Unfathomable Riches of Christ - The Church as the Bride of Christ
Vern Peterman · Oct 7, 2018
Unfathomable Riches of Christ, No. 37
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261912204029

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We're in the second week of looking at our position together as a church body. And what we see in scripture is not just about us as a local body, although that's included. Because you see writings in scripture, for example, talks about churches. That means miscellaneous local churches, right? So churches, and it will refer to them in various areas, and yet there is the scripture, and we're looking at those, that talk about the church as a whole, which includes all the church over the whole globe, from the time that the church began in Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, until the time when the Lord calls us home. And I hope it's today. In fact, I hope I don't get to finish this.

But the Lord knows and the Lord will call the right time. By the way, who calls the right time for Jesus to take his church home? The Father. The Father has that explicit responsibility. And one of the things we're going to be taking a look at here this morning is, as in the Jewish wedding tradition, the father would tell his son Son, go get your bride. That will be said from God the Father to God the Son. Son, go get your bride. And from that moment, in a twinkling of an eye, we'll be brought home to be with the Lord.

Whatever we're doing, wherever we're at, whatever condition we're in. And by the way, nobody who is in the body of Christ is going to miss the rapture. Don't worry about, oh I missed, no. Nobody is going to miss the Rapture. Is the Apostle Paul going to miss the Rapture? Nope. Are any of the Apostles going to miss the Rapture? Are any of those who believe from the day of Pentecost on going to miss the Rapture? No. Nobody, including the people that you know are the Lords, and that you loved and they're already home, but that day of the rapture, nobody is going to miss it. No believer is going to miss that day. It'll be after spans of time and the twinkling of an eye, but nobody who's a believer in Jesus Christ, a part of the body of Christ, is going to miss it. So let's take a look at the theme today, the Church as the Bride of Christ.

So this is a theme, very interestingly, When I went to seminary, which I finished a little over 17 years ago, when I went to seminary, there were things that they taught there that I didn't end up, because I didn't just take it all in spoon-fed. Here's what you're supposed to learn. The seminary president did not believe that the church was the bride of Christ. There were others, a great many others, myself included, who believe otherwise. So this is not seminary spoon-feeding. This is, what does the Bible say?

So let's take a look at it here. So we're continuing on this theme of the unfathomable riches for the church as one, as a body, together in position as one. So we'll be looking, as we did last week, based on, we first looked at Ephesians 2, 11 through 22. as a good starter verse for this idea that we all together have a position. We all together have a position as the body of Christ. And it began with Christ as the cornerstone, the apostles as foundation stones aligned with the cornerstone, and we as a part of that temple being built on top of Christ. and the apostles and prophets as foundation.

So what we see here is one of the ways the New Testament presents that set of truths is through the set of apostolic teachings which proclaim the Church as the Bride of Christ. Some of the passages which portray this are explicit, others presenting that set of teachings by employing the Jewish wedding traditions.

And so we'll step our way through that. In keeping with that, we'll go through the Jewish wedding traditions of New Testament times sequentially, that is, as they would be done in the usual set of wedding traditions. And so we'll look at that. In keeping with that, go through the Jewish traditions of the New Testament time sequentially from the establishment of the marriage relationship, known as betrothal, to the marriage ceremony.

Now, one thing that's different in our culture is being engaged, does that have a legal standing? No, it does not. So that's one thing that's interesting is in our culture, you say, well, I'm engaged. Somebody could call that off. and it has no legal standing whatsoever of itself. A person could even be engaged several different times and never get married, and it would have no legal standing whatsoever.

So at the outset here, the father of the bridegroom would select the bride, The wedding ceremony of the chosen bride would be presenting of the bride to the bridegroom by the family, the friends, and even the groom to himself. So everybody involved, family, friends, and the groom, are all presenting the bride to the groom.

Did you get that picture? So that's how it would be viewpoint. then this is what we see being done in the choosing of the bride for the bridegroom for the intended presentation in the ceremony to come. Everything from the point of selection to the point of the wedding ceremony is all focused on that everybody, family, friends, bridegroom, presenting the bride to the bridegroom. Everything is focused on that. So Ephesians 1, 3, and 4, and by the way, this is very often overlooked as people go through teaching it. So let's look at this.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love.

Who did the choosing? Just as He chose? The Father did the choosing. God the Father did the choosing just like in the Jewish wedding ceremony, the Father of the Son does the choosing. And then when did He do the choosing? Before God said, let there be light. But before he went through the six days of creation, first things first, we have to have a bride for the son.

