Preparing a bride-to-be for Himself

Firstly let me create some context. I don’t have a girlfriend. I haven’t had one for a long while. In fact in my whole life I’ve only ever made a commitment to two women, one of which was my ex-wife. I never actually dated much/at all either. But I believe that God has someone special for me.

So… when wondering about male-female things, I wanted to know His ways, and how He does things. And so He led me to this verse. It popped out at me, and the meaning was abundantly clear to me, I knew what I had to do for her…

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. – Eph 5:25-27

The key: Husbands… love JUST AS Christ did… so how did He love His wife?

I see two things…

1. Jesus Christ cleansed His bride-to-be on the cross, loooong before you and I knew Him. In fact same way we are to pray for our brides-to-be perhaps loooong before she knows us (or meets us again, or perhaps she is already with us – whatever).
2. Jesus Christ then presents her to Himself. She is prepared, why? Because of His “washing of water through the word”. And in our cases – as mortal men – that means washing our bride to be (before she is even with us!) in the water that flows from Jesus Christ.

I take that personally. I am praying for her, preparing her to be presented to me.

In the marriage story of Jesus Christ and His bride – according to Jewish custom – He went away to prepare a place for His bride in His Father’s house. According to Jewish custom it is ONLY when the FATHER sees the preparations are ready and His Son is ready, THEN the Father gives the go-ahead for the groom to go fetch His bride-to-be.

It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?

Other posts you might find interesting…

• Get ready for the marriage of the Lamb
• My prayer for His bride, will you join in?