WILL YOU BE FAITHFUL UNTIL DEATH?
The Lord Jesus dictated letters to be sent to the seven churches in Asia Minor via the apostle John. In His letter to the church of Smyrna, Jesus warned them of an upcoming time of suffering and tribulation. He called them to “be faithful until death,” reminding them that He would give them a “crown of life.”
This reminds me of the traditional marriage vows, which most English-speaking couples repeated on their wedding day since 1549. That’s when the vows were first published in the “Common Book of Prayer,” by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. I remember repeating these vows on my wedding day: “I, Gary, take thee, Robin, to be my wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance.” We both committed to be faithful to one another until death.
It was as if Jesus was asking the Church of Smyrna to remember their wedding vows to Him as His bride. For the Bride of Christ is one of the images of the Church in the Scriptures. The apostle John reported that an angel of the Lord invited him to see the Lamb of God’s wife, which is the church, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife” (Rev. 21:9).
Jesus has already proven His fidelity to us. He was faithful until death, taking our sins upon Himself, that we might become His righteousness. He calls us to be faithful until death to Him and He will give us the crown of life.
PRAYER: Dear Father, help us to finish well. As we get older, help us to be faithful. Strengthen us to grow in our faithfulness to Your Son that we would be faithful until death. For we have been promised a crown of life and we want to keep our wedding vows to our Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, amen.