The Royal Wedding

THIS WEEK, as you probably heard, Price William and Kate Middleton were married in Westminster Abbey in London, England. It was a long-awaited and highly anticipated occasion. People with no remote connection to the couple were wondering about every detail of the wedding, especially the bride's dress.

The event became worthy of even historic importance in the eyes of many people from places far from London. Americans rose early in the morning to watch the events live on television. And for good reason, too - it was a truly beautiful wedding.

The wedding ceremony involved many references to Christ's relationship with His church, often described as the "Bride of Christ." The Bible tells us that Christ loves the church as much as a husband loves his wife, enough to lay His own life down for her sake. The church - not referring to the building or a denomination, but the Body of Believers, all of those who are saved by God's grace because we believe in His sacrifice. God uses a lot of comparisons to help us understand how He loves us. Sometimes a friend who would even die for a friend. Sometimes a father and a child who needs guidance and love. And sometimes like a husband and a wife. These are all relationships we are familiar with. I think He does this to help us understand that He loves us more than we can understand.

Ephesians 5:25-27 "[25] Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, [26] that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, [27] 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."

This means that throughout our lives God is making us ready for the wedding. The bride has to get ready beforehand, right? It also means that He loves us so much that He wants everything to finally be perfect. When I heard Josh McDowell speak at Campus Harvest a few months ago, he pointed out what amazes him: that even if he, or you or I, were the only person in the world, Jesus still would have died to save just that one person. That kind of love is too perfect and powerful to wrap our minds around, but it can certainly wrap around us. In John 15:13 Jesus says, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."

The wedding reminded me that there is going to be a wonderful wedding in heaven, too. Christ often used weddings and marriage dinners to represent the kingdom of God in the parables He spoke. Revelation 19:9 and 21:9 also mention the aspect of the meeting in heaven being a wedding.

This wedding, as anything that happens in heaven, will be better than anything that could ever happen on earth. It will be more joyful and perfect and grand than the most elaborate wedding all of England could design. It will be more wonderful than a wedding could be even if produced using all the world's wealth and finery. You can't exaggerate how great it will be to finally enter heaven and be with Him forever. Can you imagine? We will be married to the King of everything, in a life that will last forever and be without hardship or calamity.

Revelation 21:2-4 describes how things will be in heaven. "[2] Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. [4] And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

Possibly the single most anticipated feature of Friday's royal wedding was the revealing of Kate Middleton's bridal gown. How would the bride look? What shade of white and what style would she wear? How would she do her hair? Only one thing was certain: she would be beautiful. And she was.

What will Christ's bride wear? We used to wear our sinfulness, which is what messes up the world. But by His grace we are saved, so we will wear His righteousness. It is beautiful and pure white. He paid for us to wear it, so that we can be "holy and without blemish."