(Ver 2.0) This is Part 1 in the Bible Advanced Study series revealing the identity of the spiritual woman called the Bride of Christ.   Perhaps you have heard preachers and Bible teachers say, “There is nothing in the Bible that says the church is the Bride of Christ”.  However, after we study this subject for ourselves like the more noble Berean Bible students mentioned in Acts 17:11, we should all begin to find and see this teaching is not Biblically accurate.  It is interesting how one preacher will teach something totally opposite to what another will teach.  But all it does is prove that at least one is wrong or possibly that both are wrong and only God is right.  This however creates confusion, division and an atmosphere for deception in the Body of Christ.  Satan is all too ready to pounce on error and use it to cause a split or an offense against other Christians in the church.  We are going to start a new series of lessons today on why the Church was called to be the Bride of Christ.  We will discover scriptural evidence and a lot of it so that it can be clearly understood.  This will probably be the most in-depth and comprehensive Bible lesson series that many have ever encountered on the subject of the Identity of the Bride of Christ, and it will probably take a long time and a lot of lessons to cover based upon the information found in scripture.

I want to start this lesson by confirming one thing, the term “Bride of Christ” is not found in the Bible anywhere that I have personally found.  That might shock some people to learn that truth.  But neither are the terms abortion, homosexuality, rapture, demons or the trinity found in the Bible either.  Does that mean none of these exist either?   Does anyone think that God cares nothing about any of these subjects to discuss them directly by name?  Many times, basic theological principles are not directly named or labeled with a clear title that can be found in the Bible.  Many times, these theological terms come as a result of man naming them with titles that have stuck.  These manmade titles and labels cause the subjects to be more easily taught and referenced and for others to understand them.

So instead of us looking for the term “Bride of Christ” in the Bible and saying it doesn’t exist and therefore concluding that the church is not the bride, let us become wise enough to learn the lesson of how God wrote the Bible and do a search for other information that is given to us using synonyms and implied references to marriage.  The Bible contains an almost infinite number of mysteries, puzzles, riddles and hidden information.  God used this technique for two primary reasons.  First to hide this information from His enemies who were led by Satan and then second to conceal the truth for us (the Church) to find at the right time.  If we can understand this, it will help us unify in trying to figure out what the Bible really says and means.

The “Bride of Christ” is of course a very deep subject with a lot of complex interwoven layers of truth, and it may be extremely challenging to be taught concisely in a blog format.  Therefore, if length of the lessons is problem, this series may be offensive just by the volume of information that needs to be covered. But please note brevity was not always God’s motivation in the Bible. After all understand God wrote 66 books from over 40 authors and very few of them were short books. We can also learn from Jesus who taught a very large group of people for 3 days in Mark 8:2 and none of them had had natural food to eat. Is anyone today that hungry for what God has to teach? Do also remember Peter in Acts 20:9 who preached so long one man fell asleep in an open window to fall to the ground and died. However, this man was raised from the dead and lived to talk about it.  If anyone gets tired reading this series, you are not going to die just break it into sections and learn when you can get the time. Thank you.

INTRODUCTION

Let us start our introduction of this subject by addressing the two main reasons why some preachers think that the church is not the bride.  In this way we will not ignore the views and thoughts on the subject from others.  This will hopefully allow everyone the fair ability to weigh the evidence from everyone, to determine which is the view that matches with the witness of the Holy Spirit living in each of our hearts. Or perhaps there will be elements of each teacher’s view that bears witness with our spirit or perhaps neither teaching view will bear witness with your spirit, and then you are free to believe as the Spirit leads you.   Out of respect and in the name of love, we will not name any names other teacher’s views. So, if you want to listen to any of these teachers who teach these beliefs it is easy to find them by a search of the internet using the topic.

The first reason that has been popular to why the church is not the bride, is because they say the church is the Body of Christ.  This may shock some, but I believe this too. The church is the body of Christ. This is irrefutable and this belief is definitely amazingly true. But we will soon discover that this truth does not contradictory with the belief that the church is also the bride of Christ. We all should know that the New Testament clearly gives an overwhelming number of scriptures that confirm this basic truth.  Again, I believe these verses, and everyone should teach firmly that the Church is the Body of Christ.

