The Bride of Christ 2015

The husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 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. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:23-32, ESV).

The theme of the Pastors’ Conference this year has been announced as being the Bride of Christ. It’s important for us both to know and to remember that in the Scriptures, when God chose to enter into a special covenantal relationship with the people, He did so under the image of the metaphor of becoming Husband to those thus favored by His grace. This was true when God entered into that special covenant with the people of Israel. God Himself likened that relationship to His becoming the Husband of Israel. This reality is captured in many passages of the Old Testament. Among all biblical analogies and metaphors declaring wonderful realities of privilege and responsibility, perhaps none is more precious, intimate, and endearing than that of Christ as the Husband of His people, His precious Bride. He has set His heart upon them, determined to make them fit to be His Bride.  

—Excerpt from “The Bride of Christ: Her Beauty Perfected and Manifested on Her Wedding Day,” preached by Albert N. Martin.