Let us rejoice and exult, and give him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.
Heaven has just watched the judgment of the false church. Now its voices turn from the fall of the false to the joy of the true, and the call goes out to rejoice: the marriage of the Lamb has come. Three questions follow. Why now? Who is the wife? And what does it mean that she has made herself ready?
The order of events matters. One writer links the fall of the false church to the marriage:
On earth that evil system had long carried the name of the Lamb while denying His character. God has judged it at last, and heaven rejoices over its fall. But the destruction of that false church on earth makes way for the true church to be presented to Christ in glory. The judgment of the great prostitute leads to the marriage of the Lamb.
The text does not say the marriage of the bride. One commentator presses that point, and says where and when the marriage happens:
This great event is the crowning joy of Christ as man. It is not said the marriage of the bride, but the marriage of the Lamb. His joy is what is in view here, not ours. No details of the marriage are given. It takes place in Heaven, just before the Lord returns in power — at least several years after He comes to take His own... Not Israel, but the Church of the New Testament is the bride. Israel has her place and blessing on the earth. The marriage of the Lamb is in Heaven, the Church's proper home.
Believers already belong to Christ, but the wedding day has not yet come. This verse closes that gap:
We have seen (Eph. 5) that the Church is called the bride of Christ. The marriage has not yet taken place. It will happen when Christ presents her to Himself as a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or anything like it. Right now she is promised to Christ as a pure virgin (2 Cor. 11:2)... The Church, then, is made up of all believers from Pentecost until the coming of the Lord.
Being promised is not the same as being married. Another writer says why love could not stop there:
The close love between the bride and the Lamb is precious, but love is not content until it has the one it loves. The bride speaks of love; the marriage speaks of having the one who is loved.
Older translations read "his wife has made herself ready" where the ESV says "his Bride." The commentators here work from that older wording and find meaning in the word "wife." One reads it as pointing to what she will do beside Him:
The Bride is the fruit of His love but the Wife is the fruit of His work... We understand that the word "wife" has in view someone made fit to share with Him in His rule in the world to come. That is why in Rev. 19 it is the wife who has made herself ready. That fitness is being formed in us today. It is the fruit of all our growth and progress under the ministry of our gracious Lord from heaven.
Commentators differ on how much of this readiness is hers. One takes it as a review of our lives, where everything is put right before the marriage day:
There are two kinds of fitness, and the Church has both. First, God in His sovereign grace makes a person fit for heavenly glory... Second, believers have to make themselves ready before they enter their eternal glory. Our lives have to be reviewed at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). The puzzles of life will be explained, unsolved problems cleared up, and every mistake and misunderstanding put right... What if in glory we remembered one painful thing that had never been set right? That thought would be unbearable.
Another resists any suggestion that she contributes something of her own:
We read "His wife has made herself ready." This does not mean any human fitness of her own, which could have no place in heaven. We take it to mean that she has put on the clothes which divine grace has provided. Out of His riches in glory God gives all of it, so that the heavenly Bride may be a fitting companion for the Lamb.
The gladness is not the wife's alone. All heaven joins in:
The marriage of the Lamb therefore stirs the wondering worship of heaven, of all the servants of God, and of those who fear Him, both small and great... So it is a day of unbroken joy — joy to the heart of God, joy to the Lamb and His wife, and joy to all who are allowed to see this wonderful scene.
- Cause. The false must fall before the true appears. God's judgment on the false church clears the way for the marriage of the Lamb.
- Joy. The text says the marriage of the Lamb, not of the bride. His joy is in view, just before He returns in power.
- Gift. Love that only promised now has its own. The promise becomes marriage, and grace provides the clothes she wears.
- Readiness. Commentators differ. Some read it as our lives reviewed and put right at the judgment seat. Others read it as grace alone clothing her.
- Result. As "wife" she is made fit to share His rule in the world to come, and all heaven, small and great, is glad with Him.
And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright [and] pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.
The scene is heaven's wedding day, and attention falls on what the bride is wearing. The verse explains its own symbol. But the explanation raises questions. Whose righteousness is this? When was the robe made? And how can a gift end up being the deeds of the saints?
The verse explains the linen with a plural noun. That plural rules out one common reading:
Notice, first, that the verse calls it the righteousness "of saints," not of God, but of His people. Second, it is not exactly their righteousness, but their "righteousnesses." We cannot fairly take this to mean the righteous standing that is made ours in Christ. God's righteousness in Him is the same for all saints. But each saint here will have his or her own righteousness.
The same writer adds that the white robes of Revelation 4 and the fine linen here are not the same thing. The first is pure grace. The second looks ahead to "our appearing with Christ before the world," when all the righteous results of the saints' ways will be shown.
One writer sets this picture beside the robe in the Lord's parable, and says the two do not clash:
The robe is still the symbol of righteousness. But in view of the reward that awaits us, "the fine linen" the bride wears "is the righteousnesses — the righteous deeds — of the saints." Practical righteousness is what is in question here — not something worked out by another for us, but worked out by our own hands. It is a completely different thought from the one in the Lord's parable. Being so different, it does not contradict it.
The verse does not say she bought the dress or earned it. One writer sharpens the point by comparing her with the false woman of this book:
The false woman got her fine linen by "merchandise"; the Bride's fine linen was "given." The Bride's adornment speaks of her own acts, yet they were all the outcome of grace given. On the outside, many acts of righteousness may look alike, whether done by believers or unbelievers, and yet the motive can be very different. The acts of righteousness of the false woman had a legal and selfish motive. The righteousnesses of the saints are acts done for the love of Christ.
