“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.’ “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. 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“
19:7
for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”
Marriage is a good description of the relationship between believers and God or between the church and God. The marriage ceremony of the first century was very different from marriages of today. There were four phases to the ceremony:
1) the betrothal was a contract more binding than our engagement. The betrothal included terms of the marriage agreed upon by the parents. This is a legal arrangement confirmed by a dowry.
2) In the time between betrothal and the wedding-feast, the groom paid a dowry to the bride’s father if this had not been done previously (Genesis 29:20; 34:12).
3) A wedding procession through the streets of the town would bring the wedding to a climax (Matthew 25:1-3). The bride prepared herself for this event. The groom then went to her house to escort her to his house (Matthew 9:15).
4) Finally, the wedding feast, which included the marriage supper, lasts seven days.
“For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2).
The church is the bride of Christ. Christ, as the bridegroom, will come for his bride at the rapture. Jesus paid the dowry with the blood He shed on the cross. The church should prepare herself for the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The wife makes herself ready by entering into union with Christ by faith. Then Jesus comes at the rapture and takes his bride to the wedding feast. The friends of the groom are the Old Testament saints. The friends of the groom are already in the house. The friends of the bride are the Tribulation saints. They wait outside the groom’s house until the groom arrives with His bride. The wedding supper may be the Millennium.
It usually takes a bride a long time to get ready for her wedding. It takes months in some cases. The church has been preparing herself ever since Pentecost for the wedding with the Lamb.
19:8
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.
The words “was granted” clarify that God gives the church the privilege to come to the Marriage supper. It is a special grant of God’s grace. The result of this grant is that the bride received imputed righteousness.
The church dressed in “fine linen” indicates that the church stands in forensic (judicial) righteousness before God. By Jesus’ death for our sins, we stand before God as righteous as Jesus is righteous, but there is more in this passage. The words “righteous acts” (plural) indicate that the saints worked righteous deeds through God’s power. Jesus purchased our wedding gown for us.
This is the 14th outbreak of praise to God in Revelation (in Re 4:8, 11; 5:9-10, 12-13; 7:10, 12; 11:16-18; 15:3-4; 16:5-7; 19:1-4, 6-8).
19:9
Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’”
An angel again commands John to write down a message to the called guests of the marriage supper about a special blessing. The command to write implies an important communication from God (14:13; 21:5). This is one of seven blessings in Revelation. This blessing has to do with the marriage supper of the Lamb that takes place on earth. The word “blessed” means the inner prosperity of soul.
We will eat in heaven. Jesus ate after He rose from the dead. He ate with His resurrection body. We will eat with our resurrection bodies.
Weddings have two categories of guests – the groom’s guests and the guests of the bride (John 3:27-29). The Groom is Christ, and the bride is the church. The marriage takes place after the preparation of the bride. The friends of the Groom are the Old Testament saints. The friends of the bride are the Tribulation saints (Matthew 25:1-13).
And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
The comment about this beatitude being a blessing as “true sayings of God” is assurance of this truth coming from God, which is tantamount to a promise. This phrase reinforces the certainty of God’s promise that He will keep His Word.
Principle:
Christians will go to the wedding feast of the Lamb as Jesus’ bride.
Application:
Jesus invites us as His bride to come to the wedding-feast. What a joy to be His bride and enjoy intimate fellowship with Him! The angel places such importance on this event that he says, “These are the true words of God.”
The church has been preparing herself for a wedding for centuries, even since the day of Pentecost. One of these days, she will go to her wedding feast in heaven. It will take place after the rapture of the church. Most of the bride is already over there, and they are waiting for the rest of us to come to the wedding. The wedding will not take place until we are all there. The Groom, not the bride, will be the center of attraction in this wedding.
Thanks 4 yr brief commentary.
The wedding marks the climax of the christian race. Now is the day of preparation, a time cometh soonest when this great opportunity could no more exist. Seek ye the Lord now, 2morrow might b too late.
May the Lord continue to bless you with great knowledge and wisdom IJN. Amen.
In working towards this hope of meeting the bridegroom, our attitude should be in line with Paul,s charge to Timothy in 1.Tim.6:11-14. Always fleeing from things that will deny us that opportunity (1 Tim.1:4; 6:5; 2Tim.2:22; 1cor.6:18), and running towards righteousness, godliness, love, faith … We must remain sanctified unto His returning. May His grace abound in us IJN.
Chris, there are two sanctifications of the believer: positional and experiential. Every believer is positionally sanctified forever at the moment of salvation. Our positional sanctification guarantees that we will have a future with the Lord. God deals with our experiential sanctification in time, not eternity.
