02.05. C. The Bride of Christ

C. The Bride of Christ

We come now to the third figure of the Church of God in Scripture. This is found in Ephesians 5:21-32 where Paul shows that the Church is the bride of Christ and that the nature of this blessed and intimate relationship between Christ and His Church is the pattern for the relationship and conduct of husbands and wives. Reading from Ephesians 5:25 we have:

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That lie 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. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church."

Affection, Intimacy and Association

Under this figure of the bride we have the Church presented as the object of the closest and tenderest affections of Christ and of His loving care, as a true husband loves and cares for his wife, only here the heavenly is rather the example for the earthly. This figure also sets forth the most intimate relationship which exists between Christ and the Churchthe closest that is possible, the tender intimacy of a loving husband and wife. And it also presents the thought of closest future association with Christ in His coming dominion and glory, as Eve was associated with Adam in his place of headship over all creation. This we shall later see more fully from other Scriptures. The Church of the living God, then, is the bride of Christ, which He loved with an infinite love and purchased for Himself by His own precious blood, which He gave to redeem her from sin and destruction. This is what He did for her in the past, that He might have her forever with Himself as the object of His deep affections and to share all His glory and dominion in the coming day. In the present His unfailing love is ever caring for her, nourishing and cherishing her, sanctifying and cleansing her with the washing of water by the Word-the application of the cleansing power of the Word of God by the Spirit, that she might be morally fitted for this intimate place of association with Him in all His glory and dominion. In the future, His love for the Church will be manifested in His presenting her, the bride, to Himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle, and she shall be forever with Him, her beloved Bridegroom. As another has said: "He is the One who can present it to Himself as being the author of its existence, of its beauty, and of the perfection in which it must appear in heaven to be worthy of such a Bridegroom and of the glory that is there."

Such is the blessed portion of the Church as the bride of Christ, and the love which every member of that bride should be enjoying now, for the same love that we shall enjoy in that unsullied and eternal brightness is the love wherewith He loves us now in this world’s night of darkness .Oh, let our hearts rest in His precious love! Our Affections and Being Faithful As we, His bride, enjoy His love, our heart’s affections should, and will, 90 out to Him in longing desire for Himself, our Bridegroom, and in devoted faithfulness to Him in the scene of His rejection during His absence. We are to remember the words of Paul to the Corinthians and realize that they apply to every believer. "I have espoused (betrothed, engaged) you unto one man, to present (you) a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:2, New Trans.). As Christians we are engaged to Jesus Christ and are to be faithful and true to Him, keeping ourselves as a chaste virgin for Himself, unspotted from the world that crucified Him, and not giving our love and affections to the world system of the enemy of our Beloved One, but bestowing all our love and friendship upon Him, rendering faithful service to Him, and living for Himself in joyful expectation of His coming for us and that day of nuptial union. This is a responsibility which flows from this most intimate relationship with Christ.

Subjection

Furthermore, our text in Ephesians 5:1-33 reminds us that this blessed relationship carries with it the thoughts of headship and subjection, as seen in the marriage union. "Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing" (Ephesians 5:23-24). We have already spoken of Christ being the head of the Church so shall only touch on the subjection of the Church as the bride of the Lord, her head. This subjection to Christ is another most important responsibility resulting from this blessed privilege of being the bride of Christ. It means that we are to obey His word down here and not do our own will or follow our own wishes, but are to follow the instructions He has given us in the Bible. We are not to do as we think expedient or best, with regard to ourselves personally or to the Church collectively, but are to search the Scriptures for the mind of Christ and to act upon them in subjection to Him as our head. Hence it follows that the Church is never to teach or set up rules, doctrines, etc. Its place is to be subject to all the rules, principles, teachings, and doctrines which Christ has set forth in His Word. The Lord teaches and preaches by the gifts He has given to the Church, under the Spirit’s direction and power presenting His Word. The Church’s place is to be subject unto Christ’s Word and not to take the place of teaching and ruling, as the Church of Rome and others are doing. Had the Church not forgotten this and lost sight of her high calling as the bride of Christ, how different things would be today. There would not be all the conflicting denominations and groups with their different forms of procedure, varying doctrines, etc. For if all would be in subjection to Christ, oneness of mind (His mind) and His path for His Church would be found in His Word. The Spirit would teach all of us the same thing and each believer thus subject would be found walking obediently in that one path of His will. Then all would be together in the blessed unity of the Spirit as the subject bride of Christ.

How blessed this would be and what a testimony the Church would then be in the world for Christ. So it was in the beginning of the Church’s history and so it would be now if all would be subject to Christ as head and really know Him as their Bridegroom. The reason, then, for all the divisions and confusion among God’s people today is that the Church has not been and is not completely subject to Christ. Man’s will has been at work, hence the ruin about us. But though the Church has collectively failed in subjection, it still becomes each individual believer to be in subjection to Christ’s will and Word. In the Lord’s messages to the seven churches of Asia which speak prophetically of the Church’s history and departure from His Word, the word at the close to each one is: "He (the individual) that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches" (Revelation 2:7; Revelation 2:11; Revelation 2:17; Revelation 2:29). May each reader hear and obey and walk in separation from all that is not according to His Word and in subjection to Him. Her Hope and Destiny

