At Valentine’s Day we often think about love, romantic love that is; and one of the most beautiful images that come to mind is a wedding ceremony. Next to that might be the engagement, where a man gets down on one knee for the proposal, while the woman listens to his expression of undying love and eagerly awaits the big question. The relationship between God and Israel, and even Christ and the church, is often expressed in terms of a wedding, from the proposal to the ceremony; and this is what I want to focus on for our Valentine’s message. Allow me to begin by sharing an illustration by Chris Tiegreen about some of the customs of early Israel, which relate to the proposal and engagement period; and then later on, we’ll talk about the wedding.
We Are Engaged to Christ
The young man’s hand shook as he set the cup in front of her. The moment of decision had come. He’d been waiting his whole life for this day, and all his dreams and desires were wrapped up in it. It had taken all of his resources and all of his courage to arrange for this crucial moment.
He had help, of course. His father had counseled him, dutifully walked to the nearby town in order to get to know her parents, and talked with them about the merits of this match. The parents discussed the details of where the son would live, of how he would provide for their daughter, and, of course, of the price they would require. But only the bride herself could pick up this cup and drink it. Only she could agree to become his wife.
Seconds after he placed the cup on the table – though it seemed to him like hours – she reached out, smiled nervously, [and] lifted it to her mouth and drank. Her gesture said “Yes!” louder than any shout from a mountaintop. Yes, his dream would be fulfilled! Yes, she would marry him!
The young man’s anxiety melted away and unbridled joy took its place. This was a done deal, as binding as the marriage ceremony itself. All that was left for him to do, was to go home with his parents and prepare a room in their house, a place where he and the delight of his heart could live together and enjoy the fruits of their marriage.
As the families celebrated and chattered excitedly about a future full of promise, she leaned toward him discreetly. “When can we have the wedding?” she whispered. “I don’t know,” he whispered back to her. “It’s up to my father. Whenever he tells me the house is ready for you to live in, I’ll come for you.”(1)
In a similar manner, Jesus said that He would be working to prepare a place for His Bride, awaiting the day appointed by the heavenly Father for His return. In John 14:1-3, He said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” Now, back to our illustration:
The young man hoped he would return soon. He would work hard to prepare a place as quickly as he could. Then, he and his groomsmen would come back to her town blowing happily on a shofar, a ram’s horn, to alert her of his arrival. When she heard the blast of the trumpet, it would be time for the wedding.(2) In Matthew 24:31, Jesus spoke of His return for the “great wedding” with the following words: “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Again, back to our illustration:
In the meantime, [while awaiting his return], she would wear a veil to let the whole world know that someone had chosen her, and she would spend her days beautifying her appearance and purifying her heart. The young woman would also keep a lamp by her bed, just in case [the bridegroom] returned during the night. Her bridesmaids would do the same because, after all, one never knows when an eager groom is going to come for his bride. No degree of darkness can keep him away.
Tiegreen elaborates how “this was a typical engagement in ancient Israel, and much of it came from the symbolism of Sinai.” He also states, “Throughout the centuries since, rabbis have [even] taught that the Ten Commandments were an engagement contract. God had chosen a bride. [And] even today, Jews drink a cup of wine at Passover to accept God’s proposal.”(3)
We Are Married to Christ
The relationship between God and Israel was a marriage bond. In Isaiah 62:5, we read in reference to Israel, “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” Israel was viewed as God’s bride; however, the Lord declared in Jeremiah 2:32, “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.” The bride had run away from the bridegroom and played the harlot (Hosea 2:1-4); however, as we see demonstrated in the book of Hosea, the bridegroom pursues her with an undying love, which is a picture of God’s pursuit of Israel.(4)
The marriage customs [and symbolism] of early Israel carried through into Jesus’ day, and it’s clear that He identified with them. He set a cup before His disciples and asked them to drink it. He spilled His own blood as a bride price – not grudgingly, but “for the joy set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2). Before He left His disciples, He told them He was going away to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house, but He would surely return and receive them to Himself (John 14:1-3). He told His disciples He would come again with all His angels and the blast of a trumpet (Matthew 24:30-31).
