Marriage Supper of the Lamb - Revelation 19:7-10

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message.

Well, we are continuing our journey this week through the Book of Revelation. And as we come to this week's study, I want for those of you who have ever been married, I want you to take a moment to think back to your wedding day. Now, for some of you, that brings a smile to your face, while others, not so much. Some of you are thinking, I never should have married that knucklehead in the first place.

My life has been a mess ever since. But the thing about it is, I don't want you to beat yourself up if your marriage is not great. We all make some decisions in life that are not always wise. We don't always seek God in the way that we should.

But how many know that we serve a God who can clean up our messes? So if your marriage today is not joyous, God can turn it around. But whether your marriage today is not great or whether it is joyous, maybe your marriage today is everything you've ever dreamed of. I still want you to know that the best is yet to come, because there is a perfect marriage that is in our future. And we're going to talk today about that very marriage as we look at the marriage of the lamb.

When it comes to this topic, there is a lot of misunderstanding due to the lack of teaching on it. The main source, which is where we will look today, is Revelation Chapter 19, verses seven through 10. And it falls into two main divisions, which are the marriage of the lamb and the marriage supper of the lamb.

So we're going to look at that today. So please turn your Bibles to Revelation Chapter 19. And let's read beginning with verse seven. Revelation Chapter 19, verse seven. 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, right. 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. And I fell at his feet to worship him.

But he said to me, see that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this time of Bible fellowship. We thank you, Lord, for your great and wonderful word as we look forward to that day known as the marriage of the lamb. It is my prayer, Lord, that all things that are spoken, that it be nothing but sound doctrine. And may you be honored and glorified in all things in your name. Jesus, we pray.

Amen. When we think about this event, this marriage supper, the lamb. The thought of this should bring about rejoicing, it should bring about praise. From us to our Lord, as we look back at verse seven, it says, let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come. The marriage supper, the lamb was a theme that Jesus often spoke of through parables. We see in Matthew Chapter 25, verses one through 13, the parable of the 10 virgins. And we see in Matthew Chapter 22, verses one through 14, the parable of the king's son's wedding feast.

So as we look at this text, I do have to ask the question, if there is a marriage that is taking place, who is the bridegroom? Turn your Bibles to John Chapter three and let's look at verses 28 through 29. John Chapter three, verses 28 through 29 reads, You yourselves bear me witness that I say it.

I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.

Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled. Now go over to John Chapter one, verse 29. The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So what we find in these two verses is that John, that is John the Baptist, he describes Jesus as the bridegroom and himself as the friend of the bridegroom.

And he then describes Jesus as the lamb. So we know from our text that Jesus Christ is the bridegroom at this marriage. This marriage of the lamb. So then the question becomes, well, who is the bride?

Who is Jesus going to be married to? Turn now to Ephesians, Chapter five, verse 22. And there we find our text begins by stating wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her.

Now move down to verse 32. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. So we find here the apostle Paul has given us texts concerning how a man is supposed to love his wife, how an earthly husband is to love his earthly bride. And so Paul likens the husband to Christ and the wife to the church. So we can deduce from this text that the church is the bride in this marriage of the lamb. So now that we know that the lamb is Jesus Christ, who is the one who is the bridegroom and the church is his bride, when and where will this marriage take place?

It must be in heaven. Because what we find is that after our text for today in Revelation, chapter 19, verse 11, that the glorious appearing follows immediately after this marriage supper of the lamb. And as Ephesians, as we look at Ephesians 5, 27, it tells us that the bride will be presented to Christ as glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that he should but that she should be holy and without blemish. Now, I look at myself and I have a lot of blemishes today.

Literal blemishes and figurative blemishes. So so the condition of of me not having any blemishes of where I will not have a spot or wrinkle, that is a condition that will only exist after the judgment of Christ, when believers have been completely cleansed and the church is made whole. And so that takes place after our Lord calls us up to be with him. And so all Christians from the day of Pentecost to the rapture of the church will make up his bride. In older times, brides often made their own wedding dresses and some still do today. And the making of the fine linen dress is called the righteous acts of the saints. This is what we find in verse eight, that the bride is going to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Now, since the marriage occurs after the judgment seat of Christ, we have to understand that an individual's position as a member of the bride will be determined by the outcome of the judgment by fire when one's works are judged. You know, there are some who have works that they claim to be for the kingdom of Christ, but it's actually to puff up oneself. But you see, I preach the word of God in order to glorify Christ, not to glorify myself. And I sometimes hear these preachers and they have these fancy lingos and they have these fancy titles, and they use this voice inflection that that gets people stirred up in a frenzy so that people will applaud them. So people will pat them on the back and tell them how great of a preacher they are. And they they love the applause of man.

But that is the wrong motivation. We are to praise God. We are simply the vessel that is pointing to him.

We should always point individuals to give glory, to give honor, to give praise to our great and wonderful Lord, the one who died for our sins, the one who if it had not been for him, we would all be headed for an eternal damnation. Titus, Chapter three, verse eight says, This is a faithful saying. And these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.

