"Open is the starry hall;
Hear you! 'tis the Bridegroom's call!
Holy virgins, one and all,
Ready stand,
For the heavenly festival
Is at hand!
"Come at last the nuptial day;
Tears forever passed away—
Fled the prison-house—the clay,
And the thrall; Christ forever your sure stay,
And your all!"
"Blessed are those who are called to the marriage-supper
of the Lamb."—Rev. 19:9.
Under a new and beautiful symbol, we are called to behold
Jesus as the Heavenly Bridegroom, seated at His own marriage-feast,
summoning His glorified guests around Him!—the true Solomon, "crowned in the
day of His espousals, and the day of the gladness of His heart!" (Song of
Sol. 3:11.) "Alone," says a writer, "in the depths of eternity stood Christ
and His Church before the altar of that divine espousal; none was witness
but the Father and the Holy Spirit when the vow was plighted, and the
contract sealed," (Butler.)
But all Heaven is now to be spectator of the gladsome
consummation. The bridal-day has come! He has "sent His angels with a
great sound of a trumpet to gather together His elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other," and lo! a multitude which no man
can number, "all-glorious within, their clothing of wrought gold," are seen
passing through the gates of the city "with gladness and rejoicing," on
their way to the King's palace! The Bride for six thousand weary years has
been calling for her Lord to "Come!" The voice of the Beloved has at
last been heard; the King has "brought her into His banqueting-house, and
His banner over her is love!" (Song of Sol. 2:4.)
In that scene of festive joy, behold—
(1.) Jesus Glorified.
"He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." Oh,
what a moment of joy will that be to the Church's Divine Head, when all
His blood-bought people (not one of the sealed myriads missing) shall be
assembled with Him to share His bliss—"betrothed unto Him forever;"
"presented a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such
thing!" If "Wisdom" rejoiced in the mere anticipation of
redemption—if even then His "delights were with the sons of men" dwelling in
"the habitable parts of the earth," (Prov. 8:31,) what will the rejoicing
be, when the vast undertaking is all completed, and the trophies of His
grace are seated by His side! What a new and more glorious meaning will be
given to His words of intercession on earth: "All yours are mine, and
mine are yours, and I am glorified in them!" (John 17:10.) It is
their glory and joy in which much of His own mediatorial happiness will
consist. As "the Master," He girds Himself at the marriage-feast, and "comes
forth to serve them," (Luke 12:37.) He has them in view in His every thought
of Heaven: "I go to prepare a place for you, …that where I am,
there you may be also"—"I shall drink no more of the fruit of the
vine until I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom," (John
14:2, 3; Matt. 26:29.)
(2.) Behold the Church glorified.
"Called" to the Master's immediate presence, not to eat of the crumbs
falling from His table, but of the children's bread; to see His face; to
participate in His triumph; and with faith changed into sight, and hope into
full fruition, to exclaim, "My Beloved is mine, and I am his!" (Song
of Sol. 2:16.)
Seated at the wedding-feast! What nearness and intimacy
of fellowship is here indicated! Even on earth, the believer's most blissful
hours are those spent in intimate communion with his Lord. How the pain and
weariness of the sickbed are alleviated—how the pang of the crushing
bereavement has been mitigated, by that Presence and Name which puts music
and joy into the saddest heart! What will it be in glory, with no sin to mar
our communion, and no sorrow to dim our eye—the consummated union and
communion of everlasting love! Truly, the glorified guests will be able to
say to their heavenly Lord, as was said in His hearing at a marriage-feast
on earth, "You have kept the best wine until now!" (John 2:10.)
On that coronation-day of the Church triumphant, angels
will listen with amazement, as each ransomed one tells the story of blended
grace and faithfulness—principalities and powers will stoop to hear the
Church's perpetual new song, the keynote of which will be, "the
manifold wisdom of God!" (Eph. 3:10.) It will not be with the disciples
in heaven as with the disciples below. When they got a momentary glimpse of
their Lord's glory on Tabor, we read, "They feared as they entered
the cloud," (Luke 9:34.) Perfect love will then cast out fear. It is no
stranger—no inaccessible, awe-inspiring Being who is to gather them around
Him. It will indeed be a day of Kingly espousals. On His head there
will be "many crowns." The Bride will "enter the King's palace," (Ps.
45:15.) It will be a regal—a coronation anthem that will be sung by the lips
of the hundred and forty four thousand, "Alleluia, for the Lord God
omnipotent REIGNS," (Rev. 19:6.)
But it is also called the "marriage-supper of the
Lamb;"—"that same Jesus" who in His person is so well known to us on
earth—whose character and life are so beautifully and truthfully portrayed
in what we may call His four inspired biographies, that we seem to feel as
if we knew Him—knew Him intimately—had seen Him—had sat with Him on Tiberias'
shores, and talked with Him at Jacob's well, and wept with Him at the
Bethany grave! We enjoy to be with those who have been kind to us; who so
kind as "the MAN Christ Jesus!" what fellowship so blissful as with
the all-glorious One, who has loved us with a love, in comparison with which
the most endearing earthly friendship is coldness itself! How joyous when
He shall meet us at the threshold of glory, and conduct us to the
coronation-hall, to receive our crowns, and to become guests at His table!
(3.) Behold here a holy and happy meeting between
guest and guest.}
The improper estrangements of the present will there be unknown
forever. Cold looks, and averted faces, and distant and uncordial
recognitions, will be all at an end. The guests will only wonder they could
have allowed petty differences to have sundered them so long and so
strangely below. Like their beloved Lord, they will become like
one another. Many a Christian on earth, we believe, is nearer in heart
and love and sympathy to a brother Christian, than the conventional
distinctions—the Shibboleth of sect and party—will permit him to avow. In
Heaven there will be no such reserve. The slumbering harmonies of the heart
will then break forth, without one jarring note.
Let me delight often to carry my eye onward to the
celebration of these espousals—to draw aside the world's scenes of
painted glory, and to get a sight of "the invisible"—the great Sabbath
of eternity inaugurated by this nuptial festival, where every redeemed
Vessel, like the earthly types at Cana, are "filled to the brim;" Jesus, who
went forth from His eternal throne as the weeping "Man of sorrows," now come
again with rejoicing, to bring all His ransomed sheaves with Him! (Ps.
126:6.)
"Will you not," says Baxter, "be almost ready to draw
back, and say, 'What! I, Lord? I, the unworthy neglecter of Your grace,
dis-esteemer of Your blood, and slighter of Your love, may I have
this glory? I am utterly unworthy to be called a son.' But Love will have it
so. Therefore you must enter into His joy."
"The watchers on the mountain
Proclaim the Bridegroom near;
Go, meet Him as He comes,
With hallelujahs clear.
"The marriage-feast is waiting,
The gates wide open stand;
Up! up! you heirs of glory,
The Bridegroom is at hand.