Royal Wedding

1,900 onlookers waited with bated breath as the music swelled, the groom waited, the doors opened and the bride made her entrance.

For months the world has been watching as Prince William and common girl Kate Middleton made their wedding plans. The date, the location, the plans for the first kiss were all announced prior to the big day. But the one secret, the one thing we were all just dying to see was the dress. For this would not be just any dress. This is the dress Kate would wear as she made the four minute march down the center aisle of Wesminster Abby where she would pledge her life and her love to the grandson of the queen, the son of the crown prince and become a duchess.



This dress was a big deal. A really big deal.



And it was beautiful.



Made of ivory and white satin gazar, the skirt resembled “an opening flower” with white satin gazar arches and pleats. The train and bodice are decorated with delicate lace applique flowers, handcrafted using the Carrickmacross lace-making technique, which originated in Ireland in the 1820s. The dress has sleeves - appropriate for a religious wedding in the holy surrounds. Kate’s ivory satin bodice, which is narrowed at the waist and padded at the hips, draws on the Victorian tradition of corsetry. The veil, which falls to just below her waist, is made of layers of soft, ivory silk tulle and is decorated with a trim of hand-embroidered flowers



And, direct from fairy tales, the couple stepped into a horse drawn carriage and a military regiment escorted the procession through the gates of Buckingham Palace.



70,000 packed out Hyde Park between the Abbey and the Palace to watch the ceremony on the jumbo tron and maybe, just maybe catch a glimpse of the royal procession. The experts say two billion people watched the royal couple say their vows.



A royal wedding live on television is about as close as many of us will get to real majesty. This side of heaven anyway.





The book of Revelation talks of a wedding. The wedding of the Lamb of God, Jesus. Based on boatloads of evidence throughout the Bible, the inspired word of God, God loves a good metaphor. Someone once said that humans trying to understand God is like one clam describing another clam what a human is like. Metaphor can only take us so far. Whether this talk of the marriage supper is literal or figurative, what we are after here, and where I am  drawing the parallel is in the imagery. The word pictures we see throughout the Biblical narrative describe the onlookers, the bride--and her dress, and most importantly, the groom.

"Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters, and like great peals of thunder..."

That is a serious crowd of onlookers. And they shout, they cheer,

"Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns! Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come and the bride has made herself ready."

We are about to get a glimpse of her dress. Right here in the Word of God, we get a look at the wedding dress the bride wears as she steps out of sorrow and sadness and into the Kingdom of Heaven about to become "joint heirs with Jesus."



Her dress is woven of fine linen and is dazzling white (Revelation 19: 8), shining with salvation and His righteousness, and she is adorned with jewels (Isaiah 61:10). The fabric is woven of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12). She is clothed with Christ himself (Galatians 3:27).



The workers who hand stitched the lace overlay on Kate’s dress washed their hands every thirty minutes to prevent oils from marking the delicate fabric. The bride of the Lamb, her dress was washed clean by the shedding of his own blood for her (Revelation 7:14).



Now that's a gown worth cheering over.



Next up: The Groom. The real life dragon slayer. I wish I could read it out loud to you with all the drama and flare the passage deserves. The wedding is over and it is time for the procession. But the business of the dragon needs to be seen to first. Enter the white knight:

There before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations… On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

   

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS…

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet… The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 

Revelation 19:11-20 (truncated). 

One more thing. Kate Middleton is no more. When the ceremony of the century ended, she walked out of the church, arm in arm with her prince with a new name. Common Kate is now Dutches Catherine of Cambridge.

Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I'll give the sacred manna to every conqueror; I will give you a clear, smooth stone inscribed with your new name, your secret new name. Revelation 2:17  The Message