The Bride of Christ - Our Lost Identity

[Dr Howard Barnes]

The Bride of Christ - Our Lost Identity

Purpose of this message is to present a scriptural rationale for the belief that the Bride is

1.    the central theme of Scripture

2.    the focus and culmination of all natural history and

3.    the true identity of the Church

 

Introduction

We are living in the most exciting dispensation of church history since the first Pentecost. The tragedy is …..so many 'saints' simply don't know it.

Survey
Pentecost ushered in the First Reformation which transitioned the Old Testament ‘Children of God’ from being a Body of believers, in Covenant with Yahweh, to being the New Testament Church – The Body of Christ.

By the end of the first five hundred years of Her existence the Church in most continents had become a political institution. The fivefold ministry of the risen Lord Jesus had been withdrawn from the Church.

In Europe…the 1000 year reign of darkness know as the  Dark Ages,

In Africa…the rise of Islam

In Asia and the far East…..a missionary advance

However, in Europe in 1517 a Roman Catholic priest called Martin Luther from Germany, was born who understood that….“the just shall live by faith and the Second Reformation began.

It took another 500 year to bring restoration but by the year 2007, after many 'refreshings, revivals, spiritual movements,' the fivefold ministry of the risen Jesus had been fully restored to the church.

God did it in reversed order, probable because we had made the titles and offices hierarchical so he started by restoring the Teaching ministry through the work of Martin Luther in 1517.

As the subsequent Protestant movement spread many new churches were formed that needed pastoring and so by the 18th century God had restored the second of the fivefold ministry gift….The Pastoral ministry.

The Evangelistic ministry manifested itself in the great missionary movement of the 18th and 19th century

Finally after the Pentecostal outpouring of the early 20th century and more particularly the Charismatic movement of the 1960’s God was finally able to restore the Prophetic and Apostolic ministries back to the Church.

So by 2000 they had all been restored and we entered a new dispensation of Church history.

The year 2008 was known as 'the year of new beginnings' and signalled a spiritual movement called the 'Day of the Saints' that has, as some suggest, ushered in the Third and Final Reformation of the Church.

Its purpose …. to complete the number and maturity of the Church as His precious Bride and release Him from heaven to take Her for the wedding. Then to return together, gloriously equipped in bridal union with Him, to reign on planet earth for a thousand years when the scripture will be fulfilled .....“Then the kingdoms of this earth will become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ”.

Acts 3 v 21 tells us that Jesus is being held in Heaven until all things have been restored.....“Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by His mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began”.

God is into the restoration business and we have a part to play in that restoration programme. We each have a destiny in God and because things are moving so fast towards the fulfilment of God’s eternal purpose, more than ever before we each need to know what part we have to play in God’s plans. However, before we can do that we need to know more about what God’s eternal purpose is and what our true identity as believers really is. It is to do with the Bride, the wedding and our eternal Bridal relationship with Him.

 

The importance of Identity

Knowing who we are in Christ is vital to fulfilling destiny because it gives us self-assurance and confidence. It produces a servant heart and personal security.

In John 13 v 1-5 we read

 “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world He now showed the full extent of His love. The evening meal was being served. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power and that He had come from the God and was returning to God, so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing and wrapped a towel around His waist….and began to wash their feet”

Notice that Jesus knew....

1.    Who He was

2.    Where He had come from

3.    Where He was going

In the light of this understanding He……..took a towel.

Note well this point that the knowledge and assurance that Jesus had of His own identity produced security and servant-hood.

We too need to know who we are in order to fulfil our personal destiny! We too need to be clear as to who we are in Christ.

We know that we have been adopted into the family of God and as such we are His ‘sons and daughters’ made to reflect the image of His Son and have His DNA.  We are 'spirit beings'. We are no longer just human beings. We are of a new species. We are ’spirit beings' in a body….. not human beings with a spirit. There is a commonality of our new nature with the nature of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit'

We have seen that God has done much to restore truth to His Church. Through the Protestant movement of 1517 we have come to know the truth that scripture teaches that we can be “born of God” and that we “are justified by faith”.

But today, in our generation, God is still restoring truth. The Spirit of God is bringing a new 'restorational truth’ back to His Church. We are in a new season.

It is the Season of the Bride!

The message of the Bride is the missing message in the Church today. It points us to our true identity, not just as the Body of Christ on earth but as His eternal and precious Bride, the Bride of the Bridegroom King. Until we know this and embrace it we will never fulfil the destiny God has for his Church. But many simply do not know who they really are.

