The wedding feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19)
by Fiona Harniess
When I lived in the Middle East, I loved being a guest at weddings. These huge community events are the highlight of the social calendar. Watching the betrothal and wedding customs unfold, the story of salvation would come alive in fresh ways to me.
My favourite of all the traditions was the ‘zaffa’. This is the moment when the feast is ready, and the bridegroom comes through the streets to his beloved’s house to take her to the party. Everyone in the area hears the joyful shouts, the heartfelt singing, the deafening drumming, the blaring of the car horns! Drummers are leaping in the air, there’s dancing in the streets – and the celebrations roll all the way to the wedding feast.
““Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready; to her it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure.” - for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
— Revelation 19:7-8
Reading these verses is like hearing a heavenly ‘zaffa’! From on high there comes ‘the voice of a great multitude’, like a roar of many waters, a sound like thunder. Heaven is bursting open, erupting with praise and joy, heralding the coming bridegroom! The roar follows the bridegroom as he descends to earth.
Heaven is celebrating the end of unfaithful Babylon, and the revealing of the Lamb’s pure bride! Revelation 18 describes how unfaithful Babylon, in all her gaudy glamour (clothed in scarlet and purple, covered in jewels, gold and pearls), has been laid to waste. In contrast, the bright and pure bride of the Lamb has made herself ready. He is coming! She is ready for Him!
These verses come in the middle of a section on judgment and Jesus’ victorious return. But to his bride, at the wedding feast, Jesus is chiefly known as the Lamb. It is as the slain and risen Lamb that he will marry his church. Scars tell stories, and the Lamb’s scars will forever tell the story of His glorious, suffering love.
It's because of his scars, his shed blood, that the bride can make herself ready too. Wedding garments are at hand for her, and ‘to her it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen’. Robes have been made white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev 7:13-14) – it’s because of his sacrifice that they are available. And yet there is a glad ‘putting on’ of these garments, a ‘purchasing’ (Rev 3:18) that the bride, is called to. Fine, bright, pure linen is the ‘righteous deeds of the saints.’ She puts these on and makes herself ready.
Often we set faith against deeds, as if they were somehow in opposition. Here the two come together. Through faith we stand in the place where our acts can be beautiful to the Lord. He has made us into that which he loves, able to please Him, able to make ourselves lovely in his sight through our acts of devotion. Because of his grace, we can do the works which he prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:10) Righteous acts are the visible outworking of devoted faith and love, and they are beautiful in his sight.
What does He love to see in your life? Ask Him to show you how to simply and humbly adorn yourself before Him today, that you may please Him in every way.
This is our third passage in a series looking at Jesus as a passionate bridegroom, a sovereign king & a righteous judge - three descriptions that are emphasised together in various places in the Scriptures, not least by Jesus Himself in the context of His return (Mt 24-25). We invite you to consider this passage with us throughout December.