THE BRIDE OF THE LAMB

The Bible speaks of two brides: the bride of God and the bride of the Lamb. This article will shed light on the basic elements of this extensive subject.

In the Old Testament, God refers to Israel as His bride. Isaiah 50 4:5-six: "For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, says your God." Hosea 2:16: "and it shall be at that day, says the Lord, that you shall call me Ishi; and shall call me no more Baali."

We know from John the Baptist that Jesus is called the Lamb of God, and when the Lamb triumphed at Calvary the church was born: the bride of the Lamb. We encounter a parallel to this in Genesis, where the Lord let Adam fall asleep to take out a rib, of which he created Adam's wife. Likewise, Christ's side was opened by a soldier's spear, and water and blood ran out, which was the beginning of the new age: the Church age.

We won't find a more explicit image of the bride of the Lamb than in Ephesians, Chapter 5: "the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church…" verses 31-32: "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 church."

Christ left His father in Heaven and, figuratively, His mother (Israel), and was joined unto the church. All through this chapter Paul called to attention to this parallel; man and wife, Christ and the Church. They are one although they are two separate beings.

Some have gone as far as to say that we are Christ, because we are termed His body, but this is a claim for which we have no biblical foundation. Had this been the case we would, as a consequence of Ephesians 5, have to say that the wife is the husband, and no one would claim that. It is therefore clear that the theory some confess, namely that Israel is the bride and the church personified as Christ's body (and thereby as Christ) is the bridegroom directly opposes Ephesians 5, where Christ and the Church is compared to husband and wife; Christ is the head and we are His members in the same way that the man is the wife's head, and she, figuratively speaking, is his body.

When Jesus refers to marriage in His parables, it is the marriage of the son of the king, and this marriage is tied to a time that is about to come to a conclusion; a time when simultaneously a separation takes place of those who are unprepared for this marriage (Matthew 22 and 25). In Matthew 25 we read that this marriage will take place after the opportunity of salvation is over: the door will be closed, and some will stand outside in the darkness. This is also emphasized in chapter 4 of the Book of Revelation, where, after the church ages have come to an end, John hears a voice saying, "come up here, and I will show you things which must be hereafter…" This undoubtedly refers to the rapture, of which John is now given a foretaste.

In chapter 7 he sees a multitude of all tribes and people and tongues that no one could count, standing before the throne in long, white garments with palms in their hands. In chapter 19, verse 8, we see that this is the garment of the bride: the righteousness of the saints. In the chapters subsequent to chapter 7, we read about God's judgment of wrath over the children of disobedience; those who rejected the gospel and missed the rapture. After the rapture, and while God's wrath comes upon the ungodly world, we see in chapter 19: "the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.” The marriage of the Lamb thus takes place in heaven. Israel, therefore, cannot be the bride of Christ/the Lamb, as Israel as a nation at this time have not repented and therefore are not a part of the raptured. However, the individuals who have washed their garments white in the blood of the Lamb are the bride of the Lamb.

After this wedding, and just before the millennial kingdom commences, Israel will repent and be united with the God who called her in her youth. It's interesting to see that the church is referred to as the "bride of the Lamb", and it's only in the New Testament we meet the Lamb personified in Jesus. In the Old Testament we see only shadows of the Lamb of sacrifice, but the person himself, called the Lamb of God, first occurs in the New Testament, where also the church is mentioned.

At last we will mention Paul's words to the church at Corinth, second letter, 11:1: "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."