THE CHURCH – ITS CONSUMMATION IS RIGHTEOUS JOY – THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB AND THE CHURCH’S RETURN TO EARTH - PART 1 (PART 12 IN THE SERIES)
[1]. THE INTRODUCTION TO THIS SUBJECT
We are coming to one of the most wonderful events in scripture, so glorious and so majestic but generally not very much thought is given to it. It is always termed “The Marriage Supper of the Lamb,” and only three verses are devoted to it. We must look at the setting for this event. We will look at the relevant verses – {{Revelation 19:5 A voice came from the throne saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Rev 19:6 I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Rev 19:7 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,” Rev 19:8 and 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. Rev 19:9 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.”}}
[2]. WHAT DOES IT MEAN “THE BRIDE HAS MADE HERSELF READY?”
In verse 7 it states “the Bride has made herself ready.” How was that accomplished? In what way can the Bride do that for herself? We look at this soon.
What is the Bride here in the Revelation passage? The more common names for the Bride are the CHURCH and the BODY of Christ. We studied all these terms in an earlier Part. The ingathering of all the redeemed men and women and children since the time of Adam to the very second of the Rapture, are all those souls that make up the Bride. In my opinion, I believe in some miraculous way it also includes all the aborted human lives. It is made up of individuals; there must be many billions, and all are one perfect unity, and it says here corporately, that the Bride has made herself ready.
There are many views in this area from writers for centuries. I have mapped my own conclusions through all this with the Lord’s help I believe, and I know right now that some will not agree with me. It is amazing how a few get nasty when you don’t agree with their pet ideas. I have read a lot of commentaries and channels on this event over time and I know that a number of people do not see all the redeemed of the Old Testament being part of the “now” Church. They like to think the Church is a separate entity from Pentecost onwards. If that is the case then all the Old Testament believers are in heaven but not part of the Church. Who then are they? When the Church returns to earth at the Second Coming with Christ, then where are these Old Testament believers; still in heaven? That makes no sense. The Church comprises all Old Testament and New Testament believers.
Those believers from the Old Testament needed the sacrifice of Calvary to eradicate completely the penalty of sin to have full redemption. Although they did not realise it at the time, they were looking forward to Calvary’s full redemption whereas we look back to Calvary’s full redemption. There would be no doubt that Adam and Eve knew the depth of their fall and sacrificed for sin as God showed them. They are now part of the Church.
Eve is a type of the Church you know. She came from Adam, flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. He was the head of the physical creation and she was the bride. Eve was presented to Adam and they became one. The Church came from Christ, flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. Christ is the Head of the Church, the Head of the new creation, and this glorious Church will be presented to Him one day. See Ephesians 5:22-31. As the first Adam received his bride in union, so shall the Second Adam receive His Bride in an eternal union. That union is confirmed; is consummated in the marriage supper (marriage) of the Lamb, our subject for today.
I think we must dismiss the notion of western marriages where emphasis is on the bride. In the Middle East the centre of attention is on the groom. The Bride made herself ready. We know how that is done in earthly marriages but this is a marriage in heaven, not on the earth.
As I said the Church is made up of individuals so let us take just one individual, any individual. That person was utterly undone, utterly without hope, and heading for eternal separation from a God of wrath. What rescued him from his abandoned state was the grace of God. Can we understand that, or perhaps a better question might be, “Can we ever appreciate the depth of that?” Grace reaches out to the unreachable and the grace of God does everything for us, because even as Christians, it is grace that supplies everything.
Grace saves and it equips and it clothes us. Picture it this way. A man of extraordinary means has a mansion but no family. He goes out to the seedy part of town and lifts up a derelict man, one everyone would walk past and not even acknowledge, and takes him home to his mansion. The first thing to do with that man is to clean him up (give him a good scrub) so that he looks half way decent. Then he is clothed appropriately and now is looking quite decent.
The man might wonder what is happening to him. He knows he did nothing to deserve that treatment. Maybe he thought a bit the way Mephibosheth did - {{2Samuel 9:7-8 David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely SHOW KINDNESS TO YOU FOR THE SAKE of your father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you shall eat at my table regularly.” Again he prostrated himself and said, “WHAT IS YOUR SERVANT, THAT YOU SHOULD REGARD A DEAD DOG LIKE ME?”}}
And yes, the next thing was to seat that man at the same table as his benefactor and a few other similar men who had been rescued in the same way. He sort of felt out of place; all this was different to him. The other men were friendly and well meaning so he soon settled in. He was astounded when shown his room. It was palatial.
