So the name. It is from the Ted Dekker series which started as the Circle Trilogy. In that series, there is another world which represents ours, only spiritual things are more literally seen than in ours. God is called Elyon. Elyon romances the people, because He loves them. The “religion” is called the “Great Romace”, since its pivotal point is God pursuing and lavishing His love on the people, romancing them in the greatest romance ever. This is of course true in our world too, simply often less obviously visible.
Psalms 45 features Jesus as a warrior, who then takes his bride from a foreign land (to confirm it is Jesus, check Hebrews 1). Jesus says “forget your land and your fathers people, and the king will desire your beauty”. The king here is Jesus. If we forget the ways of the world and our people (for in fact we are of the world this earth, and we are Satan’s [Matthew 8] until we turn our back on the world as Jesus saves us), Jesus will desire our beauty and marry us. This metaphor also comes up in Hosea and Revelation I believe chapter 19. When it is not so late I will look these things up and make them more precise here.
The point is, Jesus is betrothed to the church. Since I am part of the church I am betrothed to Jesus. There will be no more marriage among people after death, but there will be, at least with the metaphor the Bible presents, with Christ forever. Therefore I am the beloved of the great romance as Jesus’ betrothed. As such I wear my wedding band symbolizing my marriage to Ashley, and another ring symbolizing my engagement to Christ so that I never forget what He has done and what He will do and His love for me.
