In recent years watching major golf championships has become my favorite source of sports entertainment. A couple of weeks ago, as I was preparing for the 2011 U.S. Open Golf Championship, I found myself in quite a conundrum. My ten-year-old son had a baseball tournament in Pace, Florida during the final two rounds of the U.S. Open.
Thank God for modern technology and digital video recording. My problem was solved. I would avoid reading the paper and viewing ESPN while away at my son’s tournament, and watch the recorded version of the U.S. Open like it was live when I returned home.
As I was going through my recordings file, I noticed that it was full with recordings from news coverage of the Royal Wedding. My wife must have figured out how to use the DVR! I began to reflect back on the week leading up to the Royal Wedding and how obsessed she was with this event. Both my wife and my mother set their alarms to get up and watch this wedding live.
All throughout that week I would catch glimpses of what they were watching on television concerning the Royal Wedding. It seemed like reporters had analyzed everything possible about Prince William and Kate’s ceremony. You could feel the excitement surrounding the wedding while watching the coverage on television.
Of all the anticipated moments of the wedding, the most talked about topic was what Kate would look like in her wedding dress. Everyone was waiting in eager expectation to see Prince William’s bride in her white wedding dress. The reporter’s commentary about Kate and her dress couldn’t help but make me think about how the Bible uses the metaphor of a bride to describe the church, and a wedding to describe the union between Jesus Christ and His church, at the end of the age.
Ephesians 5:30-32 says, “30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ (the Lamb of God) and the church.”
It was estimated the over 3 billion people watched the Royal Wedding. That is almost half of the world’s population. Wow!
The Bible teaches us that there is an event that is even more anticipated than the Royal Wedding. It is the revealing of the children of God in their future glory. All of creation is waiting in eager expectation for the consummation of the age that will be celebrated with the wedding of the Lamb.
Romans 8:18-19 says, “18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”
One of the most sacred ceremonies we participate in as human beings is a wedding. The wedding ceremony never begins until the bride has made herself ready. The bride is always the one everyone wants to see. I guess God knew a wedding and a bride would be perfect metaphors to describe our eternal relationship with Him in future glory!
“7Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” Revelation 19:7-8
Are you getting yourself ready? I hope so because I think more than 3 billion will be watching!
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