MARRIED TO JESUS (Part Two)
INTRODUCTION: Throughout the bible you will find the relationship between God and his people being referred to as a marriage where God is the bridegroom and we are his bride. Last week we looked at the example of Hosea and Gomer. We saw how unbelievably loving and forgiving God is toward us through the story of Hosea loving and even pursuing his adulterous bride Gomer. Today we’ll look at what we should be doing while we wait for our Bridegroom’s return when we take part in the wedding feast.
1) The Wedding feast. As I talked about last week, the first part of the Jewish wedding ceremony is the betrothal. This is where the Groom had proposed and if the bride accepted they were betrothed and the bride price was paid. Jesus paid the ultimate bride price-he gave his life on the cross. We who are born-again have accepted his proposal and are betrothed to Jesus.
The next phase of the ceremony was when the groom would go away and prepare a place for his bride. Jesus told his disciples in John 14 that in his Father’s house were many rooms and that he was going there to prepare a place for them and he would come back and take them there. Jesus is preparing a place for us, his bride. When the place was ready the groom would come back and claim his bride and there would be a big celebration.
Rev. 19:6-9. There are shouts of hallelujah, for the time for the wedding supper has come. There are two things here I want to draw attention to. First in vs. 9 we see the blessing is for those who are invited, perhaps more specifically, blessed are those who have responded to the invitation. And in vs. 7 we see that the bride has made herself ready.
2) Many are invited but few will attend. Luke 14:15-24. All three excuses are pretty lame. You don’t buy a field without first seeing it. You don’t buy a team of oxen without first trying them out. If you just got married why aren’t you with your wife now? And furthermore why wouldn’t you say, “Hold on so I can go get my wife”? Excuses, excuses, you hear them every day, the devil he’ll supply them if the feast you’ll stay away.
I came across an illustration where a church advertized "No Excuse Sunday." Cots will be placed in the foyer for those who say, "Sunday is my only day to sleep in." Visine will be available for those with tired, burning eyes from watching television too late on Saturday night. We will have steel helmets for those who say, "The roof would cave in if I ever came to church." Blankets will be provided for those who think the church is too cold, and fans for those who think the church is too hot. Score cards will be available for those who wish to keep tabs on the hypocrites. One section will be devoted to trees and grass for those who like to seek God in nature. Finally, the sanctuary will be decorated with both Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who have never seen the church without them.”
Unfortunately, more people than not will miss out on that wonderful wedding feast of the Lamb. Matt. 22:2-14. The initial guests represent the Jews, the first ones invited. The second group represents the gentiles; everyone else. However, as we have already seen, there are also plenty of gentiles who refuse the invitation. They will have their excuses as to why they are not interested in this particular wedding feast. It’s like the people who don’t come to the wedding because there won’t be any booze at the reception.
Then we see the one guest who got in without wedding clothes. It was common in those times for the host to provide wedding garments to those who didn’t have them. This person didn’t want the clothes that were offered but obviously still wanted to go to the wedding anyway. He was found out and then cast out. There are people today who want to go to the wedding feast but don’t want to honor the King’s regulations. They want to come in on their own terms instead of entering by way of salvation through Christ. Try as you might but it won’t work. There’s only one way to take part in the wedding feast of the Lamb and it isn’t by our good deeds; it’s only through Jesus.
3) We need to be prepared for the Bridegroom’s return. This is the stage we’re in now, the waiting period. We, the bride are waiting for our groom’s return. The question is; will we be prepared?
Matt. 25:1-13. The five who did not bring extra oil thought they wouldn’t need it. They thought the bridegroom was coming back soon. The other five were prepared for a longer waiting period. Both sets fell asleep. The difference was-the group that had enough oil slept in security while the other five slept in obscurity. The prepared five knew they were ready and slept peacefully while the other five who thought they were ready slept oblivious to their situation.
“At Midnight”. This would have been considered an unusual and therefore unexpected time for the groom to come. Jesus said in Matt. 24:44, “So you also must be ready, because the son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
When the announcement came the five who were not prepared wanted to get some oil from the ones who were. But the five who were prepared would not share; could not spare. This shows that each of us need to be prepared, we can’t count on someone else to make us prepared. We can help each other be prepared but in the end each of us are responsible to make sure our lamps always have plenty of oil in them.
Then we see the sad fate of the five who weren’t prepared. They went away and got some oil but by the time they got back it was too late; they had waited too long. They thought they were safe and when it became evident they were wrong it was too late. Unfortunately, there are plenty of unprepared people out there. They’re told what they need to do in order to be prepared but they won’t listen. They will be like the five and think they already have what they need. Or they will procrastinate thinking there is plenty of time to get prepared.
