The church, as the bride, is the object of Christ’s love. This love was proved even unto death, when He, the eternal Son of God, bore the wrath and the judgment of God, exhausting all of it, that we might know nothing of those waves and billows. By this He revealed the depth of the divine bosom, while, at the same time, making atonement for sin according to the holiness of God. Language itself is exhausted in telling the suffering of those three hours of darkness when the wrath of God fell upon Him—He, the very One upon whom the heavens opened to declare that He was, and is, the delight of the Father’s heart.
Every moral glory shone out in noonday radiancy at the cross. God was there made known in His holiness. He who dwells “in the light which no man can approach unto” (1 Tim. 6:1616Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:16)) was judging sin according to the true nature of God. At the same time He revealed Himself in love in its fullest measure.
Christ suffered all this so that we might know the divine bosom in all its blessedness as the source from which we have received grace and been made heirs together with Him. Christ in resurrection is the beginning of new creation. The church, His bride, shares His headship over all things.
While we rejoice in the truth that “the Son of God . . . loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)), as an individual, let us never forget what the church is to Christ collectively. Everyone that is indwelt of the Spirit now forms part of the body of Christ. How rich the revelation of this blessedness! Paul received it by revelation from Christ in glory (Eph. 3:1-101For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: 3How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 4Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 5Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: 7Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. 8Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, (Ephesians 3:1‑10)).
He tells us of the precious expression of it in the breaking of bread, when the unbroken loaf on the table speaks to our hearts of our place as members of His body (1 Cor. 10:1717For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:17)). The broken loaf tells us of His death (1 Cor. 11:2424And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. (1 Corinthians 11:24)), for “Christ . . . loved the church, and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:2525Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (Ephesians 5:25)).
How precious to “come together,” as gathered in His name, not as a sect or party, but as members of His body, gathered by His Spirit to give expression to the truth of the “one body” in the breaking of the bread, till He comes to receive His bride.
The church, united to Christ in glory, is absolutely heavenly in calling and hope. We are now gathered to a rejected Christ (John 12:3232And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (John 12:32)). At His coming we shall be gathered to a glorified Christ (Eph. 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)). The life we have received is heavenly in its source (1 John 1:1313Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13)). The Object of that life is Christ in glory (Phil. 313Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (Philippians 3:13)). The hope of that life is our being “glorified together” with Him (Rom. 8:1717And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17)).
The church will be the Eve in His paradise, the Queen on His throne, the richest and brightest glory of the inheritance He has won.
When God calls any out of the world, He betroths them to His Son to be one with Him in thought, desire and hope now and eventually to be glorified together with Him in His glory! Oh! Let us not lose in our souls the preciousness of what the church is to Him!
H. E. Hayhoe (excerpted)