The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

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What does the Bible have to say about the marriage supper of the Lamb? Is it different than the marriage of the Lamb?

Revelation 19:7-9
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

I do not believe the marriage of the Lamb (verses 7,8) and the marriage supper of the Lamb (vs. 9) are the same event. The marriage supper in Jewish tradition was held 7 days after the actual marriage. The marriage supper is when the Bridegroom presents His bride to the guests of the marriage supper. I believe these verses place it after the end of the 70th week on earth such that all those resurrected in Revelation 20:4,5 can attend and have the bride presented to them, since they will be in heaven too, just not the bride of Christ.

Daniel 12:11,12
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

Here we have a starting point for both the 1290 and 1335 days, the abomination of desolation. There’s a difference of 45 days that places the event at the 1335 day mark outside the 70th week of Daniel. And in each verse, we are talking about a group of people who are blessed. In Revelation, they are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Firstly, this is a blessed thing to have been included in, so I don’t think this is the great supper of God, where the birds dine on the flesh of the dead armies. Second, I realize there are lots of blessings to groups in scripture. However, the placing of this in Revelation 19:9 is after the marriage is already finished. We know this because the marriage of the Lamb is come and the bride is no longer the bride, but called the wife. This is only possible after a marriage ceremony. After the ceremony, a blessing is given to those called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. That means the marriage supper is separate from the marriage itself. I believe these are the guests to the marriage supper are spoken of in the kingdom parable of Matthew 22:1-14.

The marriage takes place in heaven and at that point, the only ones in heaven are the bride, Christ, the angels, and the Father. The guests have to attend the marriage supper on earth, so the marriage supper of the Lamb would have to take place after Christ returned in glory with His wife. Otherwise, there could be no guests except the angels. The timing of the blessing for those who wait and the blessing for those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb fit the criteria and make sense since Christ will be presenting His bride to those who will be resurrected at the end of the 70th week. That gives a month and a half to prepare for the marriage supper of the Lamb as well as all the other events that will be happening to usher in the millennium such as building the millennial temple in Ezekiel 40-47.

We need a little background on Jewish wedding tradition. It was not like ours are now, but even with ours, the marriage supper is not the marriage. The wedding supper (reception) comes after the ceremony. From what I’ve read on ancient Jewish wedding tradition, there was a seven day wedding feast while the bride and groom remained hidden in the bridal chamber. Then after that time, the bride and groom emerged and the groom presents his bride to those at the wedding feast. This shows that the marriage and wedding feast are separated by time. The timing I get from scripture, but I think the principle is set up by this tradition.

So in Revelation 19:9, those who come to the marriage supper are blessed. Then in Daniel 12:12, we see a space of time after the 1290 days where those who wait until that time are also blessed. I think these blessed people from these two scriptures are the same. Like I said, I can’t link them absolutely, but what other event after the marriage and outside of the 70 weeks would people be blessed that wait for it from prophecy? That’s my theory as of now.