His Bride's Day

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Chapter 8

THE WEDDING!

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The Old Testament, that so assiduously protected the reality of God's absolute transcendence, presents God (YHWH) as personally coming and placing His feet on the Mount of Olives.

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It was for this reason that Jesus came back to Jerusalem and climb this mountain with His disciples before ascending back to the Father. Therefore, to this geographic location He will return, as the angels told the disciples after He had left, and so Zechariah's prophecy will be fulfilled (Zec.14:4).

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This convergence of the two Testaments is also evident concerning Christ's return. Note the following correlation between the two Testaments of Scripture:

Old Testament		New Testament
"Then the Lord (Yhwh), my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!" (Zechariah 14:5).	1	"God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 4:14).

"the Lord will go forth ...in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives" (Zechariah 14:3,4).	2	"For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:14).

"Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits." (Isaiah 26:19).	3	"and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16,18).

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The return of Jesus in the glory of His Father, is the fulfillment of every longing of those who love Him. Hallelujah! Yet, the figures of speech used in Scripture to describe this reunion cannot adequately portray the unbridled joy and wonder of this coming event.

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A focus on accompanying signs, both on and off-planet, is also inadequate to reflect this awesome event. It is not the inadequacy of Scripture but the limitation of human language and comprehension. Aware of this shortcoming we can approach the metaphors of Scripture without tripping over absurd mental images.

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For instance, the concept of celebration and fellowship are combined in this metaphor of a banquet, which is further developed in the New Testament as the marital banquet; a celebration of the most intense form of togetherness and sharing.

"the Lord of Hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine. On this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth for the Lord has spoken."

(Isaiah 25:6-8).

"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready."

(Revelation 19:7).

"Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb."

(Revelation19:9).

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Jesus' purpose in our redemption is not simply reactive to our lost condition. His salvation is much more than simply a mission to rescue the damned. The Bible says:

"He sanctified her ... that He might present to Himself the Church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing..."

Ephesians 5:26,27.

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His purpose is our glorious union with Him – a union in which, as His Bride, all that is His becomes ours! John, His most loyal and spiritually sensitive disciple, tells us that,

"when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is."

1 John 3:2.

Entering the

Joy of Her Lord

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At His coming, my-whole-being is born into His newness, my body will now be enlivened by His Spirit alone! It is a physical resurrection, into an explosive expansion of consciousness. Never again will my spirit speak and my mind not understand it (1Cor.14:13). Now, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" is at last fulfilled!

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In our resurrection He glorifies His Bride before all the earth; bringing every part of the whole, all that He has made, into this liberty of ours - the Kingdom of God come! (Rom.8:21).

This is the effect of Christ's return!

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