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Revelation 19:7-9 unveils that the Lord Jesus is the Lamb as the Bridegroom. Similarly, in the Gospel of John, Christ is presented both as the Lamb and as the Bridegroom. One day John the Baptist declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). This verse clearly reveals that Christ came as the Lamb to take away the sin of the world. Later, John the Baptist also indicated that Christ is the Bridegroom. John said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice” (3:29). Hence, in the Gospel of John, Christ is revealed both as the Lamb who came to take away sin and as the Bridegroom who came that He might have the bride. Although most Christians are familiar with the former aspect of Christ, only a few pay attention to the latter aspect. The Lamb is for redemption, and the Bridegroom is for the wedding. The redemption was accomplished by Christ as the Lamb of God, and the wedding will take place when Christ as the coming Bridegroom takes His bride.
Christ’s goal is not to remove sin — it is to have the bride. In the book of Revelation, which is also written by the apostle John, we see again that Christ our Redeemer is the Lamb and the coming Bridegroom. Therefore, as the Bridegroom, He must have a wedding. The wedding of the Lamb will be a universal wedding. It will be the marriage of the Redeemer and the redeemed. At the end of the Bible we see a city, the New Jerusalem. This city is the wife (21:2, 9-10), and the redeeming God is the Husband. Our position is that of the bride, and the position of the coming Christ is that of the Bridegroom. We are on the earth being prepared to become the bride to meet Him, and He is on the throne in the third heaven prepared to come as the Bridegroom to meet us. Thus, He is coming as the Bridegroom, and we are going as the bride (Matt. 25:1). The bride and the Bridegroom will meet, neither in heaven nor on the earth but in the air. When we meet Him in the air, we will have a wedding.
Revelation 19:1-6 is the praise of the great multitude of the saints, the angels, and all creatures. Revelation 19:7-8 continues, “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” Here His wife refers to the church (Eph. 5:24-25, 31-32), the bride of Christ (John 3:29). However, according to Revelation 19:8-9, the wife, the bride of Christ, consists only of the overcoming believers during the millennium, whereas the bride in 21:2 is composed of all the saved saints after the millennium for eternity. The wife of the Lamb in Revelation 19 is the aggregate of all the overcoming saints from Abel until the Lord’s return. The aggregate of all the Old Testament and New Testament overcomers is the wife in Revelation 19:7 who will be ready for Christ’s wedding. The readiness of the bride depends on the maturity in life of the overcomers. Furthermore, the overcomers are not separate individuals but a corporate bride. For this aspect, building is needed. The overcomers are not only mature in life but also built together as one bride. Christ will not marry each believer individually; instead, He will marry His corporate bride composed of His overcoming believers. When we have been fully saturated with the Triune God so that He flows out of us, we will be completely built and fitted together to become the glorious church, the beloved bride of the Lord Jesus.
We also need to see that only the church as the golden lampstand can be the bride of Christ (1:20). This indicates that we need to live out the life of Christ. Although this goes against our human concept, we should not focus on caring for the goodness or wickedness that comes out of us. Instead, we need to care for the tree of life, the Triune God, and Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit. Whether we are at home with our family or in the church meetings with the brothers and sisters, we all need to live out Christ. If we live by Christ, what we live out is God, who is Spirit, signified by the pure gold that shines forth the light; then we will become the bride of Christ who satisfies His desire.
We must be the bride for Christ. When we are eager to be the bride, Christ will receive His satisfaction. Not only will Christ be satisfied, but we also will be satisfied. Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us rejoice and exult.” In principle, a bride is the most pleasant and happy person. Today as the church, Christ’s counterpart, we are suffering and undergoing many dealings. But the day is coming when there will be no more persecutions, sufferings, or dealings. When we have become the bride, all the difficult dealings will be over.
In Revelation 19:6 the voice of the great multitude proclaims, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.” The reign of God, the kingdom, is related to the marriage of the Lamb, and the marriage of the Lamb is the issue of the completion of God’s New Testament economy. God’s economy in the New Testament is that Christ would obtain the bride, the church, through His redemption and divine life. The subject of the New Testament is the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — working together to obtain the bride for the Son. The Father made the plan, the Spirit carries out the Father’s plan, and the Son enjoys what the Father has planned and what the Spirit carries out. The bride is a part of the human race who will marry the Son and become His counterpart. Matthew 28:19 speaks of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In Acts and the Epistles we see how the Spirit works according to the Father’s plan to obtain the bride for the Son. The entire New Testament is simply a record of the Triune God working together to gain a part of the human race to be the bride, the counterpart, of the Son. At the end of the New Testament, in the book of Revelation, we see the bride. By the continual working of the Holy Spirit through all the centuries, the goal of the Triune God will be attained at the end of this age. Then the bride with the overcoming believers will be ready. Simultaneously, the kingdom of God will come. This corresponds to the Lord’s prophecy in Matthew 26:29, which speaks of the kingdom of God — the kingdom of Christ’s Father — in which Christ will drink with us after His coming back.
