Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for today’s meditation is Revelation 21 9-14 21-27

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Remember the last time you were at a wedding? Or better yet do you remember your wedding? There is so much attention and focus on the bride and there are so many preparations for the wedding ceremony. The dress must be perfect, the hair must be just right. In fact, these days most brides and her bride’s maids do a spa morning to get everything just right; hair, eye brows, finger nails, toe nails, you name it. When all is said and done and the bride finally steps into the doorway of the sanctuary where everyone gets their first look at her you hear a pleasing gasp from the crowd because she looks so radiant and absolutely beautiful. I like to look at the groom at this point. Everyone is looking at the bride including him. I love to see the groom’s reaction; most of the time the groom is smiling like he has never smiled before. I still remember this moment at my wedding like it was yesterday. 29 years ago, when Laurie stepped into the doorway of the church, I saw her and thought she was glowing like an angel, and that big beautiful smile of hers was melting my heart because it was for me. We were about to give ourselves to each other for life. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could look forward in life to see how everything worked out; like reading the last chapter of a book or fast forwarding to the end of a movie? Wouldn’t it be very comforting if you saw a long happy marriage together with children and grandchildren?

In a very real way, God is giving us a glimpse of the end, the final outcome for us, the church, for God’s enemies, and for His creation. He shows us this glimpse to help, comfort, and strengthen us while we are here on earth living out the story. God is letting us fast forward to the end of a movie here in Revelation to see the outcome. At the end of this story we win! God wins the battle and we, the church, share in that victory.

Last week we read that John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The New Jerusalem must have been absolutely glorious to compare it to a bride adorned for her husband. This week we read that not only is the New Jerusalem prepared as a bride it is the bride of the Lamb, the bride of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is adorned with the Glory of the Lord and ready for the wedding. Of course this wedding is not quite the same as our weddings or even like the weddings at the end of the Disney princess movies. This bride is no princess; the bride is the church triumphant. In Ephesians 5:25-27 Paul describes how Jesus loves the church; "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." Now those are some preparations, talk about the ultimate spa treatment washing of water with the word. He prepares you. He does all the work. Through your baptism you were washed clean.

You are washed clean in the blood of Jesus Christ. Through that washing you are clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Through His righteousness you become "without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that you might be holy and without blemish." All of this fuss and muss about the preparations reminds me of a royal wedding.

This may not be a royal wedding but we are talking about a royal city – Jerusalem – coming down out of heaven from God "having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal." Earlier John records that the bride is adorned for her husband. Now John sees the bride’s adornment as the "Glory of God." And the "Glory of God" is her radiance. I think brides are extremely radiant. Laurie was so radiant I can still picture it in my mind. If we think earthly brides are radiant imagine the radiance of the Glory of God.

The church on earth bears the "Glory of God" because of Jesus Christ but it is unseen to the human eye - 2 Corinthians 3:18 "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." After the resurrection and the restoration the "Glory of God" will be seen by all. It is the radiance of the glory of God shining forth as if it were the churches own beauty, righteousness, and holiness. We, the church will be beautiful, righteous, and holy but not by anything we did. In fact, we don’t deserve any of it because we daily sin against the very same God that wants us to be holy and without blemish. We talk about people without putting the best construction on the conversation, that’s gossiping. We take advantage of our neighbor. We tell lies, we may think they are little and harmless but they are lies and they are harmful to your neighbor and yourself. We don’t deserve to be called holy and we certainly aren’t without blemish. So how is it we are still part of New Jerusalem? How is it we are able to enter? How do we get through the wall surrounding the city, how do we get through the gates guarded by angels? The price of admission to the city is the punishment you deserve. You deserve nothing but death for your sins but you have a Savior that paid that price for you. So precious is the entrance to the city that it is worth any cost. The Son of God is the only one that could pay your entrance price. He paid it by hanging between two thieves and dying an agonizing death. He died abandoned by His Father because He became sin, your sin, and the Father detested sin and accepted the payment. The price was death but so much more. It was separation from the Father. That is what we would pay eternally had Jesus not done it for us. He willingly allowed Himself the anguish of being separated from God. Now you value that price as your greatest possession and abandon everything else for its sake. Matthew 13:45 puts it in perspective "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, ⁴⁶ who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Knowing that you are cleansed by the blood of Christ I know you are part of the church, New Jerusalem and you will enter the city. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. I know this because it was written with the blood Jesus sacrificed on the cross when He died for you. Even though you are tempted and sometimes fall. You have been marked by the cross and therefore you are His. Don’t be discouraged. Never give up. By grace through faith in Jesus, you cling to His promises.

Wow, now that you know the end of the story you know the victory is God’s and He shares it with you. Be encouraged and let His victory give you hope during the rough times of your story.

Most Disney princess movies end with "and they lived happily ever after." Is your life happily ever after? How happy are you when you face the challenges and difficulties of your life. How happy are you when you face more month than you have money. How happy are you when you are getting treatments for a life threatening illness? How happy are you when there is conflict in your life? How happy are you when you face the effects sin has on your life as you live in this fallen world? It is hard to be happy with so much sin, decay, death, and evil. But this glimpse of the bride of Christ assures you that you will live happily ever after, for you have eternity to celebrate this royal wedding. You will be that glowing bride, you will have that huge smile because Christ is preparing you.

May this glimpse of your future give you hope and encouragement now, in Jesus, the one who is at work within you, the author and perfecter of your faith. Amen