Just a few weeks ago, many people across the globe were quite taken with a royal wedding, that of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Various news outlets were buzzing about THE DRESS. Will it be vintage, elegant or whimsical?
Some years ago I was invited to a Yemenite wedding in Israel. The venue was gorgeous, the weather was perfect but many of us were in for a surprise when we arrived. The wedding coordinator welcomed us at the entrance and guided us into a large dressing room where there were dozens of exquisite Yemenite robes for male and female guests, along with traditional jewelry for each outfit. We were instructed to choose a robe and relatives of the bride assisted us with the sashes and jewelry. Only after we were properly attired in traditional Yemenite wedding clothes were we admitted to the banquet hall where the wedding was to take place.
A Yemenite bride
It was all about THE DRESS - not just the bride's dress, but ours as well.
I couldn't help but think of a parable Jesus told in Matthew 22: 1-14 about a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. The invited guests made excuses for not attending so the father of the groom sent his servants out into the streets to bring in whomever they could.
But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, so he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. vs. 11-12
The end result was that the man improperly clothed was cast out of the wedding feast.
The Eternal King of Glory, our Father, is preparing a wedding feast for His Son and has invited us to it. So 'what will we wear?' Should we just decide for ourselves, look in our closets and choose our favorite outfit?
Scripture tells us what the appropriate wedding garment is.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Revelation 19:7-9
Our earthly life can be compared to the dressing room I described above. There are all manner of garments available and it is our daily walk with God in faith and obedience that determines which garment we'll wear before the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Will it be pure white linen, pristine and iridescent?
The Blood of Jesus has cleansed us from all sin, its shame and its guilt. What have we done with that inestimable gift? Having given ourselves to Him, have we then sought to be like Him? To follow His commandments and live according to His precepts?
Or have we been lulled into a lukewarm relationship symbolized by a faded and tattered garment?
The LORD is coming soon. All the prophetic signs are being fulfilled before our eyes. Our present daily life is in the dressing room. With each choice we make to follow Him, to obey Him, to worship Him we weave a beautiful, pure white linen garment to wear before the LORD on that wonderful day.
The greatest wedding of all time is about to happen - the Marriage Supper of the Lamb to His Bride.
And for the Bride, it's all about the dress!