How the Bride Speaks
by: John Bryant
November 20, 2024
“Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.’”
As we grow in the Lord, we begin to learn what He’s like (see devotional What is God Like?). Something about Him that we begin to discover is how He feels about His church, and how we fit into His story. Over the years I have heard the Bible called “The Life Survival Guide” or the “How to Get into Heaven” manual.
One of my teachers once said something profound: “If you could rename the Bible something different, you could probably call it Jesus Gets Married.” With this in mind, we begin to see these sixty-six books rather as sixty-six journals of God’s exploits to woo His people into His love, how His people fail to recognize it, but how He doesn’t give up on them. We see how Adam and Eve, God’s prized creation, chose to sin against Him, and His efforts to then make a way to bring sinful humanity close to Him who is Holy.
We see this in the Law of Moses and the Tabernacle – how God wrote up a marriage covenant with His chosen people through establishing the law to keep them close, and built a place where He could meet with them. Even with gifts of love as incredible as this that no other nation on earth had themselves, God’s people chose to look to other nations for direction and satisfaction, perverting and compromising their marriage to Him. In verses like Jeremiah 3:8-10, God calls these practices adultery. This is how God feels when His covenant people choose to sin instead of staying close to Him.
Knowing humanity would choose darkness rather than light, adultery rather than marriage, and sin rather than holiness, God put a plan into action before the foundation of the world itself – the crucifixion. Jesus Christ was crucified in the heart of the Father before time began, meaning that the love of the Eternal, Undying God always looked like the most extravagant form we as humans could ever experience– laying down His life, and giving that which was most precious to Him away.
Jeremiah 31:33 is a prophecy given regarding Jesus’ work on the cross and the effect it would have on the heart of His adulterous nation:
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
No longer is the covenant written on Moses’ tablets of stone. Now, through Jesus’ act of love on the cross, His marriage vows are written on a believer’s heart. No longer must God’s people rely on their own strength to meet the expectations of the covenant, but by the blood of Jesus, the love of God is forever etched into their hearts through faith.
Throughout the Bible, you see the Jews wrestling with following all of God’s rules versus just loving Him. This is not so for the bride. The Bride of Christ, His church, His faithful ones, have a voice – they speak in a certain way and move at a certain pace. Love for God for many Christians today may look like going to church, reading their Bible, praying, and tithing ten percent. These are all important things, for sure, but when this is broken down into habits and routines, our faith begins to look like any other religion on earth, and we begin to feel as dry and confused as they do. We are not religious people – we are in love with God.
How then does the Bride of Christ live? How does she move across a room? What does she say, and how does she say it?
Everything the Bride does is intertwined with her love for the Bridegroom. There is no hurry because He said, “It is finished”; there is no worry because He said so simply, “Do not worry”; she believes what He says, and she speaks as one who is spoken for. She is not for sale, no one can convince her to keep things hidden from Him. His love is the reason she awakes, and the places you find her are where she has found Him. She meditates in her heart all the ways He loves her and busies her mind with all the ways she loves Him. She does not lose focus because of these things, but rather sees all things exactly as they are. She is wise, not because she has learned many things, but because she has learned only one. She does not try to convince others of His words, but in being convinced herself, others listen.
My all-time favorite section of scripture is found in Song of Solomon 5:9-16 continuing to the first verse of chapter 6 – after other women ask the bride why her beloved bridegroom is more amazing than any other, and she speaks of His beauty, strength, and love, the women respond to her in this last verse, saying:
“Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?”
A bride is His best evangelist and revivalist. Once others hear of her love for Him, they too will seek Him with her, because there is no one like Him on earth.
Let the love of Jesus, the Bridegroom of your soul, transform you today, seeing that all you have comes from His love for you, and from this place choosing Him over any other. He is worthy.
Worship: I Just Love You
Prayer
Jesus, thank You for Your love for me. I am Your bride, and I am glad You purchased me for Yourself. Thank You for bringing me into Your story.I did nothing worthy of You loving me so much. Today I choose You instead of what the world is offering me instead. I want to walk with You everywhere, talk with You about everything, and live every part of my life from the place of being fully loved. I choose to believe all Your words, and I am not ashamed of them, because they are words of love. When others ask me, I will speak as one spoken for, and talk of Your great love for me on the cross. I am Yours forever. In Your name I pray, Amen.
Further Study
Genesis 3:15, 21; Song of Solomon 5-6; Isaiah 54; Matthew 26:6-13; Hebrews 8; Revelation 21:9-10
Related Posts
Seeking the knowledge of the Lord (the ways, truth, and life) and aligning with His will is our calling as Christians. Reading, studying, partaking in the Word, hearing from fellow believers, dreams and visions, and personal encounters are all ways in which we can come to know the Lord.