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The Bride of Christ
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One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. Revelation 21:9-22:5 What an awesome vision! The Holy City is unique in all of creation. The glory of this wonderful place is surpassed only by the glory of its resplendent residents- Christ and His Bride. Curiously, when we look to scripture for a clear description of the wife of the Lamb, we find only scattered, vague references. I believe, however, that when these references are brought together, with a little creative analysis, a picture will begin to emerge that is incredibly magnificent, transcending our loftiest concepts concerning the kingdom of God. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 This is our first clue. The Bride will be like her Husband. So, what is the Husband like? I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. Revelation 1:12-15 This vision of Jesus in His glory must have been truly fantastic. We get the feeling that John is trying to describe, in limited human language, a sight that greatly transcends the things of this universe. When he writes about His head and hair "like wool, as white as snow", eyes "like blazing fire", feet "like bronze glowing in a furnace", and a voice "like the sound of rushing waters", it boggles the mind. Whatever John saw and heard, it was glorious beyond description! And according to the previous excerpt from 1 John 3, "we shall be like him". The Bride is exactly like her husband. She is in the same form, in the same state of glory. Furthermore, John writes "for we shall see him as he is". This is an interesting phrase, for two reasons. First, John had personally seen Jesus after the resurrection, in his resurrected body. And yet, he still looks forward to seeing Jesus as he truly is. This implies that Jesus' true form transcends these bodies of flesh and blood. Second, there is a connection between what the Bride will be and seeing her Husband. What John writes seems to suggest, at first, that the Bride will be changed by seeing the Groom. I believe, however, that the reverse is true- she will be able to see Jesus as he truly is BECAUSE she is like him. In other words, the only ones who can see Jesus in his true form are those who are of the same form. Paul writes about the glorious Bride in his letter to the Romans: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:18 Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:17 Age after age, with increasing glory, the Bride will share in the countless wonders yet to be revealed through Christ. What a lofty heritage! "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31&32 Marriage is a model of the union between Christ and the church. Just as a man and wife become one flesh, Jesus and his Bride will become one flesh. But this union will be far greater. The object that is modeled is always greater than the model itself. Where man and wife unite in earthly bodies, Christ and the church will unite in heavenly bodies. Where earthly unions last only a few years, the heavenly union will last literally for ages. This union will be more intimate than the closest human relationships could ever be. And it will grow more intimate with each passing age. Paul writes: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations of the age of the ages! Ephesians 3:20&21 These are truly extraordinary prospects, and yet there is an even deeper truth regarding the holy wife. These [the saints of earlier times] were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Hebrews 11:39&40 Besides the external union with her Husband, the holy Bride enjoys a unique internal union. This is accomplished when all her members are joined together and "made perfect" (from the Greek "teleioo" meaning "complete"). What kind of a union is it? "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one". John 17:22 Jesus' desire is that the church will be in complete unity. Now, there are different levels of unity. At one level, there is the unity of simple agreement. This is a simple harmony of ideas- a "friendly" unity. On another level, there is the unity of shared experiences and trust. This is a "family" unity. Within the family, there is the level of unity shared by husband and wife, which consists of affection and commitment, and where, ideally, each will love the other even more than life itself. But the unity shared by the Father and the Son is on a level far beyond any of these. And this is the same level of unity which will connect the members of the body of Christ. We read about this body in the book of Romans: Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:4&5 And now the incredibly glorious mystery of the Bride is beginning to materialize. Just as a body is composed of many parts, the Bride is composed of many individuals, each unique, and yet all her members function as one entity. She is many, and at the same time she is one. Each member keeps its own identity, yet, with all the members joined together by the Holy Spirit, A NEW IDENTITY IS CREATED! This new entity will, I believe, have its own self-awareness- one that both combines and transcends the cognitions of its members. Each member will have a sense of "self" and, at the same time, a sense of being "the whole Bride". It is with this newly created perception of being "one" that the body of Christ will be able to relate to the Son in ways that no individual ever could. Furthermore, each member will enjoy a level of freedom that is unparalleled. This may seem contradictory at first since, in this age, freedom is often the enemy of unity. Because of our fallen state, freedom often becomes an occasion for the flesh to take control, which produces division. This is evident even in the early church (Galatians 5:13). But in the age to come, freedom will actually promote unity. Since sin will no longer be a factor, each member will be able to function more freely in the unique way it was created. And this will benefit all the rest of the members. There is much written about this freedom in the New Testament: For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Romans 8:20&21 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 The book of Acts gives us a glimpse of freedom and unity at work in the church in its infancy: All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:44-47 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. Acts 4:32 Unfortunately, the sinful state of this world quickly polluted the child Bride- Her original unity and freedom soon gave way to discord and bondage. And so it continues even today. But there is great hope for the future. The Bride of Christ will be revealed. She will be unique and glorious. She will be equal with Christ in every way, and all who are found faithful at His coming will be a member of the Bride, each one with a unique identity and function in the body, and at the same time having an awareness of the incredible reality: "I am the Bride of Christ. I am one, and I am one with my Creator and Savior"! I believe that Paul, when he was taken to the third heaven, had a vision of the Bride in Her glory, and realizing what an awesome future awaited him, he proclaimed: And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance (from the Greek "huperbole", literally "beyond measure") of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 2 Corinthians 12:7 When Paul saw the Bride of Christ, united in glory with Jesus, it blew his mind! No wonder he was so tempted to exalt himself. After such a vision, he must have been filled with a tremendous desire, every moment, to leave this world of suffering to take his promised place in the Bride, and to have the ultimate union with Jesus, seeing the Lord, not through the eyes of a servant, not through the eyes of a friend, but through the eyes of His Companion, experiencing a joy and freedom that defies comprehension! I tend to be somewhat reserved by nature, but the glory of this thing just can't be contained: Hallelujah!!!Come Lord Jesus...  |