There is a fable about three apprentice devils that were coming to the earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan about their plans to tempt and to ruin men. The first said, "I will tell them there is no God." Satan said, "That will only deceive a few since most believe there is a God." The second said, "I will tell men there is no hell." Satan answered, "No, for that idea will produce no better results than the first.” “I know,” said the third, "I will tell men there is no hurry." "Ah, yes,” said Satan, "Go, and you will ruin ‘em by the thousands." The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time.
Heb. 3:12-15. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” We usually just attribute this to those who aren’t saved to not ignore the Lord’s call to salvation. Although that does apply, this is really a warning to Christians to not ignore the voice of the Lord. This calls for us to not get lazy, to not procrastinate; to not ignore the Lord speaking to us to the point of hardening our heart against him. If we continue through the process of hardening our hearts our lamps will eventually run out of oil. If we don’t do anything about it by the time we meet our groom we will be left out of the party; left outside. Inside there will be sounds of laughter and joy; outside there will only be sounds of weeping and sorrow.
The problem is some people think that they can rest on their laurels. They think just because they were baptized they are good to go; just sit back and wait for the Lord’s return. Or, they think the bare minimum is sufficient. Go to church once in a while, read my bible every now and then. Throw a couple bucks in the offering plate if I can. In this we are having a relationship with God on our terms. In this we are slowly being drained of our oil and we either don’t realize it or we don’t care.
And although it doesn’t say this in the story I’d like to think the five who didn’t have enough oil were warned. They had to have seen the ones who did have enough oil and were advised to get more but ignored the advice; didn’t take the warnings seriously. God will warn us if we are losing oil. The question is; will we listen?
4) We need to get ready for the wedding. A bride spends a lot of time getting ready for her wedding day. She goes out of her way to make sure everything is just so. We too need to pay strict attention to getting ready. How?
In Eph. 5 Paul highlights the relationship of husbands and wives. He makes comparisons to the relationship between Christ and his church. Vs. 22-24. If we are going to be ready for the wedding we first need to have an attitude of submission. Everything else stems from this. If we’re not surrendering to the Lordship then we will not be successful at getting ready. We will not be very cooperative with Jesus’ plan and purpose for his bride-Vs. 25-27. If we are going to be holy, radiant, clean and blameless we first need to submit. In order to be the bride that Jesus deserves we need to commit to doing things God’s way not our way.
Titus 2:11-14. We will be ready for the wedding when we understand the privilege of being the bride of Christ. We don’t deserve to marry Jesus; we don’t deserve to be at this feast. Why are we invited? Because of God’s grace. When we get that we will spend our time saying ‘no’ to the things that stain our wedding dress. We will be committed to living self-controlled, upright lives. When we understand grace we will realize that Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t just for our redemption but for the purpose of our purification. And grace will produce in us a new attitude; an attitude of gratitude that shows itself in not just doing good but being eager to do good. Our waiting period isn’t about waiting at all-it’s about doing. How we’re living our lives while we wait for our husband’s return is indicative of how much we appreciate and understand grace.
Max Lucado tells a story about a stately prince and a peasant girl who fall in love. It was difficult for people to understand. On the one hand is a prince who literally had the world at His disposal. There has never been a more perfect specimen of a man that ever lived. You wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that He is a perfect catch. On the other hand there is a peasant girl. She is nothing more than average. At her best she is plain, but at her worst she can be just plain ugly. There are times when she is cranky and moody, and she rarely ever achieves all she could. To look at her from anyone else’s eyes you would never believe she was worth much. But if you could see her through the eyes of the prince, you would believe that she is “to die for.”
Because the prince determined that He couldn’t bear to live without her, he asked her to be His bride. The angels in heaven listened expectantly as she accepted his proposal. The prince promised his bride that He would come back for her soon, and the peasant turned princess pledged to faithfully await his return.
To this point the story could be any of a number of fairy tales, but now the plot takes a bizarre twist. You would expect the bride to be always thinking about the coming wedding, but she rarely ever mentions it. You would think that her every waking moment would be lived out in anticipation and preparation for the coming of her prince.
However, by the way she lives you wouldn’t even know she was the bride of a perfect prince. More frequently than not, you can’t even tell the difference between the bride and any of the other peasant girls in the village. There are even times when she can be seen flirting with the other men of the village in broad daylight, and who knows what she is doing when nobody is around to see!
Can you imagine a peasant girl fortunate enough to be the object of a perfect prince’s eternal love? You would expect her to be captivated by His love and filled with a sense of wonder that she was fortunate enough to be loved by Him. You would think that she would be careful to remain pure in anticipation of the return of her royal groom. Instead, to look at her you might wonder if she even remembers she is engaged at all.”
Jer. 2:32, “Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.” In this context, forget means to put out of the mind. As we go about in our life and daily affairs are we mindful that we are the bride of Christ? While we wait for Jesus-our husband’s return do we live like we aren’t married? A respectable spouse when given the opportunity to be unfaithful stops themselves and says, “No; I’m married.”
