MARRIAGE OF THE CHURCH.

The marriage takes place in heaven between the appearance of the Lord for His saints and the coming to earth with His saints. "Let us be glad and rejoice and give the glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife, hath made herself ready." Revelation 19: 7,8.

The cleansing of oneself.

Paul exhorted Timothy, " Be keeping yourself pure". 1 Timothy 5:22.

"If then, anyone should be purging himself from these, he will be a utensil for honour, hallowed and useful to the owner.." 2 Timothy 2:21.

It is a personal, individual heart cleansing, not only outward reforms, but constantly going to the ' laver of the water', the Parenthetic writings to cleanse ourselves, for we soon forget what the Lord has done for us, and are quick to associate ourselves with the world. We are only pilgrims and foreigners on this earth, journeying to a better place. It is God's wish for the Ecclesia " to be Holy and flawless in His sight" Ephesians 1:4.

The espousal

While the bride was chosen before the disruption of the world (COSMOS), the espousal could not take place until the Word assumed the adapted body to do the Father's will. " yet a body dost thou adapt to me Lo! I am arriving (in the summary of the scroll it is written concerning Me) to do thy will O God." Hebrews 10:5-10. Then He was taken up to heaven to be "the Man Christ Jesus".

"For there is one God and one Mediator of God and mankind, a MAN, Christ Jesus, the one giving Himself a correspondent ransom for all, the testimony in its own time for which I, Paul, was appointed a herald, and an apostle". 1 Timothy 2:5-7.

The marriage

It does not say the marriage of the bride! but of the Lamb. This grand spiritual event will be so much the consummation of the expectations of the bride, as it will be the consummation of the plan of God for His Son, arranged before the disruption of the world. Ephesians 1:4

This marriage would not have been possible if Christ, the Word, had not been born 'in the flesh'. It would have been the union of dissimilar natures, for the bride is the Ecclesia, consisting of many Souls brought together by the Holy Spirit through the sacrifice of the bridegroom's soul and physical life. Even now the believer can say, in anticipation and in faith "For we are members of His body, and of His flesh, and of His bones." Ephesians 5:30.

At present the Ecclesia is a virgin espoused, " For I am jealous over you, with a jealousy of God. For

I, Paul, betrothed you to one man, to present a pure virgin to Christ" 2 Corinthians 11:1,2

This union will unite the entire universe. " And subjects all under His, Christ's feet, and gives Him the headship over all, to the Ecclesia which is His body, the COMPLEMENT which is completing the entire universe." Ephesians 1:20-23.

This ushers in the millennium when Christ rules with 'a rod of iron' and peace reigns over all the earth for a thousand years.

Are you longing to be united to the One, who has redeemed you from your sin through His offering? If not, accept the Word and receive a glorious heavenly future forever with Him. Romans 10:9 says, "Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved". (Amplified version.)