We’ve entered into a marriage contract, a covenant, with the creator of the universe, but how many of us really know who He is? Have we made the commitment and spent time with Him to learn who He is and what He says? I suspect if you’re like I was, you have spent entirely too much time at the foot of the Cross, trying to figure that out.

While we entered into our marriage contract with Him at the Cross, it’s a huge mistake on our part to remain there. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I am not diminishing the importance of the Cross but there is so much more ahead for each of us if we will rise up and walk with Jesus. Salvation is just the beginning. There is a whole lifetime of adventure waiting for us if we will just step into it. And the first step we need to take is to understand just what it means to be His bride and what obligations go along with it.

We’ve had our last glass of wine with Him and we’ve been given our gift and His pledge that He will return. Now He’s in His Father’s house, building our new home; our mansion. The word mansion (mone) comes from the verb “to remain” and means the place where one “dwells.” When our bridegroom comes for us we are going to dwell with Him forever. But right now our mansion is the earth and we are in peril of missing the blessing if we don’t understand that His Rest is here and now.

Here’s the key; it doesn’t matter which mansion we’re in, we need to rejoice in the fact that we’re permitted to dwell with Him. Yes, we’re going to transition to a better mansion in the future, but why should that keep us from living life to the spiritual fullest here on earth. Why shouldn’t we Rest in Him now?

Too often we allow who we are in Christ to be clouded by the world around us. Our features have been distorted, scarred and marred by the trials and tribulations of this natural life and our spiritual vision has become blurred. We come before our bridegroom with a negative self-image, the same way Solomon’s bride saw herself. The image she had of herself was sinful and sorrowful, black as the tents of Kedar; the camel hair desert tents that had been turned black by hard use and the scorching desert sun. Her view was captured by John Newton (writer of Amazing Grace) in his hymn, Great God From Thee: 

Since I can hardly therefore bear,
What in myself I see
How vile and dark must I appear
Most holy God to Thee? 

But in the same breath she realized that in Solomon’s eyes she was also comely. To him she was not only beautiful; she was “suitable.”

But since my Savior stands between
In garments dyed in blood
Tis He instead of me is seen
When I approach to God 

Haven’t we all felt that way? Sorrow in our sin makes us look at ourselves and want to hide away from what we see, but deep down inside we know that in Jesus’ eyes we too are like the curtains of Solomon; the fine white linen that hung on the walls of Solomon’s temple. In His eyes we are pure; our wedding dress has been made white in His righteousness. We may be black in our own eyes but we’re comely in His. The world may see our black outside but He sees His glory on the inside, we’re sinners yet saints. What He wants is for us to change our view to His and begin to bring what’s on the inside to the outside, letting the Holy Spirit work on the outside to reflect what has been fully put on the inside.