Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear" (Revelation 19:6-8).
For this final week of reflections on Immanuel's tagline, "Together in Faith", we will offer meditations on several images the New Testament uses to portray the church. For those of you not familiar with Immanuel, early in the summer we invited Larry Doornbos to lead our congregation in a 'Vibrant Church' conversation. Wilderness Wanderings has been exploring some of the learnings of that process.
If you were expecting radical new things for Immanuel because of these conversations, you may be experiencing some disappointment. You have not received revolutionary ideas. Why not? Well, as Ecclesiastes mentions, "there is nothing new under the sun." There is much to be thankful about at Immanuel, many good Christian things. As I have been mulling over these conversations, I'm inclined to summarize them this way: 'Deeper into God – deeper into His mission." This is another way of expressing the vertical and horizontal axes of the Christian life: to love God and our neighbour. We know our calling, but we can and should do it better than we are.
The word pictures the Bible uses to describe the church and her mission help us go deeper. Today, the image of the church as 'the bride of Christ.' The picture of God's relentless pursuit of a bride runs through the whole Bible. Beginning with God's question in the garden, "Where are you?", this desire culminates in the marriage feast of the Lamb, found in Revelation 19. We see a perfect bride coming before the conquering Saviour. This bride is the church, and Christ is her groom.
This image speaks to us of the love which the church receives from Jesus. The simplest way to understand a wedding is in terms of love between two people. Yet this picture goes deeper than vows and rings. It isn't Jesus who is named in the place of the groom, it's the Lamb. The same Lamb that was slain. The groom is the one who loves the bride even to the point of dying for her. The picture of the church as a bride shows us the true extent of God's care, concern, and love for us.
Is there any better place than this to refocus the church? Any of us who come to God on our own credit come in filthy rags. The image here is of the bride dressed in fine, bright, clean, washed linen gifted to her by the Lamb. We have already received so much from Jesus we can be confident he will take us all the way to the finish.
The prophets of the Old Testament already portrayed God's relationship with his people as a marriage covenant. Several of them use it to accuse Israel of being an unfaithful bride--Hosea 2; Jeremiah 2; Ezekiel 16. Yet, despite all of Israel's waywardness, God continues to pursue her. Clearly, God wants a people who are united to him in mutual loving devotion as husband and wife ideally should be. So, the Bible ends with the picture of a wedding--the church, the bride of Christ, made spotless in the blood of the Lamb.
The metaphor highlights Christ's love for the church, especially his self-giving, sacrificial care for his Bride. It speaks of the beauty and adornment of the Bride, who will one day be perfect and without blemish for her divine husband (Revelation 21:2). The picture is one of love, commitment, and beauty – and celebration.
This message of Christ's love for us, invites us to proclaim the profound gospel of grace. But before that, it calls us to bow down in adoration for the immense love God lavishes on us. To marinate deep and long in the love of God is always the best starting point for the church in mission. As Paul writes, "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Which he concludes with:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:17-21).
