KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

When God created man male and female in His image, He revealed that He is Himself male and female in His attributes and nature. In spiritual maturity we enter into relationship with God in each of the facets of His nature. We may truly become the bride of Christ and the sons of the Father, and many other things as well. Can we not see by this that brideship bespeaks the spiritually feminine relationship of intimate love and reverent submission to Christ, whereas sonship embodies the spiritually masculine characteristics of strength, authority, power and dominion to rule and reign over all things. Let us never become so over-balanced in our zeal to become SONS OF GOD that we despise the marvelous reality of BRIDESHIP! The simple but sublime truth is that THE WAY TO SONSHIP I-S BRIDESHIP! This is why the Spirit has given us in Revelation chapter twelve the example of a glorious sun-clad woman giving birth to a remarkable man-child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. This graphic picture reveals that it is the relationship of brideship that births the realm of sonship. Jesus said, "I am the WAY, the truth and the life; no man COMETH UNTO THE FATHER but by Me." Your relationship to Christ as a bride will forerun your relationship to the Father as a son. Brideship is the harbinger of sonship. It is through intimacy of fellowship and vital union with Christ, made ONE IN HIM IN LOVE, that we are prepared for that illustrious glory and strength and dominion over all things as the sons of God. This is a true principle in God which I hope no earnest saint of God who reads these lines will miss!

This speaks to the heart. Our Lord prophesied of this our day, and said, "Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom" (Mat. 25:1). It is not our purpose to explore the identity of the bride, or who were the five foolish virgins, or the five wise ones. May our hearts be seized, my beloved, by this one compulsion - to detach ourselves from religion, from present things, from self, from the world, from ALL - to go forth, in the spirit of our minds, in the affections of our hearts, to meet CHRIST THE BRIDEGROOM! It is not a question of going forth from one physical location to another; it is not a matter of soaring away to join Jesus on a cloud; it is not geographical at all, but deeply SPIRITUAL. It is the out-going of the heart to be joined in union with our Head and Lord. It means such a detachment from THIS WORLD that our one goal, our sole aim, is Christ; we are going forth to meet HIM.

It means "falling in love" with Jesus Christ our Head and Lord. It means being truly virgin in our desires towards the Lord; it means walking in the Spirit, keeping ourselves unto HIM and unto HIM ALONE; it means forsaking once and for all any partnership with the wanton harlot, Mystery Babylon; it means renouncing the schemes and plans and ambitions of the carnal mind and our love of the world and the desires of the flesh; it means to have no other love and no other god before Him, no master that rules our life, no lord that dictates our actions, no reserved areas of our being. To those apprehended ones quickened by the Spirit in this hour THE HEAVENLY BRIDEGROOM COMETH! Listen! Have not the ears of your spirit been opened to hear the joyful cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom!" Listen! Has not your heart been deeply stirred and moved within you to hasten to obey the urgent command: "Go ye O-U-T to meet Him!"

There are two voices abroad in the land today. Each of these voices purports to be the voice of the Spirit of God. One of these voices rings out loud and clear, "COME O-U-T OF HER MY PEOPLE! " The other voice issues forth from the mouths of men who profess to be Spirit-filled, tongues-speaking, Holy Ghost anointed leaders, teachers, apostles and prophets in the Charismatic Movement, exhorting the people, "S-T-A-Y  I-N HER MY PEOPLE! Stay in your denomination, for, after all," they croon, "the Holy Spirit will make you a BETTER METHODIST, a BETTER BAPTIST, a BETTER PRESBYTERIAN, a BETTER CATHOLIC, a BETTER B-A-B-Y-L-O-N-I-A-N!" It requires but little of the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God to discern which of these voices is the voice of the Holy Spirit and which is the voice of the great antichrist. The voice that urges people to remain in Mystery Babylon is unmistakably the voice of rebellion and blasphemy against the clear Word of the Lord. I have no hesitation whatever in declaring to you that God is not today in the business of blessing, renewing, or perfecting Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. He IS in the business of calling OUT a people for His name. He IS in the business of gathering together unto HIM. He IS in the business of washing, cleansing and sanctifying the VIRGIN BRIDE OF CHRIST. He IS in the business of building and preparing and adorning the HOLY CITY, the NEW JERUSALEM.

There is a place in the Spirit where saints may dwell in union with Christ. There is a true temple, not made with hands, eternal in the heavenlies. There is a church which is the TRUE CHURCH. It cannot be seen of men. There is a realm where Christ is all in all. There is a "place by Me" where we stand upon a rock and behold His glory (Ex. 33:21). There is a path that the vulture's eye hath not seen (Job 28:7). There is a church of the firstborn whose names are written only in heaven (Heb. 12:23). There is a church which is the BRIDE OF CHRIST. It has always been an enigma to me to find that a truth so plainly set forth in holy scripture should be so confused and misunderstood and misinterpreted by the people of God. That the church is not only the body of Christ in the symbology of a masculine body from the neck down to the toes, but is in truth also the feminine body of Christ as Eve was the body of Adam - his wife - is clear and obvious in the Word of God as is the sun blazing in the cloudless noonday sky.

