THE GREATEST WEDDING OF ALL
By Pastor Jim May
Last year the world was dazzled by what has been called the “Wedding of the Century”. That’s quite a statement since the century has just begun. I wonder what other weddings may occur sometime in the next 95 years that may be more extravagant than the wedding of Donald Trump and Melania Knauss? Certainly this was one of the most grandiose weddings that the world will ever see.
The guest list for the wedding and reception only contained 350 names but those invited were of the highest in social standing. (It really upsets me to know that I wasn’t invited.) The list contained members of Royal families around the world, high profile Hollywood actors, former Mayor of New York, Rudy Juliani, and Regis Philbin of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”. (I guess you had to be one to be at that wedding.)
The bride was given a diamond studded platinum wedding ring that was worth about $1.5 million. Her wedding dress was made of white duchesse satin, had a 13-foot long train and was crowned by a 16-foot long veil. It took 1000 hours of labor from 28 seamstresses to put it together including 550 hours spent in embroidering more than 1500 crystal rhinestones and pearls in swirl patterns that covered the dress. That dress cost around $200,000. Then there was the cake. It was seven tiers high, 32 inches in diameter and weighed 50 lbs and was topped by 3000 white icing roses. The wedding’s final cost is unknown but it was certainly well into the millions of dollars. The cheapest thing that was listed on their gift registry at Tiffany’s was an $8500 porcelain fruit basket. There was only one thing that was done to save a few dollars. Mr. Trump did his own hair. (Some folks say that maybe he should have splurged a little more.)
The biggest question that comes to my mind is this – after all the money is spent and the hoopla is over, I wonder how long the marriage will last? After all, this is the third time for Mr. Trump. I think that he has already planned for the marriage to fail since he forced Melania to sign an ironclad prenuptial agreement before he would sign the marriage license. I wonder if the next wedding, should that day come, will be called the “Wedding of the Millennia”?
The wealthy, powerful and social elite of this world can certainly put on a show, but I want you to know that there is a wedding coming that will put all of their extravaganzas to shame. There is going to be a wedding that will boggle you mind in what the cost in dollars will be, and where the guest list will contain names of multitudes of people, many of whom the world of the rich and famous don’t know. It is almost certain that the names on Trump’s list won’t be there, although they could be if they accepted the invitation that is written in blood. There will be many names of Royalty in attendance. In fact, everyone that is invited is an heir to a throne and they are all called princes and princesses, Sons and daughters of the King.
Their wedding gowns won’t weigh 50 lbs but their beauty will be unbelievable. Each and every one of them will glow like the sun and will be flawless in their appearance, reflecting the purity, holiness and righteousness of the Bridegroom that made them personally for His bride.
What about the wedding ring? I wonder what it will be worth? The ring will be a ring of grace, carrying the insignia of the Lamb of God, and it will be worth more than all the money in the world. In fact, the cost of that ring was everything that God had to give. It cost Him His own Son’s life. The Bridegroom gave his life to purchase that ring for His bride.
Is your name on the list? Will you be at that wedding? Each of you has your own personally autographed invitation from the God of Heaven. But you aren’t invited as a guest, only to sit by and watch. You are invited to be a part of the Bride of Christ, to be united into one body with the Lord Jesus Christ, to become one with Him. His love for you is greater than for any guest. He loves you as His own.
This marriage between the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and His Bride, those who are truly born again by the Blood of the Lamb, will last for eternity. Jesus doesn’t ask you to sign a prenuptial agreement, even though He has far more wealth and power than all the wealthy of this world combined. He has already given you all that Heaven has to offer. He gave it freely because He trusts you to be faithful to Him forever.
I don’t know if there will be a cake at the wedding feast, but I hope there is. I know that the best food and drink will be there. There will be the New Wine of the Holy Ghost, overflowing in His power and glory upon the heart of every one of us. The Fruits of the Spirit will be there in abundance. All manner of provision will be taken care of because the Bridegroom knows what His Bride loves and every desire of your heart will be fulfilled completely.
