3.2.33 7.13.2025 The Church is a Bride, Jesus is the Groom Ephesians 5.22-32, Revelation 21.3

Start:

Entice: I say it often, let me say it again. The church is essential. Without the Church there is no way for people to be united with Christ. The promises and assurances of salvation  are for the bride, His Church. So today’s topic: The Church is a Bride…Jesus is the Groom. 

Engage:I still remember the first moment I ever saw my wife. I remember our first date. I remember our wedding day. There have been ups and  downs, joys and sorrows, laughter and tears. I’ve tried to live out the  expectation expressed on the wedding day,

Forsaking all others

Till death do us part

Sadly, I know that I have failed to meet those promises due to human limitations. So every day I just try and do better.  

Expand: Jesus alluded to his marital relationship between the Church and His people.  several times during His ministry

In the synoptics He refers to Himself as the bridegroom repeatedly, for example

Matthew 9:15 ESV

15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

The Gospel of John tells us that John the Baptist said of Jesus:

John 3:28–29 ESV

28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.

Alluding to the fact that Jesus was the bridegroom to be celebrated.

Understanding this relationship best comes from words written to the Ephesian Church, first in the Epistle and then in the Book of Revelation. Paul and John  expand upon the comparison and help us to understand this communal “marital” relationship we have with Jesus. 

Excite:

Ephesians 5:22–32 ESV

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Explore:

Jesus calls  us to be His spotless bride. 

Expand: Jesus works to make us ready He…

Body of Sermon:

1 Prepares His Bride

1.1 Loves Her.

1.2 Redeems Her.

Next, we are told that Jesus

2 Purifies His Bride.

2.1 Sanctifying Her.

2.2 Cleansing Her.

Finally, we are taught that Jesus 

3 Presents His Bride.

3.1 In Splendor.

3.2 Without blemish.

Shut Down

What does she look like?

Revelation 21:1–3 ESV

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

This is not just a glimpse of the far-off future. It is not merely a glimpse of heaven. It is a glimpse of the redeemed, victorious, Church. The Prepared, purified bride, presented to the bridegroom.

As much as we look forward to heaven we need to grasp that here, and now we are His Bride come down from heaven. Immanuel is present. God is with us. He is with us in service, He is with us in ministry, He is with us as we project our redeeming presence in our little part of the world. 

For what He did…our only response is I do, we do.