1 Thessalonians 4:13-15.

How twisted man can be in following some of the most basic plans of God for life. Take marriage for example, there are endless examples of man missing the point and somehow ending up with absurdity.  The Brahmans of southern India have traditionally prohibited a younger brother from marrying before an elder brother. So when a suitable bride can't be found for the senior brother, he may be ceremonially married to a tree, leaving the younger brother free to take a wife. An old Kentucky law states that a wife can't move the furniture in the house without her husband's permission. But then a man in Kentucky has restrictions too: he can't legally marry his wife's grandmother. Today, in the state of New Hampshire , the legal age for marriage for females is 13, for males 14. And in Canada we are just opening up the can of debate that seeks to vaporize the traditional meaning of marriage with such neutral language that it would be tantamount to taking your hands off the steering wheel while driving in the mountains so that the car can be free in where it wants to go. It not only misses the design but it invites disaster.

But marriage has not always been so, you can remember back to a wedding that had great significance for you, perhaps it was your wedding. The groom, the bride, the wedding guests, the great celebration, the wonder of the two uniting together in marriage, these are the images of our experience of a wedding. This picture is not something we have some how evolved or invented, for every marriage between a man and a woman, between a groom and a bride, has had its source in the plans for a great wedding, one that is soon to take place. Everything else has been just a hint, just a type of this which God has designed before the creation of the world. It will be such a wedding that all heaven will be emptied out in order to be present at it. Let's look at the verses of Scripture that describe this incredible moment. To start, turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-15.

I.    There's a Wedding and You're Not Only Invited, You're In It !    

There is a lot of misinformation about life and even more about death. What happens to you when you die, is there anything more going to happen to you after you die, does heaven ever change or will it always be eternally the same? if these are questions that go through your mind then you aren't that different from the church people of Thessalonica. Let's just pursue this for a minute, what does happen to a Christian if they were to die today? The body and soul separate, the body without personality or life is buried, the soul moves to heaven where it receives a temporary form. 2 Corinthians 5 describes this temporary dwelling as a sort of clothing for the soul. It describes us as being absent from the body but present with the Lord. The enormity of heaven escapes us because we have never experienced the earth in immortal terms. Our populations increase but that increase is slowed by the death rate. Can you imagine a place where the population only increases, from the days of the first man who moved before God in obedience and faith to the present time, all are in one incredible realm. No longer confused by language, no longer divided by wealth nor land nor genetics nor deformities nor injuries, but millions upon millions of people clothed in temporary coverings, present with Christ? WAITING.  You see there will soon come a point when God has drawn the last person to Himself that he is going to, when the last one to be saved by faith has been, the last one to be eternally forgiven of their sin, forgiven, heavens limit reached. But this is not what heaven is waiting for, what heaven is waiting for is the specific day of the greatest wedding that could ever be. It is a wedding for all who have received righteousness through faith in Christ's command. This great group, from Adam to Abraham to Paul to Mildred Lyons, will be united to Jesus Christ in a way that none has yet experienced in human history. You who are Christians here this morning, you are invited to this wedding, you are in it! How can this be, why is it? Good questions, let's look deeper.

II. It's the Only Wedding Where the Groom Picks Out the Brides Dress!              

Look for a moment at verse 14, do you believe that Jesus died and rose again? You are believing in the raising up of a human body as testimony to the truth that the Son of God was able to completely satisfy the wrath of God against sin by dying on the cross. The resurrection of Jesus is both proof and promise: Proof that our sins are forgiven through a faith that He has paid the price of them; Promise that as He was raised, so shall we be also. Okay, you believe that, but what is at the heart of it? The heart is that God through Christ is going to unite Himself to you forever. This happens in two steps, the first is like a betrothal, when you believe in Him as your Savior (2 Cor.11:2) , the second step is like the actual wedding, when He completely brings you to Himself in all of who you are, body, soul, spirit. It is Christ who picks the wedding dress for His bride, a dress of pure righteousness. Ephesians 5:26,27, ?'that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and blameless.? There will come a day when Jesus will come both for and with the church, it is our wedding day to Him. On that day Jesus will leave heaven, all the souls in heaven will also leave heaven in that day, millions upon millions of them, and they will accompany Christ as He comes to the wedding moment. 1 Thessalonians 3:13 refers to 'the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.?  Philippians 3:20,21 says ?For our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our state into conformity with the body of His glory??. It is He who clothes us in His righteousness and readies us for the moment of our wedding to Him.

III. The Wedding Is Reunion , Return and Rejoicing.       

For the Jewish mind, the wedding is a combination of the groom returning to claim his bride, the bride accompanying the groom to the residence he has prepared for her and the resulting feast that then occurs in celebration of the marriage. These are the indicators that Christ spoke of in the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. They refer to how He too will come unexpectedly, how with a shout He will call out to his bride and she will go to Him. This is the great reunion of the wedding, believers reunited body and soul, the deceased with the living, to be forever with Christ. The return to heaven, alluded to in John 14:2,3 is the next step in the wedding process, where Christ takes us with Him to a place which He has prepared. This is not on the earth, but in heaven, a place for millions upon millions of physical but immortal human beings with their Lord. Then the great supper, the wedding supper that Revelation 19: 7-9 refers to: ?Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. And 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. And he said to me, ?Write, ?Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb??. When we speak of the Second Coming of Christ, when we speak of the Rapture of the Church, we are speaking of our marriage to the Lamb. It will be for us Reunion , Return and Rejoicing as we forever proclaim Him as Almighty God, our Savior, our King.

Rev. Spence Laycock pastors at Church of the Open Bible, Ponoka, Alberta, Canada.
www.churchoftheopenbible.ab.ca