Isn't that something? So who did he choose? The church. Us. And one of the ways we know for certain, not just the Jewish wedding traditions, This says that we would be holy and blameless before. This is the presentation of the bride as holy and blameless, right? Before the bridegroom.

Look at the next slide over, which is up exactly, precisely with Ephesians 5.27 and that passage that he might. So the church in all her glory, By looking forward to a future presentation, when all the stuff you look on the outside and you say, it looks pretty ugly right now, will all be stripped away. Having no spot or wrinkle, does the church, I would say, not. So this is looking forward to the future, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, spotless. But that she would be exact same words as in Ephesians chapter 1, she would be what? Holy and blameless. Exactly the same words that were used and are being chosen back in Ephesians chapter 1.

We'll also be taking a look at Colossians 1.22 and 2 Corinthians 11.2. As a matter of fact, we'll look at those right now.

Right below there is 2 Corinthians 11.2, for I am jealous for you, whose I, 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul, and for you, meaning who? The Church of Corinth. By the way, the Church of Corinth have problems. Yeah. Lots of problems. Many, many problems. So this is not a church that in its current condition was anything glorious. It was not without spot or wrinkle, and it was not holy and blameless.

But look what the Apostle Paul wrote, for I am jealous for you with the informal engagement. I have betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin." So, what do you have? You have family and friends, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

Colossians 1.21, and I give a reference there, 21-23, which is a larger context, I only quote here, blameless and beyond reproach. Is that happening right now? In order to, in the future, to present you before him.

So the betrothal tradition among the Jews of New Testament times continued in this way. So at the appointed time, the father would send the prospective bridegroom from the father's house to the father send Jesus. Yes. In fact, we quote a couple of times there, but actually we could quote a lot, lot more. Many, many times Jesus said, the Father sent me. And so the home of the prospective bride is here, right? This is the Father sent me, just exactly matching the Jewish wedding traditions. And so we give examples, John 12, 49, the Father himself who sent me. John 20, 21, and again, and again. So we quoted just a couple. You could certainly look for more.

Next it says, there he would negotiate with the father of the woman to determine the purchase price of the bride. But that purchase price was already set by whom? Pompeii. So parallel, here's Hassan. And in order for him, while he got informally engaged, while he was here in 2010, Hassan, everybody would say, well, Hassan, you got engaged. He said, no. But that was the purchase price. What was the purchase price set by the father for the bride? the death of the son, he says, you're going to have to give your life. That's the price. And when did that agreement come?

No percent off. No scratch off the thing and find out what the reduction is. None of that. No sale. Full price. Keep them short of death, we'll do it. So that was the purchase price, and was Christ not only willing, but joyously willing to pay it. Hebrews 12.2, we reference here, for the joy is set before him, he endured the cross. Why? Why would he say, man, these nails feel good. Why would he possibly say that? For the joy is set before him, with us as his bride, he endured the cross.

He knew the outcome. This outcome would go on into eternity. So here we see a continuance of the Jewish marriage practices. Once the bride established and the young man and woman were then considered to be husband and wife. So it was a betrothal. They were actually called husband and wife once they were betrothed. They were not free to consummate the marriage or to move in together or anything else, but they were considered husband and wife from that time forward because being betrothed had full legal standing.

So does that equate with the New Covenant? It doesn't equate with the New Covenant and here's why. The New Covenant was with regards to whom? The Israel, so that's why it did not, there are those who have tried to make that equation, but keeping things straight, the new covenant was with regards to Israel.

It was one of the multiple accomplishments on the cross. Christ paid the price, the purchase price for us in the body of Christ and he ratified the new covenant there on the cross to be implemented and fulfilled among the Jews during the Millennial Kingdom. But that's a very good question because it's an important point of clarification. So then we have the next slide over.

Then the bridegroom would declare to the bride before the father of the bride that she was consecrated, sanctified, and set apart exclusively for her bridegroom. So this word sanctified used throughout the New Testament for us is stated in some places, already accomplished, our position together. as a church body. We are in our position as a church body, not just individual. but as a church body already sanctified. So then this primarily has to do with relationships? This primarily has to do with relationship. It is relationship having to do with position. There is also, as we have spoken otherwise, a process of being sanctified. It is a matter of a process that is ongoing. to bring us about to being consistent with our eternal position together as a church.

So that's why Paul would say in Ephesians 5.25 that Christ paid the bride price so that he might sanctify the church.

