Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;  Revelation 19:7 

Revelation 19:6-9 – What Is the Church?  
Second Sunday in Lent  – February 25, 2024 (am)    

What a delightful series this has been! One of my great concerns for our body has long been that we may drink too deeply of the spirit of this age in our understanding of the church—treating it increasingly as optional in the life of a believer, or even a bit irrelevant. You might think that’s just the perspective of our rabidly individualized culture with its unyielding bent toward self-definition and self-actualization—seeing the church as the biggest obstacle to broad acceptance of their self-exalting or self-gratifying preferences. But even within the church, I’m concerned that there’s not a very good, healthy, robust self-understanding—a heart-level grasp of the fact that life together in the body of Christ is the sort of community all people really long for. By and large they don’t know where to find it, or therefore how to attain it. But life together in the church—filled though it is with fallen sinners being redeemed by the saving work of Christ—is the only place where the sort of community we desire is even possible—the sort of love and joy and peace, of patience and kindness and goodness, the sort of faithfulness and gentleness, and self-control (Gal.5:22-23).

We’ve saved until last in this series the metaphor that helps us understand the truly joyful, rapturous, mind-boggling, imagination-stretching answer to: What Is the Church? It’s the metaphor that draws in the deepest, most intimate most satisfying experience available to human beings, the one that captures the epitome of human interpersonal communication, the highest and most fully developed expression of human love possible while we remain in the flesh. I’m talking about the human activity that stands alone as the loftiest engagement prepared for image-bearing creatures in which their entire being—body and spirit, mind and emotion, allegiance and affection, duty and devotion—all function together in a coupling that produces life in fulfillment of God’s very good creation design, and of His original great commission in Gen.1:28.

But our point of reference today is not just the human coupling that produces human life. It’s the full marriage-covenant-context of that coupling which reflects God’s own covenant love for His people—the relationship He blessed surely not least in order to establish an illustration by which we can gain an understanding of the serious and solemn nature of our covenant relationship with Him. Straight to the point, only the sweetest, most unified, most deeply satisfying, and God-glorifying of all human marriages can even begin to image the fullness of joy that is ours in our eternal relationship with God in Christ. And it is only when such a marriage is invaded by infidelity or unfaithfulness that we can begin to understand the tragic sadness, sorrow, separation that occurs when we entertain any rival to our love for God, to our allegiance to Him.

This is the context we need to begin taking in today if we have any hope of grasping the breathtaking implications of this closing metaphor for the church: the Bride of Christ. God’s Word is so filled with this metaphor (from Gen.1 to Rev.22) that there’s no way to look at every appearance of it; so, let’s just take a quick survey: past, present, and future.

Glimpses of the Bride that Have Been True in the Past

We’ve already seen God’s blessing on the first man and woman (slide 1, Gen.1:28) as their creation was summarized in His sixth-day activity. But when the story is retold in greater detail (Gen.2) with an eye toward a clearer, deeper grasp of what it meant to fill the earth and subdue it, we notice a couple of interesting features. First, there was some sort of time-gap between God’s creation of the man and His creation of the woman. During that window God noted the first thing in all His creation that was not good. Not just because the man may be lonely, or may need the sort of help my wife regularly points out as arising whenever men gather with no women present, what God is saying here is that without the woman as his matching and suitable helper, there’s no way for the man alone to fulfill the role God assigned to the two of them together.

Now, before creating the woman, God paraded the entire animal kingdom before the man, not just so that he could demonstrate His role as God’s surrogate ruler over all creation by naming them, but also so that he’d recognize the uniqueness of the woman once he saw her. And he did! Moses records that 21 … the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

There are several layers of meaning wrapped together in this one flesh description. Most immediately in this context it refers to the child that’s born into the world as this man and woman come together in obedience to God to be fruitful and multiply (Gen.1:28). The little one born of their joining is literally a one-flesh union of what we’ve come to understand as the DNA of each. But, add in the three occasions on which this passage is quoted in the NT, and we’ll see some additional layers.

When Jesus quoted Gen.2:24 in Mat.19:5-6 and Mar.10:8, He was underscoring that the joining of husband and wife is an act of God, so it’s permanent—Mar.10:9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

When Paul quoted Gen.2:24 in his letter to Corinth, he used it to describe the union forged by sexual coupling even outside of marriage. 1Co.6:16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For… it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”

But it’s when he quoted it in his letter to Ephesus that we see the layer of meaning that’s most helpful to us today. Eph.5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, … 28 … He who loves his wife loves himself… 29 …, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

What we learn here is that the union between Christ and the church captures the deepest, longest-lasting meaning of the statement Moses made about the union of Adam & Eve in the Garden (before the fall!). It’s here that the true mystery bound up in those words finds its clearest and fullest expression. The union between Christ and the church is best understood by us as a sort of marriage union. Or better, considering how Paul used Gen.2 here in Eph.5, marriage is given to us not just as the means of fulfilling our original great commission (Gen.1:28), but as our best hope of understanding the truest nature of our own union with Christ as His redeemed people, His body, His household, His flock, the temple of God in which He dwells by His Spirit—a pillar and buttress of the truth here on earth, yet citizens of heaven for all eternity.

