Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
The reason for the rapture lies in the glorious reality of the marriage supper of the Lamb. This is a picture as rich in fruitful suggestion as any in the New Testament. It says so much to us about the nature of the spiritual life. In Eastern lands then - and even today - marriage was a much more elaborate system than ours, and had several distinct stages. First of all there was the betrothal, corresponding to our 'engagement' but much more binding, almost as binding indeed as marriage itself. In it the terms of the marriage are accepted in the presence of witnesses, and God's blessing is pronounced upon the union. Then there comes the interval between the betrothal and the wedding feast, during which the bridegroom pays the marriage present to the father of the bride. At the close of the interval, the bridegroom, in wedding attire, accompanied by friends, proceeds to the house of the betrothed. He receives the bride, now prepared and adorned, and conveys her to his own house where the wedding feast, including the marriage supper, takes place. All this underlines the relationship between Christ and His Church. It is not so much that human marriage is the pattern of which our relationship to Christ is an example, as vice versa -the latter is the reality, of which human marriage is a faint shadow and illustration, and which gives meaning to it. The Church, thus, is now betrothed to Christ; the 'interval' is the waiting time between Christ's first and second comings. Thus, the blessed hope of the Christian is the hope of the glorious consummation. The hymn 'the Church's one foundation' is particularly useful as a commentary on these ideas: 'From Heaven He came and sought her To be His holy bride With His own blood He bought her, And for her life He died.'