Here's also in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, before Paul gets into all the messy stuff that they're into, He tells them right in chapter one, before he brings up anything, he says, you've been sanctified. He puts it in the perfect tense. If you messed up, fouled up, horrible condition, believers have been completely and fully and totally sanctified already, in your position. Having said that, let's wade into your problems, which are many and deep. He starts off, you've been sanctified. The book of Hebrews goes on with a similar thing in chapter 10. It uses sanctified in the same verse. One of them is already accomplished, perfect tense, and the other one is a process.

Next, as the symbol of the covenant relationship that had been established, the groom and bride would drink from a cup of wine over which a betrothal benediction had been pronounced. So our taking of the Lord's table is a commemoration of the betrothal we have with Christ, who has paid the bride price in full with his own blood until he comes. So they would have this ceremony together with the wine, which was, by the way, quite deluded, but nonetheless, they'd have this ceremony together with the wine, and that would be an anticipation of when the bridegroom comes. Just like we have a commemoration of the Lord's table. It's a commemoration, it's a remembrance. Do this in remembrance of me, right? Looking forward to the time when our bridegroom comes. So, this matches beautifully.

Then the betrothed bridegroom would begin preparing a place for the bride and the bridegroom to live in which they would live together once the wedding had taken place. So Jesus says in John 14, 3 and 4, which is by the way the first rapture passage in the New Testament, I go and prepare a place for you and will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. Guess what the bridegroom would say to the bride when he's ready to go and prepare a place?

These words right here. Imagine these guys, we're celebrating Passover, and we've just gotten through celebrating it, and here Jesus is giving us wedding words, betrothal words. You can imagine that they're stunned. What on earth is he talking about? Just wondering. He's talking to us like we're engaged or something. Can you imagine their puzzlement? What on earth is he talking about?

Until the Holy Spirit was given, and at least some time passed, they had no idea what he was doing here. This must have just been stunning. just for them to even begin to fathom it. Stan? I don't even know how to ask this, but sanctification, I always thought that was a process that the church or the people in the church did in the process of living out their life here and now.

But what you're saying here was done by Him on the cross. Scripture teaches both. Scripture teaches position And that's why I'm referencing 1 Corinthians, the first nine verses. It talks about you are sanctified and it uses the perfect tense, it's already done. Hebrews chapter 10 also has, I have to look up the specific verse, but Hebrews chapter 10 has one verse where it's sanctified in the perfect tense, it's already done. And then it has that same verse sanctified as a process.

So sanctification is both a position and an ongoing process. One of the ways I've put it over the years is we're always catching up in life to what God has already done. We're always catching up to what God has already done. Has it been implemented that you are in Christ from the moment that you believe? Yes. Yes. Did you understand that when you believed? No. Probably not. There's in Christ, in some form, in the beloved, in him, in whom, 164 times in the New Testament. How many of you understood that the first day you believed?

No. So it's something we're always catching up to what God has already accomplished. So could you say then that the second type of sanctification, which is the living out, The closer you get your condition to your position, that's sanctification. That's sanctification in process and that is the implementation and the carrying out of spiritual growth. And notice this, it is not simply an individual spiritual growth, but it is together church body spiritual growth. As we as a church body carry that out, we as a church body grow together as a church body. So spiritual growth is not just something that happens individually, but also together as a church body. And there is both a positional teaching, which is what we're focusing on here, but also keep in mind, as we already went through what God's doing in the life of the believer, we talked about here's what God is doing among the life of believers. Okay, so let's continue on.

So these things were said in anticipation of the coming of the bridegroom for the bride, that preparation for the wedding day and the anticipation of the wedding day were central in the mind of the bridegroom, the bride, and the family and friends. Once that betrothal is taking place, everybody, family, friends, bride group, everybody is focused on that day. Everybody is focused on that day. It is one reason why the Lord actually has a crown of reward for those who look forward to the time when the father tells the son, go get your bride. See that?

The dovetail fit in scripture is just amazing. The entire New Testament, starting with this John 14 passage, on into the book of Revelation. It is a grand, well-constructed fabric. A harmonious theme from one end to the other of the New Testament. So the next one, the Jewish marriage practices in New Testament times from then until the time of the wedding, the father was to keep the bride consecrated, sanctified, and set apart exclusively for her bridegroom. And so what do you see in scripture? Those words regarding us. The family and friends were expected to help in the task. That's your duty.

