The Greatest Wedding Ever

On April 29, 2011, billions of people around the world watched the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. It was the wedding of the new millennium. The cost of the wedding was estimated at around $ 34 million, compared to the average wedding at $ 27,000. Here are a few of the staggering prices:

The royal wedding cake: $ 80,000 (average US price: $ 540)

Kate Middleton’s wedding gown: $ 434,000 (average US price: $ 1,099)

The royal wedding flowers: $ 800,000 (average US price: $ 1,988)

The ring: $ 136,000 (average US price: $ 5,392)

The ring, which was originally Princess Diana’s, was actually free for the couple. However, Prince Charles purchased it in 1981 for $ 45,000, and it was estimated to be worth $ 136,000 in 2011.

Other costs that figured into the $ 34 million budget included the church service, music, food, decorations, and additional security.

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding actually cost less than the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Di, which cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $48 million. (Some estimate in today’s dollars that could be over $100 million!).

As dazzling and detailed as William and Kate’s wedding was, it pales in comparison to a heavenly wedding that is on God’s prophetic calendar— the marriage of the Lamb.

Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (pp. 223-224). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

There are three key future events that comprise God’s distinct prophetic plan for the church: the Rapture, the judgment seat of Christ, and the marriage of the Lamb. The church will be caught up to the Father’s house, each believer will be rewarded, and then the bride will be presented to her Bridegroom. All this will happen before the church returns with Christ to earth at His second coming.

God Himself is the author of the marriage relationship. It is the first human institution He created. The Bible consistently mentions weddings and marriages to accentuate their importance in God’s plan. The Bible mentions at least twenty weddings. While some of these weddings pleased God and some didn’t, the greatest wedding of all time is still to come. The Bible calls it the marriage of the Lamb when the Lord Jesus Christ is joined to His bride, the church, in heaven. It is the next great event in heaven that takes place after the reviewing and rewarding of the saints at the judgment seat of Christ.

Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (p. 224). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

The main passage in the Bible that describes this joyous event is :

Revelation 19:7–10 HCSB

7 Let us be glad, rejoice, and give Him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself. 8 She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure. For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write: Those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb are fortunate!” He also said to me, “These words of God are true.” 10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow slave with you and your brothers who have the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, because the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (p. 224). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

God Himself is the author of the marriage relationship. It is the first human institution He created. The Bible consistently mentions weddings and marriages to accentuate their importance in God’s plan. The Bible mentions at least twenty weddings. While some of these weddings pleased God and some didn’t, the greatest wedding of all time is still to come. The Bible calls it the marriage of the Lamb when the Lord Jesus Christ is joined to His bride, the church, in heaven. It is the next great event in heaven that takes place after the reviewing and rewarding of the saints at the judgment seat of Christ.

On April 29, 2011, billions of people around the world watched the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. It was the wedding of the new millennium. The cost of the wedding was estimated at around $ 34 million, compared to the average wedding at $ 27,000. Here are a few of the staggering prices:

The royal wedding cake: $ 80,000 (average US price: $ 540)

Kate Middleton’s wedding gown: $ 434,000 (average US price: $ 1,099)

The royal wedding flowers: $ 800,000 (average US price: $ 1,988)

The ring: $ 136,000 (average US price: $ 5,392)

The ring, which was originally Princess Diana’s, was actually free for the couple. However, Prince Charles purchased it in 1981 for $ 45,000, and it was estimated to be worth $ 136,000 in 2011.

Other costs that figured into the $ 34 million budget included the church service, music, food, decorations, and additional security.

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding actually cost less than the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Di, which cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $48 million. (Some estimate in today’s dollars that could be over $100 million!).

As dazzling and detailed as William and Kate’s wedding was, it pales in comparison to a heavenly wedding that is on God’s prophetic calendar— the marriage of the Lamb.

God’s Word is clear that a day is coming when the church, the bride of Christ, will be joined to her Bridegroom in heaven.

There are three key future events that comprise God’s distinct prophetic plan for the church: the Rapture, the judgment seat of Christ, and the marriage of the Lamb.

The church will be caught up to the Father’s house, each believer will be rewarded, and then the bride will be presented to her Bridegroom. All this will happen before the church returns with Christ to earth at His second coming.

