Revelation 19:7, commentary and pictures

The verse is a call for a great multitude to be glad and rejoice and give honor to God because the Lord God omnipotent reigns and the marriage of the Lamb is come after He has judged the great whore and avenged the blood of His servants. The marriage is the sacred close union of Christ the Lamb-Bridegroom with His people, and the wife who has made herself ready is the company of His followers, the church prepared for Him and invited to the feast. That readiness is being granted and arrayed in fine linen clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints, the righteousness of Christ received by faith and kept undefiled in place of all human worthiness. The marriage is consummated when Christ has finished His work of atonement and blotted out sin and gathered His kingdom, taking place in heaven before He returns, though those who held it as His second appearing taught it as His coming to unite with the redeemed and bring them home. Those who are ready will share heaven's song of praise with gladness and sit with Him at the supper, made ready by repentance, washing their robes white in His blood, and living in daily communion and obedience with Him.

Setting and Immediate Context

The call is to be glad and rejoice and give honor to God because the Lord God omnipotent reigns and the marriage of the Lamb is come. The marriage has arrived and the Lamb's wife is ready, and this rejoicing belongs to the time of heaven's rejoicing over God's righteous judgments and the Lord's reign. In the vision of Israel's restoration in the earth made new, the gladness, rejoicing and honor join the triumphant praise of the redeemed multitude.

The rejoicing is praise from His servants small and great, as the voice of a great multitude sounding like many waters and mighty thunderings saying Alleluia. It is sung after God has judged the great whore who corrupted the earth with fornication and has avenged the blood of His servants, showing His righteous judgments. The joyous shouts are heard in the great day when every case is brought up in review before God when it is too late for anything to be changed.

The verses that follow describe the wife as granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white. The linen is identified as the righteousness of the saints, the righteousness of the character of Christ given as a gift and kept undefiled. Those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb are blessed, and these are declared to be the true sayings of God.

The chapter stands among the final chapters of Revelation that call for careful study and are to be read and understood as part of a living, real message about events in the last days that will soon be fulfilled. It is a chapter that all who enforce worship of the beast upon men should read with fear and understanding. God overlooks and forgets nothing of the persecutions Christians have endured at the hands of those under apostate control, and seeking to compel men to do evil is a most heinous sin in His sight.

Bride and Marriage Meaning

The marriage stands for the sacred, close union between Christ the Lamb as Bridegroom and His people, looking forward to the rejoicing when He brings His bride home to the Father's house and the redeemed sit down with Him at the marriage supper. Its coming is the Bridegroom meeting His redeemed to bring them into the communion of heaven, and their glad rejoicing and honor to Him shines out even while the world is in darkness at His second appearing. Those who rejoice then are prepared because Christ has been their daily companion and familiar friend, they have lived in close, constant communion with God, the glory of the Lord has risen upon them and the light of the knowledge of God's glory in Christ has been reflected in them, so that they have heaven in their hearts.

The wife who has made herself ready is the company of Christ's followers, the church obeying God's word, God's children who cherish the hope of union with Him, the people prepared for Him and invited to the feast. Her readiness is shown in being granted clean, white fine linen, which is the righteousness of the saints and the righteousness of Christ's character, that a people may stand without fault before God. That readiness is gained by having the single aim to labor together with God and be complete in Christ, by faithfully trading on His entrusted goods, by having His grace in the heart and purifying every gift from dross, by beholding His glory to be changed from character to character, and by watching and keeping the garments.

The weight of the passages holds that the wife is the church and people of Christ, while those who held the other teaching held that the bride is the New Jerusalem, making the marriage in verses 7-9 a single event in heaven and not the ongoing union of believers with Christ throughout history. On that understanding the marriage takes place in heaven before Christ returns and before the just are raised, with the resurrection pictured as the birth of the children of the heavenly family.

The marriage supper is also the gospel feast supplied by God's grace, the Holy Spirit and the treasures of truth, with Christ as the Bread of life, the rich banquet and the mansions He has prepared for the faithful who are called to make ready. Christ's atoning death prepared that rich repast of truth for the world, and readiness is shown both by proclaiming the invitation to the supper and by wearing the wedding garment in the life lived. That garment is meekness, humility, truth and the robe of Christ's righteousness, which makes the soul whiter than snow yet covers no unrepented sin, for He saves from sin and not in sin. The wedding at Cana was meant to represent this supper of the Lamb as a figure, made as perfect a symbol as possible by leaving out the objectionable features that usually attend a marriage festival.

The wedding day is a joyful festal day whose arrival ends a long delay and waiting, when the bridal song is sung and countless harps join in praising the Lamb. The marriage hall is prepared, angels set the table and lay out the sacred bread, and the King calls His own to the feast to gather in heaven with guests seated in the heavenly hall. There the Lamb feasts with His own, sits with His bride wearing the spousal crown in the great upper room, the wedding robe is put on, and sorrow and weeping are past.