What a great read. However, after reviewing the comments I couldn’t help become disappointed by one that stands out to me. Christ deserved much more than we could ever give him. Our time is the least that he deserves from us….. IJN (in Jesus Name) has no power…. The bible says that IN THE NAME JESUS there is power, yet in today’s society his name is the first thing we remove. For example, Christ has been removed from Christmas(x-mas)… Or IN GOD WE TRUST is being taken out. It is time us Christans to stand up for the one who died to set us free. He didn’t have to, but he loved us that much. We need to speak his name loud and clear for IN JESUS NAME… WE ARE, FREE! It id sad that one took the time to write two VERY long comments, but found thier time to valuable to write out their saviors name. We should NEVER take from the power that is in the name of JESUS! JS (just saying)
Christina, this is something that Chris should answer.
I wonder should we “the saints” be encouraged to be more obedient to GOD’s will ? Because it says in rev 19:8 that our righteous deeds are what makes pure white linen that the bride will be wearing
Ron, the description here is the church in heaven. She is there because of the righteousness of Christ, not our righteousness. The church at this point is at a stage of perfection, a perfection produced by God. She is minus sin natures. What he did results in the “righteous acts of the saints.”
First of all thanks for this fruitful study. I would like to get couple of clarifications. Are the friends of the bride there with their glorified body? If yes, when would be their resurrection?
Why is it said that the marriage supper is going to be the Millennium?
Shyju, thank you for your encouragement. The bride with meet the Lord in the air at the Rapture (1 Th 4:13f) and the friends of the bride at the Second Coming of Christ. Both will be at the marriage supper in the Millennium where all saints will be joined together.
Thanks Grant. May I have your email to ask you questions at times of need?
Shyju, it is better to ask your question in a blog so that everyone can benefit from your question/s.
Thanks for the interesting commentary which has helped clarify a couple of things. In response to Shyju question. Yes the friends of the bride will be in their glorified bodies just like the church. Their resurrection is after the tribulation era before the millennial reign with Christ. Rev20:4. To have a clearer picture you can start from Rev 19: 11 to the entire chapter of Rev 20. God bless us. I have a link that may be helpful, will check.
This is link I mentioned earlier. Biblestudtools.com 20.5.1. Order of resurrection.
The bride of Christ is difficult to fully understand many challenge that the church is the bride of Christ. Believing that Israel is the Bride, the adulterous wife being restored after going through the tribulation.
Is the church the bride of Christ?
Here there is a difference of opinion. Some claim that the “Bride,” because she is called “WIFE” in Rev. 19:7, is ISRAEL, because in the Old Testament God calls Himself the HUSBAND of Israel.
Isa. 54:5
“For your husband is the one who made you –
the Lord who commands armies is his name.
He is your protector, the Holy One of Israel.
He is called “God of the entire earth.”
“Indeed, the Lord will call you back
like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression,
like a young wife when she has been rejected,” says your God.
“For a short time I abandoned you,
but with great compassion I will gather you. ”
The “Wife” is the earthly name of Israel, and “Bride” the Heavenly. Some hold that because Isaac’s bride was taken from his own kin, that, therefore, to complete the type, Jesus’ Bride must be Israel, His own kin, and not the Church composed mainly of Gentiles.
It is a stretch to make the church the bride especially when the church is clearly said to be the body of Christ.
Plus it crosses depensation lines of interpretation . Prophecy being directed toward the nation of Israel.
Read Jeremiah 3 .. Israel is God’s adulteress wife in unbelief.
I believe Rev. 19:9 is prophesying that Israel is the one called to the marriage supper of the lamb after going through the tribulation she is now his pure virgin bride come back.
Do you have any thoughts that might bring more clarity on his subject.
Jim, the figure of the bridegroom and bride includes both Christ’s present work and eschatological dynamics, that is, the consummation of the image still in the future.
Confusion about this image stems from the nature of the church itself. Covenant theology, which uses this term for saints of all ages and not just for the dispensation of the church, obscures the idea that the bride is only the saints of the economy of the church per se.
It is true that Scripture uses the concept of the bride to refer to Israel (Isa. 54:1–17; Jer. 3:1, 14, 20; Hos. 2:1–23), however, in contrast to the OT image of the bride, the church is not yet joined to her husband (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25–27; Rev. 19:6–8). In Ephesians 5 and Revelation 19, however, the bride is referred to as a wife. This is not, however, a contradiction as some have assumed, as in the oriental custom a bride betrothed to a husband is also considered a wife even though she has not assumed that role completely. In the Orient, when the parents of the bride and the bridegroom agreed in a formal way on the future marriage of their children, such an agreement was the legal marriage even though years might elapse before husband and wife might begin living together and assume the full responsibility of marriage. Because of this, the church in one sense is a bride in that she is on earth and Christ is in heaven; on the other hand, she is a wife because she has been betrothed to Christ and set apart for Him. Only in the New Testament is the program of God for His church as the bride of Christ is revealed in a formal way.
Revelation 19:8 describes the bride as the wife of Christ, where after the announcement of the coming marriage feast and the declaration in verse 7, “his wife hath made herself ready,” the passage declares: “and it shall be given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” Here the result of the present work of Christ is defined as clothing the bride in fine linen, namely, the righteous acts which stemmed from the present work of the sanctifying application of the Word of God.