"And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." (Matthew 25:6, KJV).
"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God." (Revelation 19:7-9, KJV).
"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." (Revelation 21:2, KJV).
Pastor garner asked me to share some thoughts on the subject of "The Bride" on Wed. night Bible study. Wow! what a task. It's not like I have been studying this for a while...it's like, I have NEVER really studied this subject of "The Bride" at all. A revelation so deep that most of the church world is missing it and I get a week to figure it out. Most of what I really knew about the bride I have learned from Pastor Garner, so what could I share that he hadn't?
Well, in meditating on this...I have some thoughts, and some material to read through, so I am going to write this out as I go and we'll see where we end up.
Preachers love to proclaim that Jesus is coming to "rapture the saints to heaven" or to "catch His waiting bride away." But the word of God never says that. Nowhere in your Bible are we told that the return of Jesus is to evacuate His people off of planet earth to relocate them some astral location far above the Milky Way where there are no battles, no tribulation, and no antichrist.
I used to think (not sure why) that the Bride was all the born-again believers who were alive at the return of Jesus. Jesus was going to come and rapture His Bride away into heaven and we would all sit down at a really long banqueting table (have you ever seen one of those pictures of this?), well anyway, there in heaven we would be having the biggest wedding party ever. The food was going to be awesome the absolute grandest feast of all time. Unfortunately though, those that didn't make it would be suffering under the rule of the antichrist, and going through the great tribulation.
After we were done partying and the wedding was over we were all coming back on white horses right behind Jesus to slay the antichrist and all the unbelievers and then Jesus was going to wrap up the devil in some chains and throw him into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, till God needed him again to test some more people at the end of the thousand years.
Meanwhile we were going to be reigning and ruling and having a great time with King Jesus while billions were suffering in hell. After all it served them right they could have been saved like me and been a part of the "Bride of Christ." Then when all was said and done we would live happily ever after.
Well now you know just how carnal I was, but what do you expect, I had some good teachers. But nothing could be farther from the truth! The problem lies in the fact that this "Bride" is a mystery, "This is a great mystery" (Eph. 5:32) Paul said, and it takes revelation knowledge to understand it.
Now that you know what I don't think the "Bride" is, let me tell you what I am leaning towards in my understanding.
"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:" (Romans 1:20, KJV).
Paul understood that the invisible attributes of God are understood by the visible things that are made. This is why made the allegory of Christ and the church to that of the husband and the his wife. For it is there that we find the true richness of understanding of the relationship of Christ and His Bride.
The opening words of the parable of the wedding feast are " a certain king, which made a marriage for his son," (Matt. 22:2) suggests that this is the true purpose of all God's dealings with man. I would say to you, in a nutshell, God's purpose is for His Son to get married and have kids. I mean this is what life is all about for mankind (God told Noah and his sons to multiply and fill the earth, Gen. 9:1), and the natural is a picture of the spiritual. What I really mean is that Jesus, the Husband, comes in perfect union with the Bride, and they multiply and fill in the earth with the nature of Christ. But before Jesus can reproduce Himself in the earth He must have a Bride. After all we are told the Lamb's wife HAS MADE HERSELF ready. She is told to make herself ready and to GO OUT to meet the bridegroom. These two responsibilities fall on her to do.
Growing up into Him in all things, is making herself ready to become His Bride. This is what is pictured in the Song of Solomon. (SOS. 4:7,12) He may woo her but she is to make herself ready; SHE MUST BECOME VIRGIN.
And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife. Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him. (Leviticus 21:13-15, KJV).
The seed which is Christ will not be shared with a people who are not virgin in there faith toward God. Nothing but the pure word of life will be all that the mind dwells upon. I believe the virgin speaks of the renewed mind, to become virgin is to have your mind renewed to the truth of Christ and to Christ alone. "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:2, KJV). She has made herself ready to meet Him.
What a blessed and thrilling revelation lies couched in the following passage recorded in connection with our Lord's miracle of turning water into wine. "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and MANIFESTED FORTH HIS GLORY; and His disciples believed on Him" (Jn. 2:11). In our study on the bride it is appropriate that we consider the marriage in Cana of Galilee. The apostle Paul frequently spoke of the vast mysteries of God and, in speaking of them, he left no shadow of doubt that nothing but the revelation of the Lord could unfold those eternal mysteries. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST BEGAN HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY AT A WEDDING. May I say to you that -- that is important and it is profound, and it seems passing strange. Why didn't He begin at Jerusalem, the religious capital of the world? Why didn't He go to the temple to begin His public ministry? Or, better yet, why didn't He go to Rome, the power capital and political capital of the world of that day? Or why not go to Corinth, a great commercial center of the time? Why begin at Cana of Galilee at this wedding? Ah the Lord came from heaven's glory and He began His ministry at a wedding.
