There is a thing called beauty. We are all drawn to it. We desire it. We pursue it.

When we pursue beauty, when we seek its essence, when we look for its source, we eventually find ourselves at Christ. As the creator of all, he is the source of all, and thus, the source of beauty.

There is a book that tells a story. It is the story of Christ and his pursuit of beauty. It’s a fascinating read. Few would believe it.

As the story goes, Christ desires a bride. As the Creator of all, Christ must create his bride. And being who he is – God – his bride would not be like any other bride. And as the creator of beauty, he would create a bride that was not like any other beauty. She would be something the word beauty would seem inadequate for.

And this bride’s beauty would be with no imperfections. The beauty would be all encompassing. She would be perfect. She would be beauty perfected.

And if there was an imperfection, regardless of how minute or unperceivable to others it might be, he would do anything, he would pay any price, to perfect it. He would take nothing less as his bride. He would do nothing less for his bride.

And he did.

He paid for her perfection with his life. This was not just man, this was God, the creator of man, dying to remove the blemishes he was not responsible for. He paid a price that is priceless. Nothing ever has, or will, come with a higher price tag.

The result?

A bride of stunning beauty. A bride with a beauty eyes have never before beheld.

And she is us – not as we are, but as we will be.

She is the church – not the church we see, but the church of true believers in Christ from every people from every corner of the earth and from every age who will, on the wedding day, stand together, as one, before the groom, Christ Jesus, who will upon seeing his bride, say the sweetest words a bride can hear:

“You are beautiful.”