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Rightly Dividing
the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15)
Established November 2008 Published
Weekly on Friday
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior, who desires all men (and women) to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Timothy 2:3-4)
Ephesians (5:22-33)
(Lesson 31)
Thank you for
attending HBS’s personal Bible study.
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
your spirit, brethren. Amen.”
We have been parked
on Ephesians 5:22-33 for two weeks attempting to glean as much knowledge as humanly
possible from this scripture passage, and yet we’re still here, why? Many Christian
churches believe and teach God’s one
Church is “The Bride of Christ.” I
know. I’ve was there when this belief
was taught to the congregations. They
use Ephesians 5:25-27 and 2 Corinthians 11:2-3 to support this teaching. But here’s the thing, the phrase “The Bride of Christ” is not found
anywhere in the Bible. That being
understood, are these church’s teaching biblical truth, or not? We’re back here again this week to answer
that question and we’ll do that by flipping some Bible pages in order to see
what this book does say about “the Lambs
wife, the bride of Christ” (Revelation 19:7-8, 21:9-10).
********
The
Bride in the Old Testament
The
Israelites became the nation of Israel when they were called out of slavery in Egypt. Although Israel was “married” to the LORD
God, she proved to be an unfaithful spouse because of “adultery.” This is how Israel’s unfaithfulness to the
LORD was expressed in the O.T. How did
Israel cheat on the LORD God? The
Israelites “left” the LORD and His Word for false gods such as: Asherah, Baal, Dagon, Molech, etc. However, despite their repeated mistakes, the
LORD declared the nation of Israel would return to Him, they would become
exactly what He purposed for them, and He would fulfill His covenant promises
to them, one of these being Israel would become a nation of priests (a go-between), a holy nation, and a
faithful wife (Exodus 19:6; Isaiah 61:6, 66:21; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation
1:6; 5:10).
With
this info in mind, let’s all turn to the book of Isaiah at chapter 54:4-8:
“Fear not, for you
will not be put to shame; and do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; but you will forget
the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will
remember no more. “For your husband
is your Maker, whose name is the LORD of hosts; and your Redeemer
is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the God of all the
earth. “For the LORD has called you, like a wife forsaken
and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one’s youth
when she is rejected,” says your God.
“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I
will gather you. “In an outburst of anger I hid My face
from you for a moment, but with everlasting lovingkindness I
will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.”
While
we’re in Isaiah, let’s all turn to chapter 62:1-5:
“For Zion’s sake I
will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, until
her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like
a torch that is burning. The nations will see your righteousness,
and all kings your glory; and you will be called by a new name which the
mouth of the Lord will designate. You will also be a crown
of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of
your God. It will no longer be said to you, Forsaken, nor to your land
will it any longer be said, Desolate; but you will be called, My delight
is in her, and your land, Married; for
the Lord delights in you, and to Him your land will be married.
For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry
you; and the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will
rejoice over you.”
Now,
if you would, please follow me to the book Jeremiah at 3:14:
“Return, faithless people, declares
the LORD, for I am your (what) husband. I will choose you – one from a town and two
from a clan – and bring you to Zion.”
And
Jeremiah 31:33:
“Behold, days
are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like
the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them
by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they
broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the LORD. But
this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, declares the LORD, I will put My law within them and on their heart I
will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
For
those who are not familiar with the minor prophet Hosea’s work in the O.T. the LORD God used his personal life as an
object lesson to instruct the nation of Israel to repent of their idolatrous
behavior. To present His case, the LORD
God told Hosea to marry a prostitute and have children:
When the LORD first
spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of
harlotry; for the land commits fragrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD…”
(1:2-4).
Hosea
obeyed the LORD by marrying Gomer and
they had three children. The number
three, as well as the names of these children is significant. The number 3 is found throughout this
book. It’s the number of the God-head,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Jesus was 30 years old when He began His ministry
to Israel, Jesus was 33 years old when He died on the cross, Jesus was tempted
3 times in the wilderness by Satan, Peter, James, and John were the 3 disciples
in His inner circle and they were with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the
disciple failed to stay awake 3 times in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter denied
Jesus 3 times, as Jesus said he would, In John 21 we find Peter telling the
Lord he loved him 3 times in succession, according to Mark 15:25 it was the 3rd
hour of the day when Jesus was crucified, Jesus rose from the dead on the 3rd
day, etc. The significance of the number
3 here and elsewhere in scripture reveal God is Sovereign over sin.
The
LORD chose specific names for Hosea’s children to teach Israel an object
lesson. The first child, a son, was named
Jezreel which means “God
scatters.” God judged
(scattered) the northern kingdom with the Assyrian invasion around 722 BC. Their second child, a daughter, named Lo-ruhama (not pitied), and the
third child, a son, was named Lo-ammi (not
my people).
The
LORD’s disfavor with His chosen people would be temporary. We learned this from the prophet Isaiah’s
writings. The LORD God had promised the
nation of Israel would repent (means: change
one’s mind) of its unfaithfulness and return to Him.
