The Wedding Garment
By Stephen Terry
“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." Revelation 19:9, NIV
Who doesn’t love a wedding? Not long ago, the entire world watched
enthralled as Prince William and Kate Middleton were joined in a royal wedding at
Westminster Abbey. Some referred to it as the “perfect wedding.” Soon all who
have chosen to have a relationship with Jesus will be invited to their own
perfect wedding. Those who attend that wedding will truly live “happily ever
after.”
Why does the Bible use
the symbolism of marriage to represent our relationship to Jesus? If we go back
to the Bible’s first book, we find God saying “…Let us make man in our image…”
Genesis 1:26, NIV The next verse
goes on to say “…male and female he created them…” Clearly the image of God is found in
the union of the two and not from either alone. In the next chapter we read “The LORD God
said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for
him.” Genesis 2:18, NIV Something
about the union of a man and a woman expresses more fully the image of God in
mankind. As man and woman “…become one
flesh…” (See verse 24) they illustrate in their union the union that exists
in the relationship with the God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Jesus referred to this union when He said, “I and the Father are one.” John 10:30, NIV In the beginning, man and woman were united to each
other and both were united to God.
Eventually,
the union was fractured. Those who had been so loved and cherished by God,
chose a relationship to another. They
chose the lies of Satan over the loving connection they had to God. This not
only damaged the relationship they had with God, but it also fractured the relationship
they had with one another. The woman who had enjoyed equality with man would
now find him ruling over her. The millennia since have been filled with the
cruelty and oppression that has arisen from that. Man himself has found that
his pleasant existence has been replaced with a life of hard toil to provide
for himself and his family. Pleasant tasks that had been a blessing in the
Garden of Eden, now became onerous and difficult. As man had been created to portray
the image of God, now he would portray the image of the one who had led him
astray.
Soon, Adam and Eve saw the
results of that new relationship when their eldest boy murdered his brother in
a fit of jealous rage. He was faithfully
representing the image of Satan. Jesus said of the Devil, “…He was a murderer from the beginning…”
John 8:44, NIV Through the centuries, that tarnished
image led to such evil that God brought a flood to stem the tide of depravity and
violence. Even that could not halt the downward progression of mankind. Mankind
had not only severed the relationship with God who loved him, but even stooped
so low as to murder on a cross, Jesus, who had come as God’s love in the flesh
to restore the relationship.
In spite of the downward
trend, though, there were some who wanted to have the broken relationship restored.
Individuals like Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and others have been like
points of lights in an otherwise dark universe. Struggling against what seemed
at times like horrendous odds, they persevered. The book of Hebrews, in the 11th
chapter, tells of how men of faith grasped in hope for that relationship when
all around them told them not to. In
verse 38, we are told “…the world was not worthy of them…” Everywhere around they could see in men the image of the
fallen one, but in their hearts burned a fire of a better image. That fire led
them to strive to share that image with the world.
The
book of Hosea in the Old Testament, tells of events in Hosea’s life that were
an allegory for the broken relationship between God and man. Hosea’s wife had
left him for relationships with other men. Anyone who has ever felt the pain of
a betrayed relationship could probably understand the pain this must have
caused Hosea. It is also a small idea of the pain that God must have suffered
when mankind left the heavenly relationship. Hosea went after his wife and
reclaimed her. Even though she had rejected him, he sought to restore their
bond.
Today,
we would probably question his wisdom. But this is exactly what God is seeking
to do with us. He wants to restore the relationship we once had. He is seeking
out those who desire something more than the Devil offers. He goes to the darkest holes, and most
depraved dens seeking those who will come to His love. He knows that those who
are the deepest in sin know how little it offers. They are more ready to come
to him than those who are satisfied with life in their self sufficiency. The first know that nothing they are doing
without God is working. The latter do not even know they are in need of
anything.
Jesus’
parable of the wedding feast spoke of these two classes of people. Those in the
first class were not only not interested in coming to the wedding feast, they
persecuted those who were proclaiming the feast. They were actively opposing
the King and His servants. As a result, they lost all chance to come to the
feast. Instead the King extended his
invitation to the second class, while some might be considered less desirable
than those in the first class, they were willing to come to the feast, and they
enjoyed the blessing missed by the others.
Unfortunately,
even among these was found someone who came for the feast but did not desire a
loving relationship with the King. However, without the wedding there can be no
wedding feast. Without the relationship, he could not receive the blessing that
might otherwise be his.
The
parable uses the symbolism of a wedding garment to make the point. If you are
there for the wedding, you dress for the wedding. If you are not, you don’t. His dress condemned him and when confronted,
he was speechless. What could he say? His image was not in harmony with that of
his King, but with another. The King could only return him to the relationship
he preferred, even though that relationship promised only “…weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 22:13, NIV
Friends,
we are invited to a wedding feast, and Christ himself is providing us a wedding
garment that truly reflects His image. It is woven of the righteousness that He
offers us through His death on the cross. He died for the love He had for us.
He so much desired that we reunite with Him that he crossed time and space to a
small hill outside of
I
want to return to a love like that. I want to have the image that we were
created in. I want to trade the
emptiness and despair that the Devil offers for a real relationship with the
One who created me. I want Jesus to come
into my heart and restore His image in me. Wouldn’t you like that, too? Just ask Him.
This Commentary is a Service of Still
Waters Ministry
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