The Great Mystery: the Church is the Bride of Christ (Eph. 5:25-32)
Human sexuality with all its extraordinary complexity, romantic mystery, and reproductive miracles is totally unexplainable by any of the theories of evolution. So why does this scientifically inexplicable marvel of human sexuality exist? Because Human sexuality, male and female differences, & marriage are part of an extraordinary eternal plan of God. Our omniscient God prepared for & performed the first wedding in the Garden of Eden with an infinitely greater purpose in mind (Gen. 2:21-25). He designed every detail to be a Prophetic Type of our redemption from sin by Jesus Christ. Sexuality & marriage illustrates God’s love & purpose for His Church. Redemption History is a progressive revelation of the greatest love story ever! Throughout the Bible the pieces of this profound love affair slowly fall into place until the puzzle is complete & the glorious picture fully revealed in the climax of history in the Book of Revelation 19:6-9. The wedding of King Jesus is found in Psalm 45.
Ephesians 5:25-33 is the first full revelation of this great mystery:
“For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (31) 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. (32) This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Eph 5:30-32)
The union between Christ & his people is sometimes explained of a mere feeling of love, or a simple spiritual union as opposed to a real living vital union. But a mere union of feeling & love is far beneath the truth revealed by these divinely designed Prophetic Types. There is a real, intimate, vital union between Christ & his people that no one else can ever experience. Christ is said to be “in them,” and they are “in him.” (John 14:20; 15:4). It is even likened to the sacred union between God the Father & the Son (John 17:20-23)! This vital union between Christ & His people is formed by the omnipresent Holy Spirit’s union with Christ & every member of His mystical body (1Cor. 6:17; 12:13).
This is not a simple metaphor but an amazing Prophetic Type. A metaphor is “a figure of speech, based on some resemblance of a literal to an implied subject. "That man is a fox," is a metaphor. It means a man is as crafty as a fox. A Type is “a shadow, cast by Divine design, of good things to come” & not the very image of the things (Heb. 10:1). In other words the Type is just a temporary shadow compared to the eternal “body” (or substance) it reveals (Col. 2:16-17). The hundreds of types found throughout the OT and fulfilled in the NT are an infallible proof of the Divine Design of all Scripture. There is absolutely no natural explanation for these supernatural phenomena which is unique to God’s Word, the Bible! The Bible is supernaturally inspired by Almighty God!
God invented romance & pursuit & the promise of undying love between a man & a woman so that throughout our lives we could catch a faint glimmer of the intense love Christ has for those He died to save. What passion Jesus has for His Church. You have heard and seen faint echoes [shadows] of Christ’s amazing love for us in every great love story you have ever witnessed. Every faithful & loving marriage has pointed to it. Each is an imperfect echo of the perfect love song of heaven (Josh Harris)
THE GREAT MYSTERY: THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC LOVE
This mystery opens up many beautiful prophetic types in the O. T. that prefigure our Lord Jesus & His mainly Gentile Bride. This Romance of the ages originated in the heart of God in eternity (Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9) and thus is hidden in many of the great love stories of the O. T.
Adam (the head of the human race) – his bride is a part of himself, formed from a rib of His pierced side (Gen. 2:18, 21-24). Jesus is the “Last Adam” (I Cor. 15:45) and the Church, His Bride comes out of the wounded side of Christ on the cross, after being put into a supernatural deep sleep. Just as the Church is both the Body and Bride of Christ, so Eve was the body of Adam before she was his Bride.
Isaac (was a child of promise who passed through a death and resurrection). His bride is Rebekah. Rebekah falls in love with the Son, whom she has never seen, through the testimony of the unnamed servant (Gen. 24:34-38, 50-51, 58). [The unnamed servant is a type of the Holy Spirit]. Isaac’s Father sent the servant to get the Bride. The church falls in love with Jesus before she actually sees Him, through the testimony of the unnamed Servant (I Pet. 1:8; Eph. 1:17; John 16:13-15). Rebekah is the "called out" Gentile virgin bride who must choose of her own free to be the wife of “The Son of Promise” (Gen. 24:15-17, 58. 61).
The church will be presented as “a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2). The Father wants a Bride without “spot or blemish” for his Son (Eph. 5:27; 2Cor. 7:1). We must choose of our own free will to follow Christ & leave our country & kin (Heb. 11:13-16). Rebekah is brought to the Son (Gen 24:64-65). She is led by the Father’s nameless servant, in loneliness across the desert, to possess all with Isaac, to whom his father has given everything (I Cor. 3:21-23; Rom 8:32).
The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father (John 14:26), brings the bride to meet Jesus, the Groom (Joh 3:29; Rom. 8:11; 1Thess. 4:14-16). What would have happened to Rebekah if she had refused the invitation of the servant to come marry the Son of Promise? What will happen to us if we refuse the invitation to come to Christ? “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation…?” (Hebrews 9:27; 2:3). It is a matter of your will (John 5:40). It is a matter of making the right decision now!
THE MYSTERY OF OUR UNION WITH DIVINITY:
There is a human nature and Divine nature (Heb. 2:14; 2 Pet. 1:4).
