Mm. What do a wedding and a dinner have to do with the second coming of Christ? There's more to their meaning than meets the eye. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah returns to Revelation 19, where a heavenly celebration is about to give way to a solemn ceremony.
From Escape the Coming Night, here's David with the conclusion of his message: the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Well, you know, with all of the tumultuous and dark events taking place in the last few years of the Tribulation, The reader of the book of Revelation longs for some relief. Any kind of celebration in the midst of the judgment, and of course, that's what the Marriage Supper of the Lamb provides. It comes at the end of the tribulation when heaven rejoices over God's victory and the marriage of His Son. This is part two today of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and the notes for this are from the fourth volume of study notes which we have published. We have four study guides for the book of Revelation.
There are about a hundred and forty pages each, and they take you from chapter one, verse one, all the way through to the last verse. If you want to study Revelation on your own, this is a great way to do it. There are questions to answer and verses to look up and applications to be made. And you can get these study guides by going to davidjeremiah.org. There you will see them presented and you will know how to get them and they can be sent to your home.
And if you like, you can also get the contemporary commentary on the book of Revelation called Escape the Coming Night, which is also the title of this series of messages. We are so glad that you joined us for this study. We're coming close to the end of it as we move through this month. But the book of Revelation is just that wonderful because it's given us two times to be blessed. The Bible says, Blessed are those who read it, blessed are those who have read it.
If you've been reading and studying with us, the Bible pronounces a blessing. I know you've already seen some of that happen in your life, and look for it because that's the promise of God. Here's part two of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Do you know in the Bible, there are a number of figures that are used to describe the church and its relationship with the Lord? There are seven that I know about.
But the one that we think about most when we come to the book of Revelation is the figure of the bride and the bridegroom. It is the last of the seven figures, and it is mentioned many times. In fact, in Revelation 21 and 22, it is a prominent figure in both of those key chapters: the bride and the bridegroom.
Now, in order to understand the significance of the marriage supper of the Lamb and the wedding and the ceremony, I need to give you just a little bit of background on a Jewish wedding. And in order to understand what's going on here, it is very instructive to learn how the people of Israel got married. I doubt if we'll be tempted to change our way of doing it. The use of the figure of a bride to represent the church and her relationship to Jesus Christ has in mind the pattern. In which is contemplated three major steps.
Step one was the legal marriage. The legal marriage was often consummated by the parents of the bride and the bridegroom during a time when a dowry was paid and the young couple were formally married in a legal sense. Get this, they may not even have met each other yet. Don't knock it. They have a better retention rate than we do.
So, the legal marriage took place long before any of the formality happened. Secondly, subsequent to the legal marriage, the bridegroom, according to the custom, Would go with his companions to the house of the bride, and he would claim the bride for himself. And he would take her back to his own home. That was the second stage of the wedding. The third stage of the wedding was the bridal procession.
Which would be followed by the marriage feast, which would often last for many days. If you remember John chapter 2 and the marriage feast at Cana, it lasted for seven days, it was a long feast. Many of the Jewish wedding feasts would go on for weeks. And there was no ceremony such as is common in our civilization today, but the legal marriage was consummated by the parents in the absence of the bride and the bridegroom. Following this picture, think about what's going on now in the book of Revelation and think carefully.
It is a picture that Truly does give us understanding about our relationship with Jesus Christ and his coming again to this earth. For instance, It is evident That the legal marriage between us and the Lord has already taken place. It took place at the time of our conversion. When we were saved, the first part of the marriage took place. The bride is now awaiting the time when the bridegroom will come and take us to his house.
That's part number two. And the mansion is being prepared where the marriage of the lamb will take place. This is the second step in the marriage ceremony. The third part of the marriage ceremony, the feast or the supper, will follow the marriage proper.
Now, in order to follow this through in the text, there is one other factor that I need to make clear about an Oriental marriage. that is a bit strange to those of us who have grown up in our Western culture. And that is in the Oriental marriage, with apologies to all of our women. The importance of the groom in the ceremony far outweighed the importance of the bride. In today's weddings, the groom is like an added attraction.
The bride is the center. The groom is just there because you can't have a wedding without him. But I want you to know that in the Oriental culture, it wasn't like that at all. Just the reverse was true. And so it is in the marriage of the Lamb.
