The church is presented as the pure and chaste bride of Christ, distinct from Israel, which is depicted as an unfaithful wife in the Old Testament. It explores this symbolism through three Old Testament types found in Genesis: Adam and Eve (Genesis 2), illustrating God the Father's work in creation and the foundational marriage; the servant seeking a bride for Isaac (Genesis 24), representing the Holy Spirit's fourfold ministry in selecting and presenting the church; and Joseph's elevation and marriage (Genesis 41), symbolizing the work of God the Son. The sermon then connects these types to the doctrinal teaching in Ephesians 5 and the ultimate triumph of the church as the bride in Revelation, culminating in the marriage supper of the Lamb.
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The Epistle to the Ephesians chapter five and we'll commence to read verse twenty one. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Why submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord? For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with a 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, love of themselves. For no man ever yet hath his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherishes 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 too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself, and the wife see that she reverends her husband.
And again, may God have his blessing to the reading of his own precious word. I thought for a little while this morning I would like to speak about the bride. That is the church regarded as a bride. We have been looking at some of the great symbols of the church of God and the Bible, or about half a dozen of them, possibly seven altogether. And one of the most beautiful, and one of the most delightful, is the church as a bride. Now there has been a good deal of controversy about this. And certainly I'm not going to enter into any argument or any controversy about it this morning. All over this country and in many other parts of the world is what is called covenant theology.
And again, we're not going to talk about that. But just to say this, that many, many of God's dear people have the hope of Israel and the hope of the church completely confused. I remember when I was a boy going to a Presbyterian school. By the way, my parents and my grandparents had a Presbyterian background. There were godly people, but we had a Bible at that time, and in the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms and the prophet Isaiah, wherever there was a curse, it was handed over to Israel. And wherever there was a blessing, it was applied to the church. And there were annotations at the head of the page, and sometimes scattered throughout the prophets and wherever there was a blessing it was appropriated by the church and wherever there was a curse it was applied to Israel now that is a completely illegitimate way to treat Holy Scripture in the Old Testament God has a wonderful purpose for the nation of Israel and I think that we need to get it clearly in our minds that the church of the New Testament is entirely different from Israel in the Old Testament.
Now we do get the term bride in relation to Israel in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament we find that the bride is the church. And I think that we need to get this clearly in our minds, that the hope of Israel is an earthly hope, and the hope of the church is a heavenly hope. We could easily occupy all our time this morning in speaking about the hope of Israel and the hope of the church and the difference between the two. But in speaking about the bride, I think that we need to get this clearly in our mind, that God has a wonderful purpose for His dear earthly people. We're living in an exciting day, and when we see the nation of Israel gathered back again on their own land, we believe that the stage is being set for the completion and the complete fulfillment of Old Testament covenants and promises that were made to the nation.
But for us... To take these things and apply them to ourselves, I think, is an illegitimate way to treat Holy Scripture. As far as the bride is concerned, in the Old Testament, Israel there is regarded as a wife. It was the relationship that Jehovah had with his earthly people. In many of the Old Testament prophets, in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, the prophet Isaiah, and especially in the prophet Hosea, we find that the nation of Israel are regarded as an adulterous wife, one that was not faithful to her trust. Any intelligent person that would read the prophecy of Hosea would see there that Israel miserably failed as far as that lovely relationship is concerned.
In the Old Testament, Israel is regarded as a wife that has been unfaithful to her husband, in a position of adultery, and then a divorced wife separated from her husband. And at the present time, Israel is in the position of lo am I, not my people. On account of her sin, on account of her adultery, on account of her departure from God, that is the position where she is at the present time. but she will be restored. We have no doubt at all that in the coming day Israel will be brought back again at the confident relationship with Jehovah. But you could never, never call a wife who has been in this condition, divorced, adulterous, unfaithful to her husband.
You could never, by any stretch of imagination, ever call her the pure chaste bride of the Lamb. Now that's the teaching of the New Testament. The church here is regarded as a pure, chaste bride. And this is what we want to speak about this morning. We're not going to go into any more controversy about this at all. But I thought just for about half an hour this morning, I would like to look at the church as a bride. And I want to look at it in the threefold way. First of all, in typology. I want to speak about three great types of the church as a bride. And then we want to look at the teaching that we find in the passage that we have read together here this morning in the epistle to the Ephesians.