There is an earthly body and there is a heavenly body (2 Cor. 5:1-5)
There is a corruptible body & an incorruptible body (I Cor. 15:42)
There is a natural body and there is spiritual body (I Cor. 15:44)
One is the shadow of good things to come; one is the substance (Col. 2:17; Heb. 10:1). Here again we learn from the first Adam, as a type of Christ, precious truths about Jesus, the last Adam (I Cor. 15:45). Ephesians and Genesis reveal part of this Mystery as being the fact that a man’s wife is his own body. God not only considers the Man and his Wife to be one flesh, God says the two “shall be one flesh!” How a husband treats his wife is how he is treating himself. If he takes good care of her he is taking good care of himself. If he hurts her he is hurting himself! This is a profound literal mystery. Because a Husband & wife are 1 body, I will cherish & nourish my spouse in such a way that it brings glory to God, personal fulfillment, & a testimony to the lost.
In our relationship with Christ as His Bride we are His Body and enabled to partake of the Divine nature. (2 Pet. 1:3-4)
“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life & godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: (4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
We are partakers of His divine nature because we are literally made members of His spiritual body by the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12:12-3). We do not become gods or even little gods. We simply partake of the glory of the moral attributes of God through the Holy Spirit that indwells us (2 Cor. 3:17-18). But this mystery is even more profound. We are also “members of his body, of his flesh & of his bones” (Eph. 5:30KJV). This is one reason why Christ nourishes and cherishes his church - because all who belong to it are members of His own body. As members of His body we are as intimately united to Christ, in a spiritual sense, as if we were literally "flesh of his flesh, & bone of his bone."
We are one with Christ even in the same profound way that God the Father and God the Son are one! Jesus prayed for us:
“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: (22) And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (23) I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” (Joh 17:21-3)
What an amazing life changing spiritual reality that is true only for those who are part of the Universal Church, the spiritual body of Christ. Are you a member of His Spiritual body? What’s the evidence?
THE MYSTERY OF OUR UNION WITH ETERNITY:
“The Word [Jesus] became flesh” (John 1:14). “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same” (Heb. 2:9, 14-15). He bore our image on earth. We shall bear His image in Heaven (I John 3:2; I Cor. 15:49).
I become “one” with Christ through the Holy Spirit. But because I was created as a Trinitarian being: body, soul, and spirit; my body and soul are also somehow, mysteriously involved in this vital union with Christ! Many Scriptures make this clear (I Cor. 6:15; 12:27; I Thess. 5:23).
Our current flesh & bone body is somehow an intimate part of our glorified spiritual body. After Jesus was glorified He said: “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have… and He did eat before them” (Lk 24:39-46). Even though Jesus had his glorified spiritual body which could pass through solid walls (Joh 19:20, 26), He could still manifest as something solid in our 3 dimensional world. Our current physical body is just “a shadow” of greater & more glorious things to come (Col. 2:17; Heb. 8:5; Heb. 10:1). Every human experience that we enjoy on earth is a fallen counterpart of something that’s more real, holy & eternal. Glory be to God some day we will get to experience the real thing! Eternal life! (Only if you have repented of your sins & trusted Christ to save you)
THE MYSTERY OF OUR ETERNAL DESTINY (Ps. 45; Rev. 19:6-9)
Illustration: Marriage customs at the time of Christ
In Bible times the young bridegroom had to approach his chosen bride with a marriage covenant, which they would both sign. It included the great price or dowry to be paid to the Father of the bride (I Cor. 6:20) At the signing of the covenant the groom offered a cup of wine to the bride to seal the covenant. If she took the Cup & Drink it she was saying yes to the proposal & sealed the covenant (Matt. 26:27-29). But if she refused his offer; the young man would pack up his things, leave and never come back to her again (Matt. 23:37-39; Lk. 13:34-35).
If the Bride accepted the Marriage covenant, the groom told her: “I go to prepare a place for you.” He then returned to his father’s house and began to build a bridal chamber – a little mansion, where the couple would have their honeymoon (Joh 14:1-3). Meanwhile, the bride waited at home, set apart for Him, “brought for a price,” until her bridegroom returned to “steal” her away (Matt. 25:1-13). Have you accepted Christ’s proposal & drunk from the cup? Are you waiting for Him to return?
Illustration:
Queen Victoria
Our joy at the wedding feast of the Lamb will be greater than Queen Victoria’s on her wedding day.
Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death.
When she became queen, she was still an unmarried young woman and was required by social convention to live with her mother. When Victoria complained to Melbourne that her mother's close proximity promised "torment for many years", Melbourne sympathized but said it could be avoided only by marriage, which Victoria called a "shocking alternative".[54] She showed interest in Albert who was to become her husband, but she resisted attempts to rush her into wedlock.[55]
Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839, just five days after he had arrived at Windsor.[56] They were married on 10 February 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St. James's Palace, London.
Victoria wrote ecstatically in her diary:
"I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert ... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! ... to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!"
[Hibbert, p. 123; Longford, p. 143; Woodham-Smith, p. 205]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_victoria 3.1.2014
