Picture a beautiful bride. She’s wearing a gorgeous white dress with a long veil and she’s holding lovely flowers.
Family and friends helped her get ready for her big day. She wanted to look beautiful and perfect for her soon-to-be husband. The groom is surprised by her extraordinary beauty when he sees her and they stand together before God to unite as one and become husband and wife.
The Bible uses this picture of the bride and bridegroom, where the church – meaning, all of us believers – is the bride and Christ is the bridegroom.
As the bride, the church needs to present herself as perfect and pure to Christ, her bridegroom. But how can we possibly be pure enough to be Christ’s bride? If we’re truly honest with ourselves we know the deeper secrets of the heart and mind are not pure, but sinful.
In Ephesians 5:27, Paul says,
“So that (Christ) might present the church to himself in splendor, 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 prepares herself for her groom, but Christ does something different for His bride. He knows she cannot make herself pure enough or perfect enough to be the bride of Christ, so He prepares the bride Himself. Isaiah 1:18 says, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow”.
While our many sins earn us punishment and death, Christ’s death on the cross makes it as if they don’t exist.
Christ gives spiritual purity to His bride, the church, and you and I are a part of that! How amazing and exciting!
As Christ’s bride, we can be secure in knowing that He will care for us in all we do. He is interested in us – in our day-to-day lives, our challenges and our struggles. We fight sin constantly and often mess up, but we are also confident that He has washed us and made us clean. The more we realize our weakness and sin, the more we take refuge in Christ and the gifts He gives us. Faith is what unites us, the bride, to Christ, our bridegroom.
As the bride and bridegroom, whatever is Christ’s is now ours and whatever is ours is now Christ’s.
Maybe you’re like me and you think, “what do I have to offer Christ – my sin, my failures, my mistakes? Why would He want those?” Christ takes what we have to offer and gives us His righteousness, grace, life, peace, joy, and salvation instead. What an awesome deal for us! It almost sounds too good to be true. But it is true and God has promised it!
Secure in His Word and in His deep love, the bride remains pure for her bridegroom and doesn’t leave her bridegroom for passing pleasures. The bride is committed to Christ, and there is joy in knowing we are committed to the One who truly loves us beyond all doubt.
Your sins are now His and His righteousness is now yours. As a part of His church, you are the spotless bride of Christ and one day you will live with Him eternally in Heaven!
I encourage you to let that sink in today and place your faith in Him if you haven’t already. Know that you are loved and trust in the One whose blood has set you free! 🙂
I hope weddings are even more special to you now, whether you are married or not, because of the beautiful gift of Christ that they represent.
