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Now we are on sacred, holy ground. My ultimate prayer is that everything I share will be inspired by the Holy Spirit in washing the bride in pure, white linen fit for her glorious King. May I be like Hegai was to Esther in preparing the Bride of Christ for the day she will stand before her groom with unadulterated dove’s eyes.
Introduction to the Bridegroom Love of Jesus
Jesus began to woo my heart when I was sixteen years old. It started with small visions that played in my mind. My first memory of this came when I was waiting for a family member in the car as they shopped. Rays of dusty pink and golden orange had melted away into a velvety Prussian blue over the sky. Eventually, the sun completely set, giving way to glowing city lights and a canopy of glittering silver stars. I was sitting quietly in the car, listening to clean love songs. Like most girls my age, I was longing for romance, to be seen as beautiful and to be special to someone. I had no idea just how special I was to Jesus.
As I sat there in the car, a warm-hearted romantic song began to play. The lyrics and melody expressed the sacred and passionate love of a couple for each other. Unexpectedly, I saw myself in an elegant ballroom. The pearl and gold floor were so polished it was like glowing glass. I was donned in an exquisite gown fit for a heavenly queen with multiple skirts. Jesus was dressed like a King, and we began dancing together. For a few seconds, I allowed myself to linger in the vision. I had a sense of peace and Jesus’ delight. However, doubt began to prick my conscious thoughts, and I tore away from the visualization. I was afraid the Devil was tricking me, so I spoke out loud, “No! Get behind me Satan!” The vision vanished.
Jesus did not berate me, push me or punish me when I mistakenly rebuked him. He did not correct me because he knew I was ignorant of this deep knowledge of him. It’s amazing how religious teaching or ignorance can keep us from deepening our relationship with Jesus. For a long time, I mentally separated Jesus from romance. I knew his saving love, his redeeming love and his family love, but I had no understanding of his bridegroom love.
God is the creator of love: eros (romantic), storge (family), philia (brotherly) and agape (transcendental or unconditional love). He is not exclusive to only one type of love. He is the masterful designer of all the relational love we crave. For example, in 1 John 3 we are called children of God. See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! That is family or storge love. In scripture God calls Abraham his friend, that is philia or brotherly love (see James 2:23), in the Bible we can see that God has both an eternal love for us and an unconditional and sacrificial love for us. We can see an example of this in Jeremiah 31:3, The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
And John 3:16 where it says, “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son so that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” God gave us his absolute best when he gave us Jesus, that is agape (unconditional) love.
Scripture also speaks about God’s love for us in terms of a husband and wife. In Isaiah 54:5 it says, For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. Hosea 2:16 reads: “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ The apostle Paul talks about this kind of relationship with Christ as being a profound mystery. In Ephesians 5, starting with verse 21, Paul goes on to explain that God’s desires for husbands and wives. He goes on to expound on the mystery of being one in unity, submission and love in marriage. Then he goes on to conclude that the semblance of unity in marriage speaks about Christ and the church. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”
This is not earthly or sexual, like what husbands and wives share, but it is reflected of the sort of wholehearted devotion and covenantal unity Jesus desires with us. We are called the body of Christ. We become one flesh with him. He enters our hearts by faith (as described in Ephesians 3) and we share breath, life, and thoughts with him. Our unity becomes closer through our yielding to the Holy Spirit, just as Christ was unified with the Father on earth. He was so close to the Father, he said, “if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father for I and the Father are one.” This is how close He expects us to be with him. He expects us to be so close that we can truthfully say, “if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen Jesus.” We are to worship in Spirit and in truth.
Christ isn’t meant to just become a part of our lives; he is our lives. Colossians 3:4 says, When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” We become one with Christ in a greater way than a husband and wife do. Marriage is a shadow of what unity with Christ is meant to be. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches, everything that gives us life comes from him and flows through us. This unity bears eternal fruit.
