You are Invited to the Wedding.

This is your story! I hope you have accepted the invitation, because your eternal destiny depends on it.

Jesus used the oriental wedding theme several times in His parables and the Bible ends with the invitation to the great celebration that the dawn of eternity for this world will bring. (See Revelation 19:6-9) “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” The invitations are now going out. What will you do with yours?

In Ephesians (5:25-29) Paul develops a wedding- marriage metaphor for the church and its relationship to Christ. (He borrows imagery from Ezekial 16:1-14) Paul draws creatively on the customs and roles of an ancient wedding (as Jesus had done in His parables.) In relationship to the church as the bride, Christ is the divine Bridegroom who loves the church as his own bride (5:25). We must never forget that this is heart work for Jesus. He loves us! He also gives Himself as the bride price. In the context of ancient wedding arrangements, the bridegroom would “purchase” the bride with the “bride price,” which was usually a large sum of money and valuables, so large that ancient village economies depended upon the custom. Christ pays the ultimate price for the church as His bride since He “gave Himself for her”. In the Incarnation and at the cross, He gives Himself as the bride price.

Furthering the analogy, He bathes His bride. The preparation of the bride was an important part of the ancient wedding festivities. As is also true today, it was the bridesmaids and female relatives of the bride who prepared her for the ceremony. Paul, though, imagines the divine Bridegroom preparing His bride for the wedding! It is He who sanctifies and cleanses her “by the washing of water” (5:26), a probable reference to baptism.

Jesus also speaks the word of promise. This cleansing is performed “with the word” (Eph. 5:26), pointing to the word of promise that the divine Bridegroom speaks to His bride, perhaps in the context of the betrothal ceremony. God makes promises to believers at the time of their conversion, (compare Eph. 1:3-14, Eph. 2:1-10). Betrothal was the ancient version of our modern engagement, but was a much more serious set of negotiations, which included a written agreement about the bride price (from the husband) and the dowry (assets the bride would bring to the marriage from her family).

Further to this, Jesus prepares and adorns the bride. When the bride is finally presented to her Groom, she is fabulously beautiful, appearing in flawless splendor (Eph. 5:27). Christ not only bathes the bride; He prepares and adorns her as well.

How does all this help you understand the way Christ feels about you? I hope you find this comforting. But there is more!

Using one final element of the ancient wedding, in Ephesians 5:25-27 Paul portrays Christ as the One who presents the bride (to Himself!). In ancient times the bride would be given away by the best man, best men, or her father. Never by her groom! Here, though, Paul imagines Jesus presenting the church as bride to Himself.

Paul uses marriage customs and roles to highlight Christ’s relationship to the church in an unfolding, chronological pattern: 1. Betrothal. Christ offered Himself up for the church (as “bride price”) and so became betrothed to her (Eph. 5:25). 2. Preparation for the wedding ceremony. The attentions of the bridegroom continue in his present efforts to sanctify and cleanse the bride (Eph. 5:26). 3. The wedding ceremony itself. Christ’s present attentions are in view of the “presentation” of the bride at the wedding (Eph. 5:27). This last element looks to the grand wedding celebration at His return when Christ, the Bridegroom, will come to claim the church as His bride and present her to Himself (Eph. 5:27) There are similar passages in 2 Cor. 11:1, 2 1 Cor. 11:1, 2 and Col. 1:21-23, 28.

Ancient weddings often began with a nighttime parade (see Matt. 25:1-13). The groom and his entourage would gather at the groom’s home — the couple’s new home — and with a grand ceremony begin a procession. Lit by torches and accompanied by joyful, lilting music and great rejoicing, the crowd jostles toward the home of the father of the bride. Gathering up the bride there or meeting the bride’s own procession on the way, the parade would convey the couple to their new home, where the guests would settle into a weeklong feast, culminating in the wedding ceremony, when the bride would be presented to the groom. Jesus’ chilling rendition of this in His Olivet discourse (Matt 24 and 25) has everyone expecting the Bridegroom but half missing out on the wedding because they were unprepared for the delay. The Bridegroom appears at the darkest hour of this world’s history.

When Paul portrays Christ presenting the church to Himself, he alludes to this grand parade and to the moment of presentation. In doing so, he provides a moving portrait of Christ’s return as a future wedding ceremony, when the long betrothal between Christ and His church is complete and the wedding celebrated.

What message should we take for ourselves from all this positive, happy, and hopeful imagery? You are invited – don’t sleep on it!