Many people with limited knowledge believe the Bible contains contradictions.  And when someone encounters these differences in scriptures this is when potential errors can occur and even carnal fights over theological beliefs of doctrines. It should be obvious to everyone that being the body of Christ is a contradiction to also being the bride of Christ.  How one resolves these conflicts will possibly result in unity or division within the church depending upon if we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth or not.

What some teachers have concluded to resolve this conflict is that, if we are the body of Christ (Rom 12:5) and if Christ has a bride (Rev 21:9), then we (the church) also have a Bride.  That belief would make us (the church) the bridegroom also.  Jesus clearly claimed to be the bridegroom in Matthew 9:15. However, in this context Jesus is asked why doesn’t His disciples fast and Jesus’ reply is “How can the children of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them”. This statement clearly calls the disciples of Jesus those in the bride chamber and not the groom.

Therefore, we are observing thinking that brings us new contradictions in scriptures.  A belief that says we are the bridegroom places us on equal ground with Jesus Christ and it causes us to be God as an equivalent in every aspect and feature.   That logic should set off all kind of red flags in our minds.  We are not the Creator God; we are His creation.  What these teachers have done is a classic error of Bible Interpretation that many have fallen into without knowing it.  They have taken “A” single truth and exalted it and have made it “The” complete truth.  This happens very frequently and is a misrepresentation of what God desired us to know as truth.  You see there are many truths in the Bible and if we take just one of them and exclude the rest of them, we are now in the potential of great error.  That might be the most important thing that we can learn today from this lesson so don’t throw it away.

Now for the second reason why some preachers think the church is not the bride of Christ.  They turn to the last chapters in Revelation and read about a city coming out of heaven from God (Rev 21:9).  This holy city is called the “New Jerusalem”, and she is referred to as a woman.  She is also called specifically the “Lamb’s Wife”.    In their reasoning they have determined that since we are the “Body of Christ”, this is our (the church’s) wife also.  In other words, God came to the earth in the flesh, suffered and died on a cross, went to hell and arose back to heaven all so that he could marry a city with buildings and houses that we could all live as one body happily ever after.  Does this belief agree and balance with all scripture?

Would this teaching raise any questions in your mind with what you know about other verses found in the Bible?  If this city New Jerusalem is the bride of the church, then we must also conclude that we are the Lamb.  However, have we ever seen any verses of scripture that claims the church is the “Lamb of God”. In fact, we should have all been taught and know that the term “Lamb of God” refers to our spotless “Passover” sacrifice that only Jesus would qualify to make for our salvation (1 Cor 5:7, 1 Pet 1:19).

Let us quickly address the city called “New Jerusalem”. This city cannot be the bride. God uses this named city as a symbolic reference to the residents of the city. For example, if someone said on the news, “New York City” elected a new Mayor, did the buildings vote for them, or was it the people living in the city’s buildings? It should be obvious that only people are supposed to vote. But in our evil world the devil even tries to win elections in whatever way goes unchecked. Therefore, a city called the bride in Revelation is speaking of all of the inhabitants and residents of this city called New Jerusalem and collectively these people are called the Lamb’s “bride”, and we will find later the church is confirmed to be that city in other scriptures.

Let us now cover reason number three that is being taught to claim the church is not the bride of Christ. There are some modern Bible teachers that were clearly born a natural human male, and they feel if they are being referred to as a spiritual female bride, it removes their masculinity. One nameless pastor said, “I am a man, I don’t wear panties”. This clearly demonstrates a concerning level of carnal focus and thinking.

According to this pastor, he was struggling in thinking of himself as a spiritual woman or being called the bride of Christ, because he was a natural male, and any normal natural man should have a problem with being identified as any kind of female, even one that is female.  I can understand that thought process, because I am a man also.  There are so many natural people in the world that are so confused with their sexual identity, whether they are a man or a woman.  These kinds of people ask, “Am I a man in a woman’s body” or vice versa.  It seems this sexual identity crisis has also crept into the church by Satan’s design to produce confusion.

