God is not just a bridegroom, He’s the Bridegroom. He’s not just one among many; He’s the Only. He does not follow our definitions of bridegroom; He is the Definer.
In the days of the Old Testament prophets, God described His affection and commitment toward Israel as that of a bridegroom toward his bride; He told them He missed the devotion of their youth, how as a bride they loved Him; and He promised to do such a work of recall in them that they would one day be fully devoted to Him as Husband (Isa. 62:5; Jer. 2:2; Hos. 3:1). When God took on flesh, He proclaimed Himself to be the Bridegroom of old (Mt. 9:15). It was not merely a disclosure of His desire for the heart of man; it was a statement of His Divinity. When Christ called Himself the Bridegroom, He declared He is Yahweh—the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; the God who parted the Red Sea. He was saying, in essence, “I’m here to betroth you to Myself forever.”
Before God made the heavens and earth, He was the Bridegroom. Out of the overflow of His heart, His mouth spoke, “Let there be light,” and “Let Us make man in our own image.” These great decrees, and all the creative commands that lay between them, are the beginning of the record of His pursuit of the human heart.
He created the heavens and earth to be the landscape on which His glory is displayed and the setting in which to pursue the heart of mankind. He chose the Cross before there were any trees for its timbers (1 Pet. 1:19-20). He knew us long before He brought us forth. The Father “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless…” (Eph. 1:4, emphasis mine).
In Ephesians 5:32 Paul tells us that God’s design for man and wife speaks of a great mystery: Christ and the Church. In other words, man and wife did not come first in God’s heart, Christ and the Bride did. God gave marriage to mankind to bear witness to His plan to bring forth a treasured people unto Himself.
When God formed Eve out of Adam’s side, and saw their joy in each other, He didn’t think, “Oh, what a great idea to have a wife. I’d like one, too!” No, Adam and Eve were brought forth because the Bride was already in God’s heart.
This is why Jesus does not call Himself a bridegroom, but the bridegroom (Mt. 9:15). He is not one of many rising out of the ashes of self-seeking, sin-diseased unions. He is the Author, before whose glory all have fallen short.
Something in the human heart craves being part of a love story, just listen to the tales of the generations. To be joyfully loved is one of the deepest longings of the human heart. I think this is because God put it there. We were made to be part of a love story: His story. The meaning and the glory of our existence is hidden in Him. Outside of Him, man has no glory which will last.
Have you ever wondered why God likened His love for us to something that is so fractured and failing? Earthly marriage is beset with struggle, betrayal, and death. How is our broken picture supposed to lead us to the perfect one?
Perhaps the answer is simply this: When we see that nothing of this world satisfies the desire that burns within us, then we are ready for encounter with God.
I wonder if some of our marriage troubles are rooted in our expectation (even demand!) that our natural spouse would be to us the all-in-all fulfillment of our souls, when only One can be! Such idolatry, such grasping onto another to be that which only God can be, creates a climate of disappointment and sets up a spouse for failure—again and again! We have taken a good gift that was meant to lead us to Him, and we have exalted it above Him.
Our ache for perfect love is a God-given gift designed to lead us to Him. He is the Bridegroom—totally-other-than in righteousness and faithfulness. Here, as we consider our betrothal to the God of Genesis 1, exuberant celebration joins with a holy hush, and total transparency of heart joins with utmost reverence in our way.
He is holy. He is our Maker. And is our Husband.