I believe the reason is because He will manifest His ministry of reproducing Himself in the earth at a wedding. And the manifestation of the Son will come out of the bride as her ministry begins. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Re 22:17). This great ministry of the manifestation of the sons of God, is the nature of Christ Jesus coming out of the Bride. The bride gives birth to the nature of the Son.
Revelation chapter twelve is the example of a glorious sun-clad woman giving birth to a remarkable man-child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. It is the inworking of the bride of Christ that births the ministry of the Son. Jesus said, "I am the WAY, the truth and the life; no man COMETH UNTO THE FATHER but by Me." Your relationship to Christ as a bride will incorporate (bring together) your relationship to the Father as a son. We must become the Bride of Christ first before we manifest the nature of the Son. It is through intimacy of fellowship and vital union with Christ, made ONE IN HIM IN LOVE that we are initiated into that illustrious glory of strength and dominion over all things as sons of God.
Union between God and man is the grand theme and purpose of God in creation and redemption! You go back to the very beginning and you will see this -- marriage was the first institution that God made for man. And the main thrust of marriage is for the two to become one. "And Yahweh God said, `It is not good that the man should remain alone,--I will make for him a helper, as his COUNTERPART.' (Genesis 2:18, Rotherham)." The Goodspeed translation reads, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I must make a helper for him WHO IS LIKE HIM." Another interesting translation says. "And God made for Adam a COMPARABLE helper." That is the first symbolism of the bride of Christ. God made for Adam someone with whom he should have complete and total intimacy. And today God is making for the second Adam a bride with whom He will have complete and total intimacy. If Christ Jesus is to have a bride then the bride must be comparable to Him. This is what we are called to. Others say; ...mate of his own kind, ...suitable helper, completing him, ...a helper correspondent to himself.
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." (Genesis 2:24, KJV).
"But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." (1 Corinthians 6:17, KJV).
At marriage, God makes natural man and woman one flesh; in the spirit God makes the Lamb and His bride one Spirit.
To the prophet banished to the desolation of Patmos came the rousing command, "Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife" (Rev. 21:9). To understand what the Spirit means by the term "bride" we must break away from our western concepts of what a bride is. Bride in Hebrew is KALLAH meaning "the completed one" or "the perfected one." It reveals the concept of a woman being completed once she is married to her husband - and, as Paul so beautifully expresses it, "YE are COMPLETE IN HIM!" When two become one - right man - right woman - they are totally dependent upon each other. They will never be anything without the other again. Each sex is incomplete without the other. In Genesis, before ever Adam named the woman God took and builded from his being, he did some explaining. The Hebrew actually reads, "And Adam said, This one (she) now bone from my bones, flesh from my flesh, this one, (she) shall be called woman (ISHAH), because this one, (she) was taken from man (ISH)" (Gen. 2:23). Adam said, "This-now," or literally, "this one, she." There is no verb here. "This one, she bone from my bones" - Adam knew that something was missing from his very being and that this woman would complete him. What was missing would come back with INTEREST. So he adds, "Flesh from my flesh, this one, she, shall be called ISHAH (woman)." Why? Because she was taken out of ISH (man)! once the woman is given to him they become ISH and ISHAH. When ISH and ISHAH are joined together they become ONE; he fulfills her and she completes him. She is the bride, the "completed one," the "perfected one." In Rev. 21:9 the messenger entreats the apostle John, "Come hither, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." The message is clear - "Come hither and I will show you a COMPLETED PERSON, a PERFECTED PERSON, or, if you please, a CORPORATE BODY OF COMPLETED AND PERFECTED PEOPLE!" The holy city of New Jerusalem is the beautiful symbolical representation of the virtues, nature And glory of the Lamb's bride.