Hosea
wrote:
“Therefore, behold,
I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly
to her. Then I will give her her vineyards from there, and the
valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the
days of her youth, as in the day when she came up (was redeemed) from the land of Egypt. It will come
about in that day, declares the LORD, That you will call Me Ishi
and will no longer call Me Baali. For I
will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, so that they will be mentioned
by their names no more. In that day I
will also make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of
the sky and the creeping thing of the ground.
And I
will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, and will make
them lie down in safety. I will betroth you to Me
forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me
in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in
compassion, And I will betroth you to Me in
faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD (Hosea
2:14-20).
Here
we get a glimpse of the LORD God’s devotion and tenderness towards His people,
the Jews. Hosea depicts Him as a
courting lover. He allures the object of His love and speaks kindly to her. This passage
speaks of a refreshed relationship in which His wife (the nation of Israel) will call Him “My husband,” “My man”
(Ishi) instead of “My Lord.” Baal was
one of the false gods Israel discovered by fraternizing with the pagan gentiles
in the land of Canaan (Numbers 22:41; Judges 2:13).
There
is also prophecy in this passage and this should not be overlooked. All prophecy, past, present, and future in
the Bible is directed to the nation of Israel and not God’s one Church. The Church was a mystery (a secret) kept hidden in the mind of God since before the
foundation of the earth – remember?
Of this church I
was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for
your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,
that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and
generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, (Colossians
1:25-26).
In
the prophecy of this restored relationship, in which God will put His Spirit
into the nation (Jeremiah 31:31-40), the animal kingdom will also be at peace (Isaiah
11:6-10), and war will be no more (Isaiah
2:1-4). This renewed betrothal will be eternal and Israel
will know the Lord– the One True God.
So,
when will this planet know true peace among the animals and the people, and
when will the nation of Israel know the One True God of Israel? The
Millennium, Jesus Christ’s 1,000 year reign here on earth, right! When will the King and His kingdom arrive on
earth? After the “great tribulation,”
the final 3.5 years of man’s history on earth.
A time of great death and destruction before the coming of the Lord (His
second advent) as revealed by the prophet Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27).
The
Bride in the Book of Revelation
The
book of Revelation reads like an Old Testament book because the Apostle John writes
to the nation of Israel re: events that will occur in the tribulation. Most of its symbols and imagery are found in
the prophets. To a discerning reader, it
should be clear that Jesus’ messages to the churches (Ekklesia) in Revelation
2-3 were not directed to Christian
churches, i.e. N.T. Pauline churches. The language the Lord used towards them has no
correspondence to the language or the concepts Paul had received by revelation and
communicated to the churches he planted. John wrote to these seven Jewish assemblies to
encourage them in the tribulation they were experiencing (Revelation 1:9). Of the seven cities Jesus mentioned,
only three are found elsewhere in the Bible: Ephesus
(Acts 18:19, Acts 18:19,
21,
24,
19:1,
17,
26,
35,
20:16,
17;
1 Corinthians
15:32, 16:8,
Ephesians 1:1,
1 Timothy 1:3;
2 Timothy 1:18,
4:12),
Thyatira (Acts 16:14),
and Laodicea (Colossians 2:1,
4:13,
15-16;
1 Timothy 6:21).
We have no information about Smyrna, Pergamon, Sardis, or Philadelphia. The events of Revelation remain future. Those
who have attempted to make church history correspond with the messages to these
churches (historicists) or worse, have tried to fit the events into a pre-70
A.D. timeframe (preterists), have replaced sound analysis of the Bible text
with sheer fantasy.
The
character of these assemblies is Jewish. No Church, i.e., the Body of Christ, doctrine
is found in them. The Lord’s message to them is wholly different from the
language He gave to Paul for the Body of Christ. You won’t find a hint of Paul’s gospel or the doctrines
of grace in Jesus’ words to these assemblies. Jesus’ exhortation is “he who has an ear, let him hear” and His command is to persevere and endure to the end. To what
end; the end of the great tribulation.
So,
you see, none of this is Pauline. The
warnings Jesus gave the assemblies echo His warnings to the Twelve on the Mount
of Olives. In the Olivet Discourse Jesus
Christ warned them not to be deceived
and to endure to the end (Matthew 24:4, 11, 24, 13). The great temptation that will confront
Israel, as well as the entire world
during the period of time foretold by Revelation will be to accept the
counterfeit christ as their Messiah. This
will involve the worship of Satan, the beast (the Antichrist), the Antichrist’s
image, and the taking of his mark (Revelation 13:4, 8, 15, 16-17).
Since
Revelation is primarily about Israel and reads like the Old Testament, one
conclusion remains: it is what it
is. Therefore the bride of Revelation 19
is Israel. God’s one Church, the Body of Christ was raptured prior to (not during
and not after) the start of the tribulation, remember? (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
John
wrote:
“Let us rejoice and
be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the
Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself
in fine linen, bright and clean;
for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are
those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’” (Revelation
19:7-9).
