Today, Saturday January 08
The Marriage of the Lamb Revelation 19:6-9
“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 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."
Someone correctly said, “If you want to know what happened yesterday or is going on today, listen to the news on the radio or TV, or read the newspaper. But if you want to know what is going to happen in the future, read the Bible!” For sure the Bible is a divinely inspired Revelation! The Bible is also a Book of prophecy. It correctly describes and tells of future events and is always one-hundred percent accurate.
Alfred Edersheim, a great Bible scholar, found 456 Old Testament verses referring to the Messiah or His times that were written hundreds of years before His first coming. Conservatively, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 of these prophecies in His earthly ministry of thirty-three years. That means that there are then at least 156 more prophesies concerning Jesus that still need to be fulfilled. If Jesus literally fulfilled in detail that many prophecies already, I’m convinced He will fulfill the rest of them with His second coming!
We have been highlighting some of the events that the scriptures reveal will take place in the end times. One of the things we need to always keep in mind as we study the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation, is that one of the major themes is the Kingdom! The Bible ends with Jesus, the King coming back to earth to receive His bride, the church and set up His Kingdom to rule and reign a thousand years.
So far, we have talked about the next event on God’s agenda, which is the rapture of the church. After that event, the seven year Tribulation will begin. While that is happening on earth, in heaven there will be the Judgement Seat of Christ for the believers. The Tribulation will end with Jesus coming back to the earth where He bind and cast Satan into the bottomless pit for one-thousand years. After which the Great White Throne Judgment will take place and eternity will begin.
One event we haven’t mentioned so far, is what is called the “Marriage of the Lamb.” This event is found in Revelation 19, taking place in heaven just before the Lord comes back to earth at the end of the Tribulation.
For there to be a marriage you need a bridegroom and a bride. It is very clear to me that the Scripture teaches that Jesus is Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride. (Luke 5:32-35; John 3:27-30; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:22-32)
In the Old Testament, Israel is pictured as the “wife” of God in many passages. She commits adultery through her idolatry and God divorces her by setting her aside. Then in the New Testament, during the church age, God is preparing a bride for His Son. The wedding service seems to take place and will be privately conducted in heaven shortly after the bema judgment seat of Christ. The wedding supper which is the celebration stage will be conducted on earth shortly after the Second Coming of Jesus just before His Millennium reign. The Father of all grace (whose wealth is unlimited) will rise to the occasion by giving His Son and the bride a hallelujah celebration which will last a thousand years!
“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.” (Luke 12:35-36)
My friend, this is preparation time for us as the bride of Christ! He is coming soon for His bride! Will you be ready? (Matthew 25:1-13)
God bless!