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the time of the resurrection, God
"shall change our vile body [of cor–
ruptible tlesh], that it may be fash–
ioned like unto his [Christ ' s]
glorious [spirit-composed] body"
(Philippians 3:21). To fully under–
stand, you need our free booklet
Just What Do You Mean .. . Born
Again?
Then what?
Then there shall be a marriage!
But
how?
What kind?
God's purpose involved the rais–
ing up of his Church. It is God's
Church, named after the Father of
the God family - named the
Church of God. Every one who is a
repentant, obedient believer and an
overcomer, upon receiving God's
Holy Spirit, is baptized
by
God's
Spirit- BY ÜOD HIMSELF- into his
Church. The Church, spoken of as a
woman, is the affianced bride of the
living, glorified Christ.
At the time of resurrection and
Christ's coming in supreme power
and glory, the Church of God, its
members being changed to spirit
and made immortal, shall
enter into
the Kingdom of God.
At that time, Christ shall marry
his Church (Ephesians 5:22-33). At
that time, it is written, ' 'The Lord
omnipotent reigneth ... the mar–
riage of the Lamb is come, and
his
wife
hath made herself ready" (Rev–
elation 19:6-7). And verse 8 shows
the wife to be "the saints."
But why, prior to the marriage, is
the Church called
"his wife"?
Be–
cause God married Israel at Mt.
Sinai (Jeremiah 3: 14). The making
of the Old Covenant (Exodus 24:6-
8) was the marriage ceremony, set–
ting up Israel as not only wife and
Church, but also as a KINGDOM -
the kingdom of Israel.
The LORD (YHWH) of the Old
Testament is the Christ of the New
Testament. When Christ was cruci–
fied, Israel's husband died, paying
the penalty for Israel's sins.
But the Church
is
Israel, spiritu–
ally begotten. Gentile converts are
no longer foreigners to Israel (Eph-
PLAIN TRUTH November 1973
esians 2: 11-19). Israel is pictured as
the natural olive tree and Gentiles
as wild olive trees (Romans 11). But
because of unbelief, the natural
olive tree branches were broken off,
and Gentile converts, as branches of
wild olive trees, were grafted onto
the natural olive tree of Israel (verse
17). And natural-boro Israelites, by
repentance, belief and conversion,
are grafted back onto the Israelite
tree. The Church is pictured as
con–
verted Israel
-
or
spiritual Israel
(Romans 11 :23). The New Testa–
ment Church is Israel, spiritually!
Since Israel's husband died, she is
freed from her Old Testament mar–
riage and is
free to remarry.
Christ's
death paid the penalty of her sins
T
he most tragically
serious need in
education today is
in-the-home education
on the basic
importance of the
happy family structure
in our society.
(spiritual harlotries) as a church or
nation, as well as those of the indi–
viduals.
So the Church -
spiritual Israel –
becomes the affianced bride, to
MARRY Christ. And when this divine
marriage takes place, Christ will be
marrying HIS WlFE!
There is another reason why the
Church,
prior
to the wedding cere–
mony, is called "his wife." A be–
trothed woman, in Scripture, is
called her fiancé's WIFE, though the
marriage
has not yet been
BOUND -
prior to the marriage ceremony
(Matthew 1:18-20, 24). This was an–
cient Jewish practice. There was a
betrothal ceremony, called the
eros–
sin
ceremony. The betrotbed or
espoused woman remained in her
father's house until the wedding cer-
emony, called the
kiddushin
cere–
mony. At this
kiddushin
or wedding
ceremony, the marriage was bound.
Then the husband took his wife to
his own house.
Marriage Covenant ls
the Gospel
Jesus carne as
the messenger ofthe
covenant
(Malachi
3: 1).
He was the
messenger bringing us the message
of the New Covenant, which is the
marriage covenant which will estab–
lish the Church in the Kingdom of
God. Just as Moses was the medi–
ator of the Old Covenant, so is
Christ of the New Covenant. The
gospel is that MESSAGE! And just as
the marriage at Sinai
set up
the
Kingdom of Israel, so the marriage
of the Church to Christ will
set up
the Kingdom of God! So,
that
mar–
riage IS the gospel!
The gospel Jesus brought is the
GOOD NEWS of the coming Kingdom
of God.
This is a most important truth
which has not been fully recognized.
Let's be sure we understand it!
The Kingdom of God
is
the FAM–
ILY OF Goo! The Kingdom oflsrael
was the "children of Israel" - as
they are called repeatedly in the Old
Testament - which actually was the
FAMILY oflsrael or Jacob, which be–
carne one of the kingdoms - gov–
emments or nations - of the world.
In precisely the same manner, the
Kingdom ofGod will be the FAMILY
(spirit-born children) of God! It will
be the one and only world-ruling
kingdom - government - ruling
over all nations.
And what will the Kingdom of
God include? It will include those
saints spiritually born of God the
Father
andmarried to God the Son!
The GOSPEL of
J
esus Christ is the
GOOD NEWS of this Kingdom of
God. That kingdom includes those
(the Church) MARRIED to Christ!
So what does that mean?
It
simply becomes axiomatic that
when one becomes converted and is
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