The Wedding Feast of the Lamb

RV227-02

Many years ago, the lady who was the superintendent of the junior division of San Marcos Military Academy at San Marcos, Texas, retired to Dallas. I had worked at San Marcos Academy under Ms. Bess Ferris, who became my very good friend, so I worked in her department. On one occasion, after she had moved to Dallas, I visited her, and I left some Berean Bible study tapes with her, including a series on the book of Jude.

Upon her death, her sister gave the tapes to a friend of theirs, a lady who worked in the West Dallas Mission Church. So, all these tapes that she had from Berean, including the Jude series, ended up in this lady's possession. The lady who received the tapes was the mother-in-law of Dolphus Cason, who for years has been our Berean plumber. She then gave the Jude tapes to Dolphus, and he later told me that he listened to them repeatedly.

Mr. Cason, at the time, was an active participant in Rosicrucianism. Rosicrucianism is an occult group, and one of the things that it specializes in is mental telepathy. Mr. Cason used to tell me how he would be out in the field, and his wife would receive a call and need to pass some information to him, and she would pass the word along to him mentally. This was really kind of weird, I thought.

When he got hold of the Jude tapes, and began listening, and saw the power of Satan, and the power of the demonic world, it suddenly hit him that this was an occult thing that he was into, and what was taking place. He was a church man. (Incidentally, Rosicrucianism is one of the backgrounds of Freemasonry.) He told me that one day he took all his Rosicrucianism tapes, publications, and paraphernalia out into the backyard, down the street here a few blocks, and burned it all. Dolphus Cason was called home to heaven last week, where I can assure you that he is happier now than he ever was on earth, that he had come into those Jude tapes, for the Word of God, and the doctor he received from the Berean Tape ministry.

I can envision him up there introducing himself to Bess, and telling her what she accomplished for him through those Berean tapes. I can hear Buzi Drews coming up and butting in, as is his custom, and saying, "Yes, I remember those tapes well. I used to sit by the hour in my developing room, developing pictures and listening to Berean tapes." How often he would tell me about that. And they will all be praising God for bringing tapes and publications.

And probably my spiritual mentor, Dr. Donald Gordon Davis, will come up and be pleased to hear the results of part of his ministry, which is what it all began with. I've often been humbled by his wife, after Dr. Davis' passing, on several occasions, when she would say, "You know, John, Donald and I often reminisced about our work in Chicago, and of all the people we dealt with, and since here in California, we said that if there was no other fruit out of our ministry except you, it would have been worth it. That's very, very humbling. What they were saying is that there was a channel for the Word of God, and Berean church is part of that instrument of doctrinal instruction.

There are a lot of people in heaven now who are extremely delighted that they sat in a room like this, as you now sit, to be instructed with the real kernel of the Word of God, and not the corn husks and the cobs. Once more, what is said in the Berean Church services via tapes has carried a believer into an enriched eternity, and you all made that possible. Where would Dolphus Cason be today, at the Judgment Seat of Christ eventually, had those Jude tapes never come into his hand, and he had lived a wasted life? Do you wonder why Satan is aware of this corner's ministries, and why we are under his pressure and under his attacks; yes, and under his injuries? It is not without reason.

I remind you again that we are on the cutting edge of the work of God in these final days of the church age. The Berean ministry is a unique, distinctive group, which, whatever else you think about it, it is worth your sustaining support, just because it is a special creation of God, and it is executing a special mission. You have a part in that for all eternity.

In our studies here in the book of the Revelation, the apostle John has been thrilled by the shouts of "Hallelujah" resounding through the universe from the saints who are in heaven. The saints are praising God because He has destroyed the city of Babylon. The saints rejoice in the fact that they have been vindicated. They were right, and the antichrist was wrong. The saints in heaven especially praise God for the fact that Jesus Christ is about to fulfill His destiny as King in a world government ruling from David's throne. The millennium is about to begin, and they are all rejoicing. The authority of God is about to be enforced in all the nations on earth. The Abrahamic Covenant, promising a land; a seed; and, a blessing to the Jewish people, is now about to be fulfilled. The reign of Jesus Christ over Israel and the whole earth from David's throne, fulfilling the Davidic Covenant, is about to be fulfilled for the Jewish people, who have been promised a house; a kingdom; and, a throne forever. Heaven is in a downright ecstatic state over the fact that God has a theocracy over mankind so that God's righteousness will now govern all nations, and all those who lead in those nations.

