(Reading) The heavenly bridegroom & bride — Joel Portman

Our Father, we thank Thee for the return of another Lord's Day. What a precious time it is around the person of our Lord Jesus, and again we have the privilege of remembering him. And even before that, Lord, to be reminded of the one who gave himself, that he might purchase a bride to be forever with himself, to enjoy his presence for him to enjoy her and to correspond to him the result of his great work at Calvary.

Our Father, we thank Thee this morning for the great price infinite in all that he endured at the cross on our behalf. We bow, O God, with reverence, with deepest appreciation for that one who loved us and gave himself for us.

We could say like the bride in the song of Solomon, I am black. Why is he looked upon me? And yet, our Father, we thank Thee we have been brought into the sphere of grace and the enjoyment of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so, our Father, as we anticipate this hour before us, we recognize and freely confess our dependence upon Thy Spirit to guide us into all truth and to magnify Thy sons and help us to appreciate Him in a greater way, as together we consider this precious subject of the relationship between Christ and the bride that he has purchased with his own precious blood.

We anticipate that moment, perhaps very soon, when the entire Church of God will be called home to be with himself and to be joined to him for all eternity. And, Father, we pray that we might live in the joyful anticipation of it and seek to bring honor to the name of the one whose name we bear.

We offer our thanks, looking to Thee for Thy help, and trust Thee, O God, to guide us in our consideration in this Bible study and render thanksgiving to Thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Now, if you have an outline, you know that our subject this morning, the brethren have asked us to look at the subject of the bridegroom and the bride, and different ones have commented to me that the outline is very extensive in terms of the time that would be required.

I freely admit that. But I can rest, you can rest your minds that we're not going to consider all that's on the outline. That's for you to enjoy if you want for yourself. Once you get started, sometimes it's hard to know where to stop.

Nevertheless, the three main headings that are on the outline are what I have on my mind, that is to briefly look at the typical pictures of the relationship between the bridegroom and the bride that we have in the Old Testament.

And personally, I think we should concentrate primarily on the first one, and perhaps Isaac and Rebecca, but the primary type, of course, the relation to that is Adam and Eve. So we'll read in Genesis chapter two.

Adam and Eve as a Picture of the Bridegroom and Bride

And then after a few minutes of looking at that aspect of the truth, I would suggest we move on to the New Testament, to Ephesians chapter five, and spend the majority of our time. You know very well that 50 minutes is going to go very quickly.

So we'll read very briefly. I'm not going to read extensively. There's much more that we can fill in as we look at this subject. We'll begin in chapter two, verse 18. And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone.

I will make and help meet for him, corresponding to him, to stand before him. Out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them into Adam to see what he would call them.

And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found and help meet for him.

And the Lord God caused the deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.

Let's read in Ephesians chapter 5, our second reading, where this is quoted from Genesis chapter 2. We have in verse 23 and 24, the relationship of Christ to the body, another relationship. But verse 25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, or sanctify, having cleansed it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies, he that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, of his cause, so on shall the man.

Verse 32, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Last of all, we'll read briefly in Revelation 19 and 21. Verse six, and I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as a voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

And he said unto me, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. Going to chapter 21 for a few verses of this long section.

Verse nine, 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 show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. And the light was like unto a stone most precious, even unto a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

Bobbing down to these verses, just go down to verse 22. And I saw no temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb of the temple thereof, of it. The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it.

For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Verse 27, there shall no wise enter into it anything that defile it, neither whatsoever work it abomination, or make it a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

I'll just stop with that reading. I know I haven't read all the verses that are applicable, but I'm not going to say very much because time is passing very quickly. But I just suggest to us that while we might have differences in relation to especially chapter 21, the city, we want to primarily direct our attention toward this unique, special relationship that has been determined by God in relation to his son.

The father seeking a bride for the son. And out of the Gentiles and the Jewish background bringing you into existence, one that would stand apart from all the others. I would take it in the Old Testament, we have a marriage relationship between Jehovah and Israel.

From the New Testament, we have a marriage relationship between Christ and the church, different entirely. And we have this unique picture that is given to us. I personally believe that God designed the marriage relationship, not only for the benefit of man and the procreation of the human race, but also that it might serve as a lovely picture of the relationship between Christ and his church.

No, marriage is not a man instituted ordinance. God is the one that instituted that between one man and one woman, intended to be unmarred by man's sinfulness, although it has been. And the perfect ideal of it is seen in this relationship between Christ and his bride.

