An Invitation to YOUR Wedding

Happy July 4^th! In our house, we also say: Happy Anniversary. Jim and I married 45 years ago on July 4^th. Why July 4^th? Not because I’m especially patriotic, but because the month of June was not feasible. Jim said, “OK, then let’s get married on the first Saturday in July.” I said yes before either of us looked at a calendar. No, we did not have red-white-and-blue decorations. But there was a bit of history. I wore my grandmother’s wedding dress and veil; she married in 1932. Jim wrote all the music for the service, and sang to me after my processional, and halfway down the aisle at our recessional. The service was all that we hoped for.

It has been 45 years this July 4, by God’s grace. And also, by our “acts” of love, our attempts to be better listeners, friends, encouragers, asking forgiveness and receiving forgiveness. So too, the Christian life is not just a nice wedding day, the day you got “saved,” and then you live your life as you did before the wedding. It is about knowing your beloved more deeply. Recently, I finished up an essay on the cross in the NT. Revelation emphasizes the slain Lamb. I was struck anew by the wedding imagery of the (slain) Lamb.

First, the singing in heaven, rejoicing and praising God, “for the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear” (Rev 19:7–8). This is a sure promise; every believer is a “bride” of Christ, and together we are the Bride of Christ, the church. Right now, we are in the betrothal stage. we faithfully make ourselves ready by walking in the light of Christ and doing those good deeds that God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10). Second, we all receive an invitation to the wedding supper of the Lamb. One might think it odd that the bride receives an invitation to her own wedding! True enough, but here John stretches the imagery a bit, as he alludes the invitation we all have, to partake of communion. This “feast” is the present foretaste of the upcoming wedding banquet. Third, the new Jerusalem is described as a beautifully dressed bride, the city in which God will forever dwell, filled with God’s people, his Bride (21:2–3; 10). John’s vision closes with an invitation to “Come,” this spoken by the Holy Spirit and the Bride (Rev 22:17). Amen, come, Lord Jesus.