THE LAST AND FIRST SUPPER
The last supper before His crucifixion was marked by sorrow as the Lord shared with His disciples what lay immediately ahead. The first supper in heaven will be the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and will be marked by praise, thanksgiving and rejoicing.
I. THE LAST SUPPER WITH HIS DISCIPLES:
“Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready. So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and there they prepared the Passover.” Luke 22:12-13
That room was a place where great sorrow was experienced:
It was here that our Lord told His disciples: “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:1) because it was here that the disciples learned of our Lord’s impending death by crucifixion.
We read in Luke 22:14-15, When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
That room might well have symbolized heaven. Let’s observe some similarities that might exist.
1.) It was a large room.
“In My Father’s house are many mansions…” John 14:2. Revelation 7:9-10 tells us how great the multitude of the redeemed shall be that shall stand before God’s throne in heaven. “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
2.) It was an upper room.
In keeping with this symbolism, the upper room tells us that heaven is not found here on earth. “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up…” Acts 1:9-10.
The upper room also serves to remind us of the truth expressed in Isaiah 55:8-9, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
3.) It was a furnished room.
This suggests care and preparation. Jesus said: “I go to prepare a place for you…” John 14:3. Paul quotes Isaiah, saying: “But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
II. THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB
This supper will occur in heaven and will be the scene of rejoicing:
Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ Revelation 19:9
Every aspect of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb speaks to reality.
1.) Heaven is real. “I go to prepare a place for you.”
2.) Our resurrected bodies will be real.
Paul wrote: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” Philippians 3:20-21.
3.) The Marriage Supper will be real.
Let us not lose sight of what Jesus said to His disciples during that last supper: "for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." Luke 22:18
4.) Our joy will be real.
“Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” Revelation 19: 6b-7.
