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KINGDOM
BIBLE STUDIES
“Teaching the things
concerning the
BRIDESHIP AND
SONSHIP
Part 1
Originally published in May 1971
As God continues to deal in this last
hour with a people, to bring them into His Fullness, there are questions which
arise concerning definitions and applications of terms which the Spirit of God
is bringing forth as He speaks to His chosen ones. Two of the terms which the
Spirit is emphasizing in this hour are BRIDESHIP and SONSHIP. Some become
confused by these two terms and wonder if there is a difference between
the two – or if the Bride and the Sons are the one and same company
of people. If we have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying, and if we will
take the time to diligently study the scriptures and compare what the Spirit is
now saying with that which is written, there need be no confusion at all. God
wants us to UNDERSTAND!
THERE IS A DIFFERENCE!
It will not take much reflection to
reach the conclusion that a bride and a son are NOT the same! If you are a
married man with a family – think – are your WIFE and your SON the SAME? Though
it is evident that they are two separate persons, what is it that really makes
the difference? You might say, “Well, one is female and the other is
male.” That is true, but that is still not the BASIC DIFFERENCE! A member of
your family may be female and yet NOT be your wife! She could be your
daughter, your mother, or even your sister. Likewise, a male member of your
family may be someone other than your SON. So, while it is true that a wife is
always feminine and a son is always masculine, the basic difference is one of
RELATIONSHIP – the WAY in which they are RELATED to you. Likewise, through the
New Birth we have come into God’s Family – the very Family of GOD! And being
birthed into the God Family we are now RELATED to GOD – we have now come into a
FAMILY RELATIONSHIP with Him, yes, “kinship” to Him, in His very Own Family.
HOW WE COME INTO THE GOD FAMILY
You can only enter God’s Family by
birth. Jesus said, “Except a man be born again… he cannot enter into the
In I Jn. 3:1-2 we read: “Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God… Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be
like Him: for we shall see Him as He is.” Now let us quote these verses from
the Amplified Bible which correctly translates the word “teknon” as “children.”
“See what an incredible quality of love the Father has given us, that we should
be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! Beloved, we
are even here and now God’s children…” So you see, in our infancy and spiritual
immaturity God does not call us His SONS – or His WIFE – but His
CHILDREN! This is our FIRST RELATIONSHIP to God in His Family. We are
His children. And what we are ultimately going to be has not yet come
into view or become reality.
BRIDESHIP AND SONSHIP – MATURE RELATIONSHIPS
Children are children. Children are
not SONS in the scriptural sense (for a detailed study on what a SON is, see
our study on THE KINGDOM FAMILY OF GOD), and a girl, as long as she is a child,
is not prepared for, or capable of, fulfilling the role of a WIFE. In order to
enter into true MARRIAGE a young girl must go through years of physical, mental
and emotional development. Finally, upon becoming MATURE in ALL these areas,
she is fitted for marriage and her role as a wife. And so it is in God’s Family!
The term “child” describes the Christian in his walk of immaturity in God. But
as we begin to grow up into SPIRITUAL MATURITY – it is THEN that the feminine
and masculine aspects of our relationship to God that are set forth in the
scriptures. In this study we shall limit ourselves to the two primary ones:
Brideship and Sonship.
OUR RELATIONSHIP TO THE FATHER AND THE SON
There are two essential facts of
which we should take note here. First, Brideship in the scriptures is always
declared to be a relationship that we enter into to Jesus Christ as the Son of
God. Saints are never referred to as the “Bride of the Father.” A few
scriptures will serve to make this clear. “For I am jealous over you with godly
jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a
chaste virgin to CHRIST” (II Cor. 11:2). “For the husband is the head of the
wife, even as CHRIST IS THE HEAD of the church… Therefore as the church is
subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything…
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” (Eph. 5:22-32). “Let us be glad and
rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the LAMB is to come, and
HIS wife hath made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7).
Jesus is the Bridegroom. The Father
is never pictured as a Bridegroom. It is the Son who declared Himself to be the
Bridegroom in Mk. 2:18-20: “And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used
to fast: and they come and say unto Him, Why do the disciples of John and of
the Pharisees fast, but Thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can
the children of the bridechamber fast, while the BRIDEGROOM is WITH THEM? As
long as they have the Bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the
days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then
shall they fast in those days.”
