On August 2, 2022, I was waiting on the Lord and He revealed to me a word for this season. The Lord flooded me with His light and fire, and I instantly understood that it was time for the “Messengers of the Wedding Feast” to begin calling the church and the world to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The Lord is releasing His messengers in this hour, and the assignment is to extend the invitation to the wedding / marriage supper. Many are called, but few are chosen. Many will hear the call to be made ready as the bride, but few will respond. Many will hear the invitation to the marriage supper, but few will accept because they are more concerned with their earthly lives.
“Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent his servants to call those who had [previously] been invited to the wedding feast, but they refused to come. Then he sent out some other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened calves are butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.” ’ But they paid no attention [they disregarded the invitation, treating it with contempt] and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest [of the invited guests] seized his servants and mistreated them [insulting and humiliating them] and killed them. The king was enraged [when he heard this], and sent his soldiers and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding [feast] is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. So go to the main highways that lead out of the city, and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ Those servants went out into the streets and gathered together all the people they could find, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests [sitting at the banquet table]. “But when the king came in to see the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed [appropriately] in wedding clothes, and he said, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wearing the wedding clothes [that were provided for you]?’ And the man was speechless and without excuse. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the darkness outside; in that place there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger].’ For many are called (invited, summoned), but few are chosen.”” Matthew 22:1-14 AMP
Many in Israel rejected the invitation prior to the first coming of Jesus. Many have rejected the invitation since Jesus walked the Earth. Currently many believers are operating in presumption, like the man who entered the wedding feast but was not wearing wedding clothes. Believers think that they can live however they want during their time in these earthly bodies, and be granted a position at the marriage supper of the Lamb. However, Jesus’ parable says otherwise. A man attempted to enter the marriage supper wearing inappropriate clothing (he had not been made ready by being purified) [Matthew 5:8]. We know the marriage supper takes place in Heaven, so this man was a presumptuous believer who thought he could “stroll on in” to the marriage supper (obviously unbelievers are not allowed in Heaven and cannot come in to the marriage supper).
Jesus deals with our “presumption” in this parable. Many leaders have taught that all of the church is the bride of Christ. We have presumed, and we have presumed incorrectly. The Lord would point us to the scriptures that would reveal the truth. The church is meant to be the bride, but not all the the church will “become” the bride. All believers will go to Heaven, but not all believers will inherit the Earth. Jesus states that only the meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). He also states that only the “overcomers” will rule and reign with Him on the Earth for a thousand years (Revelation 2:26-27). The meek overcomers, in which the promises speak, are the bride (Revelation 21:9-10).
The presumptuous man without the proper wedding garments was casted into outer darkness. This is a time of judgment before the throne of God which will be dark and bitter for some when they realize they wasted their lives in this age. These are believers who lived in sin or who were engaged in self-centered living. They cared about their earthly lives and thought very little about their Heavenly lives. These foolish virgins or unwise servants never picked up their crosses and followed Jesus as His disciples. They were satisfied with knowing Jesus as Savior and Provider, but did not care to know Him as Lord, Master, King, and Judge.
The Cambridge Bible Commentary defines outer darkness as: “the darkness outside the house in which the banquet is going on.” The marriage supper of the Lamb will be so bright and glorious, that those believers “outside” the feast will feel as if they are in darkness. This “outer darkness” is not the eternal outer darkness that unbelievers will be damned to, but rather a temporary state of judgment before the throne of God. We will all be judged for what we have done in our earthly bodies. For our good deeds that we allowed Christ to work through us, we will receive a positive judgment. For our bad deeds that we committed and never repented of, we will receive negative judgments.
Being Made Ready
“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”” (Revelation 19:7-9 NKJV)
The wife of the Lamb is made ready by the Holy Spirit in this life of testing, trials, and tribulation. Those that become His wife are those who said “yes” to the preparation process. Esther said “yes” to being made ready for the king, and there was a preparation process that she had to go through in order to be prepared for the king. Had Esther not undergone the preparation process, the king wouldn’t have accepted her as his bride (Esther 2:12-18).
