Christ and His Bride: The Wedding Feast
Lenten Midweek Series
Revelation 19:9
Dearly beloved, there are few moments more memorable to a husband and wife than the day of their wedding. The bride is absolutely stunning in her beautiful white gown. Her hair is done meticulously, her makeup is applied perfectly, and her smile lights up the room. In most circumstances, even her groom doesn’t look too shabby once he has showered, shaved, and dressed in some nice threads.
But as good as a bride and groom may look on their wedding day, there is a deeper beauty that God desires for His people. Bride and groom are to remain pure, chaste, virgin until the day God joins them together as one flesh. We live in a day and age when purity, chastity, and virginity are rare, looked down upon, even scorned as old fashioned. And yet, those words are the essence of who the Bride of Christ is, as the Apostle Paul writes:
“I betrothed you to one Husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2).
A prominent Lutheran pastor named Johann Gerhard once wrote:
The Church is as a chaste virgin. If you would be true to her, abstain from the embraces of the world. You belong to her, see then that you dishonor not yourself nor her by any unholy alliances with the devil and the world. [Sacred Meditations XXIII]
Tonight brings us at last to the wedding feast of Christ and His Bride. Saint John is the one who sends out the invitation, which reads:
“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). You, dearly beloved, are collectively the Bride of Christ and individually the ones invited to this marriage supper. Are you ready to celebrate and feast for all eternity?
Usually all eyes are on the bride at a wedding. But tonight I’m going to begin with the Groom. I think you’ll agree that’s the proper thing to do in this instance. Our Lord Jesus Christ—the Bridegroom—is the One who will make a grand entrance. On a day and time known only to the Triune God, He will return
“on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). He will come
“in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). Revelation pictures Him on
“a white horse! The One sitting on it is called Faithful and True… He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which He is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses. … On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:11-16).
Your grand entrance, dear Bride of Christ, will not be the traditional walk down the aisle. For when Jesus returns on the Last Day, you will be caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Quite literally He will sweep you off your feet!
And trust me, your beauty on that Day will surpass the fairest of them all. Despite your sin and your shortcomings and your failures and your transgressions, you will look absolutely stunning standing beside your Bridegroom. How do I know this? Saint Paul says so.
“Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27). Saint John echoes this when he writes:
“The marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure” (Revelation 19:7-8). Your wedding dress, dear Bride of Christ, was tailored by Christ Himself. The fine linen is faith, hemmed and sown together by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacrament, and adorned with precious diamonds and jewels known as the righteous deeds Christ worked through you. Truly breathtaking you are in Christ!
Here on earth bride and groom exchange their mutual “I do’s,” but on the Last Day your sacred union will begin once your Lord exclaims:
“Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
And with that, the eternal wedding feast will commence...
- Food.
- Drink.
- Laughter.
- Joy.
- Light.
- Springs of living water.
- The fruits of the tree of life.
- All things new and abundant.
- Paradise.
- Full access to the Father’s throne.
And all of this without end. The prophet Isaiah describes the heavenly wedding feast as
“a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined” (Isaiah 25:6). And yet, in a wonderful paradox, you
“shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore” (Revelation 7:16). Your Bridegroom, who gave Himself fully for you here on earth, will give Himself fully to you there in paradise.
And don’t forget the home He has prepared for you. It is a city—the new Jerusalem—built on the prophetic and apostolic foundation, having streets of gold and pearly gates, with the glory of God enlightening it and the Lamb its lamp.
As you can see, the eternal wedding feast is what our Lord Jesus has in store for you, His beloved. He—the Giver of every good gift—has been faithful to you. When He found you, you were wallowing in the sewer of your sins and dressed in the filthy rags of your own self-righteousness. He loved you anyway. He gave Himself up for you to prove it, and therein sanctified and cleansed you. Now you are dressed in the splendor of His perfect righteousness, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Now you are holy and without blemish.
Dear Bride of Christ, keep yourself pure. Be chaste in your thoughts, words, and deeds. For you have been betrothed to one Husband, and it is the Father’s intention to present you as a pure virgin to Christ!
When you fail, confess your sin and be re-clothed in Christ’s perfect righteousness. His forgiveness, after all, is much more abundant than your sin. That’s the beauty of your Bridegroom. In this heavenly marriage, it’s all about Him. And He, in turn, makes it all about you—you as He sees you through the cross: perfect, holy, righteous, radiant, beautiful, pure, chaste, virgin.
No wonder Saint John writes:
“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” Blessed are you, O Bride of Christ!
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
