As we continue in Revelation 19, we are looking at the marriage of the Lamb in Revelation 19:7. Perhaps we could say that the first six verses were the introductory music – similar to the introductory music we see at a wedding in our modern times – we could look at it like that. This is a time of rejoicing of Christ, and the Hallelujah and so forth.
When we come down to Revelation 19:7, we get to the actual marriage ceremony itself. It says, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” What we find in this verse as we think about this wedding metaphor. The weddings in that time were a little bit different than today. We will touch on that more next time, but we do know that in our modern times, I think in ancient times as well, the invitations for the wedding were sent out. People were invited to come to the wedding. So, we have an invitation here to come to the wedding of the Lamb, so to speak. It says, that the “marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” A couple interesting things here. First, the attention is primarily on the Lamb. Of course, that is Christ in the book of Revelation. Christ is called the Lamb numerous times in the book of Revelation, almost exclusively actually, in the book of Revelation although not completely. This is of course Christ.
So, we ask who is He marrying at the marriage of the Lamb? It says, “His bride has made herself ready.” What that means to us is that we have someone, in this metaphor, that Jesus Christ the Lamb is marrying. Who can we identify as the bride? Some have said it is Israel because Israel is predominate in Scripture. Yet, Israel is never called the bride of the Lamb. In the Old Testament, we see metaphors of her being His wife, but not the bride of the Lamb. Some think maybe it is the Tribulation saints. Those saints that have died or those coming through the Tribulation. However, we find in Revelation 20 that both the Old Testament saints and the Tribulation saints are not resurrected and rewarded until after the Second Coming of Christ. This is preceding the Second Coming of Christ . . .
