THE WEDDING TROUSSEAU

by Tammy Phillips
August 28, 2021

“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 NKJV)

I cannot help but think all things marriage this morning.  We are blessed and have the joy of attending two weddings today.  Thankfully, they are in one city. I can hardly wait to see what the brides are wearing. 

Weddings are so exciting!   Marriage is a beginning.  It is a birth of a new family.  Marriage is a union.  There is an energy in the air when God joins two people together for life.  He creates a oneness and a bond that is never intended to be broken.  Marriage is also a mirror of God’s unconditional love. Like a bridegroom chooses his bride, God chose us. He loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us so we could live forever with Him as His spotless bride.  He bought our wedding trousseau with blood and His life.

Like Isaiah, we should be excited and echo his words:

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD!”  Look what He did for us. He picked you.  He picked me.  He unconditionally loved you and me.   

We are not ignorant, nor should we ignore the tragedies that are covering our planet at this time.  However, it is only because of the Lord that we can still greatly rejoice through our world’s current catastrophes of floods, earthquakes, insurgencies, unnecessary sicknesses, and deaths.  To paraphrase, David said, “Unto the upright light arises in the darkness; Surely, he will never be shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of bad news. His heart is steadfast, fixed, resolute in trusting the LORD.” (Psalm 112:4, 6-7 NKJV) Bad news will come, but we, as the bride of Christ, are always on His mind. And we shall determine to be joyful in our God.

Why?

He has gloriously dressed us and prepared us to boldly stand like a bride and groom ready for a wedding.  He has bought and paid for our wedding attire.  He has clothed us with the garments of salvation from head to toe.  He has given us the helmet of salvation, a belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness.  He has readied our feet with the gospel of peace. He also gifted us with the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit, the word of God.  He has dressed us to stand, stand, stand, against the evil day, all the bad news and to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one.  We do not have to take and carry all the world’s burdens.  We can choose the joy of the Lord and prayerfully, let Him as our strong and Almighty groom, handle everything.  We can trust He has it all covered, including us. 

We have yet another reason to have double joy and greatly rejoice in the Lord. The Lord has us covered.  He has us covered with the robe of righteousness! He has covered us in Christ himself, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.  This is the label we wear.  Righteousness is not about us.  We can never be good enough nor do enough to be righteous. It is a gift.  It is all about the finished work of our groom.  Jesus paid a hefty, hefty price to prepare and dress us, His bride, in garments of salvation and robes of righteousness.  It will not be a black-tie affair.  Again…

“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” (Revelation 19:7-8 NKJV)

We are only prepared for the wedding and made righteous in Him.  Are you ready?

I enCOURAGE you to treasure your precious, and oh so expensive, actually, priceless wedding trousseau…the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness.  They are powerful and will help you navigate through life.  You do not need much else in your trousseau.  The coolest thing about these clothes is you get to wear them every day in preparation of meeting your Love face to face.  Conceptually, put them on daily. Choose to greatly rejoice in them and in Him, our soon and coming King, Prince and Bridegroom.