Jesus came into this world as the
first-born of God’s human-divine Family. He came as a child and grew
up into full Sonship to the Father (Lk. 2:52). It was this man Jesus, the
SON of God, Who said: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies… that ye may be
the children of your FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN” (Mat. 5:44-45). So while the
BRIDEGROOM was on earth (the Son) the FATHER was in heaven. Again Jesus said to
Mary after His resurrection: “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to My
Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto MY FATHER, and
YOUR FATHER; and to MY GOD, and YOUR GOD” (Jn. 20:17).
So let us SEE! Through the new birth
we are birthed into the God Family. We are birthed as babes and are thus God’s
“children.” This is our relationship to God in spiritual infancy and
immaturity. As we grow up in God we are then (IF we are led by the
Spirit and indeed DO grow up – most Christians DON’T) brought into definite
relationships to God in MATURITY. Since God has revealed Himself to us as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we must come into a relationship to God in each
of His three manifestations. Thus, we must become related to God as our
FATHER. But we must also become properly related to God as SON and as HOLY
SPIRIT! In SPIRITUAL MATURITY we may become related to CHRIST as His BRIDE and
to God the FATHER as SONS.
OUR RELATIONSHIP TO JESUS – LOVE AND SUBMISSION
The relationship of a Bride and
Bridegroom is first and foremost a LOVE relationship. The emphasis the Holy
Spirit places upon our relationship in Christ as Bride and Bridegroom is that
of the experiencing of TRUE LOVE between the maturing Christian and the Lord
Jesus. As the Spirit of God moves upon us we begin to feel desires for fuller
measures of love’s relationship. A condition begins to stir within us which
expresses itself in thoughts of pursuing Christ for a more realizing and
satisfying sense of His love. Our former relationship with the Lord has been a
mere ordinary one which has proved most unsatisfactory. We now long for a far
more intimate and personal fellowship and communion in which the love of Christ
is shed abroad (poured out!) in our hearts. We are desiring this love
fellowship with Him because the Spirit of God has stirred us into an awareness
of Christ in all His spiritual beauty and magnificent glory! The revelation of
the Glorious Person of the Lord Jesus breaks upon us and we perceive that He is
indeed the “altogether lovely One,” and that His “love is better than wine”
(Song of Sol. 1:2; 5:16). It is the attracting power of the Lord Jesus Himself
which draws us to Him in this deep and intense desire after Him. In order to
become His BRIDE we MUST, literally, fall intensely in love with Jesus! We will
desire HIM – His lovely Presence – His fellowship – intimate communion and
vital union with Him – above all else in the world! As we fall in love with
Jesus and desire Him above all else – we enter into a spiritually FEMININE
relationship to God in His Son. This is BRIDESHIP to Christ. It is a love
relationship between Christ and His Bride.
NOTE: The first encounter we have
with Jesus is when we accept Him as Saviour. In the experience of salvation
Jesus becomes related to us, not primarily in a family relationship, but, in an
OFFICE RELATIONSHIP. He relates to us as our SAVIOUR. MOST Christians STOP
right there and never move on to find a relationship in Christ in deeper and
fuller dimensions. The average Christian remains and continues on
in this Saviour-saved relationship by constantly emphasizing salvation and
continually appealing to Christ for forgiveness and cleansing. They never move
up to find Christ as their LORD – the LORD, the BOSS, the HEAD of their lives!
And most never find Christ as their BRIDEGROOM… their HUSBAND! There is a great
difference between knowing Jesus as Saviour and knowing Him as Bridegroom. To
know Him as Saviour means you have received His mercy and through that mercy
have been birthed into God’s Family as a babe. To know Him as Bridegroom means
that you are GROWING UP – spiritually developing – that you have passed your
SPIRITUAL PUBERTY and have become aware of your potential as a spiritual WIFE
to Christ. You become aware of HIM, sensing His attractiveness, desiring a
relationship of love and union with Him that heretofore (in your carnal
babyhood state) you NEVER EVEN DREAMED EXISTED!
There is one other aspect of
Brideship we should mention here. That is SUBMISSION. The whole key to being a
wife is submission. We are prone to think of submission in such a carnal way.
We think in terms of a husband issuing COMMANDS to his wife, and the wife
coweringly complies with his every DEMAND. But true submission is the LOVE of a
woman that is so intense that she wants to yield herself to the high desires of
her husband… a woman so in love with her husband that it goes beyond
infatuation; her submission becomes a willing slavery… a laying down of
her own life until she no longer has a life because her life is surrendered to
another! She says, “I don’t want MY life… I want to SHARE YOURS!” Oh! Most of
us know so little of HOW to be a BRIDE! But, thank God, He is so very patient with
us!
