In the Bible, God often uses metaphors or word pictures to describe our relationship with Him; for example, a shepherd and sheep (John 10:7–15), a father and child (2 Corinthians 6:18), a vine and branches (John 15:1–5)—and a bride and groom (Isaiah 62:5).
Although the Bible contains 66 books, commentators have often noted that it is really one book with a consistent theme. It is a love story. Like every love story, this one has a beginning, some ups and downs, and a dramatic conclusion.
This love story truly starts “in the beginning” when God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. He fashioned them exactly as He wanted, breathed the breath of life into them, and then admired His handiwork: “This is very good!”
Unfortunately, the first man and woman chose to reject God’s offer of an eternal, perfect, intimate relationship with Him and instead chose to wander away into the pursuit of self and sin. Without God, humans who were created to enjoy intimacy with Him instead experienced loneliness, confusion, and pain. Throughout the millennia, we have tried all sorts of things to recover the feeling of fulfillment that this lost intimacy provided, but nothing was able to satisfy.
In the end, although we were the ones who turned our backs on God, it was He who initiated reconciliation. In His love, He knew that there was only one solution. Despite the cost, He chose to willingly send His own Son to lead the way back to Him.
What does that mean for us? It means Christianity is not simply a religion, or rules or rituals. Christianity is a relationship—and not just any relationship, but one that the Bible likens to a marriage, where there is meant to be intimacy, transparency, open communication, and shared hopes and desires. The Bible tells us, “For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name” (Isaiah 54:5), and that we are “married to Him who was raised from the dead [Jesus], that we should bear fruit to God” (Romans 7:4 NKJV).