If you’re like me, when you first heard the term “bride of Christ” it sounded a little suspicious. We can envision Jesus as a Master, Savior, Friend, or even a Father-figure, but a Bridegroom? Really? However, diving into God’s Word reveals that He has much to say about this bride/bridegroom word picture…
In the Old Testament, God’s covenant with Israel is commonly pictured as a marriage pledge, with Israel as God’s bride.
In the New Testament, the bride of Christ is often a metaphor for the church, with Christ pictured as a husband, and the church as His bride.
* The vision in Revelation 19:7-8 announces the marriage of the Lamb (Christ) to the bride (the church). In Revelation 21 the vision depicts the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (verse 2). Then the seer is invited to behold “the Bride, the wife of the Lamb” (verse 9) and to see the Holy City “coming down out of heaven from God” (verse 10). The new Jerusalem is identified as the people of God, the bride of Christ, among whom and with whom God will be present forever.