If you don't understand that, you won't contemplate what's going on in this imagery here. The bride must take a second place to the blessed Lamb of Calvary, who stands above all others in this great event.
Now, with those thoughts in mind, let's notice quickly in the text, there are two parts of this marriage ceremony: there is the sacred wedding. And there is the supper meal. Notice the sacred wedding. That which we call the marriage ceremony is the second step in the pattern mentioned at the beginning of my discussion. It is the bridegroom's coming to the house of his bride, claiming her for himself, and returning to his own house.
Let me ask you a question: What prophetic event fulfills the second part of the ceremony? We all know what that is. One of these days, watch this now, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to do what? He's going to come back and get his bride, and we're going to be caught up together, and he's not going to let us go to his house without an escort. What does the scripture say?
We are going to meet him in the air, and he's going to take us personally to the Father's house. That's the right way to conduct this whole marriage ceremony. And Jesus is going to do it right. We are going to be caught up together to be with him, and we're going to be ushered into the Father's house. At the translation of the church, Christ is appearing as the bridegroom to take his bride unto himself.
And that relationship that was pledged when we were converted will be consummated, and we will become one with Christ in the truer sense than we can ever imagine. It is necessary to remember in all of this that the relationship of the bride to the bridegroom up to this time has been a relationship of engagement. We are engaged to Christ, but we haven't been married yet. In fact, in 2 Corinthians 11:2, let me just read it to you. In the King James Version, this is what it says: I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you, I have engaged you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
In that passage of Scripture, we're told very clearly that we're engaged to the Lord. We're engaged as his bride to the bridegroom.
Now, the scripture doesn't tell us exactly when the marriage takes place in heaven, but from all we can read in the scripture, it is right after we are raptured, right after the judgment seat of Christ and before the second advent. When we are raptured out of here, if it is tonight and it could be tonight, we are going to be taken immediately to heaven, and the first event when we get to heaven is the judgment seat of Christ. And we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ before the wedding takes place.
Now, we know that the marriage occurs after the judgment seat of Christ because we read in verse 8. of this nineteenth chapter that To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness, literally it should be plural, the righteousness of the saints.
Now, the reference to the righteousness in this verse cannot be taken to mean the righteousness of Christ. We're not talking here about Christ's righteousness, which was given to us. First of all, in verse 7, the statement is made that the wife, watch this, hath made herself ready. Watch carefully now. The wife, the bride, hath made herself ready.
And secondly, verse 8 refers to the righteousness of the saints. It is true that a saved sinner can only stand before God on the basis of Christ. Christ's imputed righteousness, but the fine linen in this text does not only refer to that, but also to the righteous acts of the saints.
Now, let me ask you a question, class. What happens when we stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ? We shall give an account, and we are going to be before God, and the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 that we shall have to appear before God. And our works are going to be tested. And everything that doesn't pass through the fire is going to be burned up.
Let me ask you this: what will be left for us to wear after we have stood before the judgment seat of Christ? We will be clothed in those righteousnesses which have passed through the fire unscathed. As someone has written, we shall have to appear before God clothed in whatever righteous acts remain after the fire test spoken of in 1 Corinthians 3. That's why I told you earlier in this series: if some of us don't get straightened out down here and start doing right, standing before God is going to be like indecent exposure. We won't have anything to wear.
The only thing you can wear in the wedding is what still is there after the judgment seat of Christ is purged out all of the self-motivated works and all of the carnal things that we have done. What's left are the righteousnesses of the saints.
Now notice That The saints must stand before Christ and have their works tested before they are fit to be presented to Him as His bride. It is also quite evident that the marriage occurs before the Second Advent.
So I want you to pinpoint this now. After the judgment seat of Christ, as soon as that's over, there's going to be this wedding, and then right after the wedding, the Second Advent is going to take place. Why do we believe that?
Well, if you look in the seventh verse, notice, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come. This marriage has taken place at the time of the second advent. For the way the wording is, by the time the second advent has taken place, the marriage has already been consummated.
So, in between the time when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ and before we come back with Jesus Christ in the second advent, There will be this wedding. What are we going to be like when we come back with the Lord? He's coming back with His bride. He's bringing us all back when He comes back the second time, and we're going to appear with Him in glory and we're going to rule and reign with Him for a thousand years. By that time, the marriage will have taken place.
