The bride of Christ!
This morning I met with a young man and he asked me about the bride of Christ. This was significant because when I started sharing I realized that I challenged all his theology about the subject. The word bride appears in both the new and the Old Testament. In the Old Testament it actually comes from a root word that means to make perfect or to complete.
3618.kal-law´; from 3634; a bride (as if perfect); hence, a son’s wife:—bride, daughter-in-law, spouse.
- kalal, kaw-lal´; a primitive root; to complete:—(make) perfect.
By looking at this root word we have to conclude a few things. We are called the bride of Christ. This in itself simply means that as His bride we are called to complete Him. Just like my wife completes me in our marriage so does the church complete the visible manifestation of Christ in the earth? I cannot be married to myself and therefore I can never be a completion of myself.
Rev 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
When we got married In 1987 I waited at the altar for my bride. She was getting herself ready to come to the wedding ceremony. When she walked into the church where we got married she was a picture of perfection. She looked beautiful. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife and partner for life. Together we are a demonstration of what God intended for people to see when they think about Jesus and His church.
Ephesians 5:25-32 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
So we see that we are his bride. I want to address something about the bride that you might not know. Please read and meditate on this. I believe it is much more than just the church as we know it. In scripture and in the Hebrew we find that words have a gender assigned to it. We have the same in our language so you would understand what I am about to say. If I say “stallion” you know that I am referring to a male horse. If I say “hen” you know that I am referring to a female chicken. If I say “Spirit” or “soul” you would not know whether it is male or female. In English we have not assigned a gender to these two words. In Hebrew they have however done that. In Hebrew the word “spirit” is male and the word “soul” is female. This makes it very interesting.
Think with me for a second. The male was created to give seed. The female was created to receive seed. Jesus says in John 6:63:
The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life.
In the parable of the sower they ask Jesus to explain it. Here is his response.
Luke 8:11 The word is the seed.
When Jesus speaks, his words are spirit(male) and it is seed(coming from the male) and it is life(coming from God). His words are sent to find a womb that will receive it and bear fruit. The womb is found in the woman or the soul. Eve was a picture of a perfect womb or soul. The soul is the womb that receives His words and bears fruit according to the seed it received. When God created Adam and Eve He told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The enemy comes to Eve(woman) that represented the soul(womb) and brings his word(seed) to her. She received his word(seed) and brought forth sin. The enemies word carried death and that is what sin brought forth. Why is this important to understand?
The woman is the bride. The woman is the soul. When you got born again God completely restored your spirit to Him. The struggle is the soul. David prays and asks God to restore his soul.
Psalm 23:3 He restoreth my soul.
James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word (seed), which is able to save your souls.
As the bride of Christ we need to make ourselves ready for Him. Revelation says:
Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
What does it look like to be ready? We have seen that the church represents his bride but so does our soul. I see the church and I see people that are ready for Him to come back but they are still broken in their soul. They have not been restored in their emotions, will and their thinking. They still want their own way and entertain sin at the expense of grace. Let me be honest with you. He is coming for a bride that is fully restored and ready to marry him. His wife is the church that has a restored soul. His word restores her soul. The more word(seed) you have the more restored you will be. I am not talking about the Bible. He is the word of God! We need more of Him. His voice is the one that speaks and restores all things.
I am his bride. I still need some restoration in my soul. I have signed up for change. I want him to restore me fully.
Psalm 119:25 Mysoul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.
Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
Psalm 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
The bride of Christ is you with a restored soul. A soul that has received His word and is bringing forth fruit that glorifies Him. I pray that God will do a great work in us and that we will be ready to receive our Groom.