One of the things that runs in wild contradiction to this is what has become, you know, bridal parties and, you know, kind of last fling parties. Instead of it having those gathering events be times when the family takes seriously, family and friends take seriously, the consecration, the setting apart, and the sanctification of the bride. So, this is John 17, 17. Jesus praying to the Father said, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. How are we sanctified? Yes. How are we sanctified? In the truth. In the truth, which is?

His word. The Word of God, exactly what we're studying here today. So the Word of God is the instrument for sanctification as an ongoing process. So again, you could even extrapolate that and say condition-position again, because the closer you're living your condition to the Word of God... Right. This is what position and our condition. The condition is moment by moment, day by day. The position is set in place, accomplished already. So we are intended by God to be growing individually and together as a church body into the position we already have. That's what defines spiritual growth. You're growing into the position you already have, individually and as a church body.

We looked at 2 Corinthians 11.2 where Paul essentially does this.

The next slide over the last slide on page 2 says, and the bride was also to prepare for the wedding day. So everybody, family, friends, bridegroom, is all looking forward to preparing for that wedding day. They looked upon it as a holy and solemn commitment, assignment, duty. And the bride herself was to cooperate with that and to see that, looking forward to that wedding day. just as we are called to look forward to the day when Christ will come and take us home. That's to be our perspective, because He, our Bridegroom, will come for us.

The Father will say to the Son, go get your bride. And to that moment, that twinkling of an eye, we are called to look upon that moment as that's the treasured moment to come. So is justification totally positional? Justification is positional. Justified being declared righteous based on our having been made in Christ, redeemed and forgiven. So, 1 Corinthians 6, we look at the Corinthians, we keep running back into that group of folks. but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God.

So on the wedding day, there was a set of customs applying to everybody involved in the wedding, the bridegroom, the bride, the father of the bride, and all family and friends. So now we have on page three, on the wedding day, the father of the bridegroom would say to the bridegroom, go get your bride. Now's the time. The father would call it.

The bridegroom would go to receive his consecrated, sanctified, set-apart bride unto himself, and to be presented to him by the bride's father, family, and friends. And the groom also presented her to himself, she being holy and blameless. The next slide over, we talk about being sanctified as in the past, in the present, and in the future. The being sanctified past, present, and future, those are all looking forward to the day when we will be holy and blameless. Will it be because we did everything right? How about the things we didn't do that were right? How can we still be holy and blameless? When we stand before the Lord, how can we still be holy and blameless?

Christ paid the price for everything. There is not one charge that He has not already taken care of. He paid the price. We also have, in 1 Corinthians again, chapter 3, verses 10-15, the judgment in which all the stuff we did where we messed up, you think Christ is going to spend a thousand years going over all your screw-ups and mess-ups? No. What's going to happen to those things? Burned away. All the things burned did where you messed up, all burned up.

Revelation 19, 7-9 puts kind of the final presentation of that before the end of things. Revelation 19, 7-9 says, Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is common, His bride has made herself ready. was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints."

By the way, so when you mess up, is that somehow included? Does that mess up your wedding gown? It does not, does it? The righteous acts of the saints, those acts done by the Lord of Righteousness who indwells us, that's what he'll focus on. And the rest of it is all burned away. Christ is motivated to reward us to the max. He is not motivated to spend the rest of eternity giving us a kick in the rear. Neither does he intend that you are going to be giving yourself a kick in the rear for the rest of eternity. When you walk through heaven's gates and you stand before Christ, you will be holy and blameless.

Then he said to me, write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are true words of God. I have to ask you, there's this passage, and I can't remember where right now, but somebody arrived at the marriage supper or something, and they weren't supposed to be there because they didn't have the right clothes or something. I think what you might be talking about, there are places in the Gospels where it talks about a marriage, and what's interesting is if you look at those, those are based first of all on Jewish wedding traditions, just like we've been looking at.

You don't have an explicit statement of the church in those passages in the Gospels. Why? He's talking to the Jews and at that point in time the church is not directly revealed but is best implied at that stage. And so you don't have clear indication and yet those passages are harmonious. And the reason that those are presented is because these Jewish wedding traditions were so fixed and set in place, right? For example, the parable of the ten virgins. What were you supposed to do? Were you supposed to keep your lamp lit? Yes. Yeah, and it was just considered unthinkable that you wouldn't keep your lamp lit. And so that's, again, a well-set and absolutely fixed tradition that is consistent with this anticipation and that sort of thing.

