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July 2013 9
Is this folk tale somehow a
retelling of the gospel? Was Eve,
our first mother, like the
beautiful princess who was
deceived into partaking of a
poisoned fruit, which caused her
to come under the spell of
death? (Genesis 2:17, 3:6; 1
Timothy 2:14) Have we then
been given the hope that though
our sins are like scarlet, they will
one day be made white as snow
(Isaiah 1:18)? Is there a heavenly
Prince who seeks us, whispering
to us in our most desperate
need, “I have loved you with an
everlasting love” ( Jeremiah
31:3)? And will the Prince of
Life one day rescue us, and bring
us with rejoicing into the king’s
ivory palace of gold and gladness
(Psalm 45:13-15)?
Perhaps in other respects
we are like another princess in
the stories of the Brothers
Grimm. Sleeping Beauty is the
story of a lovely princess who
was cursed by the spell of a
jealous fairy. In this story of a
prince who suffered the piercing
of thorns for his beloved, do we
not hear echoes of the thorn-
crowned Prince of heaven (John
19:2)? Do we not hope for the
day when he will come to
remove the curse and restore all
things to life and loveliness (Rev
elation 21:3-5, 22:3)?
What is the secret of the
charm of these enchanted
stories? Why are they so
beloved by the children who
hear them as well by as the
grown-ups who read them?
Could it be that they capture our
imaginations
because
they
intimate a grander story? Do
they enable us to dream of a
“happily ever after” ending to
our own suffering, teaching us
through faith to hope in the love
of a bridegroom God? Are these
fairy tales like the refractions of
the rainbow, expressing the
wonderful stories of the light of
the love of heaven for us?
The truth is that these
stories reveal the heart of our
Redeemer God. They tell the
story of the Bible from the
perspective of the Bridegroom-
King. Now, there are many
stories in the Bible telling of the
love of God for his people. The
Bible tells us that God has the
heart of a father when we are
called the sons of God ( John
1:12). Moreover, God is
described as being like a mother
who pities us and who desires to
gather us to herself (Isaiah 66:13,
Matthew 23:37). But these
stories are about the bridal love
of the Son of God toward his
people, who are called the bride
of Christ (Ephesians 5:23,
Revelation 21:2). We will look at
the Bible for the story it tells of
this bridegroom love of the Son
of God. Consider this sketch of
the “fairy-tale like” story of the
gospel message of the Son of
God:
“Once upon a time there
was a King who arranged a
marriage for his only begotten
Son. The Royal Father chose a
lovely bride for his Son, one who
would stir every passion in the
soul of the Prince. But after her
betrothal, the lovely bride-to-be
fell under the evil spell of sin and
death. Now all the court of the
King expected the handsome
Prince to ask for the hand of a
more worthy love, for he could
have had another bride with
merely the wish of his heart. But
the Father had already chosen
the bride, and so the Son loved
her for that choice. Now the
Bridegroom so loved his
betrothed that he was willing to
pay an enormous dowry for her
redemption. The price he paid
was so great that it completely
released the bride from the evil
spell under which she had fallen.
As she waited for her Prince to
come for her, the purity and love
of the bride for her Beloved
Prince was completely restored
and immeasurably deepened.
At last the Royal Prince came for
his bride to take her to be with
him in his heavenly palace. And
thus they lived happily ever
after…. ”
This is your story, Christian!
It is the tale of the passion of the
Bridegroom God for you, his
beloved. It is the record of your
heavenly wedding. The royal
chronicle of your betrothal is the
Bible itself. As we open those
sacred pages, we read your
story—the story of the beloved
of heaven’s most royal Prince,
Christ himself.
Dr. Warren Gage (@Luke_2427) -
Professor of Old Testament at
Knox Theological Seminary.
Chris Barber (@Rebrabc) -
Attorney at May, Meacham &
Davell, P.A. & Knox Seminary
Graduate
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Happily Ever After
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