Marital bliss in the happiest, most fulfilled covenant union of husband and wife is the only image we have in this life that can even begin to help us understand the joy and flourishing satisfaction of our union with Christ in heaven! This imagery was used throughout the OT to describe God’s union with Israel. Eze.16:8 …I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. Isa.54:5 For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name…. The prophets also spelled out in sometimes graphic imagery how horribly decadent it was when Israel continually drifted into idolatry. They were despising their marriage covenant, breaking their marriage vows in the very most offensive of ways. You can read about that in many places (cf. Jer.3; Hos.1ff.). We’ll be studying Ezekiel next; cc.16 and 23 are hard to read! We don’t have time to go into all that this morning, but we’ll understand it better in the coming weeks as we move through Ezekiel dense but helpful prophecy.

And even though God goes so far as to mention a decree of divorce (e.g. Jer.3:8), He remains faithful even when His Bride isn’t. We’ll also see this in Ezekiel (Hosea, etc.). For instance, God promised Israel that, Isa.62:5 … as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

Glimpses of the Bride that Are True in the Present

So, let’s move on and get some understanding of how this metaphor shows itself today (present). Here we’re just looking at the realities the NT tells us are true of the church. We just referenced Eph.5, and that surely gives the big picture: Jesus’ Self-sacrificing devotion to His chosen ones, raising them up from spiritual death and moral filth (Eph.2:1-7) to radiant (niv) splendor, holy and without blemish (Eph.5:25-27). They’re made into a Bride suitable (Gen.2:18) to the eternal Son of God, clothed in good works (Rev.19:8) that only He could enable them to do! (cf. Eph.2:8-10)

But once we’re introduced to this image, we begin to see how every stage of the Bride’s relationship with the Bridegroom has been initiated by God. For instance, Jesus said: Joh.6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. … The flavor of this drawing is described as the wonderful wooing of a lover (Carson 1991 293). Parent-arranged marriages are surely not the norm these days, but we can appreciate their beauty when it’s God the Father selecting a Bride for God the Son! And we can appreciate it even further when we recognize that it’s describing our very salvation! In His great love for us, God draws in each of us to become part of the Bride He has chosen for His eternal Son!

Our response to this drawing from the Father is saving belief (that He grants [Eph.2:8]). Then we’re immediately Eph.1:13 … sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it…. The Spirit is a sort of engagement ring that we cherish as a token that proves what? That we’ll not be left at the altar! We will surely be present in the scene that’s painted by today’s passage! We’ll be present to rejoice and exult and given him glory on our Wedding Day, when the marriage of the Lamb has come (Rev.19:8).

Until then we anticipate that Day as every Bride does her wedding day! Associating everything with that Day! Interpreting all things as they impact that Day! Back-timing every activity of life from that Day! That’s just how we live life in the present. Nothing else even makes sense!

Glimpses of the Bride that Will Be True in the Future

And all of this looks forward to the future reality when we’ll finally be joined to our Bridegroom and carried across the threshold of our new celestial home. Rev.21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The place prepared for us so matches who we are—whom Jesus’ Self-sacrificial love has enabled us to become—that the city itself is called a bride! 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God (this statement will come to mean much more to us as we move through Ezekiel).

This is what the church is: the Bride of Christ, the ones so deeply and unconditionally loved by Jesus that the only suitable image is a treasured wife for all eternity living and joyful union with the King of kings in the place of His rule!

Three quick points of clarification before we finish: how does this work? First, our union with Christ is not sexual in nature. Jesus Himself said, Mat.22:30 … in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. The consummating act of human marriage is simply the best illustration we have in this life of the all-encompassing, all-engaging intimacy, fullness, and transparency of our union with Christ in heaven. But that future reality will surely outdistance this present illustration just as the true beauty of heaven will surely exceed our present imaginings.

Second, even so, communion with Christ in this life still takes precedence over this illustration of marriage. When giving instruction to husbands and wives on their responsibilities to one another in marriage, Paul wrote: 1Co.7:5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer…—the only activity that has God’s approval for suspending regular marital intimacy.

Third, many have stumbled over the perspective that the church as the Bride makes it sound like Jesus is a polygamist, having many wives. But there’s our stubborn individualism again! We’re not each His Bride. We’re all together His Bride. The church is a plural unity, like a body is made up of many parts. It’s as the church that we’re the bride of Christ, not as individuals. And it’s this reality that’s so amazing to see!

