Feasting at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb
If you’re a believer in Jesus, a wedding and a feast in your honor are coming.
Throughout much of the book of Revelation, the apostle John recorded the many intense, dark details of the future seven-year Tribulation. Suddenly, in chapter 19, the word alleluia (from the Hebrew word hallelujah, meaning “praise the Lord”) appears four times in the first six verses.
This celebration of God’s righteous judgment and omnipotent reign precedes two statements that mark great joy and festivity. The first is an exhortation: “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” (v. 7). The second is a statement of benediction: “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” (v. 9).
These verses produce several questions that take on greater importance, considering the next major section of Revelation pictures Christ returning to Earth riding on a white horse (vv. 11–16).
Who Is the Bride?
Throughout Revelation, John clearly identified the Lamb as Jesus the Jewish Messiah, referring to Him as such 28 times in the book. But who is His bride (v. 7)?
In Revelation 22:17, the first of several final exhortations, John wrote, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”
John wrote Revelation to the seven churches of Asia Minor. So, his conclusion is clear: The Lamb’s bride is the universal church of believers, which joins the Spirit of God in issuing an invitation to lost souls to hear the gospel of Christ for salvation by grace through faith in Him.
Who Is Invited?
The Marriage Supper is a time of feasting to celebrate the Lamb’s union with His bride. Our modern equivalent to this supper is the reception that follows most wedding ceremonies.
Based on the biblical context of Jewish marriage customs, a normal wedding feast lasted about a week. Of course, the bride of Christ, the church, attends the Marriage Supper to celebrate her own wedding. Interpreters differ, however, over who is called or invited to the feast (19:9). Do those invited constitute the church, or is Jesus in the vision stating that there are others who also attend the festivities?
The most likely scenario is that the invitations go to the following: (1) people saved before the day of Pentecost and the start of the church and (2) Tribulation saints, those saved between the Rapture and Jesus’ Second Coming. The Rapture is when God will end the Church Age; instantaneously bring all living Church Age believers to heaven; and raise the bodies of dead Church Age believers, uniting all souls with resurrected bodies.
As guests, these non-Church Age saints will join in the wonderful experience of the wedding feast of Jesus and His church. The Bible uses this beautiful, Jewish wedding imagery not to denigrate non-Church Age saints but, rather, to celebrate in some way all of those saved by grace when Jesus returns, though Christ and the church are the focus of this passage.
When Will the Supper Take Place?
Among the many understandings of the timing of the Marriage Supper, two positions stand out as the most realistic.
1. In Heaven During the Tribulation. This view maintains that it occurs in heaven after the church has been raptured (1 Th. 4:13—5:11) and before Christ’s Second Coming. This viewpoint’s biggest strength is found in the almost uncanny correlation between Jewish marriage customs and the sequence of Christ coming to take His bride to His Father’s house, where the feasting takes place (cf. Jn. 14:1–3).
In a 1st-century Jewish wedding, the bridegroom brought his bride to his home, rather than hers, to a prepared bridal table and chamber. Likewise, as one writer explains, the marriage supper traditionally was held at the bridegroom’s “own or his father’s house”; and it “was normally given by the father of the groom.”1 And in those days, the marriage supper began on the same night as the consummation of the marriage, which would parallel the Marriage Supper of the Lamb occurring shortly after Christ takes His bride, the church, to His Father’s house in heaven through the Rapture. Thus, Scripture, in connection with Jewish customs, may suggest that Christ and the church will enjoy the Marriage Supper in heaven during the Tribulation.
The Greek aorist tense of the words has come in the phrase for the marriage of the Lamb has come (Rev. 19:7) favors this view. To say the Marriage Supper of the Lamb has come may imply that the marriage already has been accomplished. Although an aorist tense often speaks of a completed, past action, it can also look forward; so this phrase does not indicate conclusively whether the Marriage Supper has occurred at this point described in the book of Revelation.
A potential challenge with this view is that it is difficult to identify the wedding guests in verse 9. If they, in fact, include the Old Testament saints, are these particular believers included in the Pretribulation Rapture of the church? They would have to be in heaven with resurrected bodies to participate as guests at the feast. Daniel 12:2 suggests that a major resurrection of those believers occurs at the end of the Tribulation, not at the beginning, which is necessary for this specific view.
2. In the Millennial Kingdom. This view maintains the marriage feast occurs at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom after Jesus returns to Earth and that it lasts the entire thousand years, serving as a kind of “kickoff party” for God’s eternal Kingdom.
One strength of this view is that the statement “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9) can be taken in context as an announcement that the festive wedding supper is about to take place. Then, the text reveals the return of Christ, the Warrior Lamb (vv. 11–16), followed by His 1,000-year reign on Earth (20:4–6). In the Gospel of Matthew, Christ’s earthly Kingdom is compared to a marriage dinner or celebration (Mt. 22:1–14).
One factor working against this view is that there is no clear correlation to the Jewish marriage custom of taking the bride to the father’s house.
What Is the Purpose?
This celebration of marriage points to the intimate, personal relationship between Jesus and His bride, the church. This fact remains true regardless of when the feast is held.
The Marriage Supper reminds believers that days of rejoicing are ahead through the church’s ultimate union with Christ (Rev. 19:7). The coming celebration is a true time of feasting that God has planned for those who are His own. What is known now by faith will be experienced then by sight. Kingdom glory is on its way.
Even though Jesus is coming again in great glory, His special designation Lamb (vv. 7, 9) points to the cross where the Lamb of God died for the sins of the world. Have you trusted Christ’s death and resurrection for your salvation? If so, a wedding and a feast in your honor are coming.
ENDNOTE
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- John Rea, “Marriage,” Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 2 (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1975), 1082.
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To those believing in a pre-tribulation rapture please explain to me how Paul got it wrong in 2 Thess. 2:1-4. He states it will happen after the revelation of the antichrist which is 3.5 yrs into the tribulation period.
Most pre-trib rapturists believe the revelation of the Antichrist is with the signing of the treaty with Israel indicated in Daniel 9:27 which occurs at the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel according to the prophecy . We also believe he is the rider on the white horse in the first seal which happens in the first half of the trib. So, he is active and known before the mid-point of the trib. His heinous act half way through the trib just heightens the awareness of his evil relative to Israel.