← Living Church of God - Audio Sermon Library
Living Church of God - Audio Sermon Library
Preparing the Bride
00:35:13
John Robinson | Recorded April 11, 2026
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:01]
A
Good afternoon. Good to be here with you again. Mr. Lee echoed my thoughts and I thought, there sure seems to have been a lot of church lately. But you know, brethren, I had a very enjoyable days of unleavened bread. And there was something about it this time that I don't know was different. Maybe, maybe it only comes with keeping God's holy days for a long period of time and a little something new comes along and you take note of it. And I was. I was saddened when the last day, when I realized there was only a few hours of sunset left on the holy day. And it made me think again about what the days of unleavened mean. But also, as we transition away from the days of unleavened bread, what's next? Which, of course is Pentecost. And there's a process going on here. There's several different ways the Bible uses motifs to show God's great plan through his holy days. And the one I'd like to focus on today is the church being prepared to be the bride of Christ at his return. You know, Mr. Mario Hernandez, he's not the only one, but he's the one I hear mention it the most. He talks about the meaning of these holy days, these spring holy days in particular, as a love story. He talks about God and Israel being a love story. Passover is the act of the beloved groom making a great sacrifice for Israel. The only proper response for Israel, represented as a woman, is to respond to the sacrifice by changing her life, as represented by deleving. This is now the mission of the New Testament Church is to respond to this calling and to be prepared as a bride for Christ. So the title of my split sermon this afternoon is Is Preparing the Bride. Preparing the bride. You know, Pentecost is a day of covenants. And there's a significant change in some ways I have to be careful saying that. But some things happened when Jesus Christ died and his will was enacted and a covenant came into play that affects us quite profoundly. And so what I wanted to talk about in the time that I have here is how the Bible in places describes God's relationship with ancient Israel in marital terms, with God as the husband and Israel as the wife. And we'll see that ultimately Israel repeatedly failed to live up to that marriage covenant, as it were, with God, and he eventually had to put them away for their serial unfaithfulness. But then we'll look at how this relationship foreshadows a far larger fulfillment of this concept. We'll see what kind of bride Jesus Christ is looking for. And we'll see how this applies to us. And so point number one is Christ was a husband to ancient Israel. Point one, Christ was a husband to ancient Israel. In the Bible Study Course 15, there is an explanation of ancient Israel in a covenant relationship with God that is likened to marriage. Again, God in the role of husband and Israel in the role of life. We don't have time to go into a lot of details there, but God uses this motif of Israel as a baby cast aside with no apparent value, being naked and uncared for. There was no pity found for her. Let's turn to Ezekiel 16:1, and we're going to read Ezekiel 16, verses 1 through 8. Ezekiel 16, verses 1 through 8, Beginning in verse one. Again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations and say, thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem. Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. As for your nativity, on the day you were born, your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in the waters to cleanse you. You were not rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling clothes. No eye pitied you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. But you were thrown out in the open field when you yourself were loathed on the day that you were born. There's a Jewish commentary I've been using lately, the Kiel and Delish, that actually does an excellent job in commenting on the Hebrew. It's actually the kind of commentary that's difficult to use because it's not explaining Hebrew, it's discussing it. And they expect you to know Hebrew. So that can be a little bit tricky. But with so many translation aids we have now, you can get a sense of what they're saying. In summary, what they're saying is, I want to comment here on them being referred to as their father being an Amorite and their mother a Hittite. They warn us not to take that as a literal ethnic statement about Jerusalem's municipal origins. They take it spiritually and morally. Israel's birth is described as Canaanite because by nature Israel was no better than the corrupt peoples among whom it lived. The language is meant to expose Israel's native uncleanness, heathen like depravity and utter unworthiness before God. Coming back to verse six, God says, and when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, live. Yes, I said to you in your own blood, live. I made you thrive like a plant in the field, and you grew, matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare when I passed by you again and looked upon you. Indeed, your time was the time of love. So I spread my wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you and you became mine, says the Lord. So God, in choosing Israel, likens his role in this relationship to being a husband to the nation. Now, if we we don't have time, but if we continued reading, we would see that God generously cared for her, provided her everything she needed, provided every luxury she could have wanted. Yet throughout all this and this great care of God as her husband, the nation collectively was not able to abide by the terms of the covenant and were serial idolaters and falling away from God and worshiping other gods. So eventually God did have to put her away. Now let's notice Jeremiah 31:32. Jeremiah 31:32. Jeremiah 31:32 this is definitely breaking into the middle of a thought here, but you'll see the significance here. