The Bridegroom – is a name that Jesus (Jehovah, as he was known before he was born) sometimes used to refer to himself. What makes that allegory so good that he saw the need to use it over and over again? Let’s read a short passage in Isaiah:

5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. (Isaiah 62:5)

In this passage the narrator is addressing Israel. (Israel is the chosen people of the Lord, not by birth (for that is Jacob), but through the covenants and ordinances.) The narrator promises that Israel shall be faithful and not give herself to any other God, so that the Bridegroom, even Jehovah, shall rejoice in righteous Israel. This is the beauty of this metaphor. Just as a bridegroom would rejoice if his bride would have no other beside him, in the same way, God does not want Israel (his chosen people) to cheat on him:

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)

14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;

15 (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 6:14-15)

God (in this case meaning the Bridegroom, Jehovah, or Jesus Christ) is a jealous God, but not for his own glory. No, he wants to give all glory to his Father. But he knows that there is no other way to salvation than through obedience, repentance, and calling upon Him for forgiveness. And that was not his idea. That is a law as eternal as God himself. And that law says that there is nothing but the mercy of God that can save man. The law cannot save anyone, only Jesus of Nazareth can. But will he?

8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:8-11)

Before the world was, Jesus (Jehovah) planned this world, and on the command of the Father he created it. After having put every living thing upon it, in preparation for man, he placed man upon the earth. He gave them commandments, sent angels, and visited prophets and so on. Then, as the crowning work, he condescended to live upon the earth, to prove the nature of God. Then he let himself be crucified, bearing every suffering of this world upon his shoulders. On the third day he was resurrected. It is quite obvious that he intends to save as many of us as he possibly can! But he cannot do it by breaking the laws that he himself instituted. Then he would cease to be God, and it would all have been in vain. There have been times when entire cities and lands have refused to listen to the voice of the Lord. In the passage below we will see what the Lord did at the time of the Babylonian captivity, and it is written in the terms of  Christ as the Bridegroom:

10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.

11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. (Jeremiah 25:10-11)

The voice of Jehovah (Jesus, the Bridegroom) would be taken from them, and therefore they would become unhappy. They would go hungry (the millstone is stopped), and they would lack wisdom (they would lack the light that they once had from the candle). When the Bridegroom has no bride on earth, woe unto the world, for where shall people turn for relief? Read these beautiful and heartbreaking words from a people who kept flirting with the gods of the surrounding people. As a result they were taken into Babylon as captives. Their captors just could not understand why this happy people with the cool songs were happy no more, and couldn’t sing any longer…

1 BY the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

4 How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land? (Psalms 137:1- 4)

And all the Bridegroom requires is that the bride (the people of Israel) loves him only, and looks at no other gods! Jesus told a story of ten virgins. Five of them were wise, five of them were foolish. But it appears as if they all loved the Bridegroom. For it must have been their own wedding. What would be the disaster in missing someone else’s wedding? We miss them all the time! No, the disaster is that they had waited long for the Bridegroom to come to their wedding:

1 THEN shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 25:1-13)

‘I know you not’ would be disastrous to hear from the one you love. "But he took so long"! "Last week I had oil, why didn’t he come then"? So it is obvious that we must have no other gods before him. But it is equally clear that he must be our God. Always. Or he will come and our hearts will be broken. We must associate with wise virgins, so that we can seek help from each other in order to be prepared to enter into the wedding feast together. We want to be recognized by the Bridegroom, even Jesus, the crucified.