I know that my wife is beautiful. I am in awe when I see her. We have a picture of the two of us on our wedding day where I look completely captivated by her. Thinking of that now, I remember being teased a bit about it as not being a serious picture. I don’t think that is the case at all. I see it now as a picture of how I should see her. Radiant and glorious to behold.

We have seen in the scriptures that Christ is the head of the church. And now we see that the New Jerusalem is the Bride and Wife of the Christ.

“⁹Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.’” – Revelation 21:9 (ESV)

I know that it does not say that explicitly in the verse above, but the full passage is titled “The New Jerusalem” in my ESV Bible. The angel does not say to introduce you to the Bride, but to “show you the Bride”. The angel is showing John around the city. Showing him her beauty and grandeur.

“²And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” – Revelation 21:2 (ESV)

Make no mistake, the “Bride” of Christ is beautiful. In the passage that is Revelation 21:9-27 we find the description of what the New Jerusalem will be like. The sheer size of her, the ornate structures. The jewel adorned walls and foundations. The gold streets. The radiance of her sight is almost unimaginable. She is the most beautiful ever seen.

I take this description of the New Jerusalem and translate that to the beauty of my wife. Lori may not be a greatly ornate structure, or be adorned in jewels, or have gold streets, but she is radiant and the most beautiful to me. Isn’t that how we should see our wife, as the most beautiful sight seen?

“³Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— ⁴but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. ⁵For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, ⁶as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” – 1 Peter 3:1-6 (ESV)

Just as the beauty of the New Jerusalem is for Christ, the beauty of our wife is for us to see and for the world to recognize. She is for us. We see her in her true beauty as presented by God. She is to be beautiful to us and to God. And this is the true beauty of your wife.

What is the beauty of your wife? Is she there for all the world to see as beautiful? What if she is to be beautiful to you in your sight and for God as the New Jerusalem is beautiful for Christ?