In order to better understand the marriage of the Lamb, we need to consider two main points:

God Himself is the author of the marriage relationship. It is the first human institution He created. The Bible consistently mentions weddings and marriages to accentuate their importance in God’s plan. The Bible mentions at least twenty weddings. While some of these weddings pleased God and some didn’t, the greatest wedding of all time is still to come. The Bible calls it the marriage of the Lamb when the Lord Jesus Christ is joined to His bride, the church, in heaven. It is the next great event in heaven that takes place after the reviewing and rewarding of the saints at the judgment seat of Christ.

God’s Word is clear that a day is coming when the church, the bride of Christ, will be joined to her Bridegroom in heaven. In order to better understand the marriage of the Lamb, we need to consider two main points:

(1) the participants in the marriage

(2) the phases in the marriage.

Modern weddings have several key participants:

the minister, the bride,

the bridegroom,

the bridesmaids,

the groomsmen,

the families,

and the guests.

In a similar way, the marriage of the Lamb will have four key participants.

Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (p. 225). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (p. 224). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

The Father is the divine host of the marriage of the Lamb. He is the Father of the bridegroom, He selected the bride, He prepares the wedding, and He sends out the invitations ().

The letters of the NT specifically state that Jesus is the bridegroom; however, this is not something exclusive to the later teaching f the NT. Even the Gospels allude to this.

Jesus claimed to be the Bridegroom:

When asked why His disciples do not fast, Jesus responded:

Luke 5:34 HCSB

34 Jesus said to them, “You can’t make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you?

John the Baptist pointed to Jesus as the groom:

John the Baptist answered this question:

John 3:27–29 HCSB

27 John responded, “No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of Him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete.

John 3:

The bride is a clear New Testament picture of the church.

Ephesians 5:25–26 HCSB

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.

The marriage of the Lamb will occur in heaven where the church is joined to Christ, but the marriage supper that follows the wedding will take place later on earth during the millennial kingdom. Guests will be invited to the marriage supper:

Revelation 19:9 HCSB

9 Then he said to me, “Write: Those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb are fortunate!” He also said to me, “These words of God are true.”

Who are these guests? It appears that they are Old Testament and Tribulation saints who will be resurrected at the second coming of Christ and will join the great banquet in the millennial kingdom ().

Matthew 22:1–14 HCSB

1 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent out his slaves to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come. 4 Again, he sent out other slaves, and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 “But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the others seized his slaves, treated them outrageously and killed them. 7 The king was enraged, so he sent out his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned down their city. 8 “Then he told his slaves, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’ 10 So those slaves went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to view the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. 13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Throughout the Bible we learn that since the Jews, as a whole, did not accept Christ and His Gospel, the Gospel was given to the Gentiles. However, there were individual Jews in His time and afterward who believed. These will be included as the Bride of Christ. However, there were many who looked forward to His coming, but never saw it. These are the Old Testament saints who will attend as guest along with those who accepted Christ during the Great Tribulation.

John 1:14 HCSB

14 The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The marriage ceremony will only involve the church, but the marriage feast will include Old Testament and Tribulation saints.

Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (p. 225). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (p. 226). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Just as every wedding has certain people who participate in the ceremony, a wedding also has a schedule of events that must occur. Almost every wedding I perform has an order of events that is handed out to the guests. A wedding in ancient Israel had four main steps or phases. The ancient wedding ceremony is a picture with spiritual parallels to the church of Jesus Christ and even to each individual believer’s relationship to Christ.

Obviously, the first step to any marriage ceremony is choosing a bride. In ancient Israel the official selection was made by the father with input, consultation, and no doubt encouragement by the son and his mother. God’s Word declares that, before the world was created, God the Father selected a bride for His beloved Son.

Ephesians 1:4 HCSB

4 For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love

The Father has already selected the bride for His Son.

(). The Father has already selected the bride for His Son.

When a selection had been made, the father of the groom contacted the father of the bride. If the proposed marriage was acceptable, the two families entered into a binding contract of betrothal that spelled out the terms of the marriage, the financial arrangements, etc.

The betrothal period was similar to our modern engagement, but as you can see it was much more formal and legally binding. The betrothal agreement was solemnized by three acts:

A solemn oral commitment in the presence of witnesses,

A pledge of money,

A written pledge or contract.

The betrothal document was a binding contractual agreement between the families that could only be broken by death or divorce. The betrothed couple were considered to be husband and wife, and any violation of the relationship was considered adultery and punishable by death.

The betrothal period was normally one year for virgins and one month for widows. During this time preparations for the wedding and marriage were carried out.

