Almost Suppertime

I preached this sermon January 15, 2012.

Text: Revelation 19:6-9

Introduction: Many of us have enjoyed the dinners and parties of the holidays. I prepared Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at our house for my family. Cooking all those wonderful foods filled the house with mouthwatering aromas. The closer the time came to having the meal prepared the hungrier we all became. I remember a couple of times that Ethan would run into the kitchen wanting to know if supper was ready yet, and I would tell him it almost suppertime. The aromas of the food, the table being set, these were indications that supper was almost ready. We finally put out the food and called to the family that supper was ready. And everybody rushed in the dining room to eat.

In our text today we are told about the marriage supper of the lamb. This marriage supper immediately precedes the second coming of Christ. The supper is not ready yet, but it is being prepared. And by all indications, the supper is getting close.

Matthew 24, Jesus gives us a glimpse of what will happen as the second coming of Christ approaches and he sums it up this way: ³²Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

³³So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

As we look around our world today we know that summer is nigh, we know that it is almost suppertime.

One day the father will proclaim that the supper is ready and call us to the table. This is not a supper you will want to miss because this is the marriage supper of the lamb. The marriage supper is the celebration of the marriage of the lamb of God, Jesus, to his bride, the church. The scripture teaches that the church is the bride of Christ. The church is composed of every believer from the time of Christ until the rapture that will take place prior to the 7 year tribulation time. The bride is not just the Baptists, or any one denomination. In fact, denomination will not matter at the marriage supper because the bride will not be divided. The church is born again believers in Christ. You and I are the bride of Christ and we will feast at the marriage supper of the lamb. My prayer is that everyone here is ready for that marriage supper because it is almost suppertime. Lets look at the marriage of the lamb of God.

The Betrothal

Now we must understand the difference in culture and time when we talk about weddings. Weddings and marriage in the first century Jerusalem were much different than a 21^st century wedding in America. When a bride and groom were betrothed, or engaged, a formal agreement was made between the families of the bride and groom, like a contract. The contract involved an oral commitment in the presence of witnesses, a written pledge and a pledge of money. Once engaged, the only way the engagement could be broken was by death or divorce.

When we were saved we were betrothed to Christ. Our bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, has paid the price for our purchase as the bride of Christ. 1 Peter 1:18-19 ¹⁸Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

¹⁹But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

As part of the betrothal the Father has given every believer a dowry – the Holy Spirit Eph 1:13-14 ¹³In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

¹⁴Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Having been betrothed to Christ, the price was paid, and the Holy Spirit given we are absolutely secure in our salvation in Christ. The bridegroom will never betray his betrothed.

John 10: ²⁸And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

²⁹My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

-the church is in the betrothal stage. The next event is the wedding itself, we are waiting for the wedding.

The Marriage

The betrothal period usually lasted about one year. The groom would return to his father’s house and make preparations for his new home and for the wedding.

-John 14: ¹Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

²In 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.

³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

-When the betrothal period came to an end the Father would tell his son – “Go get your bride and bring her home.”

-That is why Jesus could say in Matthew 24: ³⁶But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

-the time will come when the Father will say, as recorded in Luke 14: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

-The groom would go in a procession, often at night, would go to the home of his bride. He would announce that he has come to get his bride, he calls her away, in joy, or rapture, and takes her to his father and presents her to the father.

1 Thess 4: ¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

¹⁷Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

-They would return to the house of the Father, and have a feast that usually lasted 7 days.

-this is the marriage supper of the lamb. Jesus raptures his church from the earth. On earth this is the 7 year tribulation period.

Matthew 25: ¹Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

²And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

³They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

⁴But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

⁵While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

⁶And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

⁷Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

⁸And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

⁹But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

¹⁰And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

¹¹Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

¹²But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

¹³Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

-are you asleep? Are you slumbering? Are you ready for the midnight cry?