A Loved Bride

The Bible is all about marriage. From the very first pages of the Bible a man takes a bride and the two of them are called to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. This is the main story line of the Bible.

Unfortunately, the bride is less than perfect and easily believes the lies of the devil. The man, and many subsequent men, fail in their roles as husbands, the children are often a mess and the outcome is marriages that are not a good paradigm of godly fruitfulness.

In our passage today, another man, another husband, Isaac, chooses to love another bride, Rebekah. These two should also cause us to remember God’s prescription to fill the earth with godly offspring. They are blessed of God and part of His plan to fill the earth, but they fail, too, and we keep looking for the faithful groom and the faithful bride.

And yet, God is faithful. He provides the perfect bridegroom, who gives himself for the bride, whose job it is to make her perfect, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. And that bridegroom and that bride produce millions of millions of faithful children, as many as the stars in the sky or the sand upon the seashore. A loved bride is a beautiful thing and that is exactly what we are as we are gathered here at this glorious wedding feast, the marriage supper of the lamb.