The Bride Price and The Bride’s Price
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Ephesians 5:25-27 NIV
We acknowledge the great mercy, love and grace shown to us by the Lord Jesus in His substitutionary sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. The high price He paid for our redemption speaks to us of how much we are worth to Him—everything. He paid the Bride Price for us with His blood.
What many of us need to understand is that even though He came to die for us while we were sinners, His intention is not for us to remain in that state of sin. The grace of Jesus Christ is not an approval of or a license to sin. He may have found us and loved us and died for us while we were the “Belinda”, but His plan for us is to make us a Bride worthy of the King of Kings. We must give our lives entirely to Him in response. This is the price we must pay as His Bride.
The passage above tells us that Christ gave himself for the Church to make her holy. The sanctification of the redeemed was the end goal of the Cross. It goes on to tell us that before we can be presented before Him as a radiant church without stain, wrinkle or any blemish but holy and blameless, we must go through a process of washing with water through the word.
Esther and the many other young ladies who were picked as candidates to replace Queen Vashti were taken through an interesting year-long process before meeting King Xerxes which represents the process the saints must pass through before meeting their King—Jesus. Here’s what we are told:
Before a young woman’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.
Esther 2:12 NIV
This process must have been so intense that I’m sure each of these ladies smelled like flowers and perfume even when they sweated.
The beauty of this passage is that it shows the care that was taken to prepare the potential Bride for the King. She had to leave her life and family behind to be taught Royal Etiquette and to look, smell, and feel like a Queen.
The saint must go through the same process if they are going to be presented before their Lord as His bride. While we aren’t bathed in perfumes and oils and cosmetics, the sanctifying agent for the Heavenly Bride is the word of the Lord.
We must each come to a point where we allow the word of God to correct, edify and transform us daily into the image of the Lord. We will not experience the intimacy of His fellowship, and we may not even see Him in His glory if we never let His word transform our lives and live in obedience to it.
The cross of Christ doesn’t only give to us but it also demands from us.
Have you been, and are you being washed by the word?
Comments