The Revelation of Jesus Christ
“The Marriage Preparation of the Bride” Revelation 19:7-10
INTRODUCTION
We are coming closer to the culmination of God’s grand plan for restoring His prize creation to His original intent. Revelation unveils the events of the final years of the fulfillment of every last prophetic word. We have not heard much concerning the church until chapter 19 where a heavenly call to rejoice at the final wedding plans of Christ and the church. My thought is that Jesus returns to catch up His church to heaven where she makes final wedding preparations and becomes the spotless bride of Christ. This all takes place before His spectacular and victorious return to the earth WITH His bride.
"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' “And he said to me, "These are true words of God." 10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation 19:7-10
John saw a prophetic vision of the return of Christ starting in verse 11.
• In the Jewish marriage tradition the prospective bride groom would take the intuitive and travel to the home of the prospective bride.
• He would then negotiate with the father the price to be paid to secure his bride.
• Upon payment the marriage covenant was established and they couple were considered betrothed with legal obligations requiring a written divorce to break.
• The groom and the bride would then drink from a cup over which the betrothal benediction had been pronounced.
• The groom then left to prepare a place for his bride.
• The bride prepares herself and waits for her groom to come back and get her.
• He comes back to get her and provides her with wedding clothes.
• They proceed to the home he has prepared and the wedding is consummated and a feast celebrated.
Do you find any similarities to Jesus and the church?
• Jesus left the glory of His father’s house to seek a bride.
• He paid the ultimate price for our redemption.
• He ate and drank with His bride before returning to His father’s house.
• He left to prepare a place for us.
• He left instructions to prepare for our wedding.
• He continually works to purify a bride for Himself.
• He will come back to gather His bride.
• He will come back with the wedding clothes.
• We will all enjoy the wedding feast.
Today we will observe two significant Biblically mandated ceremonies that so wonderfully picture the marriage of Christ and the church.
First is baptism which serves as the public declaration of our decision to identify with Jesus.
Second is communion which serves to illustrate our continued intimacy with Jesus.
The Marriage and Christ and the Church (Baptism)
Lets first review the picture of marriage with Jesus. I believe that Jesus will return to gather His bride at the beginning of the 7 year tribulation. At that time, He will whisk us back to His Father’s house. The purification process will be completed and we will be made ready for a life of intimate relationship with Jesus far beyond anything anyone has yet experienced to this point in time. There will never again be a separation. There will never be any dark times.
No dark nights of the soul. No sense of aloneness or abandonment. No silence. No ambiguity.
Only amazing face to face connection with the one who gave His life for us.
We will be the blameless and spotless bride of Christ which has been His intent all along.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. Ephesians 5:25-30
Notice the attentive verbs in this passage.
Loved
Gave Himself up for
Sanctify
Cleanse by washing with the Word.
Gloriously present without a single spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
Make holy and blameless.
Continually nourish
Continually cherish
He grants the church the external clothing symbolic of an internal purity.
Fine white bright and clean linen. It is the church dressed in the righteousness of Jesus that appears clean and glorious. Paul encouraged us to think about our spiritually resurrected and glorious state in light of the day when we will return with Jesus in an equally glorious physical state. (Col 3-14) John heard all of heaven called to rejoice at the arrival of the bride of the Lamb. The Lord God almighty reigns and John heard a call to give glory to Him because His plan was perfectly unfolding.
The voice then called John to write about the blessing of those invited to celebrate this glorious union. He indicates a coming marriage supper.
I initially thought that this feast would take place in heaven after Jesus returned with His bride.
It is still possible. The question concerns the identity of guests. Who will be the guests at the marriage and the marriage feast?
Choices are…
Old Testament followers of God. (John the Baptist called himself a friend of the groom)
Citizens of the millennial kingdom.
John is overcome with a passion to worship and in his exuberance falls at the messenger’s feet. The angel messenger makes it clear that he is only a fellow servant and not to be worshipped. The marriage ceremony is yet future followed by the consummation of the marriage.
The consummation of the Marriage of Christ and the Church (Communion)
Communion symbolizes the vital merging of our life with the life of Jesus. Jesus caused a sizeable stir among His followers.
So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." John 6:53-58
Unless we establish intimate relationship with Jesus, there is NO life. Communion pictures in the physical realm what must be true in the spiritual realm. Just as we ingest the bread and juice into our digestive system to become absorbed in our life and ends up in our blood stream, so we must fully embrace Jesus into our life if we are to experience His life flowing into our life. Not to be crude or inappropriate, but since sexuality is such an integral part of God’s marriage plan it must symbolize something in the spiritual realm with Christ and the church. A healthy sexual union involves more than just a biological function. It involves all of the physical senses and involves both soul and spirit. It was intended to celebrate and communicate intimacy and unity or oneness. When God said the two shall become one flesh, He was talking about oneness beyond body oneness. One day, our connection with Jesus will light up and engage every aspect of our being.
The communion ceremony symbolizes such intimacy with Christ and His body. We are to anticipate the culmination of our life in Him by remembering Him until He comes to receive us unto Himself that where He is, we will ALWAYS be. Jesus instructed Paul concerning the celebration of this most meaningful observance in 1 Cor 11:23 and following.
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
I have harvested at least six principles by direct statement or inference from this passage. They are not necessarily in the order found in the passage for learning purposes.
Fellowship with each other
Earlier Paul reproved the Corinthians for their disunity and selfishness.
But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. 20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 1 Corinthians 11:17-21
He encouraged them to consider one another and come together as a sign of unity.
33 So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come. 1 Corinthians 11:33-34
Focus on fellowship and care for one another.
Anticipation of His return
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26
Christians have proclaimed the Lord’s death for over 2,000 years and will do so until He returns to gather us to Himself. “Until He comes” anticipates His return. We celebrate our spiritual unity with Him in anticipation of being reunited physically.
Testing (self evaluation)
Paul calls us to judge ourselves in regard to our relationship with Christ.
Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 1 Corinthians 11:27-28
It is not stated here but the first test would have to do with whether we are believers or not.
5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? 2 Corinthians 13:5
The second test would have to do with the status of our current relationship. Are we in rebellion or willful sin against Him? Are we current in our acknowledgment of sin?
The third test has to do with our relationship to the body of Christ. We cannot properly relate to Christ as the head of the body, if we are not in right relationship to His body. What hurts the body hurts the head of the body. Paul instructed the Corinthians to get their act together and stop treating one another badly.
To be negligent in these areas amounted to an unworthy observance. You they were declaring their allegiance to Christ by ritual while living the opposite in reality. They symbolized their love for and unity with the body of Christ while living the opposite. This was serious stuff in God’s eyes. It amount to grand hypocrisy as serious and Ananias and Sapphire’s lie against the Holy Spirit by trying to try to be something they were not. In this case Paul outlines three possible consequences for such an unworthy observance.
For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 1 Corinthians 11:29-32
Health and Healing
The implication is that some of our physical problems come from a failure to worthily observe the Lord’s Supper. It was the suffering of Jesus that makes our healing possible. The New Testament indicates that the prophecy of Isaiah 53 concerning the healing power of Jesus’ stripes was fulfilled on two levels.
Physically
When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES." Matthew 8:16-17
Spiritually
and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. 1 Peter 2:24-25
Exclamation
in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 26 for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26
Preach, declare, show, speak of, teach, be a messenger
Remembrance
and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." 1 Corinthians 11:24-25
How could we forget? Jesus sacrificed His body and His life. He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He died so that we might live. He paid the price that we might become His glorious bride and live forever with Him. Let’s never forget it!
