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G (GOD)-mail: From the Heart of the Bridegroom to His Bride

Beloved, the Father is seeking certain characteristics in those who will be his Son’s Bride. What a tremendous blessing it is then that the specific nature and character He is in search of is no great mystery! He is looking for those who are an equal match to Jesus himself. The qualifications are those who through yieldedness, surrender, and the pursuit of holiness and love have beheld and become exactly like their beautiful Bridegroom.

There is much to discover about the Bride’s journey to becoming the perfect match for the Bridegroom in the Song of Solomon. In Chapter 4, verse 7, the Bridegroom describes her as beautiful and flawless, and in Chapter 5, verse 2 as His perfect one.    

In Ephesians 5:25, Paul compared the responsibility and roles of earthly husbands to that of Christ and His Church. In this verse you can clearly see that Jesus’s sacrifice was the means by which He could sanctify and cleanse the Church. His ultimate goal? Presenting her to Himself without spot, wrinkle, or blemish! 

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 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.

The author of Hebrews, in chapter 9, verse 14 described Jesus himself as being without blemish. So from these verses we can gather that Jesus’s Bride will be His equal!

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Beloved, my assignment today is to help you understand more about becoming the Bride after God’s own heart!

Our God is infinite in His perfection and holiness. Even with all of eternity before us, we will never come to the end of discovering all the aspects of His goodness. So, let’s begin with some basic treatments to make you more beautiful in the eyes of the King of Kings.

A summary of the basic characteristics that God is looking for in His people and His Bride are found in Micah 6:8:

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

In other words, be just, be merciful, and be humble. 

Let’s begin with a basic primer on this trio of beauty treatments to get you started. We’ll go deeper into these topics over time, so for now, consider this a small taste of things to come.

Being Just

How does God define justice?  

In the Hebrew, the word for justice, “mišpāṭ” means the act of deciding a case. In its simplest sense it means to do what is right. This particular word is used over 400 times in the Old Testament! That is quite the word count, and an indication of how important the concept of rightness is to God.

In Greek, the word for justice, “dikaios”, means righteous, virtuous, and approved of or acceptable to God. It is often used to describe an attribute of God himself.   

• 2 Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

• 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

• 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

• Revelation 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!

From the definitions presented above, you might assume to be just has only the strict interpretation of doing what is legally right, but it is more nuanced than that. To see what I mean, let’s have a brief look at how Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph, was described in the gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 1:19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

When Joseph first discovered Mary’s pregnancy, he understandably assumed she’d been unfaithful to him and had broken their marriage covenant. Jewish law gave him the right to turn her over to the legal authorities for judgment and punishment. The penalty for adultery was death according to Leviticus 20:10.

Now with irrefutable proof of a growing belly, wouldn’t you think the “right” thing to do would be to have Mary punished for her betrayal, Beloved?

Yet, Joseph, described as a just man, decided to quietly separate from Mary because he was unwilling to shame her! His planned actions revealed a heart of kindness and uncommon regard for others even in the midst of perceived guilt. His desire to maintain Mary’s dignity trumped his right to receive justice!

How gracious! In Joseph we see a type of God’s very own nature, and a character trait very much connected to the next on our basic beauty treatment list. 

Being Merciful

The theme of God’s mercy is a thread woven throughout the entire Bible beginning in Genesis all the way to the end of Revelation. In fact, the primary adjective that God uses to describe himself throughout scripture is “merciful”. 

Understand that mercy by the world’s standards stands in direct contrast to judgment. But, in God’s economy they are interlinked. 

God is a just God, but He is also a merciful God. His mercy is such an overarching aspect of His divine character and nature that rather than condemn all of creation to eternal damnation (what justice required), He made Himself into a perfect human to pay the penalty for the sins of the entire human race. His sacrifice covered every sin and all people…even those that hate him, intentionally walk in direct opposition to Him, and claim to be His sworn enemies!

I’ve written quite a bit about the merciful heart of God in the blog post entitled, “Jesus is Compassionate”. Be sure to read that for a deeper understanding of God’s mercy.

Beloved, it’s God’s intention that His Bride develops a heart full of mercy to match His.  That means loving the unlovable, Dear One. It also means loving those that intentionally and willfully harm you. 

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:27-36

What an extraordinary heart God has! To mirror the heart of Jesus, cultivating mercy in your own life is essential.

Now, let’s take a look at the third in our initial beauty treatments on the path to becoming a beautiful Bride.

Being Humble

Beloved, developing humility in your life may very well be the most important, but excruciatingly painful beauty treatment of all.  

First, let’s take a brief look in the New Testament at how Jesus, though fully God in human form voluntarily chose to humble himself.

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

The Messiah’s invitation to be yoked to him is born out of tenderness, gentleness, compassion, and a humble heart that knows what is best for His loved ones.

Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Does knowing your Creator, the most powerful being in existence and source of all life, humbled himself to the point of death boggle your mind? His love and willingness to rescue you, his Beloved, is beyond human comprehension! 

God is humble and deeply values humility in people. Here are just a few of the blessings promised to those who humble themselves:

• Proverbs 22:4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.

• James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

• 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

• 1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

• Psalm 149:4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.

Precious one, there are also stark warnings in scripture for those walking in pride, the opposite of humility. The consequences of pride are so severe that they should bring terror to the wise and understanding of heart:

• Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

• Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction a man's heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.

• Proverbs 29:23 One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

For additional compelling scriptural examples of the dangers of pride, you can do your own Bible study on what happened to key biblical figures, such as King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who went insane temporarily and lived as an animal; King Saul, Israel’s first king who lost the anointing of the Spirit, his kingship, and eventually his life for walking in pride. Lastly, there’s also Lucifer, one of God’s crowning creations who was cast down from Heaven and is destined for eternal damnation for His prideful rebellion against the Most High.

Pride may be one of the most difficult sins to detect in yourself, yet also the most detrimental. It is for this very reason that it is critical for you to go through whatever treatments the Spirit of God has planned for you in order to completely remove it from your heart.

Conclusion

Beloved, submit yourself fully to the Lord today and begin these most essential of spiritual beauty treatments. The Lord Jesus is returning for a Bride without spot or wrinkle. Be sure to begin all your beauty treatments as directed by the Holy Spirit without delay!