08_05 The Marriage of the Lamb

Document #08_05, The Marriage of the Lamb, clarifies our understanding of who are the wedding guests (the five wise virgins) and who make up the bride of Jesus! How will the bride “make herself ready?” and why will she be granted “that she should be arrayed in pure and white linen, which is the righteousness of saints?”
Which group will you be found in?
The 5 foolish? (sadly, LOST!) or, the 5 wise? (who carry the 4 Angel’s Messages till they die) or, the Lamb’s Bride? (who, readied by preparation, are severely tested and proved, keeping themselves virgins for Jesus until He Comes in the clouds of the angels of heaven to take her to His father’s house for the wedding celebration!)

Scripture Text: Revelation 12:1-6, 14-17

Title: The Marriage of the Lamb

Today I’d like to carefully consider the Marriage of the Lamb with you. We must go all the way back to Adam and Eve to lay the right foundation for our study. Here is that foundation. Listen: After the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, God chose repentant Eve to be symbolic of the church, throughout the existence of the earth under the influence of fallen human nature. Genesis 3:15 says that there was to be “enmity”
between Satan and the woman, meaning between Satan and the church, throughout the history of the earth.
This truth unveils the true interpretation of Revelation 12, which we read together for Scripture reading. Revelation 12 is a brief history of the church, looking from the other end of time, even our time. The church, personified as a woman, brought forth the Son of God, and He was taken up to God and to His throne. Jesus won the war between Satan and Himself, for heaven and the rest of the universe, at His death. Rev.12:10 says that then came salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God,
and the power of His Christ: for Satan was then cast out of all of the rest of the Universe, no longer having any access to it (such as is revealed in the book of Job) because the murder of Jesus revealed Satan as a murderer. Satan was cast out into the earth, where sin is quarantined, till it can be safely destroyed.

After Jesus was caught up to the throne of His Father, the church Jesus instituted was forced to flee into the wilderness, but now, with the power of love for Jesus, able to reject Satan’s dominion. The pure woman overcame Satan in each member of the body, by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony – faith in the truth of the Bible.

But: in Revelation 17, Jesus reveals another church, a fallen church. Turn to Revelation 17, verses 1 to 6. (read) Her fornication with the kings of the earth, verse 2, refers to her courting their wealth and power, instead of God’s, while professing to be married to Christ!

Yes, she is a church, a great church, in the earth, but she is not God’s church, in her heart! Only the church of Revelation 12 is Jesus’ church in her heart – keeping His Commandments and having His testimony to her in her mind and heart.

I want you to notice carefully the word used in Rev.17 which describes the fallen woman’s relations with the political powers of the earth as God sees them in His heart.

It is the word “fornication.” This word is defined in the dictionary with only one, distinct definition: “Voluntary sexual intercourse between unmarried persons.” The fallen church, this fallen woman, professes that it is married to God. But by this one word, God says she is not His wife, but rather is unmarried. He never took her as His wife! Why? Because she prostitutes herself, having relations with other lovers, symbolically, and God will not accept her as His wife!

Note also verse 5 of Revelation 17. (read) This fallen woman (this fallen church) has illegitimate children, who also became harlots as they grew up! After the historical period known as the Reformation, these other churches began to act as she acted, having relations with political powers of the earth to enforce their dogmas, like their mother did: yet they also profess to be married to Christ.

Now, really take note of this:
The marriage of the Lamb (Biblically) is not till the time of the Judgment of “the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication.” Turn to Revelation 19, v.2, and vs.7-9, which are in the same time-frame. (read).

The true church, in contrast to these harlot churches, has betrothed herself to God, and wishes to be true only to Him. She is, in today’s word, engaged (betrothed) to Him, and He to her! Remember? Jesus refers to Himself as the Bridegroom in symbolism: see Mt.9:15. She is keeping herself from any relations with anyone else, especially with false gods! She is a pure woman, by choice. And God tells us He will marry her!
This will be the Marriage of the Lamb!