Then, at this point, in verse 7, John is told of one of the grandest events which will accompany the return of the Lord Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I must confess that I enter upon this piece of instruction with considerable trepidation. It is one of the most magnificent concepts in all of Scripture. After we have described it and done some explaining, we will not have begun to enter into it.

Rejoice

Be Glad

One of those places is in Matthew 5:12. These two words are brought together. Jesus says, "Rejoice and be glad." There they are: "Chairo agalliao." These two words are used together: "For your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Here these two words, to be pleased, and to be ecstatic over the fact that you have been persecuted; you've been ridiculed; you've been deserted; and, you've been ignored because of your devotion to Jesus Christ. Your happiness is going to be very great when you find what a reward God has for you in heaven. So, just be pleased, and be ecstatic when the world treats you in that kind of contempt.

There's only one other place that these two words are used together. That's in 1 Peter 4:13: "But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ (the offense of the world), keep on rejoicing, so that also, at the revelation of His glory (at His Second Coming), you may rejoice with exultation. There are those two words again: "rejoice in exaltation." Here we are told that the degree of suffering for Christ that you experience will be the degree of your joyful exultation and happiness when He returns.

So, the tougher it is for you as a believer, because you're true to the Lord, and the harder Satan makes things for you, and you stand firm and stand by your guns, the result will be, to that degree, you will be pleased and ecstatic once God has rewarded you for this.

So, it says, "Let us be pleased, and let us be ecstatic, and then let us give glory (that is, honor) to Him (to God the Father)." Glory is extending praise and honor to God the Father who is spoken of at the end of verse 6 as "The Lord our God:" "Let us give great honor to Him. He has destroyed Babylon, and thereby He has ended the times of the gentiles." Hooray, hooray, hooray. Once the times of the gentiles has come to an end, there will be a dramatic shift in history. This marks the permanent end of the kingdom of Man under Satan's ruling authority on the earth. The destruction of Babylon is the end of the day of man. Jesus Christ now begins the Kingdom of God on earth which will last forever.

This watershed event in human history calls forth this enormous outburst of praise to God from the angels and the saints in heaven, which John hears resounding through the universe. And it is proper, therefore, for us to give glory and to give honor to God, and to express such devotion as His elect creatures. Let us be pleased, and let us be downright ecstatic, and let us give great honor to God. Why?

The Wedding Feast of the Lamb

The destruction of Babylon also marks the time for the Second Coming of Christ. And when He comes, He comes back to the earth a second time, and He brings a bride with Him. This is a bride to whom He has been married in heaven. And now He comes back to the earth to celebrate this marriage, and the wedding feast. The arrival of the bride and the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, on the earth is the signal to begin this wedding supper of the Lamb. And this is now cause for great rejoicing. These saints have been looking forward to this particular point in time. Christ is back, and the wedding reception is about to begin.

The Church

Marriage

This is expanded for us to be Ephesians 5:25-33. Paul says, "Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for her as His wife; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word; that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that she should be wholly and blameless." Christ is preparing His own bride to be a flawless beauty who will now be married to Him.

"So, husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body." Here on earth, we Christians form the body of Christ. Someday, when that body is transferred into heaven, we will become the bride of Christ.

Verse 31 quotes from the very beginning of the book of Genesis in the Garden of Eden: "For this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great, but I am speaking in reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each individual among you also love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see to it that she respects your husband."

This is an interesting comparison of duties business, isn't it? The husband is to love his wife ("agapao") with no mental attitude ill will. Any husband who has mental attitude ill will toward his wife is a low scoundrel dog, and is worthy of nothing but contempt. But the Bible doesn't tell the wife to love her husband. She is told to respect him, and to hold him in esteem; that is, to fear him as we fear God. And that is really tough for a lot of women who have scoundrel dogs for husbands. It is also very hard some women to respect a husband whose judgment they fear to counter, because he is so in tune with God, that if they counter him, they're going to counter the truth, and they're going to counter the mind of God.

That is the relationship that God has established on earth. Our passage in Revelation is trying to show us that this is the association between Christ and the church. He always on target with the truth. He is always in sync with the mind of God. He is a perfect husband to be able to guide His wife.

