The Bride and the Beloved: What's in a Name?

Some might, in their dreams
see Armageddon.
But the Bride sees her Beloved,
in His anticipation.

From a distance she watched,
As the bronze hooves of His white horse
raise a cloud of sparkling dust.
She looked at her Beloved's blood-cape whipping in the wind
And at the gleaming white cloth draped over His thigh--
She saw where
He bore a monogram there:
King of Kings
And Lord of Lords.
Lettering of living gold
on cape and robe.
Who has ever heard of such a thing
as when the veins of the earth
come alive?
(But she knew, such living gold was even then
being fashioned for a wedding ring
the one He would give to her.)

She knew His other names for that day, such as
Faithful and True.
But like any young betrothed,
she was more fascinated
with what she didn't know
than with what she did know
about her Beloved.
For she knew
He bore a name
written
but that no one knew except Himself.

Slowly, she approached His horse
and when He saw her, He smiled.
"Have you prayed me Godspeed, My love?"
He shouted over the wind.
"I have indeed and prophesied Your testimony,"
she called back.
He nodded.
And she reached up and put a hand on his thigh, wondering.
What word writ here?
The horse's flanks quivered, as if it read her mind.
Don't look, the servant-beast seemed to think,
But she didn't receive the thought as a grace.
And suddenly she was anxious,
anxious to rip away the fine linen and see
the name inscribed there
just above His knee.
She knew of it,
but she did not know it.
"Should not a Bride know such a thing
as the name of her Husband?" she thought.
But then guiltily, she lifted her gaze
to find Him looking at her.
And He wore a strange smile on His face
a strange squint in His eyes.
"Look there if you would," He offers.
But she shakes her head, and pats that strong thigh decisively.
"No," she says. "I know what is written.
And what is written says I do not know this name.
Not now.
But in time, I hope to know it,
and without the need of the violent look.
In that day, I'll simply know it."
And He swooped her up,
"Then kiss me goodbye, and I'll go forth as
The Word of God.
That our time may be established."
And another of His latent names,
was activated.

Then she watched, as He rode away,
watched as His blood-robe kissed the sky
and all the energy of His kiss for her
was caught up in that red panel
whipping in the wind;
watched as a panorama of gleaming white robes
like a massive cloud,
fanned out in the wake of the blood-robe,
His troops,
(her troops)
forming
one vast cape
held in place by that ruby-red clasp
as if at the throat of
a giant-warrior--
a warrior to end all warriors.

"It isn't a secret, you know,'
said a voice near her ear.
She turned to see
the rich young ruler
from the days before her Beloved's glory;
that rich young ruler whose life
perpetuated sayings of camels and needles
throughout the ages.
He shook his head as if reading her thoughts
when he saw she recognized him,
"Some legacy, huh?" he chuckled.

But still he persisted.
"It isn't that the name is a secret
He hides nothing from you."

She tipped her head and studied him.
"I have thought that very thing strange," she said.
"That He who loves to such sacrificial degree
should hold this one thing back: a name."

The rich young ruler cast his gaze upon the diminishing ranks
as their power raced forth,
full strength across the cosmos
stirring stardust in places
where such power had long been forgotten.
"It isn't that He hides the name,
Nor that He withholds it,
offering Man
a singular unfairness
to mar the face of such a just love;
it is not a protective withholding
even from the worship of those
most diligently righteous;
And it is not an eternal mystery kept,
as judgment on those who know the most, but love the least;
although it rightly could be all these things."
He looked again at her,
and with fervor said,
"If anyone, then I should know of which I speak."

Fascinated, she asked,
"Then what is in this name?"
One word he said:
"Everything."
And he walked away.
And suddenly, she knew.

In her heart, once more, her Champion's love ran pure;
and she wished Him to hear her saying,
"I understand now.
I will not doubt again,
my Beloved."

Alone, she strolled, the strangest of Brides,
for she was not one bit distressed
that her love now rode off to war.
No, her mind ruminated with the one thought
that chased any fear away:
"Everything."

Like eyes that can only see a few--
maybe only a single--
facet of a diamond,
such was the nature of her power to comprehend
her Beloved.
Many flashes of color she might see:
the names of this day, and of days of yore:
Bread of Life,
Immanuel,
Light of the World,
Lamb of God,
Son of David, Man and God--
but this name
surpassed
encompassed
them all,
such that no mere human could ever see
the largeness
the majesty
the excellency
of it.
That He knew the name;
This was enough.
That His self-awareness lacked nothing;
This was enough.

Then as if to give the evidence of what was
and was to be,
(even her hopes realized)
yet another facet flashed
--even then--
and indeed it was one she had not seen before,
one like the scarlet thread of His cape,
shot through with the living gold,
a facet whose song sang something new for her
a song long hidden in the dust that waited,
waited for the stirring of this day:
"Strange and wonderful,"
sang the facet red and gold,
"that even as He
chooses you for His Bride,
even with your limited vision,
that He is content.
He does not expect you
to know Him as He knows Himself.
He simply loves you,
for your desire to know Him."

Thenas her countenance found its contentment,
and as her smile gew somewhat private,
she walked away from the settling dust.