The Church is the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, and the New Jerusalem where God will once again and for all eternity "dwell with man".
So, when will the
Pretribulaton Rapture of the Church take place? Whenever the Father and Jesus Christ decide it's time for it to happen, that's when. In the first century, when the New Testament was being written, there was a custom among the Jews in Galilee, that the father of the groom would decide when the time was right for his son to go and get his bride, who was off making herself ready while he waited. And so it is with the Rapture of the Church, the Son will go and pick up His Bride, the born again, blood-washed Church that Jesus started when He went to the cross. As I was writing this article, the
world population reached 7,777,777,777 people, what a great time for the Pretribulation Rapture!
"For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." 2 Corinthians 11:2 (KJB)
So with that in mind as we wait for our Beloved to come get us as He has promised, let's take a refresher course and remember how the born again Church is also the Body and Bride of Jesus Christ. I hope this mini-bible study will be a blessing to you, as we celebrate a global population running at all sevens across the board. Even so, come Lord Jesus, your Bride is ready!
Adam's bride was taken from his own body
"And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Genesis 2:21-23 (KJV)
The Bible tells us that God created Adam in His own image in Genesis 1, right? If you would have been alive in the Garden of Eden and seen Adam, you would have seen the very image of God Himself. OK, shortly after God created Adam, it was decided that he needed a wife for him to be complete, so God created a bride for Adam. But Eve was not taken "from the ground" as Adam was, she was made up of very different material. Eve was formed from one of Adam's ribs, from Adam's own body. This means that Adam's bride was also his body at the very same time. You might want to pause here for a moment and reflect on that, and allow that thought to wash over you as it did me the very time the Holy Spirit revealed that to me.
Jesus' bride is taken from his own body
Going 6,000 years back into the past, in the very beginning of Genesis, God has placed a wonderful and amazing type of the New Testament Church in the creation of Adam and Eve. For the "first Adam", God fashioned him a bride out of his own body. For the "last Adam" which 1 Corinthians tells us is Jesus Christ, God has done exactly the same thing. He has given Him a body from which He also has created a Bride.
"For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 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." Ephesians 5:30-32 (KJV)
If you are a born again, saved sinner in the Church Age, you are part of the body of Jesus Christ. You have been grafted in to His Body so that He now dwells inside of you. This doctrine is one of the great mysteries revealed to the apostle Paul:
"Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" Colossians 1:26,27 (KJV)
The Church is both the body and bride of Jesus Christ
Just as Adam was presented with a bride that was taken from his own body, so will God also present His Son, Jesus Christ, with a Bride also taken from His own body.
"For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." 2 Corinthians 11:2 (KJV)
If a "virgin" is presented to a "husband", then by very definition she is a "bride". This is exactly what the Holy Spirit had in mind when He wrote the following through the apostle Paul:
"For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing." Ephesians 5:23,24 (KJV)
Now we also know the identity of New Jerusalem
"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Revelation 21:2 (KJV)
This verse puzzles a whole lot of people who study the Bible, and rightly so, it's a tough one. I "chewed on it" for quite some time before the Lord allowed me to "connect the dots". The question here is this - if the Church made up of people is the bride of Jesus Christ, how is it possible that it can be a "city" at the same time? A city is a place where people live, yet Revelation seems to somehow be merging the two.
In John 14, beloved by so many millions of Christians, we read about the promise of Jesus to build us a "mansion" in Heaven. Not only that, the same passage also tells us that Jesus will "come and get us" in the Pretribulation Rapture. Those "mansions in Heaven" is what makes up the New Jerusalem from Revelation 21.
"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:1-3 (KJV)
So now we clearly where where the Church, the Bride, will live for eternity, but how is the Bride also a physical city? The answer is found in 1 Peter:
"To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded." 1 Peter 2:4-6 (KJV)
And here is where the "dam breaks open", and it all comes together in one glorious revelation
All through the Bible, Jesus Christ is revealed the foundational building block of our salvation, please note the following:
- THE STONE MADE WITHOUT HANDS: "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces." Daniel 2:34 (KJV)
- THE CORNER STONE: "Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." Isaiah 28:16 (KJV)
- A STONE OF STUMBLING AND ROCK OF OFFENCE: "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed." 1 Peter 2:7,8 (KJV)
If you have been born again, you are "flesh of his flesh" and "bone of his bone". Jesus is the "chief corner stone", we are His precious "living stones" who make up the New Jerusalem.
"And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst." Revelation 21:19,20 (KJV)
We don't just live in the New Jerusalem, we are the New Jerusalem!
The Church is the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, and the New Jerusalem where God will once again and for all eternity "dwell with man". God's glory will be forever made manifest in the thing for which He shed His own blood - the Church of Jesus Christ.
"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Revelation 1:5,6 (KJV)
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Acts 20:28 (KJV)
"Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate." Hebrews 13:12 (KJV)
Amen, come and get us Lord. We're ready.
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