JOY WILL REIGN

How is it possible to become a joyful person in a pain-filled world? Look at the promise that comes right near the very end of the Bible:

"Let us rejoice and exult
and give Him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and His bride has made herself ready." (Revelation 19:7)

Heaven's groom gets the bride.

The joy that is in store for God's people is so great that the only image that can do it justice is the joy between a lover and his beloved. Then we will see the wedding of which the greatest weddings on this earth have only been a dim foreshadowing.

Then God will dance with His people. Then joy will reign undiminished and uninterrupted.

-- John Ortberg in “The Life You've Always Wanted”

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THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

“Husbands, love your wives, as 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 ESV)

Joni Eareckson Tada, who was paralyzed in a diving accident as a teenager, draws parallels between her wedding day and Christ's love for His church.

I felt awkward as my girlfriends strained to shift my paralyzed body into a cumbersome wedding gown. No amount of corseting and binding my body gave me a perfect shape. The dress just didn't fit well. Then, as I was wheeling into the church, I glanced down and noticed that I'd accidentally run over the hem of my dress, leaving a greasy tire mark. My paralyzed hands couldn't hold the bouquet of daisies that lay off-center on my lap. And my chair, though decorated for the wedding, was still a big, clunky gray machine with belts, gears, and ball bearings. I certainly didn't feel like the picture-perfect bride in a bridal magazine.

I inched my chair closer to the last pew to catch a glimpse of Ken in front. There he was, standing tall and stately in his formal attire. I saw him looking for me, craning his neck to look up the aisle. My face flushed, and I suddenly couldn't wait to be with him. I had seen my beloved. The love in Ken's face had washed away all my feelings of unworthiness. I was his pure and perfect bride.

How easy it is for us to think that we're utterly unlovely -- especially to someone as lovely as Christ. But He loves us with the bright eyes of a Bridegroom's love and cannot wait for the day we are united with Him forever.

-- Quoted by John Woodbridge in “This We Believe: The Good News of Jesus Christ for the World”


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