Who are the guests, Revelation 19:9, to the wedding supper of the lamb?

Question

THE WEDDING, who participates? The bridegroom (JESUS) + The bride (CHURCH)

THE SUPPER, who participates? The guests (?) - Who are they?

The Bride and the Bridegroom cannot be the Guests at the same time!

Texts:

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.” - Matthew 25:1 ESV

“The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.” – John 3:29 ESV

“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” – Revelation 19:7-9 ESV

Answer 1

Not the Church itself, but the City Where God's Saints will Dwell

The Book of Revelation adopts the metaphor of the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke of Jerusalem as God's bride.

Jeremiah 2:2

Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, Following me in the wilderness, in a land unsown.

Thus, in Revelation 21:2 we read:

I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Jerusalem was not synonymous with the people of Israel was their holy city. Thus, the bride is the restored holy city, not the congregation of saints. This becomes even more plain when we read more of chapter 21:

“Come here. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 He took me in spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was like that of a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a massive, high wall, with twelve gates where twelve angels were stationed and on which names were inscribed, [the names] of the twelve tribes of the Israelites. 13 There were three gates facing east, three north, three south, and three west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were inscribed the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

This is a place - whether on earth or in the spiritual realm - where the saints enter and dwell. It is not the congregation of the saints (the church) but the place God has prepared for them to occupy. Thus we are told:

The nations will walk by its light, and to it the kings of the earth will bring their treasure. 25 During the day its gates will never be shut, and there will be no night there... (chapter 22) The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

As to who are the people invited, they are those who have passed through the trials described in the previous chapters, leading up the fall of Babylon in 17-18.

Conclusion: In the Book of Revelation, the "bride" is the new Jerusalem. Because Revelation is open to so many interpretations, I will not go further in order to avoid theological speculation. However, the text makes it clear that the bride is the new Jerusalem and those invited are those who have gone through what has been described in earlier chapters. As long was one distinguishes between the new Jerusalem and those invited, the problem presented by the OP is resolved. The "bride" is the city; those invited to the wedding are those who will enter it (Rev. 21:7).

Answer 2

For those who see some discontinuity between Israel and the Church (including Dispensationalists, but not only them), in the Bible's metaphorical depictions of the wedding of Christ and the Church, the guests may be identified with Israel. Israel related to God on the basis of their covenant with him, and received salvation when they were faithful to God, but they did not have a direct relationship with Christ in particular in the way that Christians do. In this perspective there is something distinctly special about how Christ came to choose and bind a people to himself, something that Israel would be there to celebrate.

But this is only a metaphorical depiction. We have to remember that Israel's relationship with God was also depicted as a marriage in the Old Testament. And even though the OT saints were saved without knowledge of the incarnate Jesus, in the new heavens and new earth they will still know Jesus as Christians do, because the purpose and endpoint of God's revelations before Christ was to prepare people to know Christ.

Answer 3

O really?? You want a literal wedding?? The book of Revelation is a highly symbolic book with lots of non-literal things described! For example we have:

• Rev 1 - Jesus walking among lampstands that represent churches. Jesus holds seven stars in His hand representing the angels/messengers to the churches. Jesus has bronze feet, etc. None of this is literal!
• Rev 5 - Jesus is first a lion, then a tree root, and then a bleeding lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. He is surrounded by four animals, a lion, a ox, one with a human face and an eagle. None of this is literal!
• Rev 6 - horses and riders come out of a scroll in the hand God and Jesus. None of this is literal!
• Rev 10 - John eats a scroll tasing like honey
• Rev 11 - two witness are two trees and two prophets that breath fire! Then they are overpowered by a beast climbing out of the earth. None of this is literal!
• Rev 12 - a pregnant woman clothed in the sun with the moon under her feet wearing a crown of 12 stars attacked by a giant snake and dragon with seven heads. None of this is literal!
• Rev 13 - two more mythical, unreal beasts. None of this is literal!
• Rev 14 - 144,000 lead by a lamb with writing on their foreheads. None of this is literal!
• etc

We must recall the opening verse of the symbolic book:

Rev 1:1 - The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants what things it behooves to take place in quickness. And He signified it through having sent His angel to His servant, John

Thus, the book itself tells us that the text is written in signs and symbols as it is signified.

Now, back to Rev 19, which is, again, in highly symbolic language. The symbols do not have to make literal sense; that is not their purpose. Their purpose is to teach truth via the medium (in modern terms) of cartoons.

[To use a modern analogy, the film the Lion King is not literally true but teaches important truths about human nature and politics.]

Thus, in Rev 19, it is not a logical necessity that saved & forgiven saints who comprise the "bride" of the Lamb, cannot also be guests in this symbolic narrative. However, it is also not essential either. This is because "those invited" are not necessarily guests, but simply those invited to be part of the bride of the Lamb.

Simple really!