Have you met Jesus' wife? Oh, I'll bet you have. You just might not have realized that they were hitched. Check out their wedding announcement:
Ephesians 5:25–32 says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. ‘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."
In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul is speaking to the church and says, "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I have promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him."
A description of the wedding can be found in Revelation 19:6–9:
Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
"Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given for her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)
Then the angel said to me, "Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'" And he added, "These are the true words of God."
The church is the bride of Christ. His love for her is clear in these passages as He uses words like "radiant," "holy," "blameless," and "pure" to describe her. In fact, Christ's love for His bride is so strong that He gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25).
Sometimes I think we fail to recognize just how much Jesus loves the church. But these passages spell it out clearly. Don't miss the point that Christ's love for the church is so strong that He calls us His bride.
It can be easy to look at all that's wrong with the church. We can focus on hypocrisy and complacency and tradition and reach the false conclusion that God is disappointed in the church. I am sure that there are times that we disappoint Him, but on the whole Jesus is deeply in love with the church body. It is so important that we remember this truth when we feel frustrated by our own churches.
God loves the church like a groom waiting for his bride. Do you?