Is the church a man or is it a woman in the eyes of God?  That is certainly the great debate that seems to be raging.  You can so easily see why Satan wants to keep the church in confusion so that they don’t understand who they are and why they are here.  If the church doesn’t understand the truth, then Satan is able to steal away their purpose and calling from our hearts and we will never be able to know our purpose according to what God’s Word and Jesus has taught us.  As you read the rest of this lesson series, we will soon discover why Satan wants to convince the Body of Christ that they are not the bride of Christ.  If he can convince us that we are not the bride, then we will not be able to fulfill the Biblical prophecies spoken by the words of God himself.

So normal men don’t like being thought of as a spiritual female.  However, what we think, or would like or don’t like shouldn’t really mean anything.  That also goes for how you and I feel about being called a woman. We must humble ourselves and submit to God realizing whatever He says about us and who we are is right, and we are the ones that are wrong. Therefore, we need scriptures to help us make our mind up who we are? Can we agree? This is us not making a prejudged decision, this is just us being open to receive whatever the outcome is that is found in God’s Word. Yes, or no?

Perhaps you have heard that a picture of the church being the bride, brings out an image of a woman dressed in a wedding gown, wearing combat boots.   This one minister just couldn’t identify with such a thought being a male.  Is there any natural female that may as a female woman have a problem if she is called a spiritual male (the body of Christ)? For some reason I’ve never heard a female complain.  Therefore, why would a natural male have a problem if he is called a spiritual female (the bride)?

Isn’t this like having a natural carnal male chauvinist attitude, thinking a man is better and knows things better than God.  Did you know that the Bible says in Galatians 3:28 that there is neither “male” nor “female” in Christ?  If you are in Christ and you are worried about being called a male or a female you are could be thinking too carnally and naturally.  If you are a male and have a problem identifying yourself as a spiritual woman and that did say spiritual, then you may need to repent and figure out what God thinks about it and not worry about your outward appearance or feelings on the subject.

What we must ask ourselves, is there precedence in the Bible for the Church to be the bride of Christ?  Ok, that was a legal term and what is really meant to be said was, is there a valid Bible pattern, a type or a shadow given to us in the Old Testament that would mirror and confirm to us this New Testament truth being a spiritual woman?

In Legal terms, precedence is when a judge gives a ruling, he is obligated to explain why he ruled that way.  Many times, a judge will normally give established case histories where similar rulings were given and then explain why he ruled the way that he did.  Why does the Judge feel obligated to include similar case rulings in his decision process?  That is an interesting concept if you think about it.  When a judge provides supporting evidence for his decision, he is saying this is not just my lone opinion.

Precedence can also apply to the order of priority or sequence of importance.  This is exactly how the Bible is written if you didn’t realize it.  God is the ultimate Supreme Judge and Jesus is our Lawyer or Advocate.  God does everything in an orderly legal fashion.  He explains His rulings giving us His precedence on the subject in His Word.  The Old Testament parallels the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament precedes the New.  The Old Testament helps us explain the New Testament and vice versa.  The Old Testament gives us natural pictures of actual living people that point us to spiritual truths.  There are many natural examples in the Old Testament that point us to spiritual New Testament truths.  In fact there is an Old Testament scripture that says, “The thing that has been, that is the thing that shall be” (Ecc 1:9) and God said there is nothing new under the sun.  In this lesson series we will definitely explore some new foundational truths from both the Old and the New Testaments that confirm the true identity of the church, so get ready to learn.

Perhaps you recall in the Old Testament that the natural nation of Israel was named to be a female whore repeatedly? This was because they went whoring after other gods through idolatry. We can read in Jeremiah 13:27 where God is describing the earthly city named Jerusalem as going whoring and committing spiritual adulteries. Please understand that this is a natural city containing natural human males and females who at that time was in covenant with God and God refers to them collectively as a female. Did this female reference remove the masculinity of any of these males?  Carnal thinking is a major enemy of receiving spiritual truth. God desires us to come up to a higher spiritual way of thinking and believing. Please let us not fall for this trick of Satan.

