Purifying the Bride of Christ

The Church is described in the Bible as the Bride of Christ (the bride imagery is eventually expanded to include all the saints from before and after the Church age when God brings home a Bride for His beloved Son).  The bride of the Lamb is described more fully in Revelation 21 as the Holy City Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.  The City is called the Bride because it takes on the character of its inhabitants:

“One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.”

 

Revelation 21:9-10 (NIV)

Read the rest of Revelation 21 for an amazing description of “the new Jerusalem”.

 

Jesus told His disciples that He has gone to prepare a heavenly home for His Bride and will return to take her home with Him:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.”

 

John 14:1-4 (NIV)

 

This will happen at the rapture of the saints:

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.  For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.  According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV)

 

Jesus told the parable of the ten virgins describing His coming for the Bride to take her to the wedding:

“‘Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.   Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.   Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.   But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

^‘And at midnight a cry was heard: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!”   Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.   And the foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.”   But the wise answered, saying, “No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.”   And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

^‘Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us!”   But he answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.”

‘Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.’”

Matthew 25:1-13 (NKJV)

 

After the rapture the Church will celebrate the marriage supper, be rewarded, and later return to earth with Christ when He comes again to set up His kingdom.

Meanwhile . . .

We are living through a day of many trials.  God is purifying His Bride and strengthening souls:

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

 

1 Peter 1:6-9 (NIV)

 

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.  And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  To him be the power for ever and ever.  Amen.”

 

1 Peter 5:8-11 (NIV)

 

“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

  

Romans 5:3-4 (NKJV)

 

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

 

James 1:2-4 (NIV)

 

As a result of faith believers receive constant deliverance from the power of sin now and finally the full redemption of our bodies in salvation.  With this in mind Peter explains how we are to live:

“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’

 1 Peter 1:13-16 (NIV)

 

God’s people are called to “be holy in all you do” because God is holy.  We glorify God best by being like Him.  Furthermore, godliness is the greatest witness of testimony to the power of Jesus Christ.  Robert Murray M'Cheyne said, “A holy minister is an awful weapon in the Hands of God.”  While becoming holy is a work of the Holy Spirit in us, and we cannot make ourselves holy without His help, notice that the command to “be holy in all we do” indicates that we have a responsibility in the matter.

 

Similarly, John wrote:

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

1 John 3:2-3 (NKJV)

Living in the reality of Christ’s return should make a difference in the believer’s behavior. We will someday be like Christ and a desire should be growing within us to be like Him now. This would be a good time to stop and evaluate if that is happening. Remember, sanctification is a process, but we should make sure we have not come to a standstill. God’s purpose is to save and sanctify His children and as He does so with each individual He is purifying the Bride of Christ. He is Faithful, and He will do it—if we let Him:

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

“Do not quench the Spirit.  Do not despise prophecies.  Test all things; hold fast what is good.  Abstain from every form of evil.

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”

 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-23 (NKJV)

 

God Himself will sanctify us completely, but we are to “not quench the Spirit” and “abstain from every form of evil”.  So while we can’t sanctify ourselves we do have a part to play, and God expects us to be responsible to play it.  We have to desire to honor Him more than we desire things that do not honor Him.  If you find that difficult to do ask Him to sanctify your desires and spend time in the Word and with Jesus.  Think of a bride who is consumed with getting ready for the wedding day—do you see Him as the promised Groom for His Bride, the Church, your Beloved?  The more we love Jesus the less other affections will have a grip on us.

Paul agrees with the Father’s will for a purified Bride for His Son:

“I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness.  Yes, please put up with me!  I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.  I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.  But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.  For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”

 

2 Corinthians 11:1-4 (NIV)

 

While Paul was specifically sharing his concern about false teachers he was also expressing his deep concern for the spiritual purity of the Corinthians and wanted them to be pure until the “marriage day” finally arrives as described in Revelation:

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.”

 

Revelation 19:7 (NIV)

 

Worthy is the Lamb.  Ask yourself, am I a worthy bride?  Am I making myself ready?  Do I have an adulterous relationship with food as an idol?  We fall far short of God’s holy standard daily but because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us we can be “holy and blameless in his sight”:

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

Ephesians 1:4 (NIV)

  

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

 

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)

 

“. . . that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith”

Philippians 3:8-9 (NKJV)

 

“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 washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

 

Ephesians 5:25-27 (NKJV)

  

Notice the “purifying” effect of His love.  Will you allow God to sanctify you?  Don’t quench the Holy Spirit, but instead respond to the prompting and conviction of the Holy Spirit and submit to God as He purifies the Church and readies the Bride for the Groom coming for the wedding day. 

