The Wedding of All Millenia

She was a commoner, a girl just like us. But then she happened to meet and fall in love with the future King of England, and common does not describe her anymore.

Any girl worth her weight in volumes of fairy tales already knows exactly who I am talking about, already has watched the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and already is in love with the fairy tale of Kate and Will.

I, of course, am well worth my weight in volumes of fairy tales, and I blissfully watched the wedding and reveled in the panorama of a fairy tale coming to life. Reveled in the gorgeous music, the wonderfully appropriate Scripture readings, the bride’s beautiful smile, and the stunningly elegant hats. And then, after all the reveling, when paparazzi is back to showing Kate shopping at the grocery store, I wondered why it mattered so much. What is so appealing about this fairy tale that it would set records for the most watched live video event online? Is it the alluring mirage that Kate could be any one of us that makes the royal wedding so tantalizing? Is it the delight of surveying the glamour of every girl’s dream wedding on full display that is so magnetic? Is it the apparently true love of an adorable couple that endears them to us so? Or could it be that watching the royal wedding of an ordinary girl to a handsome prince somehow delights that inner yearning we all have to be a princess?

Yet even as I enjoyed the wedding, I was saddened by the thought that, to my knowledge, neither Prince William nor Kate are saved, and most of the ceremony was probably mere routine for them. Therefore, I do condone them as role models or ideals to strive after.  But another thought chased that sad one into my brain. It was the thought of another royal wedding, so like yet so unlike the British one of last week. This royal wedding is even more magnificent, even more jaw-dropping. The unworthy commoner is once again the bride; the noble and loving king, the bridegroom.

The backstory of this royal couple is even more tear-jerking than that of the British royal couple.  As a matter of fact, the bride would not even be alive were it not for her bridegroom, who sacrificed his life for hers. 

Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.”

And the smile of that beautiful bride as she walks toward her bridegroom on that wonderful day will put to shame even Kate’s bridal glow.

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)

Just as Kate's eyes were fastened on William as she said, "I do," so,

“The Bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom’s face;

I will not gaze at glory but on my King of grace.

Not at the crown He giveth but on His pierced hand;

The Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel’s land."

--The Sands of Time Are Sinking

That will be the wedding of all millenia.  The choir will be even more perfect, the vows even more heartfelt, the audience even more numerous.  Kate had to wait eight years to marry her prince, but this Bride and Bridegroom waited even longer.  And all the royal Prince Williams of the world   cannot compare with Christ the Bridegroom.

Picture Credit: Gabriela Camerotti
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.