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Written by Luzia Casali, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Porto Alegre, Brazil

The Word of God applies the symbolism of marriage to the relationship between Christ and His church. Through personal sacrifice, He chose the church to be His bride.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. (Eph 5:25-27 NIV)

In biblical times, after the groom committed to marriage, he would leave his parents’ house to build his own house. After the house was ready, he would marry and take his wife to live in it. We have the same comparison of Christ with the church in Revelation 19:7: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” 

In the Gospel of John, chapter 14, when Jesus spoke to His disciples, He had this Hebrew custom in mind (vv2-3). The following advice, given during that conversation, is useful for the church today. 

• Do Not Be Troubled

Jesus advises that even when we face personal struggles and trials, we should follow His steps. He is the way (v. 6). He is the one who will give us the right direction for our lives. We can have the peace that surpasses all understanding only by trusting in Him, having the full conviction that He is preparing the rooms and will come to take us to our eternal home. 

• Believe in Jesus and God

He clearly states that we must believe in both the Father and the Son. And if we know Christ, we will know God as well. Whoever sees Christ sees God.

The way we know Christ is by reading the Gospels. They contain the life, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.

• Obedience to Christ is a Demonstration of Love

Jesus makes it clear that love for Him and obedience to His commandments always go hand in hand. And how can we obey His commandments? By knowing them.

How can we know them? By studying the Word of God. The Bible is the “mouth” through which God speaks to us. It was written by men, but they spoke on behalf of God (2Pe 1:20-21; 2Ti 3:15-16). It is in the Word that we will know the will and commandments of the Heavenly Father.

• Prayer 

Christ wants to have an interpersonal relationship with us. Just as He wants us to know the Father's will and His, He wants to know ours too. 

He wants us to ask the Father in His name. It's as if He were our guarantor. While this is fantastic, on the other hand, it creates a lot of responsibility. We can't ask for just anything; we need to be aligned with the Father's will. We need to be grounded in His Word. If it is God's will, it will be granted. We also can't forget that He has sent the Comforter. He promised and fulfilled it. He sent the Holy Spirit, and we are His sanctuary (1Co 6:19).

It is the Holy Spirit who helps us in our prayers. In addition to comforting us, He helps us in our weaknesses and in our prayers (Ro 8:26). 

• Remain Faithful

Just as the bride had the responsibility to be faithful to the groom, the church of Christ must remain faithful to sound doctrine and His commandments.

We cannot worship other gods. For God, this is like committing adultery, according to Jeremiah 3:13: “Only acknowledge your guilt— you have rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me.”

Therefore, the groom has already fulfilled His part: He went to prepare a place and sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit of God. We, as the bride of Christ, should not be worried because we believe that the groom has gone to prepare our home and will come for us. We should, however, have faith in God and in His Son, maintain a constant dialogue with Him through reading the Bible, obey the Word, and remain faithful to our merciful God.

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Written by Beliza Kocev, Brazil Coordinator at Iron Rose Sister Ministries 

I never liked my name. I wrote other names in all my childhood photo albums. I am not quite sure why this was the case, but I always felt like I had a weird and meaningless name (even in Portuguese, Beliza is not a popular name). No one else had that name, and everyone asked where it came from. 

I also never liked my last name. In Brazil, Silva is a very common last name. Today, I recognize that I just wanted to feel special, and having a super common last name went against my desire. Throughout my childhood and early adolescence, I made plans to change my name at the registry office when I turned 18. I made plans to marry a man with a long last name so mine would be “special.”

I did neither.

I continue to be Beliza, and today I like that my name is unusual and that my mother dedicated time and thought to choosing my name (in fact, creating it)! Beliza is a rearrangement of my grandmother's name IZA-BEL -> BEL-IZA). And even when I got married, Silva remained (the registry office did not allow me to remove my last name— only to add my husband's name which, by the way, is not as long as I had imagined, ha-ha).

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. (Rev 2:17 NIV)

I will receive a new name— I don't know what it will be yet— but like a father who chooses the name of his children, God will give me a new name, remembering that I am an adopted daughter and a part of His family— a name much more special than Beliza— an eternal name. 

In the Scriptures, we see that a name is more than just a combination of letters. It is a representation of the essence of the person who bears it. When we say, “in the name of Jesus,” we are talking about Christ Himself, not just a combination of letters. “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (Jn 14:13-14).

In addition, giving someone a name was a symbol of the authority one had over that person. Adam named the animals (Ge 2:19), and God had already said that Adam would rule over them (Ge 1:26-28). Joseph and Mary did not choose the name of their son— it was up to God to decide that He would be called Jesus (Mt 1:21). From time to time, we see God changing someone’s name as a symbol of a new status, as was the case of Abraham (from Abram), Sarah (from Sarai), and Israel (from Jacob). 

A new name, a new status, a new identity.

May we have the strength and courage to remain firm in faith and receive our new name and crown: “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1Co 9:25).

I don’t know whether you like your name or not, but knowing that our Father chooses an eternal name for us should make us grateful for His care and affection for us. It should help us remember that there is no greater love than this—to be called children of God. May we keep this in our hearts until the day the words of Revelation 22:4 are fulfilled: “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”