The knowledge that Christ is our Beloved and that we are betrothed forever by covenant to Him has given strength and courage to many martyrs through the centuries. One repeated theme in the testimonies of dying martyrs was the assurance that they were betrothed to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who read John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs or other similar books, such as A Cloud of Witnesses, are struck by the oft-repeated references to a believer’s “marriage” (union) with Christ.
Rufina and Secunda
Under the persecution of Emperor Valerian in the third century A.D., two beautiful Christian girls, named Rufina and Secunda, were engaged to be married to honorable young Roman noblemen. The girls anticipated the day of their wedding with great joy. But upon the resumption of persecution, the two young men renounced Christ and returned to worshipping the pagan gods of Rome in order to save their lives. The two sisters nobly refused to renounce their faith.
After cruel torture, Rufina and Secunda were beheaded with the executioner’s sword. Renouncing an earthly marriage to their apostate suitors, they stepped from the miseries of earth to the glories of Heaven and into eternal marriage to Christ. The day of their execution was the day of their meeting face-to-face with their Bridegroom, Jesus Christ!
Marion Harvie
Another example of bravery in the face of persecution was Marion Harvie. She was a young Scottish servant girl who was condemned to death at the age of twenty for her allegiance to Christ. Marion Harvie lived during the period known as “the killing times” in Scotland and was tortured before her execution. In spite of the pain of the torture, she kept her eyes and heart fixed upon the Lover of her soul, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Harvie’s dying words, she testified, “Oh! My love; Oh! My love; Oh! My love; my altogether lovely Christ.” She went on to testify further of her love for Christ, “Well is me that ever He let me know that His love was better than life.”
Marion Harvie died with these words upon her lips: “Farewell brethren, farewell sisters; farewell Christian acquaintances; farewell sun, moon, and stars! And now, welcome my lovely and heartsome Christ Jesus, into whose hands I commit my spirit throughout all eternity.”
In the Presence of the Heavenly Bridegroom
Martyrs such as young Marion, as well as countless others, saw the day of their martyrdom not as a day of death, but as a day of entrance into life! They were stepping from the cruelty of the world to the loving embrace of their Bridegroom! Is it any wonder that the eternal marriage of Christ was a common theme of exultation, whether in the Roman Colosseum facing the lions, at the stake facing the scorching flames, or on the scaffold facing the hangman’s noose?
Robert Garnock, another Scottish martyr, gave this testimony of his anticipation of martyrdom: “Oh! Sweet lot this day, for me to go to a gibbet for Christ and His cause! I think the thoughts of this do ravish my heart and soul, and make me to fall out in wondering that I am within so few hours of that endless joy; that paradise, among the flowers and trees, that are on each side of that pure river clear as crystal.”
Throughout the world today, our Christian brothers and sisters in restricted countries are facing martyrdom for the sake of Jesus of Nazareth. A trusting view of Christ and His love fills these believers with hope in the midst of persecution. May we all embrace a proper esteem for the marriage of Christ and His bride, knowing not what day we will be ushered into the glorious presence of our Bridegroom. In having that proper esteem, our testimonies will resound with Marion Harvie’s: “His love is better than life!”
