Weekend Heaven "The Royal Wedding"

THE ROYAL WEDDING
On July 29, 1981, the most elegant, most talked about, most watched wedding in the history of planet Earth occurred. The fairy tale romance of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles raised worldwide interest in Britain's royal family. The heir to Britain's ancient throne and his beautiful princess-to-be obliged their admirers by holding a glittering storybook wedding with all the royal trappings imaginable. No one was disappointed.

Crowds of six hundred thousand people filled the streets of London, eager to catch even a glimpse of Prince Charles and Lady Diana on their wedding day. The couple was married at St. Paul's Cathedral before an invited congregation of thirty-five hundred and an estimated global television audience of 750 million—making it the most popular program ever broadcast. The entire nation of England enjoyed a national holiday to mark the occasion. Most people felt this was the wedding to beat all weddings, and would never be surpassed in its size, scope, and splendor.
They were wrong.

The Greatest Wedding of Them All
One day, in the not-so-distant future, Heaven will host a royal wedding that will cause the royal wedding of 1981 to be quickly forgotten. The wedding in Heaven will involve grander participants, a superior officiator, a much larger audience, and the best feast of all time. It will be called the marriage supper of the Lamb, and it is described in the book of Revelation.

6Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.
Marriage of the Lamb
7"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." 8It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9Then he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb '" And he said to me, "These are true words of God."
REVELATION 19:6-9 (NASB)

Heaven will host the greatest wedding of them all.
One day the streets of Heaven will resound with the joy¬ous bells of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Using Revelation chapter 19 as the foundation, we can glean many insights into Heaven, the home of the greatest royal wedding of them all.

The Royal Bridegroom Is Jesus
This event is called the wedding of the Lamb. The Lamb is the Bridegroom. So who's the Lamb? Fortunately, we need not speculate. John the Baptizer told us that the Lamb is Jesus.

29The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
JOHN 1:29 (NASB)

John wanted to clearly explain to the Jews that he was not the Messiah. He was the forerunner of the Messiah, the path preparer for the Messiah. John said that he was the friend of the Bridegroom, but Jesus was the Bridegroom.

27John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. 28"You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent ahead of Him.' 29"He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice So this joy of mine has been made full. 30"He must increase, but I must decrease.
JOHN 3:27-30 (NASB)

John was not the only one who knew Jesus was the Royal Bridegroom. Jesus Himself referred to Himself as the Bridegroom.

33And they said to Him, "The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink." 34And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35"But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days."
LUKE 5:33-35 (NASB)

Many thought Prince Charles made an extremely majestic and handsome groom in the full dress uniform of a British naval commander. However, the splendor of every human prince in history will pale in the grandeur and brilliance of Prince Jesus arrayed for His wedding day.

The Bride Is the Church
In understanding the Bible, it is vital to know that when the Bible speaks of the church, it is always speaking of a designation of people, and it is never referring to a building. In fact, there were no church buildings for one hundred or more years after the birth of the church. The church has many local assemblies but the church is one united entity made up of redeemed people of every tribe, tongue, and nation.
Just as a bride pledges supreme love and unparalleled loyalty to her husband forever, members of the church, the Bride of Christ, are those who have pledged priority love and utmost devotion to Jesus forever. It is our natural response to the sacrificial love He has already shown us. Paul wrote, "Husbands, love your wives [your brides], just as Christ also loved the church [his bride] and gave Himself for her" (Ephesians 5:25). He also wrote, "I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:2).

Lady Diana made a beautiful bride. People gasped at the way her elaborate and costly dress adorned her beautiful figure. In a similar yet vastly superior way, the Bride of Jesus will be a glorious virgin, simply, yet majestically, dressed in the pure white linen of those whose sins have been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ and who show their gratitude by living righteous lives.

8It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
REVELATION 19:8 (NASB)

The Guest List Will Be Impressive in Size
Lady Di and Prince Charles had thirty-five hundred invited guests. The marriage of the Lamb will have a much, much larger number in attendance. John said that he "heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: 'Hallelujah!' . . .For the wed¬ding of the Lamb has come" (Revelation 19:6-7). The guest list will include all the angels. Scripture tells us they number more than humans can count. The believers from the Old Testament era will also be glad guests at the wonderful wedding party.

God the Father Will Be the Gracious Host
Although not stated in Revelation 19, other scriptures tell us that in a unique and wonderful way, at the marriage supper of the Lamb, God the Father will serve as both the Father of the Bride and the Father of the Groom (He is our Father—Matthew 6:9). Because God is easily the wealthiest being in the universe, absolutely no expense will be spared. Everyone who wants to attend is welcome. There will be enough sumptuous food to last a thousand years!

Luke recorded a story Jesus told which serves as a portrait of how eager the Father is to have multitudes attend His Son's wedding. God wants everyone to be there

Parable of the Dinner
16But He said to him, "A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; 17and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.' 18"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.' … 21"And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'… 23"And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
LUKE 14:16-18, 21, 23 (NASB)

Ancient Hebrew Wedding Customs
History tells of three common elements of a Jewish wedding during the time of Christ. A look at these three elements gives us insight into the incredible celebration that will occur in Heaven.

1. The Betrothal Stage
According to the custom, during this stage in the relation¬ship between a bride and groom, three things occur: First, the parents select a bride for the son. Second, a contract is signed. Third, the bride's father is paid a dowry. As you may recall, this was the stage Joseph and Mary were in when he found out she was pregnant. It required a divorce to break a betrothal. Fortunately, the angel told him the baby she was carrying was one miraculously conceived by God, so Joseph didn't divorce her. The rest is history.
On a spiritual level, God the Father selected a bride for His Son before the records of time (Ephesians 1:3-4). Jesus and the Father created a contract of commitment called the new cov¬enant (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; Hebrews 9:15). The Father gave His Son, and Jesus gave His life to pay the price for His bride (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 5:25). The betrothal has been fulfilled.

2. The Presentation Stage
In an ancient Hebrew wedding, the bride was fetched to the house of the groom's father for a private ceremony. One day soon, Jesus will come to get His Bride to join Him in His Father's house. Spiritually, this event has been called the Rapture of the church. Many consider it to be the next event on the prophetic calendar.
"In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
JOHN 14:2-3 (NKJV)

16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
I THESSALONIANS 4:16-17 (NASB)

3. The Celebration Stage
In an ancient Hebrew wedding, a public party was held to cel¬ebrate the wedding. All of the friends and family were invited. These parties were huge celebrations. It was said that in those days, the party presented by a poor man would last all day; the wedding supper of the son of an average man would last close to a week; and the celebration given by a rich man would last up to a month. But the party provided by a king for his son could last for one year!

Well, friends, as they say, "you ain't seen nothin' yet." The Bible tells us that the party thrown in Heaven by God the Father for His Son, Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will not be a one-day affair. It won't last a mere week or month; it will not last a year. No, there is a strong possibility that the marriage of the Lamb, given by God the Father for His son, King Jesus, and His daughter, the Bride of Christ, will last one thousand years (Revelation 20:1—6)!

So What?

What good does knowing this do us now? It certainly gives us something marvelous to look forward to. It gives us hope. Sometimes Christians look at people in the world who are godless and who seem to party their lives away, and we feel a twinge of envy. We ponder, "Why do the ungodly get to have all the fun?"
Friend, if you miss a few decades, worth of parties down here, don't worry. God is going to throw us a thousand-year party up there!