"Wives, 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 saviour (protector, nurturer) of the body. Therefore, AS the CHURCH is SUBJECT UNTO CHRIST, so let the wives be unto their own husbands in everything. So ought men to love their WIVES as their OWN BODIES. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his OWN FLESH; but nourisheth and cherisheth 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 TWO shall be ONE FLESH. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning CHRIST AND THE C-H-U-R-C-H" (Eph. 5:22-32).

There is a place OUTSIDE THE CAMP of Babylon's vain worship and pseudo-church. "Let us GO FORTH therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. 13:13), and when you have departed from all these things and broken Babylon's idols from off your neck and cast their image from before you, then you will see NO MAN BUT JESUS ONLY, and then you will understand what it means to be JOINED UNTO HIM. When this wisdom is sweet to your soul, then you will discover the secret place of the Most High, where the King brings you into His chambers, a hidden place of meeting with the Lord, that place within our own beings where our Lord ever dwells, where we go in and shut the door, where we meet Him alone in the most intimate fellowship and the most exquisite union of soul and spirit. This is a place which the world cannot invade. "I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that WHERE I AM, there ye may be also" (Jn. 14:3). Where is this place? Jesus said, "Where I am." That is sufficient! It is a place in the Spirit that no man can violate. A hidden place for those who are in the world, but not of it, in the very sanctuary of the Spirit of God. A place where we can SEE the countenance of the Bridegroom, and HEAR His voice.

Ah, we do not arrive at this secret and sacred place with one grand leap. It is a continual leaving, leaving, leaving, and the nearer and dearer HE becomes to us, the more rejoiced we are to leave everybody and everything for Him. But where are we to go? Outside the gate, outside the city which hath played the harlot. Do you think that we shall see Him if we stay inside the city? inside with all those who do not love Him enough to go out to meet Him? if we stay with those who hate Him and are half-hearted? NO! It is as we "go forth" that we behold Him, the King in His beauty, and discern His beauty as He sits upon the throne of our lives. Let us go outside the city wall that we may behold Him; let us leave everything which is in the city that our eyes may be anointed to behold Him who is altogether lovely, the Bridegroom of our soul. When the earth is in, our eyes, we cannot behold Jesus; when Babylon is in our eyes, we cannot discern the Bridegroom; when anything else is before our eyes, we cannot see Him. Everything must be cleared away if we would see and hear Him.

A number of weddings are described in the Bible. The first wedding was performed by a very special guest minister. Whatever ceremony He may have chosen, it did not include those familiar words, "If any man can show just cause why these two should not be lawfully joined together, let him now speak, or else forever hold his peace." This phrase was unnecessary, for the minister was God Himself, and the couple was Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:18-25). Then there was a very unusual wedding in which the bridegroom found out the next morning, by light of day, that he had married the wrong girl (Gen. 29:21-25). One of the most beautiful wedding stories began in a barley field outside the little town of Bethlehem (Ruth 2). Perhaps the most tragic wedding was that between Ahab, king of Israel, and Jezebel, a godless Baal worshipper. This marriage would result in much sorrow and suffering for God's people (I Kings 16:29-31). Finally, the Saviour of men chose a wedding in the city of Cana of Galilee to perform His first miracle and show forth His glory (Jn. 2:1-11). However, the most fantastic and wonderful wedding of all time is revealed in the Word of God in these inspiring words: "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:7,9).

"And Jesus spake unto them again by parables, and said, The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding ... saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage" (Mat. 22:1-4).

There is neither time nor space to consider the various elements contained in the parable above - Who are the servants, who are the guests, etc. It is sufficient to know that at this wedding are present the two objects and star participators in the drama that unfolds - the Bridegroom and the bride. Much is said about the proceedings involved in the marriage of Christ and His bride, and it is rather natural that Bible students speculate as to what actually occurs in the marriage. Some men are prone to view the marriage of Christ somewhat after the pattern of a wedding in our modern day society, in which there is a ceremony with the bride being given away and nuptial vows taken. Of course this is absolutely foreign to the Scriptures. If we are to understand what the Bible means by a marriage or a wedding, we must view it as it is portrayed in the Bible itself. There are some Bible examples of marriage which will, to this writer's thinking, adequately depict the marriage of Christ to His bride, and will show us what constitutes that marriage.

The first is the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah. The beautiful story is related in Genesis chapter twenty-four of how, when Abraham was old, he sent his eldest servant, the steward of his house, into his own country and among his own kindred to select a bride for his son Isaac. When the servant came to the city of Nahor, by the guiding hand of God he was brought into contact with Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel. It was clearly evidenced that she was the one God has chosen to be the bride of Isaac. After Rebekah consented to become Isaac's wife, and after the servant had given some special gifts to her, he began the long journey to lead Rebekah to Isaac. The scriptures relate that "...Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a veil, and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that be had done. AND ISAAC BROUGHT HER INTO HIS MOTHER SARAH'S TENT, AND TOOK REBEKAH, AND SHE BECAME HIS WIFE; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death" (Gen. 24:62-67).

