GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH

THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB
Revelation 19:7-9

Don Fortner

My subject tonight is THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB. "It is described for us in Revelation 19:7-9. These verses do not explain that glorious event. They only describe the glory of the event. The fact that there shall be a marriage supper is revealed. That it shall be a glorious, everlasting celebration of salvation completed is evident. But the details are yet hidden from our eyes; for now. We will not pry into that which God has not revealed. But it will be profitable for our hearts to reverently rehearse and meditate upon that which he has revealed.

Our text shows us that – In The Last Day There Will Be A Public Wedding Of Christ And His Church, A Blessed And Eternal Union IN Which Christ And His People Will Be Made Perfectly One. In our text this is called "the marriage supper of the Lamb."

This marriage of the Church to Christ will be the final consummation of the whole work of redemption. The whole church of Christ will be perfectly united to her Divine Husband; and they shall be perfectly one forever, even as the Son is one with the Father. That defies understanding, explanation, or even imagination. But it is plainly revealed in the Word of God that we shall be forever, perfectly one with our Redeemer, as really and truly one with him as he is one with the Father! (See John 17:20-23).

Let me show you four things in this passage:
1. The Processional
2. The Wedding'
3. The Bridegroom
4. The Bride

When the Lord Jesus comes the second time with power and great glory to marry his beloved Bride, there will be a grand and glorious procession of events which will immediately precede "the marriage supper of the Lamb!" These events are recorded in verses 1-6. What will happen just before the great wedding? What are the events leading up to it?

Actually, the destruction of Babylon is recorded in chapter 18. Here it is celebrated, yes celebrated by all the saints of God and all the heavenly angels.

Babylon represents all false religion. Any church which mixes anything with the blood and righteousness of Christ for the sinner's acceptance with God is a harlot, apostate church. Any church that mixes anything with the grace of God for the salvation of sinners is a harlot church. Salvation by grace alone, through the merits of Christ's righteousness and shed blood, is the one essential criteria for all true Christianity. By the doctrine every church stands or falls. The life blood of God's church is the precious blood of Christ's effectual atonement for sin.

• The Church that has any priest but Christ is antichrist.


• The Church that has any altar but Christ is antichrist.


• The Church that has any head but Christ is antichrist.


• The Church that has any means of regeneration but union with Christ is antichrist.


• The Church that offers salvation upon any terms but Christ alone is antichrist.

The sooner Babylon falls, the better. Babylon ever makes war with the Lamb (17:14). Her most vile, obnoxious weapons of warfare are now, and always have been, the doctrines of free-will, works salvation, ceremonialism, and legalism. The great whore is always opposed to pure, free, sovereign grace. She always mixes something with faith, and even makes faith itself a meritorious work of the flesh by which men save themselves. Hear me well - Those who point men anywhere away from Christ for anything, point men to antichrist, Babylon and destruction. Everything that is set up in opposition to Christ's one, great, all-sufficient, effectual sacrifice for sin must be cast down to hell. Would to God the hour were come!

1. There is no atonement for sin, but the blood of Christ.
2. There is no holiness for men, but the righteousness of Christ.
3. There is no life for dead sinners, but by the sovereign will of Christ.
4. There is no salvation, but by the grace of Christ.
5. There is no repentance or faith, but by the gift of Christ.
6. There is no sanctification, but by the work of Christ.
7. There is no perseverance in grace, but by the preservation of Christ.
8. There is no resurrection from the dead, but by the power of Christ.
9. There is no reward in heaven, but to the obedience of Christ.
10. There is no heaven at all, but the presence and the glory of Christ.

In the Church of God Christ is all. Any church that makes Christ less than everything is a harlot church, full of corruption, fornication and wickedness. From hell she arose; and to hell she must go! The glory and the honor of true Church of Christ shall be known only when Babylon, the harlot church, is cast into hell.

We are not told whose voice this is, so it is best not to guess. But the one speaking calls for everybody to "praise our God." And praise him we shall – (v. 6). We will praise him for:

1. The Vindication of His Justice!
2. The Vindication of His Truth!
3. The Vindication of His Saints!
4. The Vindication of His Son!
5. The Vindication of His Throne!

There are the things which will immediately precede "the marriage supper of the Lamb." It will be a glorious processional pointing everybody to the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ. In this wedding procession it is not the Bride, but the Bridegroom who is honored, adorned and praised. Once the grand and glorious processional is over, the Lamb and His wife will come together for –

"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come." We frequently hear about this marriage supper. It is mentioned many times in the scriptures. But most people have very vague ideas about it, not to mention the perverted notions of many. While I cannot tell you everything that is going to happen on that great day. I can show you the meaning of this long awaited event.

A. This Marriage Of The Lamb Is The Glorious Consummation Of The Everlasting Covenant.

It is the result of the Father's gift to his Son in the eternal covenant of grace – (Ps. 2:8; 89:23-29; John 17:6, 24). God the Father chose to save some of Adam's race, and those chosen ones were given to Christ, as Mediator and Surety, to save (John 6:37-40). For those elect ones, Christ entered into a covenant of redemption, in which he pledged himself in due time to…

• Assume Their Nature. Ps. 40


• Establish Righteousness on Their Behalf.


• Pay Their Debt.


• Give Them Life.


• And Bring Them To Heaven in Glorious Union With Himself!

That which was arranged and settled by the triune God in eternity, in the covenant of his grace, is brought to its ultimate end when the Lamb takes all that the Father gave him into glorious, perfect union with himself.