If the robe is made of works, those works must be assessed before it can be worn. One writer says when that happens:
This could not happen until the judgment seat of Christ, because it is there, where we must all appear (2 Cor. 5:10), that we shall receive the things done in our bodies, according to what we have done, whether good or bad. Christ Himself is our righteousness before God, or we could have no title to be in His presence. But the righteousnesses of the saints cannot be known or declared until Christ Himself has reviewed and valued the things done in our bodies by His unerring estimate.
If the linen is made of deeds, then the smallest deed matters:
How happy to realise that every act we do out of love to Christ is a stitch in the robe. We shall appear in that robe in glory, for the delight of the heart of Christ. What a joy to know this. We may count for nothing in the world, unnoticed, despised and misunderstood. Yet every little act done out of love to Christ will at last come into display in a day of glory. Not a cup of cold water given to one of His little ones will be forgotten by Christ.
One writer traces every such act back to one question:
First of all, and behind every such act, and without which there could be none of them, comes the thought: "What will please Him?" How would He who is my Lord as well as my coming Bridegroom want me to appear? Such a question could only arise in a heart that loves Him.
- Given — the linen is granted, not purchased; the false woman bought hers, the bride receives hers as grace.
- Grown — a gift, yet not passive. The plural "righteousnesses" means acts: each saint's own, not the one standing all believers share in Christ.
- Graded — Christ first reviews the works at His judgment seat, valuing them by His unerring estimate; only then can the robe be worn.
- Gathered — nothing genuine is lost in the sifting; a cup of cold water given in love is a stitch in the robe.
- Growing now — the wedding dress is being woven today, by the heart that keeps asking what will please Him.
And he says to me, Write, Blessed [are] they who are called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb. And he says to me, These are the true words of God.
John is told to write down a blessing on the guests at the Lamb's wedding feast, and God calls the words His own. Two questions follow: who are the "invited," and why does heaven's brightest scene get just one word?
The wedding language marks out two groups. The difference lies in how each one stands to the Lamb.
"Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." The bride and the guests are two distinct companies. The bride stands, of course, in closer relation to the Lamb. The bride is wed; the guests sup.
One writer puts the reason in plain, everyday terms.
No one thinks of inviting a bride to her own marriage feast; others may of course be invited there. It seems to me, therefore, very plain that others are to be at the marriage supper of the Lamb besides the bride.
Most writers identify the guests as believers who lived before the church began.
At this great marriage feast, the guests surely represent the great host of the Old Testament saints. They form no part of the church called out from Jew and Gentile during the Christian period between Pentecost and the Rapture. Yet they will share in the resurrection of the saints… All the long line of saints from the Garden of Eden to the cross of Christ, who have walked the path of faith, "both small and great," of whom the world was not worthy, will be there.
One writer settles the question from a single word. Older translations read "called" where the ESV has "invited."
Who are these? Not angels, for they are never said to be "called." The term is only used of the objects of redeeming grace, that is, of men. Are these not the friends of the Bridegroom, as John the Baptist said in his day? (John 3:29.)… They will share in the common joy of the wedding day, though they are not among the great number who form the Bride.
Not everyone accepts that the guests are a separate group. One writer reads the plural as covering everyone at the table, bride included. He also presses the invitation into today.
"And he says to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" Blessed indeed are those who are invited now! Sadly, they may despise the invitation. But how blessed are those who are found among the invited when that day comes!… The Bride certainly sits at the marriage supper, and the plural here is the only thing one could expect in such an exclamation. So there seems to be no ground here for making the Bride and the "friends of the Bridegroom" separate companies.
The verse gives the invitation but no picture of the feast itself. That silence is deliberate, and it fits the character of the book.
The marriage scene of the Lamb is only hinted at here, and not described. The purpose of Revelation is not to show us the Father's house, nor its inner scenes. In this book God is never even called our Father. Revelation does not open up the intimacy of His love to us. It opens up the righteous ways of God — the setting up of the kingdom, and the end, when He is all in all.
Another writer looks ahead to the day believers will sit down at that table.
We shall sit down by and by at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We have no description of this scene. The Holy Spirit uses only one word to describe it: "Blessed!"
The closing clause is not decoration. It answers the question of whether any of this can be relied on.
These messages come from God, whether an angel speaks them or John sees them in a vision. They carry all the weight and authority of God Himself. "These are the true words of God." The basis of our faith is not guesswork, but the certainty that God has spoken. God Himself has confirmed the truths stated in the first nine verses of this chapter.
The messenger who brings these words points past himself.
The angel was only a servant. He came to announce the true sayings of God, and so to lead us to worship God — the end of all true service… The great end of "the true sayings of God" is Jesus.
- Called. The word marks out people saved by grace, not angels — heaven's guest list holds redeemed men and women.
- Blessed. The invitation is the blessing; the bride is wed, the guests sup, and God calls both happy on the same day.
- Wide. Most writers see the guests as believers of earlier ages, from Eden to the cross. Others read the plural as covering everyone at the table. Commentators differ here.
- Hidden. Revelation announces the supper but never describes it. This book unfolds God's righteous ways, not the inner scenes of the Father's house.
- Certain. God seals the whole announcement as His true words. Faith rests not on guesswork but on God's own speaking — and every such word points to Jesus.