The Wedding

"Your dress is ready!" said a high-pitched voice when I listened to my messages. So I excitedly went to David's Bridal and picked up my beautiful blue bridesmaid dress and pearl necklace. Jessica is going to be a beautiful bride, and I am honored to be a part of her special day in September. 

Just a few days later, Jennifer, another friend of mine from out-of-town called me and we caught up on life. I talked mainly about my job and new church home, and she talked mainly about her upcoming wedding and all her exciting plans. She asked me if I would consider being one of her bridesmaids, and I was once again highly honored to be a part of another wedding for a beautiful bride. 

That same day, I happily placed my order for a light-blue, flowered dress that my sweet friend, Anna, picked out for her bridesmaids. Those dresses will be perfect for her river-front wedding in August, but we won't be nearly as stunningly beautiful as she will be when she says "I do" to the man God has chosen for her. 

I am beginning to think I am going to be like that girl in "27 Dresses" as I watch the dresses line up in my own closet. But right now, I am filled with excitement and joy for these three sweet friends as they enter into a commitment that will not only change their lives for the better, but also the lives of those around them as their marriages testify to the beauty of the gospel.

That's what marriage is after all: a testimony to the gospel. Ephesians 5:22-33 talks about the love between a man and woman being like the love between Christ and the church. Just like Christ gave up his life for the church, so the man sacrifices for his wife. Just like he church submits to Christ, the woman submits to her husband. And just like nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, so nothing should ever separate the husband and his wife. When done God's way, a marriage beautifully gives us a picture on earth of what Christ's love for the church is like. 

Maybe that's why marriage makes so many people happy. They aren't happy because they are married, they are happy because they have come to understand Christ's love for the church in a new way that can only be experienced through marriage.

All these dresses in my closet get me so excited about weddings. Even though the weddings are not my own, they remind me of the marriage that is my own - the marriage talked about in Revelation 19:6-9.

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

“Hallelujah!
    For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
    and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
    and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
    was given her to wear.”

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

These weddings on earth are only small glimpses of the glory that we will experience at the wedding of the Lamb, Jesus Christ! That's the wedding that we don't want to miss, and we all are invited. When we say yes to Jesus, we will be clothed in white as a beautiful bride, and we will spend eternity in a love that can not fail. 

"These are the true words of God."

Nothing can separate us from he precious love of Jesus. He has bought us - his church, his bride - with the high price of his own blood so that we can have a place at the wedding banquet table. Save the date!