And then finally we want to look at the bride in triumph in the book of Revelation. First of all the types and then secondly the teaching and then thirdly the triumph. That great coming day when there will be the marriage of the bride to the Lamb which she is called the wife. The wife of the Lamb in Revelation. Three times in the book of Revelation, the last three chapters, there we get the term the bride mentioned. We want to look at that in a moment or two. But just for a few minutes this morning, I want to speak about the type that we find of the bride, particularly in the book of Genesis.
Quite a number of books have been written concerning the bride in typology. There are seven brides in the Old Testament, and each one is looked at in a different way. Now, I want just to pick three of them, just for the sake of our time this morning. Three lovely types in the book of Genesis concerning this wonderful relationship of the Church of God to the Lord Jesus. Now, the first one is in Genesis chapter two, where we get Adam and Eve. Some people say that you must not base doctrine on the types. Well, now, I think sometimes we allow our imagination to run away with it.
But I think that when we take Adam and Eve as a type of a husband, that is the bridegroom and the bride, we're not stretching our imagination at all. Certainly our Lord himself evisces some of his teaching in the Gospel according to Matthew, particularly that teaching concerning divorce. In Matthew chapter nineteen, he takes it from the first picture of a marriage in Holy Scripture and he visits his teaching concerning divorce on that great type that we find in Genesis chapter two. So certainly we're in solid ground that we take this passage and use it as a picture of the first marriage in the Holy Scripture and also of the relation of Christ to the Church.
Not only do we find the Lord doing it, but in the epistle of the Ephesians, the passage that we have read together, here we find the Apostle Paul, that great teacher of New Testament doctrine. He does exactly the same. So we're not using our imagination at all. We're not allowing our minds to run riot when we take these lovely pictures and apply them to the relationship between Christ and his bride, Christ and the Church. Now the first great type is Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter two. Many years ago, I heard a Roman Catholic priest on the radio, and he said a thing that stuck on my mind. I believe it's perfectly true.
He said, the Bible opens with a marriage. And he said, the Bible closes with a marriage. And he said, in between, if I am God calling out a bride for his son. I thought that that was very nice. And I think it just covers the whole picture. The Bible opens with a marriage and it closes with a marriage. And in between, God is calling out a bride for his son. Now let's think just for a moment or two of three brides in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis. First of all, Genesis chapter two, where we find God putting Adam into a deep sleep. And in that deep sleep he opens his side.
And from his side he takes a portion of his body, and he billows a woman. And then in the morning is the presentation of the bride to the bridegroom. That is Genesis chapter two. And I think the point we get there is the work of God the Father. Now in Genesis chapter twenty four we find Isaac after he has been on the altar. Isaac is a lovely picture of the Lord Jesus himself. In his death upon Calvary's cross, substitutionary atonement, we find in Genesis chapter twenty-two. And then in Genesis twenty-four, the all-named servant goes out to Mesopotamia to find a bride for Isaac.
And there I think we get a lovely picture of a fourfold ministry of the Holy Spirit of God in selecting the bride and presenting the bride to the bridegroom in the field at even tide. First of all, Genesis two, the work of God the Father. Genesis twenty-four, the work of God the Holy Spirit. And then in Genesis chapter forty-one, we find a man who has been in prison. who has suffered greatly at the hand of a wicked woman. On account of slander, he spends thirteen years in prison, but then he's brought up out of prison. And in Genesis chapter forty-one, we find he's given a sevenfold glory when he's put in the position of the Prime Minister of Egypt.
And I think that there you get a lovely picture of the work of God the Son. We want to look at these three pictures just very briefly this morning on looking at them. I think we get the Holy Trinity involved in type in this great work of the out-calling of the bride. I think the great foundational passage we find in Genesis chapter two. We read that God, when he had made man, he said, it's not good that man should be alone. And so he put him into a deep sleep. And during that deep sleep, he opened his side, and from underneath his heart, he takes a portion of his body, and from that he builds a woman.
