To, Love, Honor & Cherish Part 1

To, Love, Honor & Cherish Part 1. Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; How many remember their wedding vows? Remember the preacher saying to each; To, Love, Honor & Cherish? I would like to examine this phrase and compare marriage between man and woman and the marriage of Christ to the Church.

In Eph 5:25 we see that Jesus loved His bride so much, he gave His life for Her (speaking of the body of the Church) What is Love? The two Greek words for "love" are distinct: phileo, the love of impulse, ardent affection and feeling; agapao, the love of esteem, regard. 1. An affection of the mind excited by beauty and worth of any kind, or by the qualities of an object, which communicate pleasure, sensual or intellectual. It is opposed to hatred. Love between the sexes, is a compound affection, consisting of esteem, benevolence, and animal desire. Pleasing qualities of any kind excites love, as by kindness, benevolence, charity, and by the qualities which render social intercourse agreeable. In the latter case, love is ardent friendship, or a strong attachment springing from good will and esteem, and the pleasure derived from the company, civilities and kindness of others.

The love of God is the first duty of man, and this springs from just views of his attributes or Excellencies of character, which afford the highest delight to the sanctified heart. Esteem and reverence constitute ingredients in this affection, and a fear of offending him is its inseparable effect.

A strong attachment springing from good will and esteem, this is the Love that God has for His Church. We must understand that the church is the central point of Gods focus. She must be cleaned, dressed and prepared for an eternal relationship with Him. Nothing else will do. The Bride of Christ must be the best of all things, and as we come closer to the wedding day or union of Christ and the Church, the preparations become more precise. Gentlemen, if your bride to be, showed up at the wedding dressed in a housecoat, curlers in her hair and cold cream all over her face, you would think twice about the union, wouldn’t you? You expect the best she has, and since she will represent your name, purity is expected. So if we as men expect this of our bride, then Christ has the right to expect the same. Jesus loves His bride but impurities will and must be eliminated. In Jewish law a woman about to be married, is given a makeup kit bought by the bridegroom and is given 1 year to learn how to use it. God has given us over 2,000 years to learn. Lets take a look at some expectations of bridegroom to bride. 1Titus 2:9-10 in like manner, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment; [The meek shall inherit the Earth]

but (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works. [God expects good works from His Church]

1Titus 3:11 women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. [Come out from among the world and be ye a separated people]

1Peter 3:5 For after this manner aforetime the holy women also, who hoped in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands:

This last phrase is very interesting, {being in subjection to their own husbands:}

If you’ve ever heard these verses preached on before, most ministers use them to explain the roll of the woman in marriage. But here we see something different. Whose bride are we? Who do we answer to? Who will make our decisions for us as far as dress, communication and appearance? The Bridegroom, Jesus. Satan has, a throne, a kingdom, a church and a bride also. But the difference is extreme and is full of apostasy, greed, hatred, variance, ugliness and despair, the exact opposite of the Bride Of Christ. Revelations 2:9 I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and they art not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof. Changing life styles is not enough for the Bride of Christ but a change of Heart is essential for a lasting relationship. John 8:38 I speak the things, which I have seen with my Father: and ye also do the things which ye heard from your father. [Satan] Satan’s bride is, vulgar, unrulely, digenerate, dressed as a harlot and has no love for mankind. Remember what Love is in a union of husband and wife? “Pleasing qualities of any kind excites love, as by kindness, benevolence, charity, and by the qualities which render social intercourse agreeable. In the latter case, love is ardent friendship, or a strong attachment springing from good will and esteem, and the pleasure derived from the company, civilities and kindness of others.” These words have nothing to do with satins church [synagogue]. Satan is come to, kill, steel and destroy, all things that are good, righteous, worthy of acceptance from God, to make a mockery of Love. Satan will be and is married to a harlot that hates him as much as he hates her. We as the Bride of Christ are under subjection to Him and no other. Many people today have trouble in their marriages because of outside influences or should I say outside interferences. Not so with the Bride of Christ. There will be no outside interferences with her, but within there may be and is a division that must be handled and addressed before Christ will accept her to wed. John 3:29 He that 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. Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared [adorned, made up, finished with all premarital preparations] as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev 21:9 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 shew thee the bride [the Church], the Lamb’s wife. Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride [this is the Church] say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For the love of the Bride for the Bridegroom is, to make all preparations of herself in beauty and purity. If we love Christ, we will make all preparations that are required of Him for that day when the union and the marriage supper shall take place. So then what is Love. To give of yourself freely to your intended, being able to put all that you have into the relationship and not only all that you have but of all that you are. End part 1. Ars