The Wedding Guests

[8thdaypriest]

If Jesus is the groom/husband, and Israel redeemed is "the bride"/Lamb's wife, then who are the "guests" at the wedding feast? 

Or - is the New Jerusalem the "bride" and the redeemed are the guests. 

But then why would Paul say, "I have betrothed you to one husband" the one who rose from the dead"?  That rather implies that the redeemed ARE "the bride". 

Does anyone have any real insight on this? 

 

[JoeMo]

I have pondered this as well; but have not come to a definite conclusion.  Some of the scenarios I have pondered:

- All of saved humanity is the Bride; and angels are the guests.

- The 144,000 are the Bride; and angels and the rest of the saved are the guests

- Those saved at the beginning of the millennium are the bride; those saved in the 8th millennium are the guests.

- Guests may or may not include the unfallen (or saved) races from other planets.

[8thdaypriest]

NKJ  Matthew 22:2 "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 "and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 "Again, he sent out other servants, saying,`Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding."' 5 "But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 "And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 "But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

8 "Then he said to his servants,`The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 `Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.' 10 "So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 "So he said to him,`Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13 "Then the king said to the servants,`Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."

In this parable, those first "invited" as GUESTS appear to be the Jews (or Israelites), but they refused or ignored the invitation.     Those from the "highways", invited later, appear to be FROM EARTH (not angels or those from other planets). 

The "wedding garment" was given to those invited, but the person had to put it on.  Rev 7:14 speaks of those who have "washed their robes and made them white, in the blood of the Lamb).

It appears - we are all INVITED to be GUESTS.  

Maybe we are BOTH "guests" AND "bride".   

[8thdaypriest]

Revelation 19:7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, "Write:`Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." (NKJ)

The New Jerusalem, appears to be the Lamb's "wife". 

 "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God"  (Rev 21:9 NKJ)

She is glorified BY "the righteous acts of the saints". 

Are the citizens OF the City part of "her" and therefore also "the bride"? 

2 Corinthians 11:2 "I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." (NRS)

So Paul understood faithful believers to be part of "the bride", which is why He called "the church", "the body of Christ".  Christ is HEAD of all things to the church, as a husband is HEAD of his own wife, and she is like his own body. 

I guess the parable about the wedding "guests" was just a different way of describing "the kingdom".  

 

[8thdaypriest]

What about the parable of the "virgins" with their lamps?

Matthew 25:1 "At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 "At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' 7 "Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.' 9 "'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.' 10 "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 "Later the others also came. 'Lord, Lord,' they said, 'open the door for us!' 12 "But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I don't know you.' 13 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour." (NIV)

The 5 wise "virgins" appear to be GUESTS at the wedding feast.  And the "bridegroom" comes FROM the wedding, NOT for the wedding.  He comes to take them to the "wedding feast". 

Anciently the "marriage" covenant was made between the father of the groom, and the father of the bride.  After that, the groom went back to the family compound to "prepare a place" for his bride - a separate apartment or dwelling just for him and his bride, but within the family compound ("in My Father's house").  When that "place" was prepared, THEN the groom would come for his "bride" to take her back to the family compound.  Then a week long feast would be celebrated, at which time the "marriage" would be consummated. 

In the case of Christ and His bride,  the "marriage" contract has already been made between God the Father and Jesus Christ (our "father" who created us).  We are now in the waiting time, until the "place for us" is finished.  Then (IF true to the parable and ancient marriage custom) we should go to the Father's House, to the New Jerusalem. 

Hebrews 11:16 "Instead, they were longing for a better country-- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." (NIV)

Here's another possibility. 

Maybe the invited "guests" BECOME the "wife" when the "new covenant" is consummated. 

Ezekiel 36:24 "For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 "Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. (NKJ)

It looks like the "new covenant" becomes FULL reality AFTER Israel redeemed is "gathered" and returned to "the land".  Right now - we are betrothed, but we must be "faithful" to our intended "husband".

Could it be?  The "new covenant" is consummated at this point, and the New Jerusalem descends to earth - to cover "the land" promised to the Seed of Abraham.

[Gail]

I see some overlap, too.  To me, it's like describing Jesus or the kingdom of God. Biblically the kingdom is not one thing but understood many ways.

[Ron Amnsn]

On 5/15/2017 at 10:01 AM, 8thdaypriest said:

In this parable, those first "invited" as GUESTS appear to be the Jews (or Israelites), but they refused or ignored the invitation.     Those from the "highways", invited later, appear to be FROM EARTH (not angels or those from other planets). 

It is likely that Jesus and those who first heard the parable thought of the King as Jewish King, and the wedding as a Jewish wedding.  Both the original guests and the replacement guests would have been Jewish in their minds because that's who gets invited to a Jewish wedding.  The only person who probably would have been thought of as Gentile would have been the man who didn't want to wear the Jewish wedding garment.

However, if the point of the parable had been racial (Jews vs Gentiles) there probably would have been specific clues to that effect.  The point doesn't seem to be Jewishness vs Gentileness, but rather self-sufficiency vs obedience.  The people who thought they deserved to be invited to the wedding at the King's house turned out to be unworthy.  The common people who never would have imagined that they would be invited to a wedding feast at the King's house are the one's who actually participated in the feast.  The man who thought he didn't need the provided wedding garment got cast out of the festivities.

[Ron Amnsn]

This thread seems to assume that all the wedding/marriage metaphors in the Bible are part of a single metaphor.  That may be the case.  However, it may also not be the case.  Metaphors that get over-extended often teach weird theology.