Revelation 19:7

Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

REGARDING THE MARRIAGE METAPHOR

The marriage of the Lamb is come ... "The marriage feast is the day of the Lord's Second Advent."[15] The figure of marriage to represent the relationship between the Lord and his people is often used in the New Testament, but in various analogies. In Matthew 22:1-4, the Christians are guests at the wedding. In Matthew 15:1ff, they are certain of the bridesmaids. In 2 Corinthians 11:1-3, they are chaste virgins betrothed unto the Lord. In Ephesians 5:22-32 and in Romans 7:4, the analogy is that Christians are now married to the Lord. "When passages like this (Revelation 19:7) are pressed as proof that the church is not now married to the Lord, these figures are ignored."[16] Also, in this connection, it is exceedingly important to remember that the Jewish customs of marriage are those prominent in all of these usages. The betrothal, which often took place as much as a year before the actual marriage, was fully equivalent legally to the marriage itself; during this period of waiting, the bridegroom was absent preparing a place for the bride (as in John 14:1-13), and any infidelity upon her part was considered as adultery; then came the great day of the marriage supper when the bridegroom and the bride began to live together. These and other peculiarly Jewish customs are all prominent in the New Testament employment of this metaphor. "The marriage supper," here, comes after the long period of waiting is over, and the bride and the bridegroom are taking up life together. For further elaboration of this, see under the above references in this series of commentaries, also in my Commentary on Matthew, pp. 6-8.

And his wife hath made herself ready ... This verse shocks the "faith only" people, who at once "correct this" by the comment that she made herself ready "not by doing anything of her own," and pointing out that "it was given to her, given by the pure grace of God, that she be clothed."[17] We might add that, of course, God gave her the clothes, but she had to put them on! That is what is meant by making herself ready. The whole analogy is beautifully exhibited in Matthew 22:12, where the wedding guests (Christians) had all received proper wedding garments, but one of them neglected to dress himself, with disastrous results for him; and so it will be for all who neglect to do the good works of the Christian life, which are a moment later identified as the wedding garments. By putting these on, the bride "worked out her own salvation" (Philippians 2:12); in this way she made herself ready. All of the ingenuity of people who do not believe it will never be able to eliminate this plain teaching of the word of God. We also add that no one could possibly believe in the free grace of God any more than does this writer!

[15] James Moffatt, Expositor's Greek New Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 464.

[16] John T. Hinds, op. cit., p. 266.

[17] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John's Revelation (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 542.