816. 19:9 Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" This symbolizes a single angel sent from heaven to John and speaking with him about the Lord's New Church, saying that it was granted people on earth to know that those have eternal life who accept the teachings that are the teachings of that church.

That it was a single angel sent from heaven to John who spoke with him can be seen from the following verse, which says that John fell at his feet to worship him, and that the angel replied that he was his fellow servant; therefore that not he but God should be worshiped.

The first speech that John heard came from heaven itself and was uttered by many angels speaking in unison from the Lord, as is clearly apparent from the preceding verses 5, 6, and 7, where we are told that the voice came from the throne, and that it sounded like the voice of a great multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Let us be glad and rejoice." That was said in the plural, but this now in the singular, thus by a single angel sent to John.

[2] But let me say how the case is when angels speak with a person. They never speak with him from heaven, but any voice heard coming from there comes from the Lord through heaven. However, when angels are granted to speak with a person, they send someone from their society who is close to the person and speak with the person through him. The one sent is the instrument of many. And that is what the one was who now spoke with John. This took place in order that it might be proclaimed on earth that the whole of heaven acknowledges the Lord alone as God of heaven, that He alone is to be worshiped, and that the Lord was about to establish a new church on earth, as it had been in the heavens. For the Lord first establishes a church in the heavens, and then through the heavens on the earth. This is the hidden message contained in these words.

[3] Now for the exposition. "Write" symbolically means to commit something to posterity for its remembrance (nos. 39, 63, 639), in this case to enable it to know these things. This is the meaning of the command to write. "Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!" means, symbolically, that those people have eternal life who accept the teachings that are the teachings of the New Church. Those people are called blessed who have eternal life (no. 639). The marriage of the Lamb symbolizes a new church having a conjunction with the Lord, as in no. 812 above. The people who are called mean all who accept (no. 744). All, indeed, are called, but those who do not accept, reject the call.

[4] The conjunction is called the Lamb's marriage supper because it takes place when the church is in its final state, which is called its evening, and suppers take place in the evening. The first state of a new church is in contrast called morning. It is in its evening state that a person is called to the church, and when the people called are present, its morning state commences.

That the final state of the church is called evening and night, and its first state dawn and morning, may be seen in no. 151 above.

Now because the final period of the Jewish Church, thus its evening, occurred when the Lord went to Jerusalem to suffer, therefore the Lord supped with the disciples then and instituted the Eucharist, which is why it is called Holy Supper. It, too, is a means of the Lord's conjunction with a person of the church, or wedding, if after repentance the person turns to Him directly. Otherwise it occasions His presence and not conjunction.

It can be seen from this what a dinner and dining symbolize elsewhere in the Word.

812. 19:7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come." This symbolizes the angels' joy of soul and heart and consequent glorification of the Lord, that from now on a full marriage of the Lord with the church is possible.

To be glad and rejoice symbolizes a joy of soul and heart. Joy of the soul is a joy of the intellect or joy in response to truths of faith, and joy of the heart is a joy of the will or joy springing from goods of love. Both of these are mentioned because of the marriage of truth and goodness in every particular of the Word, as explained in nos. 373 and 689 above. To give Him glory means, symbolically, to acknowledge and confess that all truth is from the Lord (no. 629), and to acknowledge that the Lord is God of heaven and earth (no. 693). Here it therefore symbolizes to glorify, because this involves both acknowledgments.

"For the marriage of the Lamb has come" means, symbolically, that from now on a full marriage of the Lord and the church is possible. For this to be symbolized, the Lord is therefore called the Lamb, and by the Lamb is meant the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity (nos. 269, 291).

[2] It is when the Lord's humanity is acknowledged to be Divine that a full marriage of the Lord and the church is possible, and this can be seen almost without explanation. For in the Christian world of the Protestant Reformed, people know that the church is a church because of the marriage of the Lord with it, inasmuch as the Lord is called the Lord of the vineyard, ¹ and the vineyard is the church. Moreover, the Lord is also called the bridegroom and husband, and the church is called the bride and wife. That the Lord is called the bridegroom and the church the bride may be seen in no. 797 above.

That there is a full marriage of the Lord and the church when His humanity is acknowledged to be Divine is plain. For then God the Father and the Lord are acknowledged to be one, like soul and body. And when this is acknowledged, people do not turn to the Father for the sake of the Son, but they turn then to the Lord Himself, and through Him to God the Father, because the Father is present in Him like a soul in its body, as we have said.

Before people acknowledge the Lord's humanity to be Divine, there is indeed a marriage of the Lord with the church, but only in those who turn to the Lord and think of His Divinity, and not at all of whether His humanity is Divine or not. This is what the simple in faith and heart do, but rarely the learned and erudite.

Besides, one wife cannot have three husbands, nor can one body have three souls. Consequently, unless people acknowledge one God in whom is the Trinity, and that that God is the Lord, no marriage is possible.

[3] We say that this marriage is possible from now on, because it was not possible fully until after the adherents of the Roman Catholic religion were separated in the spiritual world by the Last Judgment, and the adherents of the Protestant Reformed faith too, who are those who professed faith alone. It is because the separation of these is described in the preceding chapters that we say from now on.

That there is a wedding of the church with the Lord can be seen from the following:

Jesus said..., "The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them." (Matthew 9:15, cf. Mark 2:19)

The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to (invite people) to the wedding. (Matthew 22:1-14)

The kingdom of heaven (is like) ten virgins who... went out to meet the bridegroom..., five of (whom)...were ready and went in with (the bridegroom) to the wedding. (Matthew 25:1-12)

That the Lord meant Himself here is apparent from the verse that follows next, in which He says,

Watch..., for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man will come. (Matthew 25:13)

And elsewhere:

Let your loins be girded and your lamps lit, and you yourselves be like people who are waiting for their lord, when he will return from the wedding... (Luke 12:35-36)

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