B. This Marriage Supper Is The Blessed Consummation Of Our Hearts' Betrothal To Christ.

Though Christ betrothed himself to us in old eternity, we betrothed ourselves to him in time, when we believed him. Faith is the betrothal, the commitment of our hearts to Christ as our beloved Husband.

1. When the Spirit of God showed us the beauty of Christ and the glory of his grace, he conquered our hearts (Ps. 65:4).
Illus: Shelby and I.
2. We have willingly committed ourselves to one Husband.
3. Though we are espoused to Christ, he has not brought us to the Father's house – This world is not our home.
4. But Our beloved Husband will surely come and bring us to his Father's House, when all things are ready (John 14:1-4).

"Make haste, my Beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices." (Song. 8:14). "The voice of my Beloved! Behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills!" (Song. 2:8).

C. This Glorious Wedding Will Be The Perfecting of His Body, The Church (Eph. 4:12-13).

Today, our Lord is still forming his Church, his Body, his Bride. The Church is not yet complete. Even the Church in heaven is not yet perfect. It is written, "They without us should not be made perfect." (Heb. 11:40). But there is a day of perfection coming!

• Resurrection – (I Cor. 15:51-58).


• Glorification – (Rom. 8:29; I John 3:2).


• Presentation – (Eph. 5:25-27).

The Church is the Bride of the great King. He will set a crown upon her head and make all creation bow at her feet, for the honor he has put upon her.

3. That will be the Day of Glory and Bliss which shall Never End. (Rev. 21:1-7).

Now, try to get the eyes of your soul fixed upon the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ. On that glorious day of glorious days, he will appear in his most glorious, most honorable, most dazzling character. What shall it be? How shall he appear? The text tells us. When John saw him, he saw "The Lamb"! This is the marriage supper of the Creator, the King, the Ruler, the Sustainer, the Governor, the God of the universe. But when he comes to show forth all the splendor and glory of his Being, he appears as "the Lamb"! It is "the marriage supper of the Lamb!"

Throughout this Book, our Lord is worshipped as "the Lamb." Almost every time he is seen or mentioned he is called, "the Lamb". The Lamb is the Sacrifice, the Sacrifice by which justice is satisfied and sin is put away (John 1:29). Whenever we read of Christ, or see Christ, as "the Lamb," it is to remind us of his sufferings and death in our room and in our stead, as our great Substitute to put away our sin.

• The first time we looked to him, we looked to him as "the Lamb".


• We are looking to him now as "the Lamb."


• And when we see him as he is, in all the glory of his Being, we will see him as "the Lamb."

A. Our Savior was the Lamb in the Eternal Covenant.
B. It was as the Lamb that our Lord Proved His Love For Us.
C. It was as the Lamb that our Savior Won Our Hearts and first caused us to Love Him.
D. As the Lamb our Lord Jesus came into the Closest Possible Union With Us.

When he was numbered with the transgressors, the Son of God came nearer to us than at any other time! (II Cor. 5:21; Ps. 40:12).

F. And when we see our dear Savior on His Glorious Wedding Day and Ours, we will be Wed to Him, Worship Him, Adore Him, and Embrace Him As The Lamb!

• This will be Heaven!


• This will be an Endless Feast of Love!


• This will be The Glory of God!

Now let me very briefly describe the beauty of the Bride, the Church of God's elect. But I will really still be describing the beauty and the glory of the Lamb. Her beauty is his beauty, which he has put upon her. "His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness (righteousnesses) of the saints."

We are told, "His wife hath made herself ready." What does that mean? How do we make ourselves ready for heaven's glory?

1. She has willingly, of her own accord, given herself to Christ, to be his forever.
2. She has come out of Babylon and put away from herself the corruptions of the great whore.
3. She has washed herself from all uncleanness in the Fountain of His Blood.
4. She has put on the Lord Jesus Christ by faith.

B. But Notice That Her Gorgeous Apparel Was Given To Her As A Free Gift Of Sovereign Grace, As A Royal Grant From The King Of Heaven.

All that she carries with her to heaven was given her. All that she wears was given her. She brings nothing of her own and wears nothing of her own. In fact, she is there altogether by the grant of heaven.

The garment she wears is "the righteousnesses" of the saints." I grant the word "righteousness" should be written in the plural. But I do not grant that it should read, "the righteous deeds of the saints." All the righteousnesses of the saints is the righteousness of Christ given to us by God's almighty grace.

1. It is the righteousness of our forgiveness by the blood of Christ (Rom. 3:24-26; I John 1:9).

2. It is the righteousness of our justification and acceptance with God by the imputation of Christ's righteous obedience to us (Rom. 5:19).

3. And it is the righteousness of our new nature, the righteous nature of Christ imparted to us in regeneration (I Pet. 1:4; I John 3:8-9).

Here we wear a filthy robe of sinful flesh. But there we shall wear the robe of perfect righteousness, even the righteousness of the saints, without spot or wrinkle. This is the free gift of God's almighty grace.

• A Righteous Pardon!


• A Righteous Robe!


• A Righteous Nature!

This is "The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb". Will you be there? I bid you come to the marriage. There is plenty of room. But you dare not come without the wedding garment. May God grant to you this night "The righteousness of the saints."

1. The Pardon of Sin by the Blood of Christ.
2. Perfect Righteousness by Divine Imputation.
3. Eternal Life by the Power of His Grace.

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