There was no ceremony, no giving away of the bride, and no nuptial vows exchanged as we see in formal weddings in our society. The marriage simply consisted in Isaac's taking Rebekah unto himself. There is no evidence in scripture that there were any special religious forms in the ancient weddings, no priest or clergyman officiated or validated the marriage. The essence of the marriage ceremony consisted in the removal of the bride from her father's house to that of the bridegroom. This was, of course, by the mutual consent of the families involved, the matter was publicly known and acknowledged and the marriage was binding.

Another beautiful example is presented in the book of Ruth. When Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer, redeemed both Ruth and the estate of Naomi according to the law of the kinsman-redeemer, he redeemed Ruth to be his wife. When the marriage occurred, there was no ceremony. The record simply states, "So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife..." (Ruth 4:13). The marriage consisted simply in the bridegroom taking his bride to himself. It is my deep conviction that, in keeping with these analogies, the marriage of Christ and His bride consists simply in CHRIST TAKING HIS BRIDE TO HIMSELF. The Word of God states it this way: "Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it ... that He might PRESENT IT TO HIMSELF a glorious church..." (Eph. 5:27). The Emphatic Diaglott expresses the thought beautifully and correctly: "...that He might PLACE THE CONGREGATION BY HIS OWN SIDE, glorious..." He draws us unto Himself, to His side, into union, and that, my friend, IS THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB!

The marriage of the Lamb is the revelation of the Christ that causes you to know that you are united to Him; it is the conscious knowledge and the experiential reality. You cannot understand the marriage of the Lamb until you know UNION. You cannot be in that particular concert with Christ which the name of bride expresses until you yield yourself to be made ONE IN HIM. When I know that I am united to the Christ I am so identified with His interests that they are paramount with me. Few know it. A wife is one who has reached full maturity, one who has given herself completely and unreservedly for her lover, one who has lost her own name and identity to take His. She has left all to follow Him. In mind, will, desire, emotion, hope, plans and actions the two become one.

In later times it became a custom in the Israelite wedding to have a feast after the bridegroom had taken his bride to his house. To this feast, all the friends and neighbors were invited. Such a feast was celebrated when the marriage of Jacob occurred, when he had worked seven years for Laban in order to obtain Rachel, but on the night of the wedding, was given Leah instead (Gen. 29:18-31), In the days of Christ this "Marriage Feast" was arranged by the bridegroom at his parent's home or some other suitable place. The absence of the bride in the early part of the ceremonial procedure was part of the custom. When the night arrived for the wedding festivities to begin, the bridegroom, attended by friends and accompanied by musicians and singers, set out to claim the bride at the house of her father. The bride would be waiting at her house with her maid-servants stationed along the road to alert her when they saw him approaching. The first one to see the bridegroom would shout to the next, "Behold, the bridegroom!" and the shout would be passed along from maid to maid until it reached the bride. She would hasten to put the final touches to her wedding attire and stand ready for his knock on her door. At his knocking the door would open and there would stand his bride in beauty and splendor, all adorned and prepared to go with him to the marriage feast. It was this wonderful scene, applied to Christ and His bride on the spiritual plane, that John beheld in his awe-inspiring vision in Revelation chapter twenty-one.

After receiving the bride from her parents with their blessing the bridegroom conducted the whole party back to his own house. The streets of Asiatic cities were dark, and it was necessary that anyone venturing forth at night should carry a lamp or torch, as did the virgins in the parable of Jesus. There were demonstrations of joy all along the road to the destination. On the way other friends of the bride and bridegroom joined the party and there was much music and dancing (Ps. 45:15). Upon arrival the feast began. There was food and wine in abundance and during the meal mirthfulness prevailed, and the guests were expected to exalt the bride. After the wedding feast was over, the bride's parents escorted her to the nuptial chamber, and the husband was escorted there by his friends. They were then left alone and the bridegroom took his bride and the marriage was consummated. At last, there was UNION!

Now, lest you get the idea from this typology that Christ is coming to take His bride away, to leave this earth and take a flight to some other planet for a big supper of pork chops, steaks, baked potatoes and apple pie a-la-mode, let me set things straight. For long centuries the church world has been telling us of a day in the sweet bye and bye. It would be a time when we would be "caught up" in the air and find ourselves feasting and dining at a huge banqueting table in the sky. It would be a wonderful time indeed, this meeting in the air, and we would all feast lavishly on the richest dainties, while all the poor souls on earth who didn't make the rapture would be suffering the hellish torments of the Great Tribulation.