What a shame it will be, for any of those who are given a personal invitation to be a part of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, to miss the wedding because they chose not to go! It is hard to imagine anyone turning down an invitation to attend the Trump wedding since the guest list was so limited and carefully chosen. What’s even more amazing to me is that the vast majority of those who are invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb won’t RSVP their invitations and allow any little excuse to keep them from being there for the grandest wedding of all time and eternity.
Jesus was talking to the chief priests and Pharisees of the nation of Israel, the very people whom He had chosen to bring the message of God’s love, mercy and grace into the world. He was trying to reach into their cold, stony hearts and get them to realize how far from God they really were, but they wouldn’t hear it. In fact, while they were being spoken to by the very Son of God, in the flesh, they weren’t listening to a word that Jesus said. Instead, they were plotting to kill Jesus and get rid of him. Even though Jesus knew their hearts, just like He knows yours and mine this morning, He wasn’t going to pass up one more opportunity to try to reach out to them and tell them the truth.
Matthew 22:1-14, "And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen."
What does this parable have to say to you and I right now?
Jesus is telling us all that the wedding feast is set. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb will happen with us or without us. The choice on whether we will be there is ours to make.
God the Father has already made the plans, set the date and prepared the feast. Everything is ready for those who are invited to come. Each of us must answer the call. The only way to go is by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and believing in the power of His blood to resurrect us into eternal life.
God had begun by choosing Israel to be his children, but their rebellion and unbelief had caused them to lose out with God. Though they will never be forsaken completely and a remnant will be saved in the end, what could Israel have been if they had only been faithful? They are still God’s chosen nation but God had to turn His back on them for a time and pass the calling to spread His name and His Word throughout the world to another nation. I believe that the United States of America was called and chosen to spread the message of the gospel for a while, but our rebellion and unbelief is bringing us ever nearer to being rejected by God. God’s covenant isn’t with America like it was with Israel. His covenant with us is, “if we will obey His Word and do His will, then we will be a blessed nation. But when we turn our back on God, judgment is God’s only recourse.” God’s covenant now is with each individual heart and not with our nation as a whole.
Israel received the invitation to attend the wedding as the Wife of God but she rejected the call. Throughout the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, God made promises to Israel that the nation would have great blessings if they will only remain faithful, but they would not. Now the invitation, that was once only for Israel, has been passed on to the gentile nations. God is still seeking those who will be faithful to Him. The invitations are still going out for those will answer the call.
There are a lot of people who desire to attend the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. They really are planning to be there, but there is a problem. They want to go in without fulfilling the requirements of the invitation. They won’t RSVP the invitation by surrendering their heart and life to Jesus Christ. They won’t fall down and confess their sin, and confess that Jesus is Lord, or invite Him into their heart. They want to enter in another way, a way of their own choosing.
The only way to get a wedding garment is to answer the call and be born again.
There are a lot of people who attend churches every week but still don’t know Jesus as their Savior. There are a lot of people who call themselves “Christian” but they aren’t like Christ at all. There are a lot of people who are trusting in morality, in obedience to the laws of their church and preacher, and in their own deceived heart to make it in.
These dear folks are going to be greatly distressed when the Marriage Supper of the Lamb takes place and they are left out in the cold, dark night of eternity.
Being a good moral person won’t get you a marriage garment. Being obedient to your pastor’s rules and regulations won’t get you a marriage garment. Being obedient to every law of the Ten Commandments won’t get you a marriage garment. Being faithful to attend church and live by the rules of your religious organization won’t get you a marriage garment. Living a good life, as a model citizen, paying your debts, and doing the best you can to raise your children right, won’t get you a marriage garment. Being rich in this world’s wealth and giving money to the church won’t get you a marriage garment. Living a clean life, without drugs, alcohol and all the vices of the world, won’t get you a marriage garment.
There’s only one way to be clothed in the Robes of Righteousness and that’s by having your sin washed away by the Blood of Jesus Christ. It’s all done by faith, in the grace of God and in His death, burial and resurrection for you.
