'And the bride will run to her lover's arms...'

"The Bible tells many stories of human marriages...But above these stories the Bible tells a bigger story, the story of a marriage which includes within itself the whole history and future of the human race. It is the story of God the Lover, the Bridegroom, the Husband, and his people his Beloved, his Bride, and in the end his Wife. It is the story that John the Baptist had in mind when he spoke of Jesus as the 'Bridegroom' (John 3:25-30), and the story that Jesus himself accepted when he spoke of himself as the 'Bridegroom' (eg. Mt 9:14-15). It is the story Paul referred to when he spoke of the church being 'engaged' to Jesus Christ like a pure virgin (2 Cor 11:2).

It is the story that John speaks of in the visionary imagery of Revelation 19 and 21... At the climax of human history John hears the announcement, 'The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready' (Rev 19:7). The Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, is to be married at last. His Bride is his people, every believer of all time, corporately to be joined to him forever in a union of unmixed delight and intimacy. This is a time of joy and amazement. And then, in Revelation 21, John sees the heavenly Jerusalem, that is, the whole new heavens and new earth, the restored and redeemed created order, coming down out of heaven as a city, but not only a city, also a bride...'the bride, the wife of the Lamb' (Rev 21:2,9). All of the people of God in the new heavens and new earth are the bride of Jesus Christ. That is to say, he loves them passionately, and they love him with an answering love.

And in that new age their love will be consummated with an intimacy and enduring delight that the best human marriage can only begin faintly to echo... This is an amazing and beautiful prospect: a time when all the deepest yearnings and longings of the human heart will be fulfilled. And it is open to all who will come in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ in this age. The invitation is open."

- Christopher Ash, 'Married for God'