Can I pray for you in any way?
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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
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.”
Revelation 19:9
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
At the very beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount found in the fifth chapter of Matthew, we find our Savior delivering a series of eight beatitudes, all of which begin with the same two words: “Blessed are”. These leading words make sense when we think about the meaning of the word “beatitude” which is an expression of supreme blessedness and in regard to blessedness, this further means to be in God’s grace or favor.
And so when Jesus writes that the poor in spirit, mourners, the meek, anyone hungering and thirsting for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted are blessed, He is reminding them that are loved, valued, and cared for by their Lord despite their circumstances, circumstances that the world wouldn’t see as blessings.
Now, what’s interesting is that this isn’t the only place in the Bible where we find a series of beatitudes. For as we have seen in our study of Revelation, there are seven of these spread out across the entire book, unlike the grouped list in Matthew.
As we come to today’s scripture verse from Revelation, chapter 19, we find the fourth beatitude as John is told to write down words about a great celebration event that will happen before Jesus returns. Look again at those words here:
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.” v.9
Throughout Revelation, we find John being ordered to write things down and thankfully he was a man who followed orders or else we would never have ended up with this book of the Bible. Here, we find the command coming from an angel who shares “true words of God”, true words regarding a coming “wedding supper of the Lamb”.
So what is this all about?
We need to rehash the customs of a Jewish wedding which had three main parts.
First, there would be an engagement arrangement where two sets of parents would come together and work out an agreement for a son and daughter to be married. There would literally be a contract worked up and as part of the settlement, the bridegroom’s parents or the bridegroom themselves would pay a dowry to the bride’s parents. Once this was complete, there would be a betrothal period where the couple would be engaged but this wasn’t like what we see today for the engagement was treated the same as if the couple was already married and so they were to have no sexual relations with one another or anyone else. To understand this, we can go back and look at the story of Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus, and the cultural complications and tensions that arose when she suddenly conceived by way of the Holy Spirit.
The second custom associated with Jewish weddings would come after the engagement. The bridegroom, along with friends, would show up at the bride’s home and she and her maidens would join them in a parade through the streets of town, eventually ending up at the bridegroom’s home. This was often done at night by the light of torches and Jesus touched on this tradition when He shared the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew, chapter 25.
Finally, there was a great wedding feast and the best depiction of this in the scriptures occurred in John chapter 2 where we read about Jesus’ first recorded miracle in His ministry, the changing of water into wine at Cana.
Fast forward to our verse for today and we see a divine wedding supper that will be hosted by none other than Jesus Himself, the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Note here that this event will be by invitation only with “those who are invited” considered “blessed”.
So who will be welcomed to this great wedding dinner?
It will be everyone who chose to place their belief in Jesus as Savior, Christ disciples who collectively form the church (aka the bride). It’s largely believed that this wedding supper will happen after the rapture and before Jesus returns but we don’t know the exact time it will happen.
One thing’s for sure. It’s going to be an amazing event that no one should want to miss and I hope that you, like I, feel blessed to know that it’s in my future because this fourth beatitude brings us this assurance.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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