The lemon elderflower wedding cake embellished by roses and peonies. The horse and carriage procession. The Givenchy wedding dressing with a sixteen-foot silk tulle veil. The feast of Scottish langoustines wrapped in smoked salmon, paired with grilled English asparagus wrapped in Cumbrian ham.
Fifty-three million onlookers watched the televised nuptials in America and the UK alone. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle said “I do,” the world gave a collective, dreamy sigh.
Most of us did our sighing in the comfort of our homes as we watched the wedding televised or live streamed. A relatively small number of lucky folks—a couple thousand at best—were invited to experience the wedding festivities firsthand.
By any stretch of the imagination, Kimberly Watkin and Adam Hughes shouldn’t have been on the guest list. They’d never met the Royal family, and certainly didn’t know Prince Harry and Meghan. So when they received what they called a “mysterious, Hogwarts-style letter” in the mailbox, they couldn’t have been more surprised and excited.
It turns out, Kimberly and Adam were among 2,600 members of the general public who were invited to the wedding festivities. The elated couple immediately began figuring out the details of their visit—when to leave for Windsor, where to stay, and especially what to wear!
No way were they were going to pass up this once-in-a-lifetime invitation.
If you thought the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was the event of the century, there’s a wedding and marriage supper in the future you really won’t want to miss.
Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both great and small!” 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.) Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” (Rev. 19:5-9 NIV)
Some commentators talk about an actual feast. Others believe the wedding supper is a picture of the thousand years after Christ’s return, with the invited guests being the Old Testament saints, as well as Jews and Gentiles saved during the Tribulation. And most agree that the wedding supper is a separate event from the wedding itself, when the Bridegroom claims the Church for Himself once and for all.
These are end-time events and shrouded in mystery. But here’s my favorite part, and it seems pretty clear to me: “Blessed are those who are invited.”
The epic story of how the Creator of the Universe loves and pursues each one of us is still unfolding, but one thing is sure: The invitation He gives to each of us to love Him back cannot be denied. And blessed are those who say “Yes.”
