Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Revelation 21:1-6
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  May 19, 2019

Can we all admit that weddings have gotten a bit out of hand these days? According to a Brides 2018 American wedding study, the average amount spent on a wedding in the U.S. was $44,000. That’s a pretty expensive party. You can buy a lot with 44 grand. However, that doesn’t even compare with the cost of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding in the UK. Their total wasn’t 44,000, it was 45…45 million. That amount may be exorbitant, but the royal wedding actually provided a 1.4 billion-dollar-boost to the British economy due to excess tourism and a broadcast viewership of 29.2 million people. It is hard to imagine a bigger wedding, isn’t it? However, this morning we already read about one. This morning we are going to look at the wedding in Revelation which cost infinitely more than 45 million dollars. We are going to witness a wedding that provides infinite joy for anyone and everyone who understands that Jesus is the Church’s Groom.

As we enter Revelation 21 we witness the beginning of this wedding through John’s eyes. He writes, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And the sea no longer existed.” After chapters of conflict on a cosmic scale, after the Devil is defeated and meets his end; after the old sinful world passes away, everything becomes new. With John, we see a new heaven and a new earth. Now the word heaven in John’s time was often the term used for what we call the sky, so don’t think of two separate things, this is one completely new and restored planet. John also says that the sea no longer existed. Here he is probably referring to the great “sea” which is spoken of in chapters 13 and 15 as a great rift between God and humans where the Devil fights, not a literal body of water. So the absence of the “sea” here in 21 means there will be no longer separation between people and God. In all this, we do well to remember that God is using pictures here to communicate truths that transcend earthly language and existence. Which brings us to the wedding! John writes: “And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” In keeping with Old Testament Prophets like Hosea, Isaiah, and Ezekial, John is talking about Jerusalem as the Church of God—sort of shorthand for all true believers in Jesus. In other words, John is talking about you and me. When eternity begins, God will see us as his own bride! Actually, John sees us as a beautiful bride who is coming down the aisle!

That’s a pretty special moment, isn’t it? Regardless of how many weddings you’ve been to you never get sick of this part. Right? The moment the bride walks down the aisle is never boring. It’s always something special when everyone turns to look at her in her dress. Though the church might be filled with people, there’s really only two people in the room, right? The bride and the groom who’s waiting for her at the altar. And despite the difficulties, they may have had in their relationship, despite the complications in their family, despite the drama of wedding planning, just for a moment all that melts away and they lock eyes as she walks down the aisle, radiant in her wedding dress. That’s the picture God wants us to think about. John saw this moment of concentrated affection, pure unadulterated love, to illustrate God’s heart for us! To sear it into our minds.  My friends, Jesus is the Church’s Groom! That means that we are bride! Even as a male, for whom the thought of being a bride doesn’t immediately connect, I cherish this thought, because I know what it’s like to be the groom. When your bride is walking down the aisle, it’s hard to keep it together, because all you can do is think about how much you love the woman who walks toward you and how beautiful she is. That is how Jesus thinks of you. You are the one who is beautiful and radiant. You are the one whom he loves. You are the one he thinks is perfect! That it truly an amazing picture, isn’t t? If not a little unbelievable.

It’s actually pretty hard to believe sometimes. Can you believe that God could truly look at you like a groom looks at his bride walking down the aisle?  I certainly find that hard to believe at times. I know my own heart. I know when I stand before God I don’t look beautiful. I have a lot of stains on my soul. My mind is compromised in many ways by sin. Even my purest intentions show traces of my sinful nature. Even when I come into church my heart is distracted as I worship God. My prayers tend to revolve around my own wellbeing and grow self-serving at times. Even at my best, even when I dress up as well as I can spiritually, I know that I’m not a beautiful bride. How could God think of me in this way? If he is all-knowing and wise, he couldn’t honestly think of me as perfect or radiant in any way. In fact, my conscience testifies to the deeper truth: because of my sinful nature, I am eternally incompatible with the holiness of God. I can’t even survive his presence! He is the all-powerful, Sovereign Lord, the one who dwells in unapproachable light, the one who told Moses, “No man may see my face and live.” I shouldn’t be allowed near him, much less be called his bride! My sin has caused separation between me and a holy God. And that’s only confirmed when I look at human relationships where I too often witness the separation sin causes. I’ve seen marriages falling apart before my eyes in counseling. I’ve heard students speak harshly to one another in the hall. I have friends who don’t talk to each other anymore. I’m sure you don’t have to think very far for examples in your own life. If we base our ideas of God’s affection for us on human affection, then we should really expect nothing but separation.

And yet, despite what experience or logic might teach, the dramatic good news of the gospel is that Jesus is the Church’s Groom! And through faith, we are his bride, beautifully adorned and walking down the aisle. How can this be? Well, the apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter five is talking about marriage and he says this, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:25-27) I said at the beginning that we were going to hear about a wedding which cost infinitely more than that 45 million dollars. Well here is the cost: Christ gave himself up. Out of love for us, his Church, Jesus laid down his very life to make us holy. And through washing with water through the Word, through baptism, he truly has cleansed us. He took our death and we have been clothed with the righteousness of his perfect life. He took away our sin so that we could become his bride. When you stand before God, he sees you as holy, truly holy—blameless. This may be incomprehensible, but, in Christ, God does not see a single stain on your soul. He doesn’t see a single sin you’ve committed, he doesn’t even see a wrinkle on your shirt or a blemish on your face. You are his bride.

It’s no secret that self confidence is paramount in our world today. People say that even if no one else thinks you’re worth much you need to believe that you are. As a Christian, that statement is truer than they know. We have an eternal basis for our value! Jesus is the Church’s Groom! So no matter what others think of you, you are priceless in the eyes of your God. No matter how your own marriage has gone, you have an eternal union with God in heaven which cannot be corrupted. No matter how many times you have fallen into temptation, no matter what your net worth is, your God loves you and even wants to spend eternity with you!

Do you ever think about that? People need to have breaks from other people! But God wants to be married to you; he wants to spend an endless amount of time with you! Do you remember the voice John heard? “And from the throne I heard a loud voice that said, “Look! God’s dwelling is with people. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain, because the former things have passed away.” I’ve heard that heaven is too wonderful to comprehend and too wonderful not to think about. To a great extent, the Bible gives us pictures and metaphors because we simply cannot fathom how glorious heaven will be until we get there. But to have the personal attention of God is the greatest glory for which we could ever hope. To see his face, to stand before him without fear, without any sin or shame. To hear him call us his beloved. To know we are loved as dearly and cherished as purely as a bride as she walks down the aisle, what a blessing that is. I would like to end today with the words of hymn 219 “Lord, when your glory I shall see and taste your kingdom’s pleasure, your blood my royal robe shall be, my joy beyond all measure. When I appear before your throne, your righteousness shall be my crown, with these I need not hide me. And there in garments richly wrought, as your own bride, I shall be brought to stand in joy beside you.” As old Job said, “How my heart yearns within me.”  Amen.