Before I scare you off with the title, lemme say this. Yes, I am talking about Jesus and His trip to the cross and dying. No, my final answer is not gonna be saving us from our sins, getting us to Heaven, saving us from hell, or even to praise and glorify Him, even though all are true. But they all tie up into one thing. This one thing results in all of these. And I've only met one guy who actually knows this. He's the one who showed it to me, and now I'll do the best I can to show it to whoever reads this. I prefer doing it in person, but some of you live too far away.
Ephesians 5:25-32 (Eph. 5:25-32 NIV)* says, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church."
We believe in the Bible interpreting itself, right? Even from Old Testament to New and New to Old. That's how it should be.
I believe Paul is leaving us clues to this "great mystery". Perhaps he didn't have the time to explain it, so maybe he expected the Ephesians to research on their own. But I do believe I know the answer. Let's dig around.
Paul says, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." And, "of His flesh, and of His bones." He's quoting the Old Testament- in fact, he's even quoting the very beginning of it.
Genesis 2:18-24 (Gen. 2:18-24 ESV) says, "And YHWH God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground YHWH God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And YHWH God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which YHWH God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
And there we are. Looking into the context of where Paul quoted from, we find the great mystery revealed. He says, "...I speak concerning Christ and the church."
In this case, let's replace Adam with Christ and Woman with Christ's bride.
God said, "It's not good that Christ should be alone; I'll make a bride fit for Him." And God brought Christ to Earth and brought to Him every man, angel, and creature to see what He thought, but there was no bride found fit for Him. Then God put a 3-day sleep onto Christ, and out of His side, a bride was formed.
That's why He came and died. Not merely to give Himself praise and glory, but so that, in His sleep, a bride could be made. When one has been forgiven of their sins, and the nature of God embedded into them, then have they become part of the bride of Christ. And what must a bride do? Love her husband with all her heart, mind, soul, and strength. But how could she completely love Him, unless He demonstrates His love first? John 15:13 (John 15:13 NLT) "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Indeed, no better way to show how much you love someone than to give one's own life for them. Romans 5:8 (Rom. 5:8 NKJV) "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He showed her He loved her. That's why being a Christian is all about relationship.
Why'd He need a bride to love though? "And YHWH God said, 'It is not good that [Christ] should be alone..." You tell me.
His bride is just like Him. No spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. She's perfect. Sinless. Knows Him well enough to know His thoughts, feel His feelings, and speak His words. Being loving, joyful, peaceable, patient, good, gentle, faithful, humble, kind, and maintaining self-control. Not envying, not prideful or bragging, polite, not self-centered, not easily provoked, thinks no evil, rejoices in truth and not evil, and hopeful. She's got God's own nature, in short. (1 Cor. 13:4-7 RSV, 1 Cor. 13:4-7, Gal. 5:22-23, Gal. 5:22-23 WEB)
That's what you become when you get saved and decide to love Him. The relationship will grow. You will grow more like Him as time goes by.
This is the meaning of life- to have a perfect, loving relationship with Jesus. With what He's done and what we can become, what more do we need?
I'll always love Him.
*For those who are on the mobile website or don't know, I have a Bible plugin that, when I type a reference, will make a box with the verse when the mouse hovers over the reference. It changes translation when I specify it. I put an extra reference in parentheses with a different translation for comparison or easier reading.
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