The Jesus Who SurprisesSample

The Renewal of All Things

One of the most beautiful references to Jesus in the Old Testament is that of a Bridegroom. The Bible begins with a wedding, ends with a wedding, and is shot through with pictures of a faithful Bridegroom rescuing, loving, and transforming an unfaithful bride.

In Isaiah, we begin to understand the beautiful truth that caused Jesus to go through the anguish that He did. Like a determined lover, He set His face like flint to rescue, redeem, and restore. Isaiah says of true believers who make up the bride, 

You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, 

but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her. . . . 

And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, 

so shall your God rejoice over you.

—Isaiah 62:4–5 

Jesus will delight in us and we in Him, and our land will be like the most glorious spring you can imagine. In a sense, every spring we get a preview of the “renewal of all things.” In northern Wisconsin we wait with longing for spring, for she is always late. We grumble in May when there is yet another snowstorm. But oh! When she arrives, she is like a beautiful woman late for a date—she is so glorious that all is forgiven. Blue forget-me-nots blanket the forest, the fragrance of lilacs fills the air, the cherry orchards dance with blossoms in the breeze, the trees burst with spring green, and the seagulls soar, once again dipping in a lake shimmering in the sun. 

This is the world delightfully pictured in the Song of Songs, which is, indeed, a picture of the curse reversed and Eden restored. Jesus will call the names of everyone written in the book of life, and we will rise from the dead with our new glorious bodies, heeding the call spoken by the bridegroom in the Song of Songs: 

Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, 

for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. 

The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, 

and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

—Song of Songs 2:10–12 

Is it easy for you to picture Jesus as a Bridegroom wooing you to Himself? Why or why not?