Christ Clothes His Bride in Splendor
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We can all imagine what it is like to see a bride at a marriage. The groom likely never forgets the moment she appears, while everyone else senses her beauty, grace, and elegance as well. Marriage gives us a picture of the relationship of Christ and the church, and the image of a bride adorned for her marriage to her groom can help us more fully understand the love Christ has for his church.
Earthly marriage gives us insight into the love Christ Jesus has for his people.
The prophet Isaiah writes of God’s holy city Jerusalem: “…as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Isa. 62:5). Ultimately, though, it is the New Jerusalem, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy revealed to us in the book of Revelation, that most vividly shows us the joy that awaits:
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Rev. 21:2)
The Bible teaches that the marriage of a man and a woman is given by God to be a picture of the loving union between Christ Jesus and his people, the church, as a bride adorned for her husband. In Ephesians 5 where Paul writes about marriage, he quotes Genesis 2 and explains,
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Eph. 5:31-32; see also Gen. 2:24)
Sacrificial love is an essential aspect of both earthly marriage and our relationship with Christ.
In other words, the love that a man and a woman have for each other gives us an important picture of what our relationship with God is like. As we submit to our Lord, so wives are to recognize the leadership role and authority of their husbands in marriage. But husbands also have a very challenging role. God commands, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).
Husbands are to love their wives with a sacrificial love. This is a love that is faithful. It is a love that means husbands are to cling to—to hold fast to—their wives, sticking by them and giving up themselves for the love of their wives. This is sacrificial love that is beyond words. It is the love Christ Jesus has for his people. Even though we rebelled against our Creator, Jesus willingly went to the cross and died to save his people and give them eternal life in heaven forever.
Christ Jesus clothes his church in the beauty of his righteousness.
Yet, we should not forget that, though our human marriages are a picture of the love of Christ for his church, they are stained by sin and without the beauty and adornment of perfect love. But Christ Jesus clothes his church in the beauty of his righteousness. By grace he adorns her with perfect garments made clean by being washed in his own blood (Rev. 7:14). As the head of the church,
…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 splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Eph. 5:25b-27)
The sacrifice Jesus made for his bride, the church, is the ultimate measure of love, and we can look forward to the consummation of salvation at the marriage supper of the Lamb on that last day when all God’s people will dwell forever in joy beyond measure with our groom, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This article was originally featured in Beautiful Christian Life’s May 2024 newsletter, “Christ’s Love for the Church.”
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