I remember years ago, hearing about a man in Scotland, his name was James Young Simpson. He was a medical student. And in those days, of course, things were rather primitive when he was a young man. And in an operating room in the city of Edinburgh, there was a Highland woman lying on the operating table. It was before the days of anesthesia. And that woman lying upon the table strapped to the table. when the surgeon was operating to give her a stimulant. But as the knife was traveling through her flesh, the screams of that dear soul when she was upon the table, it completely unnerved him.
He walked out of the operating theatre and he made up his mind he would give up medicine. But he later decided that that was a cardly thing to do. And he started to do some study And just to put it in a nutshell, he was the first man to use chloroform as an anesthetic. I understand that one of the first times it was used was on Queen Victoria at the birth of one of her children. He was later knighted, and his name at the end of his life was Sir James Young Simpson, the man who first of all used anesthesia in surgery. Now, somebody asked Sir James Young Simpson, what was the greatest discovery that he ever made?
He was a true believer. He said, the greatest discovery that I ever made was that I was a poor sinner and that Christ was a great Savior. But then, of course, what the person had in mind was this wonderful, wonderful discovery that he made of putting a person into a deep sleep. Somebody asked him where he got the idea from. Well, he said, I got it from Genesis chapter two. Is it that the Lord God, when he performed this first surgical operation, he put Adam into a deep sleep. And when he was in that deep sleep, he opened his side. And as old Matthew Henry said years and years ago, one of the most famous sayings of that commentator, he said, she wasn't taken from his head that she might rule over him.
She wasn't taken from his feet that he might trample on her. which was taken from underneath his heart, that I might love and cherish the person that was taken from him. This is a lovely picture. One of the most beautiful in the Bible of where the first marriage took place. It took place before sin entered. You remember Adam, before sin entered, the child was given four things. First of all, he was given sovereignty. Twice in the book of Genesis we read, Have dominion, have dominion. A scepter was placed on his hands and a crown was placed upon his head.
He was the Lord of creation. He was given sovereignty. And then he was given a Sabbath. He was given a Sabbath rest. And then thirdly, he was given service. The Lord put him in the perfect environment. And he was told to dress and to keep the garment. But the fourth thing he got was a bride. And that bride was taken from underneath his heart. And it's a lovely picture, I believe, of what we find in teaching in Ephesians chapter five. It is a lovely picture of Christ and his bride. Mr. E.W. Bollinger, he taught very dogmatically that the church could not be the bride because in the passage, two or three times we read that the church is the body.
And of course, the body of Christ with the head and the members, the bride could, at least the picture we get here is not so much the bride. And the fact that the term bride is not mentioned in Ephesians chapter five, she couldn't be the bride and the body at the same time. But that's the very picture. It's the very picture you get in the book of Genesis. Because she was a part of himself. taken from underneath his heart. She was both born and bride at the same time. Lovely, lovely picture of the relationship of our Lord Jesus Christ to his church. And all as we look at him, we just bow and worship.
Here we get the picture, that lovely picture of Christ and his relationship to the one who would be his bride in the coming day. When he awoke in the morning, We read those the presentations. When he was put to sleep that night, or that day, when he was put to sleep, he was a lonely bachelor. But when he woke in the morning, he was a happy bridegroom. And we'll read of the presentation of the bride to the bridegroom. And we'll read that she was the complement, the complement of Adam. And we'll read that he called her name Adam. Not Mr. and Mrs. Adam, or the Adam's is, but he called their name Adam.
She was taken from his body, and she was both the body and the bride. Now this is the foundation of the doctrine that we find in Ephesians chapter five, that the Apostle opens up for us here. Now the second great type we find is in Genesis chapter twenty-four. And we read that Isaac, who again is a lovely picture and type of the Lord Jesus, we've already pointed out, we find that Abraham, he calls up his servant, and he sends him to Paddan Aram to find a bride for Isaac. You know, when you look at that passage, you notice that there's a fourfold ministry that he had.
First of all, a ministry at the well. And then secondly, a ministry in the house. Thirdly, a ministry in the desert. And fourthly, a ministry of presenting the bride to the bridegroom in the field at even tithe. Every type of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is an anonymous type. Of course, we're often told that the servant here was Eliezer of Damascus. Well, it could have been. But at the same time, his name is not mentioned at all. His name is suppressed. And by the way, the Holy Spirit always keeps himself in the background.
