Tonight we get to talk about the great wedding supper of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the supper where all of heaven will be present to celebrate the union of Jesus Christ and the believers who have followed Him down through the centuries. Everyone in heaven will be there: God, Christ, believers, and the heavenly host. It will be the greatest celebration to ever take place in the history of the world up to that point.
God has planned this celebration above and beyond anything we could ever imagine or describe. It will be the first time that all the redeemed of all ages have ever come together at one time to honor the Lamb who was slain.
READ 1-6. “After this” is referring to after the fall of the antichrist’s hub city Babylon, we see that the Wedding Supper is a supper of praise. The praise centers on four hallelujahs in verses 1, 3, 4, and 6. Hallelujah simply means praise God. IT’s taken from two Hebrew words: halal, which means praise and jah, meaning the name of God. Let’s look at this passage from the viewpoint of these 4 hallelujahs.
1. In verse 1 we see that the supper will be the hallelujah of salvation. This is probably the heavenly host that will be singing this hallelujah. Salvation, glory and power belong to God. With salvation, we know that God is the One who has wrought salvation for believers and for the earth. The angels have watched the plan of God unfold for generations for man’s salvation.
They were amazed time and again at God’s mercy and grace to man. Now, standing there at the great Wedding Supper of the Lamb, the angels will see the most spectacular sight they have ever witnessed: the completion of God’s salvation. So they praise God as the God of salvation.
They also praise Him for His glory. He alone possesses glory. All the glory, light, and splendor of heaven and earth flows out of Him. So the angels praise God for His glory at the great wedding supper.
They praise Him for His power. Power belongs to God. He is the Supreme power in the universe. It’s His power that saved man and the world. So the angels praise God for His power at the great wedding supper.
2. The second hallelujah is seen actually in verses 2 and 3. This is the hallelujah of victory. Jesus Christ will triumph over all the ungodly and evil of the earth. He will avenge the persecution and abuse of His followers on earth. He will establish His righteousness on earth.
So at the great Wedding Supper of the Lamb, the angels will break out in praise to God for the great victory He has wrought on earth. His judgments are true and righteous. His judgments are exactly matched to a person’s evil.
3. In verse 4 we see the hallelujah of worship. The 24 elders and the 4 living creatures will offer this worship. They will burst forth in praise to God Himself and basically all they cry out is hallelujah, hallelujah. God is so wonderful that He just deserves praise, not for any particular thing, but just because He is so wonderful.
4. The fourth hallelujah is found in verses 5 and 6 and we see that the supper is filled with the hallelujah of God’s omnipotent reign. A voice will cry out from the throne of God to all the servants of God and to all who fear and reverence Him. The prayer of God’s people, “Your kingdom come,” is about to become a living reality on earth forever and ever. So at the great Wedding Supper of the Lamb all of heaven will be stirred to praise the Lord God for His omnipotent reign.
READ v. 7-8. The Wedding Supper will have a pure and prepared bride. The bride, the church, the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ prepare themselves. They prepare themselves just as a believer is to prepare himself, by receiving the Lamb of God as Savior. A person will not be accepted at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. When a believer has given his heart and life to Jesus, then he will be prepared to share in the great Wedding Supper.
Verse 8 refers to the righteous deeds or acts of the believer. The believer acts righteously when he receives Jesus Christ as his Savior. It is then that God accepts the belief of the person as righteousness. So that is the first righteous deed that a person is to do.
The believer is also to do other righteous deeds. He is to serve the Lamb of God to the fullest degree possible. Not all believers serve God with all their heart, body, and soul. Because of that fact, note what verse 8 says. The bride of Christ—that is all believers—will be in heaven. They will be accepted and made perfect in the righteousness of Christ. They have robes that are white and pure.
Note when they get ready to attend the great Wedding Supper, God will give believers another garment that is made of fine linen that will be bright and clean. This other garment is the garment of righteous deeds and acts, the garment of reward, the garment that shows position and responsibility, the garment that rewards one for faithfulness.
Here is the reason we are to be as faithful as we can while here on earth. Christ and Scripture declare that there will be positions in the new heavens and earth. There will be degrees of labor and service, of responsibility and duty assigned to us all. (1 Cor. 3:11-15; 1 Cor. 15:58; 2 Cor. 5:10)
The unfaithful and half-faithful will not be assigned as high a position as the faithful; they will not be as greatly rewarded. We discussed this years ago about what will our reward in heaven since gold and silver will not be of any value there. I said then, and this is what I base it on, that I believe our reward will be in terms of our closeness to Christ in heaven.
We will all be perfected and glorified in heaven, but we will not all rule and reign in equal positions. Remember, the Lord will have His followers looking after the universe for Him. What and how much we will be assigned to oversee and reign over depends on our faithfulness now. These robes for the great Wedding Supper will be the robes of righteous deeds and works.
