The Bible is a love story, God’s love letter to us. God is LOVE—it’s who He is and what He does.The Creator of the universe is head over heels in love with us and wants to be married to us for all eternity. When we get saved, it’s like getting engaged. Paul alluded to this, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2). We are betrothed to Christ now but the wedding is still to come when He returns. While we enjoy many blessings of a deep, love relationship with Jesus now, after the wedding, we’ll experience all the bliss and benefits of a full marriage union with Him forever.
Human marriage is a metaphor for something greater—a spiritual marriage God longs to share with us.Remember, Jesus’ ministry began at a wedding where He worked His first miracle (Jn. 2:1-11), and it will culminate at another wedding—our wedding (Rev. 19:7-9). God used the marriage metaphor to describe His relationship with Israel, “You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah [My delight is in her], and your land Beulah [married]; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married” (Is. 62:4). Squire Parsons’ classic song says it well, “Beulah Land, I’m longing for you and some day on thee I’ll stand. Where my home shall be eternal, Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land.” Beulah means “married” and it describes a future time when we’ll be married to God in an eternal spiritual union.
God desires a passionate, love relationship with His bride, not a sense of duty or obligation, but delight. “And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Is. 62:5b). Christ had one complaint about the Church of Ephesus, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Rev. 2:4). They had lost their passion, zeal, and desire for Him. They were distracted with other things, and Jesus said, “Hey, what about ME?” If you truly love someone, you want to spend time with them and make them your top priority.
Paul used the same analogy of the marriage relationship with Christ and the church, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:31-32). In human marriage, two people become one flesh physically, emotionally, and sexually. Spiritual marriage is a spiritual union with God who is a spirit being—“He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17). We know from Scripture there are only two genders—“Male and female created He them” (Gen. 1:27). Don’t get hung up on the gender terms. Men are in the bride of Christ and women are called “sons of God.” These are just general terms used for all God’s people.
While gender is a big issue now, it won’t be in heaven. Jesus explained, “The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection” (Lk. 20:34-36). Human gender and marriage are temporary and they serve God’s purpose in this world for stability in the family and in society and for the reproduction of the human race. In Christ, however, there is no male or female, Jew or Gentile, black or white, rich or poor because we’re all ONE in Him.
Genesis 24 records one of the greatest love stories in the Bible, a romance from 4,000 years ago. It’s an allegory of Christ’s deep love for His bride. An allegory is a story that has a deeper, symbolic, or spiritual meaning in addition to its surface meaning. Rebekah’s selection to be Isaac’s wife is a beautiful type of how we have been chosen as the bride of Christ. Meet the cast of characters: Abraham represents God the Father who sent out His Spirit in search for a bride for Christ. Isaac, the promised son whose name means “laughter,” represents Jesus who brings true joy to our lives. Eliezer, the steward of Abraham’s household, is a fitting type of the Holy Spirit. His name aptly means “God is my helper.” Rebekah represents the church, the bride of Christ. Just as Abraham sent Eliezer to a distant land to find Isaac’s wife, God sent the Holy Spirit into the world to find the bride of Christ.
Abraham told Eliezer not to take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites (Gen. 24:3). Why? They were a cursed people (Noah cursed His grandson, Canaan, and the Canaanites were his descendants—Gen. 9:25). They would later be destroyed during the conquest of Canaan as Israel possessed the Promised Land. The Canaanites were pagan idolaters, immoral, and wicked people. Abraham didn’t want Eliezer to just go out and randomly recruit someone. God is looking for a certain kind of bride who has a faithful, compatible spirit. So, Eliezer took a caravan of ten camels loaded with gifts to Mesopotamia to the City of Nahor, Abraham’s brother (Gen. 24:10).
When Eliezer arrived at the well of the city, he prayed that God would send Isaac’s future bride to pour him some water and to offer to water his camels also. Before he finished praying, a gorgeous girl named Rebekah showed up at the same time at the same place (Gen. 24:11-21).Coincidence? Albert Einstein said, “Coincidence is when God remains anonymous.”This wasn’t coincidence; it was providence! Some say God doesn’t care about love, marriage, romance, and sex. Are you kidding me? He invented it! It was all His idea and design from the very beginning when He formed Eve from Adam’s rib in Eden. Hollywood, Disney, and the Hallmark Channel didn’t invent love stories, God did. And He wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives including our relationships.
Rebekah’s beauty is implied in her name which means “captivating.” The KJV says she was “very fair to look upon.” She was so beautiful Isaac later lied to King Abimelech and the men of Gerar and said she was his sister for fear they’d kill him and steal her (Gen. 26:6-11). But Rebekah had inward character to go with her outward charm. She was willing to work and to get her hands dirty. She offered Eliezer water plus she watered all his camels. (Camels can drink 30-40 gallons of water at a time and he had ten camels, so she drew and poured 300-400 gallons of water.) She was kind, generous, hard-working, and hospitable which all speaks to her character. God isn’t seeking for a bride who just appears religious on the outside; He seeks for one who has a pure heart and is righteous inwardly. “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27).
Eliezer gave Rebekah a sampling of Isaac’s treasure—a gold nose ring, two bracelets, plus other silver and gold jewelry (Gen 24:22, 53). Paul called the Holy Spirit “the earnest” of our spiritual inheritance three times (2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5, Eph. 1:14). An “earnest” is a downpayment, a pledge, a promise, a guarantee to pay more later. Eliezer brought ten camels loaded with gifts (food, clothes, jewelry, riches) to bless Rebekah and her family with a dowery. Some scholars see the ten camels as a type of the nine gifts of the Spirit, plus love which makes all the gifts work effectively. Eliezer showered Rebekah and her family with gifts that were just a portion of Isaac’s riches and basically said, “There’s a whole lot more where these came from.” Likewise, God has given His church many spiritual gifts and blessings as a downpayment on all the benefits heaven holds for those who make up His eternal bride.
Finally, it all came down to Rebekah’s choice—was she willing to go with Eliezer to marry Isaac? “Then they called Rebekah and said to her, ‘Will you go with this man?’ And she said, “I will go” (Gen. 24:58). Think of it, Rebekah was willing to leave her home, her family, and everything she knew and held dear, to believe in, love, and marry a man she’d never met. She was willing to go to a strange land she’d never seen. She heard enough good things about Isaac from Eliezer to gladly forsake everything to marry him. Even so, God is looking for a bride that is willing to forsake all to follow Him.Like Rebekah, we believe in and love a God we’ve never seen and we’re willing to go live in a land we’ve never visited. The Holy Spirit has told us enough good things about Jesus that we are willing to forsake everything to be His bride. “There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear” (1 Jn. 4:18).
So, save the date, because our wedding day is already booked. “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give Him glory: for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready . . . Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:7, 9). Think about how much preparation goes into a wedding. Months of planning goes into just a few moments on one special day. From the venue, to the dress, clothes, flowers, music, food, cake, décor, make up, hair, nails, and much more. Well, a special day is rapidly approaching—God’s wedding with us! Are you ready? If not, it’s time to get ready and stay ready. God’s love proposal to us is “Will you marry Me and be My bride eternally?” And we say “Yes, Lord!” “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ . . . Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:17, 20)