Let’s begin by reading Revelation 19:6-8 Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. 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.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. Let us pray.
“The bride has prepared herself.” I have always had a hard time understanding what it meant to be a bride. I guess it’s because I am a man. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ.” I also should attempt to present to Jesus this church body as a pure bride through my teachings. I have an obligation to instruct you on how to be that “pure bride.” But first I must understand it.
So I did some research on the early Jewish marriage arrangements and discovered a lot of what Jesus reflected in his life reflected the establishment of a marriage contract with us.
The marriage arrangement could have been placed in a format of ten steps. Today we will discover how these ten steps lead to our relationship with Jesus.
1) First step The father chooses the bride. He would send a friend or trusted servant to come to terms and make the arrangements. Let us read Gen 24:1-4 “Abraham was now a very old man, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. One day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, “Take an oath by putting your hand under my thigh. Swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women. Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac.”
Philippians 2:6-7 reminds us that Jesus “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”
He became a servant sent by the Father to find the bride. “For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.” (John 6:44) Of course this drawing is the work of the Holy Spirit.
2) The second step would be to secure the price. This price would be something of great value. Abraham’s servant took with him “ten camels with all kinds of expensive gifts” (Gen 24:10) The price would reflect the wealth of the groom and his family. It also reflected the worth of the bride to the groom.
God also gave something of great value. He gave his “one and only son” (John 3:16) This is how Peter put it. “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” (1 Peter 1:18-19)
3) Now the responsibility shifts to the bride, The bride must agree. She is often being asked to marry a stranger. In most cases she has never even seen him or knows his age. Her family and friends may try to pressure her but ultimately the decision is her’s to make. Remember Rebekah? The servant has sought her out and offers a price for her. Her family agreed to the price “So they called Rebekah. “Are you willing to go with this man?” they asked her. And she replied, “Yes, I will go.” (Gen 24:58)
She has no knowledge of this man or the land she is traveling toward but she has a sense of security that she is making the right decision.
Peter says of Jesus “You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.” (1 Peter 1:8)
But God has given each of us the free choice to say “no” to his offer. To say “yes” we “declare with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.” (Romans 10:9)
4) The bride has been chosen and she has accepted. The price has been secured. So the fourth step is to share the cup. It is at this point the bride and groom would drink wine from the same cup. They are now officially married although it will be some time before they share the marriage bed. The groom would make a verbal commitment to his bride which would include his promise to return to her after all arraignments for their life together have been made. The bride would not need to make any such commitment. The groom would also shower his bride with gifts.
We see this reflected in God’s written commitment to us.
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. (Jeremiah 31:31) And He lavishes us with the gifts such as peace, joy, righteousness, and eternal life.
5) Now the written marriage contract is drawn up. In it the bride is promised that she will be provided and cared for in every way. All her needs will be met by the groom. It is then signed by two witnesses and given to the bride.
Jesus promises us again and again to provide for us. We find these promises in the Bible, our written contract. We read “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”(Phil 4:19)
And as for witnesses “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith,” (Heb 12:1)
6) Next the bride is washed. This may seem a bit strange but bathing was not a daily occurrence like we are accustomed to having. This bathing was a sign of purification and preparedness. It symbolized a washing away of the former things and the start of a new life with her beloved.
For this reason water baptism is important. In Romans we are taught “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin —” (Romans 6:3-6)
And Jesus taught us “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)
7) While this cleansing process is taking place the groom departs. He returns to his father’s house to prepare a place for the wedding and his new bride. He would build an addition on to the family home for them to live.
Remember the words of Jesus? “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2-3)
You ever wonder how big that house might be. John saw and described it in Rev 21: 16 When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles. This “house” that the bride will reside in will stretch from Buffalo, New York to Miami, Fla over to Wichita, Kansas. And it has 739,200 stories. That is one big house.
8) Now the waiting begins. She has made herself ready and she waits. She has no idea how long it will take her groom to prepare her a place so she waits. She waits for her groom to complete his task and get his fathers approval. When the father sees that all of his son’s preparations for his bride has been completed than he will allow him to go transport his bride home. So actually only the father knows when his son will be sent for his bride. (Matt 24:36)
So the bride waits. She may be sad about leaving her family soon. If he tarries to long she mat develop doubts about his return. She might even quit looking for him. (Matt 25:5)
We wait for our groom. We can get discouraged or we can stay prepared. “But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.” (2 Peter 3:13-14)
And when He does arrive how will He see us? “He gave up his life for her (his bride) to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.” (Eph 5:25-27)
9) Then suddenly, with little warning, the groom arrives. It’s night, it’s quiet. Then there is a shout followed by a blast of the shofar. The groom and his wedding party are coming for her. She must be prepared to leave immediately. There can be no hesitation or procrastination. He whisks her away to the marriage chamber he has prepared for her and the marriage is finalized. After blessings are said over them, they will drink from the second cup of wine to set the second seal to the marriage covenant.
They will now spend seven days in the wedding room. They will become one flesh. They will get to know each other intimately.
When our groom comes for us it will be similar. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thess 4:16-17) And it will be in that wedding room that we will come to know Jesus more than we ever have.
Paul put it beautifully. “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (1 Cor 13:12)
10) the wedding feast begins After seven days the couple come out of the room to join their guest for the wedding feast. It is a time of celebration.
One day we will have our feast.
Let us be glad and rejoice,
and let us give honor to him.
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.”
For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.” (Rev 19:7-9)
But I must leave you with a warning. Jesus told a parable that is found in Matt 22.
“The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!
“So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’ But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.
“The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
If you are here today I assure you that you are a chosen one. The question is “How are you going to respond to the invitation to be a guest at the banquet”. You need the righteousness of Jesus to be clothed properly. And you are clothed by accepting his sacrifice. Be sure you get your reservation today.