So then it's unthinkable that somebody would even show up or be at that ceremony, right? Yeah, in other words, you'd notice they would present, for example, a gown even for the guests. Here's what you are to wear to the wedding. And here's a gown, here's what you're to wear, and if you show up with something else, it's like, what? What are you doing?

It would be unthinkable. It would be unthinkable for, here are the ten virgins, and half of them have a problem with running out of lamp oil. And the others are saying, look, I'm not giving you any of mine, you should have taken care of that, and there's no way at all in any way, in any form, that I'm going to risk running short of oil because you didn't think ahead. So that's one of the reasons for going over these Jewish wedding traditions.

They were very firmly fixed. They were not something that was just sort of, oh well, we'll see how it goes. It was not that way. They were very firmly set. There's a very important point to be made here, an important distinction between Israel as the wife of God, portrayed in the Old Testament, and the church as the bride of Christ, as portrayed in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, how did Israel do as the wife of God? Yahweh, sometimes called Jehovah. How'd they do? A lot of wrinkles. Oh, really bad. Here's Hosea. And what was Hosea told, the Old Testament prophet? You're supposed to marry this unfaithful woman, right? And be a living picture of the unfaithfulness of Israel to God.

And at one point in time, as we make note in Jeremiah 3.8, is God divorced Israel because of her unfaithfulness. What you have as a very distinctly different picture in the New Testament is from the outset, it's not looking at how are they doing here on earth.

Being holy and blameless and without spot or wrinkle is looking forward to what day? To that day when we go to be with Christ. Israel and God in the Old Testament are looking at the past and how things are here on earth. How are you doing? What's their condition?

Christ and the Church is a very different theme in that everything is looking forward to Even for a church that had all sorts of problems, everything was looking forward to the time when they would be holy and blameless. Even the Church of Corinth, if you can imagine that. With a long, deep list of problems. Still, the perspective of Paul was, his longing was to present them as a pure and spotless virtue. that church that had already blown it numerous times.

But he didn't say, well you guys are just like Israel, and you know, God's going to divorce you. No. The church, us, together in the body of Christ, are the bride of Christ, and the biblical picture from the outset is looking forward. We're betrothed now. Looking forward to that day when we'll stand before Him, be presented before Him, for the wedding supper, for the marriage ceremony, and then having the wedding supper of the Lamb. And there is no talk of, man, you guys are not going to make it. There is no talk of, you know, you guys are really, really doing awful, and this wedding isn't going to take place.

He chose us in Christ. And by the way, was I choosable outside of Christ? No. That's why from the outset, before God said, let there be light, He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Okay, now let's get started with this thing. We were choosable only in Christ. So in Christ He chose us, and then comes the creation and then the fall. But he chose us first. That we would be all messed up.

That we would be holy and blameless before him in love. Isn't that great? It's a phenomenal distinction. And you know that understanding this distinction is very important. Nancy and I actually counseled with a couple, not here at Holly Hills, but a couple that came in from out of the area.

And the husband had these two mixed up between Christ and the church and God and Israel. He had those two mixed up and he was thinking of his wife and his bride as this sinning Israel, unfaithful. You don't have proper dispensational distinctions. And it wasn't just hypothetical, he actually messed up his marriage, not understanding the distinction. So we had to clear that up. Then their marriage could move ahead. They were actually getting a messed up marriage because they didn't add proper dispensational distinction.

Now, the last thing we put there is kind of a tagline at the bottom. There's a slide that we showed earlier in the book of Acts, Acts 9.30.

The brethren and the disciples and the church, those are all terms used of us together. So the brethren, the disciples, and the church, those are all terms of us together describing us. Did these brethren and disciples in the church, did they have any problems? Yeah, they did. There were problems that became apparent, but that didn't stop them from being called the brethren. and the disciples, and the Church. Because these are all things that we have as our position together. Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Exasperations? Inspirations? Either I've completely answered every question you might possibly have, or you're so overwhelmed that it just can't begin. But with that, Unless I have tinnitus, or tinnitus, however you want to pronounce it, I think we'll call it good.

Thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you. As we look at this, the Church, the Bride of Christ, it is indeed solidly taught all the way from the Gospels to the last book of the Bible. It is something that we not only could look way back into eternity past, as to when we were first chosen as the Bride to the Son, and even we can look into eternity future to always and forever being the Bride of Christ. Thank you for that marvelous teaching, and we look forward, Lord, to that day when the Father tells the Son, Go get your Bride. We hope it's today. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.