Rejoicing In Heaven Part 4
The outworking of God’s saving grace on sinners begins long before any individual sinner experiences the benefits of that grace. Before the sinner’s conversion and justification, before the Savior’s substitutionary atonement, and even before the creation of the world itself, God’s redemptive grace has its origin in eternity past in the sovereign counsel of the will of the triune God.
In sovereign freedom, solely out of the overflow of his loving-kindness and grace, God set his love on particular individuals, chose them to be saved from sin and death, and purposed that they would be restored to a right relationship with him through the redemptive work of his Son applied by his Spirit.
Thus, all of God’s providential actions in time conform to a fixed purpose that precedes time.
That is to say, because the eternal, self-existent triune God was the only entity present in eternity past (Isa. 43:10; 44:24), it is impossible that anything external to God moved him to decree one thing as opposed to another, for there was nothing external to him
Just as nothing could influence God’s sovereign decree from its inception in eternity past, so nothing in time can change his decree
This was an arrangement by both sets of parents contracting the marriage of their children. It was legally binding and could only be broken by a divorce (cf. Matt. 1:18–19). A betrothal contract was often signed long before the children reached the marriageable age of thirteen or fourteen. Since a marriage represented the union of two families, it was natural for the parents to be involved. And there were years of preparation for the time of marriage, as the boy prepared for his bride.
At the end of the presentation festivities, the groom and his attendants would go to the bride’s house and take her and her bridesmaids to the ceremony. After the ceremony would come a final meal, followed by the consummation of the marriage.
At the end of the presentation festivities, the groom and his attendants would go to the bride’s house and take her and her bridesmaids to the ceremony. After the ceremony would come a final meal, followed by the consummation of the marriage.
In the imagery of an ancient wedding, the Rapture marks the time when the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Mark 2:19–20; Matt. 9:15; Luke 5:34–35; John 3:28–29), takes His bride to His Father’s house. During the Tribulation, the raptured church will be presented in heaven. But at the end of those seven years of joyous fellowship and wonderful celebration, the time will come for the wedding ceremony, the marriage of the Lamb. That final union of the Bridegroom and the bride is marked by a great supper.
The entire heavenly chorus, including angels (v. 1), the twenty-four elders (v. 4), the four living creatures (v. 4), and all the host of the redeemed (v. 5), is exhorted to rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him because all the preparation is complete and the marriage of the Lamb has come. Betrothed in eternity past, presented in the Father’s house since the Rapture, the church is now ready for the wedding ceremony to begin. That ceremony will coincide with the establishment of the millennial kingdom, and stretch throughout that thousand-year period to be finally consummated in the new heavens and the new earth (cf. 21:1–2). The idea of a thousand-year-long ceremony may seem far-fetched; yet it is no more difficult than several thousand years of betrothal. And it must be remembered that “a thousand years in [God’s] sight are like yesterday when it passes by” (Ps. 90:4), and that “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day” (2 Pet. 3:8). In the new heavens and the new earth, the bride concept will be expanded to include not only the church, but also all the redeemed of all ages as the New Jerusalem becomes the bridal city (21:1–2). It should be noted that in the Old Testament, God is the Bridegroom of Israel (Isa. 54:5–6; 62:5; Jer. 31:32; Ezek. 16:7–14; Hos. 2:16, 19).
The bride has made herself ready in the power of God, by the grace of God, through the work of the Spirit of God. Purged from all sin and impurity (cf. 1 Cor. 3:12–15), she is a flawless, blameless, unblemished virgin.
Fine linen was expensive and beautiful cloth (cf. 18:12, 16), like that worn by Joseph (Gen. 41:42), David (1 Chron. 15:27), and Mordecai (Est. 8:15); lampros (bright) means glistening, shining, or radiant (cf. its use in Acts 10:30); katharos (clean) is translated “pure” in 21:18, 21. Such dazzling garments were worn earlier in Revelation by angels (15:6), and will be the clothing of the armies of heaven (made up of both angels and the redeemed saints) that accompany Christ when He returns to earth (v. 14).
The fine linen with which the bride is clothed in the vision represents the righteous acts of the saints. At salvation, believers were clothed with Christ’s righteousness, imputed to them (Rom. 3:21–24; 4:5; 5:19; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:8–9). But now the church is clothed with a righteousness of its own; the glorified believers are intrinsically righteous, like the holy angels. No longer will the church have only an imputed righteousness, but also then an imparted holy perfection. The promise of 1 John 3:2
The recipients of this blessing are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. That they are invited guests marks them as a distinct group from the church, since a bride would hardly be invited to her own wedding.
These guests represent Old Testament believers. Matthew 8:11 and Luke 13:28 both refer to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as being in the kingdom, and Luke 13:28 also mentions the prophets. All the heroes of the faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 will be among the invited guests. So will John the Baptist, the greatest of all Old Testament believers (Matt. 11:11), who described himself as the friend of the bridegroom (John 3:29) and hence one of the invited guests. All the Tribulation saints, glorified and still alive on earth and entering the millennial kingdom, will be guests.
Some may question why the church age believers should be granted the honor of being the bride, while believers from other ages are merely guests. But one may equally ask why God singled out Israel to be the covenant people. The only answer to both questions is that God sovereignly purposed that it be so (cf. Deut. 7:7–8). It must be remembered that the wedding imagery is just that; imagery that is not reality, but pictures God’s intimate union with His people. There will be no “second- class citizens” in God’s kingdom, just as all the participants in a wedding enjoy the celebration. And in the new heavens and the new earth, as noted above, the imagery of the bride will be expanded to encompass all the redeemed from all ages (21:1–2).
The angel’s final word to John is a reminder that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” The central theme of Old Testament prophecy and New Testament preaching is the Lord Jesus Christ. Until the coming of His kingdom, all who proclaim the gospel must be faithful to the testimony of Jesus, the saving gospel message, which was His message. Those who are not will forfeit heavenly affirmation of their ministry.