The organist pounds out the opening strains of the wedding march. The congregation rises in unison. The bride appears at the back of the church escorted by her father. While the folks on both sides of the aisle utter the appropriate “oohs” and “aahs" when they see her, there’s one person in the sanctuary who is absolutely blown away. It’s the groom. When her husband-to-be takes one look at his bride all dressed in her glorious white gown, his jaw hits the floor. Here in this section of Ephesians, Paul invites his readers to flip open the wedding album. These are the pictures from the greatest wedding the universe will ever see: Jesus and His church. Unlike most grooms, Christ has been intimately involved in prepping His bride, “so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (v27).
Here comes the bride!
For the past few verses, the Apostle Paul has given his friends in Ephesus a picture of marriage between disciples of Jesus. What it looks like to “be imitators of God” (Eph 5:1) in a marriage. This is what it means to “walk in love” like Jesus (Eph 5:2) with our spouse. This is what it looks like when a wife and husband are “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21). First he tells the wife to willingly cooperate with her husband’s leadership (Eph 5:22). Husbands are to realize that as “the head of the wife” (Eph 5:23) he is responsible to be her hero and protector. Married men are to “love your wives, as Christ loved the church” (Eph 5:25) through self-sacrifice. Then suddenly, Paul turns his attention from Christian marriage to Christ’s marriage. In Ephesians 5:26-32, he flips through the pictures of Jesus and His bride. Many times these verses are said to show us our Savior’s relationship with His church in how a husband relates to his wife. Nope. It’s the other way around. The purpose here is to hold Christ’s marriage to His bride as the standard for human marriage. And just in case you are mistaken, the apostle grabs us by the ears and gets our attention: “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Eph 5:32).
Let’s flip through some of the wedding pictures, shall we? We see that Jesus has been setting His fiancee apart and preparing her for the big day. He’s been sanctifying her and making her squeaky clean with a Bible bath, “by the washing of water with the word” (Eph 5:26). He’s been a big part of the wedding preps. There’s probably a lesson here for a lot of us guys who have pretty much blown off our bride’s begging by saying, “Whatever you think, dear.” Come on, dude. Get involved! Jesus was involved. Jesus is STILL involved. He’s intimately involved with what’s REALLY important. He knows that the spiritual growth of His bride is what makes her the most beautiful. He knows what it will take to stun the crowd when they see her at the back of the sanctuary.
Christ plans to “present the church to Himself in splendor” (v27). The Greek verb here translated as “present” is paristemi. It means to place beside, deliver near, bring into one’s fellowship or intimacy. In his letter to the Roman church, Paul urges them to “present (Gr. paristemi) your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1). In the same way that we hand ourselves over to God because of what He’s done for us, Jesus presents His bride at the ceremony. Over in Colossians, the apostle includes VERY similar language in his breathtaking portrait of Christ. “He has now reconciled His body of flesh by His death, in order to present (Gr. paristemi) you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him” (Col 1:22). Don’t miss the fact that in some way Jesus is both giving away His bride and standing as the Groom at the altar. He’s presenting her and delivering her at the ceremony. Check out the Message’s take on this verse: “Everything He does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant in holiness” (v27, The Message). Jesus does everything to ensure that His church will be one beautiful bride.
Check out Christ’s bride all dressed in white as she begins her walk. Jesus will “present the church to Himself in splendor” (v27). In this spectacular ceremony, our Savior actually escorts her down the aisle too. And she looks spectacular. Paul says that she’s “in splendor” (v27). This Greek term endoxos means glorious, something or someone held in great esteem, majestic, wonderful and in some cases free from sin. In a conversation with some friends of John the Dunker, Jesus talked about rich folks “dressed in splendid (Gr. endoxos) clothing” who live in the king’s palace (Lk 7:25). Sweet threads. Designer clothes. Earlier in this letter, Paul tells us “to put on the new self” (Eph 4:24). There’s an idea of reaching into Christ’s closet and wearing His righteousness. Those are glorious duds. That’s what it means to be “in splendor” (v27). She looks spectacular because she’s wearing the very righteousness of her sinless Groom! Check out what she’s wearing. Not one spot. Not one wrinkle. No one flaw. In the great love song called the Song of Songs, Solomon serenades his hot new wife. “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you” (SoS 4:7).
Here comes the bride!
What do these wedding photos have to do with my marriage? Well, Jesus loves His bride with a purifying love. He sees His bride for what she will be. Let’s face it, the church is pretty jacked up. She’s a real Bridezilla! But the Lord loves her by cleansing her. So just as Christ can’t stand the thought of any sin corrupting His bride, believing husbands must not be able to bear the idea of their wives being defiled as well. A married man can’t change his wife. You get that, right? But he knows a Guy who can. Jesus. Allow Christ to use you to do in your wife what He’s doing for His. Like the church, your wife might have room for improvement. But can we be honest? So do you. See your wife for what she will be.
Here comes the bride!
I would like to dedicate this post to my lovely bride, Debbie. As I post this, it's our 38th wedding anniversary. And she's just as stunning as the day she walked down that aisle.
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