Your Christian dietitian and friend in Christ,

Diane 

The Bride of Christ

God wants relationship with His children.  To clarify further—God desires intimate relationship with us.  The Bible describes God’s relationship with His people in several intimate ways—Father and son/daughter, Husband and wife, Bridegroom and bride, Friend.  The Husband-wife references are particularly to Israel, the Bridegroom-bride Scriptures refer to Christ and the Church and eventually expands to include all the redeemed of all the ages as becomes clear in Revelation.

Paul explains that marriage between a human husband and wife is a representation of the union between Christ and His Bride, the Church:

“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.   Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.   Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body.  ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’  This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

Ephesians 5:22-32 (NIV) 

Elsewhere Scripture describes the relationship of the Bridegroom with His bride:

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.”

 

Revelation 19:7 (NIV)

 

“One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’” 

Revelation 21:9 (NIV)

 

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’”

 

Revelation 22:17a (NIV)

 

“And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.’” 

Matthew 22:1-3 (NKJV)

 

“Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.  But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”

Romans 7:4-6 (NKJV)

 

Christ’s divine love for His Bride is a purifying love.  In His prayer to the Father for us Jesus says that he sanctified Himself in order to sanctify His Bride:

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

John 17:15-19 (NIV)

 

God’s divine love seeks to completely cleanse those He loves from every form of sin and evil.  For the reader who has developed an unhealthy relationship with food, if you experience conviction be thankful--you are dearly loved by God!  Submit to Him and He will take you through the temptation and bondage to cleansing and freedom.  Since it is not sin to enjoy food the Holy Spirit will not convict you of simply enjoying food.  Since it is sin to make food an idol a believer may be convicted by the Holy Spirit regarding their relationship with food but it is important to distinguish between the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the condemnation from the enemy because there is a lot of false guilt imposed by the culture in the area of food and body image.

 

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

Romans 8:1 (NKJV)

 

If you struggle with bondage to food I pray that you will know God's love for you and exchange your bondage to food with the incomparably more satisfying relationship with God.

For more encouragement you can check out the N.E.W. LIFE e-book which includes further support, the N.E.W. LIFE Eating Plan and additional nutrition information.

Your Christian dietitian and friend in Christ,

Diane 

Relationship With God: Faithful Husband and Bridegroom

One of the reasons for writing this blog is to help emotional eaters who struggle with an unhealthy relationship with food to turn to God and grow in relationship with Him.  God wants relationship with His children.  To clarify further—God desires intimate relationship with us.  The Bible describes God’s relationship with His people in several intimate ways—Father and son/daughter, Husband and wife, Bridegroom and bride, Friend.  The Husband-wife references are particularly to Israel, the Bridegroom-bride Scriptures refer to Christ and the Church.  Both imply a particularly intimate relationship:

“‘For your Maker is your husband—the LORD Almighty is his name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.  The LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—a wife who married young, only to be rejected,’ says your God.” 

Isaiah 54:5-6 (NIV)

 

“No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. . . for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married. . . as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” 

Isaiah 62:4-5 (NIV)

 

“‘In that day,’ declares the LORD, ‘you will call me “my husband”; you will no longer call me “my master”. . . I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.  I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD. . . I will show my love to the one I called “Not my loved one.”  I will say to those called “Not my people”, “You are my people”; and they will say, “You are my God.”’” 

Hosea 2:16, 19-20, 23 (NIV)

 

“‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.  Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’ declares the LORD.” 

Jeremiah 2:2b-3 (NIV)

 

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD.  ‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord.  ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” 

Jeremiah 31:31-33 (NIV)

 

“But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” 

Deuteronomy 7:8-9 (NIV)

 

God is in a covenant relationship with His people, just like a marriage!

 

All Bible commentators agree that as often written in the Bible, the idolatries of God’s people are as adulteries.  In many passages, God accuses Israel, sometimes in graphic language, of spiritual adultery and prostitution because of their unfaithfulness to His covenant love.  For example, after a very graphic read about Israel and Judah in Ezekiel 23:1-37 (I recommend you read it):

“They committed adultery with their idols . . .”  

