“…Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
Revelation 19:9
It was 1965 in the summer after my freshman year in college. That particular Saturday was going to be the wedding of a dear high school friend. I looked forward to not only the wedding but reconnecting with friends from high school. It was a beautiful day and I decided to head to the beach for a few hours before getting ready for the event. There was plenty of time to sunbathe at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. I told my mom I would return before three and hopped in the car for some beach time! Those days were prior to cell phones, so it was quite normal to be unreachable. We didn’t even think twice about it. After enjoying my time at the beach, I returned early and proceeded to get ready for the wedding. Then the wall phone in the kitchen rang and I hurried to answer it. After answering, I heard the question, “Where were you?” from another friend. I had missed the wedding because I had the time confused. I had missed everything from the ceremony to the reception and there was no way to fix it. To this day I still feel awful about it.
In the Bible, God often used marriage as a picture of our relationship to Himself. In the New Testament this relationship is used to illustrate the relationship of the Church and Christ. Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her ..so that he might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy without blemish.” The marriage supper of the lamb is the celebration with Jesus and those who trusted in His atoning death and resurrection. That is us! We are blessed because we have been invited to partake of the marriage supper with Him. If you are in the church, the body of Christ, the family of God, then you have been invited. You will be there; you won’t miss it. What assurance and joy we have as we anticipate being blessed and seated with the lamb of God!
Ponder: What does it mean to you to know you will be at the marriage supper of the lamb? What are the blessings in the invitation and how are you personally blessed by it?
Francie Overstreet
EFCC Member