Having considered the place of affection, intimacy, association, and responsibility to be faithful and subject to Christ, which the true Church of bornagain believers has as His bride, we may now dwell a little on her hope and destiny. From the very nature of the relationship of bride and bridegroom, it should be readily seen that the Church’s hope and culmination of desire is her marriage union with Him and being forever with Himself at His side. Being united to Christ and sharing all His glory is the Church’s only proper hope and destiny. This is intimated in Ephesians 5:1-33 in the verses we considered previously, where it is said that Christ will present the Church to Himself, a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. This will be fulfilled at the marriage day and this nuptial union day should be the Church’s expectation and longing desire as the bride of Jesus. Then she shall see Him as He is and be like Him, spotless and pure (1 John 3:2-3). Nothing else can satisfy true bridal affections which should be found in the Church. This blessed hope of the Church was given her by Jesus Himself in those well-known and well-loved words of John 14:2-3. Here He tells the believers that He would go to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house and that He would come again and receive them unto Himself, that where He was they might be also. This the Bridegroom has promised His bride and has declared that His heart’s desire is that where He is, she may also be.

Christ’s longing desire for His bride is also touchingly expressed in His high-priestly prayer to the Father as recorded in John 17:24.There He prays: "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory." This is the Lord’s purpose and goal, shall we say, for His Church-that she be with Him in the glory. And such should ever be the longing desire and hope of His bride. The Church is heavenly in origin-born from above and united to Christ, her head, in glory. She should be heavenly in character down here, for her "life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3), and her destiny is that of being married to Christ in heaven and forever sharing His glory. All the promises to the Church are heavenly, whilst all the promises to Israel are earthly, so these two peoples should never be confused.

Having thus seen from Scripture that the only proper hope and destiny of the Church as Christ’s bride is that of union and association with Him in heavenly glory and of being like Him, conformed to His image, it should be apparent that the thought often expressed, that the Church’s goal and ultimate hope is to improve and convert the world to Christ, is quite a mistaken expectation and unscriptural hope. The Church’s mission is certainly to represent and manifest Christ in this world and to proclaim the Gospel to the lost, but the hope of improving and converting the whole world to Christ is never given to her in Scripture. On the contrary, His Word definitely shows that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse" (2 Timothy 3:13), and that God will need to intervene in judgment to end all man’s wickedness. The Church’s hope and destiny, then is her being raptured to heaven with Him, as 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 outlines, and not the improvement or conversion of the world.

Let us now turn to a few Scriptures in the book of Revelation, which give us more of the future destiny of the Church in her union and association with Christ.

Undoubtedly her being caught up to heaven takes place in Revelation 4:1, as to point of time, and she is part of the worshipping, redeemed company in chapters four and five, as represented by the twenty-four elders. During all the time that the judgments of God will be poured out on apostate Christendom and this wicked world, as prophesied in chapters six to nineteen, the Church of true believers is safe in the glory with her beloved Savior.

Then in Revelation 19:1-21 we hear of the marriage of the Lamb. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour 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 righteousnesses (marginal reading) of saints" (Revelation 19:7-8). The false bride of the apostate Church having been judged in chapter seventeen, and the true bride having made herself ready, this glorious event of the marriage of Christ and His blood-bought Church can take place. Then He comes to earth with His bride in judgment upon the living nations and reigns with her over the whole earth (ch. 19: 11-20:6). In Revelation 21:9-27 the bride, the Lamb’s wife, is described minutely in all her glory as "a great and high mountain," "that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God," etc. (The reader will please read all the verses). Then she will be the heavenly metropolis of the earthly kingdom of Jesus Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

Revelation 21:1-8 describes the eternal scene and state after the 1000 years of the kingdom reign of Christ are expired and the first heaven and the first earth have passed away. Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Here we read: "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people," etc. This is the eternal destiny of the Church, Christ’s bride. She is the same holy city. of the millennium, a bride adorned for her husband and now the tabernacle or eternal dwelling place of God. What a glorious destiny is that of the "Church of the living God!" May it enrapture our hearts more and lead us out in increasingly devoted affection for our precious Bridegroom, who has secured all this blessedness for us by laying down His life for us on Calvary.

Summary In concluding our first chapter on What Is the Church of the Living God, let us restate some of the leading thoughts which have been before us in answer to our chapter’s question. We have seen from God’s Word that the Church did not begin until Pentecost and that it is composed of born-again believers who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ and joined by Him to His Church, of which He is the head in heaven. They are a company of called out ones, separated from the world, and ever seen by God as one body throughout the world in spite of all the divisions that exist among them.

She is pictured to us in a three-fold way, as the Body of Christ, the house of God, and the bride of Christ. As the body, there are the various members with the responsibility to function for Him in their assigned and fitted places under the direction of Christ the head. As the house of God, the Church is His dwelling place on earth and responsible to maintain God’s order and holiness therein. As the bride of Christ, affection, intimacy, faithfulness, subjection, and eternal companionship and association with Jesus in all His glory is the portion, hope, and destiny of the Church. With this survey of the general scope of the Church at large before us, we will more readily understand the Scriptural order and nature of the local Church, which we shall consider in Chapter Three. by R. K. Campbell