John 3:29
“He
who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who
stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice.
Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled”
This passage spoke to me about the
church, the corporate bride of Christ. As a friend of the bridegroom, we are
not called to judge, criticize or condemn the bride, but to rejoice with her
and serve her. The bridegroom knows more about his bride than a friend does. In
that same regard, Christ knows, cares and loves the church (his bride) much
more than we could ever love her. As a friend of the bridegroom, my job is not
to tell the bridegroom how awful the bride is, but to serve his purpose for
her. My job is to rejoice with him and to serve her.
In this passage, the friend of the
bridegroom was John the Baptist himself. His great joy was being privileged, as
forerunner, to prepare the people for the heavenly Bridegroom. He contrasted
his own role with that of Jesus, asserting the supremacy of Jesus. This talks
about the forerunner ministry and how our role is to be a friend of the
bridegroom now and make way for the Lord when He returns. Our job is to carry
the message that our bridegroom (Jesus) has commanded us to convey in our
lifetime, and then rejoice when we hear His voice when He returns for us,
making way for Him to come. He must increase and we must decrease. We must
realize that it is not about our ministry or capabilities; not even about an a
particular organization, church or ministry, but it is all about Him (the
bridegroom). When He comes, everything else needs to fade away to make room for
Him to take all the glory. We need to learn that humility now as friends of the
bridegroom.
