This article is the last in a four-part series titled “From Eden to Eternity: Christ at the Heart of Your Marriage.” It’s based on messages my husband, Dan, and I gave at a marriage conference at Muskoka Bible Center. We taught from a biblical vision of marriage, drawing on the four epochs of redemptive history: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation.
Do you remember the excitement of the days leading up to your wedding day or that of a loved one? That kind of anticipation illustrates the collective engagement period believers experience this side of glory. This is why we conclude this series with a study of Revelation. Because, as I wrote in my article on Ephesians, marriage is a metaphor of the pure love and commitment of Christ for his Bride. In this study, we will see that our gospel hope offers the eternal perspective we need to persevere even when our marriages go through hard times. Our text’s timeless message is this:
Because our marriages point to the wedding supper of the Lamb, let’s live with hope and perseverance.
The Context of John’s Revelation
John pens Revelation while in exile on the isle of Patmos. Although he’s an old man by now, the empire sees him as a threat for preaching the gospel. So, Rome banishes him to this small, rocky, isolated Aegean island with rugged terrain and limited resources.
There, he receives a series of glorious visions that contrast with his barren surroundings. God commands him to write them down and send them to the seven churches located in Asia Minor, present-day Turkey. God’s purpose is to reveal Christ’s ultimate victory over evil, offering persecuted Christians hope and encouragement and issuing them a call to faithfulness. These visions employ highly symbolic imagery to show God’s judgment on oppressive worldly powers (like Rome) and the promise of a new, redeemed world. With that in mind, we turn our attention to the first invitation of our passage.
1. Prepare for the Banquet (Revelation 19:6-9)
Earlier in this chapter, God judges Babylon. This ancient city represents the wicked world system of every age. In the following verses, a multitude without number erupts in a song of praise. This rejoicing increases as God brings about the long-awaited marriage supper of the Lamb. They can hardly wait for the party to begin!
Picture the excitement of this great throng. Some have been waiting for millennia! The wedding couldn’t begin until all the elect from every generation and every nation, tribe, and tongue had been drawn to their bridegroom. But the waiting is finally over, and the Church betrothed will now become the Church as bride.
Preparing for the Bridegroom
In v. 7-8, John tells us that the Bride has clothed herself in fine linen, bright and pure. And he doesn’t leave us guessing as to what her wedding dress represents: “…for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” The Bride has made herself ready by living for her bridegroom. The Church today prepares herself to meet Christ face-to-face by walking, thinking and speaking in a way that brings him glory.
Some readers may wonder if their deeds have been righteous enough. Mine certainly haven’t been. The point of Revelation isn’t to teach us that only those who are holy enough made the cut. The Bride is composed, rather, of those washed in the blood of the Lamb. Our own righteousness can only flow out of his. The good works we do are made possible by the Bridegroom. And when we fail, we repent, he forgives, and he washes us again. On that wedding day, we’ll be dressed in spotless white robes, not because we deserve them, but because Christ gave them to us by grace alone.
A Very Special Invitation
In v. 9, John’s heavenly tour guide tells him,
The term “blessed” means happy, privileged, a recipient of divine favour. And while the term has become a cheesy hashtag in popular culture, it meant much more to the original audience. They were undergoing mounting persecution for the sake of Christ. Most of the apostles had been martyred by this time, and nearly everyone hearing John’s visions likely knew someone who had laid down their lives for the gospel.
What’s more, “blessed” is a keyword in Revelation, serving as a refrain for the seven blessings that frame the book. Each one underscores God’s favour towards those who hear and obey him, and his judgment to those who reject him. And the blessing in v. 9 highlights the joy and favour that come from receiving a very special invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
You Need to RSVP
You, reader, have received that invitation, but here’s the catch: You need to RSVP. You can do so by repenting and believing in Christ. When Jesus comes into your life, he changes you from the inside out. Sin loses its hold, and the new life of the Spirit gives you a love for your spouse that is otherwise impossible.
The next portion of John’s prophetic vision we’ll focus on is the consummation of all things. We find in it the second invitation of our study:
2. Live with Hope (Revelation 21:1-4; 9-14)
Revelation 21:1 speaks of a new heaven and the new earth, the fulfillment of God’s promise to restore what was lost in the Fall in Genesis 3. What’s more, the text adds that the sea will be no more. This may seem a strange assertion to the modern reader who dreams of a seaside vacation. But to the ancient mind, the sea was the realm of chaos. And for John, his prison wall.
