of John 14:2.

John 14:2 NASB95

“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

Preparing a place -

The bridegroom would prepare a wedding chamber for the honeymoon. The wedding chamber had to be a beautiful place to bring the bride.

The wedding chamber had to be built to the groom's father's specifications. The young man could go for his bride only when his father approved

If the bridegroom was asked when the wedding was to be, he might well say "it is not for me to know, only my father knows".

Similarly, Jesus said

Mark 13:32–33 NASB95

“But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.

Bride’s Preparations

White linens -

Partake of a Mikveh, a ritual cleansing bath in “living” (running) water. 

Invest in lovely clothing and cosmetics.

Have her belongings ready to grab when she hears the shofar (ram’s horn trumpet) that tells her her bridegroom is coming for her at last.

Keep her lamp trimmed!

Prepare to be “snatched”!

She wouldn't know when her groom would come for her, so she always had to be ready.

Since bridegrooms typically came for their brides in the middle of the night, to "steal them away"(the groom would often come like a thief in the night, often around the midnight hour)

The bride would have to have her lamp and her belongings ready at all times.

Her sisters or bridesmaids would also be waiting, keeping their lamps trimmed in anticipation of the late night festivities.

Bridegroom Comes for His Bride

The second part of the marriage process occurred when the bridegroom, accompanied by his male friends, went to the house of the bride at midnight, creating a torchlight parade through the streets.

Once their new home was ready, the groom would come “like a thief in the night” to “steal away” his bride

When the bridegroom's father deemed the wedding chamber ready, the father would tell the bridegroom that it was time to get His bride.

The bridegroom would abduct his bride secretly.

As the bridegroom approached the bride's home, he would shout and blow the shofar (ram's horn trumpet) so that she had some warning to gather her belongings to take into the wedding chamber.

The bridegroom and his friends would come into the bride's house and get the bride and her bridesmaids.

Then they would all join the parade and end up at the bridegroom’s home. This custom is the basis of the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1–13.

This is what John 14:3 and I Thess 4:15 prophetically speak about.

John 14:3 NASB95

“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 NASB95

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Jesus is telling the disciples that once He builds their home, he will return to take them there.

This of course is the rapture we have been talking about off and on.

Now this point really leans towards the rapture being pre-tribulation.

The Bride and Groom would spend 7 days in the bridal chamber before coming out for the wedding feast.

Many scholars believe that this equates to the 7 year tribulation period.

Wedding Feast

The third phase was the marriage supper itself, which might go on for days, as illustrated by the wedding at Cana in John 2:1–2.

But this is what Isaiah 25:6-10 foreshadows.

Isaiah 25:6–7 NASB95

The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, And refined, aged wine. And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.

Isaiah 25:8–9 NASB95

He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

After the marriage procession, the bride is ready to enter the banqueting hall.

This is where we now see the final fulfillment of this in the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.

Revelation 19:7–9 NASB95

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ ” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

This Feast prophetically appears to be happening during the Millennial Reign of Christ.

Depart for Home

The final stage of the wedding festivities is that the Groom brings the Bride to their new home.

We see Isaiah 65:17-19 as a foreshadowing of this.

Isaiah 65:17–19 NASB95

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. “I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.

We see this fulfilled in the New Jerusalem

Revelation 21:1–2 NASB95

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation 21:3–4 NASB95

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Application

We are the betrothed bride waiting for our groom, Jesus, to come and get us for the wedding feast.

Application for us - fine linen = righteous acts of the Saints

Touch on the righteousness of Christ.

Not because of our righteousness.

Titus 3:5–7 NASB95

He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

So we are able to do righteous acts because we are working through the righteousness of Christ and we do them for His glory.

The same thought as we love because God first loved us.

What does the righteous acts of the Saint look like?

Titus 2:11–12 NASB95

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

Titus 2:13–14 NASB95

looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Ephesians 2:10 NASB95

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Conclusion

Hopefully you’ll have see the connection between the Last Supper and the Marriage Covenant, Jesus leaving to prepare a place for us from John 14 with the Preparation period, the events of the wedding parade and feast leading to the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in Revelation 19, and finally our final home from Revelation 21.

From the pattern of the ancient wedding practices, we see that, like the bridegroom of ancient times, Jesus came to the home of His bride (earth) to make a covenant with His bride, seal it with a glass of wine, and pay the bride price with His own life-blood. Then upon betrothal, Jesus then went away (ascension) to prepare a place for His bride and will come again (rapture) to get His bride. We will then celebrate the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and depart with our Bridegroom for our new home, the New Jerusalem in the New Heaven and on the New Earth.

What a glorious day that will be!

Closing Song: Glorious Day