READ verses 9-10. From these verses, we need to mention that there are those who say the guests refer to a separate group other than the bride. This is the church, so they say but this is unlikely and we see it here. This is the supper of the Lamb, not of the Lamb and the Bride. The Lamb is the One who has called all guests to the great supper. In fact, the believers, that is, the bride, comprise some of the major guests at the supper.
The supper will be a blessed event for one reason; all of the heavenly host will be there, all believers and all angelic beings, and both God and Christ. All are gathered together for the very first time in history.
It stirs the heart to think there will be periodic suppers throughout eternity when Christ will gather us all together for celebrations. Imagine all of us being called together from our various duties and kingdoms from all parts of the universe, called together for a great supper celebration. Being with our Lord and God in heaven and in eternity, in the new heavens and earth—it will all be worth it when we see Jesus.
The wedding supper will be blessed also because it is for the purpose of worshipping God and Him alone. This is illustrated to us by what happened to John. Remember, John was still a human, not a redeemed man. The Lord was giving him a vision of the end time and its events.
John is so caught up in the majestic splendor and celebration of the supper that he falls down at the feet of the great angel to worship him but the angel tells John not to worship neither him nor anyone else; worship only God. Why?
- First, because all creatures, even the majestic angels of heaven, are only servants of God. They are not God.
- Second, Jesus Christ Himself is the One who bears testimony of the truth. The only truth that the angels and servants have is the truth borne by Christ. So, He and He alone is worthy of worship.
Now, as we draw closer to the Battle of Armageddon, we are given a description of what Christ will look like when He returns to earth. Verses 11-16 have no action in them. They are only there to show us what Christ will look like as He returns to earth as the Warrior and Conqueror of heaven.
READ v. 11. This time, the white horse symbolizes Jesus Christ coming as the conquering Christ. In ancient times, when a Roman general entered a city as the conqueror, he rode a white stallion to celebrate his triumph. The day will come when Jesus returns to this earth as the conqueror and when He does, we can count on two things:
1. He will be the faithful and true Conqueror. “Faithful” meaning that He can be trusted and relied upon to judge every enemy when He comes—“true meaning” as opposed to false. Jesus will judge a person perfectly in perfect justice. A person will reap exactly what he has sown. He will be judged and condemned for exactly what he has done.
2. The verse says that Jesus will judge and make war upon the earth with justice. Any person who does not measure up to the righteousness of Jesus Christ will be conquered.
READ v. 12. This verse tells us that Jesus will be the consuming Prince. His eyes will be like blazing fire. This symbolizes penetrating, piercing power. He sees everywhere, even in the dark places and behind closed doors. He knows all. He is omniscient and He is able to conquer all those who reject Him and do evil.
He will be wearing many crowns (diadem). These are royal crowns of rule and authority over many kingdoms. He is coming to conquer all the kingdoms of the earth.
He will have a name written somewhere on His clothing, but He alone knows what the name will be. We aren’t going to waste our time trying to guess. We will see it in that day.
READ v. 13. Jesus will be the slaughtering Word of God. His robe is dipped in blood. This symbolizes the blood of His enemies, not His own redemptive blood. Note how He conquers the ungodly—by the Word of God. He has the power of God’s Word. All He has to do is speak the Word and the very power of His Word will slaughter the ungodly and evil of the world.
READ v. 14. Jesus is the heavenly Leader. The armies of heaven will follow Him. Who are they? They are dressed in “fine linen, white and clean.” This is the very same clothing worn by the believers who have followed Christ the Messiah down through the centuries.
In addition, the armies will include the multitude of angels that Jesus Christ said He was going to bring with Him when He returned earth. (Matt. 25:31)
READ v. 15. Jesus will be the fierce Conqueror. We see that in three things that are said here:
1. First, He will have a weapon; a sharp sword will proceed out of His mouth. This symbolizes that His weapon will be the power of His Word. The Word of God is the sword of God.
2. Second, He will strike and rule the nations of the earth with an iron scepter. He will conquer and subject them all and take His rightful place as the Sovereign Lord over the earth and all its peoples.
3. Third, He will execute the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
READ v. 16. Jesus will be the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the sovereign King and Sovereign Lord of the universe. No one exists except by His will and no one shall be allowed to be a citizen of His kingdom unless they have His approval.
When He comes as conqueror, He is going to banish all those who have not acknowledged and subjected themselves to His sovereignty—those who have not worshipped and served Him as the greatest of all Kings and Lords.
We will stop here for tonight.
Next time will look at the Battle of Armageddon and the removal and binding of Satan. Won’t that be fun? We will finally see Satan conquered—no more temptations, no more sinning, no more evil. Or is it? We will see.
