Christian wedding is more than an agreement; it’s a covenant relationship. For this basis, we see characters of the covenant God made with Abraham in many of today’s Christian wedding ceremonies.
The still-practiced Jewish custom of beginning the wedding with a matrimony contract can be traced back to the first century BC.
Let’s understand the biblical significance of today’s wedding customs; your special day is sure to be more meaningful.
Wedding Symbols
A Christian wedding is a covenant relationship. The wedding ceremony itself is a sight of the blood covenant between God and humans. In both the Old and New Testaments, wedding rituals had distinctly devout and spiritual proportions because faith in God was incorporated into the daily cloth of the Hebrew family life.
Seating of Family on Opposing Sides of the Church
Family and companions of the Bride and Groom are seated on opposite flanks of the church to signify the cutting of the blood covenant. These families, buddies, and guests are not just witnesses but all participants in the wedding covenant. Many have made renunciations to help prepare the couple for marriage and help them in their holy union.
Center Aisle and White Runner
The center aisle symbolizes the meeting ground or pathway between the animal pieces where the blood covenant is confirmed. The white runner represents a holy ground where God joins two lives.
Seating of the Parents
The wedding tradition of establishing the parents in prominence is meant to acknowledge their responsibility for the couple’s marriage.
Groom Enters First
Christ is the Groom, who appointed the blood covenant first initiated by God. For this reason, the Groom joins the church auditorium first.
Father Escorts and Gives Away Bride
In Jewish tradition, the father’s duty was to offer his daughter in marriage as a pure virgin bride. However, as parents, the father and his wife also accepted responsibility for advocating their daughter’s choice of a husband.
Wedding Dress in Whites
The white wedding dress holds a twofold significance. First, it symbolizes the wife’s purity in heart and life with her reverence to God. The fine linen represents the good acts of God’s holy people. In his righteousness, Jesus Christ clothes his bride, the church, as a garment of “the finest of pure white linen.”
Bridal Veil
We are removing the veil that brought away the separation between God and man, offering believers access to the very presence of God. Since Christian marriage is a sight of the union between Christ and the church, we see another reflection of this relationship in emptying the bridal veil.
Joining Right Hands
In weddings, as the bride and Groom satisfy one another to express their vows, they unite right hands and publicly perpetrate everything they are, and everything they hold, in a covenant relationship. They quit their families, forsake all others, and become with their spouses.
Exchanging of Rings
The couple realizes that God brought them together and that he is intricately interested in every part of their covenant relationship. A ring also symbolizes resources. When the couple exchanges wedding rings, this implies giving all their resources—wealth, possessions, talents, emotions—to the other in marriage.
Pronouncement of Husband and Wife
The pronouncement officially states that the Bride and Groom are husband and wife. This moment shows the precise conception of their covenant. The two are now one in the visions of God.
Presentation of the Couple
When the minister presents the couple to the wedding guests, he attracts attention to their new identity and name change obtained by marriage. As a result, the two parties exchanged some part of their names.
The Reception
A ceremonial meal was often the region of the blood covenant. For example, at a wedding reception, guests share the blessings of the covenant with the couple. The reception also demonstrates the wedding Supper of the Lamb depicted in Revelation 19.
Cutting and Feeding of Cake
At a Christian marriage, the cutting and feeding of cake can be accomplished joyfully but should be done lovingly and reverently, in a manner that celebrates the covenant relationship.
Throwing of Rice
The rice-throwing tradition at weddings is designed with the throwing of seeds. Visitors symbolically throw rice as a gesture of prayer for the spiritual and bodily fruitfulness of the marriage.
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