01.03.06. The Marriage of the Lamb

Part III. Chapter VI. THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB The bridal relationship of the Church to her Lord is so profound an idea that we are not sur­prised to find its roots deeply embedded in the history and prophecy and poetry of the Old Tes­tament. Not to dwell upon the typical fore­shadowings of this truth contained in the story of Abraham’s servant seeking a bride for Isaac, and of Jacob’s seven years’ service for Rachel; and not to enlarge upon the gracious words of Jehovah to His people, “I will betroth them unto Me for­ever; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee,” —we find in the Canticles the most complete and vivid setting forth of this conception. The central idea of the Song of Solomon is the same as that of the Apocalypse. According to Ewald, the commen­tator, who has given the most subtle analysis of this exquisite poem, the plot is this: “On the one hand, a king in all the splendors of his glory, transported with admiration, overflowing with passion; on the other, the poor and simple shep­herd to whom the Shulamite has plighted her faith; the former present, the latter absent; the maiden called to decide freely between these two rivals. Such is the conflict in all its moral grandeur.”

Translating Oriental poetry into Apocalyptic symbolism, the Book of Revelation yields us the same conception. 1 Immanuel, the Shepherd Bridegroom, feeding His flock in Paradise, is ever sending word to His espoused Church on earth, “Behold, I come quickly.” But she, in her long waiting, is constantly solicited and wooed by royal suitors—purple and gold and precious stones being offered her—to withdraw her heart from her heavenly Consort, and to accept a throne with the kings of the earth. The harlot bride, a fallen daughter of God, clothed with scarlet and decked with jewels, and living in for­nication with the rulers of this world, appears upon the scene, hating and hunting this unsullied spouse of Christ and driving her into exile. But in spite of all these trials of her faith on the one hand, and all these solicitations of kings and these proffers of Solomonic wealth and splendor on the other, her heart is still true to her absent Lord, and her noble answer is, “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would be utterly contemned” (Song of Solomon 8:7). And yet the trial is one of intense and pro­tracted severity. Her Lord delays His return long beyond her expectation; and the world mocks at her bridal hope, incredulously asking, “Where is the sign of His coming?” Beside, it is an invisible and far-off Lover to whom her heart is plighted, one who appears only in visions of hope, and “who in His sublime austerity scorns to use any sensuous means for attracting His people to Himself.” In a word, her choice must be between an earthly Solomon, crowned with present glory and honor, and the Beloved whom the world has rejected, and who now stands without, knocking, His head wet with the dews of the night. “Sometimes He comes down and manifests Himself to the eyes of her faith. She sees Him as in a dream; she delights herself spiritually with His presence, —then suddenly He vanishes. And then once more she is alone, carrying on the contest with Solomon, who draws near in all his pomp, and tries to cast his spell upon her. But she remains faithful to Him who is invisible; she sees the moment approaching in which, the true love of her God having won the victory in her heart over all the arts of the se­ducer, she will be fetched away by Him, and—more fortunate in this respect than the Shulamite herself will be able to follow Him to those spiced mountains where He pastures His flock amongst the lilies.” 2 That moment has now come; the Bridegroom appears in the clouds of heaven to take His be­trothed one to Himself; and this is “the mar­riage of the Lamb.” For mark the significant fact, that the Church is only affianced to Christ as yet, not married. “I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ,” writes Paul to the Corinthians, speaking by the Holy Ghost. All through the time of His absence “the Spirit and the Bride say, Come.” But not until He appears in glory, and translates the Church, does the Bride become the wife: “Come hither and I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb’s wife.” The convent language, therefore, in which the veiled nun is declared to be “wedded to Christ,” is entirely foreign to the teaching of Scripture. For, these holy nuptials are not with the individual, but with the whole Church, and therefore they cannot be consummated till all the faithful—the quick and the dead are brought into one company. As long as the Saviour is still absent from His people, it is the Church’s fast-day, not her feast-day. “Can the children of the bride-chamber fast while the Bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the Bride­groom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them; then shall they fast, in those days” (Mark 2:19-20). This describes the pres­ent attitude of the Church, —one of patient waiting and chastened sobriety “till He come.” As often as she breaks the bread and drinks the cup, she may say to her Lord: “Thou pre­parest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” But not yet are His words fulfilled to her: “That ye may eat and drink at My table, in My kingdom.” All attempts at premature wed­lock with Christ, by making the communion a feast of His “real presence,” instead of a fast for His real absence, does violence to that virgin-instinct of the Church which knows that there can be no true nuptials until the Bridegroom comes, as there can be no real reign of the saints until the King appears. For where is the true Bride of Christ at this time? Before the face of her enemy she has “fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there, a thousand two hundred and threescore days,” (Revelation 12:6). The time of the Harlot’s enthrone­ment is the time of the Bride’s exile; while the one is sharing a crown with the princes of this world, who crucified the Lord of glory, the other is sharing rejection with Him whom the world knew not. What pathetic sorrows are hers dur­ing all this wilderness period! Because she will not be seduced from her bridal affection, all man­ner of opprobrium is heaped upon her. Even the watchmen, when they find her, smite her and wound her, and the keepers of the walls take away her veil from her. But in spite of all vio­lence and scorn of men, her heart is with the absent Bridegroom, saying: “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, that ye tell Him that I am sick of love.”

