Question: It is held by some that the Bride and the church (all Christians) are two distinct bodies of people, and that the Bride is absolutely Jewish. Is this so? or do we understand that all the Lord’s people compose the Bride? H. M.
Answer: All who are saved, believers, sealed by the Holy Spirit, from Pentecost till the coming of the Lord for His saints, both Jews and Gentiles, are the church of God, the Body and the Bride of Christ, and will be that in heavenly glory for all eternity (Eph. 3:21).
The Lord compares Himself to a Bridegroom to His earthly people Israel (Isa. 62:5; Matt. 9:15; Luke 5:34, 35; Mark 2:19, 20; and in John 3:29 John the Baptist speaks of Him in that way). Song of Solomon and other scriptures in the Old Testament are about Israel primarily. There are many types and figures of the church in the Old Testament, but it is spoken of only in the New Testament. The Lord in Matthew 16:18 says, “On this rock I will build My assembly,” showing that it was yet future. The revelation and administration of the mystery of Christ and the Church, His Body and His Bride, was committed to Paul (Rom. 16:25, 26; Eph. 3:2, 3; Col. 1:25).
We find that it takes in all who are converted in this present period of grace to men, both Jews and Gentiles (1 Cor. 12:12, 13. Eph. 2:11-18). Ephesians 5:22 to 33 describes the mystic union of Christ and the church, as His Body and His Bride. In Ephesians 1:22, 23, she is seen in heavenly glory in God’s purposes as the fullness or complement of Him who filleth all in all, as in the type (Gen. 1:26), “Let them have dominion.”
It is quite true that all the saints who ever died in the Old Testament, or during the tribulation period, shall be raised, and shall reign with Christ (Rev. 20:4), but they are not His Body and His Bride. They had an earthly calling, but obtained the heavenly place through death. The church has a heavenly calling now (Phil. 3:20, 21), and will be His Body and His Bride distinct from all others for all eternity (Eph. 3:21).
Revelation 19:7-9 is her marriage. Revelation 21:2 she is seen in her pristine beauty as the object of His affection in eternity. Revelation 21:9 to 22:5 she is seen as the wife displaying the glory of Christ, and reigning with Him, and in Revelation 22:16,17, where He announces Himself as the Root and Offspring of David, and the Bright, Morning Star, she is, in company with the Holy Spirit, saying, “Come,” and in verse 20 says, “Even so, Come, Lord Jesus.”
“Tis Thy heavenly Bride and Spirit, Jesus, Lord! that bid Thee come.”
Question: What does the Lord mean in John 6:39, 40, 44, 54, by “the last day?” T. H.
Answer: In John 6 the Lord is speaking of the resurrection of the saints to show their eternal security. In John 5:28, 29, he speaks of the resurrection of both saved and lost.
Question: What scriptures did the Old Testament saints have about their resurrection? T. H.
Answer: The common faith of the Jews confessed a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust (Acts 24:14, 15). The Sadducees—the infidels, the higher critics and modernists of those days—denied the resurrection, but Jesus proved them wrong (Matt. 22:23-32 and Acts 23:6-8). Things concerning the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that were to follow in resurrection, are found in Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets (Luke 24:25-27, 44-47).
Job looked forward to it (19:25, 26). Abraham, Isaac and Jacob looked on to it (Heb. 11:13). To those who have eyes to see, the Old Testament blessing depends on it (Heb. 11:40). The Psalms cannot be fulfilled without it. Psalm 2, 8, 16, 21, 22, 24, 68, 102, 110, are a few of them about Christ’s resurrection, which is the guarantee of the saints, and the world as well.
What they knew about it may not have been much (1 Cor. 2:9), but as they searched they would find it there (John 5:39 (N. Tr.); 1 Peter 1:10). Martha knew it (John 11:24). The dying thief knew it also (Luke 23:42). It was commonly believed (Heb. 6:2).
Question: Why the difference of 1 Corinthians 10:16, 17; and 11:23-26? E.
Answer: In the former it is the basis of our communion or fellowship (these are the same words). The cup is first, for the first thought is that we are redeemed. The bread next is the thought of unity—we are all members of one body by being sealed with the Holy Spirit. These give our first claim to be at the Lord’s table—redeemed by His blood, and united by the Spirit, give us communion together.
In 11:23-26, it is the supper, and here we have the remembrance of the Lord in His death and for us. Here the bread comes first, expressing the love that gave Himself for us. Then the cup reminds us of how His blood was shed, which tells of atonement made for sin, covering Israel’s sins and laying the ground for their blessing in the New Covenant; also for many, the Gentiles, and for you, bringing it to the hearts of all His own. We thus find a precious and blessed feast of love for our souls, that if entered into, takes us captive in the claims of His love, which many waters could not quench, nor the floods drown.
Question: Is there a difference in baptism of the Spirit, and being sealed by the Spirit? F.
Answer: The baptism of the Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit coming down at Pentecost, and forming the disciples into one body by uniting them together (Acts 1:5; 11:15-17; 1 Cor. 12:12, 13), Jew and Gentile included in one body.
Sealing by the Spirit of God coming to dwell in each believer, since that time, marks them out as children of God, and also unites them each into the body that was formed at Pentecost.
Question: Please explain 2 Corinthians 11:1, 2. What does “godly jealousy” mean? G. A. R.
Answer: Paul, the Apostle, had been used of the Lord in the conversion of the Corinthian assembly (Acts 18; 1 Cor. 3:10; 4:15). He was therefore greatly concerned when he heard of how sadly they were behaving themselves. So out of much sorrow and anguish of heart he had written to them (2 Cor. 2:4) telling them that he had heard how they were divided from each other in heart (chap. 1:11; 3:3); of their worldliness (4:8); of fornication among them (5:1); of taking each other to law (6:1-8); of marriage (chap. 7); of eating meat offered to idols (chap. 8); of their abuse of the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11); and of the denial of the resurrection (chap. 15:12).
After writing his first epistle out of much affliction and anguish of heart, he waited to hear from Titus the effect upon them, and rejoiced in their repentance (2 Cor. 7:6-11). The second epistle goes on to show that some among them might still be unrepentant (12:20, 21). Evil teachers had influence over them, and in 2 Corinthians 11:12-15, he is exposing such, and in verses 3, 4. With a heart filled with earnest desire for their good, he reminds them that he had taught them that they belonged to Christ as His Body and His Bride, a blessed truth for each dear child of God to take in, to keep the heart out of the world and worldly pleasures, that if indulged in “war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).
“Godly jealousy” means that with warm-hearted zeal and desire, he aims at keeping them true in heart for Christ; to keep them from forgetting their first love, reminding them that they were espoused to Christ, and are no longer their own. (1 Cor. 6:19, 20).