It is interesting that Ephesians 5:31 quotes from Genesis 2:24 about the one-flesh principle, and this is used as an illustration of the Union of Christ and the church. To become one flesh is the epitome of intimacy in marriage, and that is the picture which is presented to us as to how we are going to be related as Christians to Jesus Christ – not the Jews; not the Old Testament people; not David; not Adam; not the gentiles of the Old Testament; and, not the tribulation saints, but only the Christians. The body of Christ will have this kind of one flesh intimacy with Jesus.

Genesis 2:24, in fact, was used by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 19:3-8 when He was confronted with the question of divorce. Jesus uses this very verse that Paul uses in Ephesians 5 to describe our relationship to Christ. Jesus refers to Genesis 2:24 in Matthew 19:3: "And some Pharisees came to Him, testing Him, and saying, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause at all?' And He answered and said, 'Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female?'" Then He quotes Genesis 2:24: "For this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."

That is so important. If you want to blow a marriage, just hang on to mommy and daddy. If you have trouble in your marriage, and you want to really blow it, go home to mommy and daddy and say, "Oh, I have so many troubles." The Bible says, "Get rid of your parents." The Bible says, "Separate them." The Bible says, "Never talk to them again about your problems. You solve it between you; God; your husband; and, the Word of God. Some of your parents will be happy if you follow that advice and never talk to them again.

Jesus says, "I want to remind you that you're a team. You're a team in God, and the team works together." Yes, you can go to your parents maybe for advice in the proper context. You certainly can go to your pastor-teacher for advice and perspective. And all of that is very legitimate. But you don't say, "I'm going to go home with mommy and daddy." Once you cut loose, you're gone. And you violate the Word of God, and are guilty of a very great sin if you go back to your parents. You cleave to your husband or to your wife.

Consequently: "Jesus said, 'They are no longer two, but one flesh. What, therefore, God has joined together, let no man separate.' They said to Him, 'Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away.' He said to them, 'Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning, it has not been this way.'" That is not the divine institution of marriage that you can break it up.

"And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery." So, there's the exception of persistent adultery, and there's the exception in 1 Corinthians 7 of a wife with a husband who deserts the mate. Then you have grounds for separating in divorce. But this passage shows us that a man and woman under the divine institution of marriage are into a monogamous relationship. There is no Mormon polygamy in the Word of God. It's a monogamous relationship of a man and a woman, and it is permanent for life.

One woman, who had been well-informed and instructed in the Berean ministry, came to a point in life where she wanted to divorce her husband. Her reason for it was, "I just want to be happy." Who told you that you had the right to be happy? The world is full of unhappy people. Most of the world's work is done by unhappy people. You never committed yourself to marriage, provided that you're going to be happy, because it's not always a happy road. You have made a commitment before God which is unbreakable. It is irrevocable. To do so is to violate the divine institution of marriage. The consequences are always something less than desirable.

Therefore, marriage as God instituted it was a perfect picture of the indissoluble union between Christ and His church in marriage. That's the point. Marriage, by God's way, puts you together forever for the rest of your life, and this is the union that is ours between Christ and the church, because we will live forever. So, we will forever be related to Him in this inconceivable, intimate way.

Church-Age Saints Constitute the Bride of Christ

So, the church on earth is the body of Christ. In this body state, the church is positionally perfect. Ephesians 1:4-6 say, "But as He chose us (Christians) in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved." While we are on this earth, we believers are in the beloved, Jesus Christ. When we are in the beloved, we are blameless. We are holy. We are blameless before Him in love. That is a positional truth. In our practice, we are not sinless. We have the old sin nature.

When He speaks of you as His bride, a bride likes to think that she looks probably her best on her wedding day. She probably is at the peak of her physical good looks and attraction at her wedding day. And she certainly does everything to bring out all of her good features.

Well, that's exactly what Christ does, and the good features never fade away. We are positionally perfect, and someday we will be perfect in our actual experience. The body of Christ, while it is on this earth, does mature spiritually. We do that, Ephesians 5:26 says, by the cleansing of the water of the word. We are cleansed by doctrine. Every time you come into this auditorium for instruction in the doctrinal principles of the Word of God, you're taking a bath spiritually. You're being cleansed in your soul with the Word of God, and you are also cleansed by the confession of known sins as per 1 John 1:9. That combination of learning doctrine and maintaining temporal fellowship results in gradually growing in spiritual maturity while you are in the body state here on earth. Christians in the body will grow to various levels of spiritual maturity, but they will never go to sinless perfection. That awaits our entrance into heaven. The grace of God will, in heaven, then transform the church body into the sinless perfection of the flawless beauty that is spoken of in Ephesians 5:27 where, we read, "That He might present Himself to church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and blameless.

