By Pastor Paul
I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Revelation 21:2
Elise and I took a year to plan our wedding day. She, I am sure, saw the day in her mind since she was young. I joined the planning team with a year to go. By then most of the decisions had already been made. I was amazed at all the “necessities”; flowers, musicians, colors, food, cakes, candles, and on and on. I will never forget one of many sharp rebukes. I was not putting the invitations together in the right order. “No, Paul, this goes inside this and then it faces this way and then inside that so when they open they see this and have that after they see that.” So much work. I just wanted to get to the “May I present Mr. and Mrs. Hickernell”. After a year of driving, planning, spending and working the day arrived.
Big breath. The music starts. Everyone stands and turns. The doors open. My heart is racing. I can only smile. She is the most beautiful angel my meager eyes have seen. Anything the years had held flew away in a moment. There and then it was worth every tear and battle and hurt. My bride was walking down the isle. She was beautiful.
The Apostle John was shown the heavenly day when the Church is presented to the Bridegroom. The music plays. The flowers are in place. Angelic choirs sing. Stand and turn. Look. She is beautiful. Holy. Elegant. She has been made ready, made beautiful. She can stand before her Husband. Christ beholds her and all her pains are wiped away. It has been a long journey. The price has been great. Sacrifices have been made, but now she is beautiful. There have been many tears and battles and hurts. But, anything the years had held fly away in a moment. The Bride is dressed for her husband and she is beautiful. No more waiting. They are truly together…forever.
God, through John, gave the Church an amazing wedding present. God gave us the promise of a fairy tale ending. There will be a wedding day. We will see Christ. We will be ready. The dirt we carry and scars endured will be washed away in the Bridegroom’s blood. We will be beautiful before Christ. The music will play and angels will sing and tears will be wiped away. So, endure. Live pure and holy. Fight for the day. Pay the price. The day is coming. It will come. We, the Church, His Bride will be beautiful.
Read Revelation 21:1-27.
1 comment:
This week Zion Church is learning about God's image of the Church as the Bride of Christ. In Revelation we read about the Bride of the Lamb having been made ready/prepared for her husband (19:7; 21:2). That's what our temporary life on this temporary Earth is for. Everything we go through is for our learning and edification (i.e., building up). As Christians we are learning how to live rightly before God, so that when Christ returns and we are presented to Him as His Bride, we will be pure, beautiful, and ready.
I was thinking about our wedding day, and how my bride was an example of this. We kind of rushed through the wedding preparations, as many young people right out of college do, because I am the strong-willed one and a couple months seemed like plenty of time to me. (I'm still learning, but I know my error.) The amazing thing is that as much as I drove Angie crazy in those days, when she walked down the aisle to become Angelina Dunkerton, I had never seen her more confident. She was ready. Neither of us knew what would be coming in the early months of our marriage, but that day--even with all the crazy, unexpected things that happened that day--she was ready!
This life seems so crazy and we keep making mistakes, but when we are presented before the Lamb as His Bride, we will be ready, because He has made us clean!
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