Lyn Gitchel writes: "Today, most of God's people, that are aware at all of what He is doing, are readily admitting that we are on the verge of a new day, a new dimension in the Lord. Everywhere you can hear the trumpet call of the message that His kingdom is near. Dry and parched bones are awakening at the sound of His voice and are arising to be prepared as a mighty army to meet the enemy and take the kingdom. The word "kingdom" is heard more than ever before... and expectancy... is arising in the hearts of those who are waiting for Him. "All this is good, but I have become aware of one thing. In all the striving for perfection, teaching of the kingdom, and preaching of the gospel of redemption that will be completed this side of eternity, we are strangely far from the real goal of it all. Some are striving for a greater understanding of the scriptures and the things of God, and some for a bigger and better revelation than ever before. Some are striving to become like Him, formed into His image; some are looking to become His dwelling place on this earth. Some are seeking to become mature 'sons,' and others are looking towards becoming the 'order of Melchizedek.' All these are fine goals, but they are not THE GOAL that God intends for us. The goal, and the only goal, is set out in the first commandment which bids us seek God first with every part of our being. To move into Him; to establish a ONENESS WITH HIM - this is the only central goal of it all. So often we are seeking something so close to the real thing - and yet not the real central goal. We seek God in order to receive something from Him - or to be made holy, or like Him in some other way. We seek Him to have Him dwell in us, or to have His power, or joy, or peace. None of these are wrong! They are just not the goal! "What kind of response do you think you would get if you were moving into a love relationship, with the intention of marrying that person, and then, when they asked you why you wanted to enter into that depth of relationship with them you replied, 'So that I can become like you!' or, 'So that I can have your power!' Too often that is the way we look at God. We have sought to come close to Him so that we might become like Him, or so that His power might be seen in us. Both are admirable desires, but they are not desires that will be fulfilling to the heart of God. He wants us to draw close to Him, not that we might become like Him, or that His nature be found in us (though, inevitably, that will happen), but solely to draw close to Him BECAUSE WE LOVE HIM FOR WHAT HE IS. He wants us to, come to Him WITH NO OTHER INTENTION in our hearts but to fellowship with Him, to love Him, and to appreciate Him, sharing with Him all the love-flow of our hearts. Everything else, no matter how fine a goal, must be second to that!" -end quote.
The marriage supper of the lamb...ushers a people into the most intimate relationship with the their Lord! The marriage of the Lamb...is the revelation of the Christ that causes you to know that you are united to Him; it is a conscious knowledge and a reality. The marriage of the Lamb...is not exclusively a future event as many proclaim. The marriage feast is an actual personal experience which every soul may have, something intensely real and precious, not just for the sweet bye and bye, but for here in our today. It is an on-going reality in the sense that salvation is past for some, present for some, and future for others. And since the soul of man is the feminine part of us; our mind, will and emotions are to become like a bride as well and come into union with our spirit so that we will reproduce the son in our lives.
The "Bride" are those who are falling in love with Jesus Christ our Head and Lord. The bride are those who are being truly virgin in their desires towards the Lord; who are walking in the Spirit, keeping themselves unto Him and unto Him alone; those who are forsaking once and for all any of the doctrines of the harlot, Mystery Babylon; those who are renouncing the schemes and plans and ambitions of the carnal mind and our love of the world and the desires of the flesh; those who have no other god before Him, no other master that rules our lives, or lord that dictates our actions, no reserved areas of our lives; those who one goal and sole aim is CHRIST and Christ alone; those who are going forth to meet Him. The Bride is a ministry, for the voice of the Bride and the Bridegroom are not heard in Babylon after her fall; "And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived." (Revelation 18:23, KJV).
In summery; I have yet to attain or comprehend all this, but I do hear the call going forth within me to prepare thyself, to make thyself ready, for behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him; to not be complacent and sit back saying, "Where is the promise of His coming."
I believe we must grow up into the nature of a bride in order to give birth to the nature of the Son; as Gen. 3:16 says, "Your desire shall be for your husband, and He shall rule over you." In Gen. 4:1, where it says that Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain; another translation says of this, "...and gave birth to a son, Cain ( meaning 'I have created'). For, as she said, 'With God's help I have created a man!' "
The bride gives birth to the son that is the pattern, and the visible creation is but a picture of the true realities of the things in the heavens. Paul prayed in Colossians 1:9 that we would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding: That too is my prayer for me and for you. SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING is what we must have to understand the Bride of Christ.
"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." (Revelation 19:7, KJV).
(Remember: the bride of Adam came out of his body...So the Bride of Christ comes out of His body).