The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
(week 04/06)
Olubi Johnson
Revelation 19:7-9 NKJV: 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.” 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. 9 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.”
Here, we see the announcement of the celebration of the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven (see verse 1).
However, the Lord Jesus, by a parable in Matthew 22.1-14, shows us that marriage supper of the Lamb starts on the earth as a spiritual feast of the wisdom of God to perfect: make glorious, without spot, blemish, wrinkle or any such thing (Eph. 5.25-27), the end-time church. It culminates in heaven after the rapture in the celebration described in Revelation 19.7-9.
Matthew 22:1-14 NKJV: And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ‘ 5 “But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10 “So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
The parable is easily interpreted: the King is God the Father.
The Son is the Lord Jesus.
The servants are the prophets (Rev. 10.7) God sends to the church to invite them to the wedding feast: the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The feast is a spiritual feast of the wisdom of God as shown in Prov. 9.1-5.
Proverbs 9:1-5 NKJV: Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars; 2 She has slaughtered her meat, She has mixed her wine, She has also furnished her table. 3 She has sent out her maidens, She cries out from the highest places of the city, 4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, 5 “Come, eat of my bread And drink of the wine I have mixed.
Those invited to the wedding are all born-again Christians.
The Christians who respond to the invitation become the bride of Christ, her entourage and guests at the marriage supper. This is symbolized as follows in Psalm 45: 9-15 and 1 Cor. 3.12-15:
Psalms 45:9-15 NKJV: Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women; At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir. 10 Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house; 11 So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him. 12 And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; The rich among the people will seek your favor. 13 The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace; Her clothing is woven with gold. 14 She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors; The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You. 15 With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought; They shall enter the King’s palace.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 NIV: By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
The bride of Christ is the queen: Christians that have built with gold.
The virgins, her companions: Christians that have built with silver and precious stones.
The guests: Christians that accepted the invitation but built with wood, hay and stubble (1 Cor. 3.12).
It is vital to see from this that God prepared the body of Christ for the Lord Jesus (Heb. 10.5), but it is the bride who makes herself ready (Rev.19.7). Also all Christians are in the body of Christ but not all are in the bride of Christ: the bride is a part of the body of Christ.
The Christians who rejected the invitation and persecute and kill God’s prophets are cast into outer darkness: the spiritual darkness (Eph. 4.18) of the outer court (Rev. 11.2). They will never again be allowed to come into the deeper revelation knowledge of God’s Word available in the Holy Place and Most Holy Place. In some extreme cases this could mean going to hell.
The armies of the King are the Christians who responded to the invitation and use the wisdom of God to develop the love God, becoming the army prophesied about in Joel 2.1-11. They will manifest the glory of God that will bring blessing to the world and destruction to the rebellious church, like the glory of God brought destruction to Ananias and Sapphiras (Act. 5.1-11) and blessing to the world (Act. 5.12).
Those who are invited later and brought in from the highways are those not yet born again but who come into the Kingdom by the great end-time revival of the glory of God and they too are brought to the feast:
Isaiah 25:6-9 NKJV: And in this mountain The LORD of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees. 7 And He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken. 9 And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
Those who do not have a wedding garment and are cast into outer darkness are those who do not partake of the feast with honesty and humility of heart after getting born-again.
We are living in the time of the fulfillment of the marriage supper of the Lamb.
It is imminent: it will start when the glory of God begins to manifest in the church as it was in the life and ministry of Christ, because the beginning of the miracles of Christ started at a wedding feast (Jn.2.1, 11)!