And so we have pictures of the Old Testament. I have suggested we have seven Old Testament men that are not necessarily types of Christ, but they're certainly pictures of Christ. And each one has a bride.

Some of them are Gentiles and some are Jews, but it reminds us that out of Jew and Gentile, there is the formation of a different body altogether. And one relationship, believers are members of the body of Christ.

He's the head. This relationship, believers are members of the bride of Christ. And he is her companion. He is her Lord. And as well, we find in the word of God, these pictures that present to us the unique way by which God has brought this about.

And Adam and Eve, we find that God made the woman different from how he made all of creation. The process involved, and I would take you to deep sleep, would suggest to us a place called Calvary, the sufferings of Christ.

And following that and out of it, we have this one who was formed not from the dust of the ground, but from the side of Adam, members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. And then we find in the relationship of Isaac and Rebecca that the spirit of God typified by the unnamed servant is bringing a bride.

I think that she was his bride when she committed herself to go and she became his wife when he brought her into his mother's tent. And they were united in marriage. I believe that's where we are today.

Brethren and sisters, we're in the journey, going to meet the man that we've never met. And yet, having not seen him, we love him. And so going on into the New Testament, I'll leave it for our brethren.

I suggest in chapter five, we have that truth taken up again that has been suggested in the outline, and then we'll go into revelation. I simply want to try to keep this moving and leave our brethren free.

We don't have to be bound by the outline, and we can interchange our thoughts freely as you can share them with God's people.

The Church as Christ's Body and Bride

Our dear brother took us yesterday to 1 Corinthians 11, and we find here's the basis of behavior in the assembly. And we have particularly the relationship brought out between the man and the woman. And again, it goes right back to the beginning.

Two things, one is of, which is out of, and the other is for, so origin and purpose. So here's a lovely picture again of the origin of the church and its purpose, out of Christ and for him. So here, without man, woman has no purpose, no independent purpose.

And indeed, the opposite is true as well. But here, these things become something that determines behavior in the local assembly. But also it's this larger picture, as you say, of the body and the picture of the bride, as we know as well as building.

But here is this one which gives this living picture of the bride. It's the one which is animate, as you pointed out at the beginning, an intimate relationship.

I would take it in the church as a body of Christ as an organic relationship, whereas this is an intimate relationship of one with the other. Would there be any thought now, brother, in these seven that you have cited, there's a faction from every one of those bridegrooms for their bride.

Would that not illustrate what your bread, Ephesians 5, Christ loved the church? You know, a basic, well, as you've already cited it, for example, he loved Rebecca. The church was at his mother's tent and so on.

You know, and a practical thing, is that not where we should be coming in? We reciprocate the abacus of Christ for us. So the bride of Christ is unique from all of these brides that you have listed here.

For she is the only bride that is bloodbathed, the others were not. He purchased her by the shedding of his own precious blood. Some of these are more clear pictures in relation to that because they were the only brides.

Whereas other times you have other wives brought in as well. Would you say, would you agree with me, brethren, and I'm throwing this out on a limb and maybe where in Genesis chapter two, it is not good for the man to be alone, but that goes beyond Adam.

Would that be the eternal purpose of God that is in view in relation to his son? God had a purpose for him, and that was eventually to purchase a bride. And at the cost of himself, he had to pay that price to purchase her.

That Adam is the true picture of Christ. Adam's a figure of him that was to come. Adam's the first Adam. Christ is the last Adam. Adam is the first man, but Christ is the second man. Christ is not the last man.

Why is that? This world has yet to see another man, the man of sin. So Christ is the second man. This world is yet to see another man, the man of Christ. But when we come to the Ephesian epistle, the church is the building, the church is the body, and the church is the bride.

As the body, it can't be demolished. As the building, it can't be demolished. As the body, it can't be diseased, it can't be defiled. And as the bride, it can't be divorced. That's very good. So Adam was incomplete.

Until Eve was brought into the picture. It makes me think of the Ephesians chapter one, where it speaks of the body as the fullness of him that filleth all in all. And that just seems like such a contradiction, but it is the complement to the fullness of Christ, this bride.

And to think that we are part of that is a very humbling thing.

Adam, Eve, and the Purpose of Christ's Bride

I would take it that Adam surveying and naming all the animals of creation saw nothing that corresponded to himself. Nothing had a like nature, nothing. And so God, out of his longing, his desire, and recognition of his need, God made.

He didn't create, he made a woman, indicating a process that involved work on his part.

Adam would respond to the animals with his head. He came up with a name and a description in the name, but nothing to touch his heart.

