The Bridegroom Prophesied

“For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called.” (Isaiah 54:5)

From the beginning, the Lord God intended His people to be married to Him. What does that mean specifically? When one is married, there is no other love except for that person. It’s a commitment to each other. It involves an agreed union of purpose, vision and mission. It means a shared life. So translate that to a married life with Jesus. When we surrender our life to Jesus, the commitment is like a marriage. The Lord becomes our only love above all, self and family. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life shall lose it. And he who loses his life for My sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:37-39)

Union with the Lord is much like a union in an earthly marriage. In an earthly union it’s physical, mental and emotional. In the union of the divine marriage with the Lord, it’s spiritual, mental and emotional. The unions are legal and binding in heaven and on earth for both marriages except that the earthly marriages end with the death of the body. The spiritual marriage is binding on this earth and in the world to come.

Solomon wrote a whole book about the love between a bride and a bridegroom that has been interpreted as prophetically about the love of Jesus and the church. The church longs to be Jesus, in His presence and love, represented by the bride’s desire for her bridegroom. The bride pursues the bridegroom just as the church pursues Christ. The bride’s quest for intimacy with the bridegroom refers to the church’s quest to know Christ intimately through fellowship and oneness with Christ. The bridegroom’s love and faithfulness to the bride represents Christ’s unfailing and enduring love and faithfulness to the church.

Jesus is referred to as the groom in various Scriptures. John the Baptist implied that Jesus was the groom in stating that He was not the Christ. “He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Then my joy is fulfilled.” (John 3:29) Jesus Himself referred to Himself as the bridegroom when the Pharisees asked Jesus why His disciples didn’t fast. “And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast.” (Matthew 9:15) In the book of Revelation, John writes about the scene in heaven when the church is revealed as the bride of Christ at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. “And I heard as the sound of a great multitude, and as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of strong thunders, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and we will give glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God.” (Revelation 19:6-9)

In short, Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, our Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, Who is the Holy One of Israel and God of the whole earth is the bridegroom Whom we desire and yearn to be with much like a bride yearns for her bridegroom. Jesus is the faithful bridegroom Who is faithful and Who loves us so much, He gave His life for His bride.