As I celebrate my 15th wedding anniversary today, I am reminded of not only the wonderful man that God joined me with as one flesh, and God’s amazing grace in bringing us together, but I’m also reminded of my Bridegroom Jesus, the perfect husband to His Bride, the Church.
It doesn’t take being married here on earth to understand the role and relationship of Jesus in our lives though. Just as He joined the very first couple together as one flesh, our great, great, great grands Adam and Eve, as a picture of unity, Jesus desires to be one with us the way He is with the Father. His High Priestly Prayer shares His thoughts and desires about this unity so beautifully:
“I do not ask for these only but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me…I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:20-23; 26)
Jesus desire for us to be one with Him and the Father is two-fold, that we would believe, knowing He was sent by the Father, and know the Father’s love for us, that it would be in us. 1 John tells us that God is love, and He wants love in us, which will be evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit, which is love. (1 John 4:7-8; Galatians 5:22)
In this desire, Jesus demonstrated His love toward us by laying down His life, being the Good Shepherd as He protected us from the wrath of God and restores our soul. He has gone to prepare a place for us, of which we cannot not even imagine what God has prepared for us, who love Him (John 14:3; 1 Corinthians 2:9).
Today, whether you’re married, dating, or single, I encourage you to read though on your own and meditate on Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, as you think on the personal ways Jesus has been your Bridegroom, and thanking Him not only for past blessings but also for those which are to come.
JOHN 17 (ESV):
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”