"And a voice came forth from the throne, saying,
Give praise to our God, all ye his servants, ye that fear
him, the small and the great. 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 thunders, saying,
Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth.
Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give glory
unto him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife hath made herself ready. And it was given unto her
that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and
pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the
saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they that
are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith
unto me, These are true words of God. And I fell at his
feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, See thou do it
not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren
that hold the testimony of Jesus: worship God for the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
The harlot city is fallen, the supremacy of God is
demonstrated in its overthrow, and the marriage of the Lamb
to the city of the redeemed is therefore a certainty. (Note
the Hallelujah in v.6 as well as in v.1,2,4.) This is only
an announcement, however, and a reassuring interlude.
Nothing more is said about it till 21:1-2, where John says:
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first
heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is
no more, And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming
down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned
for her husband." And then vs.9-10: "And there
came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who
were laden with the seven last plagues; and he spake unto
me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the
wife of the Lamb. And he showed me the holy city Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God."
The marriage itself is nowhere portrayed. But it must
represent the perfection of the union with Christ – the
final and complete blessedness of the church in the world
to come, after all enemies have been destroyed, as depicted
in 20:11-15. In this life, however, Christians are
described as being only "espoused" to Christ (2
Corinthians 11"2). But on the basis of that analogy,
those who will constitute the new and heavenly Jerusalem
will have experienced their marriage to the Lamb. Those who
individually are "bidden to the marriage supper,"
as mentioned above, will also collectively constitute the
"bride" in eternity.
John was so overwhelmed by the foregoing revelation from
the messenger of God – likely the angel by whom the
Revelation was signified unto John (1:1) – that he fell
down to worship him. But the angel reminded him that he was
not himself divine, but only a fellow-servant of Jesus and
his brethren who hold (or have and communicate) the
testimony of Jesus – "for the testimony of Jesus is
the spirit of prophecy." Testimony of Jesus could be
either by Jesus or about Jesus. But here it is more likely
to mean testimony about him. Such is the sum and substance
of prophecy as a whole, directly or indirectly, whether of
the Old Testament or of the New. John and his brethren as
well as the angel had a privilege and responsibility of
communicating that, and so it was inappropriate that John
worship the angel. He was no more the source of that
message than John and his brethren were.