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A Bride Prepared
Love and Marriage
In the same
way that betrayal of love is the most painful of all possible hurts –
Godly character is the most beautiful of the Bride’s virtues. This most
exquisite feature of Godly character is described as pure gold tried in the fire
(Revelation 3:18). The love that Christ will have for His Bride and the
wholehearted love that the Bride will have for Christ will be a perfect
spiritual love. As surely as God created a wife for Adam, He is
fashioning His own Bride-to-be. “The Lord said, Yes, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have
I drawn thee. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be
fashioned, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy
tabrets...” (Jeremiah 31:3-4)
From the time of creation
until now, the love between Jesus Christ and mankind has been by and
large a unilateral love. That one-sided love will finally become a
reciprocally shared love when the perfected Bride blossoms into
spiritual maturation at the resurrection. No longer will Jesus have a
unique Godly love for His fiancée, because at long last she will
finally possess the capacity to be able to reciprocate with an eternal
mutual love.
How does the Bride come to
possess that level of Godly love? Almost everyone says that they love
God, but there is another requirement – loving others – that does
not receive the attention that it requires. Notice how Jesus says it.
“You shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the
first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these.” (Mark 12:30, Leviticus 19:18)
Let it be a given that we
are not as calloused as the lawyer in the Biblical example who wanted to
limit the number of people he was required to love by asking Jesus,
“Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29) Jesus reveals an important
concept to us which explains that if we truly desire to develop a love
toward God – we will first be practicing Godly love toward one
another. The Bride is not prepared when the great majority
of the brethren are not willing to interact in a meaningful way with
each other. Jesus takes brotherly love personally! He equates Godly
love to brotherly love when He says that without brotherly love
there is no Godly love.
“The King shall answer and
say unto them, Truly I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me...
[and conversely] Then shall He answer them, saying, Truly I say unto you,
Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did
it not to Me.” (Matthew 25:40, 45) Our rapport with each other
is the key to knowing how to truly love God. This verse tells us that
loving one another right now is the training occasion for knowing how to
have a right relationship with God. We cannot love God without truly
loving the brethren, and vice-versa; a right relationship with
God is the prerequisite for loving the brethren. The love of God and
His law is the foundation upon which is built every one of our right
relationships in life.
Warning Message
This is a sincere warning
message for the Bride-to-be. We are not truly ready for the spiritual
wedding to Christ when we are idle observers rather than positive
forces for good in the lives of the brethren. God’s advice to us,
“Get fervent and repent.” (Revelation 3:19) Thankfully, God has
given us additional time so that we might heed His direct command to us
to rectify the apathetic, half-hearted, lackadaisical condition of so
much of the Church.
Our overriding goal as God’s spiritual community is to help one another
reach the Kingdom of God.
As far as it is possible by way of the correct use of our spiritual
gifts, we are to help all others attain to their full potential in the
Kingdom of God. We are learning now how to say in the Millennium,
“This is the way, walk ye in it” (Isaiah 30:21). And, it is not
just the job of the ministry – it is everyone’s duty! At
Passover, we are taught in the foot-washing ceremony the salvational
necessity to serve one another. The foot-washing is about loving our
neighbor as ourselves. In washing each other’s feet, each member is
admonished to watch over the spiritual condition of their
brothers and sisters in Christ, and to take action when anyone begins to
stumble. When we do this – Jesus says we have done it unto Him.
Get this straight: It is an act of Godly love to rebuke a sinner. A loving
reprimand may save his eternal life. It is an act of cowardice
to close one’s eyes to a person overtaken in a fault. It is a common
misconception that all we have to do is look out for our own spiritual
wellbeing. God demands brotherly interaction of those who would be the
Bride. “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also
on the things of others.” (Philippians 2:4) Jesus was direct
when dealing with those who were off-base – we must be also.
“Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one converts him;
Let him know, that he which converts the sinner from the error of
his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of
sins.” (James 5:19-20) Saving a sinner like this brings rejoicing
in heaven (Luke 15:7).
Chapter 13: Love of God is Perfected |