Most Christians, unfortunately, are busily preparing themselves to go "up" to meet the Bridegroom. Not knowing who or what the Bridegroom is, they therefore cannot know how to go forth to meet Him. As we have pointed out, there is not one scripture in the whole Bible that speaks of being "caught up" to meet the Bridegroom, or to eat the marriage supper in the sky. This "marriage supper in the sky" business is naught but an ignorant invention and senseless delusion of Mystery Babylon. Most Christians today are not preparing to meet the Bridegroom, but are trying to fix themselves up so that they will be all ready to be whisked away into the clouds instead. All their fuss and stir is in vain. I tell you plainly - THERE WILL BE NO MARRIAGE SUPPER IN THE SKY! In order to meet the Bridegroom, one must go "out." "Go ye O-U-T to meet Him" (Mat. 25:6). The marriage supper is not "up." It is OUT.

Great harm is done to God's children in teaching the coming of the Bridegroom and the marriage supper according to the wisdom of men. There are not words in the English language adequate to express how important it is to make the proper preparation for the right event. Suppose that I am invited to a special work day at a church and am instructed to wear old clothes and bring along a broom, a mop, a bucket, some rags and cleaners. Let us further suppose that I get the date confused, and upon arrival at the church discover that a very formal wedding is in progress, and many of my friends are in attendance. How unspeakably embarrassed I would be standing there before my well dressed friends at this lavish event attired in ragged clothes, with mop and bucket in hand! Ah, one must be very certain about where he is going, what the nature of the event is, and precisely how to prepare for it. And should someone find my illustration too crude or inappropriate, let me hastily add that it is a great fact that one does not prepare in the same way for going UP as he does for going OUT! Is it not a delusion that men are preparing themselves for a trip through the air to feast on some kind of natural food in these last days?

The natural mind is very dark and without understanding. Only the Holy Spirit can awaken it. May Christ who is the power of God open the eyes of all who read these lines, even as the scales fell from the vision of Saul of Tarsus when Jesus purged them away. In Mat. 22:1-14 we are informed in the solemnest of tones about the marriage supper of the Lamb. Jesus compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a king who invited different ones to a marriage feast for his son. A great number of people were invited and the wedding feast was filled with guests. Among the Eastern peoples, noblemen keep in their wardrobes a great number of garments which are called caftans. They are given at such occasions as this to be worn by the guests. It is a great affront for anyone to come and not be appropriately costumed for the occasion.

Since they were giving out wedding garments at the door, we can only assume that when this fellow Jesus told about came to the door, and the servant inquired, "What size are you - small, medium, or large - you look like a medium," the man replied, "I don't need one." "Well," the servant insisted, "the King expects you to use this." "I don't have to do that, don't worry about it," and with his heart full of rebellion he entered into the hall. Soon the King entered into the wedding chamber to welcome his guests. But immediately He noticed a man who was not wearing the wedding garment. "Friend," he said, "how did you come in here without putting on the appropriate wedding garment?" The King was simply inquiring whether he had an excuse, if there was a reason why he had no garment. "Did we run out of garments at the door? Did we have no garment that would fit? Did the garment not look good on you? Did you not like our color schemes? Friend, give account of your conduct!" The scripture says he was speechless - not because he could not speak, but because he was without excuse.

Hearken! Are we not told by the preachers that the marriage supper is celebrated someplace far away in-the sky, and sometime after the rapture of the church? Were we not fervently taught that we are going to be in the air for seven years and have a wedding feast with the Lord? The question follows - If the wedding feast is the rapture, HOW DID THIS MAN WITHOUT THE WEDDING GARMENT GET IN THERE? WAS HE "RAPTURED" BY MISTAKE? Did the Lord Jesus Christ commit a terrible error and accidentally "translate" a man who was not adequately prepared or properly invested for the marriage supper in the sky? How preposterous! This parable proves beyond any possibility of contradiction that a so-called "rapture" has absolutely nothing whatever to do with the marriage of the Lamb. This parable clearly shows that the wedding feast takes place right down here on this earth, and that there are people who are feasting on the riches of present truth and the depth of God's revelatory Word just as you are, but they have not had a change of garment; they have not been clothed in the transforming righteousness of Jesus Christ; they have not put on that precious mind that was in Christ Jesus; they have not put off the old man with his works and put on the new; they have not died to sin and self and religion. These have presumptuously "jumped on the bandwagon" of the message of the hour; with unsanctified minds and fleshly zeal they grasp after the deep things of God; they are along for the ride; they mingle with those elect saints who have been apprehended of God to the high calling in Christ Jesus. They show up at every meeting and at every convention; with unwashed hands they eat from the table so bountifully prepared by the Holy Spirit for those who forsake all to follow the Lamb; they parrot all the right words, and mouth the sacred secrets revealed by the Holy Spirit, and may, with feigned piety appear as one of the choice vessels of the Kingdom; but beneath the cloak of pretense there is no true consecration in their lives, no inworking of the holiness of God, no conformation to the image of Christ, no transformation of mind or heart or nature; they are clearly imposters, deceivers, usurpers, pretenders, hypocrites and cheats. They have no wedding garment! And now, exposed to the penetrating gaze of the King's presence, the man of nice words and spiritual-sounding expressions no longer could conceal his true condition.