All throughout the Old Testament we can see God bemoaning the faithlessness of his people to turn away from him and pursue other gods. He describes his deep pain as akin to a husband with an adulterous wife. Some powerful examples of this are sprinkled in the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others. Hosea is dedicated to exemplifying this kind of relationship with God when he asks Hosea to marry a harlot to give his bride (his people) a visual show of what it’s like to be married to her.
God desires our whole hearts. He wants our deepest devotion. On earth, a godly marriage is the clearest picture we have of this. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your might and all your mind. This is impossible without retaining first love fire (Revelation 2:4-5).
Have you ever seen two people who are in love? They possess this. Each of them considers the other to be the most precious person on earth to them. They think (or meditate) on ways to be a blessing to one another. They plan to spend quality time together. They say positive, encouraging and enforcing words to each other. They may write each other beautiful words.
No wonder God called David a man after his own heart. If I had someone who wrote me over a hundred songs of love describing how wonderful, amazing and majestic I was, I’d be hard pressed not to open my heart wide to that person. David sang to the Lord and danced before him with all his might. He was unashamed about his love for God. David spun songs together that described his personal knowledge about the intricate details of the Lord. David’s songs dripped with potent adoration toward God.
Jesus knew I was at the age where I was ready for love, and he wanted me to understand his bridegroom love. Nonetheless, I was not ready to receive this type of love because I had an erroneous religious belief that God was not involved in romance. Romance was a taboo subject. It was hardly discussed in my church. Meanwhile, the secular culture around me and some peers at school boldly spoke about the perverse version of romance they experienced. Because of the silence of my church to show me how this type of love was godly and pure and the decadence of the culture, I considered the bridegroom love of Jesus to be too scandalously close to the sensual love between a man and a woman.
Eventually, the Holy Spirit, the greatest Hegai to our role as Esther, began to show me the spiritual depth and holiness of Christ’s bridegroom love. This revelation graced my walk with Jesus during my single years. I was empowered to walk in purity and godliness in large part, because of this revelation.
May Jesus begin to open your eyes to his love through scripture. You are his beloved, you are his song. He desires more of you:
“‘I came by again and saw you, saw that you were ready for love and a lover. I took care of you, dressed you and protected you. I promised you my love and entered the covenant of marriage with you. I, God, the Master, gave my word. You became mine. I gave you a good bath, washing off all that old blood, and anointed you with aromatic oils. I dressed you in a colorful gown and put leather sandals on your feet. I gave you linen blouses and a fashionable wardrobe of expensive clothing. I adorned you with jewelry: I placed bracelets on your wrists, fitted you out with a necklace, emerald rings, sapphire earrings, and a diamond tiara. You were provided with everything precious and beautiful: with exquisite clothes and elegant food, garnished with honey and oil. You were absolutely stunning. You were a queen! You became world-famous, a legendary beauty brought to perfection by my adornments. Decree of God, the Master.”- Ezekiel 16:8-14 MSG
To delve more deeply into the topic of the bridegroom love of Jesus, check out my book, Romantic Rendezvous for the Soul. Click here to see it on amazon or the divine romance tab to explore the first chapter for free:
For centuries, the female heart has burned with desire for the lasting pleasure of unchanging love. In the course of time, civilizations have risen and fallen, yet the longing for tangible intimacy has never faded. Millions of lyrics have been written to the passionate tune of this fluid yearning.
Unfortunately, few people find the lasting love they’ve longed for, even as children. Life, education, and societal pressures transform what was once a tangible hope into a mythical fairy tale. Industries have reaped unlimited monetary gain from the erosion of this hope. Billions of girls grow up to become women who have long since tossed their dreams of true love in the trash bin of cynicism. Countless others have buried their ache of unmet desire under the disappointment of failed relationships and hopelessness.
Despite most women’s best attempts, this starved craving remains alive, like a stimulating aroma. This ethereal hope goes back to the first relationship, in a place of being so “seen” and “lovingly known” that “she” was naked and unashamed.
This novella was not written to add salt to the gaping wound of unsatisfied need. It was written to satisfy the need completely. Let Romantic Rendezvous for the Soul introduce you to a lasting relationship with Transcendent Love, where reality becomes sweeter than your dreams.
