"Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." — Revelation 19:7–8
June Brides and a Greater Wedding
There is a reason people think of weddings when June comes around. June bride is practically a season of its own. And it is a fitting place to begin, because the Bible ends with a wedding — the greatest wedding that will ever take place.
The title of this message is simple: Jesus is coming for His Bride. And if there is a Bride, there is a Groom. To understand what God is doing, we have to understand the wedding He is preparing — and to understand that, we have to understand the Jewish customs and traditions Jesus and His listeners would have known by heart. When we read the Bible through their eyes, the true words of Jesus come alive.
So we begin where the story ends, in heaven: "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready" (Revelation 19:7–9). John saw this in heaven. It has not happened yet. We see the signs Jesus warned about — wars and rumors of wars, pestilence, earthquakes — but this prophecy is still ahead of us. And the angel adds a line we must not skip: "These are the true words of God." When God speaks, it will surely happen, because it is impossible for God to lie.
The angel also says, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. Which means there are those who are invited — and those who are not. Do we want to be invited to the wedding of Jesus? Then let us understand what that wedding requires.
Stage One — The Betrothal
In ancient Jewish custom, a wedding did not begin at the ceremony. It began at the betrothal. The father of the groom arranged the marriage and paid a bride price to the bride's father. The couple signed a contract — the ketubah — and sealed the engagement with a cup of wine. From that moment, the two were legally bound. Breaking it required a divorce.
This is why, when Joseph discovered Mary was pregnant, he planned to divorce her quietly — even though they had only been betrothed, not yet married. The covenant was that binding. Only the angel's word stopped him, because the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
That same custom is fulfilled in the wedding of Jesus and His Bride. The bride price was the most extravagant ever paid: the life of the Son. "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies" (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). We are the ones who were bought. And the Bride is not just this congregation — it is the universal Church, every believer the Lord Jesus has raised up across the world.
Paul told the Ephesian elders the price plainly: the Church was "bought with his own blood" (Acts 20:28). The blood of Christ was the payment.
And the covenant was sealed. "When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 1:13). When we believe the gospel, our sins are forgiven and we receive the seal — the Holy Spirit who comes to live inside us. So it is complete: the Father bought us, the Son's blood paid for us, the Spirit sealed us. If you have given your life to Christ, you are already betrothed to the Lamb.
Stage Two — The Interval
After the betrothal, the groom went home. He returned to his father's house to prepare a place for his bride — often building an additional room onto the family home — while the bride waited and prepared for her new life.
This is exactly what Jesus described: "My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:2–4). When Jesus returned to heaven, He did not stop working. He is preparing a place for His Bride right now.
And like the Jewish bride, we do not know the day. Only the Father knows the hour Christ will return for His Church. The King James Version says it beautifully: in my Father's house are many mansions. If you do not have a mansion here on earth, be excited — He is preparing one for you in heaven.
Stage Three — The Procession
When the home was finally ready, the groom went out — usually at night, with his friends, in a joyful, noisy procession — to bring his bride back to his father's house for the feast.
Jesus described His return in exactly those terms: "Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other" (Matthew 24:30–31). When the Groom comes, He will not come alone. All the angels of heaven will accompany Him.
And here is the heart of God in this: He wants every person to see Him and desire Him. There is a space in every human heart that only God can fill. You could be the richest man in the world — you could be an Elon Musk — and still there would be an emptiness only the Spirit of God can fill. So as His disciples, while we wait, we look for the people who are searching for Him.
What Does the Bride Do While Waiting?
The Groom has gone to prepare the home. The procession is coming. So what does the Bride do in the meantime? Three things.
1. The Bride Keeps Herself Pure
"I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him" (2 Corinthians 11:2). In Jewish custom, the bride had to be pure. The Bride of Christ keeps her heart undivided, reserved for Him alone.
2. The Bride Must Be Faithful
"You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God" (James 4:4). When we run back to the world, it is spiritual adultery. We are already betrothed to Jesus, already sealed by the Spirit — and we can still be unfaithful to Him.
This is real. We learned recently that godliness with contentment is great gain, and how often the thing that pulls us away is the love of money or the love of the world. Think of Nina, who confessed that her work was tied to something she could not square with following Christ, and chose to give up the job so she could worship every Sunday. She chose God over the world. That is the choice faithfulness asks of all of us.
And faithfulness means being honest about our struggles. Every one of us still carries the pull of the old life. There are old vices, old habits — for one it is alcohol, for another cigarettes, for another pornography or even something as ordinary as the endless pull of computer games. The point is not to pretend we have no battles. The point is to stop hiding them. Do not treasure your sins. The Bible says we should hate what God hates and love what God loves. If we love Jesus, we will learn to hate the sin that keeps us from Him.
This is why we need each other. Spiritual warfare is real, and there is a battle in our minds every single day. Like soldiers, someone must watch our back, because the enemy attacks from where we cannot see. So we confess to one another. We intercede for one another. We pray for one another. Don't hide. Don't treasure your sins. Be open with your life.
3. The Bride Must Be Ready Anytime
"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come... So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him" (Matthew 24:42–44).
The Lord will come like a thief — at the moment we least expect. Maybe while we eat. Maybe on the way home. Maybe in the middle of a song. We do not get advance notice. In the days of Noah, people were eating, drinking, and marrying — an ordinary day — and then suddenly the flood came. It will be the same when Jesus returns.
Remember the ten virgins. They all waited. They all grew drowsy. But when the cry came that the bridegroom was here, only five had kept their lamps ready, and only five went in before the door was shut. We do not want to be standing outside a closed door. So we keep watch.
And Paul adds the posture for the waiting: "Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). Not the fear that runs from God, but the holy reverence that keeps us close to Him. We were given free will — God will never force us. He respects the choice He gave us. So choose. Choose life over death, heaven over hell, Jesus over the world. The Bride who is ready is the one who has already chosen, every single day.
The Home He Has Prepared
This is where the whole story is going: "Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth'... I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them... He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away'" (Revelation 21:1–4).
At the end of time, the great wedding takes place. Jesus the Groom, the Church His Bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. Remember our dress rehearsals, when we were all dressed in white? That is a picture of that day — all the saints in white. Not because we never sinned, but because the precious blood of Jesus has already paid for our sins and made us clean in the presence of God. The blood is more than enough.
A Christian should never be afraid to go to heaven. We are going to a wedding. So while we are still here, let us enjoy our loved ones, reach out for more souls, and live our purpose — to glorify God in our homes, our jobs, our friendships, and our offices.
Challenge
This week, ask yourself the bride's three questions before the Groom arrives.
Am I pure? Is there an area of my heart I have been giving to the world instead of to Christ? Bring it back to Him.
Am I faithful? Is there a secret I have been treasuring instead of confessing? Stop hiding it. Tell a brother or sister. Let someone watch your back in the battle.
Am I ready? If the trumpet sounded today — in the middle of a meal, a drive, a song — would I be found watching? Live this week as though the procession could begin at any hour, because it can.
The bride price has been paid. The home is being prepared. The procession is coming. Keep your lamp full and your heart pure, and do not let the door close while you are looking the other way.
Jesus is coming for His Bride — and blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.