One of the things that will improve the church is that our bodies will be transformed into resurrection bodies. We will then have bodies free of the old sin nature. We'll have bodies that are in perfect harmony, like the body of Jesus Christ. They will be glorified bodies. Philippians 3:21 puts it this way: "Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory." Our physical bodies will be resurrected bodies imitating the body of the glory of Christ: "By the exertion of the power that He has even the subject of things to himself."

Also, in 1 John 3:2, John speaks about this beauty that will come to us: "Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He (Christ) appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is, so that we will be transformed into His perfect image." The church is going to be a real beauty someday. We're not there yet, but we're well on our way.

One of the things that makes us beautiful in heaven is that we're going to have removed all that human good production that hangs on us. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, "For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." This is not talking about salvation, obviously. You don't get salvation based upon whether you have done good deeds or bad deeds. This has to do with how you lived as a Christian. You're going to stand up there, and God is going to strip off all of that scaly human good production (those human good works) that we like to parade around in so often down here.

1 Corinthians 3:15 has to do with this, when Paul says, "If any man's work is burned up (your service for God, and your life that you live), he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire, the fire of God's judgment." Oh yes, you're going to go into heaven, but some Christians, who have not been taught the Word of God, and who have not responded to that doctrinal instruction, are going to be dirt poor up in heaven. Oh, are they going to be poor? They will not have the glory of the magnificent enjoyment of their relationship to Christ.

Nothing is so sad as to be married to somebody of substance and significance, and you to be such a shallow twit that you cannot enjoy and appreciate that person. That's one of the great sadnesses of marriage. Do not marry shallow twits. You will find that they're not much fun. This is what Christ is going to do for us. He's not going to let us go into eternity as shallow twits. He's going to strip all of that stuff off of us, so that when He gets through, I mean this is the heavenly beauty parlor. And it's all free. You'll have a little card that you will show there, from the beauty card security act. You will have all of this done for you – transformed into the full beauty of the image of Christ.

So, the church is the dearest object in all the universe to Jesus Christ, because someday she, who is now His body, will be His bride. At the point of salvation, the believer receives an engagement ring from Jesus Christ. It is in the form of the seal of the Holy Spirit. That seal is the engagement ring, and that ensures your destiny to be His bride. While in heaven, until the rapture, Jesus is preparing a place for His bride to be suitable and to reflect her exalted position. That's part of what Christ is doing in heaven now. He told us that in John 14:1-4. He said, "Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you (personally and individually). And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself (that's the rapture), and where I am, there you may be also."

That is the promise. He is in heaven now, preparing a place to which he's going to take His bride. The Lamb's wife, the church, has a privileged, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ which saints of other dispensations do not have, and never will have you. You people in Christ are a unique breed. You are a new creation. The church bride will be the reigning consort with her husband Christ the King in the Millennial Kingdom.

In Revelation 20:6, this is alluded to, where we read, "Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection (born-again people, of which the church has a part). Over these, the second death has no power. The second death is being cast into hell forever. But they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for 1,000 years." The church will reign with Jesus Christ in the Millennial Kingdom as His bride and as His consort. The church bride shares the glory of her husband in all things. When the marriage takes place, the bride enters into possession of all that the husband has. That is right and proper. When you enter into marriage, you no longer talk about "my things" and "your things" and "his things" and "her things." You only talk about "our things." I don't like to hear Christians talking about "my Cadillac." You let your husband drive your Cadillac? Not unless he's nice. It's his Cadillac too.

Christ, once we are married to Him, everything he has and is, is ours too. Please note John 17:24: "Father, I desire that they also whom You have given Me be with Me where I am in order that they may be hold My glory which You have given to Me, for You did love me before the foundation of the world." Jesus says, "I want them to be where they can see My glory.

Romans 8:17: "And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him." Jesus says, "I want them to see My glory. Then I want them to realize that all the honors that are bestowed upon Me, and all that I am as the second person of the Trinity, as the son of God, the God-man – all the honors that accompany that are theirs as well. My glory is My wife's glory.

