Christ as lover? What?

As I sit down to write this it is a very late Monday night.  But I had to get out of bed to start writing as my heart once again is burning with a message from the Lord.  The Lord is desperately wanting to reveal Himself in a new way in these last days.  Christ is wanting desperately for His people to know Him as a lover, for us to be His bride.  I know this doesn’t make sense to a lot of people so let me explain. There are many different types of relationships that we can have with God, depending on the person of the Godhead we are referring to (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit).  The three relationships being 1) the child of God (knowing God as our father), 2) being the bride of Christ (Knowing Jesus as our lover/the bridal paradigm), and 3) being a student of the Holy Spirit (knowing the Holy Spirit as our counselor, comforter, and best friend).

The relationship type burning on my heart at this moment is the one that I think is most neglected, misunderstood, and unfortunately rarely experienced by the church. (and when I say church I mean the body of Christ as a whole).  The relationship type I’m referring to is knowing Christ as our lover (being the bride of Christ).  Many people get weirded out when they hear that Jesus is supposed to be our lover . . . Especially guys, but it’s not weird at all when you actually begin to understand it.

The Bible teaches that since Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross that we can now BOLDLY come before the throne of grace.  And of course if the Bible says it it’s true.  We as the children of God can now boldly come before God even with all our junk, baggage, and sin because Christ has made us righteous.  We don’t have to change anything to come before God the Father.  When we come to Him, being in His presence will change us – not vice versa.  That is the first step. That is knowing God as Father, and that will get us to Heaven, but the Father desires for us to also live as the bride of Christ.

Just like a natural marriage requires faithfulness, loyalty, and devotion to operate properly so does our marriage to Christ.  Over and over again through out scripture the Bible references us as being the “Bride of Christ” and Ephesians 5 actually paints a picture for us of how natural marriage is to be a picture of the relationship we are to have with Christ.  The intimacy that a husband and wife experience with each other is the same kind of intimacy that Christ desires to share with us. There is no greater love than the selfless love experienced in a covenant marriage relationship.  It is that depth of relationship that Christ wants to experience with us.

There is a scripture in the bible that says “For many are called, but few are chosen.”  To really understand the context of that scripture you need to read the first part of Matthew 22.  I used to always wonder what that scripture meant until one day I realized it was referring to our marriage to Christ.  Paraphrased it means, “Many are called to become the Bride of Christ, but few are chosen because few will first choose Him.”  The Message translation actually says, “Many get invited; only a few make it.” When you read in Matthew 22 about  the parable of the marriage feast the King is symbolic for God the Father, and the son is of course symbolic of Jesus.  Basically its saying that God is hosting the wedding ceremony for Jesus. When a man shows up for the wedding ceremony dressed in the wrong attire the King actually has the man thrown out into the outer darkness. . . . Point being, there is a requirement to be at Christ’s wedding ceremony.

I know sometimes it may seem like I’m preaching just a lot of do’s and don’ts.  A bunch of rules and laws.  And many times I’ve been accused of being legalistic.  Sometimes men do preach legalism and falsely label it holiness.  However, Jesus does require that His bride walks in holiness.  For the Bible says, “He is coming back for a pure and spotless bride.” Some translations say, “A bride without spot or blemish.” Not an unfaithful slut.  Men, think about what you want your bride, or future bride to be like.  Do you want her to be faithful, do you want her flirting and ogling all over other men?  No, of course not!  Do you think Christ is any different?  Would it hurt you if your bride was unfaithful to you and was cheating on you with someone else?  Well it’s hurts Christ even worse when we cheat on Him with the ways of the world because He loves His bride even more than you love yours.  This is about loyalty in a romantic relationship.

I don’t pursue purity and holiness because it’s the right thing to do.  I pursue purity and holiness because I know that when I sin it hurts Christ.  I don’t view it as sinning against a law. I view it as deeply hurting my intimate lover. A prophet once said, “When you hate sin because it HURTS Christ – then it will lose its grip on you. When you hate sin because it DISPLEASES Christ – its hold diminishes.”  I’m simply trying to point out that holiness is not about rules, it is about relationship.  We have to hate sin because it hurts our lover!  It’s not about will power, or mere discipline. None of us has the will power to withstand evil.  It is about love.  Passionate romantic love.  The Bible says, “If you LOVE me than keep my commandments.” It is much easier to sin against a law than it is to sin against our lover. It is only by the grace of God that we can receive the love required to live as the bride of Christ.  But if we will simply spend time in His presence than we will receive the grace necessary to be His bride and touch His heart! If you would like to understand more about our profound impact on the emotional heart of God then please go to divine-romance.com/about.

If you are struggling with a habitual sin the greatest advice I can give is to simply start spending quality time with Jesus, even if you’re struggling and bound up in a lot right now.  As you spend time with Him you will get to know Him.  And to know Him is to love Him, and once you fall in love with Him you will be on the path to freedom as your desire to protect His heart from pain begins to outweigh your desire for sin.  His grace is enough.

Living to touch God’s heart
Chris Ulery
divine-romance.com