Prophetic Time and Fulfillment

The marriage is consummated and made complete when the work of atonement is finished and the judgment of the righteous dead and living is finished, when sins are blotted out and the subjects and heirs of the kingdom are gathered and prepared. Then the kingdom is given to Christ and to the heirs of salvation, and He reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords.

It takes place in heaven before Christ returns and before the just are raised, at a definite time marked by a change in His work as High Priest. He goes to the Father to receive the kingdom, and then returns from the wedding to receive His waiting people. Because He returns from the wedding, the marriage is in heaven before His return and just before the resurrection of the just, rather than being the whole period of union with believers through history.

The coming of the marriage is His coming to unite with the redeemed at His second appearing, when redemption draws near. Then the Bridegroom meets His redeemed to bring them into the communion of heaven, and they go out to meet Him with glad rejoicing while unsullied light shines from His splendor. Those invited to the marriage supper are blessed, and His companions are called and chosen and faithful, clothed in the wedding garment and ready to enter when He comes in glory.

The verse belongs to the testing truths for this time and to the last call of mercy and solemn warning for the closing scenes of earth's history now being lived. It is a living, real message about the last days, part of a chapter soon to be fulfilled, belonging to the account of Satan's defeat, God's righteous judgments, and the triumph of faithful people in the final conflict over God's law. It must be discerned and given by watchmen and ministers with a certain trumpet sound to awaken sleeping souls, and given more fully with power and elevating reverence in every place, in the most difficult fields and most sinful cities where the light has not yet dawned. God's long forbearance holds back judgments until all have heard, since many have not yet heard, and each period of fulfilled prophecy prepares for the advanced light succeeding it until prophecy ends in a perfect whole with Christ satisfied in the travail of His soul. To pass the message by without discerning and giving it brings eternal loss, and calls for whole-souled energy in sounding the last warning.

Righteous Garment of Readiness

Readiness is being granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints. That linen is the righteousness of Christ's character given as a gift and kept undefiled. The wife's making herself ready is shown in that granted clothing, marking the completion of the work that leads to final triumph and calling for gladness and honor to God. Through faith in Christ and His cleansing blood, servants may wash their character robes and be made ready for the Lamb.

The wedding garment is Christ's righteousness received by faith in place of human righteousness, which is as filthy rags. Those who attend have no worthiness of their own to secure a place; Christ alone makes them fit to sit at the feast and belong to heaven's family. Christ provides this robe and invites people to wear it, so that clothed in it they are prepared to meet the Bridegroom when He comes and enter the marriage supper. His righteousness is offered to everyone, including the lowliest who accepts Him as personal Saviour, making the receiver new and welcome at the feast. No one can enter rightly by relying on personal righteousness, for knowledge cannot remove sin or conceal its deformity.

The wife makes herself ready by repentance and conversion, by washing her robe of character and making it white in the blood of the Lamb and becoming like Christ. This readiness follows the final message of mercy and the call to receive the offered spiritual riches, white raiment, and sight, preparing a people to stand without fault before God. When every case is brought up in review before God, those so prepared are blessed as those called to the marriage supper.

Keeping the garment means watching and keeping it undefiled. Readiness is loving Christ by having and keeping His commandments, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. It is wearing meekness, humility, and truth with the righteousness of Christ while making ready for the great supper. Those made ready are tested day by day by the moral standard of God's holy law, discarding every defect until they are among those who have not defiled their garments and are worthy to walk with Christ in white. They have right to the tree of life and to enter through the gates into the city.

Worldly riches and earthly honor cannot give anyone a title to heaven's honor and glory. Those who reject the truth and cover themselves with infidel ideas and theories cannot wear that garment or enter the supper, and they are accountable for the light and privileges received. Those who rely on their own wisdom and neglect the teachings of Christ will find their lamps going out and will lack what is needed to enter. Building a great reputation by self-exaltation and boasting is worthless in heaven's estimation and abhorrent to God, and if worn to the supper it would be seen to be only the dress of a civilian, unfit for the feast.

Joy of the Celebration

The celebration is heaven's song of praise and thanksgiving with gladness and rejoicing and honor to God over the marriage of the Lamb come and His wife made ready. It joins that gladness and rejoicing and honor to the triumphant praise that the Lord God omnipotent reigns. In the vision of Israel's restoration in the earth made new, it expresses the joy and worship of the redeemed multitude. The wedding celebration belongs to the song of praise heard in heaven.

The unsanctified cannot join that song or enjoy heaven, because its praise and holiness are out of harmony with their characters, tastes and desires. The wicked are raised with the characters they formed during probation, not changed into saints. They cannot enjoy heaven's worship and companionship.

