Who is the Bride of Christ? There is a story of marriage and love throughout the Bible. In this post, we define the Bride of Christ and what measures you need to take in order to attend the marriage of the Lamb.
The Bride of Christ is His church. Not the physical building of a church, but The Church, The Saints, Believers in Jesus Christ. Believers in Jesus Christ are His “Church”. His Church is His Bride. Jesus is our Bridegroom.
Mark 2:18-20 19 And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
Ephesians 5:25-27 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
In ancient times, when a man wanted to marry a woman, he paid the father a dowry for her, a bride price. Christ paid the price for you. Are you faithful to Him?
2 Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
You are to also to remain sober and vigilant. When you are born again into the Spirit, the Holy Spirit lives inside you. Your body is His temple, as stated above in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Therefore, you are to be Holy as Your Father in Heaven is Holy. You are to glorify God in your body. You are to remain sober and vigilant at all times because when you are not, you give the enemy a foothold. How can you recognize an enemy attack when you aren’t sober and vigilant. Who goes to war drunk? And, we are at war living far behind enemy lines.
Ephesians 5:18-19 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Everyone knows that Christ paid the price for our sins, but did you ever to stop to think about how He paid the price for His bride? For you personally? You are to be a faithful, spotless, holy, virgin bride to Him. Yes, guys, this also means you. Being a virgin in the Bible just means that you are not being unfaithful by worshipping false idols and other gods, such as – any hobbies that are more important that Christ, anything you won’t deny yourself for Christ (pagan holidays like Christmas and Halloween, food like pork and shrimp, etc.), witchcraft, sorcery, etc.
When Jesus was on the cross and He said, “It is finished” our minds tend to wander to the thought of Him completing what He set out to accomplish. His sacrifice for our sins was completed. His reversal of the sins of the Watchers corrupting mankind was complete. His mission to reconcile and redeem us back to our heavenly Father was accomplished. BUT… have you thought about the Father accepting His sacrifice as payment, a dowry, for His Bride. “It is finished”. The Father has accepted the dowry payment. You are bought and paid for, betrothed to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as His Bride.
As His Bride, He loves you. A man marries a woman he loves. Jesus Christ loves you. He will marry you with a stipulation. There is a big difference in walking around saying you believe in God or saying you believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ being resurrected from the dead, defeating Death for you so you can have everlasting life with the Father, AND walking it out. You cannot be a once-a-week pew warmer. You cannot be all talk and no walk. Scripture is full of laws and commandment of YHWH that we are to obey. We are to be in obedience to Him.
Firstly, we are to deny ourselves and follow Him. Give it up for Him. Give up the drinking. Give up the secular music. Give up the cursing. Give up the hatred. Give up the horror movies. Give up anything that does not align itself with the Kingdom of God.
Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Secondly, it’s up to you who you choose to obey. You are either a slave to sin or you are a slave to righteousness. That’s just the way it is and you cannot change that fact. There are no gray areas. The line is drawn in the sand. You choose which side you are going to stand on.
Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Romans 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Luke 11:23 He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
Lastly, Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ laid down His life for us and that He loves us; however, most people want to stop reading part way through one of the most famous verses of the Bible. Remember, you are betrothed to Jesus Christ and He will marry His bride who LOVES Him.
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
John 15:13-14 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Jesus said there is no greater love than lying your life down for your friends. You are His friends, IF YOU KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. He also said if you love Him, you will KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS.
You are not put here on Earth to do whatever you want. You were put here on Earth to be an ambassador for the Kingdom of God. This world is not your home. You are living in enemy territory behind enemy lines. You belong to a Kingdom and you have a King. It’s your duty to be in obedience to your King, to follow the laws and commandments of your King, and to represent your Kingdom here on Earth being Holy as your Father in Heaven is Holy.
1 Peter 14-16 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Today is the day to make a choice. Your life is but a blink compared to eternity.
James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Psalm 102:11 My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
Giving up any earthly desires for but a moment is a small thing compared to everlasting life your Father in Heaven. Do not be like Esau, selling your birthright for a bowl of porridge. You have been adopted into the family of YHWH. You bear the family name. Act like it. You have a birthright. You have an inheritance waiting for you in Heaven. Don’t sell it.
Revelation 19:7-9 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Revelation 21:1-2 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Choose this day who you will serve. Will you serve sin or will you serve the LORD? Will you be a traitor to your King and Kingdom or will you be an ambassador to your King and Kingdom? The line is in the sand and you cannot have one foot on each side of the line.
Revelation 3:15-16 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.