In due time, prior to the event of the marriage of His son, the King dealt swiftly and effectively with the usurper. "Then the King said to the attendants Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the darkness outside; there will be weeping and grinding of teeth" (Mat. 22:13, Amplified). The King James version reads, "Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Among the many symbols connected with the Bridegroom and the bride, none is more meaningful than the wedding garment, whether of guest, of bride, or of groom. Throughout the scriptures garments are spoken of in connection with character. There is some kind of intrinsic connection between the character of the people and the clothing they wear. The garment we wear in our marriage to Christ is being woven NOW, stitch by stitch. The righteousness this glistering garment portrays is not the imputed righteousness received by grace when our sins are first forgiven, but the ACTUAL RIGHTEOUSNESS, wrought out in the nitty-gritty of the dealings, testings, purgings, processings and victories of this present travail. The garments of the Lord's people correspond to their STATE OF BEING. When seen by the eye of the spirit in the spiritual realm, some glitter like the snows of Mount Hermon in the noonday sun; some shine as with flame; and those of others are resplendent as with light; others are of various colors, dazzling like the scintillating brilliance of precious stones, and some opaque. It is because garments represent states of being and character that they are so much spoken of in the Word. Thus in Isa. 53:1, "Awake, put on strength, O Zion; put on thy BEAUTIFUL GARMENTS, O Jerusalem." And in Eze. 15:10 the Lord says of His people, "I girded thee about with fine linen, and covered thee with silk." And in Rev. 3:4-5, it is said, "They who have not defiled their GARMENTS, shall walk with Me in WHITE, for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in WHITE RAIMENT." And of the bride of Christ it is written: "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in FINE LINEN, CLEAN AND WHITE: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints" (Rev. 19:8). What a depth of meaning appears in these passages when we remember the signification of garments!

The wedding garment speaks of character and fitness. The man without the wedding garment had no fitness or adequate degree of spiritual understanding or fellowship or relationship to move in the sphere of the wedding feast and all that this type represents. He had no garment - qualifying attributes to adapt him to the order of life suggested.

And note, too, the poor fellow is not cast into hellfire, hades, sheol, gehenna, the pit, or eternal damnation. "Outer darkness," is the word. Some may ask, What is the outer darkness? You will find Jesus using the same term in Mat. 8:12. Here it does not refer to hellfire or eternal damnation. He is speaking of the lack of faith and appreciation on the part of the Jews. And because of their refusal to accept and move into the Kingdom of Heaven, they are cast into "outer darkness." Any one knows that those Jews were not sentenced to everlasting hellfire, for Paul speaks of a glorious day when "all Israel shall be saved." Those Jews were turned into "outer darkness" where they are yet today. As far as Christ is concerned, and the blessings of the gospel, and the Kingdom Christ came to set up in the hearts of men, they are in outer darkness, devoid of understanding or revelation. They are cut off, denied the privilege and fellowship of the Kingdom of the Spirit.

So from the teaching of our Lord, "outer darkness" does not mean hell or the lake of fire, but rather the LOSS or denial of a great privilege. The Jews are alive today, and God is directing their steps, not in a pit, but in the "outer darkness" of spiritual blindness, the veil that hangs like a pall over mind and heart. The glory and joy of the marriage feast is LIGHT - understanding, revelation, reality and relationship. The man without the wedding garment, the one unprepared for this realm, is cast out EXCLUDED and REJECTED from the joy and fellowship and life experienced by those who are called to the marriage. He is cast into outer darkness and bound. His hands are bound and his feet are bound. The hands bespeak of service, the feet of the walk. He is not QUALIFIED to serve in that blessed realm. He may know service in the carnal religious life and service in the sphere of the flesh, good works, etc., but he does not know that SPIRITUAL MINISTRY which springs from intimacy of fellowship and vital union with Christ - so he is bound. The feet represent the walk. He may have traveled thousands of miles in the energy and power of the natural life, and fairly exhausted himself in religious works, programs, activities, etc. But he does not know how to WALK IN THE SPIRIT. That was always too demanding and restricting for him. He may have walked all around the Lord, but not with Him. So his feet are bound. He has no power to enter into such life in the Spirit, such fullness, such glory, such wisdom and power as is pictured by the marriage of the Lamb..

