THE COVERING BRIDE
CONT., page 5
THE COVERING BRIDE
This is the hardest part in the transition of this teaching, for to elaborate further is to bring information which is entirely new to you (as though this is not), and new information is always extremely hard to relate to. We will continue in our examination of Abram and Sarai in their most significant pattern for faith man.
First, let us note that in order to bring forth offspring, there must be this male/female combination. There cannot be offspring without both. This is a most important point to realize. Yahweh established it this way for a reason - it foreshadows what He will do in bringing forth these godly offspring at the highest level. Keep in mind now, there of absolute necessity must be this male/female relationship in order to bring forth godly offspring. If you miss this, you will fail to grasp what Yahweh's plans are in His kingdom. There must be the masculine entity as well as the feminine entity in the works of Yahweh.
Where do we see these two entities in the kingdom of God? First and most obvious, we certainly see the masculine entity of the kingdom of God in the body of Christ. Christ was male and His body is thus male. So, we certainly have in the kingdom the male aspect. And, as patterned in the beginning of time (even as we are in the beginning of the kingdom of God), the masculine work precedes the feminine work. As Adam was created first and accomplished his task of naming all the animals prior to Eve ever coming on the scene, so the masculine entity of the kingdom of God, the body of Christ, precedes the feminine entity in His kingdom, the bride of Christ. But, as we all know and as Yahweh noted, it is not good for the male entity to be alone. The masculine body of Christ needs a bride, the feminine, not only for companionship, and not only for offspring, but for another most important purpose which we will see in a moment.
From where will this bride for the body of Christ come? The answer is very simple. Where did Adam, the first man, get his bride? God took her out of his side. He put the man to sleep and took a bride from his side. If the bride of the first Adam came from his opened side while he slept, then the bride of the body of Christ, the body of the "last Adam," will equally come from its opened side while it sleeps. This, of course, is dramatically and clearly testified to by the blood and water coming from the pierced side of the literal body of Christ while He "slept." The bride of Christ cannot and will not be the body of Christ, as believed by most, but must come out of the body. And though I cannot elaborate upon this, the bride of Christ will be the two part Remnant which is established by the former and the latter rains of the Holy Spirit at the very beginning of the church period on the day of Pentecost, and at the very end of the church period - today.
This two-part work is the bride of Christ and will fulfill the unique qualities of the female in that it will be capable of bearing the godly offspring, will not possess the things of this world (as women of the Bible did not have great possessions, those belonging to and being passed on through the masculine; and certainly the masculine body of Christ has possessed the things of this world), it does not go to war (as the body of Christ has, and the reason for which David could not build the temple of Yahweh), it will be a keeper at home with a gentle and quiet spirit (which the masculine body of Christ has not always evidenced), it will obtain the long-hair-represented glory (which the short-haired masculine body of Christ will not obtain), and, as we will see, it will provide a most essential role as the feminine bride for the sake of the body, including not only providing companionship, completeness (the two making one), procreation, but also the body's interim covering.
Recall that until Abram was circumcised in the foreskin of his flesh and received the covering of Yahweh's covenant, when he was aroused to the place of bringing forth offspring, and thus physically his "head" became uncovered, it was Sarai that fulfilled that vital covering. This is the identical foreshadowed role of the bride of Christ for the body of Christ.
Once again, the newness of this information to the reader makes it more difficult to relate. Attempting to keep this brief, the body of Christ does not exist just today, but rather it is a 2,000 year old body - an old fella, the oldest work of Yahweh in the history of mankind. But his bride won't be so old. In fact, she will be very young - without spot or wrinkle (which is more than can be said for the old masculine body). The members of this 2,000 year old body will not receive their resurrected bodies at the return of Christ, as they expect. No, they will stay in their earthly flesh and be refined as silver and tested as gold (Zechariah 13:7-9). Those "blessed and holy" ones who will be resurrected first into incorruptible, born from above bodies, will be the glorified two-part Remnant - the Moses/Elijah Remnant that is glorified on the mountain while the three-part body of Christ church sleeps. The Remnant is glorified as promised in Revelation 20:4-6, while the 2,000 year long period of the body of Christ is cut off by death and sleeps (Zechariah 13:7-9).
If this is entirely new to you, you are probably at a total blank as to what I am saying. But let us look at this again in light of what we saw with pattern-setting Abram and Sarai. Here we will see one of the marvelous benefits that the bride of Christ provides for the body of Christ.