In Revelation, the absence of seas isn’t so much a comment on the geology of the new earth. When John sees a sea-less world, he is envisioning the end of every barrier that stands between the Creator and the creature and every distance that keeps us from one another. The turbulent, wicked nature of this present world will be no more. We’ll be free from danger or fear. Failure, sickness, financial difficulties, pain, shame, and abuse will be replaced with perfect peace and unbroken fellowship with God and one another.
God’s Dwelling Place
In Revelation 21:3-4, God promises that he will live with his people forever. Ever since Eden, God has desired to dwell with humanity. Our first parents’ rebellion broke that fellowship, and they were exiled from his presence. But since the fall, God has been reestablishing our fellowship with him. We see this in the tabernacle, the temple, and ultimately the incarnation.
In v. 4, God promises to do away with tears, death, mourning, crying, and pain. All that robs us of a fulfilled, joyful, vibrant life will be absent in the new creation. And the greatest reward will be not merely the absence of all these things, but the fullness of Christ.
Until that day comes, we’ve committed to walk hand in hand as husband and wife through this vale of tears. The same God who will wipe away our tears on that day promises comfort and peace today. Whatever sorrow you may be facing, encourage your spouse by asking: “How will we look back on this specific adversity when we are sitting at the marriage supper of the Lamb?” Allow the certainty of your future glory to take the sting out of today’s pain.
The New Jerusalem
In Revelation 21:10, the angel takes John on a flight, sans airplane, to a great, high mountain. From that vantage point, John can see the New Jerusalem, a colossal cube 2,200 kms long, high, and wide coming down from heaven. To put that into perspective, that’s a city so big that it stretches from Ottawa to Winnipeg.
The New Jerusalem is none other than the wife of the Lamb. And if in Ephesians, Paul explains how Christ sanctifies and prepares his Bride through his sacrificial love, these verses reveal the end of the story. The Bride has been made spotless and is ready to dwell with God forever.
The Redeemed of Every Nation and Age
This passage is replete with symbolism. Perhaps most noteworthy is that the twelve gates bear the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel, and the foundations bear those of the apostles. This represents the glorious reality that the redeemed from every age, Jew and Gentile, will all be one in Christ.
In our individualistic Western culture, we might miss the significance of this reality. Membership in the body of Christ is not an individual affair. It comes with corporate privileges and responsibilities. For all eternity, we will be one with all the saints of every age. That should change the way we live today! This should compel us to join a local church if we aren’t part of one. And it should incite us to invest our time, talents, and treasures to build up Christ’s body. We are going to spend eternity together. We might as well learn to love one another now.
What’s more, we will one day dwell forever as one with the redeemed from every age in redemptive history and every nation, tribe, and tongue. That’s a diversity God planned from the foundations of the world. We have so much to learn from these brothers and sisters. What if in the next 12 months you committed to read one book written by someone of a different era of church history and another by a believer from another country or culture than your own? After all, diversity isn’t a worldly notion. It was God’s idea!
As I draw this final article to a close, skip down to Revelation 22:17 and our text’s final invitation:
3. Come to Jesus (Revelation 22:17)
Through his glorious visions, John has given us a glimpse at what awaits his Bride in the new creation. In his concluding remarks, we seem to return to the present, where we join with the Spirit and together cry out, “Come!” In so doing, we express that we can’t wait for the future that God has in store for us.
Revelation 22:17 highlights that the Bride is so enamoured with her Bridegroom that she doesn’t want anyone to miss out. We want everyone to be united to Christ as we are by RSVPing to the feast that will never end. And the phrase “without price” reminds us that admission is free of charge. No one can buy their way into the New Jerusalem. We can only enter by faith in Christ.
Pray for Christ’s Coming
This concluding verse challenges us to pray actively for Christ’s return and eternal reign. And doing so requires that we look beyond the tyranny of the immediate. That we press pause on our frenetic lives and contemplate ways to cultivate our homesickness for the New Jerusalem. May our marriages be Christ’s instrument to prepare us for that day. They are but a shadow. We are waiting for the true wedding to begin.
You’ll find a series of short videos from the conference on my YouTube channel. The audio recording of this session is available here.