What constitutes the marriage supper of the Lamb? When we think of a feast we are prone to think in natural terms and picture a banquet of rich foods and an evening of entertainment. There was a day when Jesus and His disciples came to Samaria. The day was long and the disciples of Jesus were weary and hungry. The disciples went to buy food and tried to get Jesus to eat. He refused, and said to them, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." This statement troubled the disciples, they wondered whether someone had brought food to Jesus. Then Jesus explained plainly: "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." To do God's will! That is what Jesus lived for; but it is also what He lived ON. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that cometh out of God" (Mat. 4:4). Nothing could satisfy Jesus' appetite but this: He hungered to do the Father's will. And nothing else could fill Him. The truth of these words is simply this: the strength of life for the firstborn Son of God was to do the Father's will. Now this is a great and surprising revelation to many. When we have thought of eating and drinking and feasting with Christ we have entertained such carnal concepts. Roast beef and potatoes - indeed! That is not what the Christ feasted upon, and it is not what those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb feed upon.

How precious the knowledge that we have a God who hungers, thirsts, deeply desires, to feast with His people - a God who from the beginning has tried to show us that His greatest delight is not in showing His authority, but in enjoying intimate and close fellowship with His own. He set a feast of fruits before Adam and Eve, the like of which man has never been able to reproduce, and He communed with them face to face. He ate with Abraham in his tent at noonday. He spread a table in the wilderness for the entire nation of His chosen, and He gave them the very bread of heaven. Jesus performed His first miracle at a wedding feast. He fed five thousand on a hillside. He did not hesitate to attend feasts, nor to celebrate the Feasts of Jehovah. And He has established the New Covenant with a feast, the great spiritual feast, wherein He has given the redeemed His own body for their meat and His own blood for their drink, that death might be swallowed up of life. He has promised through the prophet Isaiah that in the latter days He will make a great feast of spiritual blessings and benefits for ALL NATIONS, upon His holy Mount (Isa. 25:6). And the greatest feast of all - the marriage supper of the Lamb - ushers a people into the most intimate relationship with their Lord!

A marriage supper is a time of great joy and festivity. Those who have tasted something of this heavenly meal know how bountifully the table has been spread with His presence and glory and power! I have more good news for you. Many are called to partake of this supper. Not all shall know Him as the bride shall know Him, but vast multitudes shall be in attendance at His feast and be filled with the overflow of the abundance that is spread upon His table! The attendants will be there, the guests will be there, the friends of the Bridegroom and the bride will be there, and what rejoicing and music and dancing there will be as we all eat of His bread and drink of His wine! What quickening, what impartation, what strength! As we leave this feast in great strength, it shall mean a new day of hope and deliverance and glory for the whole earth as the Lord comes as the heavenly Bridegroom to spread the great and glorious feast of HIS FULLNESS.

The fact is that the imagery of the marriage supper was quite familiar to those who heard our Lord employ it. It was often used in the popular religious speech of the time to denote the Messianic Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, which every pious Jew believed to be near at hand. Blessed are they that are called to this feast, to dine at His table and partake with Him and of Him! The Lord is come! The table is spread! Arise and eat!

We must never forget that the marriage supper is spread at the MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB. Notice that it does not say the "Marriage of the Bride," but the "Marriage of the LAMB." That grand event is not so much the consummation of the hopes of the bride, as it is the consummation of the hopes and plans and purposes of the Bridegroom. The Shulamite in the Song of Solomon expresses it beautifully, "While the King sat at His table, my spikenard sent forth its fragrance" (S. of S. 1:12). Having been wooed by the King, the Shulamite maiden suddenly finds herself beside His tent. She sees a table spread before her, and sees her Beloved sitting at His table; she finds herself sitting with Him in sweet fellowship and communion. As is always true of the faithful persevering one, she finds He has given her more than she asked. At last she has attained the object of her prayers and search, and He has brought her into His presence, even His own table. He does not come and sit with her at HER table, but invites her to come to HIS table; He invites her to listen to His voice and follow and obey it until she finds the table of continual communion and close fellowship. He has spread a table before her in green pastures, He has revealed to her fountains of living water; He has brought her to rest beside the cool, still streams; and He, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, is there beside her. The table is in the presence of all her enemies (not up in the sky), and her cup is overflowing with His loving kindness and goodness. She has entered a place of communion with Him such as she has never had before; communion that is deep and full of peace and joy and righteousness. A fellowship that abides, and where He sits with her; not a fleeting communion on Sunday morning that does not abide or satisfy, but a fellowship where she both feeds and rests in His presence. An intimacy in which He sets before her the HIDDEN MANNA of incorruptible life and fills her cup (body and soul) to overflowing with living water. A holy familiarity, which floods her soul with peace and joy and righteousness and life that flows like a river and passes all understanding.

We are commanded to feed upon Christ, to eat His flesh and drink His blood, "for My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed" (Jn. 6:55). No longer are we to feed off the husks of man's sustenance, no more are we to feed off the purification spread upon Babylon's polluted tables, but we are invited to feast on the bounties of the fullness of Christ in an exceedingly rich and intimate manner, thereby drawing our sustenance from Him. "As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father: so He that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me" (Jn. 6:57). "I am the bread of life..." (Jn. 6:35).