Now we must look at an especially important point, and emphasize it. The pure woman of Revelation 12 represents the ongoing church of true believers, continually, throughout the history of the earth. What some go through, is made part of the experience of the members in following times, even though they did not suffer those same things.
For example, Luther began the Reformation by proclaiming that “The just shall live by faith,” not by works. We accept his teaching as our own. Is it not true that although we did not suffer the Great Disappointment in 1844, we accept by faith, as our own, the triumph of the faith of our Adventist pioneers, and go on from there? We accept the light of the past true movements, all of them, and go forward to completethe plan of God. Thus, the pure woman continues all the way from Eve,
down through Moses’ time, then the time of Jesus, and on through the New Testament era, as if only one woman was experiencing all that the church has gone through. At the end of the era, at the end of all things, when she is fully reformed, and tested, she will marry Jesus, the Lamb of God!

Now: Revelation 19: verses 6 to 9. (read):
The Lamb’s wife-to-be will finally have made herself ready! She is the remnant church of Revelation 12:17. “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the Commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (They fully understand His testimony to her).

When will the true church marry Jesus? When she has made herself ready and when God has granted to her that she should be arrayed in pure white linen, which is the righteousness of saints (through Christ living in her members).

This can only be after she has survived the yet coming war with the alliance of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. (Rev.16:13, 14). That is her final test.

Who, then, will make up the church, the symbolic woman Christ shall marry?

It can only be the fully tested woman, the 144,000, those who refuse to keep the mark of the “beast”, which is intimate relations (by worship) with the Sun-god, the god of Sun-day, which the “beast” has deceived all the world into worshipping. This “beast” is the fallen woman, along with her harlot daughters! The 144,000 will also refuse to worship the beast’s “image,” the idol of Mary, which WILL be worshipped by all the world! See Rev. 13, verses 14 and 15!

The final remnant, the pure woman, keeps the Commandments of God, including the Sabbath Commandment, despite the war with the three allied powers: Satan, with the unbelieving nations; the “beast,” with the fallen professed Christian nations; and the false prophet, fallen Protestant America.

The true remnant stand firm: 1. by their love for Jesus: 2. by the faith of Jesus in the written Word of God, and 3. by the testimony of Jesus to His church, especially Daniel and the book of Revelation! These are the keys to our success as the remnant church! Let me list them again.
(repeat above paragraph).

All who stand firm for Jesus are invited to the wedding feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb. But only those who survive the war with Satan’s alliance and live to see Jesus come, will marry Him. Only they go through the baptism that only the 144,000 can go through, enduring against the power of every alliance against God’s church that Satan can muster!
They are not defiled with women. Rev.14:4. This is not in reference to male sexual relations with women. The 144,000 are the final true church, the symbolic “woman!”
Do you see the real meaning of “they are not defiled with women?” The remnant are not defiled by becoming harlots like the rest of the symbolic women. The remnant are keeping themselves “virginal,” refusing to have relations with political powers or other gods, even though surrounded in the world by harlot churches, and despite ridicule and persecution. They keep themselves pure virgins by decisive action. They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes. They follow the Lamb into the Most Holy, and there discover the Judgment Hour message, and the neglected Law of God.

The rest of the verse says that these were redeemed from among men, just as you and I are; brought out of the error and deceptions of the “beast” by believing the testimony of Jesus. Further, they become the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb, finally without fault before the throne of God, having been fully tested by trial and suffering in the warfare with the trinity of evil!

Allow me now to illustrate the need for the baptism of trial by reading from Early Writings, pages 235 and 236. This describes the time of the end of the 2300 days:
“I saw,” says the prophet, “that if professed Christians had loved their Saviour’s appearing; if they had placed their affections on Him, and felt that there was none upon the earth to be compared with Him, they would have hailed with joy the first intimation of His Coming. But the dislike which they manifested, as they heard of their Lord’s coming, was a decided proof that they did not love Him. Satan and his angels triumphed, and cast it in the face of Christ and His holy angels, that His
professed people had so little love for Jesus that they did not desire His second appearing.

I saw the people of God [however], joyful in expectation, looking for their Lord.
But God designed to prove them. His hand covered a mistake in the reckoning of the prophetic periods. [Daniel’s 2300 days – Daniel 8:14 – there is an extra year to add, by adding together part-year time at the beginning and end of the prophecy.]

