When my husband and I got engaged, there wasn’t money for a big wedding. We couldn’t afford a fancy venue for the reception or a sit down meal. Honestly, I was okay with that as long as I got to walk down the aisle of a church wearing a beautiful wedding dress to meet my groom. I loved him, and I just wanted to get married. And well, look good doing it.
In our series, The Table, we’re considering the final supper that the Bible describes. It’s a table that we will all gather around when all the enemies of God have been banished and we are set to rejoice with God and one another for all eternity. This feast won’t be just any feast, but is described as a wedding supper of the Lamb.
John, who has received this vision, describes a scene in the heavenly realm.
Read
Revelation 19:6-9(NIV)
6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)
9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
Reflect
Imagine the world’s best banquet. The food is delicious, the company is sublime, and the host is not only generous in what he serves, but with his presence. There is no conflict or awkwardness. Everyone feels comfortable and welcome. God promises us such a time of feasting and celebration at the end of days, and this passage from Revelation calls it a wedding feast. As amazing as the image is, the church will be Christ’s bride and we will all celebrate at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
In Ephesians, Paul expounds on the idea that the church is the bride of Christ. We usually think of this passage primarily as a teaching on marriage, but Paul seems much more taken with what earthly marriage represents. Notice the parallels between Paul’s description and the one offered in Revelation 19.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:25–33)
It is a profound mystery, isn’t it? Our union with Christ?
Until that day, we gather around another table for another meal. As Christ’s expectant bride, we celebrate the Lord’s supper. We remember the sacrifice our Lord made and experience his presence through the bread and the cup. We unite to share this meal with fellow believers as brothers and sisters in Christ in our own local community, knowing that the Lord’s Supper is celebrated by believers all over the world. Because of the new covenant in his blood, we know that this table is a mere foretaste of the one that is to come.
Both tables are open to anyone who longs to be fed and looks to Jesus for the soul satisfaction that nothing else provides. All those who are looking for a place to belong can find a seat at God’s table. Who are you going to invite?
Respond
- Spend some time in prayer pondering the future that God has prepared for us. Dwell on your union with Christ. Rejoice in the Spirit.