We can’t cover every scripture reference, and reason people believe and teach the church is “not” the bride, but I really do not want to dilute the truth.  I must apologize if some lessons come across very blunt and to the point sometimes, there is never any intention to offend anyone, it is rather just an attempt to wake some sleeping giants up to the truth.  Jesus who was God in the flesh and is called “LOVE”, said and did some things to religious people that was shocking blunt and direct. He called some a generation of serpents and vipers; he called others a den of thieves, and on and on we could go. Do you believe Jesus was being too tough and not walking in love?  Could it be that people who get offended at the words of God are being challenged to change?  Do you remember what Paul wrote in Galatians 4:16? He said, “Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” That sounds like a bold statement, and some would call it prideful.   People have the potential to learn more by not becoming offended than they do than if they do not allow offensive to control them. Therefore, if you read something that offends you in this series, it might be wise to forgive first and realize God might be speaking something that He desires for us to know.

Finally, learn the lesson from the US Secret Service.  You know these people do not spend a lot of time studying how to make counterfeit money.  Instead, they concentrate on studying the real money, its features, characteristics and qualities.  If you become intimately familiar with the real you can automatically recognize the counterfeit.  That principle works with the Bible in the same way.  The more we study the truth; the false teachings become easily recognizable.   What we have to do is to make sure that what we believe is firmly based upon 2 or 3 witnesses of scripture found in the Bible.  If we do this, then we are standing on good ground that is able to recognize any false teaching influenced by the enemy.

Mat 22:2  The kingdom  of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

As you can clearly see, Jesus is describing a spiritual reality using a descriptive natural story found in the form of a parable.  This marriage being described to us is what we will begin to study in this series of lessons.  Jesus is telling us of the “Kingdom of Heaven” so He must be speaking about spiritual truths using natural descriptive terms that we are all familiar with.  However, this is another reason why Satan is trying the destroy the God created institution of marriage between a male and female. This covenant marriage law is written in Genesis 2:22-24 and it is being attacked directly by Satan today. It is this amazing God created union that is the basis of our salvation. That is how important this subject of the bride of Christ is to learn.

In this parable there was a certain King what has arranged a marriage for His son.  So, we must begin by understanding the King is representative of God the Father.   The Son in this parable is clearly Jesus Christ and He is the “bridegroom”.   The marriage must be to a “bride”.  The bride can be referred to as a future “daughter-in-law”, or the King’s “son’s” wife.   So now we need to determine what is a spiritual woman, who is this spiritual woman (bride) and what is a spiritual marriage in the eyes of God.

Before we can accurately understand the identity of the bride of Christ and confirm her existence we really need to step back and come to understand some spiritual basic concepts; like what does the Bible say a spiritual woman is, and how does a spiritual woman relate to a spiritual family unit.  Obviously if we are talking about women and brides we are also talking about a marriage as Jesus begins to describe in the first line of the parable.

How is a son’s marriage to a bride related to this subject in the eyes of God.  We also need to figure out scripturally who is the bridegroom? Please recall, that we were previously introduced to this answer in this introduction. What is a Blood Covenant and how is it related to marriage?   I believe that Biblical blood covenants are also a key subject to study and understand for us to build the basic knowledge of the subject of the identity of the bride of Christ.  I cannot fully expound in this lesson on all of the Bible basics that we should be aware of to more fully understand this subject.

This means that this lesson series is built upon other foundational teachings that are available and easily found on the site. Not all of this information can be retaught here. Please spend the time to review these lessons to gain the firm foundational understandings of the Bible about these subjects that were just mentioned.  Most advanced studies of any subject must logically assume there are prerequisite subjects that are required for basic knowledge of the more advanced subject, so this lesson is no different.  Anyone is free to study this lesson alone, but it is recommended that you go back and study the other subjects if you struggle with anything that is said that is difficult to understand.