Marriage, it is said by most modern
people, is a 50-50 proposition. That means each mate is to ideally “meet the
other halfway” in their mutual selfishness. However, as is usually the case,
there develops an unclear idea as to WHERE that “middle line” actually IS, and
neither mate seems to be able to convince the other he or she is not meeting
his or her side of the responsibility! Endless arguments develop over the other
doing his share more fully. But let us know that MARRIAGE IS NOT A 50-50
PROPOSITION! God meant it to be a 100-100 proposition, whereby it’s ALL the way
for EACH partner, ALL the time! The husband is willing to give 100% to the
wife, and the wife is willing to give 100% to the husband. Mankind has jerked
love from its original place of perfect GIVING, and pointed it toward SELF,
making it mean, in our modern language, a “getting” and RECEIVING instead of a
GIVING! Love, as advertised in our movies, novels and comics is all GET –
pointed toward making the SELF happier. BUT – if a husband and wife are really
IN LOVE, according to God’s definition of love (Who created love!), they
will be willing to GIVE to each other! Now open your Bible to Eph. Chapter 5
and read verses 22-32 prayerfully before you continue with this lesson. There
you find one of the greatest lessons of BRIDESHIP!
When we are CHILDREN, knowing Jesus
only as Saviour, we love Jesus primarily for what He GIVES US. When you hear
someone testify, “I love the Lord because He saved my soul,” or, “I love
the Lord because He answers my prayers and supplies all my needs,” then
you know that you are listening to the testimony of a CHILD. That kind of talk
is like the girl who married a rich man and said, “I love John because he gives
me a $100,000 house to live in, a new car of my own, a mink coat and $200 a
week to spend!” If THAT is why she loves John, then it is clear that she loves
him ONLY for his MONEY! Let John lose his wealth and her love would soon die.
And most immature Christians, the “children” of God, “love” God basically out
of these same selfish motives! But a TRUE WIFE loves her husband FOR WHO AND
WHAT HE IS! When a wife REALLY LOVES her husband, she loves him just as much if
they are poor and have nothing. As God brings forth a people into Brideship
unto Christ, this people, this Brideship company, is coming to love Jesus FOR
WHO HE IS – and NOT because of “what” they receive from Him BECAUSE of His
great love for them. Children are always excited about the GIFT, but the Bride
is excited about the GIVER!
THE BRIDE IS A VIRGIN
“For I am jealous over you with a
godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you
as a CHASTE VIRGIN to Christ” (II Cor. 11:2). To be a virgin means to be pure,
undefiled and separated unto our Lord. This means not only in our
practice, but also in our DESIRES. God is creating a desire in a people in this
hour to truly be VIRGIN in their desires toward the Lord. We have known what it
is to be conformed to the course of this world. Then we have known what it is
to trust Christ as Saviour but to be entangled in all the defilement of a
corrupt Babylonish religious system. But God, in this hour, is raising up a
glorious body of Christ who, because of the quickening of the Holy Spirit, is
desiring to be VIRGIN – separated ONLY unto her glorious Bridegroom – unto
intimate and vital
JESUS CHRIST IS “HEAD” TO THE BRIDE
“Wives – be subject – be submissive
and adapt yourselves – to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is
head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, Himself the Saviour of
His Body. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in
everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the
church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having
cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present the
church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such
things – that she might be holy and faultless. Even so husbands should love
their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. For
no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and carefully protects
and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, because we are members of His
body. For this reason a man shall become one flesh. This mystery is very great,
but I speak concerning the relation of Christ to the church” (Eph. 5:22-32,
Amplified Bible).
There are two pictures of Christ’s HEADSHIP
in the New Testament.
The picture that most people see of
Christ’s HEADSHIP is that of a head from the neck up, attached to a body from
the neck down. This is NOT the picture of headship set forth in Ephesians
Chapter 5. Christ is here revealed as head to His wife in the same manner any
husband is the “head” of his wife. It has often been said that the man is the
“head of the house.” That is NOT TRUE! The scripture declares that the HUSBAND
is the HEAD of his WIFE – and then the scriptures further teach that the
husband and wife JOINTLY are head of the children. “Children obey your PARENTS
in the Lord…”
To better understand this HUSBAND
HEADSHIP of Christ let us go all the way back to the beginning…
ADAM, THE FIRST MAN
When God created man in the
beginning He did not immediately create a man AND a woman. He only made a man.
