"For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from
them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee."

"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."

THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH!
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is a thrilling Biblical revelation. That we, the redeemed, will be present at
such a ceremony, in a Bridal relationship to the very Son of God, is sensational news! That this will happen to
you and me is attested to by the Lord God Almighty in a special way. The Scriptures say in Rev. 19:9, "Blessed
are they that are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb." And note the assurance from the Lord God in the
next line,"And he saith unto me. These are the true sayings of God." In Revelation 19 the Bible shows "a great
voice of much people in Heaven" crying "hallelujah," and rejoicing because "the Marriage of the Lamb is come,
and the wife hath made herself ready." What an announcement. A HALLELUJAH CHORUS cries out the
"wedding bands"  - "the marriage will take place between the Church of the Redeemed ones and the Saviour,
the Lamb who died for their sin. To be held in Glory, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

HOW CAN WE BE SURE WE ARE READY TO MEET THE BRIDEGROOM?
A heretical preacher in our own area is now teaching that women who have short hair, wear make-up or who
wear gold jewellery, will NOT go in the Rapture! This sort of Scripture twisting should never be even entertained
by a born-again Christian. It is not true! Others will tell their suffering congregations that if they are not "spotless"
and "without wrinkle" then they too will be left by the Lord, and will have to go into the Tribulation. Thus they
would not be at the Marriage Supper, for this takes place in glory whilst the Tribulation is happening on earth,
after the believers have been taken.

The Bible does not want us to be confused by frightening heresy. Those who will go in the Rapture are ALL who
have been saved by the shed Blood of the Lamb. How do we know this? There are many verses, just one verse
for now, "we shall ALL be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump..." ALL those who
are in Christ will put on immortality and be translated to meet the Lord in the air. They will then go on to the
Marriage Supper, which occurs in heaven (Rev.19:7-10). How do we make ourselves ready? Has this got to do
with being without spot and wrinkle?

Ephesians 5:26,27: "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; That he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but it should be holy and
without blemish."

This verse has to do with the imputed righteousness of Christ Himself, i.e. God has accounted the
righteousness of Christ to our accounts, we are declared without spot and wrinkle, holy and without blemish IN
CHRIST and His sacrifice. No one has to prepare themselves to be spotless enough to be taken in the Rapture,
we are spotless in Christ (John 3:3-6). This commentary from Scofield is helpful:

Ephesians 5:25: "Christ's labour of love is threefold: past, present and future: for love He gave Himself to
redeem the Church (v.25); in love He is sanctifying the Church (v.26); and for the reward of His sacrifice and
labour of love He will present 'the Church to Himself in flawless perfection,' 'one pearl of great price' (v.27; Matt
13;46)"

Although we are Raptured by GRACE alone, we do not want to go before the Lord with unconfessed sin in our
lives, and a fruitless life being all that we have lived! Remember that we will go to the BEMA SEAT of Christ
after the Rapture, which is the judgement seat for the receiving of rewards, or the loss of rewards. These
"crown" rewards we will be able to cast before the feet of Jesus Christ - if we receive any, that is [Rev.4:10-11; II
Cor.5:10].

AT THE MARRIAGE SUPPER?
Are we to get ourselves ready for the Marriage Supper, after the Rapture?
Yes, we are told in Revelation 19:7,8 this: "...and his wife has 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."

How do we get ready? Now remember this is AFTER we are Raptured, we are going to the Marriage feast
then, not waiting to go to the Rapture. The "fine linen" is not the righteousness of Christ imputed to our account
in the verse above, it is "the righteousness of saints."

Where do we clothe ourselves as the Bride, and when? We do not do it at all on earth, because the Bible shows
we do not put on the wedding robes until after the Church has been judged at the Judgement Seat, the Bema
Seat, of Christ (I Cor. 3:11-15).  What happens at that Bema Seat?

All the false works of the Church will be consumed by fire, and this is the trial of faith spoken of in I Peter 1:7.
The "fine linen" is our righteous acts which have survived the trial by fire at the Bema Seat; these will be the
beautiful white garments which will clothe the saints of God at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

If you allow God to have all of your life here on earth, and trust Jesus Christ to sanctify you by His very Life, then
all your service and works for God will not be burnt up. There will be "fine linen" for your wedding garment left.
But if you live mostly for self, you will be saved all right and go in the Rapture, but how ashamed you will be at
the Judgement Seat of Christ, when hardly anything is left!

WILL THERE BE A HONEYMOON?
We will have a "honeymoon" for a thousand years! After the wedding, the
Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ, will set up the Millennial Reign on earth, and God will give Him the throne of
David. And the Bride, the Church, will reign with Him a thousand years. Not only will the earth be blessed by the
Presence of the King of kings, but also by the glorified Church as His consort. (Rev.20:6).

WHO IS THE BRIDE?
Is the Bride made up of the Old Testaments saints, and the Church of the New Testament? Some say so, but
that cannot be for the Church is the Bride, and the Church of Jesus Christ did not exist until the Day of
Pentecost. So the Bride is comprised of all those who lived and died in Christ between Pentecost and the end
of the Church Age, the Rapture (John 3:29; Acts 2:47).

WILL THERE BE WITNESSES AND GUESTS AT THE MARRIAGE SUPPER?
There will be. Who are they? The Old Testament saints will be guests, there will be the Blood Washed multitude
also, who were martyred in the Tribulation period. All the righteous of other dispensations will be there, all those
who do not make up the Christian Church itself. Angels could also be spectators. We will see there Abel, Seth,
Noah, Enoch, Moses, David, John the Baptist, Abraham, Job, and the prophets of old. And there will be
multitudes who are not well-known personalities, but who are well-known to God. Christ brought out this truth
about the guests in His parable of the King's son (Matthew 22;10).

"Blessed are they who are called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb." (Rev.19:9).

Some will tell us that we should be satisfied with the rich experiences of grace, and that in these we are
constantly receiving more of Christ. Yet, we Christians long for the LORD Himself. He has promised that He will
come back in the same way that He left, bodily and visibly (Acts 1:11). We will not be disappointed, for the
Bridegroom will come. We can never be satisfied as the Bride with any gifts or fruit of the Holy Spirit alone, any
more than an earthly bride could be satisfied with wedding gifts, if there were no bridegroom. The promise of
the Lord's coming back for His Church is the most precious truth that Scriptures contain - that is to the Bride
who is enraptured already by her in her heart by her Saviour and Lord.

"Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom he
raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." (I Thess. 1:9,10).

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ."
[Titus 2:13].
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W. B. Howard ...Editor of Despatch

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