A seat at His table.

The stressful, beautiful, detail-oriented part was over. We stood before our friends and family, repeated the words, made the vows, and exchanged rings. The whole thing went off without a hitch. Then a short reception for the guests of the ceremony, with delicious food and lots of laughter. But the real feast wouldn’t happen until a few hours later, when family and close friends gathered for supper.

The room was perfect. It was simply but elegantly decorated, warmly-lit by the dying of the day that  filtered through the windows along the parallel walls. Tables were encircled with beloved faces, happily chomping fajitas and crunching tortilla chips and salsa. Occasionally, the crack of a can of Cheerwine soda punctuated the happy hum of reminiscence and conversation. We ate as if we were ending a fast, until our bellies were fully satisfied. We embraced friends and relatives, thanked them for coming. We almost didn’t want to leave, as much as we were ready to speed off into the night, fast approaching the first midnight of our new life together.

It was the most joyful meal I have ever eaten; and it will pale into nothingness in the light of the future Feast to which it pointed.

There will come a day, almost too wonderful to comprehend, when Bridegroom and Bride gather together before the host of heaven, and we sit together at table with the Master of the Feast. We who were once spiritually destitute, pitiful, helpless, lame and blind of spirit, enemies and beggars who were invited to come to the Feast through absolutely no merit of our own, will sit with the One who rescued us, and enjoy the bounty of Heaven.

We will be clothed, not in our shabby earthly best, but in Christ’s own righteousness, pure and clean. We will be welcomed as sons and daughters of God with rejoicing, and we will get to see our Lord face to face.

There will be no more goodbyes, no more sad tears, no need to exchange contact information and promise to keep in touch. There will be no goodnight, for night will fade into memory as we breathe anew in the shining eternal Day.

The feast will go on forever, and the joyful celebration will not end, as we the redeemed of God will share stories and songs of how our Savior Jesus ransomed us from darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of His marvelous light. We will rejoice and worship God together in absolute delight.

It’s hard to imagine such a day. It will be beyond any human description. And the more we think on it, the less powerfully the trinkets of this life will allure us.

I confess, I am easily distracted by the junk of earth.

But I pray that my mind may be continually drawn to my Savior Jesus, whose blood has pardoned my sin and  purchased my entrance to His Kingdom, and whose resurrection secured for me a seat at His table.