Remember that Joseph and Mary were betrothed when she became pregnant with Jesus (). Joseph, not knowing initially that this was of the Lord, planned to “send her away,” which meant to give her a bill of divorce. That’s how sacred this betrothal was in Jewish culture.

An important part of the betrothal process was the gifts of betrothal. There were three important parts to these gifts.

First was the “marriage present” that the bridegroom gave to the bride’s father.

Second, the bride’s father gave the dowry to his daughter (and ultimately to the groom). This gift might include servants, valued possessions, or land.

Third, the bridegroom gave a gift to the bride called the “bridegroom’s gift.” This gift was often jewelry or clothes.

Just as God chose believers to be the bride of Christ, he has also betrothed us to our Bridegroom.

2 Corinthians 11:2–3 HCSB

2 For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, because I have promised you in marriage to one husband—to present a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a complete and pure devotion to Christ.

The betrothal stage of the ancient marriage parallels our present experience as believers.

The church is presently in the betrothal stage of God’s schedule for the marriage. Believers have been selected by the Father and betrothed to Christ and are waiting for Him to come and take us to be His bride. The Father of the Bridegroom has paid the price for our purchase as the bride of Christ. He offered up His own Son as a sacrifice on the cross. The Bridegroom is also the sacrificial Lamb ().

1 Peter 1:18–19 HCSB

18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.

1 Peter 1:18-19

Additionally, as part of our betrothal to Christ, the Father has given every believer in Christ an amazing dowry— the indwelling Holy Spirit ().

Ephesians 1:13–14 HCSB

13 When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. 14 He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory.

Because we are betrothed to Christ and have the dowry of the Holy Spirit, our salvation is absolutely secure! Our Heavenly Bridegroom will never violate or cancel His betrothal, and the Father will never take back His dowry.

We don’t know how long the betrothal stage will last. However, as we await our Bridegroom, like a virtuous bride, we are to keep ourselves spiritually pure and undefiled ().

Ephesians 5:25–27 HCSB

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. 27 He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.

Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (pp. 226-227). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

In the ancient Near East, when the betrothal period was complete, the bride and groom were officially joined as husband and wife at a presentation ceremony.

The presentation ceremony would occur when the father of the groom told his son,

“Go, son, and get your bride and bring her home!”

To add to the drama and excitement, this would often be done in the evening. The anxious son would leave his father’s house and in a torch-lit procession go to the home of his bride. Once there, he would announce that he had come to receive his bride to himself. The marriage ceremony consisted mainly in the “taking” of the bride. The bridegroom literally “took a wife.” When the bridegroom entered the bride’s home, her father would place her hand in the bridegroom’s hand and “present” her to him.

Someday, at the appointed time, the Father in heaven will tell His Son, “Go, Son, and get Your bride and bring her home!” Christ will come and rapture His bride, and she will be presented to Him as a glorious, unblemished bride. At this point, the Father will have fulfilled His legal contract when He betrothed us to Christ. We are still awaiting this presentation phase of the marriage. We are waiting for our Bridegroom to come to take us to Himself. We are waiting to hear the midnight cry, “Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!” ().

While this does paint a clear picture of the Rapture that helps us understand the possible circumstances in which it will occur and why, we should be careful not to over examine it, drawing too close of a comparison. Even though the procession usually occured at night, it would be incorrect for us to assume that the Rapture will occur at night, because even if it is nighttime for us, it is daytime for many other Christians.

Terms like light and dark are often used to denote spiritual conditions. l believe a more accurate analogy would be to a spiritual darkness rather than a literal one.

Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (p. 228). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Matthew 4:16 HCSB

16 The people who live in darkness have seen a great light, and for those living in the shadowland of death, light has dawned.

John 1:5 HCSB

5 That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.

John 3:19 HCSB

19 “This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

John 12:35 HCSB

35 Jesus answered, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he’s going.

John 12:46 HCSB

46 I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me would not remain in darkness.

I believe that before Christ comes, we will see a spiritual darkness in this world like we have never seen before.

After the bride was presented to the bridegroom, he would lead a joyous procession back to his father’s house. The party was joined on the journey by young virgins who were waiting to catch sight of the procession as it passed by. These young women were friends of the bride and bridegroom ( (Parable of the 10 Virgins with lamps).

Upon the wedding party’s return to the father’s house, a feast was ready for family and friends, much like what we call the wedding reception today, except much more elaborate ( (Wedding at Cana - Jesus performed His first miracle on the 3rd day of the feast). Unlike our weddings and receptions today, the bridegroom was the center of attention, not the bride. He was king for the time of the feast.

