The Bride
Scripture Reading — Revelation 21:1-8
“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”
—Revelation 21:2
When I began to date my wife, we made contact almost daily and were delighted to spend time together. A love relationship began, and eight months later she walked down the aisle, beautifully dressed in white. As I awaited her arrival at the altar, the thought on my mind was not the things she could do, or how we were going to pay the bills, or how many children we might have. No! She was my delight, and we were marrying because we were in love. We were entering into a covenant of oneness in which we would walk together for the rest of our lives.
Human marriage is a picture that points to the union of Jesus Christ and his church. As we read in Ephesians 5:25-27: “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy … to present her to himself as a radiant church … holy and blameless.” When Jesus looks at us clothed in the white garments of righteousness, his heart soars with delight for us, his church.
While we live and work to serve our Lord and Savior each day, we can walk with him, keeping in step with his Spirit, obeying his commands, sharing his love, and bringing his good news of reconciliation and new life with God to others. In this way he is preparing us to join with him and the Father on that great day when he returns!
Jesus, thank you for your great love for us—for dying in our place so that we can be presented before the throne without fault and with great joy. What amazing grace! Amen.
About the author — John Kuperus
Since he was young, John Kuperus has had a passion that everyone would know Jesus. Spreading the good news that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15) is very important to him. To be better equipped for missions, John attended Reformed Bible College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He applied these skills with marketplace evangelism in a business he started in Sussex, New Jersey. This calling continued to follow him, so John attended seminary and became a minister in the Christian Reformed Church, serving a church in Ontario for eight years. Currently he serves as a missionary for Youth with a Mission (YWAM). He witnesses Jesus changing lives as people walk out of the darkness into the light. John is married to Helen, and they have seven children.
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