OUR ROYAL WEDDING

I was struck by the absolute wonder of the Cinderella-style wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. I have commented to a couple of people that if the people at the service would take the words of the archbishop seriously, England would be a different place next week. He left out a lot I wish he had said, but he did say a lot, and it was all good. As we know, though, the gap between what is professed and what is lived is often a very wide one.

One of the sermon points was that each marriage has a King and Queen, not just the Royal one. God views marriage very highly, and each of us has the opportunity to have the same commitment and mutual adoration as William and Kate. Marriage is highly esteemed in God’s eyes. In fact, it is a public declaration of commitment before God and man to work out the inevitable difficulties of two becoming one. I would add that people who live together without marriage are not only shunning the support of the public before whom married people take their vows, but shunning God himself by not taking the vows he ordained, vows he has commanded so that our intimacies be within the marriage bed and be undefiled. To be without the blessing of God AND man is surely not an advised way to go.

We may not now ride in an elegant carriage or have $30 million to spend on our wedding, or the attention of a couple billion people, but we can have every bit of the rest right here, right now. As they saw on the infomercials – “But wait. There’s more!”

The splendid fact is that not too long from now (May 21^st if you, unlike I, believe Harold Camping) we will be with King Jesus, coronated by his Father to rule and reign forever. The fact is that those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and as our Lord are engaged to marry Jesus Christ. Now that is a REAL royal wedding. One that will last. One where the King will hold us forever, and pull any of that stuff Henry VIII did. Our King will not step out as Prince Charles did, but shower us with eternal love and eternal security forever.

Further, even though we are “commoners” as Kate is, we do not have to worry about not being a Princess. He is crowning us, and giving us an eternal home that puts one of man’s best efforts, the opulent Westminster Abbey, to shame. Aren’t you glad that our King, Jesus Christ, did what we read in the Old Testament as he describes his love for Israel, a shadow of his love for the church?

Isaiah 61

10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

Ezekiel 16

4 On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. 5 No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised. 6 Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!” 7 I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked. 8 Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine. 9 I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. 10 I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. 11 I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, 12 and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. 14 And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD.

I did not include the rest of Ezekiel’s writing here, which details how Israel took all this and prostituted herself to the pagans. Could you imagine Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge, going to some college party and hooking up with some loser smoking pot? Giving up the adulation and respect of so many to spurn the one who brought her into a royal life and who obviously adores her and who was willing to covenant with her forever? I certainly doubt that she would remotely consider such a thing. Yet, Christians by the boatloads are in love with so many besides Jesus Christ. So many other suitors get their attention, their time, their love, and their resources. TV, Movies, Sports, Business, Churchianity, the ‘good life’, you name it. We have to die to all these things if we are to raised up to heavenly places to rule and reign with Christ! You see, Christ is going to SHARE his authority with us, and show us how to reign his way! He is giving us new heavenly bodies to be like his. He is showing us the fullness of our salvation. As my namesake said so well, “Even so come, Lord Jesus!”

After today, I am looking forward to my Royal Wedding more than ever. Are you committed to the Lord Jesus Christ? DO NOT SETTLE FOR ANYONE LESS!