Jesus promised that when He returned He would "gird" Himself and make His servants to sit down to meat, and that He would "come forth and serve them ... meat in due season" (Lk. 12:35-44). In these days at the ending of the age we have in a unique way and in an abundant measure experienced the fulfillment of this promise. The Bridegroom is here! He has come and has served "meat in due season" to the elect household of faith. Rich indeed, faith strengthening and spiritually nourishing has been the fare made available by Christ, as He has spread upon His table profound truths of the Kingdom of God reserved for this hour. Only those who are prepared to enter into a MATURE RELATIONSHIP with Christ are bidden to come and sit with Him at this reserved table at the feast HIS TABLE. In the natural, babies do not have teeth, neither do babes in the Lord have mighty faith to feed upon His deep truths and rich word; but God metes out to them milk, the food that is prepared for babes. He sends them His Word and promises, presented in such a way and on such a level that they are able to take them; and He gives more than they can ask or think, not according to their faith, but according to His grace and mercy. But - BLESSED ARE THEY THAT ARE CALLED UNTO THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB!

I would be remiss if I failed to point out in clear and unmistakable words the fact that the "marriage of the Lamb" is not exclusively a future event as the preachers are wont to proclaim. Let me make it quite clear before we go any farther that what our Lord is speaking about under the figure of the marriage feast is an actual personal experience which every soul may have, something intensely real and precious, not in the sweet bye and bye, but here in our today. What it is, is a past event, a present event, as well as a future one. It is an on-going reality in the same sense that initial salvation is past for some, present for some, and future for others. Millions of souls have through the centuries experienced the Lord as Saviour, some are now receiving Him, and others will accept Him in the future. The "Marriage of the Lamb" is a relationship of union with Christ entered into as a result of spiritual growth and participation with the Lord. The marriage of the Lamb has already happened for many precious saints who have responded to the gracious appeal, "If any man hear My voice, I will come in to him, and SUP WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME" (Rev. 3:20). To sup with Christ is to commune vitally with Him; it is to fellowship intimately with Him and freely partake of all that is proffered by His Spirit. He comes in to dine. It is there, deep within - in the inner union of soul and spirit as nowhere else, privately and alone, that spiritual edification and the understanding and participation in heavenly things begins and continues and consummates. Numerous yielded souls have attained this glorious experience, it is now happening for others, and it shall yet happen for others. it is, first and foremost, an individual experience for believers. It occurs for the individual when he reaches a condition of being ready for marriage - to fulfill the responsibilities and privileges of truly BEING A WIFE. Not many of the teeming millions of earth who profess to know the Lord are ready at this time for this high and holy calling, but those who do make themselves ready will be married to the Lord here in this life. It is a blessed fact that the marriage of the Lamb is taking place now, but only those with spiritual understanding know it. The rest are "star gazing" - watching the clouds - waiting to go to a banquet in the sky. While they wait, snug and smug in their denominational beds, the Lord is taking a bride! The Lord stands knocking at their door - but they sleep on.

The awesome scene is portrayed in the Song of Solomon 5:2-6. The believer (Shulamite) speaks first and says, "I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to Me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for My head is filled with dew, and My locks with the drops of the night." The word "voice" means if sound." It is the sound of her Beloved that knocks at the door. The Bridegroom knocks, not only once, but He continues to knock; He calls her to arise and shake off the slumber that locks her in its embrace.

The sleeping believer replies, "I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?" How often when our Lord is bringing to us a deeper revelation of Himself, He finds us asleep! We have washed our feet of all the dust of the day, we have cleansed our walk in all those areas He has dealt with previously, we have put off our garment, we have prepared a soft bed of ease, and we have said to our souls, "A little sleep, a little slumber, no need to press on any further at this time, let us rest in the experiences we have had and the truths we have learned." She was not only His love and His dove, but she was still His "undefiled." This shows that her greatest sin was in lying down to rest and not watching with wide-open eyes for His coming and the further revelation of Himself. And when He came, she was slow to rise and let Him in, she had kept Him waiting throughout the night. She had not gone off into spiritual fornication, she had not mingled with the world, she had committed no gross sins of the flesh, she had not been flirting with those who hated Him, as many who are called by His name are doing in these days; she had not lost her chastity. She had been indolent, she simply did not seem to have the stamina to go further. She had thought to lie down and rest, but not to go to sleep; but she was soon lulled into a half-slumber.

In desperate ardor the Bridegroom endeavors to enter the chamber, but the door is locked. She had not only closed, but had locked and bolted the door. When she locked the door, she did not mean to lock HIM out; she only desired that her rest might be undisturbed. She did not deliberately prepare herself to sleep, determining not to get up and let HIM in; she did not deliberately lock the door so that HE could not get in. This is always the way slumber steals in upon those who have received the call to follow the Lamb! Those who hear the call, but fall short of following on - it is not their set purpose to reach the place where at last they find themselves, nor to settle down in the place of sleep and stagnation where they finally arrive. They forget that it is through the avenue of sleep, indifference, and stagnation, that spiritual poverty comes and robs them of the glory of the Bridegroom of their soul; that it is in this way Want and Need come upon them, as an armed man with whom they cannot cope. Slumber does not prepare us for great attainment, it only paves the way for us to be defeated and robbed.

