“The wedding of the Lamb” (literally the marriage supper of the Lamb”) is the consummation of the marriage of Christ and the Church as His bride. The figure is in keeping with the Near Eastern pattern of marriage, covering three stages:
(1) the betrothal, legally binding when the individual members of the body of Christ are saved: (2) the coming of the bridegroom for His bride at the rapture of the Church; and (3) the marriage supper of the Lamb, occurring in connection with the second coming of Christ to establish His millennial kingdom. The Lamb’s wife is to be contrasted with the prostitute of Rev. 17:1 and she is also to be distinguished from Israel, the unfaithful wife of the LORD (Jehovah) in historic times, who is to be restored in the millennium (Isa. 54:1-10; Hos. 2:1-7).