In Gen. 2:7-8 and 15-17 we read: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in
The word “man” and the word “Adam”
are the same word in the original Hebrew. Adam is simply the Hebrew word for
HUMANITY or MANKIND. It is not the name of one particular person. The first man
was one person alright, but contained IN HIM was ALL MANKIND. Before Eve was
made Adam contained in himself all that humanity or mankind was to be. He was a
creature complete within himself. He was both male and female within his being.
All the reproductive organs and processes were contained in ONE PERSON who was,
in himself, at the beginning, the very SUBSTANCE of ALL HUMANITY. But we find
in Chapter 2 of Genesis that the Lord said: “It is not good that the man should
be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.” Then, after Adam had named all
the animals in the garden we read: “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to
fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the
flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made
He a woman, and brought her unto the man.” (Gen. 2:18, 21-22) Let us note that
the word “rib” does not adequately describe what God took out of Adam. When we
thing of a rib we think of a BONE in Adam’s side. The Hebrew word here
translated rib is “tsela” and means literally A CURVE; and while it may be used
of a rib it means much more and by implication could mean A WHOLE SIDE. What
God actually did, of course, was to remove from Adam a VITAL PART of his being
and form him into TWO people – male and female. It is evident that God here
made a separation of the reproductive organs and so divided man in his
constitution that from henceforth it would take TWO PERSONS, male and female,
to equal ONE! In this way, a man is only half of a human being – in the
original sense. Likewise, a woman is only half of a complete person – as man
was originally made. No man or woman is COMPLETE in himself! None can reproduce
or propagate the human family ALONE. No wonder Adam declared: “Therefore shall
a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they
shall be ONE FLESH!” (Gen. 2:24).
Some would no doubt argue the point
we have made that God took more than just a rib out of Adam. But if God
only used a rib – a BONE – then when He brought Eve to Adam he should have
said: “This is now RIB OF MY RIB!” or, “This is now BONE of my BONES…” PERIOD!
But Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, AND FLESH OF MY FLESH!”
Therefore, when man and woman are united in the marriage union they become ONE
FLESH, not ONE RIB or ONE BONE! God definitely separated Adam into two
parts – and made two people who MUST HAVE EACH OTHER to be COMPLETE!
WE WERE TAKEN “OUT” OF CHRIST!
Keeping the foregoing facts in mind,
let us now take a look at the LAST ADAM and HIS WIFE! Even as Eve was taken out
of her husband, Adam, even so WE (the Bride of Christ) were taken out of our
husband, CHRIST! Is this hard to believe? Listen to Paul in Eph. 1:3-5:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath
chosen us IN HIM before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love…” How could we have been chosen IN
CHRIST BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN unless we were then IN HIM? The truth is that
we WERE in Him – THEN! We did not exist in Him as individual identities any
more than Eve existed in Adam as an individual identity. Eve was in Adam
as a VERY PART of Adam. She was in him in substance. Even so were we in
Christ! The new man IN YOU – WHO is he? Where did he originate? The NEW
SPIRIT BEING in you (through the new birth) IS CHRIST! Paul cried out this
great truth in these words: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth IN me” (Gal. 2:20). Again: “To whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which
is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Christ is IN US. Our new man
(life) is Christ. This means that even as God took of Adam’s flesh and
made ANOTHER PERSON, even so God has taken of Christ’s Spirit and formed
another SPIRIT PERSON – the body of Christ, the BRIDE OF CHRIST! And so we read
in Eph. 5:28-30: “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…” Yes, this PROVES IT! Of course we
are not physically flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones – but we are
SPIRITUALLY – for our spirit originated IN HIM and thus IN SUBSTANCE we were IN
CHRIST from eternity – before the foundation of the world! Even as it now takes
a man AND a woman to equal ONE MAN (as he originally was) so it now takes
CHRIST AND HIS BRIDE to equal what Christ was in Himself in the
beginning. It is only in the union of the two that there is
COMPLETENESS. Paul clearly reveals this in I Cor. 6:16-17: “Or do you not know
and realize that when a man joins himself to a prostitute he becomes ONE BODY
with her? The two, it is written, shall become one flesh. But the person who is
united to the Lord becomes ONE SPIRIT with Him!” (Amplified Bible). Then in
Col. 2:9-10 we read: “For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And YE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM.” J. B. Phillips renders this: “Moreover, your own
completeness is only realized in Him.”
BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE
We now need to take a closer look at
the difference between our present relationship to Christ our Bridegroom and
our COMING relationship to Him in the NEW DISPENSATION now AT HAND. In II Cor.