Now Who's going to be at this wedding? Let me just answer a couple of questions. Naturally, the most important person present at the wedding is the bridegroom. Isn't it interesting that he is referred to here not as the bridegroom, but as the lamb? The marriage of the lamb.
That is most interesting. Why does he come to this wedding as the lamb? Do you know that in the entire Bible there are over 700 titles given to the Lord Jesus Christ? 700. Out of all of the 700 titles, he chooses this one.
for his wedding title. He wants the lamb printed on the invitation. He doesn't want any other name. He wants the lamb. And you know why?
I can tell you why. Because it was the lamb you fell in love with, wasn't it? You didn't fall in love with the Creator or the King or the Lord. Think back and you will recall that those were the very things that drove you from him. It was different when at last you came to him and you saw him as the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, and you were drawn to him and you fell in love with him.
And that's the special love name for every believer. He is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
So he will come to the wedding as the Lamb. Not only will the Lamb be present, but also the bride. And it is obvious that the bride in this connection is none other than the church of Jesus Christ.
Now, let's move secondly to the supper meal. This is the second event referred to in the ninth verse. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Now, here we get into some very intricate things that I'm just going to pass over very quickly, but let me explain to you that while the marriage takes place in heaven, It seems evident that the supper takes place here on this earth. After the wedding in heaven, when the bride and the bridegroom are brought together, immediately after that, the Lord comes back to this earth. And this event and the clear background for it is throughout the Old and the New Testament. If you want some background to study, give yourself the blessing of reading through the 45th Psalm on an occasion, and you will discover that in Psalm 45, there is much to say. about The wedding supper.
But I want you to notice just a word in verse nine. That gives us a clue as to how this will take place. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
This means that there are going to be more people at this wedding than just the bride and the bridegroom.
Now, carefully listen to me. Who is the bride? That is the church. Who is the bridegroom? That is Christ.
Who else could there be that would be invited to the wedding?
Well, if I could ask you to do so, you could go back into the third chapter of the Gospel of John, and there you would have a picture of the Jewish wedding. You have the bride and the bridegroom and the friend of the bridegroom, who in that passage of Scripture is none other than Israel.
So, what we have here is this beautiful picture that at the wedding between Christ and the church, which will be consummated in heaven, in the celebration of the supper here on this earth, the scripture says, Blessed are they who are invited. And in many other passages, it seems quite clear that invited to this marriage supper. Not necessarily as the primary guests, but as the guests who are coming to watch this great celebration, is all of Israel, redeemed Israel, left here on this earth, redeemed Israel, who have come through the tribulation and have nationally given their hearts to God.
So, this event on this earth is going to be a magnificent celebration of redemption. The redemption of the Jews, but also the redemption of the church of Jesus Christ.
Someone has suggested it this way. That The earthly and Jewish character of all of this must be understood as something that will last forever and ever. In other words, the marriage supper, which is going to take place here on this earth, may be just another way of expressing. How we are going to spend eternity with the Lord or the thousand-year reign of Christ on this earth. Imagine spending a thousand years on a honeymoon with the Lord Jesus.
Just think about that for a moment. And remember, this is just the beginning. One writer that I found wrote this, It has happened within our knowledge that a wealthy and cultivated gentleman became engaged to a maiden of the lowest and poorest condition. Because he had set his love upon her, he took her out of her poverty and ignorance and sent her to a distant land. He sent her to a school to be educated and fitted for her appointed sphere.
After years of discipline and preparation, he withdrew her from her retreat and brought her to his home. where a splendid reception was given for her, and she was publicly introduced to the entire society in which she was henceforth to move as his wife. Precisely thus has Christ dealt with his church, sending her into the long wilderness discipline of this world to be trained. For her associations, but now that the time of her humiliation is ended, he brings her forth to receive her visibly into his presence and to give her her royal dowry. That's the way it's going to happen.
We've been here on this earth in preparation as the bride of Christ. But men and women, the Bible says someday he is coming back to get us, and he is going to take us to be with him forever and forever. And thus shall we ever be with the Lord. As the supper is enjoyed here on this earth, we are then going to reign with the Lord forever and ever. I think there is a parable in the Old Testament that has been given to us.
To help us understand what I have tried to say to you in so many words, it is the story of Abraham. And his search for a wife for Isaac. Do you know that story from the book of Genesis? Tell me, who is the servant who searches for the wife? Do you know his name?