Those who were looking for their Lord [in 1843] did not discover this mistake; and the most learned men who opposed the time also failed to see it. God designed that His people should meet with a disappointment.

The time passed [1843] and those who had looked with joyful expectation for their Saviour, were sad and disheartened; while those who had not loved the appearing of Jesus, but embraced the message through fear, were pleased that He did not come at the time of expectation. Their profession had not affected the heart and purified the
life. The passing of the time was well calculated to reveal such hearts. They were the first to turn and ridicule the sorrowful, disappointed ones who really loved the appearing of their Saviour. I saw the wisdom of God in proving His people, and giving them a searching test to discover those who would shrink and turn back in the hour of trial.”

The year later, when the time period of 2300 years actually ended, and after “the Midnight Cry,” – “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him,” are these words from Early Writings, page 243:
“They expected Him to come and longed for His appearing. They did not cast one lingering look to earth. But again a cloud settled upon the waiting ones, and I saw them turn their weary eyes downward. I enquired the cause of this change. Said my accompanying angel, “They are again disappointed in their expectations. Jesus cannot yet come to earth. They must endure greater trials for His sake. They must give up errors and traditions received from men and turn wholly to God and His
Word. They must be purified, made white, and tried. Those who endure that bitter trial will obtain an eternal victory.”

And now, for us, I read from Early Writings, page 254:
“As the ministration of Jesus closed in the Holy Place, and He passed into the Holiest, and stood before the ark containing the Law of God, He sent another mighty angel with a third message to the world. [Revelation 14: 9-11 – The 3rd Angel’s Message!]

A parchment was placed in the angel’s hand, and, as he descended to the earth in power and majesty, he proclaimed a fearful warning, with the most terrible threatening ever borne to man! This message was designed to put the children of God upon their guard [avoid the mark of the beast and worship of his image!] by showing them the hour of temptation and anguish that was before them. Said the angel, “They will be brought into close combat with the beast and his image. Their only hope of eternal life is to remain steadfast. Although their lives are at stake, they must hold fast the truth.”

But friends, rejoice! Close to the end, we shall have the promise of God of the Latter Rain! Listen to this amazing SUPPLEMENT by Mrs. White on pages 85 and 86 of Early Writings:
“Dear Christian Friends: As I have given a brief sketch of my experience and views, published in 1851, it seems to be my duty to notice some points in that little work, also to give more recent views.

On page 33 is given the following: “I saw that the holy Sabbath is, and will be, the separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers; and that the Sabbath is the great question to unite the hearts of God’s dear, waiting saints. I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And, at the commencement of “the time of trouble,” [Daniel 12:1 – my emphasis] we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully.” …”The commencement of that time of trouble,” here mentioned, does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period [the Trumpets!- warning that the close of probation, and the final day of Judgment – the Day of Atonement, will follow, just before the Plagues are poured out] while Christ is [still] in the Sanctuary. At that time, while the work of
salvation is closing, trouble will be coming on the earth, and the nations will be angry, yet held in check [by the Trumpets!] so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. At that time the “latter rain,” or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel [the “loud cry!”] and prepare the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out.