The wedding will bring in the reign of the Lord, the kingdom, because all the guests invited to the wedding will be both the corporate bride and the co-kings of the Bridegroom. The Bridegroom, who will take the whole earth as His kingdom, certainly needs many sub-kings to be His co-kings. All His co-kings will be His corporate bride.
The wedding, which will take place in the air, will last a short time. After the wedding, there will be the wedding feast. A wedding feast is always much longer than the wedding. Matthew 22 indicates that the wedding feast will be the millennial kingdom. To the overcomers, the thousand years of the millennial kingdom will be a wedding feast. To the Lord, a thousand years are like one day (2 Pet. 3:8). Everyone invited to the wedding feast will also participate in the thousand-year reign as kings. Our King will be the Bridegroom; we, His co-kings, will be His bride; and the thousand years will be our wedding feast and honeymoon with our Bridegroom, Christ.
Many Christians will not receive the reward of reigning with Christ in the coming kingdom. Although we may be saved, we must become an overcomer in order to receive the kingdom as our reward. For the overcomers, reigning with Christ in His kingdom will be the wedding feast.
The Bible is truly the divine book. Genesis 1:1 is necessary, but there was no Hallelujah when God created the heavens and the earth. The Hallelujah comes in Revelation 19:6-7 when the time has come for the marriage of the Lamb. A wedding is the happiest time in human life, yet a human wedding is only a shadow. The real wedding is the marriage of the Lamb, the wedding of Christ and the church. When we meet as the church today, we are joyful because we experience a foretaste of the wedding feast of Christ and the church. When the time has come for the marriage of the Lamb, the Hallelujah comes. The church life is a foretaste of that wedding day. In the church life we are happy because we are enjoying the foretaste of the wedding feast.
We need to pay attention to the phrase His wife has made herself ready. Matthew 25:1-13 speaks of the parable of the ten virgins. In this parable the prudent virgins who took oil in their vessels — who had the Spirit of God filling and saturating their souls — were those who “were ready” and thus went in with the bridegroom “to the wedding feast,” into the enjoyment of the marriage dinner of the Lamb at His coming back (v. 10). This indicates that God’s work throughout the generations is to build Himself into man. He is the God of heaven, who possesses not only the nature of God but also the element of heaven. When He builds Himself into us, He constitutes the nature of God and the element of heaven into us. The more we allow Him to work Himself into us, the more we will have the element of God and the element of heaven in us. We all have had this experience. When we submit to the Holy Spirit, allowing God to work Himself into us, we have the presence of God and the taste of heaven within us. We can grow as God builds Himself into us. God’s building and our growth are for the preparation of the bride. For the bride to have made herself ready means that the church has been built up. The bride signifies the church in its ultimate state. The bride having made herself ready means that the church has been completely built up and has grown to maturity.
According to Matthew 25, when the Lord comes back, those who are ready will sit with Him at the wedding feast. To be ready here means that the bride has made herself ready, that God has completed His building work in man, and that we have grown and matured in the Lord’s life. These three matters — God’s building in us, our growth in the Lord’s life, and our getting ready before the Lord — are all linked together. God’s building work in us is our growth in the Lord’s life and is also our getting ready before the Lord. These three matters are actually one matter.
The church today is a miniature of the glorious New Jerusalem in the future, and it will continually grow until the day that it is fully grown. We grow through God’s continuous building work in us. The more God builds Himself into us, the more we grow. Without God’s building work we cannot grow. Our growing is actually God’s building (Eph. 4:12-13).
There is no doubt that Revelation 19 will be completely fulfilled. Furthermore, we believe that the process of fulfillment is taking place today. The bride, however, cannot be prepared quickly. This preparation is a gradual work that takes place over a period of time. Certainly the Lord must be doing a work on earth to prepare His bride. This preparation involves the work of a corporate building. Those who make up the bride must not only be mature in life; they must also be built together as the one bride. The primary work of the Lord in His recovery is to prepare His bride. In His recovery He is calling out a remnant of those who love Him and who are faithful to Him. He is sending out the call to overcome the degradation of Christianity so that a number of those who seek Him may be prepared as His bride.