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, though I was as a husband to them, says the Lord. So that while God perfectly kept his side of the covenant, carefully and lovingly took care of Israel, Israel just didn't have it in him. As all flesh struggles to obey God and fall short, is not capable of doing it. But if we read the section we read in Ezekiel and here in Jeremiah, come into the midst of a larger context and condemnation of their behavior. I'd like to read to you From a May June 2000 article by Mr. Ogwin called Being a Holy People. He brings some real explanation of what's going on here in a very concise way. He says in his article, ancient Israel showed over and over its failure to maintain the special covenant relationship with the holy God. This covenant relationship was likened to a marriage. God pictured himself in the role of husband while Israel was the wife. In Jeremiah 2:2,3, the prophet writes, I remember you, the kindness of youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after me in the wilderness in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to the Lord, the first fruits of his increase. Later Jeremiah quoted the eternal as saying, but you have played the harlot with many lovers. Yet return to me, says the lord, quoting Jeremiah 3:1. A little later, God inspired Jeremiah to record, return, O backsliding children, says the Lord, for I am married to you. I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. Though God was faithful to his marriage to Israel under the old covenant, the nation simply didn't have a heart to obey. And you could Note that Deuteronomy 5:29 Also for this what is the answer to this dilemma? Very simply, God proposed to make a new covenant with Israel, one which he would give the people a new heart. Jeremiah records God's promise in Jeremiah 31, verses 31. 34 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. And my covenant which they broke, though I was as a husband to them, says the Lord, God always knew that Israel was not going to be able to keep the terms of the covenant, though he was the perfect husband. And as I've been saying already, one of the lessons for us to understand to this day is the flesh is just not strong enough. It's not capable of it. It needs God's Spirit to overcome difficulties. And so it's again important for us to understand that no amount of human effort was ever going to be able to keep the terms of this covenant. And so what is needed again is God's spirit. So I'd like to read to you another excerpt from Bible study course number 15. I believe this is on page 15, and it's entitled what Is a Covenant? So great was his love that the God of Israel called in John 1 the logos or the Word, became flesh and died to pay for the sins of erring Israel, and indeed for all the sins of mankind. Raised from the dead after three days and three nights, Jesus Christ now in heaven with the Father, soon to return to this earth. When he returns, he will marry the Church, a fiance bride of Christ. Revelation 19 the relationship of the Church with Christ under the new covenant is also a marriage relationship. And you can note Ephesians 5, which we'll actually come to later. So God's marriage to Israel was really foreshadowing a larger fulfillment of this, as we see here, this frankly great mystery of Jesus Christ and the Church. Let's notice one other thing before we go from this section to reinforce that, let's notice 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 2. The church is being prepared by Christ himself. This church is made up of individuals who have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who have, as we see pictured in the days of Unleavened, made changes as a response in their lives and begin a process towards being worthy of this marriage and this calling. Here we see the Apostle Paul putting it quite plainly in 2nd Corinthians 11 and verse 12. Sorry, 2nd Corinthians 11. 2. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. So Jesus Christ will ultimately, in the spirit fulfillment of this. He will marry a complete wife capable of doing what ancient Israel was never able to do, and never was going to be able to do. And neither would we without our calling in God's spirit. So what kind of wife is Jesus Christ looking for that is worthy of this honor? He seeks the wife of great value. He wants to find the virtuous life. Let's turn to Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31:1. This is kind of always awkward in my notes, but this is also the beginning of point two. I wanted to give you a minute to get the Scripture down and turn, but this is point two. Who can find a virtuous wife? Point to who can find a virtuous wife? You know, much of ancient Israel's behavior was depicted as being the wife of a harlot. I mean, Hosea himself actually acted out that very idea in his life. As recorded in the book of Isaiah, God's marriage to ancient Israel was much more like being married to a prostitute than a virtuous