A Wedding Called Off
Posted in Apologetics, Bible Study, Church, Eternity, Life, Quotes, Sin, Stories on November 9th, 2008 No Comments »
Last night I had a dream. It was an odd but sobering dream, and it’s worth sharing.
In my dream I got up to go to church early to setup chairs for the service. When I got there the chairs were missing. I looked all around the church, but I could not find them anywhere. One of the elders said to go look in the back and so I did, but no sign of them. When I came back to tell the elder, all the chair were setup.
The odd thing about them is that the back rows were facing the side of the church, and there was a bride in her wedding gown ready to walk down the aisle. The front rows were correctly facing the pulpit.
I sat down to hear the preacher speak, and he seemed upset. He said that he was supposed to officiate a wedding today but that he received new information about the groom that changed his mind about marrying the two. Behind him on the screen he started to show a video of the groom as he behaved when he thought nobody was looking. It was disturbing. I felt uncomfortable peering into the private life of the groom. He was clearly a different person outside the church.
The pastor said, “I cannot marry these two. The groom has proven that he is not worthy of the bride.”
In front of me this one guy kept looking to the back of the church. Upon closer inspection it was the groom, longing to be with the bride. But he did not stand up and protest. The video told no lies. The wedding was called off.
After I woke up, I did go to the church and setup chairs. Nothing missing. But I had time to think about the dream.
When Christ returns, many of us will think that we are worthy enough to be carried across the threshold of His Heavenly home along with His Bride, but when the Father of the Groom stands to judge each one of us according to our thoughts, words and deeds what will the video show? Do we honestly think that we are worthy enough?
The apostle Paul explained our predicament and the final solution like this:
For no one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God’s law, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it.
But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight–not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.
For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.
Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
(Romans 3:20-28)
If you recognize that you are not worthy because of your sins, and if you believe that Jesus shed His blood for you, then by faith you shall be saved. You will be joined to Christ along with the rest of His Bride, and one day He will carry you across the threshold of His Heavenly home. Take this moment to call on Jesus. Believe in Him, and you will find rest for your soul.