In the marriage of
the Lamb,
we read the bride has made herself ready.
Please direct me to the Bible verse where
Paul declares the Church must make herself
ready! I’ll assist you with this by
saying our Apostle Paul never instructs Believers “to make themselves ready.” Paul
declared members of the Body of Christ have been made complete in Christ and this is past tense not future tense (Colossians
2:10). The Church needs no “preparation.” We are
complete in Him! So, the bride here is Israel and the “marriage of the Lamb” is the
reconciliation of Israel with their God which the prophets foretold.
But
there’s more, in Revelation 21, John described a new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1) to replace the old
heaven and earth which had departed. Along
with the new heaven and earth is the new
Jerusalem. It comes down from heaven
onto the new earth in Revelation 21:2. John
described the city as a bride adorned for her husband.
In
Revelation 21:9, one of the seven angels
of the seven bowls showed John the
bride, called the wife of the Lamb. This was the new Jerusalem. Again,
everything we’ve looked at is Jewish in nature. The city has twelve gates with
the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on them (Revelation
21:12). The twelve foundation stones
have the names of the twelve apostles (Revelation 21:14; Matthew 19:28). God’s one
Church is not mentioned here, folks.
Paul
and the Bride of Christ?
Paul
taught the Church is the Body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18,
24) and that Believers become members of His body through the baptism of the Holy Spirit (no water necessary; 1 Corinthians
12:13). This revelation was one of the “mysteries” (secrets) the
glorified, risen Lord revealed to Paul. He
was the only writer of Scripture who taught the churches “We are all members of
Christ’s body.” Before Paul this truth
was not known (Ephesians 3:3-7).
We
have established this book teaches the Church is the Body of Christ. So, how is it most of Christendom borrows two specific passages from the Bible to teach
the Church is the bride of Christ? We’ll examine this question by
reviewing the two passages of scripture they use to make their case:
For I am jealous
for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that
to Christ I might present you as a
pure virgin (2
Corinthians 11:2).
When
proof-texted, this passage may appear to support the idea the Church is the
bride of Christ. However, when you
include these verses that follow this teaching falls apart.
Paul
continued: “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his
craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not
preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received,
or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. For
I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent
apostles. But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in
knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all
things” (2 Corinthians 11:3-6).
Paul’s
point was to encourage the Corinthians to remain faithful (devoted) to Christ and His
gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Paul
constantly had to defend his ministry–from both unbelievers and Believers. Some of us are still defending his apostleship
and his writings today. From his words
in this passage, he recognized he was not the most polished speaker. But in terms of knowledge, he was out in front of the pack; he was God’s apostle to
the Gentiles (Romans 11:13). The risen
Lord had commissioned him and revealed to him secrets no one else knew. Paul’s
choice of words to the Corinthians, “present
you as a pure virgin” was to illustrate his desire for holy living (their worthy
walk) for these believers, not to
teach the Church is the Bride of Christ any more than Paul taught that he was
their mother (Galatians 4:19) or
their father (1 Corinthians
4:15).
Here’s
the other passage they proof-text:
“Wives, be subject to your own
husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He
Himself being the
Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so
also the wives ought to
be to their husbands in everything. Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up
for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by
the washing of water with the word, that He
might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot
or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and
blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives
as their own bodies. He who loves his
own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes
and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the
church, because we are members of His body. FOR THIS
REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE,
AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. This mystery is great; but
I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless,
each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself,
and the wife must see to
it that she respects her husband” (Ephesians
5:22-33).
In
the passage above, Paul argued that as a
husband is the head of a wife, Christ
is the head of the Church. This fits
with Paul’s teaching the Church is the Body of Christ with Christ Himself as
the Head (Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 1:18).
Paul noted that husbands should
love their wives as their own bodies (5:28) because no one ever hated his own
flesh (5:29). One nourishes his body and
cherishes it (5:29). It is this
nourishing and care of a husband for his own body that Paul used to make the
analogy regarding Christ’s care for His Church, i.e., His one body (1 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 4:4; 5:29-30). Paul quoted Genesis 2:24, not to make a point
about the husband/wife relationship or that the Church is the bride of Christ
but to emphasize the unity
and care for the body. Paul declared this was a “great mystery” but he spoke with
reference to Christ and His Church (5:32).
Since the Church is the Body of Christ it means if Christ is the
bridegroom we are part of His groomsmanship. Thus, we are of the bridegroom, and not the
bride!
Summing
up, wife and bride are titles that belong to Israel, not God’s one Church. Our title is “the Body of Christ.” As the
body, we are of the bridegroom, not the bride. If you cannot tell the bridegroom from the
bride at a marriage it is going to be a confusing wedding. But God
is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). He wishes Believers to understand who they
are, where they fit in His plan, and what promises belong to them. When we choose to obey God’s command to study
His Word, and rightly divide it, we can rejoice in the grace God has given to each of us and serve and honor Him
effectively (Ephesians 4:11-13). To God
be the glory!
(To
be continued)
© Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
All
Rights Reserved
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