We have read that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son:
Matthew 22:3 ~ He sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come. Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fatlings have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ But they paid no attention and went away, one to his field, and another to his business.…
Sounds a bit like what was happening in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark. Interest wore off and folks went on about their daily affairs. Those folks did not enter the ark and in our future there are folks who will not enter the banquet hall = the Kingdom of Heaven.
Revelation 19:7 ~ Let us rejoice and exult and give glory to him for the marriage supper of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. And it was granted her to be clothed in fine linen, bright and clean, for fine linen is the righteousness of the Set Apart believers. ... Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
It could be that Scriptures is our invitation to this banquet. Read it all again - it is a very detailed invitation. Everything has been prepared and written for our benefit. All we need do is accept this invitation, follow the Instructions, dress appropriately, keep our lamps filled with oil and enter. Those who have heard the Good Shepherd's voice calling them will accept the invitation to attend this banquet, and are those who enter the hall before the doors are shut and locked.
It's not the church or the saints
showing up as the Bride.
One of the Messengers said: Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.... and he showed me the Set Apart city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from Elohim; in which was the glory of Elohim, as a brilliant light, and resembling a very precious gem; like a jasper stone, resembling crystal.
If the New Jerusalem is the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb, Y'shua Messiah, who are we? Are we not 'the body' with Y'shua as the 'head', and if we are joined as one with Messiah now, how can we be the Bride later? How are we to understand the meaning of this New Jerusalem as the Bride, dressed in righteousness? and how do we expect to be the bride IF when we rise from the dead there is no marriage when we have become incorruptible like the Messengers in heaven? (Mark 12:25) Where is the connection people ?? The New City of Jerusalem is slightly beyond our understanding for the time being, but it has always been the center of attention for our Creator. After the thousand year kingdom Yah will restore all things. This restoration, the joining back together of Yahweh and Yahshua as One is akin to the purpose of marriage, the two become one. We, in this lifetime, have become one with the Messiah.
1 Corinthians 12:27 ~ Now you are the body of Y'shua, and members each in your place
Romans 12:4 ~ For as we have many members in one body and those members do not have the same functions; so also we, who are many persons, are one body in Y'shua, and are naturally members of each other. But we have different gifts according to the grace given to us.
1 Corinthians 10:16 ~ The cup of thanksgiving which we bless, is it not the fellowship of the blood of Y'shua (the renewed covenant)? And the bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Y'shua? Therefore, that bread is one, so we are all one body, for we all take to ourselves from that one bread (Y'shua, the bread from heaven).
1 Corinthians 12:20 ~ There are many members, but one body.
I am beginning to see the marriage supper of the Lamb, this wedding feast, as a metaphor for our thousand years in the earthly kingdom. We made ourselves ready to enter the banquet hall by reading Scriptures (the invitation) abiding by the Instructions best we can in this day and age, and having the testimony of Y'shua, Son of Yahweh. When the end comes we will be gathered together given incorruptible bodies (linen robes of righteousness) and set back down on the promised land, the land of Canaan which will be ruled and overseen by Y'shua. There is no bride scenario at this time. The Bride is the New Jerusalem which comes after the thousand year reign of Y'shua. It is then that our Father restores all things, makes all things new and we shall have no memory of anything that happened before. The Two become One as they were in the beginning.
I am beginning to see the marriage supper of the Lamb, this wedding feast, as a metaphor for our thousand years in the earthly kingdom. We made ourselves ready to enter the banquet hall by reading Scriptures (the invitation) abiding by the Instructions best we can in this day and age, and having the testimony of Y'shua, Son of Yahweh. When the end comes we will be gathered together given incorruptible bodies (linen robes of righteousness) and set back down on the promised land, the land of Canaan which will be ruled and overseen by Y'shua. There is no bride scenario at this time. The Bride is the New Jerusalem which comes after the thousand year reign of Y'shua. It is then that our Father restores all things, makes all things new and we shall have no memory of anything that happened before. The Two become One as they were in the beginning.