Christians aren’t the bride of Christ (and why that matters)

Contrary to popular belief, aka false doctrine, Christians are not the bride of Christ. While our relationship with Jesus is likened to an earthly marriage because we become one with Him, we are not the bride. The bride is New Jerusalem, and the Church are the guests at the marriage supper:

“And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,” (Revelation 21:9-10 KJV).

“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God” (Revelation 19:6-9 KJV).

If that wasn’t clear enough, all of the parables that feature the wedding feast or the wedding show we are the guests (Matthew 22:1-14, Matthew 25:1-13). And not only that, John the Baptist said we are the friends of the bridegroom:

“He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled” (John 3:29 NKJV).

And Jesus Himself said this as well:

“And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days” (Mark 2:19-20 NKJV).

You may wonder why this matters. It matters because this is the truth. The truth matters. To say that it doesn’t is to say that God does not matter. And He does. We cannot look at straightforward, simple verses and twist and turn them around because tradition says they are something else. If you do that, you are worshipping God in vain (Mark 7:7-9).

Christians are the body of Christ. We are already one with Jesus. We are not going to get married to Him later. Understand and recognize that. Truly believe in the Lord and what He says, keep His commandments, if you don’t, you may be one He says depart to (Matthew 7:21-23).

And that is something I do not want. I want you, whoever is reading this, to get right with God. Go to Him. Repent, surrender, put Him first. Redeem the time because the days are evil. Please. I want to be in heaven with you, rejoicing. So let’s keep enduring, let’s keep working out our salvation with fear and trembling. So we can hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”