Thank you for your view and explanation. And yes, I know and I never said the rapture is for the purpose of the wedding feast. In fact, I never even thought of it that way.
No, not you personally, but I thought you were suggesting that this is how "pre-trib viewpoint" understands it. It isn't (however, I accept that SOME pre-tribbers DO view it that way, as in your example at the link you provided, plus likely also the writer of the paragraph you also provided at the bottom of your post)
I agree on one point... that "the supper of the great God" (v.17) is NOT "the wedding feast of the Lamb".
I disagree with his take on "the wedding feast" being up in Heaven (I also disagree on his other viewpoint, elsewhere, that believers can lose of forfeit salvation [however he expresses it, I'm not sure exactly], but that's another subject
)... but I dislike how he only uses one or maybe two passages to supposedly show where we are deriving our viewpoint that the wedding feast/supper will take place on the earth, when actually there are quite a few more than just those two!!
I've gone over these points extensively in other past posts, so I don't want to muddy up this post with all that detail (if I can help it
)... but a few points to just touch on, to reiterate:
--"so shall we ever be WITH [G4862 - UNIONed-with] the Lord"... takes place at the time of "our Rapture," as I see it (IOW, the "marriage" doesn't wait till the end of the 7-yrs [while we wait UP THERE] for it to occur just before His "RETURN" to the earth Rev19);
--Rev19:
7 (pertaining to the "MARRIAGE" and the "Bride / Wife [SINGULAR]")
is DISTINCT FROM Rev19:
9 (pertaining to the INVITED "guests [PLURAL]"--whom the passage only states
of them, "HAVING BEEN INVITED [
perfect participle]"... the "INVITING" took place all throughout the 7 Trib yrs on the earth [not "by US"--as we won't be located on the earth!]... and the ones having been "INVITED" [i.e. TO the MK age] are said to be
"BLESSED"--
which corresponds with about 8 other "BLESSED" passages speaking of those "saints" having come to faith
FOLLOWING "our Rapture" [
all thru the Trib yrs--per the "INVITATION" going out then] and who are "still-living" to ENTER the
earthly MK age [aka "the wedding
FEAST/SUPPER"] upon His "RETURN"
to the earth Rev19);
--Rev19 says, "the marriage
CAME" and the "bride
PREPARED"--I don't believe either of these are saying
the marriage only just now occurred and she only just now finished preparing... for example, the same "CAME" word is found in both 6:17 and 11:18 and I do not believe those are speaking
of the same point in time in the chronology, nor are they saying "is just now arriving" (rather, "came"--especially since, as I've heard Grk grammarians say in the case of 11:18 that the verbs in the sentence should follow [/correspond with] the leading verb in the sentence which in v.17 was saying "
YOU HAVE TAKEN [perfect indicative (i.e. timing-related)] Your great power" and reigned...);
And again, I believe the
already-wed Bridegroom WITH His
already-wed Bride/Wife [SINGULAR] will now (Rev19; Col3:4) be HEADING BACK DOWN
to the earth FOR "the wedding
FEAST / SUPPER" (kick-off / inauguration of the
earthly MK age), where all the passages related to THAT are next in the chronology / sequence... and where NONE of those folks talked about in those passages (even the "saints / righteous / blessed"--having come to faith in Christ FOLLOWING "our Rapture") are (EVER) "lifting off the earth" (i.e. raptured). NO!
Ex. Lk12:36-37,38,40,42-44 (parallel Matt24:42-51) "when he will
RETURN FROM the wedding" (i.e. as an ALREADY-WED "Bridegroom"!)...
THEN "the meal [G347]" (located on the earth, to where He's RETURNING, at that point--and where THOSE folks in that passage [and many others] ARE LOCATED also)
Here's another take:
According to Revelation 19:7, the bride, (which is made up of the corporate and collected members throughout the church age taken to heaven at the rapture), makes herself ready for an impending event. How is the bride or the church made ready? She is made ready by clothing “herself in the fine linen bright and clean,” which is said to be “the righteous acts of the saints.” This statement means that by this point in history (right before the second coming), the sum total of the bride, the body of Christ, is in heaven and has already gone through the bema judgment where church age believers are to be evaluated for their faithfulness to Christ during this present age (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10). The result of going through the judgment seat of Christ results in the bride being given fine linen that Revelation 19:8 says, “is the righteous acts of the saints.” This is how “His bride has made herself ready.” Ready for what? She has made herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb. Thus, within the framework of the symbolism being used in this passage, it means that the marriage (marriage ceremony) takes place right before the second coming. Later, Revelation 19:14 says, “And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.” Thus, having been newly married to the Lamb, the bride begins her role in history of reigning at the right hand of Christ (Rev. 3:21) by accompanying her new husband in the heavenly accent from heaven on white horses in order to participate in the judgment of Armageddon at the second advent. Arnold Fruchtenbaum further explains as follows:
IN GOD THE SON,
bluto
The way I see it, the BEMA has already been concluded when we see that the "24 elders" are wearing "
stephanous / crowns" (Paul had said "awarded IN
THAT DAY" and not to him only, 2Tim4:8--
not the day he would DIE)... and that a searching judgment has already been concluded, as indicated by the word "WAS FOUND" in Rev5:4.
And now I've yacked FAR TOO LONG.
