God's Ultimate Passion:
Unveiling the Purpose Behind Everything by Frank Viola
"Now we understand why Jesus never
married while on earth. It was because his bride was inside of Him! The burning
intent of your Lord was to have a companion. This, in fact, was the chief
motivation that caused Him to defeat Satan. For in order to obtain His glorious
Bride, He had to pay the ultimate price.... 37
"Like Adam, your Lord was put into a
deep sleep. There are two main reasons for this. First, through His death, Jesus
Christ destroyed everything that would stand in His way of winning the hand of
His beloved Bride. To wit, He destroyed the sin that would eternally
separate her from Him. He destroyed the Law which would suffocate her
under a / mountain of religious bondage and a pile of crushing condemnation. He
destroyed the power of the evil one who would seek to take her life. He
destroyed the world system, which would lure her heart away from Him. He
destroyed the old creation which would defile and corrupt her. But most
importantly, He destroyed death itself..." 37-38
"...for He would ensure that the
object of His passion would never taste death. Your Lord made sure that He
removed all that could harm His lovely Bride before she came into existence. For
this reason, He would not allow her to appear until death was overcome....
"Jesus Christ 'endured the cross' by
beholding the 'joy that was set before Him' (Heb 12:2) And that joy was His
bride!" (38)
"...the Lord has a restless desire to pour out the torrential love that has been
imprisoned in His heart. He has an intense drive born of a holy obsession to
lavish that love upon His beloved Bride -- the supreme object of His ravished
heart. Consequently what grieves Him the most is when she does not accept that
love. Therein lies the tension of a frustrated God." 52