The sinner’s prayer may sound so simple, but it’s the only way to be at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. It may sound like just a little saying with a few words, but what those words stand for and what they mean, and what they will accomplish is greater than anything in the world.
"God, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I deserve the consequences of my sin. But I am trusting in you Jesus as my Savior for you are the Son of God. I believe that You died for me and rose from the dead to give me eternal life. I believe that your blood was shed to wash my sin away and forgive me. Please come into my heart. If give you my heart and my life. Thank you Lord, for saving me and forgiving me! Amen!"
The sinner’s prayer is a prayer a person prays to God when they understand that they are a sinner and in need of a Savior. Saying a sinner’s prayer will not accomplish anything on its own. A sinner’s prayer is only effective if it genuinely represents what a person knows, understands, and believes about their sinfulness and need for salvation.
We must first come to the realization that we are in need of a Savior. Romans 3:10 says, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one."
The Bible makes it clear that we have all sinned. We are all sinners in need of mercy and forgiveness from God. Because of our sin, we deserve eternal punishment and death. The sinner’s prayer is a plea for grace instead of judgment. It is a request for mercy instead of wrath.
The second part of this prayer is that we recognize what God has done to remedy our lost and sinful condition. Here’s what God did to redeem you and I. God took on flesh and became a human being in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us the truth about God and lived a perfectly righteous and sinless life. Jesus then died on the cross in our place, taking the punishment that we deserve. Jesus rose from the dead to prove His victory over sin, death, and hell. Because of all of this, we can have our sins forgiven and be promised an eternal home in Heaven - if we will just place our faith in Jesus Christ. All we have to do is believe that He died in our place and rose from the dead and we will be given that wedding garment.
What can we add to that? What else helps us to get that wedding garment? Nothing else! Anything else that we try to add becomes law again and takes away from the power of the Blood. Of course your life will reflect the reality of what your heart believes and if you believe in Jesus Christ and given your heart and life to Him, your life will bear the fruits of righteousness. You will be different from what you were before. If you aren’t different, if your language doesn’t change, if your desires don’t change, and if your lifestyle doesn’t change, or your friends don’t change, then you may not really have on your wedding garment.
There’s where the difference comes in between being called and chosen. We all receive the call to come the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Every man and woman that has walked the face of this earth has received the call to be there. But only those who are Born Again by the Spirit will be among those who are “Called”.
In the parable that Jesus told, those who were invited to the marriage feast made light of their invitation. They didn’t take it seriously. How could a King invite me? I’m nobody special. How could the God of Heaven make it so easy for me to go to Heaven? I don’t deserve his mercy.
Well you are right. You don’t deserve it. That why its called the mercy and grace of God. He paid the price and invited you and I when we were most unworthy because He loves us that much and wants us all to be there.
Don’t reject God’s invitation to come to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Will you miss the Wedding of all Eternity because you simply fail to answer the Invitation?
Most of those who will miss that wedding and end up in hell won’t do so because they cursed God, turned their backs on Him and decided to be rebellious. It’s not that they were terrible people who lived only to kill, hurt and injure other people. It’s not that they were criminals that needed to be behind bars. They didn’t commit crimes against humanity or any such thing. Most will be there simply because they did nothing to answer the call and chose to ignore God and to go on their merry way until it was too late. They threw their invitation into the back of their mind and out of their hearts and never picked it up again.
Do you want to be a part of the Bride of Christ? Have you sent your RSVP to Jesus? Have you been clothed in the wedding garment?
If not then come now and let us pray the sinner’s prayer together so you can be ready when that day comes.
"God, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I deserve the consequences of my sin. But I am trusting in you Jesus as my Savior for you are the Son of God. I believe that You died for me and rose from the dead to give me eternal life. I believe that your blood was shed to wash my sin away and forgive me. Please come into my heart. If give you my heart and my life. Thank you Lord, for saving me and forgiving me! Amen!"
