Tag Archive for marriage supper of the Lamb

Our Wedding Day Is Near

2018-12-14 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 19:7-10,
the marriage supper of the Lamb

No matter what our current situation,
our future is bright in Jesus Christ.

We are engaged to the sovereign Lord of all that is.
He loves us and
always will.
He has given Himself to us completely, with
all He is and
all He has.

In Him, our future is love,
rich and all-encompassing.
Our future is deep and total fulfillment.
Our future is joy and
belonging.
Our future is unbroken union with the Source of all
wisdom and
goodness.

We are destined to become creatures
more radiant,
more marvelous
than anyone could ever imagine.
Together, we will be the Bride of the Creator,
lovely,
pure,
highly honored, and
magnificent in all His glory.
All the universe will celebrate our eternal joining.

The Father, Son, and Spirit are preparing us
even now.
As our wedding day approaches,
let us keep ourselves pure.
Let us give ourselves to our Bridegroom alone. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: See Christ, Your Bridegroom
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Marriage Supper of the Lamb

2016-12-15 Devotional with Hymn, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Revelation 19:7-9

In New Testament times, marriages actually began with the betrothal. For a time, the two individuals were considered husband and wife, even though they didn’t live together. They were fully obligated to be faithful to each other. The wedding itself took place after the betrothal period and began with a procession to the bride’s house. The wedding party then returned to the house of the groom for the marriage feast.

In the same way, we the Church are engaged to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). We are eagerly awaiting our wedding day, when the Groom will return for His bride and take us with Him to heaven for the marriage feast, which will go on through all eternity.

To imagine what all that will be like, visualize a perfect marriage between Jesus and His people – an eternal union full of intimacy, love, joy, and all the very best of life. Forever we will celebrate together with a grand marriage feast.

Scriptures throughout the Old and New Testaments help us anticipate this marriage supper of the Lamb:

  • Isaiah’s prophecy regarding the Lord’s lavish banquet for all peoples (Isaiah 25:6-10a)
  • The Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:17-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
  • The parable of the marriage feast (Luke 14:15-24)
  • The Emmaus meal (Luke 24:13-35)
  • Breakfast with His disciples (John 21)

To our surprise, however, Revelation refers to this feast yet gives us no details about it. But elsewhere scripture gives us glimpses:

  • We will feast on all the best nourishment of life. God will remove forever all death, all crying, and all our shame. Our long wait for the fullness of God will finally be over (Isaiah 25:6-10a).
  • People will gather from all over the earth and feast together (Luke 13:29).
  • Christ will have fully cleansed His bride and made her holy, spotless, and beautiful, fully adorned for her Husband (Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 21:1-4).

What will it be like when this long-awaited occasion is not just metaphor, but full reality?

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Come, Our Lord!
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The Banquet

2016-11-24 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Isaiah 24:1-3, 19-23; 25:1-10a

Are you ready for a sobering view of the future? Read Isaiah 24. It tells about the day when God judges the entire earth. As He has promised, He will cleanse this world of all evil in every form. He will remove everything that is not absolute truth, everything that is not love, everything that is not of Himself. Injustice, greed, lies, selfish lust – it will all be burned away. Imagine the devastation to the current world order! The entire earth will be shaken to its very core before the Unshakable Kingdom becomes reality:

Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed,
For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem.
(Isaiah 24:23, NASB)

Or, in the words of Revelation 11:15:

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. (NASB)

Isaiah 25:1-5 is then a hymn of praise to the Almighty King who brought about such judgment and salvation.

But notice especially the verses that follow, Isaiah 25:6-10a. Now that the Holy and Sovereign Lord of the Universe has re-asserted His rule, He celebrates by throwing a lavish banquet.

Of course, He will spread out all the very best nourishment for all His people. But pause and imagine what He promises in verses 7-8:

  • God will finally “swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time” (v.7-8a, NASB). Wow! And this was written many centuries before Christ.
  • “The Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces” (v.8b, NASB).
  • All the cursed fruit of all our sin – all our suffering, all our disgrace, all the shame that has engulfed our entire race – will be removed forever. He has spoken, and He Himself will do it (v.8c).

After all God’s people have gone through, imagine them crying this together, with all their hearts:

“Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited.
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” (v.9, NASB)

All that our hearts have longed for is coming. It will be full reality. Wait patiently.

Everyone is Invited

2015-11-26 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus often described the Kingdom of God by telling stories, or parables. Two of those parables talk about the Kingdom of God as being like a wedding feast, and in both, Jesus casts Himself as the Bridegroom. Both parables tell us something about our relationship to the Bridegroom, and both contain a surprising, even shocking, twist.

The first parable is recorded in Matthew 22:1-14. In it, a king had planned a wedding feast for his son. When all was prepared, those honored by an invitation from the king were unwilling to come. They all claimed to have something more important to do. They all treated the king and his servants with total indifference and disrespect…even to the point of violence. The king responded appropriately.

But he was still intent on filling his banquet hall. How could he celebrate the wedding of his son without guests? His honored, invited guests had proven themselves unworthy of his generosity. So here comes the shocking twist: since the honored guests had disqualified themselves, EVERYONE was invited. The king’s slaves were ordered to go throughout the whole city and urge everyone, high and low, good and bad, to come to the wedding celebration. Everyone could come and feast with the king!

But here comes another twist: one guest is thrown out for being inappropriately dressed. He hadn’t even bothered to dress in his best clean clothes, in a way fitting for such an event. Like those originally invited, he had treated his king and his king’s invitation with indifference and disrespect, so he too was excluded.

So what is the point of the parable? It is summarized in v.14: Many are called, but few are chosen. (NASB)

God’s wedding invitation goes out to all. All may joyfully, freely celebrate with Him and enjoy His abundance. But not all are “chosen” – that is, not all will actually be allowed to taste the feast. Those who insult their King and arrogantly spurn His hospitality will never taste His provision.

The King’s invitation is free, but it carries conditions. We must realize that we have received an invitation from our Sovereign King, and respond with the respect due Him.

Christ Is Our Feast

2014-09-28 Devotional with Hymn No comments

In Matthew 22, Jesus told a story:

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Again, he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ 

“But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. But the king was enraged and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. 

“Then he said to his slave, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’” (vv.1-9, NIV)

Jesus’ story reminds us of what Isaiah had said many centuries before: 

Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
(Isaiah 55:1-2, NIV)

Jesus Christ is the banquet our Father spreads for all His children.
His life,
His love,
His holiness,
His truth,
His peace,
His Spirit, and
His relationship with the Father
are the nourishment we all need and crave.

Come daily,
hourly,
constantly, and
feast on Him by simple faith.
Don’t look past His provision and
spend yourself chasing what can never satisfy.
Jesus Christ is the Bread of Heaven.
He is the Water of Life.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Feast Is Spread
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