E. Dennett
The last thing to take place, as preparatory to the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, is the marriage supper of the Lamb, as recorded in Rev. 19.
With this, however, must be adjoined, as connected with it, an event of which there is no mention except in Eph. 5. We read there of Christ's presentation to Himself of His bride, "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." v. 27. The words in italics—to Himself—reveal most fully the character of this event. It is a private and not a public thing. It expresses the joy of Christ in claiming His bride as His own, that bride which ravished His heart when He beheld her as the pearl of great price. It is the Church He loved in all her beauty, and for which He gave Himself, and is according to the counsels of God. Her wilderness sojourn will then be over; the days of her widowhood and mourning will be ended. She will have passed through all needful discipline until, through having been sanctified and cleansed with the washing of the water by the Word, she has been made morally suitable to Christ.
Then it is that He claims her in the joy of His heart, and presents her to Himself arrayed in all the beauty wherewith He has robed her, that she may be His companion forever. This, we repeat, is a private transaction, and no "stranger" will inter-meddle with the joy of Christ in that day. It will be wholly for His own satisfaction and pleasure. For then, if we may borrow the language, He will bring His bride into the banqueting house, and His banner over her will be love.
After this private presentation of the bride to Himself, there will be the public celebration of the marriage in heaven. We find a full account of this in Rev. 19, and we give the whole passage:
“And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor 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 [righteousnesses] 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." vv. 5-9.
The connection in which this scripture is found adds greatly to its significance. The great harlot who had corrupted the earth with her fornication, the false bride, had received her judgment from God. She had been forever set aside and adjudged to be, as she was, the murderess of prophets and saints. For in her, says the Spirit of God, "was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”
This avenging judgment was the cause of mourning and lamentation in all classes of the inhabitants of the earth, for so far had men departed from the living God. But in heaven, and nothing could more completely show the antagonism of man to God, it was the occasion of an outburst of universal joy. And wherefore this overflowing gladness which could only find adequate expression in praise and adoration? It sprang from the fact that God, having judged Babylon, the great corruptress of the earth, was about to establish His sovereignty throughout the wide world.
The voice of a great multitude will fill heaven with their ecstatic thunderings of praise as they cry,
“Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." The heart in which Christ is already enthroned will understand this exultant celebration, as it apprehends that the time has arrived for God to publicly glorify His beloved Son in the face of the universe. Now He will exalt, even here on earth, the One who was once rejected and crucified, and cause all the nations of the world to own His blessed sway.
Then will come to pass the saying written, "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's: and He is the governor among the nations." Psa. 22:27, 2827All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. 28For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations. (Psalm 22:27‑28).
The point in this heavenly scene is that He will not be alone in the day of His glory. His bride, the Church, who has been identified with Him in the day of His rejection will, out of His great love to her, be displayed in glory with Him in the day of His exaltation. The marriage of the Lamb is the preparation for this, and hence it is in order that the bride may be a companion for her exalted Lord and Bridegroom that she makes herself ready. She is arrayed before all heaven in her garments of fine linen, pure and white.
It is this union of the Bridegroom with His bride that elicits the admiring praise of the heavenly hosts. So privileged are those who behold it that John is commanded to write, "Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." It will be indeed a scene nevermore repeated, the joy of the bride in the consummation of all her longing hopes in the possession forever of the Object of her affections. It will only be surpassed by the joy of the Bridegroom in taking into union with Himself the bride for whom He had already proved His love to the uttermost when He died upon the cross.
The love He showed there was but the measure of the love He had borne for her through every step of her pilgrim way. His love is expressed in this scene before all the heavenly hosts in the public celebration of His marriage. It was, and is, and ever will be an everlasting, infinite and perfect love, a love which passes knowledge-and language will ever fail to convey its fullness and intensity.
It must, however, be again repeated that the marriage supper of the Lamb is but preparatory to His coming out of heaven. He will break through the dark clouds of earth as the Sun of righteousness.