Also, from p.272 I read: “Great power was with these chosen ones. Said the angel, ‘Look ye!’ My attention was turned to the wicked and unbelievers. They were all astir. The zeal…and power…with the people of God had aroused and enraged them. Confusion, confusion, was on every side. I saw measures taken against the company who had the light and power of God. Darkness thickened around them; yet they stood firm, approved of God, and trusting in Him. I saw them perplexed; next, I
heard them crying unto God earnestly. Day and night their cry ceased not: ‘Thy will, O God, be done! If it can glorify Thy name, make a way of escape for Thy people! Deliver us from the heathen around about us. They have appointed us unto death; but Thine arm can bring salvation.’ These are all the words which I can bring to mind. All seemed to have a deep sense of their unworthiness and manifested entire submission to the will of God; yet, like Jacob, every one, without an exception, was earnestly pleading and wrestling for deliverance [known as the time of Jacob’s trouble].
Soon after they had commenced their earnest cry, the angels, in sympathy, desired to go to their deliverance. But a tall, commanding angel suffered them not. He said, ‘The will of God is not yet fulfilled. They must drink of the cup. They must be baptized with the baptism.'”
It is during this time, that the Marriage of the Lamb will take place. It is this final trial of faith, the baptism with which Jesus Himself was baptized (in the Gethsemane experience) that makes them one with Him.
They feel that the full guilt of their own past sins may crush out their life! (the real “Jacob’s trouble”). This baptism consummates the marriage. Christ becomes one with His people!
What is marriage? It is when two people become one in spirit! When, because of love, and by set choice, they unite in common purpose, sealed by a covenant of marriage.
“I saw,” says Ellen White, “that while Jesus was in the Most Holy Place, He would be married to the New Jerusalem [Rev.3:12; middle of the verse – “write the name of the city…”] and after His work should be accomplished in the Holiest, He would descend to the earth in Kingly power and take to Himself the precious ones who had patiently waited His return.” Page 251. These are His Bride!

Those who are resurrected from the dead, at His Advent or Coming, will be the innumerable multitude who are “called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!” They will be the “guests” at the wedding feast.

Those who went in with Him, by faith, into the Most Holy Place, as the light of the third angel’s message was received by them and they began to keep all of the Commandments of God, will have gone one giant step further. They overcome all sin in their lives by submitting fully to the Spirit of Jesus on the throne in their minds, refusing to do anything but that that will please Him. (Read Philippians 2:12-16, which will thus be fulfilled in them!) The way to this experience, I believe, is to study to understand all of your Message, everything to do with the 3 Angel’s Messages, from the books of Revelation and Daniel, through the teaching of Holy Spirit – the Spirit of prophecy. We must use Holy Spirit’s prescription for Bible Study in this work, in order to fully discern truth from errors and traditions.

Isaiah 28, vs. 9 and 10 says, “Whom will He (Holy Spirit) teach knowledge, and make to understand doctrine? …line upon line, line upon line, (repeated for emphasis) here a little, there a little,” like William Miller did! Then we will shine as lights in the world, and can be prepared of God to be among the 144,000! Strive to be among the
144,000, if you would be at least called unto the Marriage Supper! Jesus will marry those who can pass the final terrible test!

By the special trials we might endure for Jesus’ sake, those who endure to the end will prove their oneness with Jesus, their full commitment to His will. Holy Spirit will be fully and continuously on the throne in their minds – thus, “Christ in you, the hope of glory!”

The stakes for us in this are very high. Those who fail to stand for Jesus against the trinity of evil (Rev.16:13, 14) will lose their eternal inheritance. Those who succeed, however, will achieve the greatest level of character development ever witnessed in history. They will have gained perfect knowledge of the ways of the God they serve. They will have partaken of the nature of Christ and will have become one with Him
in all things. The Covenant will thus have its full effect in their mortal lives. All sin will be overcome by choice and by Christ’s power from the throne in their minds!

Do you want that experience? Like it or not, we are in the time of the Sealing! We can only choose right now which side we will be on. Soon it will be too late to try to choose. Will you choose, today, to stand for Christ and the truth. or will you betray your Lord and Saviour for a few pieces of money?…or for worldly position?…or for possessions?…or for freedom from persecution by the powers of evil?

I set before you, and myself, what Jesus sets before us. CHOOSE! Will it be life eternal, or death eternal? Choose now, and keep choosing day by day. I want eternal life with Jesus in His kind of Kingdom. I’m making that choice day by day. Will you?

Let’s kneel before our Maker, and pray together. Our Father in heaven, we have received the light from the 1844 movement that You ordained to carry the messages of the 3 Angels (and the 4th angel also) to this dark world that doesn’t know that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand and they must make themselves ready! By the Spirit of prophecy, we know that the greatest test of Your people is almost upon us. Jesus is able to carry us through to the Marriage of the Lamb! Father, give us the zeal that we need now to carry the messages of Revelation 14 to our friends, relatives, and neighbours, before it is too late, both for them and for us! Amen.

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