These things are good and profitable to men. Matthew six, 20 says, But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. You see, we have to understand that our faithful service today in life directly impacts the marriage in eternity. But Satan deceives people the unsaved to think they can work for their salvation. But how many know we cannot work for our salvation? But then when a person does get saved, Satan then deceives them by saying, Now you don't have to do anything since you were saved by grace. But this is contrary to Ephesians 2 10, which states we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. You see, there are a lot of lazy Christians out there. There are a lot of Christians who just get saved and they say, OK, I'm going to just sit on my hands now and just ride this thing on into heaven. But these people will not gain the position with Christ that they desire in terms of the marriage and ruling and reigning with him in the Millennial Kingdom. We should all have the attitude of Acts 22 10, which says, What shall I do, Lord? When you think about Jesus dying for our sins, paying our sin debt, a debt that we cannot pay ourselves. How can we not strive to work for him? And it amazes me how some people will mistreat and won't do for their means of support.

Someone who is living under someone else's roof, someone who is eating off of someone else's table. And yet they mistreat that person. And that's why we have that that say and don't bite the hand that feeds you. But there are so many people who.

Are not. Feel with the desire to do works for our Lord, we should always be looking to do something for his kingdom. We should strive for the full reward so that we will hear the words. Well done, good and faithful servant.

You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.

How many are ready to live and to work for our King Jesus Christ and enter into the joy of our Lord? You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit Godfirst.org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage and the significance of Lesson Israel.

Just to name a few. You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our Web store. So please visit us at Godfirst.org. Now let's return to the conclusion of today's message. Now, the marriage supper is, of course, not the marriage. As we look back at Revelation 19, verse nine, then he said to me, right. 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. It says here that blessed, happy, honored are those who were invited. So who are the guests?

Now, think about it for a moment. The bride and the groom are not invited to their own wedding. They instead invite their friends, invite their loved ones, invite their family. When my wife and I were about to get married in the months leading up to it, we sat down together and we created a guest list to which we would send out invitations to invite them to be witnesses to our union.

And so. You invite them to the wedding and you invite them to the reception and in the case in the Bible, it describes the what we call today a reception, it calls it the marriage supper. And there are debates amongst Bible scholars as to who are the friends who are at the marriage supper of the lamb. Some point to the parable of the 10 virgins and the king's son's wedding feast as illustrations of guests at this wedding supper. But I do want to point out that those two parables only illustrate the prominence of a marriage supper when it comes to our Lord, because if you recall the the foolish virgins and those without a wedding garment were left outside the wedding feast. But when it comes to this feast with our Lord, in terms of the presence in heaven, no one is left outside in heaven.

Now, there will be people left outside on the earth. Those who have rejected Christ, they will not be present there. But when it comes to to these parables, we should think of them as kingdom of heaven, parables teaching that one should always be prepared for the coming of the bridegroom. But back to these guests, recall that John the Baptist, as we read earlier, he was an Old Testament saint. He said in John three twenty nine that he was a friend of the bridegroom. Remember, John the Baptist, although he walked on earth with Jesus, he was here during the time of Jesus life on earth. He was assassinated before the church began. So therefore, he was not a part of the church.

He was instead an Old Testament saint. And so Old Testament saints will be in heaven, but they are not the church. The church is designated as the bride of Christ. So they're going to be guests. And the Bible says bless are those who are invited as guests to the marriage supper. So all the believing dead from Adam to the resurrection of Christ will be guests at this supper. They will be there to witness what is taking place.

So you think about Moses and you think about Abraham, you think about Daniel, John the Baptist. They will all be there to witness us as the bride, the church in this marriage celebration, this marriage supper with our Lord Jesus Christ. And I think along with them, the tribulation saints who died during the tribulation, I think they also will be guests. But remember, they are not the bride because again, the church age ends at the rapture of the church. So anyone after that, that becomes a believer in Jesus Christ. Yes, they are one of his, but they are not the bride.

The bride is designated to be the church. Only those from the time of the day of Pentecost to the rapture of the church are the bride of Christ. And so during the tribulation, though, there are those who will receive him, those who accept him as Lord and Savior after the rapture. And there are some who also say that angels will be guests. But I do think we should note that the supper is distinguished by the use of the sacrificial name of our Lord, which is lamb. And that indicates the sacrifice, the redemption that Jesus Christ brought for mankind. Angels have never been recipients of the blessings of the redeemed. That is for only humans. But I do think that because angels are in heaven, that they will be able to witness what is taking place.

They will be on the scene. And so, like the rapture, the marriage supper is reserved only for the church. One of the things that I try to stress, those of you who listen to me regularly, is the way in which our earthly marriage represents or foreshadows our future heavenly, eternal marriage with Christ. That is why Satan attacks marriages the way he does, because he hates what it represents. He's always trying to sever the marriage between a man and a woman. He always trying to pervert marriage between a man and a woman because he hates what it represents. And again, folks, we must understand how sacred marriage is. That when we make that union of man and a woman, we are symbolizing a union between the church and Jesus Christ. And that is why marriages are attacked with so many problems. You know, those little things that just nag at you.

