Wedding Waiting (Part 2)

READ: ISAIAH 61:10; 1 CORINTHIANS 13:8-12; PHILIPPIANS 1:6

When Jesus comes back, He’s going to make all sin go away. But you might ask, “How is He going to do that exactly? If doing wrong things is the problem and Jesus fixes it, what if someone sins again after that? I mean, I still sin even though I’m a Christian.”

If you’ve ever thought about these questions, you’re not alone. All Christians do things that are wrong. We’ll struggle with sin as long as we’re still living in a sinful world, but even so, we can live knowing that Jesus has saved us and He has promised us something better.

But how can we be sure that God will complete the work He started in us? Funny as it might sound, wedding dresses can actually help us understand this. The Bible uses the image of wedding outfits to show how God saves us from sin by clothing those who trust Jesus as their Savior with His righteousness, or sinlessness. That means even though we still do wrong things, God sees us as righteous because Jesus already lived a sinless life and died on the cross for our sins.

This idea of wedding clothing also points to God’s promise that one day, when Jesus returns and makes everything new, He’ll give us new bodies so we’ll never sin again! Kind of like how, on the day of the wedding, a bride puts on her wedding dress in the morning, even before the vows have been said. The wedding dress signals that something is about to happen that will change her life forever.

In a similar way, as we wait for Jesus to return, we are dressed in our spiritual wedding clothes of righteousness. We can go to Him whenever we do something wrong and confess it, knowing He’ll forgive us because we’re already wearing His righteousness. He has already paid the price for our sins by sacrificing His own life for us on the cross. He loves us that much. So together, as people who are dressed in perfect righteousness, let’s look forward to Jesus’s return. On that day, all of creation will celebrate! • Aurora Scriver

• When you sin, do you sometimes worry that you’re not saved or that Jesus will stop loving you? If you know Jesus, you don’t have to worry because He has clothed you in His righteousness. He promises to forgive you when you do something wrong, and one day, when He returns, He’ll make you completely new so you’ll never sin again! Who are trusted Christians who could remind you of these truths when you sin? How could you remind others of Jesus’s love when they sin?

For he [God] has…draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding or a bride with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10 (NLT)