The second familial relationship created for us by our Abba Father is our connection to him through Jesus. Our relationship with Jesus is presented as a marriage. I found amazingly few references to this fact in existing premarital counseling and yet marriage is the central them of a family, the basic governing system in life.
This chapter describes what I believe is a huge missing link in Christian life, an actual description of the intimate nature of our relationship with our Abba Father through Jesus and it applies to all believers, married and single. John the Baptist presents Jesus as a groom to explain the difference between Jesus and himself but the bigger point is the image presented of what our relationship with our Abba Father is supposed to look like.
John 3:22-29, “After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!” John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.”
This passage needs to be burned into the heart of every believer because it describes the nature of our relationship with our Abba Father through Jesus as a marriage, the most intimate relationship humans know. Since this is the very beginning of Jesus’ work, John the Baptist reveals himself as a listening friend but is not part of the church or bride, a truth soon assured by King Herod when he had John beheaded.
We are not meant to be just “friends” with the Bridegroom. Too many believers see God up there and us down here with a connection between us of some kind (Holy Spirit) but “believing” is really what matters in ELB thinking. Our Abba Father describes in this passage a close, intimate relationship between us and his Son and everything he says about husband and wife in the Scripture can be applied to each of us independently as the bride in the church. The wedding scenario brings our relationship with our Abba Father to life as we rejoice in his Son’s words and move from friend of God to a bride in our faith.
Now let’s go to the end, Revelation 19:6-9, “And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
Pray on these two passages and start to experience in your heart a relationship with our Abba Father that almost everyone on earth can imagine, the joy of a wedding and the celebration that follows. But in the Revelation, we know this wedding is forever with no more sorrow, no more tears, just being with our Groom in paradise for eternity. Start to envision that intimate image of our future in this life!
Mathew 25:1-13 also presents a marriage analogy, “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom . . . But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom (a)is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out . . . And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.”
This passage describes believers (those prepared for his coming) joining our Abba Father and Jesus in paradise and the non-believers (those not prepared when he comes) being left behind. Jesus tries very hard to make our relationship with him very personal. Jesus warned us directly and often of the consequences of not being prepared but this lesson is intimate.
We are the bride, waiting for our Groom. If we pray on this passage, you might also realize the betrothal element of the marriage analogy. Jesus is betrothed to us and us to him, our relationship is not random nor superficial, it is already promised to the bride (believers).
The groom gave his life for his bride, the ultimate sacrifice of love. As the bride, we are called to be loyal to the groom and keep ourselves pure for him. It is easy to see how the reduction of marriage to meaningless status in today’s society cannot help but diminish our relationship with our Abba Father along with it unless the church elevates marriage above the secular definition. It is imperative that the church get behind marriage as our Abba Father intended (sanctified) as a critical step in bringing the bride to the Groom.
We discuss Ephesians 5:25-27 in another chapter but I want to highlight here the groom/bride relationship in it, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the (a)washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
Hopefully by now you see the difference between Jesus washing away the sins of we earth dwellers as we go about this life and a groom creating a holy bride without blemish. I find great excitement in the “holy bride without blemish” presentation, a glorious vision of our Abba Father’s plan for us! The image of our relationship with our Abba Father as a marriage in paradise without blemish should be our focus.
Every aspect of our lives must be as intimate with our Abba Father as he describes, herein called sanctified marriage, and lifted up to him. Let’s cure the church and glorify our Abba Father with godly marriages that can only come from one man and one woman. People will see them and want them to glorify our Abba Father!
Hopefully, the point is made but there are more reminders in the review of marriage being an important concept in our Abba Father’s creation. Mathew 21:1-11 describes Jesus’ first miracle, turning water into wine. Where? At a wedding in Cana that appears connected to Mary’s (and Jesus’) family.
Tradition tells us running out of wine at a wedding ceremony is a cause for shame. This story is rich in symbolism, metaphor and allegory but I do not want to dilute the focus on the marriage as the setting we are highlighting. But it is fun to realize Jesus made about 180 gallons of wine after they ran out. It was quite a wedding celebration!
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11, “For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” Paul presents the fruit of his work, a healthy church in Corinth in the face of false profits.
Does he just present it as fact? No, he presents it as a loving father delivering a wonderful daughter to her betrothed husband. The intimacy of the relationship with our Abba Father that Paul has taught and communicated here is critical to understanding our relationship with our Abba Father.
There are also Old Testament references to the wedding metaphor portending the future. Isaiah 61:10, “I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”
Jeremiah 2:2, “Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Yahweh, I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; how thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.” Jeremiah 2:32, “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.”
The prophet Hosea also presents the decline of Israel as a horrific marriage and we know our Abba Father’s reaction to Israel as they turned away from him. But our focus here is on the positive in the New Covenant Jesus created for us, a glorious intimate relationship with him!
