I use to hear this Scripture being taught and it was always taught in future tense. I can remember thinking that it is going to be a very long time before Jesus returns because as much as we try, and desire to live a life free of all blemish, it will never happen this side of heaven.
If being spotless and without blemish is the criteria for the return of Christ for His Bride, then both Jesus and we, are in for a very long wait.
The Jewish nation tried for hundreds of years to live a sin-free life and the result was utter failure. To see things from this perspective would leave anyone without hope, but because of Jesus, we are not without hope. He is our Hope and we now live with the constant excitement and expectancy of His return.
Eph 5:25 tells us that Jesus GAVE Himself for His Bride, thus we are NOW totally clean without spot or wrinkle because we are hidden IN HIM (Col 3:3), and IN HIM we are completely righteous (Rom 5:19)
The Greek word for "righteous" is "dikaios", which means to be innocent, faultless, guiltless....to be approved and accepted by God.
Only those who are spotless and without sin can be acceptable in God's eyes, and because of the blood of Jesus, sin is no longer imputed to us (Rom 5:13), but now righteousness is imputed to us (Rom 4:11, 24).
Because of the precious blood of Jesus, we are now accepted in the beloved (Eph 1:6). If we are accepted, then it is because we are ALREADY SPOTLESS IN CHRIST. His Bride is ready and waiting for whenever Father God decides that it is time to consumate this marriage at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Although we are now spotless, we are also being made spotless through the process of the washing of the Word (Eph 5:26) and the renewing of the mind (Rom 12:2). But even during the process of sanctification, our heavenly Father already sees us as spotless because of the perfect sacrifice of His Son. Father is fully satisfied in what the Son accomplished at Calvary. It is a finished work!
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The church is never called the bride of Christ. Rev 21 clearly shows that the bride is the New Jerusalem. The church is the body of Christ. Eph 5 never calls the church the bride. Paul is using a simile to show how a husand is to love is wife. Just as Christ loves the church (his body).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.takehisheart.com/harlotharlotrybride.htm
ReplyDeletehttp://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/where-is-the-church-called-the-bride/
ReplyDeleteWhere Is The Church Called The Bride
Q. I have often heard the church called the Bride of Christ. Where in the New Testament is the Church called the Bride?
A. The phrase “Bride of Christ” does not appear in the original language of the New Testament, but the implication that the Church is the Bride is clear in several places;
Speaking of the Church Paul said, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised (espoused, betrothed) you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him” (2 Cor. 11:2).
And in Ephesians 5:25-27 he wrote, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”
In Rev. 21:9 an angel said to John, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
He took John to the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. Rev. 21:27 tells us no one can enter the city except those whose names are written the Lamb’s Book of Life, which only applies to the Church. Comparing this with Paul’s statements we can see that Jesus doesn’t marry a city but the people who dwell in the city, the Church.
of course were the bride
ReplyDeletethats why God wont beat us as well as were His own Body...
as well as were promise NO WRATH and NO CONDEMNATION...