d give glory up him: for the marriage of the
Lamb hath come, and his wife hath prepared herself! And it was
granted to her to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: (for
the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.) And he saith
to me, Write, Happy are those called to the marriage-supper of the
Lamb. And he saith to me, These are the true words of God. And I
fell before his feet to worship him. And he saith to me, See thou
do it not: I am thy fellow-servant and one of thy brethren, who
have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Rev. 19:5-10.

The marriage of the Lamb is at the epoch when "the kingdoms of this world
are to become our Lord's and his Christ's"--when the Lord God Almighty
takes to himself his great power and reigns, 11:15, 17. Therefore, in
connection, are heard the mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia; for the
Lord God Omnipotent reigneth," 9:16. This scripture, then, corresponds
with that in Matt. 24:30, 31, when "they shall see the Son of Man coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and he shall send his
angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." For,
"when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall
be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another as a
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats--the one on his right hand and
the other on his left," Matt. 25:31, 32. Those on his right, we learn from
1 Cor. 15:51, and 1 Thess. 4:16, 17, are the elect, gathered by the angels
from all parts under heaven, who are caught up to meet the Lord in the
air--and those on the left are consequently the living wicked, who are to
be slain by the sword which proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lamb,
19:21.

_The wife_ who "hath made herself ready," is shown by the foregoing
scriptures to be, undoubtedly, the church triumphant--the redeemed, who
have been raised out from among the dead, and the living saints, caught up
together to meet the Lord in the air; to welcome him in his coming to
reign. These constitute the bride, the Lamb's wife; for as "the husband is
the head of the wife," even so "Christ is the head of the church," Eph.
5:23. He "loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he