Jesus: The Bridegroom
“Bright Hope for Tomorrow” — Chapter 5 Reflection
More than Just “Jesus is My Husband”
This week, we look at chapter five of “Bright Hope for Tomorrow,” where author Chris Davis highlights for us the scriptural image of Jesus’ return as The Bridegroom.
To be honest, I was apprehensive about having to write a review on this chapter. I think I would have been more comfortable writing about, The Warrior King section. I admittedly had the presumption, that this would be a soft, feel-good, “Jesus is my husband”, kind of chapter. And, as a single woman, having to reflect on this subject, I felt an extra tinge of cliché or worse, outright cringe.
However, to my great relief and profound encouragement, this chapter holds many new depths in seeing Christ through the lens of The Bridegroom. Davis starts off with the explicit reference to Christ, as the bridegroom, found in Revelation 19. Here, John recalls his vision of a marvelous wedding feast where the anticipated bride is finely clothed and at last ready to receive her bridegroom in this grand celebration. As the scriptures reveal we, the church, are the bride while Christ is represented as the bridegroom.
So, What Kind of Relationship is This?
Davis unpacks the nature of our relationship with Christ by expressing three important categories: intimacy, enduring faithfulness, and sacrifice. Davis asks the reader to ponder how we actively grow our appetite toward longing for our bridegroom. He suggests fasting “to feel in our bodies how we feel in our hearts- a hunger, a craving, a longing to be with our Christ” (pg 77).
Davis reminds us of the account in Matthew 9, where Jesus defends his disciples on their lack of fasting, stating “Can the wedding guest mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” We find ourselves today, without our bridegroom, therefore it is fitting to fast, mourn, and grow in a longing for His return. Davis ends this chapter with a reminder of the universal feeling of loneliness felt by all, yet for the believer, it is with hope.
We have the hopeful expectation of his return, to gather his bride to himself, to restore all things, and to usher in a new world lacking nothing.
Yahweh’s Enduring Faithfulness
The most striking part of this chapter, for me, was the reminder of Yahweh’s enduring faithfulness to the adulterous Israel. Despite Israel’s filth and fickle commitment, he still pursued and loved her so well. If you remember Genesis 15, the covenant God made with Abraham was carried out on both ends, by God. He always knew Israel could never fulfill their side, and we today are not any different. We know we would have broken the covenant just as much as Abraham would have.
No matter your status, single, married, or widowed we have the universal need to be saved. When I remember my sin I also remember God’s faithfulness to cover sin, through the death of a savior on a cross. So as a bride, dressed in the purity of her savior, we long and anticipate the bridegroom to arrive at last.