His function is to glorify Christ and to speak well of him. And the own named servant here in Genesis chapter twenty four, beautiful, beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit of God in providing a bride, providing a bride for Isaac. We read that he keeps himself entirely in the background, and eighteen times in the passage, we read, my master, my master, my master. Eighteen times he uses that term, he glorifies his master, and he keeps his own name and his own person in the background. But in any case, he had a fourfold ministry. First of all, the ministry of the well, then the house, and then the ministry of conduct across the desert.
And then in the field of even tide, he presents the bride to the bridegroom. Many years ago, I heard in Africa preach the gospel from Genesis chapter twenty four. And you know, sometimes these men, they seem primitive. And if you saw them standing at their bare feet, sometimes with hardly a shirt on their back. And when they open the Bible and start to preach, they come off with some things that I've never heard from anybody else. I think that they're taught by the Holy Spirit of God. But I never forget this young man getting up to preach the gospel at Kapanga, where we were living at the time. The first thing he said was this, there are four men in the Bible who got their brides at a well.
Now there are theologians here this morning, and I wonder just how many of us here would be able to say right off, who, the four were. I'm not going to, this is not a quiz, and I'm not going to occupy your mind with that, but that was the first thing he said. Four men in the Bible who got their brides at a well, and I said, here's one on. Now I said, the first thing that this servant did when he got to the well, he bowed his head, and I said, O Lord God, He said, Prosper my way this day. And he said, The girl who comes down to the well, and I say, Would you give me a drink? A drink of water. And she says, Yes, I'll give you a drink, and I'll give your camels a drink also.
Let her be the bride for thy servant Isaac. And while he's praying and looking to the Lord to guide him, Rebecca comes along with her water pot on her head. And of course he pantomimes the whole thing with a water pot on her head. And she comes along and she puts it on her shoulder and then she puts it on her hand. And he said, will you please give me a drink? Yes, she said, I'll give you a drink and I'll give you a camel's drink also. And he said, the man had ten camels. And I said, you all know, he said, that if it was a horse or any other animal that you would take down to drink, it's able to drink a certain portion of water. But is it a camel? Why, he said, that great big thirsty ship of the desert, it's able to drink a whole barrel full of water.
And there were ten of them altogether. And he said, for to give a drink to ten camels, why, she must have run up and down those steps about two hundred times. And he said, any girl that would be willing to do anything like that is worth her wit and diamonds. But in any case, would you give me a drink? Oh, yes, she said, I'll give you a drink, and I'll give your camels a drink also. And he sat and he wondered. And he bowed his head and he worshipped. And then the next thing he did, he took a bracelet. And he puts a bracelet on either hand, and then he puts a nose gel on her forehead. The word that we have for that is Ovi Lombo. Any boy over in Africa that wants to get married, he has to pay a dowry.
We call it the Ovi Lombo. Actually, it would correspond to an engagement ring here. Now, this man, there must have been a conversation between him and Rebecca about the bridegroom. But in any case, he takes these treasures and he puts one on her forehead, the nose jewel, and then he puts the two bracelets on her hand. He gave her the diary. He gave her the obi limbo. And it practically was an engagement. And of course, he uses this as an illustration of what takes place at the cross. Oh, we come to Christ. And there's the engagement there. When we trust the Lord Jesus, all the jewels are put upon us.
The mark is put upon us. The seal of the Holy Ghost is put upon us when we become Christian. So first of all, there was the ministry at the well. And then the next question is, is the room in the house? Oh, yes, there's plenty of room in the house and for your camels also. And so they proceed to the next portion of the picture. And they go to the house. And while they're sitting at the house, he opens up the treasures that belong to Isaac. And as they sit and look at those wonderful things that he had brought along, a little picture of the inheritance that Rebecca was going to receive. Why, he said, this is the work of the Holy Spirit on the house today, in the house of God.
It is the option, it is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to open up the treasures that belong to the bright ground. That was the second ministry. And then the third minister that he had, he said, Will Thou go with this man? She said, I will go. And to leave the hearse, and arrive to cross the desert, that long journey. Possibly, maybe four or five hundred miles on a camel's back. And all the way along on that ministry of conduct across the desert, it's my master, my master, my master, my master. Eighteen times in the chapter we read about him using that term, my master.