No, no. And when you go to Genesis five, it's interesting that the Lord names them Adam. So there's one unit seen in the purpose of God.

But they brought on the being brother, the first day, you know, the same day, the second day. How do you handle that? I got to hear it first. I couldn't hear you. Was Adam from chapter two was created on the sixth day of creation, right?

Was she formed the same day? You tell me because he doesn't say he doesn't. Well, they, the verse that our brother Stu quoted.

In the day that they create, they were created. I was wondering, is that a hint?

Perhaps so. Brother, would you take a significance then between Eve being taken from the side of Adam and the side of Christ, the cross and his? Certainly there's a significance. There was that which is nearest to his heart.

Would you say the rib taken from a rib that was near to his heart, indicating a relationship that was very personal, close, intimate. There's something about the bride relationship that was very near to the heart of Christ.

It's out of his heart that they were purchased by the shedding of their own precious blood. Brother. So it is unique, as you're saying. She's the one, the only one that's taken out of the groom. So there should be a likeness, shouldn't there?

Between them. She's really part of him. It's interesting that the first I will of God is in Genesis chapter two. I will make him and help me for him. The last I will is in Revelation 21. I will show you the bride.

And in between, you have a very important one in Matthew chapter 16. I will build my church. So it's a determinant counsel and the purpose of God that brought this into reality. I will make him help that corresponds to him, one that is suitable to him, one that can stand beside him, not just to be a help to him, but to be that which would be of a like nature with him out of himself.

So Adam recognized that in verse 23. This is now bold of my bones and the flesh of my flesh. And she shared his name. So she partakes of his name woman. She was taken out of man. So any other comments on these Old Testament pictures that we have listed?

Isaac and Rebekah as a Picture of the Spirit's Work

How about Isaac and Rebecca? It's a father that had the purpose to get a ride for his son. Isaac didn't even know where he was going to get her from, who she was going to be. There might be a point, brother Joel, on Rebecca's name is not mentioned until after the altar experience, Genesis 22.

So would that not picture the Lord Jesus and the church? I don't you believe, brother Stanley, that there is an order that you find Genesis 22. You have a anticipation of the cross and the work of Christ at Calvary.

But then in chapter 23, you have Israel being set aside, right? Sarah dying. And then you have the Torah brought in the picture. And then chapter 24, we have Abraham sending a servant. I take it unnamed servants in our Bible are oftentimes pictures of the Holy Spirit of God.

I wondered if Peter perhaps had Rebecca in mind when he wrote the words, having not seen the Lord. She loved a man she had never seen. She had seen the evidence of the greatness of Abraham and Isaac. But perhaps Peter had that in mind.

And we are like Rebecca in that sense. The world can't understand how you can love a man that you've never seen. I've often wondered, as the servant was taking her to meet Isaac, what their conversation was about and what our conversation should be about as we're traveling onward to meet him.

She wouldn't be talking about where she left her. She'd be talking about the one, tell me more about the one that I'm going to meet. So that should be our desire too, to learn more of the one that we're going to meet.

And likely she would say, tell me about the time he was on the altar. So her heart would be touched as she would go to meet him. They have a subjection and so on. It's really a beautiful picture, isn't it?

It was way back in picture, way back into eternity too, doesn't it? The conversation concerning her before the servant went to get her. The servant would be a picture of the Spirit of God. And on that journey to meet Isaac, the servant would fill Rebecca's soul with Isaac.

And the Lord said that the Spirit will not speak of himself, but will speak of him. The first mention of love in the Bible is Genesis 22. It's the father's love for a son. Take now thy son, thy only son Isaac, whom thou lovest.

The second mention of love in the Bible is Genesis 24. And it's the bridegroom's love for the bride. Isaac takes Rebecca into his mother's stead and it says he loved her. So of those three, just before we leave Isaac, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Isaac is the only one that had one bride. So it's what you've said, it fits with Rebecca. All the things you've said to this point. Very good. Well, the servant had displayed everything to attract her heart to him before they ever started on the journey.

It's really wonderful to see how based on the testimony of the servant and the display of the wealth, that her heart was drawn to him and she was willing to go. That was a journey for her. That was almost like a step into the unknown, except for what he had made known.

She had to believe what she had heard.

But the final decision, it says, will thou go with this one? So the Holy Spirit gives the evidence, just like today. And yet the final decision is ours to go with him.

There was a full commitment on her part. Yes. There's no going back. Never even thought of her going back. I find her totally identified with him from that point on. I think she would be, she would be very sure of her acceptance when she got there, because she likely would be wearing the very garments that he had provided.