"My Beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for Him. I rose up to open to my Beloved ... but my Beloved had withdrawn Himself, and was gone: my soul failed when He spake: I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called Him but He gave me no answer." When she was sleeping, He had knocked; while she was refusing, He had called; but when He had aroused her from this beginning of deadly slumber, He had withdrawn. She little realized what she was doing when she refused to open to Him. She thought He would wait until she had opened the door. He had continued calling and knocking through the night, though she had treated Him as a stranger; though she had lain still in her bed of ease, and left Him out in the darkness until His head was wet with night dew, and His locks with night drops.

Beloved reader of this message, have you ever heard your Lord's voice calling you to come apart with Him, to leave everything and every one that hindered you and come into a higher place of revelation and separation unto Himself? Have you kept your Lord waiting while you pampered your flesh, or while you did something that YOU wanted to do, instead of coming away with Him? Have you heard Him chide you because you neglected Him, because you were not giving yourself to prayer and the Word, because you were not seeking His face, because you were not putting Him above all else, because you were not following on to KNOW HIM in deeper measures? When you have heard His voice in these and other ways, have you risen up eagerly and quickly hastened to obey? Or have you asked Him to wait until a more convenient season? Did you have some "religious" work which you felt was very important? Did you have some association you felt you could not break? Did you tell the Lord to wait until you could leave them, or finish what you were doing? Not always in words do we tell Him to wait; we just go on with our "work," with our little religious games, with the programs of Babylon, with the demands of family and involvements with the flesh, with the admiration of friends, with pleasures and pursuits. We are going to respond and obey, we are going to come out and go away with Him, we are going to arise and commune with Him, we are going to explore the deeper measures of His wisdom, His love, His power and His glory which He waits to disclose to us, but not until a more propitious moment when we have finished what we are doing.

Ah, the Christian so accurately portrayed in this moving drama had closed the door and locked it. In her snug bed of religious fairy tales and personal indifference she had disrobed and gone to sleep. Her Lover was up and had come to commune with her and ravish her heart with His love, revealing Himself to her on yet a higher plane. He came knocking and calling. When she, at her own time, opened the door, lo! He was gone. She had waited too long!

In this dark hour the lukewarm church of Laodicea has no room for Christ and His glory and has their door closed against Him (Rev. 3:20). He is standing outside and knocking at the door. He is not within, as He should be, but on the outside. Behind the door that is locked against Him they are loudly preaching about Him, and ardently singing about Him, and earnestly working for Him, but He Himself they have left outside. The whole church system of our day is built on the programs and efforts of the flesh rather than the life and glory of the Spirit. But within that harlot system are locked many of the Lord's people. If this were not so, the cry would not sound forth, "Come out of her, MY PEOPLE!" I assure you that the Bridegroom will not remain in the place of a thwarted husband and a beggar at the door of His Beloved forever! His voice will cease and you will be left in your bed of fairy tales and dreams and delusions! You can go on dreaming about a banquet above the stars, and continue to ignore His knocking and calling at the door of your heart for entrance and love and union today. But one day you will awaken!

One day you will hear the call, but He will be gone and you will be left with the dry dust of your cherished traditions and the vanity of your fleshly pursuits. He is knocking as your husband. I exhort all God's saints in this lukewarm age of Laodicea to open wide the door that Jesus may enter in to fill our beings with light and understanding, with wisdom and glory, with power and victory. The answer is up to you. What will your answer be?

In these studies on the coming of the Bridegroom, the Spirit of God has given us a strain from the heavenly choir, the theme of which is CHRIST AND HIS BRIDE. Has this divine music sounded upon your heart until your spirit has been caught away to the Mount of the Lord? Have you received a deeper revelation of your high calling in Him, and the processes by which we may attain? Has the Spirit revealed clearer visions of those things that mortal eye cannot see nor ear hear, neither can the human heart contain even the things that God has prepared for you and me? If you will draw close to God, He will anoint your eyes with heavenly eyesalve: He will give you an eternal perspective; He will cause you to behold the things that are unseen and eternal as you lose sight of the things that are seen and temporal. He will bring you into His banqueting house and your soul will be ravished with the revelation of His love. The noise and glitter of Mystery Babylon the Great will fade from mind and heart until it seems but a dream dreamed in the long ago.

There is a remnant of God's people over the whole earth that have heard the cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom!" This remnant has arisen, trimmed their lamps, and with vessels full of oil and lamps shining have fixed their eves upon Jesus, they are looking away from earth, from people, from everything to the Everlasting Hills of God.

Next to Part 31

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