And you know, finally, it comes to the end. As they're coming towards their destination, she looks across The desert, and on the field at even tide, she sees a man coming out, and she said, Who is this that comes to meet us? And the last thing that the servant says is, It is my master. And on the field at even tide, there's the introduction of the bride to the bridegroom, and worried that she covered herself with a veil, and worried that he brought her to his mother's chair's tent, and he loved her. It's the second time in the Word of God where we get the Word of love. The first, of course, is a relationship between Abraham and Isaac, his own well-beloved son.
That is the first time that love is mentioned in the Bible. But the second is the love for the bridegroom and for the bridegroom for the bride. The introduction in the field at even tide. I never forget, my dear brother, the way he applied that. He said, one day the Lord Jesus is coming. And he said, that ministry that he has today, the Holy Spirit of God, his final ministry, when the Lord comes in the cloud, is going to introduce the bride to the bridegroom. in the field at even time. What a lovely, lovely picture this is of the four-fold ministry of the Holy Spirit of God. You know, at the present time, we're in this desert scene, going along across the desert and on a camel's bank.
Another thing that he emphasized was the fact that there are different kinds of sickness. You know, people get seasick when they get on board a ship. Some of them, the very smell of a ship, that makes them sick. Seasake. Other people get car-sake. Well, there are different forms of sickness. But he said the very worst form of sickness is camel sickness. I don't know how many of us here this morning have ever sat on the camel's back. You know, that big, long-legged animal, it walks in a different way from any other animal. Different from a horse. And it's a very, very uncomfortable seat. The hot sun overhead, the desert sand on their foot.
And that great big ugly creature, it grumbles all the time. Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble. It's never silent. And here is Rebecca sitting on the back of the camel. But you know, soon this is over. And the desert journey is over. And the introduction of the bride to the bridegroom in the field at even tide. Many years ago, over in Central Africa, there was a brother and his wife that had been connected with royalty. Both of them have long since gone home to be with the Lord. But in any case, the lady particularly, she moved in royal circles.
But God saved her soul on separating herself from that social world in which she had been engaged. She got married and she and her husband came out to Africa and at a place that we know very well, they spent their lives evangelizing and taking the Gospel to people who had never heard it. One time they were home in furlough and they were in England and was to be a presentation at court. You possibly know that certain periods of the year the court sees him over in London at St James's Palace. Young women are presented to court and they wear a long court dress. And this lady who had formerly moved in that circle, she came into a room one day and found two of her nieces in a long court dress practicing their courtesy to be presented to the king.
And she stood and she watched them. She had a very, very wistful look in her face and she watched the two girls. dress in royal robes, practicing their courtesy in front of a mirror. And while she was standing there, her husband walked in, and I think that he realized what was passing through her mind. He came over to her, and he put his arm around her shoulder. He said, Never mind, my dear, your turn is coming soon. Not the court of St. James, but another court, the presentation of the bride to the bridegroom. in a coming day. What a lovely picture we get here in Genesis twenty-four of the word, the fourfold ministry of the Holy Spirit of God for you and for me at the present time.
Now the third picture, and again just a word about that. Genesis forty-one we find the man who had been in prison for thirteen years. We read, they hurt his feet with fetters. Now one could occupy time and speaking about Joseph and those long years of suffering that he had. But finally he's brought up out of prison and he's put in that position of power in Egypt. Now he got a seven-fold position of glory. The first thing when he came up out of prison he was given a role. He had formerly worn the prison garment, but he was given a role.
And then he was given a ring. Now that ring was a signet ring, a very important thing in Egypt at that time. A ring and a row. And then he was given a golden chain. A golden chain of office was placed around his neck. Formally the chains had been on his hands and feet. But here it's a golden chain of office is placed around his neck. A chain and then a chariot. And as he drove out through the streets there in Egypt, the cry was, Barthony, Barthony, Barthony. And then we get that proclamation that we've just already mentioned.
But the seventh one, the final thing that he had was a Gentile bride by his side. You know, it's so possible to get these other material things. the robe and the ring and the chain and the chariot, and the proclamation and all the rest. But what Joseph needed was something for his heart, something for his affection. And read about Asana, the Gentile bride that was given to him in his glory, as he sat in that position of authority in Egypt at that time. Lovely, lovely picture. What a magnificent picture we get often in Philippine's chapter two. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, made in the form of a man?
