Monday, May 4, 2015

The Unveiling of the Bridegroom



"Jesus the lover sends a sevenfold love letter to his sevenfold Asian Bride" -  Peter Leithart

The bridal imagery of rapturous love between the bridegroom and the bride is not just in the Song of Solomon.  One can find glimpses of this extravagant love relationship throughout the Bible.  Biblical scholars have seen connections with the prophecy of Daniel with the book of Revelation and even some of Mark's Gospel structure of exile and symbolic numerology.  But one often misses the magnificent unveiling of Christ as the church's bridegroom in the first chapter of the book of Revelation.

One sees the great bride descending from heaven in Revelation 21:9-10 as John stands on a mountain watching this visionary cosmic event.  And John gives this striking revelation of Christ that starts with the head of Christ and moves across his body and finally ends at his lips.  This whole rhythmic movement and description of the victorious Christ follows the same pattern as the Song of Solomon in the description of the Bridegroom with His Bride.

This whole unveiling of Jesus shows Him as the Divine lover who wants to have an eternal marriage supper with His exiled Bride.  The seven letters to the churches are love letters filled with passionate love and strong pleas to repent and return to Him.  These seven churches receive in essence love letters from the victorious Bridegroom who is in crazy love with His church.



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