THE MARRIAGE SUPPER by Adolphus Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 30, 1869

THE MARRIAGE SUPPER.

By Adolphus Smith

“BLESSED are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Rev. xix, 9.

The above scripture suggests the following thoughts.

A marriage is to be celebrated. Whose? When?
Guests are to be invited. Who are they?
A blessing is pronounced upon them. What is it?
A marriage is to be celebrated. Who are the parties?

To this query, the phrase concluding the above quotation, furnishes in part, a reply. In the first chapter of St. John's gospel, the 29th verse, Jesus is called, “the Lamb of God;” in the 34th verse, the “Son of

God;” and in the 49th verse, the “King of Israel.”

From these, and many other passages, it is established beyond controversy, that Jesus Christ, who was made flesh and dwelt among us, who took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses, who, after his passion, ascended into Heaven, there to await the gift of the kingdom of Israel at the time appointed, is no other than the Lamb named above, whose nuptials are at some time to be celebrated, and to whom honored guests are to be invited.

The bride is in every way worthy so honored a Groom. The New Jerusalem, whose gates are of pearls, whose streets are paved with gold, and whose walls are of the most precious stones, reflecting the glory of the “Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, who are the temple of it,” is befitting One who created all things, and by whom all things consist.

When is the marriage to take place? Without offering proof on this point, I would say that it is during Christ’s ministration in the holy place in the heavenly sanctuary, which we believe began in 1844, and will end at a time unknown to us, when the waiting ones will have received the seal of the living God, and the world will have become ripe for the judgments of God. Oh! who will be ready when his case will be brought in review before the Judge of quick and dead?

2. Who are the guests to be invited? No doubt all the saints of the Lord, from righteous Abel to the least of those who shall receive the seal of the living God, will participate in the marriage feast: but those only who are living in the last generation, can witness the ceremony that unites the Lamb of God to the New Jerusalem, arrayed in all the beauty and glory of Heaven.

This they do when they enter by faith the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary, and behold the ministration of the Lord Jesus, on the great day of atonement. But this point has been discussed by abler pens than mine, and I pass on. The apostle Peter, Acts ii, in discoursing upon the promise of God in Joel, that in the last days his Spirit should be poured out upon his people, declares baptism in the name of Christ to be the condition upon which they were to receive the Holy Ghost, and adds in the 39th verse, “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

The gift of the Holy Spirit is for the express purpose of calling, and fitting those who are called, for the event contemplated in the scripture quoted at the head of this article.

In order that those who are called may understand the qualifications that will fit them for acceptance at the court of Heaven; the language of Canaan being too spiritual, and refined, to be understood in plain terms by man upon earth, God makes use of similies, by which to instruct us in the principles upon which our eternal felicity is based.

Among the similes thus used, I may notice as the first, that employed in the parable of the talents. “For the kingdom of Heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.” Matt. xxv, 14.

It were an honor to be chosen from the lowest walks of life to serve an earthly king, and become the objects of his especial favor. How much greater honor to become “servants of the most high God.” But, unlike the service rendered to an earthly prince, that which we render to God, is purely for our own benefit; and whatever profit may accrue from our services, will be returned to us compounded.

We are required to labor for the Lord, not because our help is needed, but because we need the pay. Sinner, is the pay sufficient? Will you become a servant of the Lord?

There are privileges that a servant, as such, cannot enjoy. It is an honor to be made a servant of God, but the Scriptures reveal the existence of a closer relation. “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” John xv, 15. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. Abraham was called the friend of God, because of his faith and obedience. See James ii, 23; Isa. xli, 8; 2 Chron. xx, 7.

It becomes us faithfully to comply with the conditions upon which the existence of friendship between God and ourselves is based. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” “Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God.” Let us rather cultivate the friendship of God, than court the praises of the world. If we keep the faith of the Lord Jesus, we may have in his person, “a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”

As the terms “servant,” and “friend,” do not express the only relation we sustain to God, I will introduce another simile by a quotation from 2 Tim. ii, 3; “Thou, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Clad in the armor of God, Eph. vi, 14, 17; disentangled from the world, 2 Tim. ii, 4; and engage in lawful warfare, 1 Tim. vi, 12; Eph. vi, 12; we may hope to be crowned with laurels at the court of Heaven. Who will enlist?

The last simile I shall introduce in this connection, may be presented in a quotation from Eph. vi; “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” Confiding with humble, childlike faith in God, exercising brotherly love toward each other, and kindness toward all, we may rightly claim this simile as applying to ourselves.

Who has not noticed a difference in the conduct of children? Some, by their winning manners and filial piety, endear themselves to all, and, especially, to their parents. With them, what father says is relied upon without the shadow of a doubt, and mother’s wish is law, securing prompt obedience.

But a mother may forget her child. “Yet will I not forget thee,” is the language of our Heavenly Father.

“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” O disobedient, wayward child of God, lament your filial ingratitude, and return to him who is waiting to receive you.

By faith, we look forward to a time when the guests all shall have been assembled, when the third angel’s message shall have done its work, and the number of the sealed made up. The King comes in to view the guests. Judgment upon the living saints begins, when some are found without the robes prepared by royal bounty, their names are stricken from the book of life, and themselves doomed to unutterable woe. Reader, will you be one of the number: or, will you earnestly watch unto prayer, that you may be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of Man?

What is the blessing pronounced upon the invited guests?

The marriage having been consummated, the Groom comes to earth with a retinue of angels, the living saints are changed, the dead are raised incorruptible, and Groom and guests return to the capital, where the King welcomes them to an inheritance incorruptible, and eternal. The guests assemble at a board spread by the bounty of God; and joy eternal fills the court of Heaven.

Servant, accept the ample compensation proffered by the King. When you rendered aid to your fellow-servant in distress, “You did it,” says Jesus, “unto me.”

Friend, no more are you to part from One whose friendship you once made your boast, though it were but to suffer reproach for his sake. Jesus will not now be ashamed of you before his Father, and the holy angels.

Soldier, your warfare is now ended. You have subdued your foes. Receive at once your bounty and your discharge. Hereafter you are to enjoy uninterrupted peace, as a citizen in the kingdom of God.

Children, dear children, you are in your Father’s house, you are at home. How the heart thrills at the word, sweet home. Oh! who would not be a stranger and pilgrim in this dark world, even for three score years and ten, if, at last, he but reach that blessed home,

“Where ’tis one bright summer, ever bland, And storms do never come.”

ADOLPHUS SMITH.