As far as I'm concerned, there's only one way that movies should ever end. Having faced whatever challenge the movie plot was about and won, the couple (because there is always a couple) should kiss. The camera should spin, and they should be transformed into a bride and groom kissing on their wedding day. The rice gets thrown. The Mr. and Mrs. ride off into the sunset, and happily ever after begins. Sigh. Movies that end in a wedding should win the Oscar every time. But maybe, just maybe, when you see a wedding on the big screen you feel a pang of something like panic. When you go to weddings of friends and family members you feel something bitter along with the sweetness of it all. Will I ever get married? you wonder. What if happily ever after never happens for me? First, let me shoot you straight that marriage can never be the answer to a happy life. Yes, marriage is a wonderful gift, designed by God to put the beauty of the gospel on display. But that's not the same as saying that marriage will meet all of our needs. Only God can do that.
The desire you have to pledge your life to someone else in the name of love? That craving is about something bigger.
But for many of you, that doesn't stop the ache, the craving, to one day be a bride, greeted at the aisle by a groom who is crazy about you. Maybe you will get married some day and maybe you won't, but that craving? The desire you have to pledge your life to someone else in the name of love? That craving is about something bigger, and I know for a fact that it will be satisfied.
The Story Starts With A Wedding
Grab your Bible. (Go ahead, I'll wait right here.) Check out Genesis 2:18–25. Here are the highlights:
- Adam was alone, and it was "not good" (v. 18).
- Adam had companions of every shape and size, but he needed "the one" who would be a helper fit for him (v. 20).
- God formed a woman from the man (v. 21).
- God brought the woman to the man (v. 22).
And Adam gushes some of the most romantic words ever written.
"This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man" (v. 23).
"At last!" Adam exclaims. "I have been waiting for you all my life." Which wasn't very long, but it must have felt like it. Adam knew what it was like to wait for love. Then God gives these instructions to the new couple:
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (v. 24).
Recognize those words? You've probably heard them at a wedding before. God was telling Adam and Eve that they were now one. Their instructions were to cling to each other in good times and in bad. We just witnessed the first marriage ever. Fast forward to the end of your Bible, to the book of Revelation.
The Story Ends With a Wedding
Check out Revelation 19:6–9:
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
"Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 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; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." Genesis tells the story of a simple wedding. The only ones in attendance were Adam, the groom, Eve, the bride, and God, the wedding officiant. But Revelation tells of a grand affair. There are so many in attendance that their voices sound like mighty peals of thunder. The bride is spectacular, clothed in blinding white garments. This is the biggest event in history. This is a wedding not to be missed!
You're Invited to the Wedding of Mr. And Mrs. ?
Sure, the wedding in Revelation sounds romantic, but we miss something big if we don't catch who is getting married here. This is a wedding between "the Lamb" and "His Bride" (v. 7). Who is the Lamb? Jesus! We see Him called this in verses like John 1:29 and John 1:36. Scripture calls Him the Lamb because He was the sacrifice for our sins, a role reserved for livestock before Jesus came. Who is the Bride? We are! If we believe in Jesus and turn our lives over to Him, we become a part of His Church. Scripture describes the Church like a bride. Here are a few examples.
For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb" (Rev. 21:9). 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 (Eph. 5:25–27).
Jesus is the groom, and those of us who follow Him are His bride. He died so that we could be clothed in beautiful, white wedding clothes instead of the filthy rags our sin wraps us up in.
A Perfect Ending
If you follow Jesus, your wedding day is coming.
I don't know how the story of your life will go. I don't know if you'll get to a plan a wedding or pick rice out of your hair. But I know that if you follow Jesus, your wedding day is coming. There will be so many people there, that their voices will sound like thunder. The groom will be beaming. He has waited for this moment for an eternity. And you, girl? You will be the most beautiful bride there has ever been. Your wedding clothes will shine like the sun! And in that moment, the craving . . .
- to be loved
- to be known
- to be accepted
- to be someone's forever
. . . will be realized. It will be the perfect ending.