What It Means to Be the Bride of Christ 

The bride of Christ is made up of every believer in Christ throughout the ages (John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:22–32; Rev. 19:7–9; 21:2, 9; 22:17).

I believe He has called me, along with many others, to proclaim to the church her identity as His deeply cherished bride.

He longs for His bride to know who she is, how He feels about her, and her destiny to rule and reign with Him throughout eternity (Rev. 5:10; 20:6).

It is generally easier for women to picture themselves as the bride of Christ because many are either brides in an earthly marriage or dreaming of someday becoming one.

Men, on the other hand, have the advantage of better understanding the role Christ plays in relationship to His bride because many are husbands in earthly marriages.

In the same way that women have to adjust their thinking when the Bible refers to them as “sons of God,” men also need to adapt their mental perception in order to see themselves as the spiritual “bride of Christ.”

Man (humanity in general) is a spiritual being who lives inside a physical body, not a physical being who houses a spirit.

In order to understand our relationship with God, we need to see with spiritual eyes.

Being sons of God refers to our new birth in Christ (the Son of God) and our role as spiritual children of our Father, God.

Being the bride of Christ, however, refers to our spiritual union with Christ and our role of experiencing and expressing His cherishing love and exuberant life.

Just as a husband and wife in the natural realm share a physical union and bear the fruit of children, Christ and His bride share a spiritual union where He has implanted His bride with His life and, with her cooperation, causes her to manifest the fruit of His Spirit (Rom. 7:4; Gal. 5:22–23; Eph. 5:9).

So, men, don’t let it bother you when the words she or her are used in reference to your relationship to Christ as His bride.

Just think of it as a spiritual role rather than a physical relationship.

There are also women in the body of Christ who have a difficult time viewing their relationship to Him as intimately as that of a bride.

Let me encourage you too to adjust your perception to a spiritual view, rather than an earthly, physical view.

Deeply cherished bride of Christ, your beloved longs for you to understand that you are the love of His life.

I could tell you this again and again, sounding like a broken record, but until His Spirit gives you revelation of this truth, it will not affect you personally.

You might agree that this is true information because the Bible says Christ’s church is His bride, but you will not experience the enjoyment of truly knowing you are the object of His extravagant affection until it becomes personal revelation.

So the task at hand is for the objective truth of God’s Word (all believers are the brides of Christ) to become subjective truth for you (I am Christ’s bride).

Christ’s Spirit is your teacher (John 14:26).

He is the one who causes spiritual truths to become personal through revelation.

When we read and meditate on God’s Word, we need to have this conviction:

Because You, Lord, have spoken this, I choose to believe it. I agree with You that this is true, regardless of how I feel. Cause me to personally experience the wonders of this truth through Your revelation.

When spiritual truths become personal, they become part of our autopilot—what we believe and act on without consciously thinking about it.

When we back our car out of the garage, we don’t have to think,

First, I need to press the garage door opener.

Then, I need to turn on the ignition while pressing the accelerator.

Then, I need to press on the brake while I put the car in reverse.

Then, I need to look in the rearview mirror, and so forth.

We automatically do those things because they are deeply ingrained through personal experience—they are habits.

Likewise, when we truly begin to understand and habitually see ourselves as Christ’s deeply cherished bride, we will begin to live like who we already are.

His greatest desire for His bride is that she would experience wondrous delight in intimacy with Him.

His greatest desire is for you to experience wondrous delight in intimacy with Him.

This post is an excerpt from my first book—my six-week study on the first two chapters of the Song of Songs, His Banner over Me Is Pursuing Love.

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To learn more about what it means to be the bride of Christ, I invite you to check out my books and my video series based on my first devotional.