This is where we are headed…
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
--Revelation 21:1–5
When everything else has been accomplished,
When you've made it back alive,
When you have won the prize,
When you've finished the hardest task,
When you reach the mountain top,
When you finally come up for air,
When death is defeated,
When evil and injustice are gone and there is no chance for their return,
When all the sad things are coming untrue,
When there are no more tears,
When the bride looks AMAZING and the groom has made all the preparations,
When the brokenness is restored, when the sickness is gone, when there is no more cancer, no more crappy marriages, no more selfishness, no more violence, no more sex trafficking, no more child abuse, no more sleepless nights, no more lonely days, no more polluted rivers, no more corruption, no more racism, no more anger and confusion and doubt,
When the old things have past and the new has come…
All that's left to do is dance!
JT's song makes me cry sometimes--ha! Every time. That's because when I hear this tune I think about a wedding day, the moment on the dance floor when the bride and groom are eyes locked and time is stacked onto itself, past and future all cram into the present, memories of their lives, up to this moment, come rushing in to meet the hopes and dreams of the future. "We made it!"
The floor spins as two bodies embrace in the much anticipated celebration while everyone looks on with such ecstatic joy that invites, no, requires the entire room to get on the dance floor. I think about the father who has given his life (every ounce of his being!) to raise his daughter to be the beautiful woman that she has become and if he doesn't dance he will just crumble into a sappy mess. I think of the moms who's bodies were broken to bring about these two lives and how life will continue through this new union. I think of a groom who has taken risks, who has promised to die for this girl, for better or for worse.
And now everything is ready…
But this isn't just any wedding. This song is the soundtrack to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb; Jesus dancing with the bride he purchased with his death and won with his resurrection. This is the old wine that Jesus has been longing to drink with his bride since that long ago night in the upper room. So drink up! The Father has set the table and prepared a feast. This is pure joy. No guilt. No shame. No fear. No worry. Just that feeling deep inside your bones where your body demands to add its prayer (or the rocks will cry out) in thanksgiving and adoration.
Jesus is in the business of making all things new. The Christian life is at its core celebration. It's the water turned to wine so that the party will keep going. It's the party invitations sent out to those who are normally uninvited. It's King David dancing in his underwear because he knows God is the real King and he "will become even more undignified than this." It's the nations grabbing the cloak of a child of God saying, "Take me with you because we have heard God is with you!" It's the consummation of the two Beloveds in the Song of Songs. It is all the prodigals who have been made the guest of honor at the party. It's the prophetic resistance against death and sin so that even at a funeral where we sing songs of mourning, it always leads to defiant songs of dancing, for our Lord has trampled over Death by death.
So let your body move to the music…crank the volume…It's how your body prays. It's how we trample over Death.
We were made for this!
Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”
--Revelation 19:6-8
I confess that I will dance in defiance of the darkness until the day of The Wedding Feast of the Lamb because Christ has risen...and so will I! Come Lord Jesus. The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!" Amen.