Flawless Bride

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:8‬

The Christ was born to die. He knew how He would die. He prophesied the manner of His death. He knew He would be forsaken. He knew the pain that He was to endure. Knowing all this, He refused to turn away. Instead, He walked on to face His death. Love lead Him there. Love for His bride. Love for His unfaithful bride.

The joy of Christmas. The victory at Easter. They can never be complete without the love that flowed from the cross, in the form of His blood, on that day nearly 2000 years ago. The Good Friday. The day when God displayed the depths of His goodness. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We wandered far. We loved sin more than we loved Him. But still.. He chose to die for us, so that in Him we may live.

And Jesus, having finished His work, must have seen us wayward sinners, and the brokenness that lay within us. As He hung on the cross, broken for our sins, He must have seen the sin inflicted wounds and the scars in our souls that only His blood could heal. And on that day – that Good Friday – even as He had lost all His beauty through the brutality of the crucifixion, He must have longed for the day to come, when He would set His loving gaze upon us – His broken bride, made whole by His blood – and say,

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.

‭‭The Song of Solomon‬ ‭4:7‬