The bride, the wife, of Christ will be prepared in full by Him for His wedding as His pleasure and satisfaction. The preparation of the bride is by Christ’s redemption, organic salvation, and the intensified work of His organic salvation. Revelation 19 says that the bride is prepared fully by being properly adorned. Christ is now adorning us to make us His bride. Christ’s pleasure and satisfaction are His bride, prepared, adorned, in full. The coming of the marriage dinner of the Lamb in Revelation 19:7 refers to Christ’s marrying the New Jerusalem as His bride in the millennium.
God in the beginning was merely God. He was alone. But it is not good for God to be alone (Gen. 2:18). He desires a counterpart. Jesus came not merely to be the Redeemer but to be the Bridegroom, and as such He needs a bride (John 3:29). Paul says that he had betrothed the Corinthian believers as a pure virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). Ephesians 5 reveals that the church is the wife of Christ, and Christ is the Husband. Then in the book of Revelation we are told that the wife has made herself ready and that the marriage of the Lamb has come (19:7). This will be a universal marriage in which the overcomers will marry Christ, our God. From that time God will never be alone. Our God will be a married God. He will marry the holy city, the New Jerusalem, as His bride. At the beginning of the Bible, God is looking for a counterpart. At the end of the Bible, He is no longer alone; He is with His bride. This is a picture showing us God being mingled with corporate humanity. This is God’s eternal purpose.
Revelation 19:8 says, “It was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.” Here the fine linen, which is the righteousnesses of the saints, refers to Christ lived out of us in our daily life. This indicates that while the church is under great degradation, we should be the overcomers to live Christ and even live Him out as our subjective righteousness day by day. In the eyes of God the fine linen is the Christ expressed in our daily life.
In verse 8 the word clean refers to the nature, whereas bright refers to the expression. The Greek word translated “righteousnesses” may also be rendered “righteous acts.” The righteousnesses do not refer to the righteousness (which is Christ) that we received for our salvation (1 Cor. 1:30). The righteousness we received for our salvation is objective and enables us to meet the requirement of the righteous God, whereas here the righteousnesses of the overcoming saints are subjective (Phil. 3:9) and enable us to meet the requirement of the overcoming Christ. Hence, the fine linen indicates Christ, as our overcoming life, whom we live out of our being.
The righteousness that is Christ Himself is sufficient for us to be justified and saved; this righteousness is singular in number. The use of righteousnesses in Revelation 19:8 is in the plural, however, and proves that what is mentioned in this verse is not Christ as our righteousness for us to be justified. Rather, it is righteous deeds, the daily walk, the Christian living, which Christ as our life works out through us. This outworking of the inner life is the white linen with which we are clothed. In order to attend a feast, especially a wedding feast, we must dress in a proper way. In the same way, we need the proper clothing in order to attend the wedding feast of the Lamb.
According to the revelation of the whole Bible, we, the saved ones, need two garments — one for our salvation and one for our reward. For our salvation we need a robe to cover us. This robe is the robe put on the prodigal son in Luke 15. Upon his return, the prodigal son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (v. 21). He thought himself unworthy to be in the presence of the father. But the father said to his servants, “Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him” (v. 22). This robe is Christ as our righteousness. It is for us to be justified by God in His presence. We all have this first robe, which is Christ as our righteousness, our justification, that enables us to stand before the righteous God.
However, we also need the second garment. This garment is not for our salvation; rather, it is for our reward, qualifying us to attend the wedding feast of the Son of God. The first garment qualifies us to meet God for our salvation. The second garment qualifies us to meet Christ for our reward. This second garment is the work of the Holy Spirit within us. It is actually the Christ by whom we live and whom we live out. It is the Christ expressed through us in our daily living.
The second garment is also the righteousness spoken of in Matthew 5:20. In this verse the Lord Jesus said, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” This verse clearly indicates that we must have a righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the Pharisees. This righteousness is not the objective Christ whom we receive as our robe for our justification. Rather, it is the subjective Christ whom we live out as our daily living. It is not the justifying robe; it is the garment that qualifies us to receive the reward.
