THE WEDDING OF THE LAMB

Transcript

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Hello everyone. This is Pastor Dean Thompson with a word of hope. The wedding of the Lamb. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come.

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Revelation chapter 19, verse 7. As the great conflict of Revelation rushes toward its climax, heaven erupts, not in a victory chant for a battle, but in the joy of a wedding. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Of all the images God could have chosen to crown the story. A coronation, a courtroom, a conquest. He chose a wedding. The deepest truth about where history is going is that it is going to a marriage. This is no late addition to the biblical story. It is the thread running through the whole of scripture. From the first marriage in the garden through the prophets who described God as a husband to his people through the love story of the Song of Songs, through Jesus calling himself the bridegroom. The Bible has always reached for the language of marriage to describe the love between God and His people. And here at the end, the long courtship arrives at its consummation. The lamb takes his bride. Consider what it means that the church is the bride of the lamb. Not his servant merely, though we serve him, not his subjects merely, though he reigns, his bride. The object of a love that is personal, covenantal, faithful and joyful. The relationship God ultimately desires with you is not the cool arrangement of a master and his staff, but the intimate union of a marriage. The old drama of redemption is at its heart, a love story moving toward a wedding day. And notice the tender detail. It was granted unto her. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. And the linen John tells us is the righteous deeds of the saints. There's a beautiful balance here, brothers and sisters. The bride makes herself ready, yet the garment is granted to her. Our faithful living matters. It is the linen of the wedding dress, and yet even that readiness is a gift of grace. We prepare and he provides. Both are true. Every human longing for love points in the end toward this wedding. The ache we feel to be fully known and fully loved, the longing for a union that will never fade or fail. The desire to belong utterly to someone and have them belong utterly to us. These longings are not finally satisfied by any earthly relationship, as wonderful as marriage can be. This reframes the whole of the Christian life as preparation for a wedding day. We are not merely surviving until the end. We are a bride getting ready for her bridegroom. The labors and the waiting, the faithfulness through hard seasons, the keeping of love through every trial, all of it is the preparation of a bride who knows her wedding is coming. And the bridegroom is not a stranger. He is the lamb who loved her enough to be slain for her. So lift your eyes to the wedding. Whatever the present chapter holds, the story you are in is a love story, and it is moving toward a marriage that will never end. The lamb who was slain is the bridegroom who is coming, and the day is set when the long courtship of the ages will arrive at its joy. Make yourself ready. And remember that even your readiness is a gift from the one who loves you. O Lamb of God, our bridegroom, thank you that the story is moving toward a wedding and that you call us your bride. Please make us ready. Clothe us in your gift of grace, and let us long for the day you come. Amen. God bless you, brothers and sisters.