Being wedded | Unsplash
Wedding Bliss
It was during the marriage of our daughter that we realized that marriages are made in heaven but weddings are done on earth!
The amount of planning and preparation that goes into a wedding, as well as the number of people involved in making it happen, is mind-boggling. After our daughter’s wedding, my husband and I had a chance to go somewhere alone, and boy, did I really need it to recover, both physically and emotionally!
Much effort and work is always needed to pull off a wedding. Apart from finding and fixing a venue, meeting with and arranging caterers, printing and distributing cards, inviting and involving people, purchasing dresses and ornaments, ordering return gifts and cake, taking care of hospitality and transport, choosing and ensuring decor, and other thousand and one things need to be taken care of.
When weddings are scheduled, some have a year to get ready, while others may have just a month or even less to plan and prepare. Whatever the time period available and the trappings arranged for a wedding, the grooming regime of the couple, especially the bride, is given utmost priority. Most women take time to plan and execute the care of their face and appearance, often undergoing beauty treatments, both au natural at home and those done in parlours.
The bride-to-be often goes for a full-body makeover, pampering herself over a month or more. A bridal package these days includes a free trial of makeup and hairdo, besides threading, bleaching, waxing, polishing, styling, spas, therapy, etc. Smart brides do take care to go on a diet and exercise routine to have a well-toned and well-nourished body, in readiness for their big day.
Bridal Boutique
Getting a bride ready, fitting her to look her best on a day when she will be the cynosure of all eyes, is a huge task and process that the beauty industry has turned into a lucrative business. Vendors and beauticians have grabbed hold of the trend. They have capitalised on the occasion and cashed in on the focus, making sure that the bride is indeed the showpiece of the whole thing!
In the Bible, we see that when King Xerxes, the ruler of Persia and Media, sovereign over one hundred and twenty provinces, wanted to replace his Queen because she offended him, he was advised by his counsellors: Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it (Esther 2:2-4).
Being a monarch of high order, these young women underwent a time of rigorous preparation and prolonged training since one of them would eventually be the next Queen. According to the Scriptures, Before a young woman’s turn came to go into King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics (Esther 2:12).
They were not just prepared physically, but also drilled in deportment, etiquette, manners, protocols, customs, court bearing etc., as well as taught the history of the country. The virgins had to learnt the art of pleasing the king, and so every training to bring joy and pleasure to the king was given to them. They had to be flawless in looks, intelligent in conversation, sober in conduct, and impeccable in character. The maidens had to be made fit and ready, they could not have wandering eyes or attention. They needed to be focused on him and fixed on only one thing – be ready to please him and serve him when summoned.
They were being groomed for one purpose and for one goal only – to be acceptable to him. What a picture of all is involved in being and becoming the bride of a king!
Wedding Anticipation
There is a wedding in the Bible that comes at the culmination of the ages, an event that the whole of the universe is waiting for with eagerness. In Rev 19:6-8, we read thus: Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “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 his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people).
The key here is that this bride, as any bride, has made herself ready. Without that preparation, she cannot be joined by her groom.
Who is this bride who has made herself ready for her bridegroom? It is the Body of Christ, the people of God, and His Church. set apart for Him and as His Church, we are being groomed to be the Bride of Christ. We read that Christ loved the Church and gave His life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault (Eph 5:26-27 NLT).
As disciples and followers of Christ, we have been chosen to be His special people and are being trained to rule with Him, to be seated together with Him on His throne. We are to share in His authority and are the centre of all attention, the cynosure of all eyes and the crux of all His plans (Eph 3:10). Are we aware of the beautifying that we need to have to be pleasing to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
There is an agenda for us and we are in the process of being made fit for the King. Are we aware of it, and are we yielding to it, cooperating with the Holy Spirit? Who is the One appointed and entrusted with the task of grooming the bride?
Prepared | Freepik
Bridal Grooming
Any bride will tell you how much pain and discomfort she has to endure to be fully fit and in form. There is agony when her skin is being scrubbed and polished to shine and glow; there is torment when her brows are being shaped to highlight her eyes; there is exertion when her body is being toned for the best effect; there is patience when the right makeup is being chosen; there is endurance when appropriate garments are being searched for; there is waiting when various alternations are being made; there is care when matching accessories have to be chosen; there is sacrifice and testing when diet is being administered.
Besides all this, there is anxiety and anticipation, fear and frustration, sorrow of leaving behind a certain way of life and excitement for the new things ahead. All in all, it is an arduous time and process. Yet she goes through it all to be the best and see her bridegroom’s eyes light up at the sight of her beauty, binding him to her all their life together. She submits to this ordeal to be pleasing to the one she will walk with until the end of her days.
As the chosen one, the Church is in the course of being prepared to be the Bride of Christ. As such, she is being daily groomed and vigorously prepared to be like Him in every way. Only when she is in His image, perfect and lacking nothing, can He come to claim her. A human bride prepares herself so intensely for her earthly husband. How much more the church should prepare for her heavenly bridegroom! A woman is willing to undergo a regime to best present herself to her man. How much more should the Body of Christ endure to be acceptable to Christ!
Bride Beautified | Freepik
Scripture Example
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it (Heb 12:11 NIV), declares the Word of God. Only when we yield and not resist the dealings and discipline of the Spirit of God, without resisting or withstanding Him, but willingly submit ourselves to His dictates can we be transformed into the image of Christ and be pleasing to Him.
The Bible declares that Esther, the Jewish orphan girl raised by her uncle Mordecai, chosen as one of the candidates for the king, had such a posture in her preparation.
When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favour of everyone who saw her…The king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favour and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality Esther 2:15-18.
The bride of the Lord Jesus the Lamb is the Church, whom He has purchased with his own blood. He is waiting for her to complete her cleansing so that He can claim her. The attitude and disposition of the church has to be to submit to the fashioning of the Lord. As the clay yields itself to the potter, willingly allowing herself to be molded into His image, and paying the price in patient trust until that is accomplished.
Our Task
May we, as Christians and members of the Body of Christ, humble ourselves to accept the discipline and discipline of the Lord until He comes to claim us as His own.
May we proclaim: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified (Rom 8:28-30 NIV)
Let us allow ourselves to be groomed for the King and the wedding ahead!
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