Anyone who
knows me knows I am not a shopping for clothes type of girl. In fact, I’d rather be up to my arms in
grease fixing something than clothes shopping, but it is the season for prom
dress shopping for graduating teenagers this year, and that means my daughter. So I put on my big girl pants, begged my sister to join us, and off we
went to stores we knew would have better selections. It was in the very first store we went to
that we found ‘the dress’. How do you
know it’s ‘the dress’? Because
everything up to it is quickly forgotten when you see her in it, and nothing
found after is good enough.
She stood
there, so beautiful, so elegant and looking grown up, that tears flooded my
eyes and I had to leave the room to get back in control. My little girl is all grown up! The richness of the dress led me to imagine a
date (hopefully several years from now) when Amy will be wearing that special
wedding dress and Albert and I will have to share her with her husband to be. He will watch as she walks toward him with
love in his eyes and excitement in his face because he has been waiting for her
and he knows they will be together forever.
…as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for
it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
Word, that He might present it to Himself as
the glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that it
should be holy and without blemish. Eph.
5:25-27 (also 2Cor. 11:2)
Let us be glad and rejoice and we will give glory to
Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and
white. For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Rev. 19:7,8
One day soon,
Jesus will return for His bride, a bride washed by His blood, cleansed by His
act of selflessness and love, for she is the one He has been waiting for since
the beginning of time that He might be
with her forever. She is all the
believers from the beginning, both Jewish and Gentile, who will live in the New
Jerusalem, the place He is preparing for her (Rev. 21:9,10; Jh. 14:2,3).
On that day,
I imagine He will have open arms to receive us and the love in His eyes will
captivate us as we ‘walk’ towards Him.
The peace and joy in our hearts will burst forth as we move to His
waiting arms, and we will rejoice to be with Him forever and delight in His
presence. It will be the final triumph
of our Savior, and it will be a glorious day for all of us, unsurpassed by any other.
Now we just need to make ourselves ready…
(see Rev. 7 above)