I once heard of a couple, actually the parents of a friend of mine, and she told me her parents have been married for over 35 years, had a good marriage. And she said that one day her mother began to gripe and complain about how her father would chew on crushed ice. And she would say how she said it was just just driving her up the wall. It was just getting on her nerves, the sound of that crunching. And so when she mentioned it to her husband.

The husband said, honey, I've been I've been chewing crushed ice since you met me. So how is it that has been fine for 30 plus years and now now all of a sudden it's a problem? And she said, I don't know, but for some reason, it just bothers me. And you see, folks, that is those things like that, those those little foxes that the Bible talks about. Satan uses those kind of little things to try to bring division.

And if you're not careful, you can allow those things to build and to build to where you end up at when another's throats. And before you know what, your marriage is headed in a bad direction. But see, we must understand that it is from Satan.

It is his attack because he wants to destroy it. And we must transcend his tactics and say, no, devil, this marriage is sacred. This marriage is a union. We are as one. And what God has put together, let no one put asunder.

We are as one and we are representing our eternal union with our Lord Jesus Christ. And so fight for your marriage. Don't don't throw in the towel so easily on your marriages.

I heard of a account in which there was this couple who had been going through struggles in marriage and they made the determination that they had irreconcilable differences. And so the wife hired a lawyer and they met and decided on how to go about proceeds, proceed proceeding with the divorce arrangements. And the lawyer instructed her. She said, well, you know, if you want to really get to him, I want you to do all the things that he loves.

Just just shower him with with so much love and and do all the things he enjoys for the next few months. And then we're going to serve the divorce papers. We're going to really stick it to it. You know, she wanted her to be vindictive. And so the wife went off and did just that. And a few months later, she came back to the divorce lawyer. She said, OK, are you ready to to draw up the papers and to to serve the the divorce? And the wife said, no, we're going on our second honeymoon. Because, you see, in her doing these things, treating her husband with love, meaning she was concerned about his desires, what he enjoyed, he ended up responding in the same way towards her. And that repaired their marriage.

And folks, we can all do the same. But we have to think about loving each other again, as the Bible calls us to do so in a biblical way. But as we look, continue to look at this, this marriage supper, the lamb in earthly weddings, the bride and bridegroom depart from the wedding reception. That is, in this case, the marriage supper, typically in a stylish mode of transportation and they head out for a honeymoon. And well, for us, following the marriage supper with Jesus, we will exit heaven with Christ on majestic white horses and go off to a 1000 year honeymoon on the earth. I think about my wife and I, we had the blessing of being able to spend our honeymoon in Maui for seven days and seven nights. And then on our return flight, they overbooked it. And so they needed volunteers that were willing to give up their seats. And they said you would get a a free night stay in a hotel in Honolulu.

And so my wife was quick to run to the front to say, we'll volunteer. So we ended up getting eight nights in this paradise. And it was wonderful. And I just think about imagine, though, how great it's going to be is as wonderful as that was, how great it's going to be to spend 1000 years in a honeymoon with our Lord as he rules and reigns. Second Timothy to 11 and 12 says, this is the faithful saying, for if we died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with our Lord. Jesus gave a parable of the talents in the Book of Luke, chapter 19.

And it speaks of how our Christian service today is reflected in the millennial kingdom. Remember from the parable, there was one who was given 10 talents and he invested those 10 talents and. He was stated that he would rule over 10 cities. And then there was one who was giving five and he earned five more and he was given authority over five cities. And then there was one who did nothing with this talent.

He just sat on it. And it said he would not receive anything. And that is going to be the case with many Christians today. Many are saved, but they will not receive special rewards. First Corinthians three, 12 through 15 says, now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear for the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved.

Yet so as through the fire. So there are people who will be saved, but their works, which are not for the kingdom, will be burned in the fire. And so I want to encourage you to good works today. Again, remember, we're not saved by these works.

We're only saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. But our works determine our eternal rewards. And so for those in ministry out there, pastors don't grow weary from your labor. I understand that it can be discouraging at times when you're pouring your heart out and you're laboring. And it seems like people are not responding.

Matter of fact, it seems like there has become a decline. But don't get tired. Keep living for Jesus. Jesus is keeping record of who is doing what and how you are living for the kingdom. And so continue working for the Lord's kingdom. And then as we close out this last verse, John, as he's overwhelmed by this vision, he falls to worship.

And the angel rebukes him, saying, only worship God. And it concludes with the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Are you looking forward to this day again, as the scripture says in the opening of our text for today, this should bring rejoicing.

This should bring praise into our hearts, thinking about this event of being joined together with our Lord. But you have to be a believer of Jesus Christ in order to receive this. And so if you've never put your faith and trust in him today, I want to ask you today to confess your sins.

Recognize that you need the Savior, because the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. And that gift of God is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So if you've never put your faith and trust in him, come to Jesus on today while you still have breath in your body. How great and wonderful is our great and mighty Lord. So as we close today, as we depart, let us remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, blessings to the great nation of Israel and to the only wise God. Be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher, Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God First reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our website, GodFirst.org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God.