THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB (Celebration Time!)

By: Dr. Gavin Finley

At a future point in holy history the saints will pass through the gates of splendor to enter the mansions of glory. There they will be ushered into a love feast and a glorious consummation beyond the power of words to describe. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is a magnificent future event which saints down through time have wondered about. The scriptures indicate that this climactic banquet of the ages will come at the end of this present evil age at the second coming of Christ. At that time we shall see Jesus/Yeshua on the occasion of His return to this earth. We shall see Him face to face. This time He will come not as the Suffering Servant but as the returning conquering King of Kings. Surely this will be that ultimate moment of celebration of which all the toasts and feasts of previous times and previous victories were but a foretaste. Revelation chapter 19 (below) gives the context of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

Revelation 19:5-21

5: Then a voice came from the throne, saying, "Praise our God all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!"

6: And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!

7: 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."

8: And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

9: Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God."

10: And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

11: Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

12: His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.

13: He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

14: And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.

15: Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

16: And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

17: Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God,

18: that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great."

19: And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

20: Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

21: And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.

As well as involving the climax of this evil age it also seems clear that the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will involve the New Jerusalem, the Holy City. That city is referred to by John as "the wife of the Lamb". We shall be in the picture here. We are the saints. We are not perfected yet. But nevertheless we are covenant people set apart for God, are we not? The saints enmass, a single glorious completed company, will be the inhabitants of that city in that Day.

In further marriage imagery John saw,

"the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband". - Rev.21

John saw the city descending from heaven in a single climactic moment of God's eternal agenda. Each individual believer is part of that holy city. The New Jerusalem is to come together as a spiritual construction of living stones not made with hands. Paul described our ultimate union with Christ using this imagery of a living construction in the Spirit of God. Surely there will be a glorious spiritual arrival time when we shall be joined together with Him.

"Coming to Him as a living stone, rejected of men but chosen of God and precious. You also, as living stones are being built up an spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." - 1Pet.2:4-5

"For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." - Eph. 2:10

Will the Marriage Supper of the Lamb come at the end of this age? Or will it come at the end of the Millennium of Messiah one thousand years later? The question of timing of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb seems to be a problem to us. Perhaps it need not be. Paul says that at the very end, Messiah will gather His entire elect company. Presumably this will include not only those redeemed out of this age, but also those redeemed out of His Millennial Age yet to come. He will then present ALL those who are His to the Father.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:

15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.

15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all". - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28

These verses indicate that this presentation by Messiah of His bride to the Father must surely also include the wrap-up of holy history at the end of that future glorious Millennium of Messiah. He will be taking a group of His own out of that magnificent future period of one thousand years as well. They will be joining those saints who will be glorified at the end of this present age.

This presentation to the Father of a complete and perfect company without spot or blemish is seen in verse 26 above. Clearly this is in the time context of the final defeat of death. Death is the last enemy. Death is defeated and thrown into the Lake of Fire at the Great White throne judgment at the end of the thousand years. (Rev.20:14)

Would this negate us seeing Him there at the end of this present evil age? As we see from the scriptures above we have good evidence to support the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in both time slots.

This is difficult for us. Is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb at the end of this age? Or does it come at the end of the Millennium of Messiah? Or are questions of earthly time irrelevant in matters concerning the eternal realms of God?

We might well expect this question to lead to an Aristotelian style argument with Greek sophistry going round and round and back and forth. Keep in mind here that this is our man centered humanistic mindset struggling to cope with the eternal realities of God. We think in boxes measured from end to end in earthly Newtonian measurements of time and space. Then we are chained to Greek logic. "Is it A or B? It can't be both!" Or so we think. Our Hellenised minds will want to say that it must be one or the other. But is that argument going to shed any light on the subject; or just heat? Is the argument based on our own incorrect pre-suppositions about eternal realities? Are we forcing our own human earthly time up into the heavenly realms and trying to measure out Newtonian time in a heavenly realm that is too wonderful for us??

So when is the Marriage Supper of The Lamb? Does it come at the end of this age? Or at the end of the Millennium of Messiah? Could it be possible that BOTH are true?

Scripture supports both time slots, does it not? Could the saints of this age and the saints of the Millennium to come both empty into the same eternal destiny, namely the Marriage Supper of the Lamb?

Here is what might be our problem. We may be so locked into our Greek logical process of thinking that we are failing to see the whole picture. In saying that it must be one or the other we might be making unnecessary trouble for ourselves. Perhaps both A and B are indeed true and not just "A" or "B". As western people we all went through the Greek Empire and Greek logical processes are drilled into us. But when we start to try to grapple with events that will take place in eternity our Hellenised thinking hogties us. When we start trying to piece together grand spiritual truths from scriptures that appear to us to be in conflict with each other we get into difficulty. That might be merely because our man-centered humanistic logic, based as it is on our earthbound Newtonian presuppositions cannot cope with the grand realities of eternity. We are prone to ascribe earthly qualities to the holy realms of eternity in God. This we are not permitted to do. But we insist on doing it because we insist on keeping our man-centered theology rather than submitting to God's Holy Word.

