The Bride of Christ

Here we are at the end of “I am God’s Masterpiece” It feels right to take a minute and really consider this statement “The bride of Christ.”

Who is the bride of Christ?

This question brings up memories of my own wedding. As a bride, and the preparation that went into becoming ultimately my husband’s wife.

It took time for both of us, to really see each other for who we were, both coming from a place of brokenness. Love blossomed and the journey to becoming Andre’s bride had begun. It was different this time round, I had already been married once before and I was uncertain of what my life would look like choosing to go down this same path again.  I was uncertain and scared, the thought of a new family joining mine was exciting and scary.  The need to be accepted was tough, and I did not always navigate these twists and turns in a Godly fashion, or in the way God would have expected me to.

Finally, the day came and I would be the bride to my groom. The preparation started and I was excited to give myself to him, to trust him with my heart, and find my soft place to fall.  The place where human action meets forgiveness, where love lifted and cushioned me. A place where I would finally be able to share the burden of life, of single mom-hood, where my love would be welcomed, and my story cherished.

I remember the day I walked down the aisle to my groom, I had butterflies, my heart was filled with emotion. I was so lucky and even though my knees would not stop shaking I knew that God had answered my prayer.  There he stood handsome and loving, waiting for me to join him at the end of the aisle. It felt so easy to just love him and trust my heart to him, he felt as if he was the only life I had ever had. The hurt of all the yesterday’s forgotten in that moment of saying I do.  Looking around I saw our friends and family all gathered together to rejoice with us on this glorious day. 

Luckily, this post is not about being the bride to our husband, because as husbands and wives we all face our own insecurities, we all handle issues with our emotions instead of through prayer.  Marriages can come with so much joy but they can also bring division, destruction, hurt, and pain, and when we are hurt we hurt others.  Instead of compassion guiding us, we start responding with hatred and bitterness.  The love that was promised on your wedding day, is forgotten as the pain of everyday life takes over.

BUT

The Bride I am referring to in this post is the bride of Christ. The church. Those of us who have dedicated our lives to our Heavenly Father.

In the pages of God’s word we find scripture that refers to the bride of Christ, the analogy is made between the ceremony of a Groom and his Bride, to that of being the bride of Christ.  I want to take a moment and reflect on what God is saying when He calls us the bride of Christ.

When looking at the love stories in the bible, the biggest love story ever written was the story of the Messiah, a son that was born to a virgin mother, born into a world of sin, a baby who would never know sin. Would choose to become sin, he chose the cross, so that I didn’t have to, he became the curse, so that I could receive the blessing. This was so that the relationship between man and God could be restored.

Jesus Christ, through this gift of love and sacrifice, has made us holy and clean. We can finally present ourselves to the Father, radiant and blameless, the bride of Christ. Our salvation came at an enormous cost. A cost we didn’t pay. My gown was washed, it was whiter than snow, with no blemish to be found.

One flesh, one journey, our journey. On this journey, we will leave this old life behind, just as the groom leaves his family behind. He knows that this is a journey he must take alone.  As much as he wishes that his parents could carry him through the hardships that await him, he knows that his bride deserves to see the sacrifice he will make to live his life as her groom. They choose this union together. Knowing that this choice comes with great sacrifice, it will not always be easy. They started out separately; two people, but one life. Becoming one flesh is the most intimate of all relationships, it takes work not only on the wedding day but every day.

When reading John 17:20-22, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” In this passage, we read how Jesus prayed for us before we became a thought before we had a future before we made any choices. Jesus prayed, that we would find this intimate relationship and hold on to it. Jesus wants us to experience the same union that He has with His Father. Our choice would not only give us intimacy with our life partner but put us in the bosom of our dad. Our message would be loud and clear, our Saviour, our Dad, our King calls us to be one with Him.

How do you practice this intimacy with God? By submitting your life, past, present, and future to God. Being submissive is not only an instruction to the bride, it is also an instruction to the church. Submit yourself to the calling of your creator, your God. Turn away from the old life, make God your choice. This is the only way to experience the joy of knowing your creator in a very personal and intimate way.

Revelation 21:2 ESV – And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

John 3:29 ESV – The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.

Isaiah 54:5 ESV – For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.

Ephesians 5:25 ESV – Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Revelation 19:7 ESV – Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.

Isaiah 62:5 ESV – For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

Ephesians 5:27 ESV – So that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Revelation 22:17 ESV – The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

John 14:1-3 ESV – “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Revelation 19:9 ESV – And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Ephesians 5:23 ESV – For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.

“What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined for life to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent, unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting.”

– George Eliot

Dear Lord, thank you for showing us in Your word that you have gone to prepare a place for us. As we wait on your return, help us to honour you in everything that we do. May our lives bring you glory, Amen.