Weddings in the United States are a big deal. There are about 6400 weddings each day. June is the most popular month for weddings. Are there any folks in the congregation who have an anniversary this month? I thought this was interesting and maybe sad. 67% of women continue to wear the same fragrance that they wore on their wedding day. What’s up with that?
By 2008 it is predicted that the average wedding will cost around $30,000. Roughly, the costs break down to $2600 for wedding attire, $2500 for the ceremony itself, $1100 for wedding party gifts, $2000 for flowers, $2000 for wedding bands, $1000 for music, $3700 for photography and video, $14,200 for the reception, $900 for invitations, and $400 for a limo. Weddings in the United States alone are a 60 billion plus dollar a year industry!
If we began stacking one thousand dollar bills we would have to stack them sixty-three miles high before they would total one billion dollars. Jet planes fly just six to seven miles high. If you wanted to stack enough bills to total sixty billion, it would practically take you to the moon and back.
What is the ultimate price that you'd pay to get married?
Obviously, most of us would opt to get married as cheaply as possible. But what if you couldn’t get married cheaply? What is the ultimate price you’d pay to get married? This week I was reading about a couple who realized that they couldn’t get married cheaply. To be married, both husband and wife would have to pay the ultimate price.
My compliments to the bride, she found herself a stellar mate. She couldn’t possibly have done better. He’s like the perfect gentleman, faithful, good, and all that. It makes sense that she would be willing to die to marry her groom.
But the groom, he didn’t do so well! He could have and should have done better for himself! He deserved much better. But instead he married a real "project." The only explanation for the groom’s selection of his bride is that song by Jimmy Soul, "If You Want to Be Happy". Maybe you’ve heard the song on the radio. Here are some of the lyrics. "If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife. So from my personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you. Don't let your friends say you have no taste. Go ahead and marry anyway. Though her face is ugly, and her eyes don't match, take it from me, she's a better catch. Say man! Hey baby! I saw your wife the other day! Yeah? Yeah, an' she's ug-leeee! Yeah, she's ugly, but she sure can cook, baby! Yeah, alright!"
Anyhow, the bride left a lot to be desired. And talk about a difficult engagement! In order to get married it became evident that at least one of them would have to die. Maybe you would pay that national average $30,000 to get married. But would you be willing to pay the ultimate price this couple was required to pay to stay together?
The difficult engagement.
In Revelation the bridegroom is the living resurrected Christ. And the bride is the Church of Jesus Christ, blemished but made holy by God. In Revelation a picture of the bridegroom’s love begins to emerge. Like a lamb being led to the slaughter, he willingly lays down his life, allowing his body to be broken and his blood shed all for the sake of his marriage.
Back in Revelation 5:9 (NIV) the bridegroom is praised, "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." You would do a lot of things out of love for your marriage partner, but would you be willing to take your blood and do for another what Christ did for the church?
1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV) says, "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."
1 John 3:16 (NIV) tells us, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us." How many one thousand dollar bills would need to be stacked to represent the infinite love that God has for us in Christ Jesus? 30? 1 billion? 60 billion?
Surprisingly, it wasn’t just the bridegroom who was willing to lay down his life. In Revelation 19:1-2 (NIV) we read these verses. "After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: 'Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.' " These verses describe the bridegroom avenging the blood of his bride, the Church.
In order to have a relationship with Christ, there were those who were willing to pay the ultimate price of their own life. Do we love Christ so much as to lay down our lives for him? In Revelation 12:11 (NIV) we read this description of the bride, of God’s people. "They overcame him (the evil one) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."
Revelation 14:4-5 (NIV) says, "...they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless." The engagement should be a time of testing for a couple. Will each one remain faithful? Will each one remain pure? Or will they put themselves before the other? Will they break their promise to one another?
InRevelation 19Christ’s bride has come out of the tribulation, having loved Christ more than life itself, having remained faithful unto death, having been offered as a sacrifice, and a firstfruits of all who would be saved. Christ laid down his life for us. How much are we willing to reciprocate that love?
The wedding of the lamb.
InRevelation 19the day for the wedding of the Lamb comes. The bride is presented to the bridegroom. They are being united for eternity, to live happily ever after. In Revelation 19:5-10 (NIV) we read, "Then a voice came from the throne, saying: 'Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!' Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: 'Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.' (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, 'Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' ' And he added, 'These are the true words of God.' "
The happily ever after.
Remember that I told you that the bride of Christ was a project? The bridegroom had chosen to make an ugly woman his wife! But in Revelation 19 his love has transformed her. The kind of love Christ has for his bride draws out her beauty and her full potential. His blood cleanses her, washes her, makes her white, and gives her a hope and a future. The love of Christ changes us from the inside-out. It makes us pure and holy!
In Ephesians 5:25-27 (NIV), Paul uses marriage to describe Christ’s transforming love. "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."
Colossians 1:21-23 (NIV) says, "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant."
In Revelation 19:9 (NIV) an angel tells John to write, " 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' And he added, 'These are the true words of God.' "
Let me ask. Are you blessed this morning? Do you know the love of Christ? Is Christ’s love changing you from the inside-out? Are you remaining pure and faithful? Have your sins been washed away? Have you been made holy and blameless? Is there a wedding in your future? Do you want to be found without stain, wrinkle, or any other blemish "in Christ" at the end of the age?
The not so happily ever after.
Revelation 19:11-21 describes a not so happily ever after picture of the end of the age. The groom once again appears, but this time it’s not a wedding supper that is offered. Instead, vultures are invited to feast on those who did not use this life to ready themselves for the arrival of the bridegroom. Satan and his earthly representatives are also judged. And those whose names are found in the book of life are resurrected to eternal life.
Revelation 19:11-21 (NIV) says, "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
"And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, 'Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.' Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh."
Revelation 20:1-15 (NIV) continues, "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years."
"When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Please make sure that you are part of the happily ever after and not part of the unhappily ever after.