To understand the necessity of the Second Coming, one must first understand the legal crisis that necessitated the First. The scriptures present a divine reality that transcends human sentiment: a holy Husband, a wayward wife, and a Law that demanded a permanent separation. The “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” is not merely a poetic image; it is the final legal consummation of a covenant that was once broken and, by Law, beyond repair.
The Statutory Prohibition
In the court of Heaven, the “Divorce of Israel” was a formal decree. When the Northern Kingdom was served a “bill of divorce” due to her relentless pursuit of other gods, it triggered a restrictive statute found in the Torah:
“And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce…” (Jeremiah 3:8, KJV)
This was not a matter of God’s “feelings,” but of His holiness. According to the Law, Israel’s idolatry among the nations constituted “joining another.” Therefore, the Husband was restrained by His own Word. To take her back as she was would be to bring “abomination” into His own House.
“…her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord…” (Deuteronomy 24:4, KJV)
By the standards of the Law, the case of Israel was a closed file; she was legally barred from restoration. A holy God could not simply “ignore” His own decree without violating His nature as a Just Judge.
The Legal Solution: Romans 7
The defense of the truth hinges on this: God did not break the Law to save His people; He fulfilled it. The scriptures explain the legal brief for this transition in the book of Romans, revealing that the marriage bond is only binding as long as the husband is alive:
“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? …but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.” (Romans 7:1-2, KJV)
The death of the Husband was a Legal Necessity.
- The Law demanded that the marriage bond last “as long as the husband liveth.”
- As long as the Husband lived, the “Bill of Divorce” and the prohibition of Deuteronomy 24 stood as an eternal wall of separation.
- Death was the only way to terminate the old contract and its penalties without violating the holiness of the Law.
The Resurrection and the New Marriage
The miracle of the Gospel is that death was not the end. Because the old marriage was dissolved by death, the Resurrected One was now legally free to marry again—but this time, under a New Covenant.
“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead…” (Romans 7:4, KJV)
This is why we must be “born again.” When we are joined to Christ, we are not continuing the old, defiled union; we are entering a new creation where the former things are passed away. The “old man” who was under the divorce decree has died, and the “new man” is joined to the Resurrected Husband.
The Verdict of the Return: The Identity of the Husband
The final “Prophetic Hotspot” is the identity of the One who died. If the Father were the Husband and Jesus died, the marriage would not be legally loosed. The death had to be the death of the Husband Himself.
The scriptures reveal that the One who entered into the marriage covenant at Sinai was the pre-incarnate Christ. Because “no man hath seen God [the Father] at any time” (John 1:18), every interaction Israel had with the LORD was an interaction with the Word. The Apostle Paul confirms this in 1 Corinthians 10:4, stating that the spiritual Rock that followed Israel in the wilderness “was Christ.”
It was Jesus who said, “I remember thee… the love of thine espousals” (Jeremiah 2:2). He did not arrive on the scene to find a new Bride; He came to redeem the one He had betrothed to Himself in the wilderness. He was the Husband who was offended, He was the Husband who issued the divorce, and He was the Husband who died to satisfy His own Law.
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is the final execution of this legal victory. He returns not as a stranger, but as the First Husband, now glorified, bringing His Bride into His kingdom through the door of Justice.
“Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.” (Psalm 89:14, KJV)