The Brides

In my study this week the Lord has showed me some things that I have found intresting. Much of it is not new to anyone here and in many ways it is very fundamental. But it is my hope that maybe it will shed some new light on some things and hopefully draws us closer the Lord.

In the Word of God the church is called the bride of Christ and there is many pictures in the Bible between the heavenly bride and an earthly bride. And there have been many sermons and studies done on this and more than likely each of you have heard service before on this subject. I would like to look at not only those things that are commonly seen, but also look at some comparisons that are not commonly seen.

To start with I would like to establish that when I discuss in this sermon marriages here on earth I will be referring to historical Common Law marriages which are based upon the Word of God. The modern concept of marriage does not fit at all with the Biblical pattern nor does it fit with the Bride of Christ. But we will see that the old marriages are a perfect picture of Christ and the church.

1. The first comparison I want to look at is the choosing of the bride.

1. We can see an example of this in the Bible with the story of Isaac and Rebecca. Rebecca did not seek Isaac the Isaac went out looking for Rebecca. The servant of Abraham was sent out to find a wife for Isaac. This is a beautiful picture of Christ choosing of us.

2. The husband to see his wife can be seen in Christ choosing his bride. We of Christians and therefore the bride of Christ did not do of seeking price just as Rebecca did not know Isaac existed until he sought her, we did not know of our need for Christ until he sought us. John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,& 1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us. but there is one major difference between the choosing at the bride on earth and Christ s choosing of his bride. In this story of Isaac and Rebecca we are told that Rebecca was fair to look upon. And I am sure that if I asked every man here I would get the same answer. When you chose your wife he made sure that she was fair look upon. At least you enter that as long issue is here. But Christ did not seek a beautiful bride, he sought the most worthless, ugly vilest of sinners to be his bride. We see this in Titus 3:3-6 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, [and] hating one another. 4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Titus 3:6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; we see here in this passage a Christ did not try to find a beautiful bride but as we will see later he makes his bride beautiful.

1. Next let us look at the parental involvement. just as Abraham helped Isaac find a wife and gave his blessing; And just as a bride and groom here on earth are to have their parents involved in the selection; God the Father helped choose the bride for Christ. John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. and John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. And there are many other verses that show this. Christ sought his father's will in seeking the bride

2. Next we see the time of engagement. here on earth there is a period of time between the time when the groom finds is bride and the actual marriage. This is a time of preparation the groom make sure that he has a place for them to live. And he gets everything in order. At the same time the bride is making preparations of her own. She is making that beautiful pure white gown and getting her heart ready for marriage. This is just like us as Christians to day when we get saved the period of engagement begins. Right now we are engaged to be married to Christ, but the preparations are not done. Right now Christ is in heaven preparing a place for us. John 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also. just as the earthly groom must get a house ready for his right our groom is in heaven right now preparing a place for us. And then just as the bride prepares that spotless gown we have Christians should be striving to have spotless hearts for our wedding.

3. Next one of slow at the terms of the marriage. God has ordained different things to be part of a marriage. Let us look at several of these.

1. The bride loses her identity in the groom. The bride is to take on her husband's name just as we take on the name if Christ. As Christians our goal should be to be as Christ like as possible, to become so totally a part of Him that we have no identity left outside of Him

2. The groom is responsible for the debts of the bride. Under the common law if any wife accumulates any debts her husband is responsible to pay them. Even if they where gotten in direct disobedience to him. This is seen in the fact that Christ paid our sin debt on the cross. It was a debt that we could not pay, but Christ as the groom paid the debt for his bride. We no longer as the bride of Christ owe anything how our debt is paid in full.that

3. The bride must obey the groom. This comparison is one that is dealt with much. There are several places in the Bible that do with it, and many sermons have been preached on it. Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. I won't spend a lot of time here this passage is self-explanatory. Wives submit to their husbands and the bride of Christ submits to Christ.

4. The bride does not have any legal standing outside of the groom. As we said earlier the bride loses her identity in the husband. The bride has no legal standing she is not a legal person on her own. The same it's true for the bride of Christ we are not part of this world we along to another kingdom. John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. we do not have any standing in this world.

5. And finally the groom must be willing to lay down his life for the bride. John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. If we true love our bride here on earth we must be willing to lay down our life for her. Death is the true test of love. If you are willing to sacrifice your bride in order to save yourself you do not truly love her. But we don't have to wonder about whether Christ loves us that much he has already laid down his life for us. He gave his life not after years of marriage and after we had done many things for him he lay down his life for us before we even knew we needed him. There can be no greater test of his love for us. Many men on earth will say that they loved their wife enough to lay down their life for her, but they will probably never be asked to do it and until they have to do it whether they will be able to not is not known. But we know they Christ loves us.

1. The final thing that we want to look at is the completion of the marriage. under God's law there is no room divorce when we marry we are to marry until death parts us. This past week we have seen this first hand. The Macphersons¹ were married for many years and I am sure that things weren't always perfect, but they had made a commitment and this week a commitment was fulfilled. Bill and Betty remained faithful to each other until the separation of death. As different trials of their loved came up in their life they did not seek a divorce or tried to break off the covenant with God that they had made. They had made a wedding covenant to be together until death.

What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see, when I looked upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace, then He'll take me by the hand, and lead me to that promised land, what a day, glorious day, that will be.