11:2-3 we read: “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have
ESPOUSED you to one husband, that I may present you as a CHASTE VIRGIN to
Christ.” Please note that while we are ESPOUSED to Christ we MUST MAINTAIN our
“virgin” state.
In Bible days there was a distinct
difference between the betrothal and the marriage. Betrothal and espousal mean
the same thing. The betrothal was equivalent to our modern “engagement” period
with the exception that it was JUST AS BINDING as the marriage itself. Even
though the man and woman were, through the betrothal, already actually husband
and wife, yet they continued to live apart and experienced no marriage union
until after the actual wedding itself. Thus we read in the Law: “And what man
is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her?” (Deut. 20:7). At
least a year passed between the betrothal and the wedding. It was during this
period, of about a year, that Mary was found to be with child by the Holy
Spirit. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His Mother
Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was
found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a
just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away
privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared unto him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, fear not to take unto thee
Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost’
(Mat. 1:18-20). So Paul tells us that we are ESPOUSED to Christ – but the
actual wedding has not yet taken place!
Among the ancient Hebrews the
betrothal was a spoken covenant. Ezekiel pictures God as marrying
With this in mind we can better
understand the cry in Rev. 19:7-8: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour
to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His WIFE (not fiancée) hath
made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine
linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.”
Those in this hour who indeed are hearing the call unto Brideship are being
diligent to make themselves ready to be presented “holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in His sight” (Col. 1:22). The word “unblameable” is from the
Greek word “amomos” and is the same word which in Rev. 14:5 is translated
“without fault” in relation to the 144,000. The same word is translated
“faultless” in Jude 24. Again the word is rendered “without spot” in Heb. 9:14.
“Amomos” indicates that which is without blemish, blame or spot. Only those
whose hearts are PURE and RIGHT toward the Lord, who are daily walking with Him
in fellowship in the light (truth), and continually are submitting to His purging
and cleansing from ALL uncleanness, can qualify to be “holy and without
blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:4), and “blameless in the day of our Lord
Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 1:8). “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such
things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot,
and blameless” (II Peter 3:14). We must be faultless not only in respect to our
personal holiness before God, but also in refusing “concourse” with the
wretched defilement of the Babylonish religious system of this world order –
which is a primary form of “spiritual fornication” and uncleanness!
THE FRIEND OF THE BRIDEGROOM
The customs of the Arabs in certain sections
of the Bible Lands, when they negotiate to secure a bride for their son,
illustrate in many respects the Bible practices. If a young man has acquired
sufficient means to make it possible for him to provide a marriage dowry, then
the father calls in a man who is a close and trusted friend of the family to
act as a deputy or “go-between” for him and his son. This go-between is called
“The Friend of the Bridegroom.” This man is fully informed as to the dowry the
young man is willing to pay for his bride. He then goes to the home of the
young woman and negotiates with a deputy of the bride’s family. There must be
consent for the hand of the young woman and agreement on the dowry. When these
are agreed upon, the deputies arise and their congratulations are exchanged,
and they all drink together as a seal of the covenant thus entered into. Then
this “Friend of the Bridegroom” continues to act on behalf of the bridegroom
until the wedding is completed. When finally the bridegroom has “taken” his
bride and escorted her into his own home for the marriage feast, then is the
joy of the friend of the bridegroom fulfilled (Jn. 3:29).
Two thousand years ago John the
Baptist referred to himself in relation to Christ as “the friend of the
Bridegroom.” We read in Jn. 3:28-30: “Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I
said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him. He that hath the
bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and
heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: THIS MY JOY
THEREFORE IS FULFILLED. HE must increase, but I must decrease.” John the
Baptist appeared on the scene shortly before Jesus began His ministry. John’s
ministry was to “go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the
just; to MAKE READY A PEOPLE PREPARED FOR THE LORD” (Lk. 1:17). He was to
“prepare the way” (Mat. 3:3) for the Lord to be fully united in marriage to His
elect Bride. But
Now the close of another era is
near, and before long the Bridegroom will come again to claim His Bride – this
time to be received by her with JOY! Should we not then see the PATTERN
FULFILLED in our day that a special ministry with a special message be raised
up by God to fulfill the role of “The Friend of the Bridegroom?” It is
interesting to note that John the Baptist was not fulfilling the ordinary
priesthood of his ancestry. Even so, the Lord is raising up special messengers
in our day who are NOT of the organized priesthood of organized Babylonish
religion. They are being prepared, as was John, in the “wilderness” of testing
and proving. And they have a special commission to be the “Friend of the
Bridegroom, which standeth and HEARETH HIM; rejoicing greatly because of the
BRIDEGROOM’S VOICE!” Those ministries in this hour who are indeed the Friend of
the Bridegroom will be, by their words and actions, creating a
THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF BRIDESHIP
A wife is one who has reached full
maturity; one who has given herself completely and unreservedly for her lover;
one who has lost her own name and identity to take HIS. She has left all to
follow Him. The result of such a union is stated by Paul in Rom.