So there's no end, hardly, to the beautiful pictures that there are. There's a contrast here too, isn't there, between Isaac and the Lord. Isaac didn't know who the bride was going to be. He was totally in ignorance about Rebekah and what the Lord knows.

And I wonder sometimes whether the longing of the Lord's heart at the present moment is for a fulfillment that he has not yet received, when he will receive his bride. I have further comments on some of these Old Testament pictures.

We're moving on in time. Boaz and Ruth would be a lovely study, wouldn't it, as well, when you think of a mighty man of wealth. And Moabitess Damsel that had come with her disappointments from the past.

Death was in her past. And poverty and all the rest of it. And yet she's brought into relationship. I think that there's a lovely picture in Boaz and Ruth and the relationship there. It brings in the great son of grace, doesn't it?

In their genealogies, Ruth is the 10th generation. But Moabite was not to be allowed into the congregation of the Lord. It's the 10th generation, and Ruth is the 10th generation. You know, Larry, brother, it doesn't say Moabitess.

It says Mo. So there's the grace shown, too. Right. So how is Ruth greater than seven sons? Thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons she had borne him. How could a daughter-in-law be better than seven sons?

You'll have to answer your own question, brother. Well, she did what seven sons could never do. The genealogy is brought in through Ruth. What seven sons could never do, here's a woman that can do it.

All right, that's all right. That's the only answer I've got, if you have anything better. I told Mr. Paisley that. He said, you should have told me that before I wrote my book in the book of Ruth. All right, brother, that's good.

Thanks. So, 25 more minutes. What about the comments we might make in Ephesians chapter 5? We've seen some pictures, I think, that suggest they carry our minds forward to this passage where we read that Christ loved the church.

We have that relationship that's been suggested in Isaac and Rebekah and others that are involved. He gave himself for it, a price that was paid, and I think suggested in some measure in Adam in his deep sleep.

What about these passages? In verse 25, would we take that to be the past? He gave himself. Then in the present, or as a result of the past, he has sanctified or set her apart, especially and particularly for himself.

God, the Lord, never intends that the bride should belong to another. Faithfulness, and of course, it's a definite personal identification with him, belonging to him. He is not going to cleanse it, but I think that he has cleansed it.

Yes. Having cleansed her by the washing of water by the word. And the future is the presentation of a glorious church. Have you any thoughts as to why this should be brought in at this juncture in the book of Ephesians?

Why these relationships should be brought in? I'll tell you what I've thought. In Ephesians, it's speaking about the inheritance and how that God wants us to enjoy the inheritance and measure even now before we enter into it fully.

But Satan doesn't want us to enjoy it, and this is the first place where he attacks in the family, and it's very evident today. So, it's so important, isn't it, in a practical sense, even that it should affect each husband and each wife here in the meeting this morning.

That the Spirit-filled life is going to be seen in every aspect of our life. It's going to be seen self-worth. It's going to be seen God-worth. It's going to be seen saint-worth. It's going to be seen in the home, and it's going to be seen in the world.

And those five things are emphasized in the Spirit-filled life in Ephesians chapter 5. Brother Lavery, would you go along with the fact that in this passage, he's dealing with wives submitting themselves to their husbands, husbands loving their wives.

Is there a hint that there was a failure in Genesis 3? Oh, sure. And so, based upon that failure that came in from the very beginning, and Satan attacking that relationship and undermining it, he establishes it again, but in a perfect ideal sense, as it's based upon the principle of Christ himself and the church submitting themselves to the Lord.

I certainly would think that that's really what it is, because in Ephesians, really, as it has been mentioned in chapter 1, it's going back, isn't it, to Genesis, and dominion that Christ and the bride are going to have in the world.

So I think that's a very good thought, that the headship broke down.

Verse 23 is head, and verse 25 is heart. Christ loved the church. So here, headship comes first, and then the heart comes in.

It was back to your first point in 1 Corinthians 11. That's right, yeah.

In Ephesians 1, the determined purpose of God, even it says in verse 4, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. And how is he going to accomplish that?

Well, it has been accomplished through the Lord Jesus. And I'm thinking particularly of that term without blame. When we get into Ephesians chapter 5, this church that he will present is, yes, having not spot, and it is without blemish.

That's the same term. What God determined before the foundations of the world, the Lord Jesus has accomplished. And the bride reflects him, redeemed with precious blood as the lamb without blemish and without spot.

And that is what will be seen in the bride. But what a tremendous prospect there is.

