He that has the bride is the bridegroom. However, the friend of the bridegroom, when he stands and hears him, has a great deal of joy on account of the voice of the bridegroom. Therefore this joy of mine has been made full.” (John 3:28, 29)

6, 7. (a) Who is the “bride” of this Son of the heavenly King? (b) Ephesians 5:23-32 likens the relationship between Jesus Christ and his congregation to what?

⁶ Like any prospective bridegroom, Jesus must have had great pleasure when thinking and speaking about this “bride” whom the King, his heavenly Father, would give him. The “bride” is, of course, not an individual person, not an individual disciple of Jesus Christ. To the contrary, it is a composite or collective person, his whole body or congregation of faithful anointed disciples. This should not appear strange. In the prophecies of the Bible the ancient nation of Israel is likened to the wife of Jehovah God, because the nation was, as it were, married to Him by accepting the Law covenant that was mediated by the prophet Moses at Mount Sinai in Arabia. (Isa 54:5; Jer. 3:14; 31:31, 32) So the relationship between the Son of God and his anointed congregation is likened to that of a husband and wife; as we read:

⁷ “A husband is head of his wife as the Christ also is head of the congregation, he being a savior of this body. Husbands, continue loving your wives, just as the Christ also loved the congregation and delivered up himself for it. This sacred secret is great. Now I am speaking with respect to Christ and the congregation.”​—Eph. 5:23, 25, 32.

8. Where and how will the marriage of the heavenly King’s Son and his “bride” be consummated?

⁸ The consummating of the marriage between the King’s Son and his figurative “bride” will be by the uniting of Jesus Christ and his faithful congregation in the spirit heavens in connection with the “kingdom of the heavens.” The members of this anointed congregation must be faithful, like an espoused virgin, to Jesus Christ down to their death. In reward for their virgin faithfulness till the end of their earthly course, they will be resurrected from the dead to be his heavenly “bride,” his Bridal congregation, forever in the house of the Heavenly Father and King.​—2 Cor. 11:2, 3.