By Stan Barth
Growing up in the same small hometown with all my cousins was truly a blessing. Years have passed and so have several of the cousins. I was recently attending a memorial service for Cousin Joe’s wife, Annie. No one would say Joe and Annie had an easy life, but I couldn’t miss concluding they had a great marriage. They were faithful to one another and faithful to our Lord. It occurred to me that ALL marriages (the good, the bad and the ugly) begin with the bride saying “YES.”
A marriage is a covenantal relationship whereby a man and a woman, two separate and unique bodies, are transformed into one body. Genesis 2:24: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh”. Yes, two become one. As odd as that math sounds, it is the truth by God’s design. Truly, Joe and Annie were one, in good times and through all struggles. It all started with Annie’s “yes,” but being a godly marriage, it was based on mutual love and respect always giving 100%. Ephesians 5 calls for mutual submission and love. “Wives, submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord(v. 22), and “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (v. 25). And, how much did Christ love the church? He gave his very life for his bride, the church.
Jesus prayed to the Father that all believers become one with Jesus and the Father, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity” (John 17:22-23). Yes, there will be a wedding of Jesus Christ and his bride, the church. “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” (Revelation 19:7). The two will become one.
There will be another wedding. “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was not longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:1-2). Again, the two separate bodies, heaven and earth, will become one.
In my youth, my extended family gathered for all kinds of activities and celebrations. As time passed, we gathered with much less frequency and would all say, “We need to stop getting together just for weddings and funerals”. In later years, it seems like we just get together for funerals. The question is: Do you want to go to a wedding like no other? Ok, just say “yes” to the bridegroom Jesus, and let’s all get together for the eternal feast at the King’s table. Can’t wait to see you there!