#1153. Are we unfaithful to Jesus’ bride? (26/9/24)

Welcome to this Come to Jesus Daily devotional as we continue in our God Vision for the Church series. Today we reflect on whether our attitude toward the church - Jesus’ bride - matches His, or have we become unfaithful to Jesus’ bride?

To watch this devotional, follow the link below:

https://youtu.be/lfCS06InnBY

‘One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.  It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.  It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.  There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.  The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.’ (Revelation 21:9-14)

Revelation 21:9–14

The Other Mrs. Jordan: Catching the Ultimate Conman is a documentary series about William Allen Jordan, a conman who deceived multiple women, including Mary Turner Thomson, by posing as a CIA agent. He manipulated them emotionally and financially, fathering children and marrying several women simultaneously. Mary uncovered the truth when contacted by another wife of Jordan, leading to the discovery of his web of lies and fraud. I use this extreme case of marital unfaithfulness to draw our attention to the way that we must all avoid become serially unfaithful to Jesus’ bride - the church.

i. Do we share Jesus’ attitude to His bride?

Having, in recent devotions, considered how the church is Jesus’ beloved bride, we need to weigh up our own attitude to her in light of these things; are you and I in love with Jesus’ bride? Do we share Jesus’ attitude to His church or have we become bored or even unfaithful to her?

ii. Why do we become unfaithful?

We can become unfaithful in many realms of life: in friendships, in marriage, toward work expectations, toward God and we can become unfaithful toward the church. What is unfaithfulness? Simply, it’s to act without faith. It’s to exchange what God says for a lie. We become unfaithful toward Jesus’ bride, when we no longer believe what He says about His church. We may say that we believe she is the bride of Christ with a great destiny, but our lack of love and devotion proves us to be a liar! So how do we restore love and faithfulness? The repairing of love and faithfulness toward the church, as in all areas of life, is about allowing God to inspire us with the truth as we see in today’s text. God wants to show us and fill our hearts with the beauty and His love for His church.

iii. Let the Spirit show you ‘the wife of the Lamb

Our text begins with this phrase, ‘One of the seven angels…said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.’ This phrase speaks of God’s desire to inspire us with fresh revelation of His bride. He wants us to join Him in his hope and love for His bride. Today, may we be ‘carried away’ by the Spirit and raised up on a ‘mountain great and high’ so as to see the beauty of Jesus’ church.

Let’s pray together as we finish:

“Lord Jesus, please impart to me your love for your bride, your church. Help me to be faithful and of service to your people. Help me to be a peace maker and a ‘restorer of broken walls’ - one who brings love and health to your church. Amen.”