The Wedding of the Lamb
Weddings are a feast in which we all participate and enjoy. Let us remember that the Rapture is the one that is said (without proof) occur before the Great Tribulation, whereas the Ingathering shall occur (according to the Bible) during the Second Coming of Christ.
In all cultures of the world, weddings are meant to be celebrated with great joy, music, feasting and enjoyment. The joy is put aside only if by misfortune, before or during the wedding a tragedy occurs among the family of the couple.
The Wedding of the Lamb shall be something unforgettable for those of us that are Christians. A true moment of real joy, a time in which no suffering or thought will come to make us sad.
When shall the Wedding of the Lamb happen according to the doctrine that says the Rapture will happen before the GT. According to what I have always heard from the brethren which discuss this matter with me, the Christians that were raptured shall be happily enjoying the Wedding of the Lamb, in Heaven, during the same time that other Christians suffer horribly the Great Tribulation on Earth. The antiChrist and his followers murder, burnt at the stake, crucify, etc., the Christians on Earth, while we are enjoying a good old time up in Heaven. This without our being a bit concerned with what is happening to our brethren. Does this sounds logical? Do you truly believe this is what Jesus planned for his wedding day?
Not only would that be bad enough; but if the Rapture were true to occur before the GT, then we would have that those poor martyred and murdered Christians during the Great Tribulation, would never get to partake of the Wedding of the Lamb. This because they would not have their resurrection until after the quite public Second Coming of Christ. And by then the Wedding of the Lamb would have passed.
What's more, since the Rapture hypothesis
falsely asserts that it will happen before the opening of the First Seal,
and given that in the Fifth Seal we see the souls of those slain on the Earth
because of the witness of Jesus, we
would have to conclude that in spite of these souls being in Heaven, they could not participate in the
Wedding feast, but rather see them
from far away. This due to the passage that states that these martyrs have to
wait for the rest that shall be killed. Not light fare is it!
“9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth? 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” (Rev 6:9-11)
To these martyrs of the Great Tribulation the doctrine of the Rapture denies their position in Christ's Church. How could it be possible that they would not belong to His Church, when it is Christ himself who is with them in Heaven?
When shall the Wedding of the Lamb be, according to the Bible. From what part of the Bible the doctrine of the Rapture has gotten the idea that the Wedding of the Lamb shall be celebrated during the Great Tribulation. I do not know. In spite of repeatedly asking my friends that believe in the Rapture, they cannot tell me on what passage they base themselves to believe such a thing. The only thing that I can gather is that these brothers believe it because they were told by others, which “others” I have not been able to ask, because they are not available for this discussion.
In addition, they have brought me books, but when I ask them to tell me in what part of the book the author shows the biblical origin of the concept, they still cannot point it out. No one seems to know, but all seem to “firmly” believe it. It is the sad tendency towards dogma, very common among those religious persons.
The only two places that I have seen
reference to the Wedding of the Lamb are Revelation 19:7-9 and 21:9, and both verses are quite after the
Great Tribulation. Let's see.
“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. 8 And to her was granted that she should be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and
white; for the fine linen is the
righteousness of saints. 9 And he saith unto me: Write: Blessed are they which are called unto the
marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me: These are the true sayings of God.” (Rev
19:7-9)
“And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.” (Rev 21:9)
Already
for the time mentioned in these two portions, the Seven Bowls of the Wrath of God were poured upon the Earth.
This is easy to show because in Revelation 16:17 we see that the seventh and last bowl has been poured. In 19:2 we see that the Great Harlot has
been judged, and that God had
avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. Hence, the Great Tribulation is finished. However, we see in verse 7 of this same
chapter, that the Wedding of the
Lamb has not yet taken place. From there we can deduce, without much mental effort,
that the Wedding of the Lamb comes after the Great Tribulation, and after the destruction of the
Great Harlot, not as the doctrine of
the Rapture before the GT proclaims.
“And the seventh angel poured out his vial
into the air; and there came a great
voice out of the temple of heaven,
from the throne, saying, It is done.” (Rev
16:17)
“1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying: Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God; 2 for true and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the Earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. 3 And again they said: Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. 4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.” (Rev 19:1-4)
Another item to thoughtfully consider is
that in verse 6 it says that God has reigned, and later that we
should rejoice because the Wedding of the Lamb is going to be celebrated. It's not hard to realize that if God has taken the Kingdom, the Great
Tribulation must have concluded. And if after God takes the Kingdom, the
Wedding of the Lamb is then celebrated, this means that they have not been
celebrated before. This in turn means that the wedding happens after the
Great Tribulation, not during the
seven years, as the “secret rapture” hypothesis claims.
“5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying: Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. 6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 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. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” (Rev 19:5-8)
As we see, the only places in the Bible that speak of the Wedding of the Lamb it implies that the Great Tribulation is past. Hence, the hypothesis of the Rapture before the GT is totally erroneous in claiming that the wedding will occur during the Great Tribulation.
If we look again at the first portion (Revelation 19:7-9), we see that at the end it says: “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb”. From this it can be implied that those not called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, are not blessed.
Since according to the confusing doctrine of the Rapture, the wedding occurs during the Great Tribulation, it becomes evident that the unfortunate brethren that suffer during this period cannot participate of the wedding supper and hence are not blessed. In other words this heresy has excluded them de-facto from their blessing. You have to trample logic and excessively twist Scripture to match the doctrine of the Rapture!
If you want to have a deeper understanding of the mistakes of the heretical doctrine of the rapture before the GT, read my book “Rapture Vs Ingathering or Fiction Vs Reality”, which is found in this web site. Big companies make millions selling books, videos, etc.., proclaiming the heretical doctrine of the rapture before the GT. Can rectify his mistake whoever loses millions to rectify? Yes, they can, but he would love God more than their egos and their pockets.