The Grace Fiesta

UV 637/10,000 The Marriage Feast Isa 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. Without God, our labour is in vain. We will eat the bread of sorrow. Without God, our lives are useless and vain. But we are called to rejoice in the Lord and to rejoice again and again. Our soul should be like a continual feast with Christ as the chief guest for He is the Eternal Bridegroom. He has given us the garments or clothes of salvation. As we delight in each dish that is served in a feast, the Lord gives us a variety of blessings that cause joy to spring up from our hearts and minds. Salvation is God’s plan for man to enjoy life continually. But if we continue to sigh, regret and lament we are out of sync with the plan of God for our lives. He not only provides the clothes of salvation, He Himself clothes us.We do not deserve such royal clothes but He gives it to us in His grace so that we rejoice. The fellowship with the Triune God is the time when the Lord dines and rejoices with us. He celebrates our victories every day. His grace and peace are ornaments of our personality. He decorates us with such jewels whose lustre never declines. The clothes of salvation never wear out. He gives us a garment for every part of our lives. He covers our shame. He makes our faces radiate with His love and joy. Just as Moses’ face shone when he came out of the tent of the presence of the Lord, our faces shine so much that people need to take their eyes off us. When we do our best to glorify God to show our faith, our gratitude and our joy in the Lord, we are actually like the bride who adorns herself with precious jewels to make herself pleasing and attractive to the Lord. Our thoughts, words and deeds are the jewels that adorn us. When we hear the Word and rejoice in it, we are wearing and delighting in beautiful ear rings. When we speak the Word, tidings and testimony of the Lord, our lips are being decorated. When we use our hands to help and to do good deeds, we are wearing golden bangles of intricate designs. When we lift up our hands in prayer and praise, we are wearing beautiful diamond studded rings on our fingers. When we go to the places that the Lord takes us to, our feet become beautiful and adorned with anklets of fine jewels. Salvation covers us as intimately as our clothes. Salvation sticks so close to our skin as our clothes. We wear our best clothes to a marriage feast to reflect our joy. Similarly, we must do our best to please the Bridegroom of the feast of life-Jesus Christ. We must not allow our hearts and minds to swing and fluctuate between different moods but we need to be consistently rejoice. When a man is saved from certain and terrible death or suffering, his joy is great. Similarly, we need to rejoice greatly and thank and praise God for the salvation that He has so generously provided at such great cost to Himself. Imagine Abraham’s sorrow for the rest of his life had he been allowed to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Imagine also how great was his joy when the Lord spared his life and provided a lamb to substitute for him. Similarly, the Lord provided His own son to substitute for each of our lives. Prateep V Philip