Colossians 3:4: "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." Great! Christ prepares the church to be a beauty and to share with Him His glory and all that He is.

"Let us be pleased; let us be ecstatic; and, let us give great honor to God the Father, for the marriage supper of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready." The word for "bride" here is the Greek word "gune." The word "gune" really means "wife." His wife has made herself ready. Aha! The wedding feast is about ready to be celebrated at the Second Coming of Christ. What are they celebrating? Something that took place in heaven. The marriage between the church and Jesus Christ, who now brings her back as his wife. It indicates that the marriage of Christ and the church has already taken place in heaven. And this wife has made herself ready. She does it to herself. The church bride has prepared herself for the wedding supper on the earth.

We can understand that. Brides prepare themselves for their wedding. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, as we have indicated, all the human good works that the bride has on her are going to be burned up and removed. When Christ finishes with us, we'll be pure and chaste and perfect. There is also the preparation that she does for herself. She's preparing her bridal garments, and we will look at that in greater detail in the next verse. But that garment of hers is made up of her godly living and her divine good works of service.

That's kind of important to know. What you're going to wear as the bride of Christ is going to be made up of all your divine good works – not human good works. That's all stripped away. Some of you may find yourselves a little short on material to make a full garment, and that's going to be embarrassing. Your wedding garment is going to be to the extent of the quality of what you have done.

Who knows? Perhaps there is (and I suspect there is) activity in heaven by which the saints make themselves attractive as the bride of Christ. You should not make the mistake of thinking that the people in heaven have no personal history any more. They continue to have a personal history. These people are living. They're active. Heaven is a place of great activity. It's not a place of inactivity and boredom. When you stop and think of how many spiritual dummies go to heaven, they're going to have a lot to learn.

I have no doubt that there's an enormous Bible doctrine remedial school in heaven, and that most Christians come up there with all kinds of crazy, stupid spiritual ideas because they've been ill-taught or not taught in the Word of God. And the first thing they do is throw them into the remedial doctrinal school in heaven. You are not going to be much of an attractive bride if you do not know the things that constitute your heritage in your position in Christ.

I think of so many people I know who are now in heaven, and they went into heaven with so many misconceptions, and so many downright stupid ideas about God. Yes, they were Christians, but they were never taught, or they got themselves trapped in some religious system where they were wrongly taught. It is no fun to be associated with somebody who is dumb, and who is uninformed. And heaven is going to be filled with these untaught, ill-advised human beings that are going to have to be straightened out.

So, part of the making of herself ready for her wedding feast and her marriage is going to be, I'm sure, getting the Word of God straight, and your perspective, and your understanding. There are a lot of people who are going to be in heaven who are going to get downright mad at me when they find how right I was, and how wrong they were to reject the instruction they received. Or perhaps I should say, "How right God was," because that's for whom we speak.

The wife of Jesus Christ does not include Israel. It does not include the Old Testament saints. This is the unique position of those who are with Christ and in Christ. The New Testament picture is of a virgin woman waiting for the coming of her bridegroom (2 Corinthians 11:2, as referred to). In the Old Testament, Israel is referred to as the one who is already the wife of God, the wife of "Yahweh," but who has turned her back on Him, and who has committed spiritual adultery, chasing after idol gods, and who therefore He has repudiated. Israel is described as the wife of "Yahweh," whom He dearly loves. You can read that in Isaiah 54:5 and Jeremiah 31:31-32.

Hosea 2:19 tells us that Israel is betrothed to God forever. But Israel was unfaithful to God her husband, and I want you to see the contrast. Israel is the wife of God who is her husband. The marriage is already done. This is totally different from the church. We still have people who want to bring the church and Israel into the same boat as the same thing, and they are not. Israel was unfaithful to God her husband, and Hosea 2:7 told us how she went after these idol gods. However, God does promise that there will be a future restoration for His repudiated wife Israel. Isaiah 54:6-8 give comfort to Israel. God says, "The time will come. You will come to your senses, and I'm going to take you back." So, Israel, will once more be related to God as His wife, but that is totally different from we who are in the body of Christ, being related to Jesus Christ in the intimacy of His bride.

How wonderful the grace of God is to those of us who never deserved it; who could never have earned it; and, yet who are the eternal beneficiaries of it. Thank God for His grace.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1993

Back to the Revelation index