THE MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN

     Rev. 19:7 - "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready."
     "The marriage is come!" The betrothal period has expired. Joyous anticipation has become reality, and all sorrows have faded into everlasting obscurity. The Bridal chamber is made ready, and every detail has, in perfect minuteness, been taken care of. Beloved little flocks, your troubles and trials are eternally behind you, and the joy of that royal day will erase all negative remembrances from your mind.
Eph. 5:25-27 - "Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; 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 that it should be holy and without blemish." The marriage has come, and the Bride is ready. Her virginity and maidenhood has been preserved by tenacious adherence to the word and conjugal promise of her loving and faithful Groom.
     The Bride knew that this most glorious of all days had been approaching since her Groom left the earth, and this bright prospect enlivened her patience and comforted her in suffering. All of her earthly adversities and afflictions were preparing her for this great day, and now she is ready, dressed in fine linen, clean and white (Rev. 19:8).
     The Bridegroom, ere He left the scenes of time, gave His Bride many "I will" promises, one of which was: "I will come again and receive you unto Myself" (John 14:3). I call your attention to the term "unto Myself' in the text.  It is a term which denotes special endearment and designed exclusiveness. It is not addressed to Abraham, nor to Moses or David, nor to an archangel, but it applies solely to Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom. It is to Him the Bride is to be gathered. And with Him, she shall eternally experience an intimacy that is infinite and cannot in so great a degree be experienced by any other. Nay, not Israel, the elect angels, nor the family of God, but it is unto "Himself, and to none other, that Christ the Bridegroom gathers His virgin and precious Bride.
     As Deity, or the God-man, Christ is going to present His meek and faithful Bride to Himself in the marriage chamber of glory, and her radiance will be second only to that of her glorious and incomparable Groom.  By this heavenly marriage, the Bridal church is elevated to the very highest and solitary place that shall ever be accorded any of God's creatures. But let us note, the Scripture says: "... Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:9). It is the universal consensus that a Bride does not need an invitation to her own wedding, but she has much to do with preparing the guest list.
     Now, I ask: "If every saved person is in the Bride, where does this great host of guests come from?". Regeneration does not put one into the church, but it does, experientially, put the regenerated person into the family of God.  Jesus said, speaking of His elect people: "I am the door of the sheep" (John 10:7), and there is no other door into the family of God. But the door into Brideship, that is, the church, is scriptural baptism.
     A sarcastic critic of the Baptist doctrine of Landmarkism, asks: "Seeing that your churches have only one door into the church, that is, baptism, when a person is excluded from a Baptist church, what door does he go out? Do you unbaptize him?" It is true, there is only one door of entrance into a New Testament Baptist church. But the Omniscient Architect, Who designed the ecclesiastical building, put an exit door in it, over which is written: DEFIANCE OF CHURCH AUTHORITY. "And if he (any infractor) shall neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican" (Matt. 18:17). Paul was much upset with the church at Corinth for condoning incestuous fornication, and he criticized the church for its dereliction in the matter. He admonished the church, saying: "... Put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (I Cor. 5:13). The church heeded Paul's admonition and excluded the impenitent fornicator.  This discipline proved to be corrective, and Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthian church, advised the church to receive and restore the man to membership, for he had repented of the reproach he had brought on the church (II Cor. 2:6-8). Biblically prescribed discipline is a laundering detergent, the use of which keeps the church clean and unspotted.
     Now, let us return to our consideration of the marriage in heaven. The rapture of the saints and the sealing of the 144,000 Israelites are, in proximity of time, very close, if not simultaneous (Rev. 7). The message of these Jewish witnesses during the seven year tribulation period will be the means of turning a numberless host unto Christ. But their tribulational ministry does not add one person to the church, for the church, at this very time, is attending her wedding in heaven. The tribulational saints are a part of the family of God, but they are not in the Bridal church, nor on the wedding guest list.
     The Lord speaks to the tribulational earth, saying: "And the light of the candle (i.e., the church) (Rev. 1:20) shall shine no more in thee; and the voice of the Bridegroom and of the Bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants (religious entrepreneurs permeating the earth with the harlotry of the ecumenical church) were the great men of the earth; for by their sorceries were all nations deceived" (Rev. 18:23). The voice of the Bride is not heard during the seven year tribulation period, for the simple reason that she is at the time getting married to her beloved Groom in heaven.
     The ecclesiology of the tribulation period will be Catholicism writ large, for the Protestant daughters of mother Rome have reunited with her; and she has united with the Dictator of the one world government, the personal antichrist. The Romanistic doctrine of a universal, visible church will, at that time, cover the earth, as waters cover the sea. But this doctrine will be, as it has always been, a rogue, for it robs the faithful and shining Bride of Christ of her precious family and beloved wedding guests. But this can never be, for her Sovereign and protective Groom has ordained otherwise, and she shall be blessed with family and guests.
     Baptists should give a priority to their church membership, second only to their personal and private relationship to Christ; for without a faithful relationship to the Lord's church, all other relationships suffer. The question may be asked: "How about a Baptist church member's relationship to his family, should not that relationship come first?". The bond and ties of family members should be exceedingly strong and carefully preserved.  A husband's love for his wife should equal that of Christ's love for His church (Eph. 5:25), and the wife should submit herself unto her God given husband, even as unto the Lord (Eph. 5:22). Christ was, and is, pro-family, for, in His dying hour, He committed His mother unto the care of His beloved disciple, John. Godly parents will have a super abounding love for their children, and children should obey their parents in the Lord (Col. 3:20).
     In the above and foregoing statements, I am not equating the church with Christ but the church is His blood bought Bride; and He has, with His relationship to her, elevated her above that of His family. The person who is saved by the free and unmerited grace of God, and then added to His church by scriptural baptism, should, if the need arises, forsake all (family, friends, etc.) to be faithful to the Lord's blood bought and precious church (Matt. 10:38; Mark 10:29,30).