The whole thrust of my spiritual search these days is to know God as a passionate lover. For two years, I’ve been ‘knowing God’ – in the sense of intimacy – as Father, tender Holy Spirit and Jesus as Brother. But things are growing, increasing and I sense that it’s now the season of the Bridegroom. For any guys reading this, just remember, if we women get to become ‘sons of God’, you all get to become the ‘bride of Christ.’ Let yourselves go to that love: it’ll be good for your heart.
That said, knowing Jesus as Bridegroom of the body of Christ has been a little scary for me, honestly. As a child, I experienced several traumatic incidents of sexual molestation, so the idea of God having male qualities, let alone being a ‘lover’ has, until recent years, had its pitfalls. But healing comes, thank God and now I’m excited that the Holy Spirit has opened up new aspects of seeing God’s nature.
There is something incredibly rich about Jesus, the Brother-Bridegroom coming from heaven to earth for us. He’s the valiant, handsome Prince on the white horse who leaves the halls of his father’s castle and travels to the land of the enemy, risking even death to rescue his beloved princess (that’s us). He chooses to go deep within the bowels of filthy evil in the red dragon’s lair, giving his life in order to return his bride to her rightful place as a co-ruling heiress.
The Prince does this with joy because he has set his sights on loving her forever, in ‘happily-ever-after bliss.’
That was the whole point of the cross: to bring you and me into this incredible love relationship with the Trinity. Colossians 1:13 says God has ‘rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’
We’ve been ransomed by the blood and we’ll never be snatched away again. We’ve been permanently returned to the kingdom and we walk around in the throne room, not as the servants of the castle, but as family. For the rest of eternity, we’ve got all the rights and privileges Jesus has. Really. We’re co-heirs. That gives us equal privilege.
So what’s the main focus of a princess? Is it decorating the castle? Giving tours to show off the palace? Making sure the kingdom runs smoothly?
Nah. Religion would say there’s so much to do in the Kingdom, that we better get busy….in a recent movie spoof, a secular film showed this tattoo on a priest: “Jesus is coming: look busy”. I think they pegged us (the church) pretty well! Religion wants us to focus on the job of being princess, on what needs to be done around the mansion.
But the Bridegroom is calling me back to HIM. It’s time to lay down the cleaning cloth for a while and stop polishing the windows. He’s calling me and I need to go. He misses me. He misses us. He wants our love and attention and he doesn’t care that there are things waiting to be done. Let the stuff wait. His eyes are on me, longingly waiting.
I’m coming, Jesus.
Janet