Those who are ready will be happy when Christ comes in glory while the world is plunged in darkness and the wicked flee from His presence. Unsullied light will shine from His splendor, and Christ the Redeemer will be admired by all who have served Him, as they rejoice in the undimmed rays of the brightness and glory of the King in His majesty. He will lead them beside living waters, God will wipe away their tears, they will share the Lamb's joy and receive life without end in undimmed brightness. The coming of the marriage means the Bridegroom meeting His redeemed, whose redemption draws near, to bring them into the communion of heaven.

Those invited to the marriage supper are blessed. Christ's companions are called and chosen and faithful.

Practical Preparation for Supper

Readiness for the supper is shown in a practical life of love for Jesus and for the people for whom He died, in being in right relation to God while helping others, and in a life shaped by truth into Christlike character while holding firmly to the true banner of faith and remaining faithful to God. The wedding garment in which the wife is arrayed is Christ's righteousness granted to His people, received in place of human righteousness described as filthy rags, and the clean white linen is the righteousness of the saints. Gladness and honor to God belong with this readiness because the Lamb's marriage has come and His wife has made herself ready.

The saints are prepared because Christ has been a daily companion and familiar friend, because they have lived in close constant communion with God, and because they have heaven in their hearts. The glory of the Lord has risen upon them, and the light of the knowledge of God's glory in Christ has been reflected in them. Their rejoicing is the glad praise of Christ's followers at His second appearing while the world is in darkness, when redemption draws near and the Bridegroom meets His redeemed to bring them into the communion of heaven.

Making herself ready means having only one aim to labor together with God and be complete in Christ, faithfully trading on entrusted goods, having the grace of Christ in the heart with every gift purified from dross, beholding the Lord to be changed from character to character, and watching and keeping the garments which are the righteousness of Christ's character. It means earnest, frequent and laborious self-examination of spirit, habits, temper, appetites and practice, discarding every defect as weak or rotten timber is discarded, becoming more and more like Christ in purity, peace, kindness, goodness, love and truth, tested day by day by the moral standard of God's holy law so as to be among those who have not defiled their garments and are worthy to walk with Christ in white. It means holy fear of God with cheerful holy obedience to all His requirements, holy generous dispositions revealing heaven-born love with gratitude, faith, truth, confidence in God, purity of motive, care for souls, prayer, labor and communicative goodness from Christ abiding in the soul, with hungering desire after God, putting away coldness, weakness of principle, extra adornment in dress, forced allegiance, and all surliness and discourtesy toward brethren. Those thus made ready are granted fine linen clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints, with right to the tree of life and entrance through the gates into the city.

Readiness is more than knowing the truth; it is being sanctified through the truth, remaining in living connection with God, and building godly character by doing good, so that the prepared enter the marriage supper and stand on the right side when the door is shut. It is becoming like Christ by beholding Him, with personal experience of sin and of need for Jesus as personal Saviour, for theoretical knowledge alone cannot save. Surrender to God, sins washed away, a new heart, and keeping the garments belong with preparation for the Lamb's marriage. While Christ is in the heavenly holy of holies as High Priest, His waiting people keep their garments spotless, fix their faith on Him, and seek the Holy Spirit whose presence brings light, power, love, joy and peace.

Being ready is present work of warning the world of the coming of the Son of man and proclaiming the invitation to the marriage supper everywhere, in the highways and hedges to high and low, rich and poor, by house-to-house work and by young men going forth as canvassers, evangelists and physicians in medical missionary work. The marriage is prepared by Christ's atoning death providing redemption as a rich repast of truth, and believers put on the wedding garment, the robe of Christ's righteousness, not living to please themselves but working as Christ worked, testifying both by the message borne and the life lived to the atoning death that prepared the feast.

Readiness is hindered when minds become absorbed in commercial interests such as erecting food factories, food stores and restaurants and the proclamation of the message is neglected. Worldly amusements, pleasures and outward display with their influence distract from accepting the call to the marriage supper and from receiving the white robe of character, which is the righteousness of Christ. The supper is a rich banquet far above cheap worldly entertainments, and Christ with infinite love draws sinners to partake in life, peace, joy and satisfaction; the believing soul must receive His mercy and love and be clothed in His righteousness, which makes the soul whiter than snow yet covers no unrepented sin, for He saves from sin and not in sin. Unless restaurant work is managed to save souls those engaged in it will lose interest in present truth, so decided plans must keep as far as possible from the snares of food speculation, with prayer and watching and attention to real soul-saving results.

The call to readiness applies to those responsible in the church and its printing office to humble themselves before God, search their hearts, and be cleansed and transformed. The final chapters of Revelation call for careful study, and this searching of heart belongs with preparation for the marriage of the Lamb.