“Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

— Revelation 21:9

In this vision that God gave to the apostle John, we are invited to take in the glory of “the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” The glorified church is the bride of Christ (see also Revelation 19:5-9; Ephesians 5:21-33). When John sees the bride, he sees in her the glory of God. All the splendors of God adorn her. She is glorious. The church is the ransomed people of God who were slaves to sin and now are set free. Christ loves the church. He gave himself for all God’s people and sanctified them through the gift of his life.

Christ adorned the church to present it to himself as glorious, unblemished. His love for the church is everlasting. As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so Christ rejoices over the church, the bride of the Lamb, which is now being prepared, adorned, and sanctified to meet the bridegroom.

That will be the glorious day of the Lord, when Christ will come with power and glory to live with his bride, the redeemed people of God. They will be gathered from the four corners of the earth. The church will join in the banquet of salvation. And the marriage of the Lamb will be celebrated in a feast that will never end!

Father, your church is the bride of the Lamb, for whom Christ gave himself up. I need to love her more and criticize her less. Give me grace to con­tribute to the beauty of your bride. In Jesus, Amen.