© 2000
THE SPOTLESS BRIDE
Fr. Edwin StubeBefore Jesus comes again, two momentous tasks must be completed:
1. The Church will have to be perfected and united. When Christ comes, He must be able to “present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). The maturing of the Church is the goal of the ministry of apostles and prophets and the other ascension gifts of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16).
2. The kingdoms of this world must become the Kingdom of God and of His Christ. This means that we are involved in world conquest according to the purposes of God. This conquest will not involve fighting each other, but will be a spiritual warfare involving deep intercession and manifestation of the power and glory of the Lord. Actually, the perfecting and uniting of the Church is a prerequisite for the winning of the nations for the Kingdom of God. The Church must be renewed so that it can manifest the purposes and the glory of God. The world has no other witness than that of the Church to the power and love of God. This witness requires our total obedience to the scriptural pattern for the Church and to the minute-by-minute guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Sons of God
All of creation groans in travail awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:18). The sons of God are people who have attained to the likeness of Christ. They can be men or women just as the bride of Christ is made up of both. 1 John 3 explains that we are fortunate to be born as children of God. But John goes on to say that when we see Jesus as He is, we will be like Him. The children of God grow into sons of God as they continue to look at Him.
2 Corinthians 3 presents us with a miraculous mirror. When we look into an ordinary mirror, we each see our own likeness. The mirror adjusts to each observer. The mirror of 2 Corinthians 3 is more amazing yet. When we look into this mirror, we see, not ourselves, but Jesus. It is our face that changes; we are transformed to be like Him. We will then be unleashed on the world as a many-personed company of the sons of God.
This is the time of the manifestation of the sons of God. The world is waiting in travail for us. Unbelievers live broken, tormented lives. They seek reality in drugs, occult practices, and strange religions. They destroy each other on the streets of our cities and they destroy their countries with religious and tribal wars. The world around us and around the globe cannot fully know the glory of God until the sons of God are revealed.
Jesus’ prayer for His little group of disciples at the last supper, which also included prayer for us, was that they and we would manifest His glory. It is impossible that this prayer of Jesus not be fulfilled. When the sons of God are revealed, many around the world will suddenly realize what they have been seeking, and their longings will be fulfilled in the reality of the glory of God.
The Glory Revealed
Jesus revealed His glory in the world through the miracles He did. It is said of His first miracle of providing wine at a wedding in Cana that his glory was revealed and His disciples believed in Him. His authority and His glory were manifested in miraculous feeding of crowds, stilling of storms, healing the sick, casting out demons, confusing the Pharisees, and raising the dead. He trained His first disciples to continue these manifestations of His glory, and He left instructions for us to do likewise.
Churches have lately been somewhat lazy about following these instructions; but those who have received the fulness of the Holy Spirit are in travail (i.e., intense intercession) for the manifestation of the sons of God. We are praying that the manifestation of the glory of God through the sons of God will come to fulfillment in our churches, as well as in less formal gatherings outside of churches.
Jesus was most fully glorified in His death and resurrection. He is also glorified when we make our lives a sacrifice for Him and for others.
Prophetic Intercession
Miracles have to be spoken into existence by saying what God gives us to say. Jesus used words of command to still storms, cast out demons, heal sickness, raise dead people, and wither a fig tree. He spoke authoritative words of instruction to His disciples to feed multitudes, and to servants to provide wine for the wedding feast in Cana. When Jesus sent out His disciples on ministry training journeys, He told them to cast out demons and heal the sick. When they came back, they reported, “Wow! Even the demons are subject to us in Your Name!”
Christians often tend to understand intercession as petitioning God to do something. They plead for healing of bodies and minds, for conversions, for world peace, and a multitude of other requests that seem right to them. Petitioning is aimed from earth to heaven; commanding operates from heaven to earth. We command what God commands; we speak things into being in Jesus’ Name. Jesus told His disciples that they could command mountains to fall over.
The catch to this is that we have to know exactly what God commands in any given situation. This should not be too difficult since Jesus promised that His sheep would hear His voice. But, of course, we have to cultivate a close relationship with our Shepherd and be constantly listening for His voice.
Just as Ezekiel was instructed to prophesy to a bunch of dead bones, turning them into a powerful army, so we can prophesy to our churches, our communities, and even to nations to bring them into line with God’s purposes.
