The BRIDE of Christ 1 of 2

Part 1
When God made them MALE and FEMALE it was for the reason of 'two becoming one'.

Matthew 19
4 “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning
..‘made them male and female,’
5 and said, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
...and be joined to his wife, and the the two shall become one flesh?’
6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh.
...Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.

Ephesians 5
31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
....and the two shall become one flesh."
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

The bridegroom (MALE), the Lamb of God [John 1:29;36..Revelation 21:9], Jesus Christ
the Word made flesh, becoming one (flesh) with His bride (FEMALE).

WHO IS THE BRIDE?

The bride, the Lamb's wife is described in Revelation 21. It is important to come to an understanding of the 'bride of Christ' for the 'church' to embrace her full destiny. The bride, is THAT GREAT CITY the HOLY JERUSALEM whose gates are the twelve tribes, and whose foundations are the twelve apostles. This bride will culminate with 144,000 FIRSTFRUITS who are seen in Revelation 7 being sealed and again in Revelation 14.

Revelation 21
..9 ."Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife
10 … and showed me the great city, the HOLYJERUSALEM,
....descending out of heaven from God.
12 Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates… and names written on them,
....which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
14 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of
....the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Note the bride does not make her appearance until AFTER the first heaven and the first earth have passed away. The bride 'comes down from heaven', the tabernacle of God is now with men and He (God Himself) will dwell with them.

Revelation 21
1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
.. the first heaven and the first earth had passed away . Also there was no more sea.
2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
...prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
..and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people.
..God Himself will be with them and be their God.

In Revelation 14, the Lamb is standing on Mount Zion, and with Him, 144,000 firstfruits, redeemed 'from the earth'.

Revelation 14
1 Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him
...one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name
...written on their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like
...the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps.
3 They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures,
...and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the
...hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins.
..These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
..These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no deceit [guile],
..for they are without fault [amomos: without blemish] before the throne of God.

Remember Nathanael? He was the one whom Jesus 'saw under the fig tree' and said, 'An Israelite in whom there is no guile [dolos: deceit]'. Christ, as the Word made flesh, 'entered the holy Jerusalem' consummating 'blood covenant' with His bride through His cross. Through this act of consummation he has 'created a family'. When he returns He will 'enter His house to greet his bride and family'.

Peter: crucified
Andrew: crucified
James (Zebedee): beheaded with sword
John (Zebedee): thrown in boiling oil, but unharmed; died natural causes
Phillip: crucified
Bartholomew (Nathanael): crucified
Thomas: lanced and burned up in oven
Matthew: axed
James (Alphaeus): thrown down from Temple tower - not dead so
..............................clubbed to death at age 94
Jude (Thaddeus): crucified
Simon (Zealot): crucified
Matthias: stoned and beheaded

John the Baptist: beheaded
Stephen: stoned
Paul: beheaded
First resurrection: beheaded for their witness - had not worshiped the beast
............................or his image ...

IN THE BEGINNING ty#)rb

ty#)r........................................b
.FIRSTFRUIT(S).......................... HOUSE
...................................................WIFE

FIRE
#)
ty............. rb
COVENANT

In Hebrew thought: Rabbi Ginsburgh: A man’s HOUSE is his WIFE. As a man 'enters his wife to create a family, a man ‘enters his house’ to ‘greet his family’.

In the BEGINNING ty#)rb to be expanded at a later time, but it is important to see God's desire for a 'wife of like-kind', 'like-kind' being the keyword. . Just as God made a helpmeet - rz( (ezer) - suitable for Adam, so also Christ and his bride.

Note the words HELP MEET and SEED are mirror image of each other. The MALE, his 'power concealed' reveal the LAMB [( (Aramaic) SHEEP]. r k z ( - ayin zayin reish = HELP MEET while ( r k z zayin, reish, ayin = SEED. The help meet is pregnant with the Lamb, the SEED gives birth to the SHEEP. Zayin Reish is also the word for CROWN. The SEED is the 'crown sheep'.

You may be thinking, 'What about the CHURCH? It says the CHURCH is being presented as a 'chaste bride' for her husband? Then we may need to expand our thought of, 'WHO is the CHURCH?'

2 Corinthians 11
2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband,
...that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds
..may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you
..receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which
..you have not accepted you may well put up with it!

The bride has always 'been church'. The church has been of old - since the beginning. It is not 'the New Testament replacement of Israel'. Church, ekklesia, means 'called out'. Abraham was 'called out' of Ur (Babylon) and God yet calls his people out of Babylon (the harlot state of the mind) - Revelation 18: 4 - to humble oneself (the meaning of Canaan) and come into the 'mind of Christ'.

Moses [h#m / water-fire-behold (the Lamb) ] led the 'church' in the wilderness:

Acts 7
37 This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, 'The Lord your God
....will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him shall you hear.
38 This is he who was in the church in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke
....to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received
....the living oracles to give to us,
39 whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected.
.... And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt ...

What I am seeing is the 'for this reason'. The 'church' FEMALE -(Rev 21 bride -Jews of the promised SEED -Christ) 'embraces Christ' - the 'body of Christ' (church) MALE, the two becoming one in body, soul and spirit. It is no longer two but ONE - and all in Christ. We are 'the body of Christ'. We embrace the bride, becoming one with / in the bride, giving glory to Christ.

To be continued SHALOM!