TUESDAY September 10th
Revelation 19:9
‘And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”’
One of the most abhorrent things that has taken place over the last decade or so has been the redefining of what a marriage is meant to be, and I clearly state here that I adhere to biblical truth that the only marriage that is acceptable and proper is that which takes place between a man and a woman.
In case you haven’t noticed, anything that is presented as God’s ideal has been or is being dismantled by our post-modern society and as a result, we are seeing a breakdown of what marriage is all about and of what a nuclear family should be, and the product is that we have a broken society.
Why has marriage been targeted? An obvious answer is to pamper to the perverted world in which we are living in, but I am going to make another statement, because it is an open rebellion against God and the beauty of what a proper marriage should be all about. Marriage in the eyes of God is such a beautiful and special union that it is used as a picture of the relationship of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Church.
Now this relationship comes about firstly, because of the sacrifice that Christ made for sinners to be able to redeem them, and then secondly by the sinner coming to accept what Christ has done on their behalf and believing on him and being clothed in the righteousness that comes from him. Therefore, it is a holy activity!
Therefore, marriage is holy and should not be made anything other than what God has ordained for it to be. And of importance to note is this, that not only should society not be allowed to re-interpret what marriage is all about we who have entered a marriage relationship should not disrespect what the marriage relationship is all about.
Now, our text speaks of the marriage supper of the Lamb, that is the after-wedding party, dinner, or reception, or whatever modern title we would give to it.
The marriage supper is obviously to celebrate the joining together of two parties, the first being named here, is the Lamb and of course we know that throughout the New Testament the picture is given of Jesus as being the Lamb. The second party is the Church, which has become the bride of Christ. But then, there are obviously those who are invited to the supper, for the scripture says, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’, so who are the invited guests? Well, we will consider this in our next devotion. But for today some verses indicating the unique relationship that Jesus has for the Church which is to be his bride.
Paul illustrates it in his concern for the Corinthians believers in that he is seeking to prepare them spiritually to become as a pure virgin to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). It is also clearly implied in the verses that Paul has written in Ephesians 5 ‘Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish’ (vv25-27) and also ‘“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church’ (vv31-32).
Perhaps we readily recall the Church as the body of Christ, but not enough concerning the church as becoming the bride of Christ, and just as we keep ourselves pure in our earthly wedding covenant, faithful to our husband or wife, so we should in our committal of marriage to the Lord Jesus Christ, keep ourselves pure and unspotted from the world.