Bridal incarnation

It’s often noted, but during this Advent the point struck home with particular force: John begins his gospel with the incarnational gospel that the “Word became flesh and tabernacled ( skenoo ) among us.” God the Word descends from heaven to pitch His tent with men.

But that incarnational descent is not, in a sense, completed unti the revelation of the bride. The same verb ( skenoo ) appears again in Revelation 21:3: “Behold the tent of God with men, and he will tabernacle with them.” But this describes not the descent of the Son but of the Bride (v. 1).

God’s residence with humanity doesn’t reach its end until the Spirit-filled Bride descends from heaven. The church is not so much a “continuing incarnation” as a “completion of the incarnation.”