wife. So now, in the aftermath of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us, he's preparing a bride that will be able to fulfill that role of the virtuous wife. So when you get to Proverbs 31, I suspect nearly everybody in this room has read it at one time or another. Maybe this struck you. It struck me is Proverbs 31. One does not actually start out with a description of the virtuous wife. Let's go ahead and read through it, and I have a few comments about it. But I want to spend the majority of the time talking about the virtuous wife and then what that means to each and every one of us. Because it really, when you understand it, you have an even kind of deeper purpose that we're acting out. I use the word acting out, just like we're doing this in real life, in our marriages and in our families, we're fulfilling these roles. Jesus Christ is going to marry the bride of Christ. She's got the attributes of the virtuous wife. Let's start in Proverbs 31:1, the words of King Lemuel, the utterance which his mother taught him. What my son and what son of my womb and what son of my vows? Do not give your strength to woman, nor your ways to that which destroys kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel. It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the justice of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to him who is perishing and wine to those who are of bitter heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more. Open your mouth for the speechless and the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously and plead the cause of the poor and needy. Again, because of time, I just kind of outline what's being said here essentially. So we have this title, and from what we understand, that this is advice given from a mother to her royal son about what kind of women to avoid, frankly, being one of the keys. It's an emotional appeal from the mother. She's saying things like, my son, son of my wound. This is a very intimate kind of phrasing. Son of my vows. How can I even find the words to explain to you how to find the virtuous wife? And then she counsels him, she says, don't waste strength on women, much like Solomon did. If you think Solomon wrote the majority of the book of wisdom, well, what happens when you don't take your own advice? And he accumulated wives, and they were the kind of wives that this advice here is warning the king about the son, the son, the royal son. Avoid the corrupting powers of drink because it makes you lose your focus on your responsibilities such as judge righteously and defend the needy and the voiceless. I don't want to go on too far about it, but these are all the very things that began to cause Solomon problems at the end of the life, where God calls him out and condemns him for these very things. And it's also the opposite of how Jesus Christ was as husband to ancient Israel. God does judge righteously, he defends the needy. But a king who gets pulled away by wives who are a bad influence on him makes him become a poor king over time. So somewhat counter intuitively the chapter here begins not with the famous virtuous woman, but with the advice from a royal mother to her royal son. But then we pivot and we come to what I'm going. There's a number of ways you could translate the virtuous woman in Hebrew. It is considered a poem of sorts. And it's called the Ishat sheyel. Who knows how close that pronunciation is? But ishet means wife of, and chayil means. Can mean. There's several meanings to it. Strength, valor, capability, excellence, often used of warriors or people of proven worth. And so, as we begin to analyze these key attributes of the virtuous wife, let's remember that this virtuous wife is not the result of human effort alone. There's a lot of effort poured in by this virtuous woman that's being described here. But we have to remember again that it's only God's transforming spirit that can help us get to where we need to be. So let's read Proverbs 31. And what I'm going to do is read Proverbs 31:10. I have some introductory comments about that and then a couple more, because it kind of sets the stage for all the rest of the. The verses. Proverbs 31, 10. And we're going to read through verses 31. It says, who could find a virtuous wife, for her worth is far above rubies. Now, again, this is. This is taken. The sense of this is taken from the Kiel and Delitzsch commentary again. But here's what they say about this one verse alone. It's quite interesting. A wife, such as she ought to be, is a rare treasure. Describing this virtuous woman, a good excelling all earthly possessions, a virtuous woman, which in German is translated brave woman. So there really is this kind of interesting idea of kind of a bit of a warrior in her to handle the things she's got to handle. And also, she is not found by everyone, she is found by comparatively few. The poet thereby means to say that such a wife is a more precious possession than all earthly things which are precious, and that he who finds such a one has to speak of his rare fortune. The reason for this is now given. So there's three things that I thought was really interesting about this as it. As we set off here to understand the virtuous wife a little bit more is one is it's a very rare find. The second, though is that it's of such a value that the sense of it is whatever you find on the earth that is of great value, she exceeds that. Then third, she is so precious and rare that you actually must speak of this rare find and tell