Of course, his name is Eli Azar. Abraham in that story is a picture of God the Father. Listen carefully. Isaac, the beloved and obedient son, Eleazar, the trusted servant, symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit sent into a far country. to select a bride for the master's wonderful son.
Stop now and think clearly. Abraham is the father. Isaac Is Christ Eleazar is the Holy Spirit sent out into the world to find a bride. For Isaac, for Christ. The Holy Spirit is throughout this world now, seeking out the bride of Christ.
Every time someone is saved, the bride becomes more complete. One of these days, the last person who's a part of this wonderful bride will be saved and it will be complete.
Now watch carefully. Rebecca represents a Christian. ready to follow as the Spirit leads. Even though he guides over an unknown route to meet him, whom not having seen, we love. Isaac was walking in the field at eventide, meditating, when he saw the camels coming.
And so will Christ descend to meet his bride. Eleazar presented Rebekah to Isaac. And then brought his bride to the Father. Thus will the Holy Spirit catch away the church at the rapture, present us to Jesus in the clouds, in the air, and Jesus will then introduce us to the glories of the Father's presence.
Now think through that picture again. Here is Abraham the father. Here is Isaac the son. Here is Eleazar the steward. God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Lord.
The Holy Spirit. Eleazar is sent out into the world. In the Old Testament story, to find a bride for Isaac. And as the Holy Spirit in our world, he goes out seeking out the bride. When Eleazar found the bride, She had no idea that she was even being searched for.
But the bride was found. And the bride was brought back. To Isaac, not having seen him, not having ever known him, unwittingly she was brought back. to be married to Isaac. And Isaac was in the field meditating when Eleazar came.
And the scripture records in the book of Genesis that he looked up. and he went and met him, And when he met Eleazar and saw Rebekah, there was instant love. And Isaac took Rebekah. back to his father to To introduce her to Abraham. That is a perfect picture of what's going on in this story.
God the Father. Said His Holy Spirit into this world to find a bride for his son. We're part of that. And one day the Holy Spirit, Eleazar, came and got a hold of me. And brought me Into the family, and I became a part of the bride of Christ.
And now, one of these days, The Holy Spirit Is going to bring about that which we are going to see consummated in the rapture. And Jesus Christ, God's Son, is going to come. And as a part of the bride, I'm going to be taken out of here. I'm going to be caught up in the air to meet my Lord. And then he's going to usher me into the presence of the Lord.
And there's going to be a sweet consummation of that wedding. And the Bible says it will be an eternal wedding that shall never be separated in any way. What a beautiful picture. And how wonderfully God has provided for us. How beautifully the imagery of both the Old and the New Testament describes a loving God.
who cares more than you can imagine. for you and for me.
Now the question with which we started is this. What if it should happen tonight? It could happen tonight. There is not anything that yet needs to be done. Before the rapture.
Not a thing. At any moment the trumpet could sound. Jesus Christ could come back into the air to catch up his bride. And take us up into the air and there. Lead us into the presence of the Father.
And there will not be a chance after that for those who have heard. We have learned that carefully in this study of the book of Revelation.
So, the question we have to ask is: are we ready? Are you a part of the bride? Have you been made a part of that exciting group of people? who are going to be married someday to the blessed Lord. the bridegroom and spend eternity with him.
It's never too late. And you're never too early. The day you receive Christ, you're right on time. And I pray that if you have never done that before, today would be the day that you would open your heart to receive the Lord. The great overall purpose of this ministry, both on radio and television, through our magazine and written books and social media, is to introduce you to the one who can change your life forever.
And that is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, when you receive Him, you receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord. And if you've never done that, it's so simple to do, but you must mean it from your heart. Just tell the Lord you're a sinner and let Him know that you know that and that you're sorry for your sin. Ask Him to forgive you.
And accept His forgiveness and ask Him to come and live within your life. Say, Lord Jesus, come, please live within my life and change me. Make me the person you want me to be. And He will do it for you or anyone who asks. I promise.
See you next time. Our message today originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Dr. David Jeremiah, the senior pastor. If this ministry is an encouragement to you, let us know by writing to Turning Point PO Box 3838 San Diego, California 92163, visiting our website at davidjeremiah.org slash radio or calling 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's exciting new novel, Set in the End Times.
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That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Escape the Coming Night on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