This is also illustrated by the wedding garment in Matthew 22:11 and 12. In this parable the Lord spoke of a man who comes into the wedding feast without a wedding garment. The king, seeing the man, says, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” The guest is speechless. Then the king says to his servants, “Bind his feet and hands, and cast him out into the outer darkness. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (v. 13). The wedding garment is not the justifying garment; it is a very special garment. According to the custom of the ancient Jews, no one could attend a wedding feast without a special wedding garment. If we would be in the wedding feast of the Lamb, we must be clothed with such a garment. If we would be qualified to attend the wedding feast of Christ, we need to live by Christ and live Him out in our daily living. This Christ, the subjective Christ, will be the wedding garment to qualify us to be admitted into the wedding feast. Therefore, we need both the justifying garment and the wedding garment.
The second garment is also referred to in Revelation 3:4, 5, and 18. In 3:4 and 5 the Lord told the church in Sardis that those who have not defiled their garments will walk with Him in white and that the overcomers will be “clothed...in white garments.” This is the garment for the wedding feast. In 3:18 the Lord advised the church in Laodicea to buy from Him “white garments.” Thus, in the book of Revelation the matter of the second garment is stressed. If we do not have it, we will miss the wedding feast.
These two garments are also seen in Psalm 45. In this psalm the queen has two garments (vv. 13-14), one corresponding to the objective righteousness for our salvation and the other to the subjective righteousness for our victory. The latter is equivalent to the wedding garment in Matthew 22:11 and 12. The queen in Psalm 45 signifies the church. Her first garment is inwrought with gold, and her second is embroidered clothing. In the Bible gold signifies the nature of God. At the time of our salvation we received a golden garment that enabled us to be in the presence of God. In addition to this, we need another garment, a garment of embroidery. This embroidery signifies the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit today is working on us to transform us, just as an embroiderer puts many stitches into cloth. Although we have the first garment, our second garment is now being prepared under the embroidering work of the Holy Spirit. This garment will qualify us to see Christ at His judgment seat. Day by day we are under the needle, the transformation work, of the Holy Spirit. This is because we need not only justification but also approval. When we appear before the judgment seat of Christ, will He approve of us? Only those who have the second garment produced by the embroidering work of the Holy Spirit will be chosen and qualified to attend the wedding feast of the Lamb.
The bride in Revelation 19 is clothed with fine linen, bright and clean — the righteousnesses of the saints. This is Christ growing in and living out of us. When we live out Christ by letting Him grow in us, He will be our living. The only way for Christ to grow in us and live out of us is by our eating and drinking Him all the time.
For the bride to be prepared means that she has the fine linen, bright and clean. No doubt, these righteousnesses are related to the righteousness in Ephesians 4:24, where we are told that the new man was created in righteousness. The fact that the clothing of the bride is clean, or pure, means not only that it is without dirt but also that it is without mixture. The righteousnesses of the bride here denote the subjective righteousness, Christ as the righteousness which has been constituted into our being. The more this subjective righteousness is wrought into the church, the more she is prepared to become the bride. Those who compose the bride have been redeemed and regenerated. But they also need to have the subjective righteousness interwoven into their being in order to have the fine linen, bright and clean. Actually, it is this linen that is the beauty of the bride.
The bride in Revelation 19 refers to the redeemed and transformed tripartite mankind. This bride will wear white linen, which is the righteousnesses of the saints. If we would have a share in this bride, we need to adorn ourselves with the bright, shining, and pure righteousness. Day by day we need to prepare bright linen clothing to cover ourselves. This is our daily righteousness. We produce such a garment of righteousness by walking daily according to the Spirit of life and by having a life that is a life of the Spirit. If we prepare our wedding garment day by day, month by month, and year by year by living such a life in the Spirit, we will not be found naked when the Lord comes. Instead, at His coming, we will be wearing a bright and clean, or pure, wedding garment (3:18).
Ultimately, the bride in Revelation 19 will become the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22. The city of New Jerusalem will bear the appearance of jasper. Speaking of the New Jerusalem, Revelation 21:11 says, “Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.” According to Revelation 21:18, “The building work of its wall was jasper.” Also, the first foundation of the New Jerusalem will be jasper (v. 19). Therefore, the appearance of the entire city will be that of jasper. Revelation 4:3 indicates that God sitting on the throne in the heavens also has the appearance of jasper. Hence, jasper denotes God’s image, His expression. The fact that jasper is the appearance of both God and the New Jerusalem indicates that this holy city will bear the same appearance as God. The entire city will express God. The jasper of the New Jerusalem is equal to the righteousness of the bride. Today we are preparing our bridal gown, a gown that will have the appearance of righteousness, which is the expression of God. Ultimately, in the New Jerusalem this will be the appearance of jasper.
