Spiritual Marriage Royal Wedding Sacred Matrimony Bride & Bridegroom Prince & Princess, King & Queen
The identity of the bride is generally considered within Christian theology to be the church, with Jesus as the bridegroom; Ephesians 5:22–33 in particular compares the union of husband and wife to that of Christ and the church.
Old Testament
Traces back before Christianity — Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon)
The earliest Christian tradition identifies texts from the Hebrew Bible as symbolic of the divine love of God and people. The love poems of the Song of Songs and the latter prophet Hosea have many references to an intimate, spousal relationship between God and the people of God. The prophet Hosea notes his bride in chapter 2, verses 16 and following. The theme of bridal love is central in the dramatic marriage of Hosea (Hosea 1:2).
“And it shall be, in that day,” Says the Lord, “That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ And no longer call Me ‘My Master.’ … I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the Lord.”
- Hosea 2:16, 19–20 (NKJV)
For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.
- Isaiah 62:5 (NKJV)
Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, A most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can the floods drown it.
- Song of Songs 8:6–7 (NKJV)
Gospels
The Gospel of John speaks of Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom and mentions the bride:
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.
- John 3:29 (NKJV)
When asked about fasting:
Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.
- Mark 2:19–20 (NKJV)
The bridegroom in parable:
Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
- Matthew 25:1 (NKJV)
New Testament
And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. … Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.
- Revelation 21:2, 9–10 (NKJV)
And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
- Revelation 22:17 (NKJV)
Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.
- Revelation 19:7 (NKJV)
For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 11:2 (NKJV)
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
- Ephesians 5:31–32 (NKJV)
Christian Mystics
The soul seeks the Word as the bride seeks her bridegroom; and when she finds Him, she clings to Him and will not let Him go.
- Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs
This is an espousal which takes place in the center of the soul… the soul becomes one with God.
- Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle VII
The Bride has entered the sweet garden of her desire, and at her pleasure rests, her neck reclining on the gentle arms of the Beloved.
- John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle
Gnostics & The Bridal Chamber
The Lord did everything in a mystery: a baptism and a chrism and a eucharist and a redemption and a bridal chamber.
- Gospel of Philip
When you make the two one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner … then you will enter the Kingdom.
- Gospel of Thomas 22
Kabbalah
Come, my beloved, to meet the Bride; let us welcome the presence of the Sabbath.
- Lecha Dodi (Kabbalat Shabbat)
Zoharic theme: union of Tiferet and Malkhut (the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Shekhinah) as hieros gamos, especially on the Sabbath; see Zohar I:7b; II:96a; III:97a; Tikkunei Zohar.
Esoteric, Hermetic, Alchemical
Rosarium Philosophorum, Aurora Consurgens, and Splendor Solis develop the coniunctio of King and Queen (royal marriage) culminating in the rebis. Corpus Hermeticum (e.g., Poimandres) is read as reunifying separated principles. Paracelsian and Rosicrucian sources recast the motif in the “chymical wedding.”
“The (masculine) seeker or bridegroom receives the Gift of Heaven or Grail from the (feminine) provider or bride. An archetypal and metaphysical exchange between worlds and realities; between heaven and earth, between the loved and the beloved.” - Mike Bais