The Bride of Christ

Revelation 19:7-8 (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; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

The Bible is full of analogies that are used to help to explain God’s purpose for us and the nature of our relationship with Him. We read that when Jesus talked to the people, He often spoke in parables. He took relatable situations and used them to explain the Kingdom of God, to show us our purpose and the nature of our relationship with Him. In this verse in Revelation we see another analogy, where the relationship between Jesus and His church is likened to the relationship between a bridegroom and His bride.

When a man and woman become engaged, they become promised to one another.
They are not yet married, they don’t yet live in unity, but they are committed to each other. An engaged woman will wear a ring as a symbol of the fact that she is promised to someone. In the same way, when we first gave our lives to Jesus we became promised to Him. We become set aside for Him and for His purposes, He becomes our focus, our passion and our desire, He becomes our passion now, but at the same time He is also our promise for the future.

When we first turn our lives to Jesus we enter into a covenant with Him, We are bound together with Him through His promise, just as a betrothed couple are. As we accept Him as our God, He accepts us as His child and heir, and He changes our status. We were once merely people of the world, and in the world we hold whatever status we have, be that as a person of importance, or we may have no importance at all. When we accept Jesus as our saviour, He changes our position, He changes our status and makes us citizens of His Kingdom. We become a new creation who doesn’t have to live in the same way as we used to, but can now live under the authority of a mighty God.

In theology we call this positional sanctification. Our status changes from people of the world to people in God’s Kingdom. This is what Peter has to say about this:

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

This passage is originally from the book of Exodus, where God is telling the Israelites of their importance and their purpose. Now Peter uses this same quote to talk about not just about Jews but gentiles too. He is addressing all followers of Christ.

The first thing that Peter calls us is a chosen race.

We are more than just people with a religion, Peter describes us as a race of people, a people with a distinct culture. It doesn’t matter what race we are on the earth, where live or where our ancestors are from, in Christ we become one people, we become those citizens of the Kingdom of God. We are a race of people because we all have the same Father, and each of us are being transformed into His image. And so spiritually there are two races upon the earth, those who belong to the world and those who belong to God. Jesus makes it clear in John 17:16 that believers in Him are not of the world.

Secondly we’re described as a royal priesthood. In the Old Testament, the Levites, one of the tribes of Israel, were set aside to be carry out the priestly functions. They led praise, worship and prayer and all the other priestly ceremony that the Old Covenant required. And only the high priest could enter into God’s presence, and then only once a year. When Jesus died, the veil in the temple that separated man and God was torn in two, The way into God’s presence was made open to everyone who turned to Jesus.  There is no longer a distinction between the priests and the people, we all have the right to come into His presence, to worship him, to pray to Him and to be His ambassador on the earth, to stand for His purposes. It’s not even just those who have been ordained, but all believers.

Not only are we described as priests, but as royal priests. As well as giving us a priestly role, we re also adopted as a co-heir of Christ. We become accepted into His family, and because His family is royalty, then we become a part of that royalty.
We carry His Royal authority.

Next we’re described as a holy nation. To be holy means that we are set apart, which is why Revelation describes us as His bride. We are set apart for Him and His purposes.

So this is the work that He does for us. This is the position that he places us in. And he does this work for a reason. Peter goes on to say, we are these things that we might proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us from darkness into the light. As His priests we represent Him upon the earth, or as Jesus phrased it, we are His witnesses.He calls us to proclaim Him, to tell the world about this God who has saved us, We point towards Jesus and lead others to Him too. We can tell the world about this God who has taken us out of the darkness and into His light.

What a privileged position He has put us in. We may think that we are just a normal person with normal responsibilities, but we are not. We are a part of his royal Kingdom, a priest before Him, His holy nation, all so that we can point towards the might and the goodness of God.

The apostle Paul further expounds upon this when he wrote:

2 Timothy 2:21 (ESV) Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable, he will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

If anyone sets themselves aside for the Lord, then God will use them to do His works. In our opening verse from Revelation, it says that the saints of God are dressed in fine linen, and that fine linen is our righteous works. That is how we are clothed, with our righteous works. We’re not saved because of our good works, but works will flow naturally out of a life that is lived in God. Because we do separate ourselves from the world, we are in a place where we can do God’s work.

So this is how He positions us, but our position depends upon Him being the head of His church

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 Saviour.

Jesus is the head of His church, and we are the body. Here in Ephesians, Paul likens this relationship to the relationship between a man and a wife. Our earthly marriages are modelled upon how things are in the Kingdom of Heaven. When Jesus taught us how to pray, He taught us to pray, “your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Jesus wants us to take how things are in Heaven and see them done upon the earth. And He takes this relationship between the church as a bride and Jesus as her husband and applies it to our earthly relationship too. Our earthly relationship such as marriages or relationships with our fathers or brothers or sisters are all modelled on God’s divine order. That is why the current battle that is going on around marriage in society and the church is so important, because the do represent God. And that order is for our good. It blesses us. God does not show us His ways to diminish us, but to bless and increase us. We fight for these things for a reason, because they represent God’s order on earth, and it is in His order that we are blessed.

When we as a church accept Jesus as our husband, we are accepting Him as the head of His church. in doing so we accept His authority, and then allow Him to do His work within us.

We acknowledge Jesus as the head of His church. The amazing work that He does in us is entirely His work, done by His power and grace. It’s not because of how good or bad we may be, but it is entirely dependant upon the goodness of God.

Ephesians 5:25-27 (ESV) Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

I love this verse! In earthly weddings, The bride dresses up for the groom, she does all that she can to prepare for her marriage. In Revelation it does tell us that we as the bride have made ourselves ready. But Jesus does more than what we ourselves can do. He comes to do a work in us to prepare us.This work is far deeper than anything that we could do by our own strength. He comes into us and washes us with water and His word to make us ready to meet Him.

We’ve talked about positional sanctification, the change in status that Jesus gives us when we first know Him, but the work does not stop there. Out of our positional sanctification, Jesus begins a process called progressive sanctification. Progressive sanctification is an ongoing work that He does in us preparing us for Him. it is a continual work that Jesus does in us that transforms us into His image.

Ephesians 5:26-27 (ESV) that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

We are called to set aside ourselves aside for Him, that part is our responsibility, but when we do this, it allows Him to do his work. He clothes us with His righteousness

Isaiah 1:18 says, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow”.

It’s this process that he does within us that makes us a reflection of Him upon the earth. We can represent Him on this earth because of Him, but only because of the work that he does in us.

Jesus not only sanctifies us and prepares us for our marriage to Him, but He also nourishes us.

Ephesians 5:29 (ESV) For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

The word of God is described as milk (1 Peter 2:2,) bread (Deut 8:3,) and meat (1 Cor 3:2.) Psalm 119 says that the word of God is sweeter than honey. Jeremiah talked about eating God’s word (Jer 15:16) Jesus is continually sustaining us in preparation for our marriage to Him.

Revelation 21:2-4 (ESV) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

In Revelation we get this beautiful picture of a new Jerusalem that has been prepared as a bride for her husband. The result of all this preparation that God has been doing from the very beginning of Genesis to the end times is that God will come and live with us and us with Him. There will be no more separation.Because of the work of Jesus, we will be united forever and will live in eternity with Him.