This message is a passionate plea from the Spirit of God to us, the Body of Christ, to understand who we are and what we were created for.  

It is a message which underlines that…. 

The Bride is the reason for all natural history.

The Bride is the central theme of all scripture

The Bride is the ultimate focus of all creation.

Let me share with you something of the journey of discovery that the Lord took me on which resulted in the conviction that this is so.

Personal Testimony

In 2003 at the age of 59 God called me out of teaching where I had served in Secondary Education for 37 years and sent me as a missionary to Africa.

As I prepared for these missions three things happened over a period of time.

A. I became aware that the Holy Spirit was concerning me with a number of issues:

1.    the place of prayer in my life

2.    the need for personal righteousness

3.    the need for a personal anointing of power for preaching and for healing  

Yet as I pondered on these things I knew that they were only aspects of something else far greater. They were facets of the diamond but were not the diamond itself
“What is the diamond?” I cried out. “What’s it all about Lord?”

The answer set my heart and my life in a completely new direction.     

“It’s for My Bride. To get My Bride ready. To get Her dressed!” was His reply. It shocked me! Who was the Bride? Yet I intuitively knew somehow that the Lord was referring to His Church.

“Tell me more!” I shouted out and a voice from heaven cried…….“Read Psalm 45”

I eagerly turned to it and was amazed to read, in my bible, written under the title Psalm 45 the words...'A Song of the Bride'. It passage was about the Bride!

Looking at Psalm 45 v 1-13 you see that the first eight verses are about the majesty of the Bridegroom King.

Then verses 9- 13 the Spirit begins to describe the Bride Herself.

Verse 13 describes the Bride being dressed in ….”clothes embroidered with gold”.

I asked the Lord what these clothes embroidered with gold were?” and He answered,

”Read Revelations 19 v 7”

“For the wedding of the lamb has come and His Bride has made herself ready, in fine linen, bright and clean”. (These are the righteous and mighty acts of the saints) Rev 9:7

These were the two of the key issues that I had become concerned about as I prepared for the mission trips.

I could now see it!

When the church is

1.    Doing the mighty acts of the Holy Spirit....the miracles and moving in the power of the Holy Spirit’s gifts and
2.    Walking in righteousness

.........then She is getting dressed

B. It was several mission trips later when another experience brought further revelation.

………I got up early to pray one morning and immediately it seemed that the Holy Spirit was impressing something deep in my spirit.
 
“The Spirit and the Bride says ‘Come!’ ”, I heard.

Then the Lord said…“The Spirit has always been saying ‘Come!’ but the Bride is not saying ‘Come!’. The problem is...My Church has an identity crisis. She doesn’t know who She is”

I began to realize how significant this lack of understanding was.

•    If the Church doesn't fully understand who she is then she is unable to fulfil the role assigned for Her.

•    Her relationship with Her Bridegroom King is affected and Her understanding of Her eternal future is limited.

•    She will not get prepared for Her wedding. It will not be said... “The Bride has made Herself ready” Rev 19 v 7 and so His return will be delayed.

•    She does not even know what the wedding clothes are

•    She is not ‘trying them on' to see if they fit well, in order to become comfortable in them.

Note: When you know you are getting married you tend to become obsessional and truly focused

C. The third thing that happened to me was some time later still.

It brought me to see that the Bride was indeed the central theme of scripture, of natural history and the ultimate purpose of creation. This came about in a number of ways.

I was reflecting on the oddity of God in choosing the Jews from all other nations…As the saying goes....'How odd of God to choose the Jews’ I realise however that God created or formed the Jews from the seed of Abraham. He did not chose them from nations or races that already existed.

I asked Him why He created the Jews and He responded by asking me the same question.

I replied by given the answer I had gleaned from theology school, Christian books I had read and sermons I had heard.

“Because You are a God of love. Love has to be expressed and so must have an object for its love. There has to be both a Lover and a Beloved. You needed to create the Jews as your people so that you could lavish your love upon them.” His response was devastating!
“How dare you! ……I need nothing! The relationship of love between Myself, My Son and the Holy Spirit is perfect. We need nothing else. We are complete! No! Nothing I do is out of need but is out of GRACE! I have always wanted to live with my creation. I have always wanted a home on Planet Earth.

