Revelation 19:9 says, “Blessed are they who are called to the marriage dinner of the Lamb.” The bride of the Lamb and the guests invited to the marriage dinner of the Lamb refer to the same group of persons. In other words, those who constitute the bride of Christ are the guests invited to the wedding feast.
The marriage dinner of the Lamb here is the wedding feast in Matthew 22:2. It will be a reward to the overcoming believers. Only the overcomers will be invited to it, not all the saved ones. The five foolish virgins in Matthew 25:8-13 will miss it. However, after being dealt with by the Lord in the kingdom age, they will participate in the New Jerusalem for eternity. Hence, to be invited to the wedding feast of Christ, which will usher the overcoming believers into the enjoyment of the millennium, is to be blessed. The overcoming believers invited to the marriage dinner of the Lamb will also be the bride of the Lamb. The blessing referred to in Revelation 19:9 is the blessing of participating in the millennium. To be invited to attend the wedding feast is to have the privilege of sharing the millennial kingdom as co-kings with Christ.
Matthew 22:14 says, “Many are called but few are chosen,” and Revelation 17:14 says, “They who are with Him, the called and chosen and faithful.” To be called is one thing, but to be chosen is another. Those who will follow the Lord to fight against Antichrist will not only be called but also chosen. Although we have the assurance that we have been called, we do not yet have the assurance that we will be chosen. This will be decided at the judgment seat of Christ. After we have been raptured, we will stand before the Lord at the judgment seat, and He will decide whether or not we are qualified to be chosen. Only those who are chosen will be invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb.
The marriage of the Lamb will follow the judgment at the judgment seat of Christ. If we are not rewarded but are disapproved by the Lord, we will not perish; however, we will suffer a loss like that described in 1 Corinthians 3:15, which says, “If anyone’s work is consumed, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” The saved ones who suffer loss will certainly miss the wedding feast. The judgment at the judgment seat of Christ will not determine whether we will be saved or perish; it will decide whether we will receive a reward from the Lord or suffer a loss.
Eventually, when Christ comes, the overcoming believers will join Him to feast at the marriage dinner of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7, 9). That unique, universal wedding feast will last one thousand years. During those thousand years the church is the bride, and after the one thousand years the church is the wife (21:9-10). The difference between a bride and a wife is that the bride is the bride only on the wedding day. After the wedding day the bride becomes the wife. On the wedding day there is the bridegroom and the bride; on the following day there is the husband and the wife. The millennial kingdom of one thousand years will be a wedding day to Christ, in which the overcoming believers will be with Christ, enjoying His wedding feast.
Eating and drinking Christ in order to feast on Christ is the central thought in God’s economy (1 Cor. 5:7-8). The beginning of the Christian life is a feast. The Lord Jesus likens the gospel of God’s full salvation to a great dinner (Luke 14:16-23). The penitent sinner is not only clothed with Christ the Son as the God-satisfying righteousness to judicially redeem him but is also brought to the Father’s house to feast on the rich Christ to organically save him (15:22-23; 1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 3:8).
The continuation of the Christian life is a feast. The Christian life continues with the Lord’s table until He comes (1 Cor. 11:24-26). The divine concept is that to remember the Lord is simply to eat and drink Him, to enjoy Him. The Lord’s table is a weekly proclamation, a declaration to the whole universe, that we daily enjoy Christ as our food and drink. Even while we are fighting on the battlefield, the Lord spreads a table before us in the presence of our adversaries for us to feast on Him (Psa. 23:5).
The consummation of the Christian life is a feast. The overcoming believers will feast for a thousand years on a special portion of the unsearchably rich Christ at the marriage dinner of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9; Matt. 26:29; Luke 22:30; 13:29). This is a feast that will last for eternity (Rev. 22:1-2).
In the Gospel of Matthew the Lord said that the kingdom of the heavens is likened to a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son and who sent his slaves to call the invited ones to come to the feast (22:2-4). Then Revelation 19 speaks of the coming of the marriage of the Lamb and the marriage dinner of the Lamb (vv. 7, 9). This indicates that the New Testament not only begins with a feast but also ends with a feast. When we attend a proper church meeting, we are enjoying a foretaste of the marriage dinner of the Lamb, the wedding feast prepared by God the Father for His Son. At the Lord’s return, the overcoming believers will enjoy the marriage dinner of the Lamb. At the marriage dinner of the Lamb, the believers will enjoy a special portion of Christ. A wedding feast is not ordinary food but a special portion. At that time, the Lord Himself will be a special portion for the overcomers to enjoy.