7:4: “That we should be married to another, even to HIM who is raised from the
dead, that we should bring forth FRUIT (children, off-spring) unto GOD.” So
here we find that the great PURPOSE of our marriage unto Christ is that we
might bring forth FRUIT, even the “fruit” of the womb, UNTO GOD!
In the third chapter of Genesis we
have an account of the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve, with God’s
judgement, and also promise of a DELIVERER to come forth from the woman. The
fifteenth verse says: “And I will put enmity between thee (Satan) and the woman
and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt
bruise his heel.” We have here the first promise that a SEED should come forth
of the woman that would conquer and DE-THRONE Satan, and other scriptures
confirm that this coming seed will liberate from Satan’s power ALL of God’s
creation. The hidden purpose of God in making Adam and Eve husband and wife was
the bringing forth eventually of a SEED, a SON, to bruise Satan’s HEAD.
It is interesting to note in Eph.
5:30-32 that “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.” Jesus spoke of this same great truth when He
said to some Pharisees: “Have ye not read, that He which made them at the
beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave
father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one
flesh?” Now WHO, according to Jesus’ VERY OWN WORDS, made the statement away
back there in the beginning, that, “for this cause shall a man leave
father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one
flesh.” WHO made the statement IN THE BEGINNING? Jesus said, “Have ye not read
that HE THAT MADE THEM SAID…” GOD was the one who said this! And yet, in the
Genesis account we read: “And ADAM said, This is now bone of my bones…
therefore shall a man leave his father… and shall cleave unto his wife: and
they shall be one flesh.” On the surface it appears we have here a
contradiction – that Moses tells us that Adam spoke those words and Christ
tells us that God spoke them. But the TRUTH IS, of course, that Adam spoke the
words – but he did so in the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY! So, since he spoke
prophetically, it was, in reality, GOD who was speaking through Adam!
And, of course, since Adam was speaking prophetically, MUCH MORE IS INVOLVED in
his statement than the mere setting forth of the human husband-wife
relationship. It is true that a natural man should leave his father and mother
and cleave only unto his wife – but this is only a type of what God was REALLY
SAYING! This prophecy was pointing forward through the ages to THAT ONE – the
LAST ADAM – who would leave the glory of the Father, laying aside all the
splendor of Deity, that He might come and choose a human-divine Bride for
Himself from among mankind. And it is remarkable that, after Eve had sinned,
the first Adam deliberately followed her in sin in order to be lowered to her
fallen level – rather than eternally be separated from her – for so great was
his love for her! (I Tim. 2:13-15). BUT – the LAST ADAM deliberately OVERCAME
sin, Satan and death in the flesh – so that He could take His fallen Bride,
redeem her, and LIFT HER UP TO HIS DIVINE LEVEL of glory and God-likeness! So
great was His love for US! And Christ, by becoming man and FOREVER (in His
glorified human body) taking upon Himself the identity of humanity, has chosen to
cleave only unto HIS WIFE! And they are one flesh, yea, ONE SPIRIT! So, in
referring to the prophetic statement of Adam, Paul concludes, “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!” The TRUE HUSBAND of whom Adam spoke is Christ. And the
TRUE WOMAN of whom he spoke is the BRIDE of Christ!
You will recall that when God
separated Eve from Adam, He separated the reproductive organs of mankind. God
left with Adam the LIFE GIVING organs and in the woman He placed the organs for
MATURING LIFE, causing it to grow and eventually bring forth a new creature.
What a marvelous picture this is of Christ and His Bride. For they shall bring
forth a “seed” and that seed is the fullness of the Christ-life which is
planted in the womb of the Bride of Christ as a divine “seed.” She then
nurtures that life, causing it to grow and bring forth a new creature in the
exact image of GOD! This new spirit creature is those who grow up into FULL
SONSHIP unto the Father.
THE SEED OF THE WOMAN – THE SONS OF GOD!
