Last Updated:
01/11/2010 21:45
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What does the Bible have to say about
the marriage supper of the Lamb? Is it different than the marriage
of the Lamb?
Revelation 19:7-9
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to
him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself
ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith
unto me, Write, Blessed are they
which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith
unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
I do not believe the marriage of the Lamb
(verses 7,8)
and the marriage supper of the Lamb (vs. 9)
are the same event. The marriage supper in Jewish tradition was held 7 days
after the actual marriage. The marriage
supper is when the Bridegroom presents His bride to the guests of the marriage
supper. I believe these verses place it after the end of the 70th week on
earth such that all those resurrected in
Revelation 20:4,5 can attend and have the
bride presented to them, since they will be in heaven too, just not the bride of
Christ.
Daniel 12:11,12
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the
abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred
and ninety days. Blessed is he
that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty
days.
Here we have a starting point for both the 1290 and
1335 days, the abomination of desolation. There's a difference of 45
days that places the event at the 1335 day mark outside the 70th
week of Daniel. And in each verse, we are talking about a group of
people who are blessed. In Revelation, they are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb. Firstly, this is a blessed thing to
have been included in, so I don't think this is the great supper of
God, where the birds dine on the flesh of the dead armies. Second, I
realize there are lots of blessings to groups in scripture. However,
the placing of this in Revelation 19:9 is after the marriage is
already finished. We know this because the marriage of the Lamb is
come and the bride is no longer the bride, but called the wife. This
is only possible after a marriage ceremony. After the ceremony, a
blessing is given to those called to the marriage supper of the
Lamb. That means the marriage supper is separate from the marriage
itself. I believe these are the guests to the marriage supper are
spoken of in the kingdom parable of
Matthew 22:1-14.
The marriage takes place in heaven and at that point, the only
ones in heaven are the bride, Christ, the angels, and the Father.
The guests have to attend the marriage supper on earth, so the
marriage supper of the Lamb would have to take place after Christ
returned in glory with His wife. Otherwise, there could be no guests
except the angels. The timing of the blessing for those who wait and
the blessing for those who are called to the marriage supper of the
Lamb fit the criteria and make sense since Christ will be presenting
His bride to those who will be resurrected at the end of the 70th
week. That gives a month and a half to prepare for the marriage
supper of the Lamb as well as all the other events that will be
happening to usher in the millennium such as building the millennial
temple in
Ezekiel 40-47.
We need a little background on Jewish wedding
tradition. It was not like ours are now, but even with ours, the marriage
supper is not the marriage. The wedding supper (reception) comes after the
ceremony. From what I've read on
ancient Jewish wedding tradition,
there was a seven day wedding feast while the bride and groom remained hidden
in the bridal chamber. Then after that time, the bride and groom emerged and
the groom presents his bride to those at the wedding feast. This shows that
the marriage and wedding feast are separated by time. The timing I get from
scripture, but I think the principle is set up by this tradition.
So in
Revelation 19:9, those who come to the marriage supper are blessed. Then
in
Daniel 12:12, we see a space of time after the 1290 days where those who
wait until that time are also blessed. I think these blessed people from these
two scriptures are the same. Like I said, I can't link them absolutely, but
what other event after the marriage and outside of the 70 weeks would people
be blessed that wait for it from prophecy? That's my theory as of now.