The New Testament writers picked up on this theme, as Paul told the Corinthians that he had betrothed them to Jesus and wanted them to be pure for the wedding.(5) He said in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3, “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
“If we had any doubt about where history is headed, Revelation makes it clear.” We read in Revelation 19:6-9, “And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’” All of heaven’s hallelujahs will crescendo when the ceremony comes and the wedding feast has begun.(6)
Scripture resounds with wedding theology, from the Garden of Eden to the City of God. In Genesis, one man became two people, and then two people became “one flesh,” and this, Paul says, is the mystery of Christ and His church (Ephesians 5:32). From the first “be fruitful and multiply” to the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Bridegroom seeks a bride.(7) But the wedding is not yet. So, as the church, and as the Bride of Christ, what are we to do? How are we to live in order to demonstrate our faithfulness and undying love for the Bridegroom until He returns? This is the main focus of our message this morning; understanding how to show our devotion to our beloved. I want to encourage you to follow along, as I read our primary passage of Scripture, which is Matthew 25:1-13:
Preparing for the Wedding (Matthew 25:1-13)
1 Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 And at midnight a cry was heard: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!” 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” 9 But the wise answered, saying, “No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.” 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us!” 12 But he answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.” 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
This passage speaks about being prepared for the Bridegroom’s return. We need to understand that we now live in the engagement period. If we have drunk His proposal cup, our marriage contract is as binding as the wedding ceremony itself. But like one of Israel’s brides of long ago, [if we knew that we were engaged and the Bridegroom would return], we wouldn’t just go about our business as though nothing had happened. We would live our lives with one focus: the day the Bridegroom returns for us.
In fact, almost everything we did would point to that festive occasion. We would be as preoccupied as a young bride about making ourselves beautiful for the big day. We would wear a veil letting everyone know to whom we belonged, and we would keep a fully oiled lamp at our bedside in case our eager groom came back in the middle of the night. All of our plans for the future would revolve around that certain but unknown day.
So, while the Bridegroom is at his Father’s house preparing many rooms, what should we be doing? In the church’s role as the Bride, we are to have a singular focus. Most engaged women don’t settle into life-as-usual the day after the proposal. It’s the beginning of a long and busy time. The church [venue] has to be reserved, the caterers contacted, the musicians selected, the flowers arranged, the guest list created, the photographer hired, and on and on until everyone in the wedding party is completely exhausted.
And then there’s the dress. It has to be perfect. It will be worn only once, but it will be worth every penny. Accompanied by an exquisite hairstyle and the artistry of cosmetics – all done by professionals, of course – the bride will be stunning. And it’s never too soon for her to start getting ready.
That’s how preoccupied we should be in preparing for that day. When we walk down the aisle toward the Bridegroom, with all creation in attendance, what will He see? In our case, it isn’t the dress, the hair or the makeup. It’s the beauty of the heart, the desire to please Him, and the total devotion to His cause. We will look beautiful to Him, of course, because His Spirit has done His work in us.
But what about our desire to please Him and our devotion to His cause? . . . What do we know of His life’s dreams? His goals? His plans? . . . Can we share that kind of life with Him? What is our Bridegroom’s agenda? And, deep down inside, are we really on board with it? Those are [some] pretty important questions to ask; [and] it might be a good idea to settle them before the big day.(8)
Common Passions with the Groom
So, let’s talk about the desires of the Bridegroom. What should be our common passions? Well, first of all, He is filled with anticipation. He puts all of His energy and effort into preparing our future home, picturing what His bride will look like when He sees us again, and imagining what our life together will be like. The passion of a Bridegroom in love is indescribable. No power in hell could keep Him from coming back for us.(9) And the Bible tells us that He will behold the glory of His Bride.
We read in Revelation chapter 21: “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband . . . Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls . . . came to me and talked with me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God” (Revelation 21:2, 9-11a).
So, I must ask, “Are we filled with anticipation?” Are we keeping a fully oiled lamp at our bedside in case our eager groom comes back in the middle of the night? Are we going out by day and purchasing the oil we need; being diligent in doing the work required to be prepared? Are we busy with the work of the kingdom, or are we just sitting idly by? It is certain that when Jesus looks on us, He sees a beautiful bride; but until the wedding day, He also sees His church as “servants” – servants of the kingdom.
In Luke 12:35-38, Jesus said, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.”