The next day he felt a bit unsettled and asked, “Why are you doing this for me? I don’t deserve it, and I can not repay you in any way.” The benefactor answered him, “I am doing this because I can, and it fills me with joy.”
That is exactly what the Lord did for us. We were the dregs of society (please note – WE ARE ALL DREGS OF SOCIETY BECAUSE WE WERE LOST SINNERS). There was not one atom of assistance we could have given God, for each of us was worthless beyond compare. However, we were worth to God, the death of His Son on the cross. I hope no one ever thinks he/she was not too bad, not foul sinners like those in jail. That is self-deception.
So . . that is how we were, but what changed us was the love, mercy and forgiveness of God. Changed from derelicts into sons and daughters of the living, loving God. It is grace that saved us; grace that keeps us and GRACE THAT CLOTHES US. Realise that we had not a stitch of decency to clothe ourselves. Every single thing and every blessing comes down from the Father of lights in whom there is no variableness.
That is important. The filthy rags of sin were exchanged for the righteousness of God. {{Isaiah 64:6 “For all of us have become like one who is UNCLEAN, and ALL OUR RIGHTEOUS DEEDS ARE LIKE A FILTHY GARMENT, and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away”}}. We were altogether useless but the grace of God changed us and now we’re dressed in the pure righteousness of Christ.
Who did that for the individual we earlier selected? It was not himself. It was Christ. Not the Bride but Christ, and GRACE did that, for it made that person acceptable and there was not one single thing the sinner could do.
Therefore there is not one thing the sinner can do to establish himself, not even one tiny bit. It is all of Christ. Grace alone. It is all the undeserved favour of God. It is much the same as a line from a great hymn, “Nothing in my hand I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling. Naked come to Thee for dress; helpless look to Thee for rest.”
Now we want to look at the whole Body – each one of billions who has been redeemed. What a job the Lord will have to purify us and make us perfect! “But we are perfect,” you say. “Yes perfect as each individual established in the Body is, but personally . . . well that’s another thing.”
When raptured or when we die, we enter heaven with problems – unconfessed sin and probably more than we think! Grudges we hold on to even though we think in most cases we don’t. There are holes in our righteousness (not the appropriated righteousness of Christ; that’s the God view) but holes in our own attitude and behaviour, and so many more imperfections. God views us through the righteousness of Christ so we are unblemished in His eyes, but there must still be refinement and cleansing from all imperfections.
Getting back to the question about how the Bride prepares herself. We have already established that the Bride has absolutely nothing to contribute to holiness of itself. In that way the Bride is like the moon. At full moon the moon shines fairly brightly but that is with the light of the sun. The Church shines with the Light of the Son. That is how the bride prepares herself. She submits to her Lord for His perfect cleansing, and He perfects His Bride.
[3]. THE FUTURE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH – GREAT JOY AND BLESSING
The entire church is raptured away from the wrath that will descend on the earth in the Tribulation and will be in heaven for 7 years. Christ's Bride has no part in wrath or judgement and so will not be on earth in the Tribulation that is coming. During that time, when in heaven, each one will be rewarded for faithful service at the Judgement Seat of Christ and we will be spotless without any flaw. Jesus makes the Church glorious so that the fine linen she wears, pure white and spotless, results from the Lord cleaning us up to remove all the warts and the bumps. Those righteous deeds are His deeds done through us. We can not claim credit for them. In fact, be careful here, we can not claim credit for anything. All goodness belongs to the Lord. Don’t ever think you are worthy or deserving of reward.
Look at your own church. Is it a fellowship of perfect spotless harmony? No we know it is not.
Sadly the Lord will need to do quite some work with some of us. He is going to have a Bride of perfection so there will be a lot of “getting each member in perfect shape”.
For 7 years in heaven an enormous work is done on us until we shine in the great glory of our Lord as the flawless Pearl we looked at in the section “Names for the Church”. Just summing up what we just did, that is, how the Church makes herself ready. She is malleable in the Lord’s own hands. I want the Lord to clean me up. Can we ever imagine what it will be to like to be rid of the old sin nature to be in eternal perfection? It is almost too daunting. The Lord will clean every last vestige of imperfection from each of us, to become the corporate, resplendent Bride in the perfection of holiness and righteousness.
The end of Revelation 19:6 ends this way “HALLELUJAH! FOR THE LORD OUR GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, REIGNS. Remember here we are right at the end of the Tribulation, probably a day or so away from the Second Coming. The judgements and the destruction of Babylon the Great, mother of harlots has all ended, and as can be done prophetically, it can be considered that the Lord is reigning (The actual Millennial reign is after the Second Coming) even though it has not happened yet; this is a day earlier. The same device was used in {{Revelation 14:8 Another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality,”}} where the actual event does not happen until Revelation chapters 17 and 18.