Revelation 19:9 says, “Blessed are they who are called to the marriage dinner of the Lamb.” The bride of the Lamb and the guests invited to the marriage dinner of the Lamb refer to the same group of persons. In other words, those who constitute the bride of Christ are the guests invited to the wedding feast.
The marriage dinner of the Lamb here is the wedding feast in Matthew 22:2. It will be a reward to the overcoming believers. Only the overcomers will be invited to it, not all the saved ones. The five foolish virgins in Matthew 25:8-13 will miss it. However, after being dealt with by the Lord in the kingdom age, they will participate in the New Jerusalem for eternity. Hence, to be invited to the wedding feast of Christ, which will usher the overcoming believers into the enjoyment of the millennium, is to be blessed. The overcoming believers invited to the marriage dinner of the Lamb will also be the bride of the Lamb. The blessing referred to in Revelation 19:9 is the blessing of participating in the millennium. To be invited to attend the wedding feast is to have the privilege of sharing the millennial kingdom as co-kings with Christ.
Matthew 22:14 says, “Many are called but few are chosen,” and Revelation 17:14 says, “They who are with Him, the called and chosen and faithful.” To be called is one thing, but to be chosen is another. Those who will follow the Lord to fight against Antichrist will not only be called but also chosen. Although we have the assurance that we have been called, we do not yet have the assurance that we will be chosen. This will be decided at the judgment seat of Christ. After we have been raptured, we will stand before the Lord at the judgment seat, and He will decide whether or not we are qualified to be chosen. Only those who are chosen will be invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb.
The marriage of the Lamb will follow the judgment at the judgment seat of Christ. If we are not rewarded but are disapproved by the Lord, we will not perish; however, we will suffer a loss like that described in 1 Corinthians 3:15, which says, “If anyone’s work is consumed, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” The saved ones who suffer loss will certainly miss the wedding feast. The judgment at the judgment seat of Christ will not determine whether we will be saved or perish; it will decide whether we will receive a reward from the Lord or suffer a loss.
Eventually, when Christ comes, the overcoming believers will join Him to feast at the marriage dinner of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7, 9). That unique, universal wedding feast will last one thousand years. During those thousand years the church is the bride, and after the one thousand years the church is the wife (21:9-10). The difference between a bride and a wife is that the bride is the bride only on the wedding day. After the wedding day the bride becomes the wife. On the wedding day there is the bridegroom and the bride; on the following day there is the husband and the wife. The millennial kingdom of one thousand years will be a wedding day to Christ, in which the overcoming believers will be with Christ, enjoying His wedding feast.
Eating and drinking Christ in order to feast on Christ is the central thought in God’s economy (1 Cor. 5:7-8). The beginning of the Christian life is a feast. The Lord Jesus likens the gospel of God’s full salvation to a great dinner (Luke 14:16-23). The penitent sinner is not only clothed with Christ the Son as the God-satisfying righteousness to judicially redeem him but is also brought to the Father’s house to feast on the rich Christ to organically save him (15:22-23; 1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 3:8).
The continuation of the Christian life is a feast. The Christian life continues with the Lord’s table until He comes (1 Cor. 11:24-26). The divine concept is that to remember the Lord is simply to eat and drink Him, to enjoy Him. The Lord’s table is a weekly proclamation, a declaration to the whole universe, that we daily enjoy Christ as our food and drink. Even while we are fighting on the battlefield, the Lord spreads a table before us in the presence of our adversaries for us to feast on Him (Psa. 23:5).
The consummation of the Christian life is a feast. The overcoming believers will feast for a thousand years on a special portion of the unsearchably rich Christ at the marriage dinner of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9; Matt. 26:29; Luke 22:30; 13:29). This is a feast that will last for eternity (Rev. 22:1-2).
In the Gospel of Matthew the Lord said that the kingdom of the heavens is likened to a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son and who sent his slaves to call the invited ones to come to the feast (22:2-4). Then Revelation 19 speaks of the coming of the marriage of the Lamb and the marriage dinner of the Lamb (vv. 7, 9). This indicates that the New Testament not only begins with a feast but also ends with a feast. When we attend a proper church meeting, we are enjoying a foretaste of the marriage dinner of the Lamb, the wedding feast prepared by God the Father for His Son. At the Lord’s return, the overcoming believers will enjoy the marriage dinner of the Lamb. At the marriage dinner of the Lamb, the believers will enjoy a special portion of Christ. A wedding feast is not ordinary food but a special portion. At that time, the Lord Himself will be a special portion for the overcomers to enjoy.
