The Gospel
LESSON TWO
THE BIBLE—A ROMANCE OF A UNIVERSAL COUPLE
The Bible is a romance. Have you ever heard this before? It may sound secular and unreligious. However, if you have entered into the deep thought of the Bible, you will realize that the Bible is a romance, in the most pure and the most holy sense, of a universal couple.
GOD IN CHRIST AS THE BRIDEGROOM
The male of this couple is God Himself. Although He is a divine Person, He desires to be the male of this universal couple. This very God, after a long process, has resulted in Christ as the Bridegroom.
GOD’S REDEEMED PEOPLE AS THE BRIDE
The female of this couple is a corporate human being, God’s redeemed people, including all the saints of the Old Testament and the New Testament. After a long process this corporate person results in the New Jerusalem as the Bride.
THIS ROMANCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Isa. 54:5a For your Maker is your Husband;
Hosea 2:19 And I will betroth you to Myself forever; Indeed I will betroth you to Myself In righteousness and justice And in lovingkindness and compassions;
This holy romance is repeatedly revealed throughout the Old Testament…
God as the Husband and His People as His Wife
Several times in the Old Testament God referred to Himself as the Husband and to His people as His wife (Isa. 54:5; 62:5; Jer. 2:2; 3:1, 14; 31:32; Eze. 16:8; 23:5; Hosea 2:7, 19). God was desirous of being a husband and of having His people as His wife. Have you never read in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea that God desires to be a husband?
THIS ROMANCE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Now we need to consider this romance as it is portrayed in the New Testament.
Christ as the Bridegroom in the Gospels
John 3:29a He who has the bride is the bridegroom;
There is no doubt that the gospels give us a full record of Christ as our Savior. However, have you noticed that the four gospels also tell us that Christ has come as the Bridegroom (Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19; Luke 5:34; John 3:29)? He has come for His bride. When the disciples of John the Baptist saw many people forsaking John to follow the Lord Jesus, John told them not to be troubled, that Christ is the Bridegroom, and that all the increase belongs to Him (John 3:30). The Bridegroom has come for the bride. What is the bride? The bride is the increase of Christ. Each of the four gospels presents Christ as the Bridegroom coming for the bride.
The Husband and Wife in the Epistles
Eph. 5:25 Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her
Eph. 5:28 In the same way the husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his own wife loves himself.
Eph. 5:31-32 For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.
In the epistles Christ and the church are portrayed as husband and wife (Eph. 5:25-32; 2 Cor. 11:2). The epistles clearly liken Christ and the church to husband and wife. If we know what is unfolded in the epistles, we will see that Christ is revealed in them as our Husband and that the believers are revealed as His counterpart, as His wife. We must be one with Him in source, in nature, in life, and in daily living.
The Marriage of Christ and His People in Revelation
Rev. 19:7 Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.
Rev. 21:2 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
In the book of Revelation Christ is unveiled as having a wedding (Rev. 19:7) and the New Jerusalem is presented as His wife (Rev. 21:2, 9). In chapter 19 of Revelation we see that Christ will enjoy a wedding feast, and in chapter 21 we see that the New Jerusalem will be His wife. In Revelation 21 and 22, the last two chapters of the Bible, we see that the ultimate consummation of the whole Bible is this universal couple—the husband and the wife.
Psa. 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
Psa. 119:130 The opening of Your words gives light, Imparting understanding to the simple.
John 6:63b …the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
