waiting for the wedding

For the Lord, Himself will come down from Heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. - Paul of Tarsus

you could have cut the suspense with a knife

As we sat there together alone in the room, I could see that the past year was running through his mind. He looked intently at the floor but every couple of minutes he would crack a smile and you could see that he was remembering the beginning.

All of the planning and preparation had lead to this point. The guests were arriving, the decorations looked great and all of us were dressed the best we had ever been. Every so often he would hear that she was about to walk by so he would close his eyes or leave the room, all with a huge smile on his face because he couldn’t wait.

As we walked out of that little room I watched him closely. He went through every emotion in the book. 

Fear- was he ready to be a husband. 

Shock- that the rest of his life was about to begin. 

Joy- that all of his dreams were finally coming true. 

we stood in front of family and friends

The music played softly and carried over the lake and through the trees. He had managed to maintain his composure that is until she walked out of those doors. The second he saw her tears welled up in his eyes, everything was at peace, everything made sense.

If you have ever been a part of a wedding you would probably agree that there is something magical about the ceremony. The magic stems from watching as two people who had waited their entire lives for each other come together at long last. From here forward they will be together forever as one. 

This wedding ceremony is an analogy for something far greater. You see in the Bible the marriage relationship serves as an analogy of our relationship with Christ and we, as the church are the bride of Christ.

Everything that Christ did from being born to dying on the cross all centered around saving the love of his life. It is the greatest romance of all time. A man is born to save his one true love. He gives his life to rescue her from the villain, but don’t worry at the end of the story the enemy is defeated, the damsel in distress is saved and they live happily ever after.

christ went to Heaven to prepare a place for you his bride

The great carpenter is up there right now building your dream house, with you in mind. He is creating a place that will be beyond your wildest dreams, a place that will serve as an eternal honeymoon. The best part is that soon he will come back for His bride. He is coming back for you, he has more for you than this place.

No matter how bad your circumstances are here on earth, you can know that your lover is coming for you. So instead of living for this world, which is slowly dying away, we should get prepared to leave and join together with our Savior. 

Instead of getting comfortable here, we need to sit on the edge of our chair as a man does when he is about to walk down the aisle and join together with the woman that he has waited his entire life for. Jesus is coming back to save you! That is the single greatest truth of our faith. You are his bride and he wants nothing more than to love you totally, completely and unconditionally forever.

Then I saw a new Heaven and a new earth for the first Heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. - John, Jesus' best friend