In this message we shall cover two aspects of the believers’ future in the completing stage of God’s full salvation: first, the believers’ being invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb and being His bride; second, the believers’ being the heavenly armies following the Faithful and True, The Word of God, King of kings, and Lord of lords.
In the completing stage of God’s full salvation, the overcoming believers, those who are rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ, will be invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb. These invited ones will also be Christ’s bride. Therefore, at His coming back Christ will marry the overcoming believers. This is described in Revelation 19:7-9. Verse 7 says, “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready.” The marriage of the Lamb is the issue of the completion of God’s New Testament economy. God’s economy in the New Testament is to obtain for Christ a bride, the church, through His redemption and divine life. By the continual working of the Holy Spirit through all the centuries, this goal will be attained at the end of this age. Then the bride, consisting of the overcoming believers, will be ready.
The words “His wife” in Revelation 19:7 refer to the church (Eph. 5:24-25, 31-32), the bride of Christ (John 3:29). However, according to Revelation 19:8 and 9 the wife, the bride of Christ, here consists only of the overcoming believers during the millennium, whereas the bride, the wife, in Revelation 21:2 is composed of all the saved saints after the millennium for eternity.
As the Lamb, Christ needs a wedding. This matter is altogether unreligious. The Gospel of John reveals that Christ is the Lamb who came to take away sin (1:29) and also the Bridegroom who came that He might have the bride. Christ’s goal is not to remove sin; it is to have the bride. In the book of Revelation we see that Christ our Redeemer is the Lamb and the coming Bridegroom. As the Bridegroom, He must have a wedding.
Although the concept of the marriage of Christ and His bride is foreign to religion, we need to emphasize it so that we may know that our position is that of the bride and the position of the coming Christ is that of the Bridegroom. We are on earth preparing to become the bride to meet Him, and He is on the throne in the third heaven prepared to come as the Bridegroom to meet us. Thus, He is coming as the Bridegroom, and we are going as the bride. The bride and the Bridegroom will meet neither in heaven nor on earth but in the air. When we meet Him in the air, we shall have a wedding.
The marriage of the Lamb will come after the rapture of the majority of the believers (1 Thes. 4:15-17) and also after the judgment (2 Cor. 5:10). After all the raptures and before the wedding, there will be the judgment at the judgment seat of Christ to determine which believers will be qualified for the marriage feast of the Lamb. If we are rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ, we shall be invited to the marriage feast. However, if we are not rewarded but instead are disapproved by the Lord, we shall not be invited to His marriage feast. Those who are chosen at the judgment seat to be invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb will be both the guests at the feast and also the bride. The guests will be the corporate bride.
Home | First | Prev | Next