The Marriage Of The Lamb
THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB
REVELATION 19:6-10
Just as a bride belongs wholly and exclusively to her husband, so the church will finally be made what it should be: wholly Christ’s.
The concept of Israel as the wife of Jehovah is at least as old as Hosea, and figures prominently in Jeremiah and Ezekiel as well as the second half of Isaiah. The thought behind it is partly that of God’s love, partly of his covenant loyalty, partly that Israel by representing Jehovah “completes” him upon earth. The concept was then taken over by the church, especially as Christ the Messiah-King, and a king must have a people. When that people was thought of as expressing his character, the picture of the vine and branches was used (John 15:1-8), the fruit being the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22f.).
When the church is looked on as serving and representing Christ, it is called his body. When the fellowship between the church and its Savior is emphasized, then it is his wife (Ephesians 5:21-33; this passage shows that there is no contradiction between the pictures of body and wife). Since engagement in Israel was equivalent to marriage, the church can be called the wife of Christ now, but the fullness awaits the victory of Christ through the church.
One of the loveliest pictures in the New Testament is “the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints” (19:8). The picture evoked is of a great loom in heaven; every righteous deed, ie every act produced by our being counted righteous in Christ, is carried up to the angel weaver, who incorporates it in the material of the wedding dress, designed to bring glory to the Bridegroom, not the bride.
Needless discussion has raged around “Blessed are those who are invited” (19:9; see also Matthew 25:1-13). By its nature, symbolism is never the complete expression of truth. Terms like body and wife refer to the corporate church, local or universal, and not to the individual. In symbolic language, therefore, we can have the wedding feast and yet those who compose the wife, the conquerors, invited to it.
“For testimony to Jesus is the spirit that inspires prophets” (19:10, NEB, margin) seems to give the meaning best. The angel refused to let his testimony bring him worship, ie honor. Wherever the prophet brings honor to himself instead of Jesus, his message is not from God. The interpreter of prophecy who draws attention to others than Jesus, or to himself by his cleverness, has lost his way.