Reading this passage, I couldn’t help stopping midway through verse 30. This is the day we have been waiting for! The second coming of Jesus! And yet, when we finally see Him, in all His power and glory, our response is not one of celebration, nor excitement, nor even humility or praise. Our first response is to mourn.

So I asked myself the question ‘why?’ and turned my answer into a short poem.

 

I pray that through this poem, you may continue to see more of the reality and gravity of our predicament, and thus, the utter greatness and generosity of the gift of Jesus.

 

The Groom is here.

 

Are we His bride?

we, the ones so unprepared

for this occasion,

clothed in blackened rags,

still unclean, still disgraced?

we who wronged Him,

rejected Him,

who pierced Him with our sins?

 

and this our Groom? – the spotless One?

 

we mourn!

for when we fully see Him,

in all His glorious beauty,

we fully see ourselves in the True Light,

we see the gravity of our wrongdoing,

how undeserving we are of Him,

for we realise, apart from His love

we are not enough,

apart from His sacrifice

we can never be clean,

apart from His gift

we can never be worthy

 

but just when we dare not wipe even a tear

from our face,

let alone move a step to approach Him,

He gathers us in,

in His holy embrace

our darkness dissolved in His light,

at last we are pure,

united,

made right