Here Comes the Bride, Part 1

One of the ways that God described his relationship with the church is as a groom and a bride. Then, in Revelation, there's a wedding ceremony.

The church is struggling through difficult days. If it has any garment at all, it will be torn and blood soaked. And John is transported to this vision of a ceremony and a feast involving the bride of Christ, triumphant.

And he just, he wipes out. We probably would too. In most cultures around the world, there are special garments that traditionally are part of weddings. The bride is in a beautiful gown of some sort. God used the imagery of a bride to describe the church and its relationship to him. Part of that involved clothing believers in special garments. There's more imagery of a bride that God uses in Revelation, and Stephen's looking at that today.

This is Wisdom for the Heart. We're in a series called Thy Kingdom Come, and today's lesson is called Here Comes the Bride. Well, there are few events on the planet more special than attending a wedding, the wedding scene. There's no event more special than your own wedding. All the men said, there's no event more special than your own wedding day, and all the men said, Amen.

Men have to have things repeated before they get it, okay? For those of you who are married, certain details of your wedding day probably stand out to you. After all the details, the planning, the praying, the purchasing, the stress, the family members, the stress, finally the day arrives. The groom is anxious. The bride is nervous.

One bride I read about some time ago was so nervous, she knew she was going to faint walking down the center aisle. Her daddy, they were at the back of the sanctuary just about ready to march, and he leaned down and gave her a little advice. He said, Honey, the key is concentration. He said, Now look, when we start out, the first thing you do is you just concentrate on the aisle. As we get a little closer, about halfway down, you look up and you focus on the altar, and then you get a little closer, and you just focus on your bridegroom.

You focus on him. So the moment arrived, and they began to march down, and sure enough, she followed that advice. She walked down that rose petal strewn path, and people were a bit startled, though, as she passed them, because they could hear her muttering under her breath, I'll alter him. I'll alter him.

Not bad advice. Most men are in need of alteration, and all the women said, Eh, not so loud. I've had the privilege of performing weddings over the years. I've never seen a bride anything less than beautiful and the groom anything less than joyful. And you have some pictures to show if you've been married.

Maybe you look back at them every once in a while. One of my favorite wedding pictures was when that photographer captured the moment when the wedding march began, and my bride descended the steps from the balcony down to where her dad waited for her at the bottom of the stairs, and the photographer captured the moment when she was walking down, but if you look closely at the picture, you can see her eyes are looking up here toward me. My heart was racing at about 120. It didn't slow down to the left of the wedding cake. I'll never forget that. One of our funniest memories was after the wedding, Marsha and I sped away from the church to her childhood home where her parents were living, and we were going to change clothes and then take off for our honeymoon. Only after we got to her parents' home, we realized we'd forgotten the key to the house to get in. We walked around that house. It was locked. The front door was locked. We walked around to the back of the little home, and the back door was locked, but we noticed the bathroom window was open. It was about eight feet above the ground, and I can still remember putting my hands together and hoisting my bride up to where she could just get a hold of that window and climb through that window, wedding dress and all. I wish I had a picture of that.

That would be great. Throughout human history, weddings, wedding ceremonies, wedding arrangements, wedding decorations, wedding apparel have all been significant moments. In fact, they've been the highlight of the human race. For the Jewish young men and women who didn't have an arranged marriage, as I was preparing for this message, going back into the context of the Jewish wedding, which has great significance in the way prophetic Scripture rolls out, as I'll show you today, it's interesting to me the rabbis taught that for those who were single that a woman must never seek after a husband, but that the man should seek out his wife. Kind of interesting how they argued. They argued that this should be the rule because man was formed from clay, but woman came from man's rib. Therefore, when a man was looking for his wife, he was merely looking for what he had lost.