The second common passion we should have with the Bridegroom is a desire for purity. Paul details how Christ died for the church, in order to obtain a pure bride for the wedding day. We read in Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”
[The Bridegroom] would be devastatingly grieved to find us impure when He returns. [He would be grieved if we have persisted in the ways of the world, after having confessed Him as Savior and Lord]. He would even be grieved to find us casual about the wedding – unprepared, as though it didn’t mean that much to us to begin with. If the church doesn’t prepare by displaying the beauty of His character, none of our works will matter. The Bridegroom will be enormously disappointed.(10)
The third common passion we should have with the Bridegroom is His desire for a big family. If we aren’t interested in bearing [spiritual offspring] . . . and making new disciples . . . [then] we’ve missed His heart.(11) We read in Genesis 1:27-28, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; [and] fill the earth.” When we come to the New Testament, Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Our Bridegroom wants us to be fruitful and multiply and to fill all creation with born-again people.(12)
We sometimes get discouraged in the tasks of personal discipleship and evangelism, because they seem like a divine to-do list. We think these are things that we, as servants, should be accomplishing for our Master simply because He said so. This is true [to a point], but it’s not the whole truth. As a motive, [doing it because it’s a to-do list, or because He said so] only gets us so far.
Scripture doesn’t often present discipleship and evangelism that way. It places these issues in the context of a holy marriage and it gives us a wedding feast as our motive. If we practice biblical disciplines in order to serve a Master, [then] we’ll burn out pretty quickly. If, however, we prepare ourselves in purity and passion for a wedding day, [then] our hearts will beat faster and we’ll anticipate the consummation to come. Our preparation will turn from [a “have to”] to [a] desire.
Making disciples and personal evangelism are the common agenda of the bride and the groom. They flow out of the emotional intimacy of the couple. These are the things that prepare a bride. His Bride. The Bride He delights in and is eager to come for.
We’ve already drunk the cup He has set before us. [This took place when we accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord]. We’re already committed to the wedding. While we wait to hear His shofar blow, we must set our hearts on His name, His character, and His biggest dreams.(13) This means that our passion for Him must be so strong that His name is burned into our heart, so that our devotion rises above the floods. Solomon’s beloved said unto him, “Set me as a seal upon your heart . . . for love is as strong as death . . . Its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it” (Song of Solomon 8:6-7).
Time of Reflection
I want to close by sharing another parable of the kingdom, in Matthew 22:2-14; and I want to invite you to turn there. In Matthew 22:2-8, Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, see, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business . . . Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy’.”
Before reading any further, let’s pause for a moment. This is a word to those who have been invited to the wedding; those who have professed to know Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, have you been faithful to the passions of the Bridegroom? Have you been sharing your faith and seeking to help people grow in their walk with the Lord? Or, have you gone off to your own farm or business, living entirely for yourself and your own desires? Jesus said that this behavior makes you unworthy of being at the wedding.
Now, let’s continue with the parable, as I read Matthew 22:9-14. The king said, “Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him . . . ‘How did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Let’s pause one last time. The invitation to the wedding is extended to everyone, both Jew and Gentile; bad and good. To be considered as one who is good, you must confess Jesus as Savior and Lord. If you have not had your sins forgiven by the shed blood of Christ, and been clothed in His righteousness, then you will be lacking the required attire to enter the wedding. You will be as one who has no answer as to why the Lord should allow you through the gates of heaven. And what is the consequence?
Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” If we arrive at the wedding without being covered by the redeeming blood of Christ, the consequence is that we will be bound hand and foot, taken away, and cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is a description of hell.
Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God wants us to be there for that great wedding day in heaven, so much so, that He offers us a free gift – the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. That gift is the required wedding garment. So, how do we receive this gift? Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” I want to invite you to come, walk the aisle, and pray to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, so that when the Bridegroom returns, you will be there at the wedding.
NOTES
The majority of this sermon text is taken word-for-word from an article entitled, “The Bride of Christ: Preparing for His Return,” written by Chris Tiegreen in 2007. The source was a Southern Baptist publication.
(1) Chris Tiegreen, “The Bride of Christ: Preparing for His Return,” 2007.
(2) Ibid.
(3) Ibid.
(4) One day, the Lord will come and bring Israel back to be with Him forever in Zion: “Return, O backsliding children, says the LORD; for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion . . . At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts” (Jeremiah 3:14, 17).
(5) Tiegreen, “The Bride of Christ.”
(6) Ibid.
(7) Ibid.
(8) Ibid.
(9) Ibid.
(10) Ibid.
(11) Ibid.
(12) Ibid.
(13) Ibid.