Until Abram was circumcised in his flesh, Sarai was the interim covering for him. When Christ returns, the body of Christ will likewise not be circumcised of their flesh. Those who have been in the 2,000 year old body of Christ who have died, and those in this present day who do not come out of the body of Christ at the outpouring of the latter rain to become the bride of Christ, will remain in natural earthly bodies - uncircumcised of the flesh. Or in relation to Adam and Eve, they await their "garments of skin," heavenly-born skin, that is directly provided by Yahweh to replace their earthly-born fig leave coverings. (The dead who are in Christ will be resurrected back into earthly bodies to be held accountable for their actions and to be purified.) These will not be circumcised of the flesh, but rather their bodies will still be earthly flesh, earthly fig leaves.
Now, what will be the state of this earthly-fleshed body of Christ? It will be a body that is uncircumcised of its flesh; and when the body and the bride come together to produce godly offspring, the body, like uncircumcised Abram, is uncovered in its ability to bring forth offspring. Thus we see one of the most marvelous purposes of the bride of Christ - it will be the interim covering for the masculine body of Christ until the masculine body can become circumcised in its flesh, until it can put off these bodies of earthly flesh and put on bodies of the incorruptible, the heavenly bodies that are promised to them but which they have had to wait for. Until the body of Christ can be circumcised of its flesh, it will be covered by the glorified, long haired, bride of Christ. This is a truly most marvelous and highly revealing evidence from Yahweh's perfect word.
And speaking of His word, do you recall all the times during the life and the crucifixion of Christ when it was stated that these events occurred "as it was written." Well, "as it was written" the bride of Christ will be the covering of the body of Christ. This is not only seen in the testimony of Abram and Sarai, but as proclaimed by Yahweh through the prophet Jeremiah.
Solomon declared that "there is nothing new under the sun." In the sense that all things are lived out in prophetic foreshadowings at lower prophetic levels beforehand, this is true. But, when the actual fulfillment comes, THAT IS NEW! Christ was foreshadowed in many ways before He came to this earth - as a Passover lamb, as a serpent on a pole, as Jonah in the great fish, etc. But none of these were the true fulfillment. When Christ came, this was something that in actual fulfillment was new!
In Jeremiah 31:22 we read a promise by Yahweh that is to be "a new thing." Will it be new? Of course it will be, even as the arrival of Christ was new. But before it comes, it will definitely be foreshadowed. What is this new thing? Let us read.
For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth -
A woman will encompass a man."
Has a woman ever encompassed a man? Multiple millions and billions of times. Every time a man and a woman come together in conjugal relationship, the woman encompasses the man. So what can be so new about a woman encompassing a man? The actual fulfillment of the prophetic pattern is the "new thing." When the bride of Christ is established to become, among many other purposes, the interim covering of the uncircumcised body of Christ, this scripture will be fulfilled - "For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth (new in time, and new heavenly bodies) - a woman will encompass a man." This scripture will be fulfilled when the feminine bride of Christ will encompass and become the interim covering for the masculine body of Christ; that is, until the body of Christ can be circumcised of their flesh. When the body and the bride unite in the Millennial reign to bring forth godly offspring, the glorified bride will become the legal interim covering for the fleshly body.
As we saw and established at the onset of this writing through the testimony of the fig leaves, through the evidences that the world is the womb of mankind, through the witness of the flesh as the first covering of Abraham, through the testimony of the removal of the earthly turban worn by the priest in deference to the covering of Christ over the man, we come to see that the first earthly covering is not a sufficient covering and must be replaced by the greater spiritual covering provided by Yahweh. Paul gives us a just account of these bodies we live in, as well as the longing and the hope of this awaited change.
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed (or, covered), in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life (2 Corinthians 5:1-4).
Until this great change is effected, man remains in the dreadful state identified by Paul as being - earthly, perishable, sown in dishonor, weak, and natural. The great transformation of this state provides us in contrast - the heavenly, imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:35-44). It will be this former state for which the resurrected and glorified bride of Christ will become the interim covering, even as Sarai was the interim covering for precircumcised Abram. Yahweh will then perform "a new thing" as the glorified bride of Christ that comes out of her husband, the preceding body of Christ, serves as the interim covering of the body - the woman will encompass the man. As written in the Scriptures, the first will be last, and the last will be first. The last-created bride will enter into resurrection before the first-created body; but not without cause, as she will be the interim covering of the body; and not without the foretelling pattern, as we have seen in the Scriptures.
In conclusion here, the covering of the body of Christ will continue to be their earthly flesh. Yahweh will circumcise them of this flesh at their appointed time, replacing it with His heavenly provision (even as foreshadowed with Abraham and attested to by the replacement of the fig leaf coverings for Adam and Eve with the "coverings of skin," heavenly-born skin). But until then, in the realm of bringing forth offspring, the glorified bride will be the covering for the still fleshly body. The bride will be the interim covering of the body in this requirement. Oh the wonder and the marvel of Yahweh and His unfathomable word! Praise be to the name of Yahweh!
Continue to page 6 of The Covering Bride for CHRIST AND HIS BODY