The Wedding Ceremony

The Wedding Ceremony

The marriage ceremony is an exact representation of Jesus coming for His Church. The groom represents Christ and the bride represents the Church. (Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it.-Eph. 2:25). 1Thes. 5:17 and 1Cor. 15:51-53 tells of Christ coming to take His Church out of the world. This is known as the “rapture”. The Church is changed and is also given new names. (Rev. 2:17)

Let’s look at the ceremony as it relates to the coming of Christ. The scene opens with the groom standing at the altar expectantly waiting to receive his bride. Christ is also waiting to receive His bride: The Church. The angels in Heaven rejoice when one is saved. Think how much they will rejoice when the church is raptured and Christ receives His Bride, the Church. Likewise, the Best man and the groomsmen all rejoice when the groom receives his bride.

When the Bride enters the church and walks down the aisle toward her husband at the altar, it’s like the Church being caught up to meet Christ in the air. She is walking down the aisle, leaving her old world and life behind and coming into a new world and life with her groom. She is, in effect, being raptured. Just before she steps up to the altar, her father gives her to the groom. Our Heavenly Father, in similar fashion, gave us to Jesus. After the exchanging of the vows, the groom puts a ring on her finger as a seal  signifying undying love. Jesus will always love us and the Holy Spirit seals us in His love. After the ceremony, the husband takes his new wife away to a wedding feast just as Christ takes His wife, the Church, to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-90).

Now, husbands and wives, if you will remember that you represent Christ and His relationship to His Church, you will have a standard by which to judge your treatment of each other. Right relationship with Christ always brings about right relationship with each other.