This is an article that I am working on for the Share Jesus Website.
One of the descriptions that scripture gives to the people of God is "the Bride of Christ". John the Baptist is the first in the New Testament to call Jesus the bridegroom and his people the bride (John 3:29), Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom (Mat 9:15) and John the Apostle has the great vision of the Bride in the wedding of the lamb (Rev 21:2).
These titles of Bride and Bridegroom relate to particular perspectives of the relationship between Jesus and his people. And it is these perspectives on which I will focus. Much can be said about the whole imagery of husband and wife, bride and bridegroom throughout Scripture but I want to concentrate on those images that refer directly to the relationship of passion and desire that exists between Jesus and His people, His bride.
The first and most important point to recognise is that Jesus is passionately in love with His people. He is truly, madly, deeply in love with us. This is true both at the individual level and at the corporate level. It is vital that we get a hold of this truth! Jesus loves us, Jesus is passionate about us, Jesus longs for us, Jesus is desperate for us. He loves his people so much that he gave his own life for us (Eph 5:25) in order that we might one day be presented before him spotless and blameless and without blemish, a perfect bride for a perfect bridegroom. (Eph 5:26-27, Rev 21:2).
I remember my own wedding day. I was so excited and nervous, looking forward to the day when I would marry the woman that I loved. I remember the hustle and bustle of the morning, the business and the anticipation. And then, all too quickly I was standing at the front of the Church, waiting for my bride. I remember the hush that fell as the congregation realised she had arrived. I remember the music beginning to play as she made her way down the aisle toward me. I remember not turning round to see her, but rather choosing to wait until she stood beside me before looking into her eyes for the first time that day.
I remember that I could not bear it any longer, that I just had to turn and glimpse her, and she arrived next to me as I did. My heart felt as though it stopped, my stomach involuntarily jumped, I gasped with amazement at the beauty of my bride, I was overcome with emotion and wept right there. My bride was here; she was so lovely, so beautiful and standing at my side ready to be married. I was so much in love (and still am) with my bride. That first glimpse of her ravished my heart. Jesus feels like this about us, in fact he feels this even more intensely. "You have ravished my heart with just one glance of your eyes" Song of Songs 4:9.
(Please read the comment for the end of this post)
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That verse is so powerful. Jesus has his heart ravished by us even as we turn our faces towards him and look at him. Surely this gives us a fresh passion in our worship. For in our worship we are consciously and deliberately turning our faces towards him. Do we ever pause to consider the effect of our worship on Jesus? His heart skips a beat every time you look at him!
The second point is that the people of God are called to love Jesus with the same passion that He loves them with. There is no point getting married to someone who does not love you. Marriage is a union between a man and a woman where they become one (Gen 2:24). Are we as passionate about Jesus as he is about us? Would we die for him as he did for us? That is our call, to love Him. One day we will be finally and fully prepared for our role as his bride and we will be married to Him but until then we must strive towards that goal, seeking to love him as he loves us. We can do this by loving the lost, loving the poor, the needy and the insignificant, the ill and those suffering injustice, the innocent and the captives, the blind and the lame. That is what Jesus did while he was bodily amongst us and that is what we must do now. Each action of love that we do in his name will be an action of love towards Jesus our bridegroom. I will mention this again in a concluding challenge.
The final point is that being the bride of Christ is a position, a title. It refers to a deep intimacy that his people have with him. In the same way that scripture talks of us being the sons of God (Rom 8:14) not referring to a gender issue but to the rights of a son to share in the inheritance of the father (Rom 8:17a), the term bride of Christ speaks of our relationship with Jesus. This relationship is an eternal covenant between a passionate bridegroom and a loving bride. This relationship will be intimate, it will be intense, it will be passionate, it will be the fulfilment of all creation. Jesus has already shown his bride how much he loves her by giving up his life for her. And we are called to daily do the same, to show him how much we love him, to daily take up our cross, to die to ourselves and walk with him in his sufferings to show Him how much we love him.
And for me, this is where the challenge lies. What do I do on a daily basis to show Jesus how much I love him? Do I clothe the naked, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty or visit the prisoners? (Mat 25:37-40) How often do I turn my face towards him in worship and seek not to gain a blessing for myself but think about the effect on Jesus? When Jesus meets me face to face the only question that will be on his lips is the one that burns in his heart, the question that he longs to know the answer to. The question will be this “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17). I can only hope that my answer will be a resounding yes!
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