With that in mind, here is a possible resolution of our problem regarding the timing of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. As we enter eternity all the saints are glorified into new spiritual bodies at some point. At the resurrection-rapture at the end of this age we leave Newtonian space-time to enter into a realm beyond our present earthly sphere of time and space. Similarly the saints that Jesus brings with Him out of the Millennium to come will also be glorified at the end of the future Millennium. This is precisely what we see in 1 Cor.15:24.

So, as incredible as it may sound, there may in fact be two niches in time where the saints are glorified into the eternal realms. But once there in the realms of God the saints may all find themselves at the same place. They look around and they are in the celestial banqueting hall. They have all arrived at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb together!

Let us pause here and home in onto these two vortices, one at the end of this age and the other at the end of the future Millennium of Messiah. Both time gateways will take the saints out from this earthly realm and through an open door into eternity. Once through that door they are in eternity. They have arrived at a place which is not bound to earthly time!

Let us pause to consider for a moment. The saints have just arrived in the heavenly realms. They look for a calendar on the wall but there is none. Space and time in eternity is all relative. Where they are in time and space is all relative. Relative to what? Relative to the plans and purposes of Almighty God. Is He bound by earthly time ticking away on the mantelpiece down on earth in Greenwich or New York? Certainly not! Where we are in the glory will all depend on the purposes of God. If He wants you at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb it matters not when you left the mortal life on earth. You will be there! He will see to it personally we can be sure.

So let us take in the magnificent scene. Here they are, two companies of people filing into a room in eternity. It is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, a moment of splendor beyond human powers of description.. This Banquet is an eternal event. It is not bound to an earthly calendar time. In the glory, time will be irrelevant to us who have been glorified. Nevertheless we may be called to re-enter time and space under the auspices of Messiah. (Rev. 20:4) The Bible clearly tells us that the people glorified at the end of this age will minister in the Millennium on earth.

We can only speculate on what our roles may be in the new heavens and new earth. So there is no reason for us not to think that a saint of God can come into the Marriage Supper of the Lamb through whatever earthly time portal he or she happens to pass through when they are glorified.

This may sound strange, even fantastic. Of course it is. For example, as we come to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb we might very well meet people coming into the banqueting hall from the age to come. These saints might tell us that they have just that very minute (to them) come up into eternity from the last day at the end of the Millennium of Messiah. As we join up with the whole party of God Jesus will bring both the lesser and greater sheepfolds together to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

What interesting conversations we shall have! These Millennial saints may tell us what they saw of the rebellion of the Gog people and perhaps witnessed the Great White Throne Judgment. These saints will join with us after coming through a time portal at the end of the future thousand years. Rev.20:7-15 -- Sharing with other saints at the marriage supper we might testify that we had just been raptured or resurrected out of this present age. We were glorified out of the earthly space-time at the end of the seventieth week of Daniel which was early in the 2,000's. From the perspective of earthly time this would mean that the saints of this age and the saints of the coming Millennium enter the Marriage Supper of the Lamb from earthly time portals that are a thousand years apart!

What a glorious reunion! Old Testament saints like Daniel and Ezekiel might testify, "We just fell asleep back in the 6th century B.C. We found ourselves caught up into Abraham's bosom and a place of spiritual comfort. Then I heard the Saviour come and preach the good news of His triumph over sin and death at His firstfruits resurrection. From an earthly perspective this must have been in 32 A.D.. And now, the next thing I know I am here in the banqueting hall talking with saints who just stepped out of the Millennium of Messiah close to the year 3,000 A.D.! What year are we in up here?"

Of course there will be no earthly answer. Just an eternal one.

An angel shares briefly:

"Dear saints, here is no time or date in the New Jerusalem. There is no calendar up in these spiritual dwelling places. We can access any part of the cosmos at any point in their time in history from up here."

In that unspeakably beautiful spiritual time and place of we might well imagine the following possible scenario. As the saints are gathering and mingling at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Enoch might walk in. "Well Praise be to God! Here we are! The ten thousands I saw way back in the times before the flood are all here at this Banquet!" (Jude)

What a magnificent grand re-union this would be! And that does not even begin to tell of the indescribable wonders of the "many mansions" we shall see out in the realms of the Eternal Light. The Feast of Hanukah may be a foreshowing of this. Of course this doesn't even begin to tell the wonders of our union with the One described in the scriptures as the Beloved. These matters are too wonderful for our present knowledge.

Time, along with space and matter and energy, are all created modalities. All are subject to God and to His higher purposes. He created time and matter and laid it out in the cosmos according to His perfect will. He still rules the cosmos. When we enter into the glory we are no longer subject to time and space. As Albert Einstein helped us to see, time and space are not absolute entities but dependent on a higher realm. It seems that they are 'relative'. Time and space are subject to God. There is no earthly calendar with God even though He judges in earthly time. So He may glorify His people out of not one but out of two climactic events in earth time.

Up there in the heavenly realms there are no calendars or clocks. There is just the plan and purposes of Almighty God. He Himself rules here in a realm which transcends all time and spans the cosmos. So the Marriage Supper of the Lamb would be the beginning of that great and glorious future which Jesus told us about when He said:

"In my Father's House are many mansions (dwelling places)......
I go to prepare a place for you.........
I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am there ye may be also". - John 14:2

Blessings to all who love His appearing,

Dr. Gavin Finley