Revelation 19:7-10 - The Biggest Wedding Ever

In Revelation 19 John gets a preview of the biggest wedding to ever take place in human history. It is called “the marriage of the Lamb”! The bride, of course, is the church (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:22-33) which is made up of all the believers who have been saved by faith starting on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) all the way to the day of the rapture of the church (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Jesus Christ, the Lamb, is the Bridegroom (John 3:29). There are different opinions by Bible students as to exactly when this wedding and the celebration marriage supper will take place, but I personally believe that it will occur during the last days of the Tribulation just before Jesus comes back to the earth with His saints. "What did the bride wear?" is the usual question asked after a wedding. The Lamb's bride is dressed "in the righteous acts of the saints". When the bride arrived in heaven at the Judgment Seat of Christ, she was not at all beautiful (in fact, she was covered with spots, wrinkles, and blemishes according to Paul in Eph. 5:27); but now she is radiant in her glory. She has "made herself ready" for the public ceremony. Jewish weddings in that day were quite unlike weddings in the Western world. First, there was an engagement, usually made by the parents when the prospective bride and groom were quite young. This engagement was binding and could be broken only by a form of divorce. Any unfaithfulness during the engagement was considered adultery. (Remember Joseph and Mary in Matthew 1.) When the public ceremony was to be enacted, the groom would go to the bride's house and claim her for himself. He would take her to his home for the wedding supper, and all the guests would join the happy couple. This feast could last as long as a week. Today, the church is "engaged" to Jesus Christ; and we love Him even though we have not seen Him (1 Peter 1:8). One day, He will return and take His bride to heaven (John 14:1-6; 1 Thes. 4:13-18). At the Judgment Seat of Christ, her works will be judged, and all her spots and blemishes removed. This being completed, the church will be ready to return to earth with her Bridegroom at the close of the Tribulation to reign with Him in glory (see Luke 13:29; Matt. 8:11). Some students believe that the entire Kingdom Age will be the "marriage supper." Revelation 19:9 contains the fourth of the seven "beatitudes" found in the book (see Rev. 1:3). Certainly the bride is not invited to her own wedding! This invitation goes out to the guests, believers from the Old Testament era and those who were saved during the Tribulation. During the eternal state, no distinctions will be made among the people of God; but in the Kingdom Age, differences will still exist as the church reigns with Christ and as Israel enjoys the promised messianic blessings. John was so overwhelmed by this awesome scene of the wedding, that he fell down to worship the angel who was guiding him, an act that he later repeats! (Rev. 22:8-9).  Of course, worshiping angels is wrong (Col. 2:18) and John knew this. But we must take into account the tremendous emotional content of John's experience. Can you imagine what John saw? The beautiful bride of Christ, made up of millions of believers saved over the two thousand years of the Church age, dressed in clean, bright white linen, and millions of Old Testament and Tribulation saints who are there as guest! God the Father presides over the ceremony and presents the bride to His Son Jesus Christ. It took John’s breath away and he fell down to worship the angel. Like John himself, this angel was only a servant of God (Heb. 1:14); and we do not worship servants (see Acts 10:25-26). John is simply told by the angel, “Worship God!” And today we should be worshiping The Lord our God ourselves! God Bless!