Christ as Bridegroom and We are as His Bride
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female.” Matthew 19:4
Marriage was God’s idea. Matt. 19:4-6 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female,’ and said,For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ ? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
It was simpler in the very beginning, back in the Garden of Eden. The idea of marriage was not first the relationship between a man and a woman, but first between God and His people. In other words, human marriage is created in the image of God’s love for us and not the other way around.
God gave us marriage not just to make us complete, to give us a helpmate, or even a soul-mate, but so that we might learn to see His own love through the covenant of marriage.
Marriage is a living parable for us so that we might better understand the love that God has for us. Let us look at the parallels that Paul uses in Ephesians 5:22-33
“head of the wife, Christ is the head of the church” “be subject to your husband as the church is subject to Christ.”
“love your wives JUST AS Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her”
“Christ also (loves the church) because we are members of His body.
“and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”
We need to get a grasp of this image of Christ as the heavenly bridegroom and you and I as the bride. God desires us to be his forever companion in eternity.
Marriage is the most intimate of human relationships. This imagery of marriage is used to describe Christ’s relationship with the Church because He wants us to recognize how deeply He loves us, and how intimately He wants to relate to us. When Jesus says that our love is “to die for,” He meant it literally. It was love that led Jesus to spread His hands out to allow nails to be driven through His wrists and feet.
If we are in love with Jesus, We want to look and be our best for Christ. We want our hearts to be pure and our thoughts to be clean. We want our lives to be marked by grace and love. We want to be prepared for His coming. It’s not so that He will love us. He already has proven His love for us on the cross. We want to be that pure spotless bride because He loves us.
Question to Ponder:
Am I in love with Jesus?
Have a blessed week that you would continue to grow in relationship with Christ!