It's important to note what our brother has just, Brother Joel has mentioned in the word submitting and the word love. If you have that in verse 22, Christ submit himself as your own husband. And then it says Christ also loved the church.

Before he writes to these believers that why submit? He does say in verse 21, submit yourself one to another, all of us. But the important thing about it is, you see that in the picture of Rebecca and Isaac.

As already mentioned, she said, I will go. That's the mission. And then I think even too, when the servant said, it is my master. She took a veil and covered herself. We see the opposite world where a woman has abandoned a head covering.

That's a lack of submission. The reason that the Bible is so careful on that is because a woman, a husband, a man responds to a woman who submits. And I'm sure you all know that a woman, she responds to love.

That's how the relationship functions properly.

Good brother, it's your night to move on. I'm just going to say, could I interject first? Well, certainly this expression gave himself is very touching. The number of times you find that Galatians one and verse four, he gave himself so that he might deliver us out of this present evil age.

We find in chapter two and verse 20, the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And here we have it for the church. First Timothy chapter two and verse six, he gave himself a ransom for all.

And last of all, in Titus chapter two, they gave himself for us, but it might redeem us. I think that the thought here that he gave himself for her indicates the infinite cost, the tremendous price he paid.

He couldn't give any more. He gave everything. The merchant man seeking goodly pearls gave all that he had, but he never gave himself. But the Lord went beyond that. He did what no priest in the Old Testament ever did.

As he laid down his own life to purchase a bride. So really, yeah, go ahead. I was thinking of the past, the present and the future. The past, he loved us, gave himself for us. The present that he might sanctify the future.

He's going to present it to himself. A church glorious, not having sport or wrinkle or any such thing. So to pick up now on this future presentation, is it right to suggest that in the Father's house in heaven, the presentation takes place after the judgment seat of Christ?

Would not you gather that from chapter 19? Yes. But the fine linen is a righteous act. So the righteousness is of the saints. Here we have him, of course, in view of that, I'm going to say in verse 29, he is nourishing and cherishing her.

He's going to bring that to completion, carrying her through the wilderness, sustaining, supplying every need until that moment arrives. Yes. But then in chapter 19, the wife has made herself ready. I take that to be the result of preparation that has been involved.

And also the presentation as a result of the assessment of life and service. Seen in all the, as God has seen it and what is valued here. So, excuse me a minute, Father, just to make this observation, if it's correct.

You see, it's unique that he presents to himself as bride. With us in the human side, it's usually if the bride has a father, the father presents the bride. So does that not bring us to unique position of the Lord Jesus?

Yes.

In Ephesians 2, we have a building being built, and the ultimate situation is a holy temple in the Lord. Here we have a bride being cleansed and sanctified so that he might present it finished without wrinkle or any such thing.

So it's a process that's ongoing and then it's finalized.

Would you clarify that for me? Is that really a process that's ongoing in verse 26 or is it having taking place?

I take it there's the practical side as well. Okay. Yes. There are two things happening here. One is, as you say, done and finished. He's the one who sanctifies and cleanses us. But this is ongoing as well, I take it.

Day by day. Is that not illustrating the truth of the labor, at least an application? That's the word actually. Yeah. Labor of the word. Yes. So these things are all based on his love, aren't they? It's not that he just loved us and gave himself for us, but the love's continuing.

Revelation 1, unto him who loveth us. Not just a past thing, but it's continuous. So that's why he cleanses us and nourishes us. It's all because of his love. I oftentimes wonder that if God could say about Israel that I have loved you with an everlasting love in spite of their failure, their departure and their sinfulness.

What an amazing thing. He could say the same thing for us. And that love for the church will never cease or never change. Right. So in chapter 19, the wife herself has made herself ready. That's the first time we read that expression, his wife.

So does that suggest that the marriage has taken place already? And that she's going to come out to be displayed in her association with him and his glory. Will we agree that the order of events is that the rapture of the church will be followed by the judgment seat of Christ?

Yes. And then the marriage of the land. See, I had thought rather a suggestion that after the judgment seat of Christ is the presentation and then the marriage and then the supper. Right. Maybe. So that we have her having the marriage of the lamb is calm.

It's a completed act. She has prepared herself and to her was granted. That's an expression of grace that God can take up even those things perhaps in our life that have been marred by human failure to some extent.

But they're still seen in his presence. Cleansed, of course, purified and seen as the fine linen, clean and white. The only garment that would be suitable. I've been singing in the first hymn, it's not the garments that the bride will be occupied with, but the glories of the bridegroom.