The Bride Of Christ

I’ve been involved in a lot of weddings over the years.    I’ve seen a lot of beautiful brides.     But there was one wedding where the Bride was so unbelievably beautiful. When she stepped through the door at the back of the church my heart skipped several beats, the voice in my head said,  "Man, I wish I could marry that women."    Then she stated down the isle of the church.

It was December but I started to sweat - because she started to walk towards where I was standing.    It was December 27, 1975 and I was the Groom and this beautiful women was about to be my Bride.

We stood there at the front of the church and made a covenant together.  I looked at her and said:
"I, Rick, take you, Wendy, to be my lawful wedded wife, to love you and honour you as Christ loves and honours His church, to guide and direct our home according to God's Holy Word, having Christ as the true head of our home."

She looked in my eyes and said:
"I, Wendy, take you, Rick, to be my lawful wedded husband; for where you go, I will go; and where you live, I will live; your people shall be my people and your God my God:   Where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried:   The Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part you and me".  

We took that Covenant seriously.    There have been times of sickness and health, times of better and times of worst, times of plenty and times of want.     But on that day almost 38 years ago we were bound together as one in Christ.    We are not the perfect couple, but over those years our love has grown stronger, with every laugh and tear, and sorrow and victory we have experienced together, we have become more committed to one another, and we have forsaken all others that we might keep only unto each other so long as we both shall live.    In this we have Covenanted together. In just a few short weeks, on December 27, we will have been married for thirty eight wonderful years.

There is a point of me telling you this romantic story.    You know that the church is the Bride of Christ.     He gave Himself on the Cross for Her. Christ loves His bride.   He Cherishes and nourishes His Bride and someday will present His Church, His Bride, in Heaven in all glory and splendour. 

I tell you this because in our day, the Church, the Bride of Christ, is often neglected and abused.


After 200 years of having a favoured place in Canada our culture increasingly seeks to discredit the church and move it to the margins.     In a culture that is increasingly and now perhaps almost completely secular, the church is devalued and its message considered unimportant.      Even we who say we are the church increasingly ignore it and say we are disillusioned with the Bride of Christ.     Some would even say the church, the Bride of Christ, is not important to their spiritual journey.

But,  just as my love for my beautiful bride has not diminished in these 38 years,  Christ’s love for His Bride The Church has not diminished.     He still passionately loves His church. He continues to cherish it and nurture it because He has a purpose for His church in the world that will ultimately culminated in Heaven.

The Church: The Visible "Kingdom of Heaven" on earth

The Bride is here on earth to be the Visible Kingdom of Heaven.     We The Church are citizens of Heaven to display the glory of God in the World.     In spite of how many ignore and even berate the Church,  it is vitally important to the purposes and plans of God for the world.

The Church Was Established By Christ Himself
 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matt 16:18)
    
No other Institution,  No other organization on earth was established by Christ Himself.    He is Building His Church because through it He is  going to push the forces of darkness and evil right back to the very gates of Hell itself.     The Church is God’s Plan for the World. There is nothing, no organization in the world that you can be involved in that is more important than the church.  

 
The Church Was Inaugurated At Pentecost Acts 2
The disciples were told to wait for the power of the Spirit to come.    And come He did,   like a mighty rushing wind that empowered Christ’s followers and ushered 3,000 souls into the Kingdom of God that were added to the church and the church was born.     Jesus was to ascend into Heaven but He leaves His church to accomplish the work of redemption, the very work for which He left heaven, for which He planned before the foundation of the world.

The Church was never meant to be a holy huddle, but a rescue station on the rocky shores of human ruin and Satanic attack.

The Church Is The Visible Manifestation Of Christ In The World
He has ascended into heaven but His Church is the Visible Manifestation Of Christ In The World.

Wow! Did you get that?     We The Church, are the Visible Manifestation of Christ in the World.     That’s not only Important.     That’s Vital and we better take it seriously.     We are here to be the Demonstration of Christ in the World.

The word "church" comes from the Greek word "Ekklesia" and designates the visible "Kingdom of Heaven" on earth.     "Ek" means "from out of" and "Kaleo" means "to call" or "to call out from" and indicates a selected assembly of people.     Most of the time the word "church" is used in the New Testament, it speaks of a local body of believers. If fact of the 115 times it is used, 90 of those times it refers to the local assembly.

Christ is no longer physically present among us.     He has accomplished the work of redemption and now fulfills His priestly role in heaven interceding on our behalf as we in the power of His Holy Spirit manifest Him to the world.      We are the Visible Manifestation of Christ in the World.     If we do not take that seriously, we do not understand how precious the Bride is to the Groom.

Just as a husband and wife become one flesh, we are one in Christ to demonstrate Him to a lost and dying world.      We are the visible manifestation on Christ in the world.     Let us love the Bride of Christ.     Let us be the Bride of Christ.    And let us reflect Him well.

(The next blog post, later this week, will outline several reasons why

every follower of Christ should be an official member of a local church)