We must accept the invitation and partner with the Holy Spirit to be made ready if we wish to be apart of the bride. As we come into agreement with the Holy Spirit, He strips away our self-life, which in turn allows Christ to increase in us. As Christ’s nature and character increases in us, Christ does righteous acts through us. This process transforms our garments to clean and white fine linen. Only those believers with garments of clean and white linen will be permitted into the marriage supper of the Lamb.
We must understand that the Book of Revelation was written to the church as indicated in Chapter One. If all of the church was the bride, then why would a book written to believers say, “Blessed are those who are called” to the marriage supper of the Lamb?” If all believers are called to the marriage supper of the lamb, then this statement would not need to be written to the church. We must have spiritual ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. We must live lives worthy of the Bridegroom, so we will be called and chosen as the bride.
The Ten Virgins
““Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” Matthew 25:1-13 NKJV
This is a parable about the Bridegroom and the wedding. It is not a parable about the Savior and Heaven. We must understand what the Spirit is saying by the language used and the context. It’s important for us not to make the parable say things that it is not. Sometimes we have to lay down our doctrines and understanding that we have been given by church leaders or denominations.
All ten people in this parable are born again. They are “virgins” which means they are purified from the world and from sin by the blood of Jesus. All ten virgins are waiting for Jesus to return, indicating their belief in Him. The Bible clearly tells us that we are saved by believing in Jesus and confessing Him with our mouth. The oil symbolizes the oil of the Holy Spirit or the oil of intimacy. The five virgins that were allowed into the wedding with the Bridegroom all had oil, meaning they knew the Lord. This is not a parable of faith, but of intimacy as Jesus clearly states. The five foolish virgins who were not allowed into the wedding were told by the Bridegroom, “I do not know you.” The Bridegroom didn’t say, “You aren’t saved and going to Heaven.” He simply told the five foolish virgins that He did not have an intimate relationship with them, and that is why they were not being allowed into the wedding. Again, the message is presumption. Foolish believers are presuming they are apart of the bride, when they are not. The Lord is warning us if we can hear Him.
Spiritual Adultery
What man would marry a woman who didn’t spend anytime getting to know him during their engagement period? We believers are currently in an engagement with Jesus, and no one has yet attained to His bride. The Lord will marry a woman who gives up her own life for His. He will marry a woman who loves to spend time getting to know Him. Those who desire to become the bride must use their time well in this age. We must seek the Bridegroom and court Him.
Jesus will not marry a believer who chooses to remain in unrepentant sin for their entire life. What man would marry a woman who commits fornication against him all throughout their engagement? Idolatry is as fornication against God. Any believer practicing idolatry against God (valuing ministry, careers, people, social media, entertainment, etc. over God) will not attain to the bride of Christ. The bride is made up of those believers who put their Bridegroom first. Satan’s top strategy is to take our attention off of Jesus by any means necessary. However the bride will grab ahold of God’s grace to stay on track and pursue her Bridegroom no matter what life throws at her. If she gets off track for a season (or a long season), she repents and goes after her Bridegroom with all of her heart. The Bridegroom is loving and merciful.
The Invitation
This article is written to the messengers of the wedding feast, and to the church. If you are called as a messenger, the Lord will put His fire and message in your heart; and will send you forth to invite people to the marriage supper / wedding. This is written as an invitation to the church to be made ready and become the bride. Every one of us has an opportunity to “know” the Lord. When the Bridegroom comes, He will marry those who took the invitation seriously and honored Him. It’s only by the grace of God and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that we can become the bride.
Many who received the invitation in Israel “were not worthy” according to Jesus (Matthew 22:1-14). So the invitation went out to others. The church is in the same position now that Israel was in during the time of Jesus. How many in the church will reject the wedding invitation and be considered by the Lord as “not worthy?” Let it not be so with us!
I will leave you with this final verse. Although out of context of the Heavenly wedding that will take place, it speaks prophetically of who will be invited to the wedding:
“Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.” John 2:2 NKJV
-Ty Unruh