people about it, which I. I think is quite interesting. This actually reminds me again of the bride of Christ. What's going to happen at the marriage of the Lamb? Well, he's going to present his bride to the world. So why does Jesus Christ. What does he find in this virtuous woman that is so valuable and so precious? Well, in verse 11, the heart of her husband safely trusts her son, so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and evil, and not evil all the days of her life. So we find here in verses 10 and 12, it's kind of set up a foundation for the rest of the Scriptures, because most of the rest of the Scriptures are going to say it's sort of like, here's a thesis, here's this person of great value, her husband trusts in her, she's going to be profitable for him, and she's precious and rare. And therefore here's the evidence of her being this virtuous woman. Verse 13. She seeks wool and flax and willingly works with her hands. She is like the merchant ships. She brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night, and provides food for her household, a portion for her maidservants. She considers a field and buys it from her profits. She plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good and her lamp does not go out by night. She stretches out her hand to the distaff and her hand to the spindle. She extends her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household. For for all the household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them and supplies sassage for the merchants. Strength and honor are her clothing. She shall rejoice in the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kind kindness. She watches over the ways of her household, and she does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful, and beauty is passing. But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands. And let her own works praise her. The gates. You know, when we look at the mission of the church today, I find there's a lot of overlap with what is described here. The church is commissioned to do the work, to get the gospel out, but then also to. I was trying to remember this phrase in my head in the car coming over. She also shared she cares for those in the household of Christ. She feeds the flock. So when we step back and look at this in a very big picture kind of way, what we have is a truly capable and godly woman. And she's rare. And her worth exceeds all material comparison. Her defining trait is her trustworthiness. That trust results in real measurable gain. And so again, when we overlap that overlay that on the church and the church's mission, what's the church do? It goes about the business of its husband. It takes it seriously, fully submits her will to what her husband is trying to accomplish, and works diligently behind the scenes to care for those in her possession. Her hand, her palm can be seen as open. It's reaching out to take care of those who need help. It's nourishing those under her care. She knows the law of kindness. She's knowledgeable about the truth, and she teaches it to those under her care. The book of Proverbs begins with the command to fear the Lord, Proverbs 1:7, and ends with a picture of a woman who fulfills this command. It's very interesting that wisdom is depicted as a woman earlier in Proverbs and calling out unto people. And also this Eshet Chail poem is an acrostic. Now, some of you will know what an acrostic is and some won't. I remember. I don't know that this is strictly. Well, it's actually technically not an acrostic, but when I was learning first aid, I did it twice. And there's acronyms they give you that are a key to know what you need to do next. I don't remember any of them. I hope none of you need my medical care at any time. I did not remember them well. But here in Hebrew and in the biblical usage, this section of Scripture comprises an acrostic, as I said, which is of the 22 verses beginning with the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. It's a poetic form which suggests a complete exploration of its subject. And it is designed to be a mechanism for remembering. So if this paralleled with English, the first letter would start with A, the next verse would start with B, and so on. But this, of course is using the Hebrew letters, which is 22. So what's interesting is if you just take that first word of each verse, it's an interesting picture. First, the first verse in Hebrew, the word means wife or woman. The second verse, it means trusted. And then many of the rest of these are actions, are verbs, not all of them, but many. You go down the acrostic, and the first word is she. She repays, she seeks. She is like. She rises, she considers, she girds, she perceives her hands, her palm. She is not afraid. Coverings, her husband is known. She makes linen garments. Strength and dignity. She opens her mouth. She watches her children arise. Many daughters. Charm is deceitful. And then the last one is give. And so it paints a very complete picture of a woman who is firing on all cylinders, taking care of her husband's interest, and is greatly trusted by him. So again, when you kind of think about this parallel with Jesus Christ preparing a bride for himself, this is what he's looking for. Many of the key components can be found here. And so what ancient Israel could not produce through human effort, God now produces in his people through His Spirit. That is the woman we see in Proverbs 31. Now, I do want to say before we go on, of course, on the surface level, this