The very plan of God for the fullness of time is to unite all things in [Christ] (Eph.1:10), every dividing wall of hostility broken down in [Him], by [His] blood (Eph.2:13-14). It’s together that we are His people. Together we’re the body of Christ, the household of God, His flock. Together we’re the temple, a pillar and buttress of the truth. We’re citizens of heaven together!

We worship together. We pray together. We grow up toward maturity together (Eph.4:14-16). We strive toward purity together (2Ti.2:22; Heb.3:12-13), toward readiness for the marriage supper of the Lamb. We anticipate that Day together, learning to love Jesus together, remembering together to walk in His ways. We becoming more and more aware over time that our growing love for Him shows itself as a growing love for one another, just as His Word tells us over and over again that it will.

We Eph.4:3 [make every effort] (niv) to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace because 4 [t]here is one body and one Spirit—just as [we] were called to one hope when [we] were called—5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 1Co.10:17 Because there is one bread at this Table that draws our attention to our coming marriage supper, we who are many are one body just striving together to help one another remember who we are as we continue to grow in our love for one another as just one manifestation (the central one, but still just one manifestation among many) of the good works, the righteous deeds that clothe us like a wedding dress in preparation for that Day, for we all partake of the one bread.

This is the church. We are the Bride of Christ! And together we long for the Day of our wedding feast—Rev.22:17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”… And Jesus responds: Rev.22:20 … “Surely I am coming soon.” To which we say? Amen. Come Lord Jesus!

So, let’s now celebrate together first by welcoming new Members into this subset of the Bride, and then by coming to the Table of the Lord with a vision of our future marriage feast now freshly renewed in our hearts.

_______________

Resources

Arnold, Clinton E., ed. 2002. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 4, Hebrews to Revelation. Revelation, by Mark Wilson. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Aune, David E. 1997. Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 52abc. Revelation, 3 vols. Dallas: Word.

Barclay, William. 1976. The Daily Study Bible. The Revelation of John: Revised, 2 vols. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.

Beale, G. K., & D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Revelation, by G. K. Beale & Sean M. McDonough, 1081-1161. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Beale, G. K., with David H. Campbell. 2015. Revelation: A Shorter Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Black, Matthew, NT ed. 1974. The New Century Bible Commentary. Revelation, by G. R. Beasley-Murray. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Bruce, F. F., ed. 1986. The International Bible Commentary, Revised Edition. Revelation, by F. F. Bruce, 1593-1629. Basingstoke, Eng.: Marshall, Morgan, and Scott.

                  , ed. 1977. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The Book of Revelation, by Robert H. Mounce. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Carson, D. A. 1995. Personal Notes from 20-Part Lecture Series on Revelation. Waukesha, WI: Elmbrook Church.

                  , gen. ed. 1991. Pillar New Testament Commentary. The Gospel According to John, by D. A. Carson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

                  , and Douglas J. Moo. 2005. An Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

                  , R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Revelation, by George R. Beasley-Murray, 1421-1455. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Clements, Roy. 1981. Personal Notes from Introductory Sermon in a Series on Revelation. Cambridge: Eden Baptist Church.

Dever, Mark. 2005. The Message of the New Testament. The Message of Revelation, 530-547. Wheaton: Crossway.

Dockery, David S, ed. 2012. New American Commentary. Vol. 39, Revelation, by Paige Patterson. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.

Grudem, Wayne, ed. 2008. ESV Study Bible. Study notes on Revelation, 2463-2497, by Dennis E. Johnson. Wheaton: Crossway.

Hendriksen, William. 1940. More than Conquerors. Grand Rapids: Baker.

Ladd, George Eldon. 1972. A Commentary on the Revelation of John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Longman III, Tremper, & David E. Garland, eds. 2010. Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 9, Matthew-Mark. Matthew, by D. A. Carson, 23-670. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

                  , eds. 1981. Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 13, Hebrews-Revelation. Revelation, by Alan F. Johnson, 571-789. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

MacArthur, John. 1999. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Revelation, 2 vols. Chicago: Moody.

Marshall, I. Howard, & Donald A. Hagner, eds. 1999. The New International Greek Testament Commentary. The Book of Revelation, by G. K. Beale. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Mathewson, David L. 2020. A Companion to the Book of Revelation. Eugene, OR: Cascade.

Morris, Leon, ed. 1987. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 20, Revelation, by Leon Morris. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

Walvoord, John F. 1966. The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Chicago: Moody.

                  , & Roy B. Zuck, eds. 1983. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Revelation, by John F. Walvoord, 925-991. Wheaton: Victor.

 

NEXT SUNDAY: Where Is God When We Need Him?, Ezekiel 1:1-3, Dr. Daniel Block