Isn't that good? The rabbis also told, I thought this was funny, that man was made from soft clay and woman was made from a hard rib bone, and that illustrated they taught why men are easier to get along with than women. Actually, I didn't think that was funny at all, those rabbis. Well, if you haven't discovered it yet, if you're new to the faith, you'll learn as you study the Bible that the plan of salvation is a love story. In fact, J. Vernon McGee, the late Bible expositor, referred to it as the romance of redemption. God the Father refers to Israel as his bride. God the Son is called the bridegroom and calls the church his bride. It's no surprise to me as we reach this point in human history where it's about to change forever with the second coming of Christ that the language of Revelation chapter 19 sort of shifts into the imagery of a wedding. It is the coming of Christ which is effectively the coming of the bridegroom, and when he comes, he comes with his church who is called the bride. Now later on in the millennial kingdom, that imagery of a bride will be expanded to include the Old Testament saint, but for now, the focus is on the bride, those who've come to faith in Christ during this dispensation of grace.

You could easily entitle this paragraph in the middle of chapter 19 of Revelation, Here Comes the Bride. In fact, it's impossible to capture the significance of this moment apart from the wedding customs of biblical times. So let me kind of work you through four significant events that take place in a Jewish, biblical Jewish wedding. They are the betrothal, the presentation, the ceremony, and the wedding feast.

We'll slow down and go back through each one of them, one at a time. Now there could literally be years between the betrothal and the wedding feast. That's because a Jewish boy and a Jewish girl could be betrothed without ever meeting one another. Now in America and in the Western world, we have that little ditty, that little children's rhyme that goes something like this, Johnny and Susie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby and a baby cares.

Not a bad progression of events. First comes love, then comes marriage. Not for a Jewish couple. First came marriage, then came love. To them, it was first, I do, and then, I love you.

For us, it's I love you, and then, maybe, I do. Well, why would this be the case in the Jewish culture? Because their marriages were arranged by their parents. Their parents decided who they would marry, which I think is a brilliant idea. I have daughters.

I'll be happy to arrange. I'll alter him. That's my motto. This was the system and culture in the days of Christ.

In fact, it's still the culture of many around our world. It's been a delight to add to our Deacon Fellowship a godly man by the name of Raj. Raj and his wife, Anna, are originally from India. They've recently celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary, and it was an arranged marriage by their parents.

Raj and Anna met on the day they were officially engaged. I've asked him and her, how does that work? How does that feel?

What is that like? It's been delightful to hear of their culture. They both, with believing parents, had the arrangements made.

It was a system of honor that they respected. They both love Christ. They have grown to love each other, and now they're in their eighth year of marriage.

This is the culture of the patriarchs. This is Isaac and Rebekah, Genesis chapter 24. They had never seen each other until they married. Moses records, Isaac took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her.

It was first I do, and then I will learn to love you, which I think our Western culture could learn a lot about in this generation. In the arrangement of the marriage betrothal, parents would meet each other. They would always have at least two witnesses, which was their custom, and they would negotiate the betrothal contract. Now, in those days, the betrothal was a binding legal arrangement.

It was much more significant to the Jewish people than engagement is in our Western world. During the betrothal period, the man and his future bride were actually referred to as husband and wife, even though they didn't live together. They hadn't had the wedding ceremony.

That hadn't taken place yet. These two young people during their betrothal would be faithful to one another, even though they were not fully married or their marriage physically consummated. It was a time when the bride would be observed for her chastity and her purity. She would be observed by the family and friends for her devotion to her coming bridegroom and their marriage together. And the man during this betrothal period would be away.

He'd be back at his father's homestead, building onto the father's house, preparing the place where he and his bride would live. Now, the betrothal period typically lasted about 12 months, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, but it was always a time of joyful anticipation and preparation. In fact, the betrothal is formally called the preparation. That's why it was so devastating to Joseph to learn of Mary's pregnancy during the time of their what? Their betrothal. When Mary, Matthew wrote, had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child. In other words, at that critical juncture in this process, in this period of time where she is supposed to be revealing her purity and faithfulness to him alone, where she is to be preparing for the home that she would create and provide with him her betrothed husband, Mary is found to have been unfaithful.

She's expecting, and everything now is shattered. Little wonder it would take the appearance of an angel to keep Joseph on the path to marrying his betrothed. Listen, we the church, the bride of Christ, are to live with joyful anticipation of that moment when we will be united with our betrothed. The apostle Paul, in fact, used this language.

