Hopewell Herald – May 9, 2026
Matthew 22 begins, “And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son…’”
This is a parable about those who hear the gospel but refuse to enter the kingdom, and even those who are part of the visible church (so, in the kingdom in some sense)—but who do not have Christ and His righteousness counted for them by faith, so they never come to have His righteousness clothing them in personal holiness either.
But the choice of a wedding intends to remind us of something that is more than a parable: THE parable, or as Ephesians 5:31–32 puts it, “the mystery” of Christ and the church. Hebrews 1:8 teaches us to understand Jesus as the great Bridegroom of Psalm 45 (and, of its parallel song, the Song of Songs).
Marriage is the parable of Christ and the church. It is secondary to God’s eternal intention to wed the Son to a bride whom He would redeem, and betroth to Himself, and perfect, and marry.
It is on account of this intention that God creates and designs man to be married. The startling “it is not good” (that the man would be alone), in Genesis 2, after five repetitions of “it was good,” shows us how central marriage was to the creation plan and the creation order. Rapidly, at the end of day 6, the first marriage takes things from, “it is not good,” to the triumphant, “it was very good.”
So, it is not surprising that the first place the devil attacked humanity was in the context of their failings as wife and husband in Gen 3. And the nature of marriage itself has been under attack in every single generation since then. The consequence is the corruption of man’s purpose, the destruction of man’s joy, and the obstruction of this glorious parable of Christ and His church.
Marriage, well-understood and faithfully lived by grace, is the greatest earthly blessing. It is not surprising that the Lord would make it so, in light of the great glory of what it shows forth.
But, an approach to marriage that pursues it for oneself, rather than in self-sacrificial love to one another, to show forth Christ and His church, is the most common of the nearly innumerable perversions with which marriage has been attacked.
As we increasingly discovered, under the preaching of the Song of Songs, it is the sweetest possible thing to know the greatness of Christ’s delight in His bride, and His relentless efforts to produce in her that which is delightful, and to be with her. Enjoying Him, and His love to us, and His work in stirring up our love to Him… this is the pleasure of heaven. And we can have it already on earth. Meditating much upon this does much to motivate us to the most faithful and affectionate earthly marriage that grace gives us. Best of all, it prepares us for the marriage supper of the Lamb!
Looking forward to the Bride’s meeting with her Betrothed tomorrow,
Pastor
Audio lessons to help you prepare for the
Lord’s Day:
▪Theology
Simply Explained — CC51, God's Workmanship for God Works
▪Theology
Simply Explained — WSC28, Christ Exalted Yesterday, Today, and Forever
▪Job 1:6–22, “When God Is Everything to You”
▪1Chronicles 5, “Historically Sad Sin and Chastening”
▪Mark 4:1–20, “The Hearing Heart That We Need”
▪Ephesians 1:3–4, “Blessed in the Blessed One”
▪Zephaniah 1:1–3, “YHWH's Word of Warning”
LORD'S DAY – May
10, 2026
9:50 a.m. Breakfast Line Opens
10 a.m. Sabbath School
We are preparing our minds and hearts for
public worship by studying our Confession of Faith from Scripture, affirming
that Scripture is our only ultimate authority, but also discovering that what
we confess is thoroughly Scriptural.
11 a.m. Public Worship
▫Songs for public
worship on May 10: ARP73C [mp3], ARP80 [mp3], ARP65A [mp3]
Scripture Text for first portion of worship service
Job 1:6–22
Scripture Readings and basis for confession of sin
and petition for help
1Chronicles 5
Mark 4:1–20
Sermon Scripture text and topic
Lord’s Supper! (Please see the section at the end of the Worship Booklet on how rightly to prepare for and take it).
1 p.m. Coffee Fellowship and Catechism Class
1:30 p.m. Fellowship Lunch
▫Children’s Catechism for May 10. Q51 What is
sanctification? It is God's making sinners holy in heart and
conduct. [CC 51 Simply Explained: “God's Workmanship for God Works”]
▫Shorter Catechism for May 10. Q28. Wherein consisteth Christ’s exaltation? Christ’s exaltation consisteth in His rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day. [WSC 28 Simply Explained: “Christ Exalted Yesterday, Today, and Forever”]
▫Memory Verse for May 10, Ephesians 1:4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.
3:00 p.m. Evening Praise and
Preaching
We will be singing at least ten Psalm
selections and hearing the sermon from Zephaniah 1:1–3
about “Man, the Stumbling Block”
Hopewell this Month
Hopewell’s Presbytery
Prayer Focus for May
Prosperity ARP
in Taft, TN
May Psalm of the Month
ARP80 Hear,
O Hear Us
• Wednesday,
May 13, Midweek Prayer Meeting. 6:30 p.m. in the Chapel. We will hear a
sermon from Proverbs 24:30–34 then pray until 8 p.m.
• Wednesday, May 13, Session Meeting, 8 p.m.
in the Pastor’s Study
• Saturday, May 23, Men’s (and future men)
breakfast, 7a in the Fellowship Hall
• Thursday, June 4, Diaconate Meeting, 8 p.m.
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