With this truth in mind, it is
clearly evident that when God promises there shall be a “seed” of the woman who
shall bruise the “head of the serpent.” He is speaking of the divine seed that
shall come forth from the union of Christ and His Bride.
But let us go back for a moment and
begin again from the beginning. Adam and Eve made their great mistake in
obeying the voice of Satan instead of their Creator. But God, in His mercy, did
not leave them in a hopeless condition but gave a promise that the seed of
the woman would bruise the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15) and thereby bring
deliverance to His disobedient people. The conflict was on, the battle began,
and century after century it continued with Satan seemingly getting every
advantage, the very thoughts and intents of man’s heart becoming more and more
wicked and more and more subjected to Satan as the centuries rolled by.
Throughout this, God continued to deal with man on the basis of divine love and
compassion, from time to time sending them righteous men to lead them back to
Himself; reminding them periodically by His Word given through His prophets of
the promise of the seed of the woman that was to bruise Satan’s head, de-throne
him from his place of power, authority, and domination, and restore that which
had been lost.
The Lord made a covenant with
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that of their seed one would come who would be a
blessing to all the families of the earth. In due time the fulfillment of this
promise came according to God’s predestined plan, a virgin was overshadowed by
the Holy Spirit and brought forth a Son (not conceived of sin-cursed man) and
her Son made a way, by His blood, for a full deliverance of mankind from the
power and dominion of Satan. “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign,
behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name
Emmanuel” (Isa. 7:14). “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou
hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in the womb, and
bring forth a son… He shall be called the Son of the Highest” (Lk. 1:30-32).
“For unto you is born this day… a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Lk.
2:11). The seed which God had promised to Abraham had come, and He suffered,
died on a cross, was buried and rose again triumphant over him who had the
power of death (Heb. 2:14). Yet the promised deliverance was not fulfilled –
for the Old Serpent still was operating in the bodies, souls and lives of the
human family. The conflict is STILL raging, and after nearly two thousand years
of the church age, Satan is STILL the Prince of Power of the air! In Eph. 6:12
we read: “For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood – contending only with
physical opponents – but against the despotisms, against the powers, against
the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against
the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly sphere” (Amplified Bible). Yes,
Satan is still operating with the same power, authority and dominion in both earthly
and heavenly realms; his head HAS NOT YET been bruised! That Satan’s
head was NOT bruised at
Let us turn now to Rev. Chapter 12,
that most wonderful symbolic revelation of God’s purpose and plan for the days
that are just ahead of us. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a
woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a
crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and
pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold
a great red dragon… and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be
delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brough forth
a MANCHILD, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was
caught up to God and to His throne. And there was war in heaven: Michael and
his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and
PREVAILED NOT; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great
dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan… And I heard
a loud voice saying in heaven, NOW IS COME SALVATION, and strength, and THE
KINGDOM OF OUR GOD, and the POWER of His CHRIST: for the accuser of OUR
BRETHREN is cast down, which accused them before God day and night. And THEY
OVERCOME HIM by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.”
Some would tell us that the woman in
this chapter is Mary, or
The Bride is referred to as a woman
in the scriptures. Her characteristics, spiritually, are those of the female –
feminine. She is never referred to as possessing MASCULINE qualities. But the
child born out of this woman, the Bride, is represented as a MANCHILD, a
Son, a male child; one which is of MASCULINE CHARACTER. I have wondered for
years why so many Bible students call this masculine company the “Bride of
Christ.” This distinctly masculine company corresponds with the MANIFESTED SONS
OF GOD, who the scriptures declare shall liberate all the groaning creation
from the bondage of corruption according to Romans Chapter 8! While the Bride
of Christ is a company of God’s elect in its FEMININE RELATIONSHIP of love and
submission to Christ, the MANCHILD, or the Sons of God, are MASCULINE in their
spiritual nature and relationship to the Father. This masculinity speaks of
their great spiritual STRENGTH, AUTHORITY, POWER and DOMINION.
With this truth established, Rev.
12:1-12 gives us a very clear and definite revelation of God’s method of
dethroning Satan from the heavenly realms. We have the symbol of the
Spirit-anointed Bride of the last days of this dispensation in the woman travailing
in birth pains to be delivered of a manchild who is to rule all nations with a
rod of iron (For PROOF that Jesus is not the one ALONE who will rule the
nations with a rod of iron, see Rev. 2:26-27 & 3:21 – These are vital KEYS
to understanding the book of Revelation!). This SON represents a many-membered
company of FULL OVERCOMERS who have become partakers of the divine nature of
Jesus, conformed to His image; a called and chosen and faithful company of
saints who are indeed the “seed of the woman,” the off-spring of the Bride who
has been taken from the Last Adam – JESUS! And it is this seed of the woman who
is to completely conquer and dethrone Satan!
