Chapter
VIII.
THE BRIDE, THE LAMB'S
WIFE
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Each of the seven figures used in the New Testament regarding the church
suggest some distinct vital relationship between Christ and His heavenly
body of people. As sheep they are utterly dependent upon the Shepherd;
as branches they draw the vital life from the vine; as stones in a building
they rest on the Corner Stone and are mutually dependent on one another;
as newly created beings they stand in the Last Adam, the Head of the new
race; as a kingdom of priests they are the objects of intercession of
the High Priest and through Him receive their own priestly ministry; as
members of His body they are the visible representatives of the Head and
the instruments of His manifestation and service; and as the bride of
the Lamb they are yet to share in and manifest the ineffable glory and
majesty of the Bridegroom-King.
The consummation
of the relationships between the Bridegroom and the bride is still to
her an anticipation yet to be realized. He has espoused her to Himself:
the wedding day awaits His imminent return. It would be normal for her
to be looking and longing for His return. Such an
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attitude is rightly to be expected where any real love for Him exists.
His return, however, and the celestial union with His bride will not await
the results of the meager power of her poor love for Him. All the divine
purpose in calling her out, the present tender grace expended in her behalf,
like His certain return, are dependent only on His love for her. This
is a "love that passeth knowledge." Here is sufficient motive
to insure the accomplishment of all that the divine wisdom and power can
perfect. By no less a perfection will His bride appear in glory. She,
because He is able, will be presented faultless before the presence of
His glory to His own exceeding joy (Jude 24). That the church is to be
His bride and then, as now, the objects of His measureless love, wisdom
and power is stated in Eph. v. 25-32:
"Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself
for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water
by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be
holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their
own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever
yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the
Lord the church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of
his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and
shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
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This is a
great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church."
In this passage
there is a reference to the church as His body: "We are members of
his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." There is also abundant
reference to the church as His bride: "I speak," Paul writes,
with reference to husbands and wives, "concerning Christ and the
church." He loved the church and gave Himself for it that He might
present it unto Himself a glorious church. So shall she be "manifested
together with him in glory."
The eternal
purpose of God in the marvels of His present saving grace is said to be
for the realization of these heavenly glories. "He hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love" (Eph. i. 3). "To the praise of the
glory of his grace" (Eph. i. 6). So again the purpose of God as it
sweeps from one eternity to the other is revealed in another Scripture:
"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God" (Eph. ii. 6-8).
He hath saved
us unto good works, or service (Eph. ii. 10), and that we might not perish
but have everlasting life (John iii. 16): but the passage
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quoted above seems to indicate that the primary motive of God in redemption
is not to provide that which accrues to man; rather, He is redeeming His
people in order that by them in "the ages to come" He may display
the "riches of his grace" as manifested in "his kindness
toward us through Jesus Christ.” When this heavenly people are perfected
into the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,"
"conformed into his image," and "like him," it will
be a demonstration, before all created beings, of the marvels of His grace,
and upon such a scale and in such ranges of glory as will wholly satisfy
Him. It is His "exceeding joy" that is in view. Salvation in
Christ will manifest His grace; for it is by grace ye are saved. The very
purpose of God limits the method by which it must be done. His purpose!
is to declare His grace and so salvation is by grace alone. Where in this
marvelous declaration is there any place for human device or merit? Who
would compare this revealed destiny with any that has ever been imagined
by the human mind? Has not God so stripped man of every self-glorifying
moral quality in His sight that He might, beginning with such utter nothingness,
perform and incomparable display of His unmerited favor and grace?
It is significant
that Jesus likened the bride, for whom He gave Himself that He might purchase
her unto Himself, to a pearl of "great cost," for which the
merchant man sold all that he might possess it. And the very formation
of the pearl is
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suggestive: It is said that the pearl is built up, layer upon layer, by
the secretions which flow out of the wound in the side of the shellfish
inflicted by the sharp points of the minute grain of sand lodged under
the shell. The pearl, though formed in the triple darkness of the shell,
the mud and the sea, and never having been affected by the light of the
sun, has power when brought up to the light to catch its rainbow splendor
and reflect it back in all its glory. So the church, the "pearl of
great cost," is being formed, through the blood that flowed from
His riven side, down here in the sea of the nations in this "dark
age"; but "it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear we shall be like him." The church will
then "be to the praise of the glory of his grace." "In
the ages to come" showing forth the riches of His grace and glory.
"The Lamb is the light thereof."
Referring again
to the conclusions of the council at Jerusalem (Acts xv. 13-18), it is
there stated that a Gentile company is being called out for His name.
The "name" when used to designate Deity seems to carry with
it the thought of the Person—"Where two or three are gathered
together in my name there am I in the midst of them." So this body
of people thus called out may be said to be a people for His Person. As
the bride is for the person of the bridegroom, so the church is for the
Person of Her Lord. This is especially disclosed in John xiv. 1-3. "Let
not your heart be troubled:
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ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
From this passage
it will be seen that the bride of the Lamb does not occupy any mansion
in the Father's house: He is preparing a place for her and as certainly
will come again and receive her, not into the mansions, but unto Himself.
He loved the church and gave Himself for it that He might purchase it
unto Himself. "That where I am there ye may be also." "Father,
I will that they also may be with me where I am." "And so shall
we ever be with the Lord." "Who gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works."
To Israel He
is Messiah, Immanuel and King: to the church He is Lord, Head and Bridegroom.
The covenants and destinies of Israel are all earthly: the covenants and
destinies of the church are all heavenly.
As bride and
consort the church will rightfully share with Him His reign (2 Tim. ii.