I created the Jews so that they and the adopted Gentiles whom I called, would be formed into a family, my family. Then, out of this company of people of every tribe and every race, I could give a love gift of a Bride to My Son. It has always been My desire to give My son a Bride. She is the ultimate purpose of all my creation. In that sense She is the Central theme of all My sacred Scripture and the focus and ultimate purpose of all creation”

This revelation was to change the whole direction of my ministry.

However I am aware that when we claim to have heard God speak to us and to have received a revelation from Him, we must be sure that that revelation is compatible with the whole of scripture, so I now want to look and see if these statements can be justified in the light of what God has caused to be written in Scripture.

The Bride of Christ -  a Scriptural Rationale

 

Statements

1.    God has always wanted to live with His creation on Planet Earth.

2.    He created the Jews so that they and the adopted Gentiles whom the Father calls, would be formed into a family, His family.

3.    That out of this company of people of every tribe and every race He could give a love gift of a Bride to is Son.  She is the ultimate purpose of all His creation. In that sense She is the Central theme of all scripture and the focus and ultimate purpose of all creation”……

1. A home for Himself on earth.

God has always desired to live on earth with man

The whole of scripture begins in a garden with a love story between one man and a woman, Adam and beautiful girl, his new bride, called Eve. God too visited that garden because He wanted to fellowship with His creation so He came …. 'And walked in the garden in the cool of the evening' Gen 3:8.

This was God's original intention to create a dwelling place for Himself on planet earth but because of rebellion and sin God had to withdraw and man was expelled from God’s Presence in the garden.

From that time onwards whenever God wanted fellowship with man He had to ‘Come down’ and would remain as long as they walked in righteousness. 

Exodus 3:8 says that God had seen the suffering of His people when they were slaves in Egypt, and had “heard their cries and felt their pain and had come down to deliver them”.

Exodus 34 During Moses leadership he was invited to meet with God 'on the Mountain' and speak to him face to face. God came down and presenced himself on the earth.

Exodus 26 Moses was instructed by the Lord to build a tabernacle for God to dwell in. Moses regularly experienced the glory of the presence of God there and God came down and spoke with him face to face.

In 2 Sam 7 David was told that although he had wanted to build a more permanent structure for God could dwell in (to come down) the place he had erected there would have to suffice, since his son Solomon was the one chosen to build the temple in Jerusalem.  

In Exodus 40:34, 2 Chron 5 v 13/14 and Chap 7. Here Moses dedicates the tabernacle and Solomon dedicates the temple. On both occasion God's presence (glory) comes down. The glory smoke and the presence of the Lord was so thick.

God inhabited both the tabernacle and the temple as long as the people kept the covenant. He was in a sense 'dwelling on earth'. But sin prevailed and God withdrew again and again as man kept breaking Covenant

However the Lord God had a greater plan, a plan which the prophets had announced in advance that He had purposed.

In Ezekiel 36:26 God declares that one day He would create a Temple made of flesh, a people, with hearts that were … 'not made of stone but of flesh'. 'He would take out the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh and write His laws upon their hearts and cause them to walk in His ways'.

So when Jesus came as the Saviour and died on the cross, the Church, His Body on earth, was created as a dwelling place for Him.

The born again believer are a temple of the Holy Spirit, the dwelling place of the Lord.

The mystery of the gospel is, according to Col 1:26,27 'Christ in you the hope of glory' and so collectively the Church is His dwelling place once again on planet earth....the living temple.

In Rev 21:1-3 John declares

“Then I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a Bride beautifully dressed for Her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling place of God is with men and He will live with them. They will be His people and God Himself will be with them and be their God”

Finally after the rapture and the Wedding feast, the permanent union of the Bride with Her Bridegroom King, the millennium reign and the creation of the new heaven and the new earth, then the dwelling place of God will be on earth for eternity.

2. A family for Himself.

Scripture is clear that God wants a family relationship with His highest form of creation….with mankind. He wants to be known as the Father of His family. In the Old Testament God declares that the people He was forming would be His children and He would be “a Father to them”…. Ps 103 v 13. In Jeremiah 31 v 9 God states that He is Israel’s father.

In the New Testament Jesus always referred to God as the Father. He encouraged His disciples to pray and to address God as “Our Father who is in heaven”

In John 1:12 the scripture tells us that “to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God”

We are His children, He is our Father and He therefore has a family.

As believers we first belonged to the Father and the Father has given us to Jesus. Jesus says this in John 17 v 6 “I have revealed You to those You have given Me out of the world. They were yours and You have gave them to Me.”

