Jan. 07, 2024

The Bride of Christ -- 07 Jan 24 – Pastor John Custer 

Introduction - Our lesson for today, and probably the next several, will cover this little understood, but very important subject.  It has everything to do with heaven, and our state once we get there.  Since there is so little teaching on this matter, the impression of heaven left to us by the modern church is that heaven will be an eternal vacation, absent of meaningful responsibility and filled with eternal titillation and the pursuit of pleasure.  To be sure, heaven will be wonderful beyond our wildest dreams, but much different than our present conceptions.  We must start with Jesus, the Lord of All, and understand what His interest has always been in us, sinners saved by His grace:

Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  NLT

You could read this and think that John was simply illustrating, as best he could, what the fantastic city which is heaven looked like, and you’d probably be right.  But probably, without John knowing it, he was writing down things which had much deeper meaning than he understood.  God did this all the time throughout the Bible with all the people He used to record the Scriptures.  This verse tells us that there is more going on than John understood. He was not just describing a dazzling city:

Revelation 19:7-9 Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. 8 She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.” NLT

Ephesians 5:30-32 And we are members of his body. 31As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. NLT

These Scriptures, and more like them, point to the fact that the Son of God will be marrying a Bride and there will be a wedding, complete with a marriage feast.  The apostle Paul went on to say that this union between Jesus and the church was considered a “unit,” a “one.” The Holy Spirit says this parallel is a great mystery. The Holy Spirit was putting it in human terms so we could get as close to understanding it as is humanly possible.  The closest approximation, the most fitting analogy, was the relationship between a human husband and wife. 

We pastors are really prone to make the subject of every week’s sermon the most important thing we can possibly remember, or do, or be.  To risk being in that category, I must make a “most important” evaluation today.  So, what is the most important thing ever? Is it for us for us to love God? Is it for us to love others? Was it for God to love us? For us to have fellowship with Him?  To be kind and give tithes to God? No.  None of these even come close to the most important thing in the universe, ever, and for all time to come. Here’s an excellent quote from Paul Billheimer in his book, Destined for the Throne:  

“The primary purpose of the universe from all eternity is the production and preparation of an eternal companion for the Son, called the the Bride, the Lamb’s wife.

This is the most important thing, in God’s estimation! He loved us enough to give His Son as a sacrifice to keep us from being destroyed by His wrath.  “For God so loved the world…” This is a pretty great love, so we do have great importance, but, we are not the most important thing ever.  Sorry if I popped your bubble!

Genesis 2:21-24 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the LORD God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. 23“At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” 24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. NLT

In this verse, the expression “made a woman” can be accurately understood as “built a woman.” God actually started building and preparing an eternal companion for Jesus by making Eve.  She came out of Adam.  They truly were one flesh.  God says that the church and Jesus are one.  Almost everyone is familiar with the story of Adam and Eve’s fall from perfect fellowship with God by disobeying God’s command to not eat from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  They were immediately stripped of their glory, i.e., they no longer existed with complete health and beauty, having no worries, and having an eternal purpose.  They were shut out of the beautiful garden in which there was no arduous labor and forbidden to eat from the Tree of Life.  They ended up having life as we know it presently.  Death would now terminate their earthly lives in an embarrassing state the Bible calls “dishonor.” They would work hard all their days with tiring strain.  Yet, God exhibited His great love by making a coat of skins for them, covering them from the worst of cold, heat, and embarrassment.  Though the ages, He kept building the Bride, giving chance after chance to mankind, postponing His anger through demonstrations such as the saving of a small remnant of people through the great Flood of Noah’s time, accepting animal sacrifices as temporary “covers” for sin, and finally sending Jesus to die in our stead.  This gave birth to the church, of which we are a part.  The process of restoration back to the glory which they once had in the Garden is described by the apostle Paul:

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. NLT

So, after that brief look at all of human history, we can trace the building of the Bride.  It is evident that each of us are a small part of the sum total of all of the church, which makes up the Bride.  The Bride is being restored to the former spiritual glory which Adam and Eve enjoyed in the Garden of Eden.  She will go beyond that in magnitude, honor, splendor, authority and power in the eons of time to come as she matures into the stature of the fullness of Christ: 

Ephesians 4:11-13 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12  for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. NLT

This change occurs in each one of us, individually and then collectively, as a Body of believers.  Our maturation as individuals is important but just as important is the maturing of the entire Body.  Don’t forget that Paul described this as a mystery, so we will not understand every detail of the process.  It happens over time, and there is no indication that it ever stops.  There is no limit to the goodness or the maturity of God.  He is infinite.  Unlike our concepts of personal development, which have taught us that we are as complete as we’ll get the moment we enter heaven, we keep growing in stature, sharing more of the creative genius of Jesus. Perhaps we’ll learn how to create and manage planets and natural forces, or create new animals.  One thing is for sure, we keep changing from glory to glory.  Jesus keeps revealing more of His infiniteness through us.  It just keeps getting better and better.   

Let’s stop and think about a couple things:  First, being constantly changed is great, much better than remaining the same for eternity.  The idea that you’d be happy in heaven with no responsibility, endless play, and endless pleasure is a false idea.  We get bored down here very quickly even in the best and most pleasing of experiences.  I have known plenty of people who couldn’t wait to get to retirement only to complain that they “have no purpose” after only a few months of the good life. What we really yearn for are simple, short temporary breaks from our lives on earth, like the Sabbath or an occasional holiday unto the Lord.   Second, heaven will not disappoint: 

Revelation 21:3-5 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”   NLT

When we get there, there will be no more sorrow, or crying or pain or any of the tiredness, anguish, hunger and need associated with this life.  We will not have mortal bodies which slowly weaken and need constant nourishment and repair.  This is part of the curse of sin.  The curse involved a concept identified in our study of physics called entropy.  It is the tendency of any system, (our bodies, our planet, the universe, etc.) to tend toward disorder and disintegration, rather than order and integration.  Heaven will be full of order and integration.  No more curse! Instead of rust, things will get shinier.  Our bodies will not need to rest.  We’ll have endless energy.  Third, the Bride is not a feminine concept.  It’s hard, down here, to escape the notion that anything wedding-ish or bride-ish is automatically girly and feminine.  The analogy of a weaker-than-the-male female being dependent on a strong male will not apply in heaven.  The marriage analogy only applies to our eternal dependence on Christ and oneness with Him.  If the glimpses of afterlife are at all accurate (Jesus, Moses, and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, for example, where all three were identified in their earthly genders) we’ll be male and female, we just won’t be married and dependent, and certainly won’t be raising children or managing pregnancies.  Females will be equally strong as males, all of us having the strength of the Lord, with none of the earthly impediments (menstrual cycles, prostate problems, etc.)  

Conclusion - In the coming weeks we’ll be sharing more about the absolutely marvelous treasure it is to be a part of the Bride of Christ.  There  will be some new insights coming from a wonderful book, Finally Home, written by Rev. Allen Claycomb, who we know and trust.  Stay tuned!