The Bride

Jesus did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Before He walked on our earth, He rejoiced always before the face of God, and His delight was with the sons of men. There were, no doubt, myriads of angels and abundant beauty and wonder there in eternity, which we here cannot even imagine; but nothing of that could satisfy Jesus’ heart. His delight was with the sons of men.

When God created all things and found them to be very good, He then created the first man, Adam, whom He placed in the Garden of Eden to care for it. You would think that Adam would have been quite content there, but that was not the case. God understood this better than Adam. Therefore the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Gen. 2:18. “And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam . . . He took one of his ribs, and . . . made [it] into a woman, and He brought her to the man.” Verses 21-22. Then Adam said, “Finally, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” [Norw.]. Verse 23.

Adam had felt this lack for a long time, which is why he cried out, “Finally, bone of my bones.” It is exactly the same with the second Adam, Christ. He is longing for His bride, whom He purchased at a great price. This bride must be taken from among the children of men. To win her, Jesus forsook His heavenly glory and came down to where His beloved bride dwelt. However, it wasn’t enough for Him to come down here; He had to take upon Himself the very same flesh and blood we have and become like us in all things. This was in order that He might go through the veil, which is His flesh, and open the way upon which His bride would walk in order to come to Him; from the corruptible into the incorruptible and eternal. Christ was faithful when He walked on earth, and now His desire is that His bride will be just as faithful in the days of her flesh. This is how we become one flesh with Christ. “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Eph. 5:32. The man is to forsake his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. We are not just to receive the Spirit of Christ, we are to be led by the Spirit, so that our body is presented to God as a living sacrifice that is well-pleasing to Him—united in one flesh.

We have been born from above of incorruptible seed by the Word of God which lives and abides forever. This same Word nourishes us, and we grow by it. We begin as a child, and then we grow up to be a pure virgin for Christ. This pure virgin is for Christ what Eve was for Adam. The difference is that this is a heavenly relationship, while that of the first parents was earthly. There are also virgins [young girls, Norw.] without number. This means there are many who have not become mature, so Christ is not able to woo any of them. The bride of Christ is a mature woman whose very nature expresses a divine love. She is lovesick. “Sustain me with cakes of raisins, refresh me with apples,” she cries out.

A bride is not thinking of gifts or rich delicacies. Her thoughts and care for herself have vanished. It’s only the bridegroom! “But my own vineyard I have not kept. Tell me, O you whom I love, where you feed your flock, where you make it rest at noon.” She does not entrust herself to just anyone. She is a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. She would rather suffer in the flesh than reveal her secrets to anyone other than her bridegroom. She is what she is: the perfect realization of everything to which a human being can attain. By the grace of God, she is partaking of divine nature.