Also in chapter 14 we have a description of Armageddon even though it does not happen until chapter 19. That is legitimate in prophecy because the event is considered so certain that we can look at it as having happened. {{Revelation 14:17-20 Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle, and another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle to the earth, and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God, and the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.”}}
[4]. WITH CHRIST FOREVER WHO TAKES AWAY EVERY SPOT AND WRINKLE
The bible speaks only once about the marriage of Christ and His Bride. It speaks then of the marriage supper. I know in western thinking the wedding ceremony is so important with the focus on the bride.
In thinking about this my mind goes to Isaac and Rebekah again. Rebekah came from a far country and was joined with Isaac to become his bride. Christ brought us from a far country and united us with himself as the Bridegroom. When did that happen? I think if there was to be a special ceremony then the bible would have mentioned it. No, there is no mention except this – {{Revelation 19:7 “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.”}} When did the “Bride from the far country” meet with Jesus her Lord and the two of them were brought together?
It was at the Rapture. The two became one, and to take up the Ephesian description of “one flesh”, the Bridegroom with His Bride. He purchased the church and brought her to himself and they became one. I think that might be part of the marriage in the way it was with Isaac and Rebekah, the marriage form in the Middle East. I think that will be equivalent to an engagement or espousal maybe, and the marriage supper comes later on right at the end of the Tribulation. As God brought Eve to Adam, so shall Christ bring the Church to Himself and then He perfects His Bride for the Marriage Supper.
There is such intimacy between Christ and the Church – {{Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as CHRIST ALSO LOVED THE CHURCH AND GAVE HIMSELF UP FOR HER, that He might SANCTIFY HER, having CLEANSED HER by the washing of water with the word, that He MIGHT PRESENT TO HIMSELF THE CHURCH in all her glory, HAVING NO SPOT OR WRINKLE or any such thing, but that she should be HOLY AND BLAMELESS.”}}
“WHERE I AM THERE YOU SHALL BE ALSO.” From the moment of the Rapture the Bride and Christ will never be separated. Christ presents the Church to Himself in all its glory. Here are two verses that indicate to me that the Lord and His Bride will never be apart – {{John 14:3 “and 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,” John 12:26 “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me, and WHERE I AM, THERE SHALL MY SERVANT ALSO BE. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honour him.”}}
The Head of the Church sanctifies the Church; He cleansed, and cleanses the Church; and then presents the Church to Himself without spot or wrinkle. ONE DAY THIS WILL HAPPEN TO US. THE LORD SEARCHES OUT EVERY WRINKLE TO MAKE US HOLY AND BLAMELESS. WHAT LOVE AND INTIMACY! WHAT A RELATIONSHIP!
Many, many years ago I noticed something that I have never forgotten. We had a South African man in our church whose first name was Tom and he was the head of Boys’ Brigade. His job at a large mining company was a draftsman working with plans and specialised drawings. These were the days of the old Gestetner machines for printing – black ink and you turned the handle to produce a print with black, gooey ink. The impression had to be written, scratched on a wax sheet and than laid down on the drum of the machine for printing.
Anyway it was sometimes tricky to lay the stencil down perfectly on the drum and often it would wrinkle and you would have to try lifting it to relay it. Tom spent ages preparing a special stencil for Boys’ Brigade and the stencil got a small wrinkle in it while trying to fix it to the drum. I would have continued – the wrinkle used to give a small black line on the page – but not Tom, as he was a perfectionist. He took off the stencil, threw it away and spent ages again preparing another. Almost near enough was not good enough for Tom.
I have never forgotten the relationship between what Tom did and Christ and His Church. It will not be “near enough”, it will be perfection and there will not be a spot or wrinkle in the Church as she waits for the Marriage Supper.
{{Revelation 19:7-9 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,” and 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. 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.”}}
Have you ever been clothed in bright and clean fine linen? I have not, but we will one day. Verse 9 says that linen represents the righteous acts of the saints. Earlier I said the sinner has nothing acceptable to God but here we have righteous acts now acceptable to God. In this special way, the Lord will take what has been done for Him (enabled us to do; fully in God’s strength), refine it, and purify it so that His righteousness will shine in even greater measure in His Church, the Bride.
The Old Testament is careful with the garments of the priests and the High Priest. The finest of linen was important, and right back then it represented righteousness. The priest had to purify himself before he could minister. It is the Lord who purifies us, and clothes us with fine linen to excel anything man has ever made.
This is a 2 Part section and the next Part follows in the second posting.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
