In the Book of Revelation, the author, St. John, tells us he heard these words spoken in Heaven, 'Let us rejoice and exult and give him (Jesus Christ) the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."
In his vision in Revelation 19:7-10, John saw and heard the heavenly multitudes praising God because the wedding feast of the Lamb—literally the "marriage supper"—was about to begin. The concept of the marriage supper is better understood in light of the wedding customs in the time of Christ.
In biblical times, after a couple were engaged, the next step in the process usually occurred about a year later, when the bridegroom, accompanied by his male friends, went to the house of the bride at midnight, creating a torchlight parade through the streets. The bride would know in advance this was going to take place, of course, and so she would be ready with her maidens, and, when the groom’s party had arrived, both groups would combine and join in a the parade going back to the bridegroom's home where a feast was prepared. If the sun went down during the course of these events, it became a torch-lit parade, or one involving oil-fueled lamps. This custom is the basis of the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13.
In Jesus' parable, five out of ten maidens failed to prepare for the Wedding, because they didn’t have enough oil in their lamps and were gone to get more when the Groom arrived. By the time they got to the Groom’s house, the door was shut forever. In my past sermons on this reading, I have explored what was symbolized by the oil, perhaps the ‘fuel’ that keeps faith alive – difficult to quantify – but essential in order to have a living, burning flame of trust in Christ, necessary in order to be faithful to God until the end of our earthly lives. Yet, to only speak of the ‘oil’ being depleted in this parable, is to speak of effect of their poor preparations for the wedding, not the cause of them.
What caused their problem is just as worthy of consideration. For without the cause, the terrible effect would not have resulted. So, what was it that causes preparations for the great Wedding event with our Saviour to be fatally lacking? In the case of the five foolish maidens, it was complacency and lethargy. ‘As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept’, Jesus taught. What is the lesson for us? How many church members fail to prepare to meet their Lord by over-estimating how much time they have? How many of us waste our time, acting as though it’s OK to sleep through our church membership and hardly do anything, and we’ll still be OK?
How many church members let their attendance at Divine Services go by the wayside, and their use of God’s means of grace drop off or get ‘postponed’ until an indefinite time elapses when it might be ‘convenient’ to study a bit of God’s word, or give one’s soul some morsel of nourishment?
And how many of us neglect to serve our Saviour, trusting that others will do it for us, as though they could give us some of the oil from their lamps, as ours are going out? My friends, it does not work that way; ‘fail to plan and you plan to fail’, as the old British army saying goes.
We cannot afford to fail in our ‘Wedding Preparations’ as Christians – the stakes are too high. Yet, five out of ten of those in the parable, who should have been prepared, gambled and lost – big time. Five out of ten – that is a terrible rate of failure, yet in life those who would disciple people, their fellow parishioners, their neighbours, their own family, often find out that this tragic ratio seems to appear again and again. Look at the ‘rate of attrition’ among those who join the church through confirmation? Some years are better than others, but averaged together, the rate is around 50% (according to a survey by Barna)! Five out of ten Christians show every likelihood of having lamps with no oil when the Bridegroom comes on the great Day of the Lord. And their failure will have the same cause – complacency and lethargy about exercising or even maintaining their Christian faith – the one thing needful above all others – when the Day of the Lord comes.
The wedding feast will be THE place to be, the only place and the greatest place. How tragic that so many will not make it in.
And their failure will not be for want of God’s provision for them. Hear His call of invitation to the wedding Feast:
‘Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live! (Isaiah 55.1-3)
On another occasion, ‘Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servantsa to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business’ (Matthew 22.1-5) Treating that invitation with contempt and complacency was a BAD idea. It did not end well for those who have been invited, but could not be bothered.
In the case of the Wedding Feast we are talking about – the Heavenly Marriage Supper of the Lamb, it is not mere livestock been slain in preparation. The host Himself has been led like a Lamb to the slaughter, so that we might be forgiven of sin and welcome at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Jesus Himself, our heavenly Bridegroom has borne the tattered garment of our sins that He might give us the spotless wedding garment we need to attend at the heavenly Feast. He has taken away the sin and guilt - that would have disqualified us - by nailing it to His cross.
He went through death and the grave in order to prepare this place for us. No one can say His love for us was lacking or His preparations for us fall short. No. He has done all that needs to be done to make this Wedding Feast possible. The Master of the Feast has spared no expense for us, but given His only begotten Son, that whosoever trusts in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
Clearly preparations for the 'Marriage Supper' take place on two sides: The Master of the Feast makes preparation, and His guests must prepare, too, that they may enter into the Joy of the Lord.
What St. John’s Revelation depicts for us, is Heaven as a wedding feast. And his original audience would have known that the feast is the third of three phases for weddings in general, and a picture of the preparations that must be made so all the Faithful, every believer, should have full fellowship and participation in it.
The first phase in the heavenly Wedding is a betrothal – an engagement - completed on earth when each individual believer is baptized into Christ as Saviour. That is when the ‘dowry paid to the Bridegroom’s Father’ is accepted. Those who trust in Christ as Saviour, offer the Father their faith in the payment fully made by Jesus. This dowry we have through Jesus Christ is the only payment the Father will accept.
So Regeneration from unbelief to faith is when the Church is “betrothed” to Christ and when, like wise maidens in the parable, all believers should be watching and waiting for the appearance of the Bridegroom (this first phase lasts until physical death or the Second Coming of Christ – whichever comes first).
The second phase – the procession to the feast would be the resurrection of the body at the end of the world, where all the faithful who sleep in the dust will arise and join together with those who are alive at the great Day of the Lord, in a procession through ‘the air’, as St. Paul puts it, with both groups caught up together to meet the Lord Jesus Christ who will claim His bride and take her to the Father's house – there to be forever, body and soul, with the Lord in Heaven.
The marriage supper imagery in St. John’s vision of Heaven as a neverending wedding feast. There in Heaven will be the complete Church as the bride of Christ, the faithful believers of the Old Testament and the New Testament saints – all made holy by the Lord who is praised with these words, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever’.
(Revelation 5:12-14)
May God help us, throughout our lives on earth to make preparations for this great Feast to come, with vigilance, energy from His Holy Spirit, and with Faith in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
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