Christianity Archives - Page 2 of 2

Doesn’t every little girl grow up dreaming about her special day—that day when she will walk down the aisle on her father’s arm and be given away to her waiting groom?

Prior to the internet, all we had were bridal magazines and our imaginations. But these days, social media has introduced brides-to-be to Pinterest, hosting hundreds of ideas for their wedding planning. Reality shows have also intervened, bringing us armchair adventures about each exciting phase of becoming a bride. From Say Yes to the Dress to Four Weddings, we can share everything from the quandaries of bridal gown shopping to the wonders of watching their beautiful weddings unfold on the TV screen.

Today’s traditions, however, don’t match those of ages past. The bride had to be dressed and ready for her groom’s arrival at her parents’ home, never knowing the exact time he would come. After her groom and his entourage appeared, there was great rejoicing as he took her away, veiled, to his home where they would celebrate their marriage ceremony.

The bride wore white, a symbol of her sexual purity, and was adorned with jewels. The proof of her virginity was displayed on the wedding sheets the morning after. That consummation was the legal blood covenant between the bride and groom, representing their physical union that promised until “death do us part.”

According to the Bible, there is a deeper and more mysterious meaning to the terms bride and groom.

In 2 Corinthians 11:2, Paul says to the people of Corinth, “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin” (NASB). Here Paul defines the bride, who is the church, and her groom, who is Jesus Christ.

Additionally, Paul teaches in Ephesians 5:25-32 that marriage is a comparison of the relationship of Christ to the church. Wives are to be subject to their husbands, as the church is subject to Christ, who is its head. Jesus loved the church and gave Himself up for her so she could be cleansed by the washing of water and the word. Holy, blameless, without spot or wrinkle, He could therefore present her to Himself as His bride.

Have you ever wondered about the bridal dress? Listen to John describe it. “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. 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” (Rev. 19:7-8, NASB).

The righteous acts we perform don’t save us according to Ephesians 2:8-9, but they do play an important role because they will be our glorious, pure-white wedding gown. The beauty of it is certainly beyond our imaginations—but just thinking about it—wow!

The time is short, and we the church should be expectantly looking for our groom. No, we don’t know the day nor the hour of His arrival, but He told us that we can know when the season is near.

Remember the story in Matthew of the ten virgins who waited for their bridegroom? The five foolish virgins weren’t prepared to meet him because they had fallen asleep and didn’t have enough oil for their lamps. After they left to buy some from the dealers, the bridegroom arrived and took the five prudent virgins into the wedding feast with him, and the door was shut. Although the others returned and asked the Lord to open the door for them, he replied that he never knew them. (See Matthew 25:1-13). Don’t be caught by surprise with no oil in your lamp!

“Then he said to me, ‘Write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb”‘” (Rev.19:9, NASB).

The invitations have been issued and everyone is invited to the wedding. Are you getting ready to meet your bridegroom? Look up…one day soon we will hear the shofar sounding from the clouds, announcing His arrival.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thess. 4:16-18, NASB).

“‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev.22:20b, NASB).

Photos courtesy of Blowthetrumpetinzion.info, Vittolo photography, Pinterest.com

Childhood memories are precious relics that I guard on dusty shelves in the deep recesses of my heart. When I have time to visit this library, I pull out books written by the lives of my grandmothers. As I turn the pages, their work-worn hands come into focus and tell the story of kind deeds.

The oldest woman in our family was my great-grandmother, Martha. When I was very young, my mother would often take me to our family’s Kentucky farm to visit. Great-Grandma was a small, round lady who let her hands, not her tongue, do her talking. In the kitchen her hands were like a conductor, waving around bread dough, mixing cornmeal batter, turning chicken in sizzling oil, and swirling gooey frosting on moist cakes. Never upset by anything out of the daily routine, she was accustomed to hearing her husband call out to a passerby or two.

Have you eaten dinner? Well come on in and join us—tie up your horse here–Marthie’s setting dinner on the table!

When the missionaries arrived, Grandma’s hands supplied them bedding and linens she had sewn with her skillful fingers. Every quilt and pillowcase was embroidered with love as she sat by the fire of an evening, peacefully rocking in her favorite chair. She and Shelby even sacrificed their own bed to those missionaries for months on end, putting their own comfort last–and they did it with humility and joy. Everyone who knew her hailed her as a saint, and rightly so.

The end of her life had a stunning conclusion when she came to herself, after having suffered a stroke at the age of 89. She sat straight up in bed after weeks of semi-consciousness, reaching out her arms to the unseen and pleaded,

I want my crown. Give me my crown!

Then she fell back onto her pillows, asleep in the arms of Jesus.

Martha’s gracious spirit was next passed down to her daughter, Ethel, whose kindness welcomed strangers to her table and never turned away anyone hungry. Ethel was just like her parents regarding hospitality. My grandparents’ home, often nicknamed the Johnson Hotel, was permanently welcome to family and friends traveling through Cincinnati. In spite of the hard times of the 1930’s, there was always plenty of food on the table and warm beds for guests.

During the Depression, her compassion would lead her to take pork sandwiches and a cups of coffee to jobless men, hungry and discouraged, who knocked at her door. The look of desperate gratitude from their eyes into her sympathizing ones was their sole exchange. Even stray animals seemed to sense that scratching at her door would bring them a meat bone or a pan of milk.

Her last act on this earth was to minister kindness to others. Feeling sorry for a lone neighbor across the road, she decided to bake him a cake and personally deliver it. It was on the walk back home that her heart gave out, and she died a few days later in a hospital.

I remember traveling to that red brick hospital for that final visit. Her face shone with a heavenly glow as her spirit was ready to fly away. I can still see her hands reach out to touch the face of my mother as she bent over the hospital bed. A touch of love passed on that mantle of kindness.

Although these two women now live only in memory, their linens, tablecloths and quilts they made years ago have been passed on to me. Holding them is like taking hold of their hands again. Even now as I sleep under the quilt that my grandmother finished for me just before her death, I feel wrapped in that mantle of kindness passed down through the generations.

She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hands grasp the spindle. She extends her hand to the poor. And she stretches out her hands to the needy. (Proverbs 31:19-20) NAS