God’s Beauty on Display
In every culture and people around the globe there is great celebration of joy at a wedding along with all the festivities. My favorite wedding scene took place in a small rural village in South Asia. The bridegroom arrived on the back of a horse wearing a dashing turban, escorted by men dancing to the beating of drums. The bride was resplendent with jewels and a long veiled gown, entering in a parade of people in their colorful finery.
There is an equally unimaginable and joyful wedding scene in the book of Revelation. The vision of John takes us to the marriage of the Lamb of God, the union between the exalted, risen Lord Jesus, with his Bride, the people he has purchased with his own blood:
“Hallelujah, for the Lord our God reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Revelation 19:6-9 ESV
Isaiah, the prophet wrote with the same wedding imagery :
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations. Isaiah 61:10-11
Isaiah pictures the people of God as the Bride, clothed with garments of salvation, filled with joy, and exalting the Bridegroom. We, the people of God, the Bride, are covered with the robe of righteousness, the one belonging to Jesus, the Lamb of God. It is a garment of salvation, dipped in the blood of the one sacrificed for us. The Bridegroom himself is decked out in a beautiful headdress and the Bride adorned with jewels.
God is glorified by this display of beauty. In fact, the phrase often repeated in Isaiah, “that I may be glorified,” in Hebrew means “that I may display my Beauty“. God has chosen to display his beauty in Jesus Christ and his Bride. The Bride, although wearing exquisite jewels and covered with a magnificent robe, does not look at herself, but has eyes only for the bridegroom’s face, looking in his eyes, anticipating the intimacy of their covenant relationship.
The Bride is wrapped up in the confidence and security of the robe of righteousness, covered with the sacrifice made to secure relationship. As David said to the Lord God, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand on me.” Psalm 139:5
REFLECT. Now we must be mindful not to think of this wedding as just a far-off end times event, but to live a life of joy in our present world. Joy is the readiness of the Bride, clothing ourselves in the deeds of the Kingdom of God on earth: salvation and justice, beauty and joy. The divine marriage is a way of life in which we are in joyful relationship with the Bridegroom and share his love, power, and self-giving to all. We cannot wait for the end of the world, the need is too urgent, the suffering and brokenness of senseless conflict can crush us beyond belief.
To be honest, the current conflicts in the world made me pause on writing about these Scriptures. You might be struggling as well with politics, the unending suffering of war, territorial disputes, and the clash of religious ideology. Yet the announcement of joy in these Scriptures is not about any nation or earthly power, but the Lord God.
Look at our Bridegroom, as John describes him, sitting on a white horse: “He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine line, white and pure, were following him on white horses…On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” Revelation 19:13,14,16
RESPOND. Our response to the invitation to this divine marriage, a relationship of love with promises that will be kept, is to say our yes and put on the wedding garment that Christ has gifted, the robe of righteousness. Righteousness is God’s faithfulness to us, and the robe is not anything we earn, but a gift we receive and wear, displaying the beauty of God daily.
Be generous with bestowing beauty.
O Beautiful God, you are breathtaking. Amen.
MEDITATE. Take some time to meditate on Isaiah 61:10-11. You can use this three-minute podcast to help you focus. Listen to David Platt but stop before the commentary. Listen to just the verses. Then replay and listen as David reads the verses and gives a brief commentary. As you listen, write down any word or phrase that the Spirit brings to your attention. As you listen a second and third time, doodle thoughts or draw the images that come to mind.
The words to Phil Wickham’s Your Beautiful are an amazing reflection of these Scriptures. I also love the artists in the Good Shepherd Collective and recommend their version as well.
robbijames 