Satan is so concerned about this
manchild that he tries to stop him from reaching the throne of God (the place
of supreme power and authority), for he, Satan, knows that the test of his
ability to maintain his standing in the heavenlies is at hand. Now, the
important question is, BY WHOM will Satan and his host be defeated? Rev. 12:11
should settle this question for it is definite and clear. Understanding that
the Revelation is a book of SYMBOLS let us not try to literalize MICHAEL and
his angels any more than we would literalize the beasts, the horns, the
candlesticks, or any other symbol in the book. In verse 11 the warriors who
fought together with Michael are described as “THEY (who) overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb, and the WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY; and they loved not their
lives unto the death.” Were these heavenly warriors, then, angel spirits, or
were they redeemed and conquering human beings? To be true to the Word, we must
admit that they are a company of saints redeemed by the blood of
Now let us turn to another
scripture. This gives us an enlarged vision of the work of dethroning Satan in
the EARTHLY realms. “All creation is yearning, longing to see the MANIFESTATION
OF THE SONS OF GOD. For the creation was made subject to futility, not of its
own choice, but by the will of Him who so subjected it; yet with the hope that
at last the creation itself would be SET FREE from the thralldom of
decay to enjoy the liberty that comes with the glory (manifestation) of
the children of God. For we know that the whole creation is moaning in the
pangs of childbirth until this hour. And more than that, we ourselves, though
we possess the Spirit as a foretaste… yet we ourselves inwardly groan as we
wait for FULL SONSHIP in the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:19-21).
It is very evident from the above
scripture that a blood-washed, FULL REDEMPTION company of saints are to be the
means in God’s hand in liberating the whole creation from the bondage of death
and corruption; but BEFORE they can become liberators, they must first,
themselves, CONQUER HIM who has the power of death, that is, the devil (Heb.
2:14). Just as Satan and his host is overcome and cast out of the heavenlies,
even so must he be cast out of the earthly realms by the instrumentality of a
warrior company who will meet him in the conflict of the ages, thus liberating
all EARTHLY realms. All creation is groaning for this MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS
OF GOD!
We find a very forceful reference to
this
CONCLUSION
The question is probably arising in
some minds: “What company am I in? Which company of saints am I apprehended to?
Am I a part of the Bride company or a member of the Manchild company? Which
should I DESIRE to be? Can I be in BOTH? Is there REALLY a difference – a
separation – between the two?”
It is so easy to try and draw fine
lines. But what the revelation of God in Rev. twelve REALLY MEANS is THIS: The
WAY to Sonship is Brideship! It is the realm of Brideship that gives birth
to the reality of Sonship. Jesus said, “I am the WAY, the truth and the life;
No man cometh UNTO THE FATHER but by me.” Your relationship to Jesus
must come FIRST and your relationship to the Father in FULL SONSHIP will
follow. It is only through intimate fellowship and vital union with Jesus that
we shall be enabled to move on into a fully mature relationship to the
Father and the transcendent glory that will bring. If you have never really
fallen in love with Jesus – and made HIM YOUR HEAD and ABSOLUTE LORD – don’t
expect to ever be a SON. If you are not truly virgin in your walk with
Jesus, if you are not walking in His Spirit and keeping yourself unto HIM and
HIM ALONE – then don’t ever expect to stand in full Sonship to the Father! If
you have any other love… master… Lord… any “reserved” areas of your life… then your
company is that of the FOOLISH VIRGINS! We must first BOW in feminine love and
submission to Jesus – as a wife – before we can be birthed to stand tall and
erect in the majesty and splendor of SONSHIP. It is just that simple. There IS
NO OTHER WAY!
There are three companies.
The Harlot, the Bride, and the Sons. Some precious (but mistaken) people,
because they have separated from some Babylonish denomination or group IMAGINE
that this was the “mother church” BIRTHING them into Sonship. That is WRONG!
The “mother” of the manchild is NOT THE HARLOT CHURCH but the perfected BRIDE
OF CHRIST! When the Spirit calls, “Come our of her, My people,” He is not
calling to Sons. He is urging a people to come out of the defilements of
To
be continued… J. PRESTON EBY
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