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Jul 02, 2023 06:00am

The Wedding Day

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Recently, my husband walked our only daughter down the aisle. The pews were filled with family and friends. The candles flickered. Joyous melody from the piano and fragrance from the flowers hung in the air. My husband kissed her on the cheek, handed her to the groom, and stepped around to officiate the wedding. He then prayed and asked God to be the Guest of Honor. It was touching and beautiful in so many ways.

God loves weddings. He officiated the first one. Adam and Eve’s wedding ceremony must have been beautiful. I like to think of it as the perfect, outdoor wedding. I imagine them standing under a canopy of trees amidst the stunning splendor of nature as God brings Eve to Adam.

Can you envision it?

They were surrounded by foliage, blooming flowers, and furry animals. The peaceful sound of birds chirping, and water cascading was all the music they needed as Adam spoke the vows of the marriage ceremony. “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh,” (Genesis 2:23-24).

Weddings are one of my favorite celebrations to attend. They are a picture of what is to come. We see in Scripture that in ancient Israel it was common practice for the father to select a bride for his son (Genesis 24:1-4). During this time, a bridal gift was paid by the groom (Genesis 24:52-53). The betrothal period, which typically lasted for about a year, was the time set aside for the couple to prepare themselves for marriage.

The couple was considered married (see Matthew 1:18-25) but remained pure and lived separately. The groom was responsible for preparing a new dwelling place for his bride. Often this was done by adding rooms onto his father’s house. The bride would keep herself pure and remain busy preparing wedding garments. There was great anticipation toward the end of the betrothal.

The exact time of the groom’s arrival was unknown. Therefore, the bride and her bridal party were to always be ready (see Matthew 25:1-13). The father of the groom would announce that the time had come and one of the groom’s party would prepare the way (Matthew 3:1-3) by running ahead of the bridegroom shouting, “Behold, the bridegroom comes!” (Matthew 25:6). The wedding ceremony would often last for days.

Now consider the heavenly wedding that will soon take place: God the Father chose us (Ephesians 1:4), the Church (2 Corinthians 11:2 and Revelation 21:2, 9), for His Son, the Bridegroom (John 3:29, Matthew 9:15). The bridal gift was paid with the Bridegroom’s own life (1 Timothy 2:5-6), and we are now in the betrothal period anticipating His return. Christ has gone to His Father’s house to prepare a place for us. Shortly before His death and resurrection He said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also,” (John 14:2-3).

Jesus told His disciples that He did not know the day or hour of His return (Matthew 24:36) but, as with any Jewish bridegroom, He must wait for His Father to give the word that the set time has come. The Church is to be busy with work (2 Corinthians 5:9) and remain spotless and pure (Ephesians 5:27, 1 John 3:3) until His return.

Are you longing for this day? Is your lamp trim and bright? Do you enthusiastically await the Bridegroom’s return? I know I do. Oh, what a day it will be!

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,” (Revelation 19:7-8).