But why were they given to Jesus?  They were given to Him to be His Church, His representatives on earth after He had returned to heaven but more than that. He gave them to him to become Jesus’ precious Bride.

3. A Bride for His Son.

Eph 5:31 tells us the relationship between Christ and His Church was to be like a marriage. Therefore the Church was to be like a Bride to the Son. One day they would get married.

Rev 19:7-9 looks to the time when ‘the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made Herself ready’

Rev 21:9-10 refers to the new Jerusalem as the Bride

“I will show you the Bride, the Lamb’s wife. And He carried me away in the Spirit and showed me the great city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven”

Scripture looks to the time when we can reign with Him eternally as His Bride:

‘To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on My throne’ Rev 3:21

‘And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign with Him on the earth’ Rev 5:10

Notice that this is reigning on planet earth not heaven!

So…… is the Bride the central theme of all scripture and the culmination of all natural history and purpose of creation?

In fact the whole of scripture can be viewed from the standpoint of the Bride and of a marriage relationship.  Let us look more deeply at this now.

 We start in Gen 1:20b-24 with a bride and a marriage

“ But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and while He was sleeping He took one of the man’s ribs and clothed it with flesh. Then the Lord made the women from the rib he had taken out of the man and he brought her to him. The man said…’This is my bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called women because she was taken from me’. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife (cleave to) and they shall become one….”

Some years ago the Lord showed me so clearly that the Church, the second Eve, the Bride of Christ, was also created out of the rib of the second Adam, Jesus, when the spear was thrust into His side at the cross and blood and water flowed out. Blood speaks of the purchase price, of forgiveness and atonement. Water speaks of cleansing, washing, live giving and empowering. As said in the previous message, it is significant that both these elements were present and purposely mentioned by the Holy Spirit. They are the most significant marks of birth.

I do not believe that the Church was born at Pentecost but was 'drawn out' of His side on the cross and given ' 'life' at the resurrection of Jesus ….... not at Pentecost. She was empowered at Pentecost.

Let us look further at the parallels between the first and second Adam and Eve

Traditionally we have seen creation as having been completed by Gen Ch 2 with man "both male and female" being formed. (Note not yet known as Adam and Eve)

From Gen 2:2,3 it is possible to conclude that the old order of creation was completed on the sixth day and God rested on the seventh day. Then in Ch 3 we have been taught that we have a more detailed explanation of how God formed Eve. However I want to suggest that Ch 3 is a description of what God did on day eight in that He on this eighth day, drew Eve, who was already formed 'in Adam',  'out of Adam'. The word 'woman' means 'from' or 'out of' man. 

It is possible to say that Eve was not yet formed or ‘brought forth’ out of Adam. She was created (Gen 1:27) in that she was ‘in Adam’ but was still part of Adam and ‘in Adam’. She was also not yet ‘Eve’ but just known as ‘Man’ up till Gen 3 when God formed them, both male and female.  She becomes an individual in Gen 2:22 and is named Eve in Gen 3:20 meaning ‘Mother of all living’. Before then she was simply Mrs Adam. 

It is also possible therefore then to conclude that the old order of creation had finished on the sixth day and God rested, but that Eve was to be the first of a new created order, created in man's image," flesh of his flesh" and of his DNA on the eighth day. We too were in Christ before time but on the eighth day of resurrection we came to life as 'many sons and daughters'.....the second Eve.

She was in Adam from before time just as we were in Christ before the foundation of the earth. She was of the same DNA. There was a woman in Adam that was to be His Bride just as there was a Bride 'in Christ', you and I, before the very foundation of the earth.

Just as the Old Covenant or Testament ended on the sixth day at the cross and the death of Jesus, (and He rested on the seventh or slept or died ) so on the eighth day at the resurrection of Jesus the New Covenant order of 'new creatures in Christ Jesus', the second Eve, came into being. The first Eve was the first fruit of the new creation. We, the Church, were the first fruit of a new created order. In numerology eight always represents ‘New beginnings’.  

Eve was the finest example of all creation. She was absolutely beautiful. She was the delight of Adam's eyes, the fulfilment of all his dreams and desires. I can imagine him being so in love with her and finding such pleasure in just looking at her. She was the glory of Adam.

But we too are the glory of Christ. He also delights to look at us and finds great pleasure in us. Song of Solomon 6 v 5 puts it so aptly when the King (Jesus) begs the Shulmanite girl (the Church/Bride) not to look at Him so intently He says " Turn you eyes from Me. They overwhelm Me", or as a modern translation puts it.." Do not look at Me like that. You make Me go weak at the knees". 