Ezekiel 23:37b” (NIV)

“‘I myself said, “How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.”  I thought you would call me “Father” and not turn away from following me.  But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,’ declares the LORD.”                   

Jeremiah 3:19-20 (NIV)

A particularly convicting verse from Ezekiel 16 describes the sins of Samaria and Sodom:

“‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom:  She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.  They were haughty and did detestable things before me.  Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.’”

Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NIV)

 

But the passage goes on to say that the sins of corrupt Judah compared to Samaria and Sodom were multiplied and more abominable.

 

The idolatry of God’s people is often spoken of as spiritual harlotry in the Old Testament.  Here is one of many:

“See how the faithful city has become a prostitute!” 

Isaiah 1:21a (NIV)

 

But we must never miss His great compassion, love, and mercy:

“‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you.  For I am merciful,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not remain angry forever.  Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God . . .’” 

Jeremiah 3:12b-13b (NKJV)

 

“‘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.  And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.’” 

Jeremiah 3:14-15 (NKJV)

 

“‘Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your backslidings.’” 

Jeremiah 3:22 (NKJV)

 

“‘If you will return, O Israel,’ says the LORD, ‘Return to Me; And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, Then you shall not be moved.’” 

Jeremiah 4:1 (NKJV)

 

God pictured His covenant relationship with Israel as a marriage, and pleaded for His people to repent and return to Him.  The book of Hosea is the story of an adulterous wife and a faithful husband.  After bearing him children, Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea.  In spite of her adultery, Hosea continued to support her, but she thought that it came from her lovers!  Eventually, Gomer ended up on the slave market, totally degraded.  God commanded Hosea to go and buy back his errant wife out of slavery and restore her as his wife.  The restoration of Gomer by Hosea is a picture of God taking back His adulterous people.  Perhaps the most moving text of all is when God commanded the prophet Hosea to buy back his estranged wife, the prostitute Gomer:

“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.’

“So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley.”

Hosea 3:1-2 (NKJV)

 

What a picture of God’s love for His wayward people!  The Bible is God’s love letter to us.  Do you read it?  The physical immorality of the wife, Gomer, is a picture of the spiritual idolatry of Israel.  The meaning of the name “Hosea” is “salvation”, the same as that of Joshua and Jesus.  Hosea was a prophet in the time of Israel when kings from both the northern kingdom Israel and the southern kingdom Judah repeatedly sought out alliances with their heathen neighbors rather than seeking the Lord’s help, not too dissimilar to repeatedly turning to food for “help”, even developing a relationship with food, rather than seeking the Lord’s help.

 

While the Husband-wife references in the Bible specifically describe God’s relationship with Israel, Christians are in a New Covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  God is so serious about His Covenant relationship with us that He calls anything that takes us away from our relationship with Him spiritual unfaithfulness, or adultery!

  “Adulterers and adulteresses!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’?  But He gives more grace. . . Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

James 4:4-6a, 7-8a (NKJV)

 

Importantly, the Greek word for friendship used here describes a strong emotional attachment.  Dear reader, do you have a strong emotional attachment to food?  If so, be encouraged.  God’s “more grace” can rescue us from spiritual adultery.  God’s “more grace” is greater than the power of sin, the flesh, the world, and Satan.  And the Word of God, written for our good:

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”  

1 John 5:21 (NIV)

 

Think about the unprofitableness of idolatry.  People generally yield to sin because they think it will bring some advantage, albeit temporary.  For example, when I was in the throes of my food addiction I felt that bingeing would “satisfy” the cravings and any uncomfortableness that resulted if I didn’t binge.  It seemed like it did satisfy (because I did not have the real satisfaction that comes from God to compare it to) but very soon the cravings would always return—every day for 15 years straight--until I finally yielded myself to God and began the real journey to Healing where the underlying issues and pain were resolved.  The idolatry of food brought me no overall gain whatsoever (except weight gain!).  In fact, it was a huge expenditure.  I wasted an incredible amount of time, energy, emotions, money, food and health bingeing on food which only kept me “stuck” emotionally instead of moving forward.  Furthermore, idols cannot appease cravings.  In fact, they actually do the opposite as they only serve to excite the desire further.

Next week I will write about the believer’s relationship to God as the Bride of Christ, the Church.

For more encouragement you can check out the N.E.W. LIFE e-book which includes further support, the N.E.W. LIFE Eating Plan and additional nutrition information.

Your Christian dietitian and friend in Christ,

Diane