The Bride, the Lamb's Wife

(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) (Philippians 3:18,19)

The saints will find their way home to God's bosom. But the "tares," those whom Babylon has brought into the ranks of the "believers," never will understand this. They will be tossed about by the doctrines of preachers whose God is their belly until finally they are revealed at the Judgment Seat of Christ for the corruption they truly are.

The Kingdom of God is not composed of many extraordinary saints but of one God, one Christ, and those who are part of Christ. It is the oneness of the Kingdom that is so utterly important. It is the oneness of the Kingdom that the world must see. In view of the oneness of the Kingdom we can understand that disobedience to God in any form cannot be tolerated.

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:23)

Because of her oneness with the Lamb the holy city is termed "the bride, the Lamb's wife." It is the oneness, the marriage, that is emphasized. The Church never is referred to as the queen. It is Babylon who is the queen, the one who regards herself as the equal of the Lord. But the Bride is the body of the Lord, not His equal. She is not His partner, she is Him!

The danger today is that the believers are being taught to seize the promises of God and attempt to make them work for their own good. This is the False Prophet, as we have said. The true Bride rejects this false worship immediately. She knows that the Lord has not called her to be someone who uses Him for her own purposes, not even if those purposes have to do with "Gospel work," but a helper suited to Him. She is to become an integral part of Himself.

Those who are not called of the Lord never will understand this distinction. But the elect understand it immediately and flee from those who are attempting to use Christ's love for their own purposes.

When one beholds the holy city, the new Jerusalem, he beholds God, just as when one beholds Christ he beholds God. This is not because God and Christ are the same person but because They are One and the holy city is one in Them. We are being brought into this perfect Unity. The process of being brought into the Divine Oneness is very painful because our self-centeredness is destroyed; not our identity or uniqueness but our ability to act as an independent will. Adam dies and in his place there arises a new person—a life-giving spirit (I Corinthians 15:45) who is an eternal, incorruptible part of Christ.

To be continued.

R. Thompson