The Marriage of the Lamb
Many Christians believe the marriage of Jesus to the church is still future. They believe the church is currently betrothed (“engaged”) to Christ, and, like the wise virgins in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, believers should be watching and waiting for the appearance of the Bridegroom, aka the Second Coming. Afterwards, the marriage will happen.
Although futurists[1] have the order of these events correct, their timing is off. Scripture repeatedly teaches the wedding happened in the first century.
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
In the Parable of the Wedding Feast, Jesus gave a parable about his marriage to the church, and he linked it to the first century:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king [God] who arranged a marriage for his son [Jesus], and sent out his servants to call those who were invited [the Jewish establishment in Jesus’ day] to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”‘ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city [destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70]. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. [Then those without the proper wedding garments were cast out]” (Matt. 22:1-14).
This parable clearly depicts events that happened in Jesus’ generation. The Jewish establishment rejected the wedding invitation (John 1:11; Rom. 10:20-21). The invitation went out to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). And the city of Jerusalem was judged (Luke 21:20, 32).[2] Moreover, Jesus said the wedding was ready to happen in that day. So it must have happened.[3]
Revelation’s Description of the Wedding
The apostle John, likewise, said the wedding was about to happen when he wrote the book of Revelation in around AD 65:
“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife [the Church] has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7).
Not only does this passage show that the time of the wedding had come, but Revelation begins and ends by explicitly saying that the events in this prophecy would happen “soon…for the time is near” (Rev. 1:1-3, 22:6-10). So the marriage must have happened in the first century.
Isaiah’s Prophecy of the Wedding
Isaiah, too, linked the wedding to events which Christians acknowledge happened in the first century. Isaiah prophesied in chapter 62 that God would one day marry his people:
“You [Israel] shall no longer be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land anymore be termed Desolate…For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you”(Isa. 62:4-5).
We can be confident this wedding happened in the first century because Isaiah linked it to (1) the time of salvation, (2) when Gentiles saw the Lord’s righteousness, (3) when Israel would be called by new name:
“For Zion’s sake I [God] will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns. The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name”(Isa. 62:1-2).
These events happened in the first century. Jesus brought salvation (Rom. 10:9). The Gentiles saw God’s righteousness (Rom. 15:9-12). And Israel was called by a new name (Acts 11:26). Therefore, this is when the wedding must have happened too, per Isaiah.
And notice what Isaiah says next:
“Surely your salvation is coming; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him” (Isa. 62:11).
Sound familiar? Jesus alluded to this very passage during his earthly ministry:
“For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”(Matt. 16:27).
And when did Jesus say this would happen?
“Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death [die] till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt. 16:28).
As the passage says, Jesus would come within the lifetimes of his first-century audience. In fact, on the eve of the fulfillment, in approximately AD 65, Jesus said through an angel:
“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work”(Rev. 22:12).
Same coming. Same rewards. Same timing. By the time Revelation was written in approximately AD 65, Jesus was coming quickly! So the Second Coming/wedding happened in the first century.
Possible Objection
Critics sometimes bring up the Parable of the Ten Virgins, which says the Bridegroom “delayed” his coming (Matt. 25:5)…and that “nobody knows the day or hour” (Matt. 25:13).
Response: While the Bridegroom was “delayed,” he still came within the lifetimes of the waiting virgins: “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” (Matt. 25:6; see also Matt. 25:10). Jesus came within the lifetimes of those who were told to wait.
And while the virgins didn’t know the exact day or hour, they certainly knew it would happen within their lifetimes! Jesus had previously said some of his audience would still be alive when it happened (Matt. 16:28; see also Matt. 10:23, 24:30-34, 26:64).
So the objection doesn’t work. The wedding clearly happened in the first century, per Jesus!
For more information about the topics discussed in this article, please see my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament Prophecies Were Fulfilled, available NOW on Amazon!
By Alex Polyak, director of The Bible Fulfilled, 1/8/26
[1] Futurists believe the Second Coming is a still future event.
[2] Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in AD 70. The first century historian Josephus said 1.1 million Jews were killed, and another 97,000 taken into slavery.
[3] Some commentators try to split up the Parable of the Wedding Feast into two judgments, one in AD 70 (Matt. 22:1-10) and one at the end of time (Matt. 22:11-14). But that doesn’t work because Jesus said the wedding was ready to happen in that day. Moreover, verses 11-14 are merely describing what happened after the Jewish establishment rejected the invitation, namely, God invited the Gentiles. But this didn’t mean any Gentile could attend. Only those clothed in the righteousness of Christ could attend. See my article “The Parable of the Wedding Feast” for a detailed discussion.
