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Transcript: Welcome to "5 Minutes with Pastor Lutzer." I'm so glad that you joined us today as we have a very special session together. This is part of a larger series, entitled, "The King is Coming." We've talked about the Rapture of the Church that all believers will be involved in. We spoke also about the Judgment Seat of Christ and we're going directly from there to the end of the tribulation period to speak about the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
It's not the "marriage supper of the creator." It's the Marriage Supper of the Lamb because it's the only instance in which the groom died and was raised again—died on behalf of the bride I should say and was raised again so that he could marry her. What an event this is going to be. No wonder the Bible says in Revelation 19, "Let the bride rejoice and exalt beyond imagination." But then I raised the question last time—who are those who are invited to the marriage? Now it says in verse nine, "Blessed are those who are invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb" and, of course, most Bible teachers say well it's just the church it's the bride of Christ; it's the believers. Wait a moment, the believers are the bride? A bride isn't invited to her own wedding. If anything, the bride does the invitations. I think that this is another group of people. The question is, who might they be?
Well, the Bible allows us to speculate and I think that it is the Old Testament saints. And I say that because they are going to be raised after the tribulation period. This is what it says in the book of Daniel 12 and I'll simply jump into the text. "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." Now actually if I were to read the context, the context is the tribulation will be over, the Old Testament saints will be raised, and I believe that they are the ones that will be invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. It also makes sense because after this Jesus comes in glory. That's something we're going to look at in some future episode and of course they will be with us at that time.
Now if this is true I want you to use your imagination. We are here at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb—all believers that were raised. You see, I take the point of view that at the Rapture, it's only the church that is raised, those who died in Christ. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they didn't die in Christ. They certainly were saved in the Old Testament sense but the body of Christ had not even been formed.
But now at this time they are ushered in. Visualize it for a moment. We are there. Jesus asks us to be seated and suddenly as far as the eye can see, we see the Old Testament saints. Thousands of them all file in. And imagine—I don't think we're going to need name tags. That's a separate discussion. I think we're going to know each other intuitively. So we're watching over there and there's Abraham, and there's Sarah and there's some of his other wives. There's Jacob. There's some of the other people that we know. And you know I'm looking over here and I'm seeing and I'm asking myself I wonder if King Saul is here. Remember he was a very ambiguous person. It says in the Bible that God changed his heart. He seemed to have a heart for God but of course he turned away from God, committed suicide. I've often wondered did he make it? So I send John and say, "John I don't see Saul here." But there's another huge throng of people coming over there. Check to see if you can find him. Later on John comes back and says, "You know, I wasn't able to find him but we're not sure." After all maybe he's way back somewhere and we'll have all of eternity to figure it out and to find out what happened.
And then suddenly, I see him. This is the man that I preached about—whole sermons about his life. It's Moses! And he looks so much better than Charlton Heston! And over there is David and of course I remember all of David's sins, I often preached about them, but there he is among the redeemed and who else? Well everybody who's in Hebrews 11. There's Jephthah, son of a prostitute, but he's here because he was saved, accepting Israel's God. And of course tears come to our eyes, the harlot, Rahab, she's there. And we all are together here exulting and giving praise to God the Bible says.
Now we're all seated. Who's going to serve us? Luke 12. It says that "When the master comes truly I say to you he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them." Could this mean that Jesus is going to serve us? That's what the text seems to me. And we'll say, like Peter, when Jesus was going to wash his feet, "You'll never wash my feet." Jesus will say to us, "Don't you remember? I told you that he who is least in the kingdom is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Don't you remember I told you that he who serves is greater than those who are served?" And the one who loved us and gave Himself for us and laid down His life and suffered, will take on the garb of a servant and serve us. Think about that. We're not quite finished with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We'll consider it again next time. I sure hope that you subscribe and be sure to pass it on. Hit share. We're talking about eternity and that which touches us very deeply but as for today, you just go with God.