Becoming Manifest Sons
The conditions for the sons of God to be manifested are hearing and obeying. This will involve laying aside our own natural wisdom, ability, and experience (except, of course, our experience of God’s presence) and inviting His presence to flood our fellowship, our church, our community, and nations.
This manifestation will occur first in fellowships or churches that are earnestly seeking God’s presence, making this a first priority, spending time and effort together in deep prayer. Even now it is happening in many places.
The manifest presence of God is exportable. When people go out from fellowships in which the glory of God has been manifested, their very presence on the streets, in public places, and wherever the Spirit of God leads them will be contagious; people will sense something different and many will be drawn to them to receive a share of that glory. Members of such fellowships will be able to enter other gatherings of Christians and convey the presence of God to them. Just by praying in such places, they will cause a remarkable transformation.
Unity
We know that the church has to be in unity. At His last supper with His disciples, Jesus prayed that we would all be one as He and His Father are one. This prayer has to be fulfilled before Jesus comes again. If the members of the body are scattered, here an arm, there a foot, there an ear, where will the Head be placed at His coming? In terms of the worldwide mission of the church, unity is an absolute necessity. Our divisions give witness to a debatable gospel and to a people who cannot agree on anything.
The churches have appointed endless commissions and held numerous councils to explore areas of common ground and to bring organizational unity to the church, but these have not really kept up with the proliferation of new denominations.
The truth of God is so great that no individual or group of individuals can comprehend it all. Each denomination, church, and group of believers has a portion of the truth. Unfortunately, each tends to think it has the whole truth and that the others are wrong. Therefore, they lack mutual trust and have trouble sharing their insights and learning from each other.
We are certainly not talking about organizational unity or a new inclusive denomination, nor are we talking about uniformity in worship or culture or structures for ministry and outreach. We are talking about submission to the Holy Spirit, working together in harmony under the Lord’s direction. (The hand and the mouth, though very different in form and function, work together to enable us to eat, not because they have formulated principles for cooperation, but because both are obedient to the head). Their obedience is total and instantaneous.
If all members of the worldwide body of Christ practiced this kind of obedience to the Head, unity would be inevitable and without discussion or argument.
Whenever Paul speaks of the unity of the Body of Christ, he almost invariably goes on to talk about the diversity of gifts and functions of the members. In Ephesians 4, he begins in verse 4 to stress the unity of the body, but in verse 7, he states that “grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” In verse 11, he begins to enumerate ministries in the body, speaking of them as gifts: “His gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ,”
All members of the body have different gifts and functions. The purpose of the leadership is to promote the development of the ministries of all the members. These gifts and ministries are essential for the total ministry of all the members and also to bring the body into unity and to perfection. Every church has a unique call from the Lord. They need to discern clearly what God’s purpose for them is and how they are to pursue it.
The Bride of Christ
The ultimate destiny of the church is to become the Bride of Christ. This speaks of a level of maturity beyond our present knowledge.
We all like babies; but no one really wants them to stay babies. Surely no man wants to marry a baby. Jesus is no exception. He is coming back for a mature Bride—one who is on His level in holiness and obedience to the Father, one who shares His vision, His purposes, and His work, one who loves as He loves, and is prepared to spend eternity with Him.
The Song of Songs gives us an analogy of the process by which the bride is prepared. The lover comes leaping over mountains and invites the beloved to join him. She is not ready to respond and sulks in her room. The invitation is repeated in different ways. Gradually, through his wooing and her bitter lessons, she learns to respond instantly. Eventually they can go forth hand in hand to look at their fields. They have learned to respond to each other, to think and act as one person.
In Ephesians 5, the relationship of husband and wife is seen as a picture of the relationship of Christ to the church. He cleanses the church of all impurities, nourishes her by being the Word, and He gives His life for her. The church, in turn, submits totally to Him, allowing Him to do His perfect work in her life.
In Revelation 19, we read about the culmination of this process when the whole host of heaven rejoices:
“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.Evaluation
In response to the scriptural pattern suggested above, we can either pass it off as impractical or outdated, or we can take it seriously. If we decide to do the latter, we can well begin by meditating on the above propositions and comparing them with the present state of the churches we know. We can repent where necessary on behalf of ourselves and our churches for any shortcomings we may notice. We can then ask the Lord to do whatever is necessary to make us mature sons of God who can manifest His glory in our lives and ministry. He who is the Word will also speak into the life of His church to prepare her as His spotless Bride.
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