Even though now we can be called wife and Christ husband, that has yet to be fully consummated in the ceremony, in the establishment of the kingdom. And so Paul uses this wedding imagery to speak to us as he writes to the Corinthians. He says this, For I betrothed you to one husband.

In other words, he uses the language as if he is the parent. And he is saying to the church, I've already negotiated by virtue of the gospel this betrothal arrangement where you've become his. And he's saying this, That I might present you as a pure virgin, but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 1 Corinthians 11, 2. So stay devoted. We in this waiting period of time stay pure.

We follow after Christ. We please our beloved, so to speak. Another aspect of this betrothal period is the dowry. This is the price paid by the groom and his family for the bride. Now in this culture, the women were so involved in establishing the home, in fact, managing and running the household, everything from crops to cattle and children that the size of the family would grow through the childbirth of the matriarch. The loss of a daughter, one Hebrew scholar wrote, I learned this this week how they thought about this, the loss of a daughter, he wrote, was viewed as the diminishing of efficiency for her family and increasing the efficiency of her husband's family. So the groom had to pay the price of a dowry to compensate for the loss.

Another brilliant idea. As we've already learned in our last session together, Revelation 19 is the coming of Christ to earth with his bride, and I find it fascinating as we slip into this scene that the wedding imagery comes to the surface. Look at verse 7 of chapter 19. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.

Now wait a second. He is coming as a conquering sovereign. In fact, Toby described later on in chapter 19 with that descriptive phrase, king of kings and lord of lords. Why is there a reference not to him as king of kings and lord of lords but a reference to him as the lamb? I think this is a reference back to the idea of the dowry. This is the title of his suffering. This is the title of his glory through his death. This would be then an implication of the dowry he paid for the bride, for the bride cost him what? His life, Ephesians 5.25. You have been bought with a price.

Therefore glorify God with your body, 1 Corinthians 6.20. And so the bride is seen with her groomsmen and he is called the lamb. So evidently the betrothal period now is over, never a set time. The groom would send out a message that he was on the way to the bride's home to collect her. Now what happens next in the typical Jewish wedding scene or process would be what we see happening in the New Testament.

We've studied it already. It's called the presentation. After the betrothal is the presentation. At this stage, the bridegroom comes to take his bride to the father's house.

Now if you're listening, you're gonna hear implications of the gospel already. Now this presentation is a time of festivities. It's a great celebration. And based on the wealth of the groom, that would determine the length of it. So if we were a Jewish family today, we would tell our daughters that their presentation could last 30 minutes. Now if you were wealthy, it could last a day.

If you were really wealthy, it could last a week. The wedding hasn't taken place yet. It's the presentation of the bride, where the bride is presented to the home, the household, the family, the friends of the groom. So in this imagery of an ancient wedding, what would be the presentation?

It would be the rapture. It would be that time marked when the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, takes his bride back to the father's house for a brief period of time, a time of festivities, a time of celebration before the wedding ceremony, a time, in fact, we've watched a few times where we've seen the elders representing the church in heaven as they are before the throne during this time of presentation, worshiping and singing praise to their God. Now the presentation of the bride then prophetically for us has now lasted seven years.

The tribulation is happening on earth. The bride is being presented to the father in the father's house. Now it might seem odd to have such a long period of time for the presentation of the bride, seven years. But consider the fact that the betrothal has lasted now some 2,000 years as the bride is being gathered. And the bridal party is not yet complete, is she?

No. That will take place, in fact, when the bridal party is completed, that last member of the bride to accept the Lord as sovereign savior, the announcement will go out with the rapture call of the trumpet that the bridegroom is coming to sweep away his bride and present her to the father. This is the next event on the prophetic calendar, by the way. This is what we're waiting for, the presentation of the bride, the sweeping away of the bride for a brief time of festivities. And then the ceremony.

And then the wedding feast. We have been betrothed to Christ. In wedding imagery, he's preparing a place for us at his father's house.