Jesus too longs for intimacy with us. He too longs for us to love Him deeply and unreservedly. We are His finest creation. We are His glory! The Greek word doxa (doxology) originally meant, the ‘grand finale’. Eve was God's  masterpiece of creation or doxology. She was both God's and Adam's crowning glory! The church is Jesus crowning Glory designed to express His own beauty and majesty.

The first Adam, was put to sleep and the first Eve was drawn out of his rib….from his ‘pleura’, and God split the Adam. See the Septuagint version of Gen 2 v 21. Likewise Jesus gave up His Spirit (asleep) and God allowed Jesus to be opened up (divine surgery) by the spear that pierced him. So Jesus, the second Adam, gave birth to the second Eve from out of His side. It is interesting that this is the same word used to describe Jesus’ side in Jn19 v 34 where it says “But one  of the soldiers pierced his pleura and out came blood and water”.

The ‘aloneness’ of God

This is not to be confused with loneliness for God is never lonely. The relationship between the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit is completely satisfying. However God has created us in His image and that image reflects the desire of God to express love and to be loved.  The nature of God still reflects the DNA that “it is not good to be alone”. There must be those receiving love and those giving the love.  That is the very DNA of God Himself and so He loves the Son and is loved by the Son and the Spirit. He is both the lover and the beloved. Jesus is His beloved Son. So for the first Adam “it was not good for him to be alone”.  So God decreed that for the second Adam “it was not good for Him to be alone” and He began to prepare for Him a Bride. Until that Bride has “made herself ready” he remains the ‘alone’ bachelor of heaven.

A new revelation

 “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remain ‘alone’ but if it dies it produces many seeds”. John 12:24

Note the word ‘alone’. Here Jesus is referring to His resurrection yet to come and that in order to produce many 'sons and daughters', the many seeds, the Church/Bride, He must also be put in the ground as it were and die....just like a seed must be buried in order to produce more of its kind. He was the first-fruit of a new race, the Church Race and the many seeds that would be produced and germinate were the first fruits of this 'new creation', the Church, which was destined to become His Bride. In order to have a Bride Jesus had to lay down His life for Her. His dowry was His blood. His death, Her life. It was to cost Him everything. When Jesus rose on that resurrection morning He brought many sons and daughters to life in the Spirit and so the Church was born and the life of His Bride begun.  He was now never going to be single ever again (‘alone’)

The Season we are in

In the creation story after Eve was formed and became a separate being she had to 'cleave back' to Adam in order for the two to become one. She was not automatically one with him. She had come our from Him but had now to chose of her own volition to 'cleave back' to him, to become 'One' with him again. So today the Church has to ‘cleave back’ to Jesus. She has become separated from Him and often independent of Him. We need to become 'One' according to John 17:21, 23 ” That they may become one even as we are one. I in You and You in Me and We in them”. Only God can join two together but what He joins no one can separate. However we must also be 'One' in our union together because the Body of Christ is 'One' and when we reflect upon this in terms of a Bride for Christ then it even more pertinent since Jesus only has only one Bride....He dies not have a harem.' This union goes far beyond our normal concept of 'unity' which is so often only based around projects of united activities. These are good but the experience lasts only as long as the project. Jesus prays here for more than this kind of 'unity'. He prays for 'Oneness' which is like the oneness that is between husband and wife and is something that only God came produce. "What God (alone) has joined together let no man put asunder". We however must yearn for this in the Body of Christ and desire to see it above everything else so that this unanswered prayer of Jesus can be fulfilled. This sort of unity is the essential pre-requisite before we can truly experience our corporate bridal identity. 

Let this be that generation of believers who will ‘cleave’ back to Jesus in a deeper intimacy with Him and one another and truly become ‘ONE’.

Finally: The New Testament scripture is full of references to the Bride.

It's interesting that in Matthew's Gospel Jesus begins his ministry to the apostles by revealing Himself as the Bridegroom God
Matt 9:15 ’Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them. The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away”’

And Matthew ends his gospel account by calling the apostles to cultivate intimacy with Him as the Bridegroom God and readiness, when He recounts the story of the ten virgins in Matt 25

In John's Gospel the ministry of Jesus begins with the wedding at Cana (John 2)

Before His arrest in Gethsemane, ends in John 14:2,3 with the wedding betrothal supper that He Has with His disciples and which is known as the Last Supper. It was an engagement party!

“Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God. In My Father’s house are many rooms (enough room for everyone). If it were not so I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you….and will come back….”

Jewish weddings

In Jewish weddings the betrothal ceremony or engagement party is the essential place of commitment.

The ratification and celebration is the wedding feast which takes place later when the home has been prepared and the 'consummation' is when they enter their prepared house and then the marriage bed of intimacy.

At the betrothal or engagement meal they share the cup together and the bridegroom speaks words of promise and commitment. He says... “I must go away to prepare a place for you but if I go, I will come again to take you to be where I am”… etc etc  

Isn't this what Jesus said to His disciples during the Last Supper? The house the bridegroom was to build was usually adjacent the father's property or an extension to it or was on the roof.

Only the father knew when it was complete enough and ready for his son to bring the bride. Remember Jesus words about His return....” Only the Father knows the hour ...not even the Son”.

St Paul certainly understood the bridal identity of the Church that he was called to serve. His heart desire was to present Her to the Lord as a pure virgin Bride 2 Cor 11:2 says “I am jealous for you with a Godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him”

So important was this to him that he compared the relationship between husband and wife as that of Christ and His Church.

So.....we began in Genesis and we end in Revelation with the marriage feast of the Lamb Rev 19:7

‘The marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made Herself ready…He said to me “Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb”’

This marks the end of our Natural History as we know it. The history of the mortal Church ends and the history of the Immortal Church begins. At this point we are ‘raptured’ for the wedding, perfected and sanctified without any sin principle in us, and so are able to co-partner with Him in our new perfection, as joint heirs and equal partners. So begins the Millennium Reign when “ the Kingdoms of this world become the Kingdoms of our God and His Christ”.

Amen and amen!

CONCLUSION

It is important that we understand, in terms of the 'times and seasons', what the days will be like that precede that moment in natural history when the Bride will have “made herself ready”.

It will be a time

1. Marked by a deep unity between the Spirit and the Bride.

“The Spirit and the Bride say ‘Come!’ Rev 22:17

Both will be crying the same cry! But we are not there yet! The Church of Jesus worldwide still needs to hear this message of the Bride and to respond to it. Notice that John doesn’t say “The Spirit and the Family, or the Spirit and the Body, says ‘Come! but the Spirit and the Bride say 'Come!'”

2. It will be marked by it being the most sinful generation and emotionally broken generation in history  (Dan 8:23, Matt 24:10-24,  1 Tim 4:1-3 and 2 Tim 3:1-5)

“In the latter time…..when the transgressors have reached their fullness” Dan 8:23

3. It will be marked by the Holy Spirit’s emphasis on Jesus as the Bridegroom King and Bridegroom God as never before.

This revelation has been strategically reserved for the last generation to empower the church to overcome the most awful lawless, fearful, demonic and sexually perverted generation in history.

(Does that sound as if I’ve just read today’s World News Report?)

Song of Songs 1:1 says…. “Kiss me with the kisses of Your mouth”

The significance of the verse for this our time is that this is a call for intimacy…..A call to Bridal love!

A kiss on the cheek is one thing but no-one invites a kiss on the mouth unless they are intending to arouse deep feelings of love. It is an invitation to sexual intimacy which is to be expressed in marriage.  This book Song of Songs or Song of Solomon is a prophetic book for today. It is the song of the Bride and the Bridegroom....the Church and King Jesus. This is the cry of the Holy Spirit to us today....”.Come! See the Bridegroom. You are His Bride and He is your lover”

So.....Let us be those:

•    Who know their identity   

•    Who know their eternal destiny

•    Who know their destination

•    Who desire to love Him, the Bridegroom King….. intensely,

•    Who are preparing themselves as a virgin Bride and who are getting dressed for the wedding by.....

•    Keeping themselves unspotted by the world,

•    Putting on the robes of righteousness, the garments of salvation, thanksgiving and of praise,

Jesus is our Bridegroom King and we are His beloved Bride. Yet we know it’s all underserved and is all of grace…..

“I am dark (sinful) but lovely” Song of Songs 1:5

We know that despite our unworthiness we can say….

“I am my beloved and His desire is towards me” Song of Songs 7: 10

If these end times will be so awesome but also so awful, how can we stand?

The principles upon which to stand in this last generation will be simply to relish in the fact that you are is His beloved and to focus on loving Him

“How beautiful you are my darling! Oh How beautiful” Song of Songs 4:1

“How delightful is your love, My sister, My Bride, My dove, My perfect one” Song of Songs 4:10