What is the �marriage supper� of the Lamb of God? Where will it take place? Will it take place in Heaven? Who are the �guests�? Who is the �bride�? Will the saints be RAPTURED to Heaven for this Wedding Feast? Will they be protected in Heaven during the Great Tribulation which rages on earth, as many evangelicals, such as Tim LaHaye, teach? Don�t be deceived! Millions are being confused and misled by a false hope.
In Matthew 22:11-13, we read: �The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again, he sent other slaves, saying, �Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.� But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, �The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.� Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
�But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, �Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?� And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, �Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.� For many are called, but few are chosen� (Matt.22:2-14, NRSV).
What is this parable all about? And how does it relate to the so-called �secret rapture� of the saints? Will the saints be raptured to heaven to marry the Lamb, and thereby �escape� from the ravages of the Great Tribulation?
Who is the man not wearing a wedding garment? Does this banquet take place in Heaven when Christ marries the Church? Is the individual without a wedding robe an evil spirit who arrives at the banquet uninvited?
Let�s understand this mystery of mysteries! The �king� obviously is God the Father, and the Son is Jesus Christ. So who are those called to the wedding who don�t come? They represent all those who hear the gospel message, but reject it and refuse to come to the wedding! They will not become part of the �bride� � the Church of God � which marries Christ at His second coming!
Who are those who are called from the highways and streets, to become guests at the wedding? They represent all those who are called during this age, and who respond, and come to the wedding. They are not the noble, the rich and wealthy, but the poor of this world. As Paul wrote: �Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God� (I Cor.1:26-29, NRSV).
The wedding guests, therefore, represent true Christians, those who are called during this life, to be members of the body of Christ, the Church!
When will this marriage supper take place?
The Coming of Christ
The apostle John wrote, �Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying out, �Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready; to her it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure� � for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints� (Rev.19:6-8).
John continues, �And the angel said to me, �Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb! To be comtinued!
Men don�t go to heaven. Jesus� parable about the wedding feast shows there will be many �guests.� But some of the guests will not wear �wedding robes� � that is, the fine linen garments which reflect the righteousness of the saints. They claim that you don�t have to obey God , to enter into His Kingdom � they say all you need to do is �just believe!�
The invited guests who don�t respond to the invitation are the nations and peoples of the world who don�t accept Christ as their coming King, Ruler, Redeemer and Saviour. So they will be forcibly conquered when the Messiah returns. The guests who try to steal their way into the wedding are human beings who don�t really follow Christ. They are wicked, hypocritical, deceitful �church goers� and false brethren who simply don�t belong because they have not really repented and come out of their sins!
Yeshua says, �Not everyone who says to me, �Lord, Lord,� will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, �Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?� Then I will declare to them, �I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers� (Matt.7:21-23).
Good deeds and works are more important to God than mere protestations of words and claiming to be a �Christan.� The proof is in the works, the deeds � the �pudding�!
God loves His people. He wants them to be READY when He comes. Paul wrote, �Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her by with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind � yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish� (Eph.5:25-27).
Note that Revelation 19 says the wife is ready, the Lamb comes to marry her, and He comes back to earth to do so. She has been cleansed, and purified, and made spotless and blameless in righteousness! When He comes, these saints, comprising the Church, will rise to meet Him in the air (I Thess.4:16-17), and they immediately return to EARTH (Zech.14:4) � they don�t go back up to heaven.
The wedding feast will be held on the earth itself! The earth is God�s footstool (Matt.5:35).
An Old Testament Type
An Old Testament �type� of this great event is mentioned in Exodus 24 where Moses and all the elders of Israel �feasted� at Mount Sinai and �saw God� as it were on a sea of glass � �And they SAW the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and it was as it were the body of heaven in his clearness . . . also they saw God, and did eat and drink� (Exo.24:10-11). Notice that this sparkling, brilliant �paved work of a sapphire stone� is on the earth, or hovering just above it � not way off up in heaven somewhere!
A similar scene is depicted in the book of Revelation, at the wedding supper of the Lamb. We read in Revelation 15, �And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: �Great and amazing are your deeds, Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, King of the nations! Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your judgments have been revealed� (Revelation 15:2-4).
