“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude
… saying, Alleluia:for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and
rejoice, and give honor to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife has 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 said unto me, Write, Blessed are those who are called unto the
marriage supper of the Lamb…. These are the true sayings of God” (Rev.
19:6-9).

    There are two main subjects in this passage:(1) God
manifestly assuming His kingly power and (2) the Lamb taking to Himself His
bride—the Church of the New Testament. The moment has not yet arrived for the
Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered as none ever did, to mount His throne. But all
is getting ready for that grand event. O blessed moment for which creation
groans and waits, for which the Church hopes and prays, and for which the
wearied tribes of Israel long with eager expectation! The Nazarene is God’s appointed
King. But two events must necessarily take place before the throne of the world
is occupied by Christ:Babylon must be judged on earth, and the marriage of the
Lamb must be celebrated in heaven. The first is described in Revelation 18; we
are now about to consider the second.

    In the subject now to be introduced the affections are
deeply stirred and the heart moved to its very center. Hence the prefatory call
to rejoice and give God glory, for the “marriage of the Lamb is come, and His
wife has made herself ready.”

    This great and grand event is the consummation of joy
to Christ as Man. It is not said the marriage of the bride, but the
marriage of the Lamb. It is His joy that is specially in view, not
ours. The marriage, of which no details are given, takes place in heaven, and
on the eve of the Lord’s return in power, subsequent to the rapture (1 Thess.
4; John 14:3). The marriage is the disclosed secret of Ephesians 5:32. Not Israel, nor a remnant thereof, but the Church of the New Testament is the bride. Israel in her land was the wife of Jehovah (Jer. 3:14-20; Isa. 54:1), but the wife was
divorced because of her iniquity. Israel, however, is to be reinstated in
Jehovah’s favor. But a divorced wife can never again be a virgin, and it is not
a divorced wife but a virgin whom the Lord marries (Lev. 21:13,14; 2 Cor.
11:2). Israel, moreover, has her place and blessing on the earth; the
marriage of the Lamb is in heaven, the Church’s proper home. The exclusively
heavenly character of the scene forbids the application of it to the nation of Israel.

    Of whom is the bride composed? We answer
unhesitatingly, all saints embraced between Pentecost (Acts 2) and the
translation (1 Thess. 4:17). These events respectively mark the commencement
and the termination of the Church’s sojourn on earth. The Church, then, is the
bride. The Church is imperishable because founded on the glory and dignity of
Christ as Son of God (Matt. 16:18). His body is the nearest of all to
Him (Eph 1:23) and the bride is the dearest object to His heart and eye.
He has loved the Church with a deathless love that knows no cessation till He
presents her in glory to Himself (Eph. 5:25-27). The Church is about to be
displayed in the kingdom as the bride and wife of the Lamb. His glory and joy
is exceeding! More of the oil of gladness is poured upon His head than upon
ours (Heb. 1:9). Our place, our blessing, our gladness are wrapped up in His.
Then shall He who died “see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied” (Isa.
53:11).

    “His wife has made herself ready.” There are two sorts
of fitness, and the Church is the subject of both. First, God in the exercise
of His sovereign grace makes one fit for heavenly glory—“meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). Second, believers have
to make themselves ready before they enter on their eternal glory. That is, the
story of earth has to be gone over again in the presence of Him who is light.
Our lives have to be reviewed at the “judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:10).
The light of the throne will be cast over and upon every moment of our lives,
discovering the hidden, and bringing out the true character of every act, word,
and service. The enigmas of life will be explained, unsolved problems cleared
up, and all mistakes and misunderstandings rectified. This precedes the
marriage:“His wife has made herself ready.” What would it be if in glory we
remembered one incident of a painful kind that had not been set right? All will
come out at the judgment seat as a matter between each saint and God. It will
not be a public exposure before others. Nor must this be understood as
signifying judicial judgment; all that has been settled on the Cross. We appear
before the judgment seat of Christ crowned and glorified, “raised in glory”
(1 Cor. 15:43), to have the light of the throne cast upon the past. What a
mercy that it is so. We shall then pass from the judgment seat with its
searching light into the loved presence of the Lamb as His bride and wife for
ever.

    “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.” The harlot (Rev. 17) was gorgeously arrayed, but her pomp, splendor,
and ornaments were claimed as a matter of right. With the bride it is
different; she is arrayed as a matter of grace. The fine linen, pure and
lustrous, of the bride is her righteousness, or righteous acts, done on earth.
But she claims no merit, for these righteous acts were wrought by the power of
the Holy Spirit in her. Her garments bespeak her practical character. She can
now enter on the enjoyment of eternal companionship and union of the closest
nature (that of wife) with her husband, the Lamb. Her deeds on earth have
been appraised at their true value in heaven.

    “Write, Blessed are those who are called unto the
marriage supper of the Lamb.” The bride and guests are clearly distinguished.
The former is, of course, in more immediate relation to the Lamb. The bride is
wed; the guests sup. Those called to the supper are “blessed.” This is not said
of the bride. Her blessing, which is that of the highest order and character,
is expressed in the simple words, bride and wife. What
unspeakable joy is conveyed in these terms! But the guests are pronounced blessed.
Who are they? We answer, the friends of the Bridegroom. But as the friends
of the Bridegroom they enjoy a higher and dearer character of
blessedness than they would if merely the friends of the bride. John the
Baptist expressly tells us that he is a friend of the Bridegroom (John 3:29).
The Baptist was martyred before the Church was formed, hence he comes in as
perhaps the most honored of the guests at the marriage supper. Old Testament
saints constitute the large company of called guests, each one being a friend
of the Bridegroom, and rejoicing in His presence and voice. The apocalyptic
martyrs (Rev. 20:4) are not raised till after the marriage, hence cannot
be numbered among the guests. Angels may be spectators of the scene, but guests
they cannot be. Angels are never spoken of in the way that these are. It is
called a supper, perhaps in contrast to the subsequent supper of judgment (Rev.
19:17). The former is in connection with the Lamb and His joy; the latter is in
relation to God and the judgment He executes on the ungodly.

    These divine communications have attached to them all
the weight and authority of God Himself. “These are the true sayings of God.”
The basis of our faith is not conjecture, but the certainty that God has
spoken. Absolute certainty is of prime importance in these days when the
dogmatism of belief in a divine revelation is considered to savor of a narrow
and illiberal spirit. In old times God spake in the prophets; in New
Testament times God has spoken in His Son (Heb. 1:1,2). How blessed,
therefore, to have the confirmation of these grand and heart-gladdening truths
from God Himself!

    (From Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.)

 

* * * * *

 

    Our love to Him should begin on earth, as it shall be
in heaven; for the bride takes not by a thousand degrees so much delight in her
wedding garment as she does in her Bridegroom. So we, in the life to come,
howbeit clothed with glory as with a robe, shall not be so much affected with
the glory that goes about us, as with the Bridegroom’s joyful face and
presence.

                                 Samuel Rutherford
(1600-1661)