Various ministers may in a sermon claim that Christians will become the Bride of Christ in Heaven, or that “the Church” will marry Jesus. The language may take some aback. There are various strange sounding things in the Christian faith that sometimes need to be unpacked.
What is meant by this, the Church being the bride of Christ, is rather a bit of word play. Through the New Testament Saint Paul explains that the Church is the Body of Christ, with Jesus Christ as the head, like how the husband and father is the head of his household. The Church being the body is the part that is active in the world acting as He would wish. The marriage is mentioned in Revelation 19 and it is a ceremonial event. Marriage is basically the closest metaphor for this event. On Earth we know that a marriage is among the main life events of people. On wedding day at the marriage, the two spouses are very in love and in top form. It is a time of unity that should be the start of something that will last forever.
In Ephesians 5 Saint Paul writes of Jesus and the Church, “that He might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”
In Leviticus 11:45 all are commanded by God: Be holy, because I am holy.
Much of the Christian teaching on this site has been to encourage a new believer in how to get on board as a true Christian with discarding worldly corruptions and helping people change and improve. This is because our life is to ultimately convert to Good and discard corrupt ways in favor of living virtuously – refining one’s character. These are the expectations upon us to save us from eternal hell.
According to scripture in John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. So that whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have eternal life.”
The ceremony of celebration in Heaven is a certain point in time when all who are saved across all generations are gathered. This is referred to as a wedding celebration. In Heaven we can look forward to being filled with the love of God. I expect that everybody will be idealized – vibrant, lucid, and youthful. Life on Earth will seem like an old dream. The problem of evil will have been solved by God through humans who have undergone living in a time with Good and evil, and having chosen Good and rejection of all that is against God. (Of course, evil can’t win, and those that reject God will be deprived of Earth and deprived of anything that is good.)
Words of course won’t do it justice. The point though is that God values us individually, and staying out of sin, and staying pious, is how we stay in God’s love, with the reward of eternal life. Salvation is a gift of God’s grace according to Ephesians 2.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
With the understanding that life on Earth is temporary, we nevertheless do need to “do good”.