“My heart is with Him on the throne, And ill can brook delay;

Each moment listening for His voice:

‘Rise up and come away.’” But now the long hoped-for consummation has arrived. The cry, “Behold, the Bridegroom com­eth, go ye out to meet Him,” sounds upon the air. She who kept her garments unspotted from the world is ready to be married, and stands clothed in her wedding vesture: she, also, who lived wantonly with the kings of the earth, is ready to be condemned, and stands “arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones.” Hardly has the “Alleluia” over the judgment of “the great Harlot which did corrupt the earth with her fornication” died away, before another is heard: “Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready,” (Revelation 19:6-7). It is the hour of blissful fruition for the waiting Bride: “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved?” (Song of Solomon 8:5). Who, indeed, but she whose countenance was often bedewed with tears, whose feet were often torn with the thorns of the desert through which her enemies pursued her? But now the reproach of her widowhood is taken away, the bridal veil is upon her face, and the nuptial joy is in her heart. The end of the Redeemer’s spousal love is at last made manifest: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it,” writes the apostle. And to what purpose was this divine affection? “That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word:” this is what he is now accomplishing by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. “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,” (Ephesians 5:25-27): this is what He is yet to accomplish by the ministry of His second coming. How striking the language! “Himself to Himself,” — autoV eautw, — “Christ permits neither attendants nor paranymphs to present the Bride; He alone presents, He receives.” 3 And He gives her to Himself in completed sanctification and transfigured beauty. St. Paul was jealous over the Corinthian Christians, that he “might present them as a chaste virgin to Christ.” But Immanuel receives this virgin not only as chaste, but as chastened; not only as sanctified through trial, but as at last glorified through rap­ture. Often she may have been tempted to mur­mur at the hardship of her lot, and the severity of her wilderness portion. But all this is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is now revealed in her as she stands at the Bride­groom’s side, and hears Him saying to her: “I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousal, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that is not sown,” (Jeremiah 2:2 R.V.). And there is not only a presentation, but a manifestation, in which obscurity and obloquy give place to glory and honor.

It has happened within our knowledge that a wealthy and cultivated gentleman became affi­anced to a maiden of the lowest and poorest con­dition. Because he had set his love upon her, he took her out of her poverty and ignorance, and sent her to a distant school to be educated and fitted for her appointed sphere. After years of discipline and preparation, he withdrew her from her retreat and brought her to his home, where a splendid reception was given her, and she was publicly introduced into the society in which she was henceforth to move as his wife. Precisely thus has Christ dealt with His Church,—sending her into long wilderness discipline to be trained for her heavenly associations. But now that the time of her humiliation is ended, He brings her forth to receive her visible manifestation and royal dowry. Whereas she has “esteemed the reproach of Christ as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,” now is manifested in her “what is the riches of the glory of His inheri­tance in the saints;” and whereas she has been counted “the offscouring of all things” for His sake, she is now exalted before the eyes of men and angels with Him who has come “to be glorifled in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” In a word, the Bride who has shared her Lord’s rejection now shares His throne as the wife of the Lamb, the Queen-con­sort of the King of kings. Here is the crown­ing joy of the redeemed. He and His are no more twain, but one; the “little while” of their separation is at last swallowed up in the “forever with the Lord.” They see His face; His name is in their foreheads; they hear His voice: “Eat, O friends: drink, yea, drink abundantly, O be­loved.” “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Endnotes:

1 “The Seer That, ere he died, saw all the grievous times Of the fair Bride—who with the lance and nails Was won.” — Dante.

2 Godet, Studies on the Old Testament, p. 329.

3 Ellicott.