12; Rev. v. 10; xx. 6). The purpose of this age, evidently, is not to
form a kingdom by securing subjects of the King; it is the calling out
and perfecting into His very image those who will be co-reigners with
Him in His yet future kingdom. The queen is never a
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subject of the king: her place is to share with him his authority and
glory and to rest in the bosom of the bridegroom in the palace of the
king.
All the mansions
in the Father's house will be occupied. In Heb. xii. 22-24 the inhabitants
of heaven are recorded. In this passage it will be noted that there are
both "angels" and the "spirits of just men made perfect"
in addition to "the church of the first born": "But ye
are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God
the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to
Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling,
that speaketh better things than that of Abel."
Here are seen
the redeemed of all ages in heaven; but not all are of the church. The
"innumerable company of angels," and the "spirits of just
men made perfect" are mentioned as separate from, but accompanying
"the church of the first born." Here is room for the saints
of all the ages who may occupy the "many mansions" without necessarily
including the "bride of the Lamb" as undistinguished part of
that whole company; for it is said of her, "I go to prepare a place
for you." Even John the Baptist, who was certainly of the Old Testament
order, must designate himself as "the friend of the bridegroom":
"He that
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hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which
standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's
voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled" (John iii. 29). Abraham,
too, was called "the friend of God" (Luke xiii. 28-30).
A real wedding
feast, the feast of the ages, would hardly be attended by the Bridegroom
and bride alone. Every element of a feast of such a character we are thus
assured will be represented; but it is also clear that one seat will be
reserved on His right for His spotless bride. Certainly it is not necessary
to conclude that saints of other ages are excluded from heaven, or from
the kingdom of God, because they are nowhere represented as organically
related to the body and bride of Christ. To merge all the redeemed into
one company, or to neglect the distinctions of Scripture, is to do violence
to very much of divine revelation.
The church
is seen typically, though not directly, in the Old Testament. She, as
a royal priesthood, is foreshadowed in the priesthood of the Old Testament;
as a new generation, or race, she is the antitype of that first race which
began and fell in Adam; she is the present tabernacle of God, His present
abode in the Spirit; she constitutes the true branches of the True Vine;
and the sheep that know His voice and will not follow the voice of a stranger.
The church is that body formed out of the wound of the side of her living
Head, as Eve was formed from Adam.
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The bride of Isaac typified the church as did the brides of other marriage
unions recorded in the Old Testament. When Isaac was forty years of age
Abraham, fearing lest he might marry some woman of the land, sent his
trusted servant, whose name is not given, far away into the old home country
to secure a bride for Isaac. When he had made the long journey he was
divinely led to select Rebecca to whom that strange offer was to be made.
She was asked to go with him, a servant she had never known, to a country
she had never seen, to a land from which she would never return, and become
the bride of a man she had never met. Truly this was a most unusual request;
but she was able to say, "I will go." Then was placed before
her some real tokens of Isaac's wealth as foretastes of that inheritance.
She decided her future course and lot wholly on the urgent appeal and
description given by the unnamed servant of Abraham. They began the long
journey back, and she did not know whether to go north, or south, east
or west; she must be wholly led by this servant in whom so much confidence
had been imposed. As they journeyed during the many days it can be easily
believed that he never lost an opportune moment to picture to her new
attractions and beauties in the prince Isaac to whom she journeyed. At
last she lifted up her eyes and exclaimed with a cry of delight:
"What man
is this that walketh in the field to meet us?"
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And the last ministry of that faithful servant was to witness:
"It is
my master."
She sprang
down from the beast and ran to meet him and no more blessed marriage union
is recorded in all the records of the Old Testament.
God the Father,
typified in Abraham in various ways (See Gen. xxii. 1-14), sent the unnamed
Servant, the Holy Spirit (the Spirit's name has never been revealed. He
is now known only by descriptive titles) to call out a bride for His well
beloved Son. The Servant does not speak of Himself (John xvi. 13), but
glorifies the Son before our eyes, and if we can say: "whom having
not seen I love," there is given unto us an earnest of our coming
inheritance and glory with Him (2 Cor. i. 22; Eph. i. 14). How little
we then know of our pilgrim journey! But "as many as are led by the
Spirit of God they are the sons of God." And while we thus journey
that faithful Guide does not cease to unfold the riches of grace and glory
that meet in Jesus our Lord (John xvi. 12-15), and the day is not far
away, we believe, when we shall lift our eyes and exclaim, "Who comes
yonder?" And the final ministry of our unnamed Guide will be to present
us to Him without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, "And so shall
we ever be with the Lord."
No human thought
needs to be added to God's own description of the blessed estate of those
He
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is now calling out and redeeming by His blood as they will appear glorified
together with Him:
“And
there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials
full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither,
I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me
away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that
great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having
the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious,
even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and had a wall great and
high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names
written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children
of Israel: on the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the
west three gates; on the south three gates. And the wall of the city
had twelve foundations, and in them the ‘names of the twelve apostles
of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure
the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city
lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he
measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length
and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the
wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the
measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall
of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
And the foundations of the wall
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of the city
were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation
was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth,
an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte;
the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the
eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates
were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl and the street
of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no
temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple
of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to
shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in
the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and
honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day:
for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and
honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into
it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book
of life. And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of
the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree
of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every
month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the
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nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and
of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: and they
shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there
shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the
sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever
and ever” (Rev.
xxi. 9 - xxii. 5).
*
* *
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The
Kingdom in History and Prophecy, Chapter 8, was originally
published by the
Sunday School Times Company, 1021 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA.
Copyright 1915. 4th Edition, 1919. Public domain.
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