And being in likeness as a man, we read that he stood down to death, the death of the cross. wherefore also God has glorified him, and given him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We get seven steps down there, down to the death of the cross, but then we get the seven steps up, and that day it will be bar the knee, bar the knee, bar the knee. And notice it's in the name of Jesus.
The human aim. But in the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. These three lovely types cover the whole picture of the relationship of the Lord Jesus to his bride in the coming day. Now, just a word about the teaching. When we look at Ephesians chapter five, the passage that we have read together, again, it covers the whole run. There are seven steps here again of our Lord in relation to his bride. We read, Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with a washing of water by the word, and 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. Here we get the seven steps of glory that the Apostle uses, and it is a complete doctrinal picture of what we get, an illustration and type in the book of Genesis. Now, just a word in closing. In the book of Revelation, we get the great triumph of the church. in that coming day when Christ comes back again. In Genesis it's the types. In Ephesians it is the doctrinal teaching. And in the book of Revelation it is the completed picture, the triumph of the church in the coming day.
You know, it would be interesting to trace the church in the book of Revelation. First of all, the seven churches in Revelation two and three, a complete historical picture of the church at the present time. But from that time on, until we come to chapter nineteen, there's no mention of the church there at all. And I think that that is very significant. But as we come to the end of the picture, the bride is mentioned three times. And the wife of the lamb is mentioned once. Chapter nineteen. Read there about the marriage supper of the lamb. Here is the great consummation of what we find and type and teaching in other parts of the scripture.
We read that unto her was granted that she should be read. And fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Now that word righteousness is a plural word. And there we get the bridal dress. Unto her was granted that she should be rid, and fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. You know, this one dress that we get when we become Christian, that is the righteousness of God and Christ Jesus. But this is something different. I believe in the bridal dress on that day, at the marriage supper of the Lamb, there will be something in it that will reflect the type of life that we have lived on here.
I believe that the life of the believer will be reflected in the way that they will be dressed in not they. The righteousnesses of the saints. There's a little hymn that I enjoy. Every time I hear it, it thrills me. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness, my glory are, my glorious dress. In flaming words, in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head. That's the righteousness of God and Christ Jesus. But the bridal dress that we find in Revelation chapter nineteen, I believe, that in that bridal dress will be reflected the kind of a life that we have lived down here.
Now, at the end of the picture, three times we get the bride mentioned. And you notice that it's both a woman and a city. There's some problems here. I'm not going to go into them this morning. The fact that in the Bible City, which I believe is the home of the bride, we read that on the foundations of that city are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. On them are the gates of the city. We read the names of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. Now that is a problem. And some would say, But in that great day that the Church and Israel will be insolubly linked together as the Bride.
Well, all I can say is this. If the teaching that we have tried to point out is so, and I believe it is, I believe that the Church is the Bride. but there will be a very definite relationship between the earthly people and the heavenly people. That great city, the home of the redeemed, the eternal home, will come down from God out of heaven and there will be a very definite relationship, a very close relationship between Israel and the church in the coming day. But as far as the bride itself is concerned, I have no doubt at all in my mind that as that lovely, holy relationship between Christ and his church.
May God bless his word to our hearts for his name's sake. Shall we pray? Our God and Father, we do thank thee from the depths of our heart for the great plan that thou hast made for salvation for men and women. Our Father, we thank thee that the message of the gospel ever reached our hearts. We thank thee that our hearts were won, and we were brought to the foot of the cross. And our Father, as we look forward into the future, in that day when we see the Lord Jesus face to face, we know that I have not seen your ear heard the things that God has prepared for them that love him.
But we thank thee that thou hast revealed them to us by thy Spirit. And so we in that day that we realized All that thou hast in store for us. But we do pray, our Father, in spite of our weakness and failure down here, that thou will help us to enjoy them. And as we read thy word, we do pray that it may have a formative effect upon our lives. And we pray, our Father, that our lives down here may reflect the gratitude and the thanksgiving in our hearts. to thyself for all that thou hast done for us. May we commend us to the asking again my blessing on thy word in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.