Hi, Pastor John.
I was reading in Ephesians this morning and was touched by these verses in chapter 5, verses 31-33, which talk about the love of a man concerning his wife as loving himself (and her) as being one body.
Pastor John’s Version:
- “For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one body.”
- This is a great mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the Assembly of God.
- In any case, let each man among you love his wife as he loves himself. And let the wife reverence her husband.
I read vs. 32 and had to stop. Paul was speaking about what Jesus did for the Assembly (or body). So, I read vs 31 again, substituting Jesus instead of the man.
“For this reason, Jesus left his Father and will cleave to His bride, and they two shall be one body (with the Father because Jesus said he and his Father will take up his abode in us).” After doing this, I felt so much love from Jesus that I fell to my knees in tears. Just to think that Jesus left everything and his daddy just so we can be one body together with him (and his Father). It is a “great mystery”, as Paul said in vs. 32.
Jesus is doing nothing more than loving himself (and his Father) by loving us. My . . . now we can love the Father as Jesus loves Him, too.
The wonderful thing is, you don’t have to have an earthly husband or wife for this to happen as long as you are Jesus’ bride.
Love always,
Billy