GOD’S WORD FOR APRIL 17
GOD’S WORD FOR APRIL 17 ~ ~ Revelation 19:8 ~ ~ “ Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”
It is truly amazing to see how everything Jesus said was prophetic in some way or another. He wanted to show us what will happen, and in our culture, we have a hard time figuring out what He was really saying. But the people in Galilee had a much better picture. Bible Scholars now have done a great job, but it’s difficult without knowing first hand, the life Jesus was walking through as He spoke informally to His apostles as friends. The apostles, I think, should have been able to figure a lot of it out, except for the fact that they had expectations of the Messiah being a political savior, like everyone else in the Jewish nation at that time. That is what confused them, so they didn’t see what He was saying. That’s why when He told them He would die and be raised, even though He spoke clearly, it went right over their heads until they saw Him again. They were so confused at the Last Supper, it seems, that when He plainly identified Judas as the traitor via the piece of bread, they didn’t get it.
We are blessed to be able to look back on what He said, in writing, after the Resurrection, and get a little more. But we still miss a lot, unless we look through the eyes of a Galilean.
It’s all about Jesus’ wedding! He had that future wedding on His mind every minute of His earthly life. It’s what He came to earth to prepare the Bride for. Bride and Bridegroom is spoken of in Psalms, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Joel. John the Baptist referred to Jesus as the Bridgroom. And Jesus spoke parables concerning the bridegroom coming back during the night. All this has to do with the traditions in a Galilean wedding, and His thoughts were on His own heavenly wedding to come.
If you have accepted Him as Your Lord and Savior, knowing He died for your sins, then you are part of the corporate Bride spoken of in the Bible so many times. The marriage Supper of the Lamb is described in Revelation 19:7-9.
“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
Jesus is referred to the Lamb in the book of Revelation because He is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29) He did this by being the Sacrificial Lamb and taking the punishment for our sins on the cross. He conquered death for us, and those who truly believe it will live forever with Him, instead of eternal punishment.
God made the laws of sacrificial animals for a symbolic enactment of the actual sacrifice that only Jesus could fulfill, being fully God and fully man at the same time.
Those who are part of the believing remnant, are always referred to as the “Bride of Christ”.
Everything that He talked about showed that His mind was always on that wedding to come.
He even did His first miracle at a wedding. I’m sure He was glad to do that, and anticipated wine like the wine that He made from the water, being on the menu of His wedding feast.
Continued tomorrow.
Live in the Light of Our Lord 