In the New Testament, Jesus is named the bridegroom of the ekklesia, meaning the church.
In Greek, Ekklesia is “a called-out assembly or congregation.” Yet, in the New Testament, the Ekklesia is generally translated as the church.
For instance, Paul writes in Acts 11:26 that Barnabas and Saul had a meeting with the church, the ekklesia, in Antioch.
In the Gospel of John 3:29, we read about Jesus, the bridegroom, where John says,
To further comprehend the importance of the wedding banquet, we have to understand the significance of the Bridegroom and Bride.
“He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the bridegroom’s friend, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.”
Again in Luke 5:35, the evangelist speaks about the departure of Jesus (the bridegroom) back to His Father.
“But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”
Revelation 19:7
Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.”
We are His bride. Furthermore, learning the meaning of marriage as far back as ancient Jewish matrimony will transform our idea of the church’s importance and the marriage vows of a bride.
Suppose we glance through the first-century Jewish marriage. The components of these Jewish nuptials will shed light on our relationship with Jesus.
Too often, the term Christianity is tossed around too loosely and with very little understanding of the significance of our purity as a bride to the Son of God.
Foremost, as with any promise of marriage, there is a sequence of steps that begin with the proposal, and in ancient Jewish culture, the man initiated marriage by professing his love and willingness to commit his life to his future bride—of course; the woman must determine whether to accept the proposal and embark on this lifelong journey with her potential husband, which is conditional until she accepts his bid.
We are considering Yahweh through His Son, Jesus Christ. His embodiment, ministry, and death on the cross on our behalf is our Father’s confession of love for us.
Yet our Father didn’t pledge his love toward us conditionally that we return the life firstly; no, instead, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Detailed in Romans 5:8
“But God demonstrates his love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Our Father made the supreme sacrifice beforehand in hopes that we would reciprocate after His open display of selfless love through the gift of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Our Father proposed to us this way. The only way to the wedding banquet is found through the Bridegroom, not theology, rituals, religions, pagan traditions, or kinds of generic rites of passage.
The gospel of Matthew details the Parable of the Wedding Banquet and of the bride and the outsiders who did not believe Jesus was the only way.
Matthew 22:1-3
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
I wonder how many religious faiths are aware of the concept of our marriage to Christ? I know that as a Catholic for the first twenty-nine years of my life, I did not.
I attended Catholic school for ten years and have never once heard of the word of God so detailed.
Furthermore, as an adult, I relied on the teachings of men that I was taught to believe until Jesus called me back to Himself.
Like many, Grace called me home, and mercy pitied me. Today I am wed to our Bridegroom and serving Jesus Christ, and through the many years of singleness, Christ is enough.
Jesus tells us in the gospel of John that He is our sustenance, the bread and body, our nourishment, and the only way.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 3
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth; no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, `You must be born again.”
Liken to earthen marriage; we only enter into the covenant of marriage by committing to pledge ourselves to one husband and honor and obey Him in purity and not adulterous with any other person forever.
In ancient Jewish culture, arranged marriages were also found in a significant number. Like religion forced to believe their ideology, it does not reflect the selfless love of a Bridegroom for His Bride or the intense love of the Bride for her lifelong partner.
Draw a parallel between the two, and we see that fear and forced concepts that are neither biblical nor reflective of the grace and mercy of agape love are not from God.
Describe the love of a sweetheart that God has freely chosen, and two become one; God wants a bride who willingly promises her life to Him. That’s who we are as the Bride of Christ only after we pledged our lives to the truth and are baptized into the Holy Spirit as willing participants. In other words, we must be of consenting age to marry Spiritually, spend eternity with Jesus, and honor His word while on earth. There is no adultery with other religions or doctrine that contradicts the scriptures.
2 Timothy 3:14:17 (MSG)
But don’t let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk! There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us the truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, and training us to live God’s way. Through the Word, we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.
To claim anything else will leave a chair open at the banquet table of the royal wedding, and no one wants anyone left behind.
When we decide to be born -again, our relationship with Jesus intensifies, and He begins to reveal Himself to us, and the love we feel from Him is like no other.
Like ancient Jewish weddings and today’s marriages, there is a proposal and ceremony where the two unite and become one.
Our baptism into the Holy Spirit is the fire, and through total submersion, the water ceremony is the public display of our Spiritual marriage to Christ. We enter into the new covenant.
Luke 22:19-20
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
In John 14, Jesus pledges by dying on the cross; His love for His Bride. He said He would now go away and prepare a place for His bride.
Our eternal home comprises many mansions and, together, of one flesh, we are united with our King.
John 14:2
(Jesus said,) “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”
Now it’s customary for a groom to show his union by gifting his bride a ring. Our ring is the gift of the Holy Spirit that prepares us to be spotless for our Bridegroom.
Ephesians 5:27
He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Comparing a diamond ring and the Holy Spirit correlate that they both shine; one is tangible and the other Spiritual; this the fruit of the Home Spirit is how others will know that we are His Bride.
Galatians 5:22-23 says: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
We go from being that single wild person to a meek and virtuous bride to Christ. A disciple and follower of His law and principles.
Jesus said, “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have a love for one another” (John 13:35.)
The way we love demonstrates who Christ has made us through the (diamond) of the Holy Spirit.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Revelation 19: 9
Then the angel said to me, Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”
Note:
Revelation 21:27
Nothing impure will ever enter Heaven, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 22:17
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.”
Liken to a Father through tradition, pays for the wedding costs, Our heavenly father sent His Son, and Jesus paid the price for our wedding and banquet.
Marriage
Ephesians 5:22-33 (MSG)- 22-24 Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.
25-28 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.
29-33 No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.
This is love.
Blessings,
Sister Christine
C. Brejcha ©️
“Today’s Heart Light” airs Saturday nights at 9 PM EST. -” Past The Pain Comes Reward Through Faith In Jesus Christ.”