The wedding feast was supervised by a faithful steward or close friend and usually lasted from one to seven days— sometimes even up to fourteen days if the parents were wealthy. To refuse an invitation to the wedding feast was a gross insult to the family ().

How do these phases apply to us? God’s Word says that Jesus is coming for us, His bride, to take us to His Father’s house where He has been preparing a place for us for two thousand years (). After we are presented to our heavenly Bridegroom, the greatest celebration in history will break loose— the marriage supper of the Lamb. While some believe the marriage supper will occur in heaven, it appears that it will take place on earth, because many of the guests will never see Heaven as it is now. They will only see the Millennial Kingdom and Eternal Kingdom.

The Wedding supper itself will spill over into the millennial kingdom. The length of the wedding feast in ancient times was determined by the wealth of the bridegroom’s father. When Christ takes His bride, His heavenly Father, whose wealth is infinite, will throw a party that will last not for seven days but for one thousand years. Jesus frequently compared the millennial kingdom to a wedding feast (; ; ; ).

Matthew 8:11 HCSB

11 I tell you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 22:1–2 HCSB

1 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.

Matthew 8:22 HCSB

22 But Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Matthew 22:1–14 HCSB

1 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent out his slaves to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come. 4 Again, he sent out other slaves, and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 “But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the others seized his slaves, treated them outrageously and killed them. 7 The king was enraged, so he sent out his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned down their city. 8 “Then he told his slaves, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’ 10 So those slaves went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to view the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. 13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Matt

Luke 14:16–24 HCSB

16 Then He told him: “A man was giving a large banquet and invited many. 17 At the time of the banquet, he sent his slave to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’ 18 “But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’ 20 “And another said, ‘I just got married, and therefore I’m unable to come.’ 21 “So the slave came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his slave, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame!’ 22 “ ‘Master,’ the slave said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’ 23 “Then the master told the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and lanes and make them come in, so that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will enjoy my banquet!’ ”

Matthew 25:1–13 HCSB

1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were sensible. 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they didn’t take olive oil with them. 4 But the sensible ones took oil in their flasks with their lamps. 5 Since the groom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “In the middle of the night there was a shout: ‘Here’s the groom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 “Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 But the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ 9 “The sensible ones answered, ‘No, there won’t be enough for us and for you. Go instead to those who sell, and buy oil for yourselves.’ 10 “When they had gone to buy some, the groom arrived. Then those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut. 11 “Later the rest of the virgins also came and said, ‘Master, master, open up for us!’ 12 “But he replied, ‘I assure you: I do not know you!’ 13 “Therefore be alert, because you don’t know either the day or the hour.

Matt 25:

Luke 14:

Getting Ready for the Big Day

Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (pp. 228-229). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

One of the chief concerns of every bride to be is what she is going to wear at her wedding and wedding reception.

The bride spends hours and hours and hours and . . . painstakingly looking at dresses, shoes, veils, jewelry, and all the accessories. Not to mention all the time just before the wedding getting a manicure and pedicure, getting her hair done, and making sure her makeup is just right. No detail of preparation is left to chance.

The marriage of the Lamb should be no different.

reminds us that every believer will be present at the wedding feast dressed in the finest white linen, which the Bible says represents the righteous deeds we have done. These good deeds are not so we can enter heaven. God has already invited us and made the way. However, what we will wear to the wedding feast will be the garment we sew ourselves.

I once heard a preacher say, “Has it ever occurred to you that at the marriage of the bride to the Lamb, each of us will be wearing the wedding garment of our own making?”

How we are dressed on that day will depend on the life we have lived for Christ. Make sure that you will be beautifully dressed on that day by living for Christ today. The marriage of the Lamb is an event that is certain to happen. Someday the Bridegroom will come to take His bride to His Father’s house. We need to make sure we are living a pure life for our loving Bridegroom.

nd: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (p. 229). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (p. 229). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

The Greatest Wedding Ever

The Participants in the Marriage

1. The Host of the Wedding— The Father in Heaven

2. The Bridegroom— Jesus Christ (; John 3:27-29)

3. The Bride— The Church (Eph. 5:25-26)

4. The Guests— Old Testament and Tribulation Saints (; Matt. 22:1-14)

The Phases of the Marriage

Phase 1: The Selection of the Bride by the Father

Phase 2: The Betrothal of the Bride and Groom

Phase 3: The Marriage of the Bride and Groom

Phase 4: The Marriage Supper or Celebration