Hopefully we all can agree that when we go to college and take an advanced class like Calculus or Statistical Probability, they don’t start the class with 1 + 1 = 2, we should have already learned that in elementary school.  So it is in the Bible in many subjects. This lesson is a spiritual college level Bible course, and not much time will be spent on any elementary school basics.  The bottom line is that if I say something that you don’t agree with, it is strongly recommended that before you reject it or write it off, that you do some basic study to see how the study has arrived at that statement.

So let us go back to one of the first major points of the introduction; This was “taking a truth and trying to make it the only truth”. This is a repeated error for many Bible teachers, and it is such a critical mistake because it closes our mind to look and examine other verses found in the Bible. When this happens our spirits become closed to new information that God wanted to teach us on the subject.  Here is a God challenge for us all today. Realize that there is more than one truth written in the Bible.

Many of God’s truths found in the Bible are like the threads of a finely woven fabric or tapestry.  It consists of many different threads (truths) that all fit together closely so that they overlapped with other threads (truths) and all of these fitted together correctly reveal the picture of God and His Son Jesus Christ correctly.  In fact, the Bible is so complex that it is practically impossible for any human alone to fully comprehend everything that the Bible says.  This is by God’s design. This causes us all to learn from each other.

But some saying the church is “only” the body of Christ and that’s it, simply closes our minds to anything else that the Lord wanted to teach us about the subject of Jesus and His bride. Also, weaving truths together incorrectly only produces a mixed-up confusing mess of individual truths not fitting together correctly in harmony.

You see, in the Bible God describes the church using many, many different names, titles and descriptions with each revealing several different new characteristics, qualities and features.  We are described as “kings” and “priests” (Rev 1:6).   In 2 Corinthians 5:12 the church is called “ambassadors” for Christ.  In other places in the Bible, we are described as “saints” (Romans 1:7).  The church is described as an “army” with armor and weapons (Eph 6:13).  We are described as “children” and even “sons” of God in the New Testament.  We are called “joint heirs” with Christ in Romans 8:17.  In Romans 2:29 the church is called the spiritual “Jews”.  In other places in the New Testament like 1 Corinthians 3:16 the church is called the “temple of God”.  We could go on and on with other scripture references, but hopefully we get the point.

We can’t take any one of those truths alone and attempt to make it and it alone the entire truth of God’s word.  And if we do this, we are in BIG trouble with trying to understand the rest of the Bible.  Here is another good question for those who may teach that the church is only the body of Christ and therefore cannot be the bride. How can the church be called “joint heirs” with Christ if we are “Christ’s body”?  Wouldn’t that make us the only heir and not a joint heir? Uh oh?  That may be a problem that some have not given enough thought to resolve.  A “joint heir” with Christ clearly implies a different heir and not the exact same one.   So how can the church be joint heirs at the same time they are the Body of Christ?

This is just one example of a very significant puzzle and mystery, that we will get into and solve in this series.  Hopefully you are learning a few things from this short introduction. I believe this series was designed by the Holy Spirit to introduce and teach us things in a specific order and sequence to hopefully help everyone more fully understand it.  If you desire to know more of the Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols for the Church you can go to that lesson and research them in your Bible.

Conclusion

This has only been a short introduction to our subject of identifying the Bride of Christ as being a figurative term for the church. While this subject is controversial, there can only be one true identity of this spiritual woman, even if she is also symbolized by other identifying names, titles and descriptions.  There is so much more to learn on this subject, and it is really amazing how much of it is unknown or ignored by many Christians.

If you are like many Christians, there should be a spiritual curiosity to desire to know the truth. Jesus called this being a true disciple in John 8:31-32 that will grow to find His truth. I have diligently sought to have this relationship with Christ intimately to know His truth and I pray you will also.  Thank you for taking your valuable time to read and study the Bible with us. If you do not know Jesus Christ, there is a link at the bottom that will help you begin the journey to knowing Him. God Bless you.

If you would like to continue reading this series of lessons, you can continue with “Part 2“.

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