The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb: The Celebration Of Christ's Return Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

You will remember that we concluded 13 chapters of Revelation talking about the judgment of God being poured out on an unbelieving earth being led by the Antichrist. It was arduous at times to pour through the various judgments, but the culmination of all of this is what we are beginning to work through here. Now the Babylonian system is destroyed and last week we saw the heavenly hallelujahs.

We come now to the greatest celebration heaven and earth will ever see. It is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Without these final judgments, there is no final victory or celebration. Let’s first read this passage, then I’m going to give you some historical background, along with some scriptural background, and then circle back to the exposition of this text.

“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.” 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. 9 Then 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.” 10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow slave with you and your brothers who have the witness of Jesus. Worship God! For the witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Revelation 19:7–10 LSB)

I want you to understand that this is the anticipated event that Christ has talked about since his earthly ministry and departure. The use of a marriage is a continual image throughout the New Testament and also in the Old Testament to describe the final victory of the Lord Jesus Christ over Satan. I believe the reason is that in ancient times, marriage was the greatest social event that ever happened.

In January 2022 I gave a detailed breakdown of the Jewish Wedding Feast to help us understand the significance of the pre-tribulation rapture and how based on Scripture and the connection of Scripture to the Jewish Wedding traditions, is that not only is the Rapture scriptural in its nature, it is only possible to occur prior to the 7-year tribulation.

You can see that message here: https://mycrossway.churchcenter.com/episodes/96859

Marriage in ancient times was the greatest event for families; in many cases, it still is today. On April 29, 2011, Prince William and Kate Middleton were married. The cost of their wedding was estimated to be around $34 million dollars, including an $80,000.00 wedding cake, $800,000.00 in flowers, and a wedding dress for the bride with a price tag of $434,000.00 (Mark Hitchcock).

In first-century Israel, wedding planning often started before the couple was even born. A family would say to each other, “When I have a son, I want him to marry your daughter.” The reason was that family was the most important thing. It was more important to choose the family for the marriage than it was for the son or daughter to choose the individual.

When that arrangement was made, it was a legal and binding contract and when the coming of the age of the Bridegroom and the Bride happened, the wedding began through a series of events that took over a year sometimes. The details of the many events that happened during this time can be found in the teaching I mentioned above, but for today I want you to understand that there were 3 main parts. The first, as I just mentioned was the betrothal.

The second part was the presentation. That was the time when the bride, adorned in her wedding garments, was brought out for all the families to see 7 days before the marriage and the wedding feast. This would be a time of feasting and the two families coming together.

The final part of the Jewish Wedding was the ceremony, which would take place at the conclusion of the week-long presentation. The ceremony was at that final hour after that great feast. The vows would be shared then the wedding would be consummated. That was really what sealed the marriage and it was vital for the Bridegroom to emerge from the wedding chamber to confirm his bride was chaste and a virgin. Understand that the bride was not the center of the wedding celebration, it was the Bridegroom who was

So we can clearly see that Jesus is the bridegroom who has gone away to prepare for his bridge a place (John 14:3), the Rapture is the taking of the Bride away to meet the Bridegroom. The presentation of the Bride to the Bridegroom takes place from the Rapture of the Church to the establishment of the Kingdom that we will study in a few weeks. The final culmination of the wedding supper we have before us tonight.