Weekly Devotional: Best Feast Ever (14 in Sabbath and Rest series)

Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” Revelation 19:1–9 (NIV)

Think of all of the planning that can go into a wedding. Months or even years before the big event, special clothes are purchased, the venues secured, the ceremony planned, the feasting arranged. In fact, so fully can people get caught up with the wedding plans that they forget to focus on what follows – a covenant life together.

In our final devotional on Sabbath and rest, we turn to the revelation received by the aging disciple John on the island of Patmos. The vision John sees nears its climax as the angel of the Lord pulls back the curtain and reveals the great preparations in heaven for the wedding of the Lamb. God’s plans and years of redeeming actions come together in the union between bridegroom and bride, that is, between the true and living God and we his people, his church.

Blessed are we who are invited to this feast. As we seek to be like the wise virgins, keeping oil in our lamp while we wait for the bridegroom (Matthew 25:1–13), we prepare ourselves in the finest linen, as created out of our acts of mercy and love.

As you reflect on the meaning of Sabbath, rest and celebration, take some time in prayer, asking God through his Holy Spirit to bring alive this passage from Revelation. Hear the cries of “Hallelujah!” ringing forth from the great multitude in heaven – those saints from ages gone by and the loved ones who have just died. Hear too the roar of the rushing waters and peals of thunder as the cries resound, “Our God reigns!” See the fine linen, bright and clean, as you feel the everlasting love of the One who is the beginning and the end and everything in between. Come, Lord Jesus.

For reflection: “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let … the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).