In fact, this is the exact imagery that Jesus Christ spoke of to his disciples and to us when he said to them in John 14, 2, and 3, In my father's house are many monae, you could translate it, many apartments, many dwelling places, many rooms. I am going away to prepare that place for you, and I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. I'm going to come and get you, the bride, and present you in this place that I've prepared. Now the third stage of the wedding is now ready to take place. It's the actual wedding ceremony. Now a Jewish wedding ceremony, much like a Western wedding, would involve vows and prayers and blessings, exchange of rings. Now we're not given wedding ceremony details, although we can put some clues together at what's taking place as the bride is presented and then brought together in union with her bridegroom in the ceremony, the exchanging of promises where our Lord honors us before his father as we have honored him. I personally believe that many of the promises made to the church in Revelation 2 and 3 are going to be a part of the wedding ceremony.

I'll give you one example. When my wife and I were married, I gave her something that she had never owned before. I'm not thinking of our matching wedding bands. I am thinking of my name. All her life, up to that point, her name had been Marcia Gladney, a good Irish name. But yet as that wedding ceremony came to a close, we were introduced for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Davy. And from that point on, her name changed from Gladney to Davy. Christ promised the church in chapter 2 that he would give them, in fact individually, a precious gem of some sort with a new name inscribed on it, a unique name given by the groom to the bride. We're not told what that name is. Now in most wedding ceremonies, the wedding attire is what many people come to see.

It's magnificent, isn't it? The groom who will be described for us later on in chapter 19 will be dressed as the king, for he is a king. The Jewish groom would dress as much like a king as he possibly could dress. He would borrow the finest clothing.

We rent tuxedos today. He would borrow jewelry. In fact, he would scent his garments in frankincense and myrrh. That was their culture and custom. Now we most often think of gold, frankincense, and myrrh as those gifts given to our Lord when he was a little boy by the magi as a significant mark of his coming, not only his royalty, but his coming suffering and death because frankincense and myrrh, if you are wealthy enough, were part of your burial.

However, there's more to it than that. These were the elements of a groom coming for his bride. So even from the time of his childhood, these gifts not only spoke of Jesus Christ's death, they spoke of his great delight. These elements not only signified his burial, but his bride. And John provides for us, and we'll look at this very brief statement of the bridal apparel because that is significant as well.

Go to verse 7 again, the latter part. It said his bride has made herself ready. Great, it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Now we're given three descriptive words about her bridal dress.

This is the bridal gown of the church and each individual will be marked as I'll show you in a moment. The first descriptive word is translated fine linen. This was expensive, beautiful cloth. Joseph, when he was elevated to prime minister, we're told he put on fine linen. Genesis 41 verse 42. King David, the royal king of Israel, wore fine linen as part of his kingly dress.

First Chronicles 15. This was the fabric of the powerful. This was the clothing of the wealthy, the royalty. So we, the bride, we, royalty, connected powerfully to the king of the universe will be wearing fine linen. The bridal dress is also referred to as bright lampros, which gives us our word lamp. It's used in a way that in fact can be translated not just bright but shining. There is a glowing of the bridal apparel.

There is a radiance about it that is magnificent to behold. The imagery of a wedding provides us with a vivid picture of how God views us as the church. There is more to this passage that we want to study together. The time won't allow us to go past this point today, but when we come back next time, Stephen will review a little bit from today's lesson and then move on and conclude the teaching on this passage.

This message is called, Here Comes the Bride. If you joined us midway through this message, you've tuned in to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. In addition to being the teacher on this broadcast, Stephen pastors the Shepherd's Church in Cary, North Carolina. If your travel plans ever bring you near us, please join us for a worship service on a Sunday.

It's a special treat whenever we get to meet a listener in person, and we'd love to meet you. During the month of May, we have a free resource to celebrate and encourage mothers. Stephen has a booklet called, Motherhood in a Variety of Settings. Mothers are consistently underpaid, often undervalued, and many times taken for granted. In this booklet, Stephen offers words of encouragement to moms.

You're not alone. In fact, God delivered some encouraging truths, especially for moms. Those truths are revealed in the home life of a mother named Eunice. This is a free digital download that you can access from our website right now. Go to wisdomonline.org for information. Thanks for taking the time to listen. Please join us next time right here on Wisdom for the Heart.