How amazing that two people choose to publicly affirm that they are willing to take the risk of committing themselves to each other in sickness and in health, through various unplanned or undreamed of trials, until death. How miraculous to see two older people who've weathered a lot of storms still stand in front of the community, saying they are determined to keep that promise. Even in this day when weddings are fewer and fewer, the group "Train" still sings "Marry Me."
Whether we're married, single, or divorced, we all yearn for committed love in our lives. That's why God uses the reality of our human wedding celebrations to speak powerfully in Scripture of His committed love for His chosen people. He loves each of us with the passionate, committed, intensity and intimacy of a Bridegroom for His Bride! Heaven will be the final great Wedding Banquet when " As a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the Bridegroom rejoices over the Bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." (Isaiah 62: 5.)
Jesus, God made flesh so that we can see Him, hear Him, feel His loving touch, uses the Jewish prophet Isaiah's imagery to reinforce the celebration of His Presence among us: "The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?" Every time we worship together, we celebrate the Real Presence of our Bridegroom with us.
And Jesus gives us the most beautiful image of how God will personally love His people who have stayed faithful to Him by hosting them at the Wedding Feast of Heaven: " Truly I tell you, He will fasten His belt and have them sit down to eat, and He will come and serve them." (Luke 12:37).
When you are lonely, devastated by loss, or afraid of future trials and separations, be consoled by Isaiah's prophecy about the celebration to come: "On this mountain the Lord of Hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines... And He will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples...He will swallow up death forever." (Isaiah 25: 6-9.)