As I mentioned in the last lesson, chapter 19 starts out with a large worship scene in heaven. “After this I heard what sounded like the shouting of a huge crowd in heaven, and they cried out, praise the Lord! Salvation, glory, honor and dominion belong to the Lord our God! His judgments are true and righteous. He has judged the great whore who corrupted the earth with her idolatry. And He has avenged on her the blood of His servants. Then they shouted again, praise the Lord! The smoke of her burning will continue to ascend forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, praise the Lord! Then a voice came from the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you servants of His, you who reverence Him, both small and great! (Verses 1-5)
The description of this worship scene actually continues through verse 10 and includes the mention of the marriage supper of the Lamb in verses 7-9. But I want to stop here and look at a few things before we go on. Again, as I mentioned in the last lesson, this is the last parenthetical passage and describes the events that take place between the execution of the 7th bowl judgment back in 16:17-21 and the 2nd coming of Christ in 19:11-14. And just by way of review, remember the 7th bowl did not simply include the unprecedented earthquake and thunderstorms with the hundred-pound hailstones. There was the description of symbolic Babylon, the religious system of the Antichrist, and its destruction; then a description of the destruction of literal Babylon, the commercial and religious center of Antichrist’s kingdom.
In verse 1 above you see “huge crowd”. Some translations have “great crowd” or “great multitude”. The KJV has “much people”, which can be somewhat misleading (then in verse 6 they correctly translate the same words “great multitude”). This worship scene does not just include what we would think of as “people” or maybe redeemed saints. In verse 4 we see the four living creatures (described in 4:6-8) involved in this worship as well. The point is that everyone in heaven is worshipping God, both saints and angels.
At the end of verse 3 we find, “The smoke of her burning will continue to ascend forever and ever.” The phrase “forever and ever” is from eis tous aionas ton aionon, literally, “unto the ages of the ages”, but usually translated, “forever and ever”. Since John’s revelation is all about end-times, this phrase is used to define several things: the worship of God and the Lamb (1:6; 5:13; 7:12), of God living forever and ever (4:9-10; 5:14; 10:6; 15:7), God and Christ reigning forever and ever (11:15), the smoke of eternal torment ascending forever and ever (14:9-11; 19:3), torment of the wicked forever and ever (20:10) and the saints reigning forever and ever (22:5).
“Then I heard what sounded like the shout of an innumerable throng, like the roar of pounding waves and loud peals of thunder, shouting, praise the Lord! For now the Lord our God the Omnipotent reigns! Let us rejoice and be glad, and give Him glory! For the marriage supper has come and His wife has prepared herself. She has been given fine linen to wear, clean and white – for the fine linen represents the righteousness of the saints. Then the angel said to me, Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Then he said, These are the exact words of God. Then I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said, Don’t do that. I am only a servant like you and your brethren who have accepted the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of all prophecy.” (Verses 6-10)
So, now this great celebration includes mention of the marriage feast of the Lamb. I mentioned this in the last lesson, but now we have to identify the Lamb’s wife. John is specific in Revelation 21:2 that His wife is “the holy city, the new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven”. Then in verse 9 one of the seven angels says, “Come here, and I’ll show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife”. Then in verse 10 you see, “and (he) showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God”.
When you put this all together, the bride or wife of the Lamb is the city occupied by all the redeemed saints from Abel to the very last one included in the first resurrection (I’ll explain the first resurrection when we get to chapter 20) who will live in this city. This is the place Jesus told His disciples He was going away to prepare for them, so they could be with Him in John 14:1-3.
Regarding the marriage supper of the Lamb, there are those who try to teach there are different classes of redeemed saints; some being the bride, some the guests and some the servants. But, as usual, there are those in religion that go out of their way to try to manufacture doctrine that simply is not there. When you look at this passage, no such distinction is made. All will be inhabitants of the city, not just some. And, though there are other passages in Scripture that talk about marriage suppers (the parables of Matthew 22:1-14 and 25:1-13 for example), verses 7 and 9 are the only ones that mention the marriage supper of the Lamb. And everything we know about this event is found in these two verses. And, sadly, that’s not nearly enough. I’d like to know more about this blessed event.
To this we can add that Jesus called Himself the bridegroom (Matthew 9:15) and John the Baptist called Him the bridegroom (John 3:29). These passages use the Greek numphios, a newly married man. Paul made it clear that all believers are married to Christ when he used the relationship of a man and his wife to illustrate the relationship of Christ with His church (Ephesians 5:25-33).
The question of whether the city is occupied before the marriage supper or after is not clear, given the information we have. I mention the occupation of the city in the last lesson, but the order of events is one of pure conjecture. When you look at it purely from the standpoint of Jewish custom: the families of the bride and groom agreed on the marriage, the groom then prepared a place for them to live, he then came and took his bride to that place and consummated the marriage, then the marriage feast or celebration with the families and friends took place. So, according to custom, if you use that example, the city would be occupied before the marriage supper took place. However, I’m not sure I want to predict God’s plan based solely on Jewish custom.
Then, there is one more thing I want to look at. The last statement of the angel to John in verse 10 is this: “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of all prophecy.” I talk about this in several of the articles on the website. “Prophecy” is propheteia, a word that has nothing to do with predicting future events, as you see in some religions. True prophecy in the Biblical sense has to do with interpreting God’s will and purpose. Here, the angel is telling John, “don’t worship me, I’m just like you and your brethren, those who have accepted the testimony of Jesus. And, by the way, Jesus’ testimony is the vital source for understanding all that God has determined and all that He will do to carry it out.”
In Revelation 12 Satan is kicked out of heaven. Verse 17 says, “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman (Israel), and went to wage war on the rest of her descendants - on those who obey God’s commandments and who have the testimony of Jesus”. It is somewhat comforting to know that during the last half of the tribulation there are Jews who accurately understand God’s will and purpose. And why is the dragon enraged? The terrible events of the tribulation have finally driven the nation of Israel to the truth. The chosen of God, those who have rebelled against Him, ignored the revelation of His Son, even denied the existence of their creator, have now come to a knowledge of the truth.
The 2nd coming of Christ is next.