The Bride of Christ: Understanding Your Sacred Union with Jesus

In our daily meditations, we reflect on eternity and what God has prepared for those who love Him.

The Great Shepherd’s Pursuit of Agape Love

Jesus, the Great Shepherd, searches across the hills for those who are distant from His flock (Luke 15:4). He has gone to great lengths to show us our need for a Savior from sin. God's plan involved the most loving act imaginable—dying in our place and taking on our punishment to free us from sin's chains. This act of love highlights the most powerful force in the universe: agapé love. This self-sacrificing love prompts a loving response from those who receive grace. God sent His Son into the world to win and draw His bride to Himself, especially those who have wandered far from Him and near wolves.

Prepared for a Heavenly Wedding

To demonstrate how special we are to God, the apostle Paul wrote to remind us that we are being prepared for a wedding with Christ Himself:

I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him (2 Corinthians 11:2).

God desires us to be at home and spiritually united in a marriage covenant with His Son, Jesus. A wedding on earth between a man and a woman illustrates what God in Christ has done for His Church—the people invited into a marriage relationship with Jesus. The apostle Paul saw himself as preparing the bride of Christ, so she would be pure and spotless for her wedding. No matter your past or where you have been, the Bridegroom can make you clean, pure, and spotless. If you believe in Christ, you are clothed in a robe of purity and righteousness that He purchased for you at Calvary. He is calling His bride to come home. Paul is not the only one who used this marriage analogy; the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Spirit, also wrote about it.

As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you (Isaiah 62:5).

The Mystery of Becoming One with Christ

Consider a wedding ceremony between a man and a woman. What traditions come to mind that might symbolize the relationship between God and His Church? In a wedding ceremony, one of the first aspects that reflects this sacred union is the bride leaving her parents to become one with her betrothed. Paul the Apostle writes about becoming one with Christ as he discusses marriage:

For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery -- but I am talking about Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32).

Paul addresses two levels: the relationship between a man and his wife, and the heavenly union between Christ and His Bride, the Church. How beautiful it is for our heavenly Bridegroom to invite us into marriage with Himself. How loved we are! – Keith Thomas

Continue Your Journey…

Taken from the series Insights into Eternity, found in the All Studies box. Click on the study, The Wedding You’ve Been Waiting For. Here is the video teaching: https://youtu.be/O3AhS16yyWY

Our YouTube video teachings can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/@keiththomas7/videos