It is clear that the marriage of the Lamb takes place “immediately after” the burning of Jerusalem. Jesus, the bridegroom, makes his appearance and the bride has made herself ready (Rev. 21:1-2). This bride is not old Jerusalem with whom God had married. The parable refers to the inviting of others, which is a reference to Gentile inclusion in this covenant with New Jerusalem. John sees the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. The description is taken up by the last two chapters of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev. 21-22). He returned to redeem His elect saints (Luke 21:20), who would be priests of God and of Christ and would reign with him a thousand years. This gathering of the elect took place “immediately after” the Roman siege against Jerusalem (cf. Matthew 24:29-34, 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Thess. 2:1-12). To be more precise, Daniel reveals that it commenced forty-five days after the fall of Jerusalem (Dan. 12:11-13, Tisri 22, A.D). The order of events is important if one is to counter the errors of the day, like Hymenaeus and Philetus. Their error was that the first resurrection had already come prior to the Jewish revolt and the revealing of the “man of sin” (cf. 2 Thess. 2:1-12; 2 Tim. 2:16-19). In the same way that Jesus teaches the gathering of the elect coming “immediately after” the siege of Jerusalem, Paul is clear about the man of sin being revealed before Jesus comes. The gathering of the elect and the marriage of the Lamb refer to the same glorious reward of the faithful. Both fall under the resurrection or restoration motif. It was the hope of Israel, the promise of a glorious reign with Christ who entered into a covenant marriage with the elect. An example of this first resurrection is in the vision of John in chapter eleven with the resurrection of the priests (Rev. 11:18). On that day (the siege against Jerusalem) Jehovah caused the prophets to pass out of the land (Zechariah 13:2; cf. 12:1-13:6). If John, Daniel, and other prophets had received their reward, anyone claiming to prophesy after the siege was a liar who is worthy of death. Zechariah 13:1-6 reads,
In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity. It will come about in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land. And if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you have spoken falsely in the name of the Lord’, and his father and mother who gave birth to him will pierce him through when he prophesies. Also, it will come about in that day that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not put on a hairy robe in order to deceive; but he will say, ‘I am not a prophet; I am a tiller of the ground, for a man sold me as a slave in my youth.’ And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’
Conclusion
Jesus provided a way for faithful Jews (who became Christians) to know when Rome was about to destroy Jerusalem and end the age, along with the Mosaic law. This should be a real faith-builder for Christians today. It was a logical extension because God had always provided a way of escape for his people in trying circumstances. In Ezekiel 9, God marked his people so the Babylonians wouldn’t destroy them in the destruction of Jerusalem. In Acts 18:9-10, Jesus told Paul in Corinth not to be afraid, for “no man shall set on thee to harm thee.” In John 18:8, at his own arrest, Jesus expressed concern for the safety of his apostles. Likewise, in Matthew 24, Jesus provided protection for the faithful.