is a description and is aimed at women. It's interesting. When you read some of the commentaries, they actually say it's advice from a woman to other women on how to be this virtuous woman. So this leads me to point three, which is our final point. And point three is the church is the virtuous wife. Point three, the church is the virtuous wife. You know, at the end of point one, we were discussing how at his death, Jesus Christ's marriage to ancient Israel ended like until death do us part. When he died on the cross, that was. That was the. For sure, we're done here. But now the resurrected Jesus Christ is in heaven with the Father preparing a bride that he will marry at his second coming, which is this is the true church of God comprised of many individuals. So what does that mean here? What's something of a more direct takeaway? Can we take from this concept and what we've learned here in Proverbs 31? Let's turn over to Ephesians 5, 22, Ephesians 5, and we'll read verses 22 through 33, Ephesians 5, starting in verse 22. What is the ideal as we organize our lives according to the way God has established things? Well, the ideal here, Starting in verse 22 is wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. And I wasn't going to comment here originally, but when you're a member of the Church of God and Christ is preparing you to be the bride at his coming, the whole church fulfills the role of the wife. So this is also even an admonition for men in a sense. So again, think of this in terms of the Church as well, but also think of this in terms of our marriages and our families. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church and, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. So Paul begins here by describing an order within marriage. So the wife is called to willingly align herself under her husband's leadership in a way that mirrors the Church's devotion to Christ. So this is not just a mere social structure, but really reflects, as many things do in the Bible, a deeper spiritual reality, which is the bride of Christ and also Christ himself being the head and the Savior of the Church is the standard. But then I would argue, as we get ready to read, starting in verse 25 here next, that the greater weight of this passage actually falls on the husband's role. He's not simply to lead, but to love in a very specific and giving way, like Christ did. This means almost by definition a love defined by sacrifice, not dominance, as Christ does, being aware of her needs, cares and concerns. Therefore, a husband's love is meant to be nurturing, protective and self giving, treating his wife as inseparably connected to himself, just as one cares for his own body. So then we come down to verse 25, and a lot of the attention does shift to the husband in his role. Husbands, love your wives. Just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washings of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself as a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkles or any such thing, but that he should be holy without blemish. She should be holy without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife, loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the Church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. For this reason a man shall leave his Father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Now, it's interesting, Paul here is tying this back to the earliest verses of Genesis. Why would he tie that back? Because the fundamental, one of the most primary purposes of the marriage is it creates unity. Two people become one flesh. But then our marriages, whether we recognize it or not, and of course most in the world do not understand that symbolize a far greater purpose, in this case the marriage of Christ and the Church. We are acting out in our marriages what it means to marry Christ or for the Christ to marry the Church. It's a little bit. This might go too far, but it's a little bit like we're in our own parable as we are taking care of our husbands and our wives. Back to verse 32. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. This mystery is that human marriage is ultimately symbolic. It reflects the deeper, eternal union between Christ and the Church. And of course, Paul finishes by bringing it back to the practical, which is that husbands are to love their wives with genuine selfless care, and wives are to respond with respect. And again, you can think, maybe meditate on this later, about how that correlates to the Church and its mission and how we are all submitting ourselves fully to Christ's will to do what he wants. Brethren, we have the opportunity of a lifetime. Let's turn over to Revelation 19:78. In conclusion, Revelation 19:7, 8. You know, Jesus Christ, when you put all the Scriptures together and understand where he's coming from and what he wants to accomplish, is excited for this to occur. There's a lot of scripture devoted to this concept. And he wants to marry his bride, and he wants to present her to the whole world. And she will be an eternal example of what a virtuous wife looks like. Revelation 19:7. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous act of the saints. Much like the beginning of the proverb of the virtuous wife. Jesus Christ does and will present his wife to the world. And it kind of reminds me of what we learned about this proverb today, which is the question is, who can find a virtuous wife? Jesus Christ's response will be I have for her worth. Is beyond value.