Sacrificial love is an essential aspect of both earthly marriage and our relationship with Christ. In other words, the love that a man and a woman have for each other gives us an important picture of what our relationship with God is like. As we submit to our Lord, so wives are to recognize the leadership role and authority of their husbands in marriage. But husbands also have a very challenging role. God commands, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).

We can all imagine what it is like to see a bride at a marriage. The groom likely never forgets the moment she appears, while everyone else senses her beauty, grace, and elegance as well. Marriage gives us a picture of the relationship of Christ and the church, and the image of a bride adorned for her marriage to her groom can help us more fully understand the love Christ has for his church.

Earthly marriage gives us insight into the love Christ Jesus has for his people.

The prophet Isaiah writes of God’s holy city Jerusalem: “…as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Isa. 62:5). Ultimately, though, it is the New Jerusalem, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy revealed to us in the book of Revelation, that most vividly shows us the joy that awaits:

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Rev. 21:2)

The Bible teaches that the marriage of a man and a woman is given by God to be a picture of the loving union between Christ Jesus and his people, the church, as a bride adorned for her husband. In Ephesians 5 where Paul writes about marriage, he quotes Genesis 2 and explains,

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Eph. 5:31-32; see also Gen. 2:24)

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