Marriage Supper of the Lamb
Notes
Transcript
We are going to be ending our series today on “The Judgment Seat of Christ by answering a question.
What will happen after the Judgement Seat of Christ?
7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”
8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
According to scripture what will happen after the judgment seat will be a marriage supper. The marriage supper of the Lamb.
In his vision in Revelation 19:7–10, John saw and heard the heavenly multitudes praising God because the wedding feast of the Lamb—literally, the “marriage supper”—was about to begin. The concept of the marriage supper is better understood in light of the wedding customs in the time of Christ.
These wedding customs had three major parts.
First, a marriage contract was signed by the parents of the bride and the bridegroom, and the parents of the bridegroom or the bridegroom himself would pay a dowry to the bride or her parents.
This began what was called the betrothal period—what we would today call the engagement. This period was the one Joseph and Mary were in when she was found to be with child (Matthew 1:18; Luke 2:5).
Jesus is not just a king; he is a betrothed King—an engaged King. And soon he will be a married King. His betrothed bride is the people of God—the people who trust him, elect from every race and nation, the church. He came the first time 2,000 years ago to die for his bride—to pay a dowry, as it were, with his own blood. And he will come a second time to marry her and take us—his church—into the gardens and the chambers of his love and joy forever.
Paul puts it like this in Ephesians 5:
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
In John Piper message, “Jesus Christ, the Bridgroom, Past and Future says the following.
“King Jesus came into the world to take a wife. Not a harem. And not for sex. But to give her pleasures that make sex taste like cardboard. He paid for her with his life. And he is now at work by his Spirit and by his word purifying and beautifying her for himself and for her joy.”
The second step in the process usually occurred a year later, when the bridegroom, accompanied by his male friends, went to the house of the bride at midnight, creating a torchlight parade through the streets.
The bride would know in advance this was going to take place, and so she would be ready with her maidens, and 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.
1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,
4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’
7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’
12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
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.
What John’s vision in Revelation pictures is the wedding feast of the Lamb (Jesus Christ) and His bride (the Church) in its third phase.
The implication is that the first two phases have already taken place.
The first phase was completed on earth when each individual believer placed his or her faith in Christ as Savior. The dowry paid to the bridegroom’s parent (God the Father) would be the blood of Christ shed on the Bride’s behalf.
The Church on earth today, then, is “betrothed” to Christ, and, like the wise virgins in the parable, all believers should be watching and waiting for the appearance of the Bridegroom (the rapture).
The second phase symbolizes the rapture of the Church, when Christ comes to claim His bride and take her to the Father’s house.
The marriage supper then follows as the third and final step. It is my personal view that the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place in heaven between the rapture and the second coming (during the tribulation on earth).
Let me end this morning with a personal question. Do you believe in your heart that Jesus King of the universe came into the world to betroth to himself a bride at the price of his own blood, and that he will come a second time to marry his bride and take us into the infinitely beautiful place he has prepared for His bride, the Church.
For you see, everyone who trusts in Jesus belongs to that bride. Not every person will be a part of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Some will be outside wishing they could get in. So I urge you, “Trust Christ. Love Christ. Be a part of his bride.” The joys he will give us are beyond anything experienced or imagined on this present earth.