| Bride of Christ |
Created Date: 11-Jan-2017 |
| Gentile Brides in the Old Testament |
Last updated: 3-Jun-2020 |
| A A A help |
| 1 | Scripturally There are Models | 2 | Jewish Custom of Preparing for a Wedding |
| 3 | The Bride of Christ | 4 | Can Believers Be the Bride in a Model? |
| 5 | New Jerusalem | 6 | Scriptures Shows Seven Models |
| Titus 2:13-14 | 13 while we wait for the blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. |
A peculiar and beautiful image of the Church, and all Believers in the Scriptures, is beautifully portrayed in the observation that none of the Gentile Brides of the Old Testament have their death recorded. In both the Old and New Testament, the symbolism of the Marriage is used to compare Believers as those waiting on the Lord and the promises.
The Jewish custom was the groom would go away to prepare a place at his parent's home to receive his bride. The bride did not know when the groom would come to get her so she kept herself ready for his arrival. The New Testament Church is often compared to as a bride who will be taken by the groom to live in eternity with the Lord.
| John 14:3 | And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. |
The Scriptures are full of idioms, types, models and symbols that point to the figure of the Savior of Jesus Christ and also to the place, instruments and holiness things in Heaven. For example, the Ark of the Covenant was modeled after the original that is in Heaven, Revelation 11:19.
| Revelation 11:19 | Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the Ark of His Covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm |
The Bride of Christ is used in Scripture reflecting the Believers on Earth, those who accepted the payment on the Cross given to all freely. We did not earn it or pay for it in any way, shape or form. While this is not something to argue deeply on but there is actually no reference in the Bible that directly points to Bride of Christ as being the Believers, only the model, symbolism and analogies for teaching us.
| Ephesians 35:31-33 | 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 32 This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. |
| Ephesians 5:25 27 | 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; 26 that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, 27 that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. |
| Matthew 25:1 | Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. |
| John 3:28-30 | 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.' 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less. (Symbolism of the bride belonging to Jesus Christ. John the Baptist closes out the Old Testament in a sense and he is saved. Rhetorically, is he part of the Body of Christ?) |
Rhetorically, can Believers be both the Body and the Bride? Yes, as this is symbolism to teach us through analogies.
| Ephesians 5:23 | For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior |
| Colossians 1:18 | And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. |
| Colossians 1:24 | Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. |
As stated above, the symbolism of the Church as the expecting Bride is found in numerous Scriptures. In Revelation 21:1-2 and Revelation 19:7-8 discuss there is a "wedding supper of the Lamb!" Because there are multiple Dispensations in the Bible that include Israel before Jesus Christ's death, the Church Age and the other periods, then those who have Salvation from all of the periods are an analogy of a Bride waiting for the Wedding Supper.
| Revelation 19:7-8 | 6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth. 7 Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are true words of God. |
| Revelation 21:1-2 | 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. |
|
Revelation 22:16-17 |
16 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star. 17 The Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let the one who hears say, Come! Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. |
In the Old Testament, the scriptures give the analogy of Israel as the unfaithful wife of God because of numerous periods of a type of spiritual adultery by worshiping false gods such as Asherah, Baal, Dagon, Moech and others. God, through his Prophets always let Israel know that He was there for them if they would only return to Him. God the Father was a model of a Husband to the wife, whom He loves, which is the nation of Israel.
For the New Testament idioms that the Holy Spirit uses, the Church is a continuation of the model that God Started in the Old Testament of Gentile wives of the patriarchs who do not have their death recorded. They did die, but the point is their death was not noted in the scriptures as a model. Notice there is also seven models, where the Church rounds up the completion of seven, which is a number in the scriptures symbolizing completion.
| Scripture | Husband | Wife | |
| 1 | Genesis 2:18 | Adam | Eve |
| 2 | Genesis 24:51 | Isaac | Rebekah |
| 3 | Genesis 41:45 | Joseph | Asenath |
| 4 | Exodus 2:21 | Moses | Zipporah |
| 5 | Matthew 1:5 | Salmon | Rahab |
| 6 | Ruth 3:16 | Boaz | Ruth |
| 7 | Matthew 25:1 | Jesus Christ | All the Believers that include those in the Old Testament, Church Age and others. |
The Believers represented at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb represent a model of the bride and since the Believers will be in Heaven for eternity there is no end, which there is no death.
What to read next?
What is Salvation? Is it possible to lose Salvation? We have eternal life. Evolution is not real. When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it. Rewards in heaven. Do we Tithe? What does the 3rd Commandment tell us? What is Grace and Mercy? Is there an Age of Accountability? Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?