BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM
[p. 253] BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM
Address at a Marriage
Revelation 19:7,8; Revelation 21:9-11; Revelation 21:1,2 In reading Matthew 25 somewhat early this morning with our dear brother — to express fellowship with whom and our dear sister this meeting is convened — we had the significant word before us, “Behold, the bridegroom”. Matthew 25:6. It has remained during the day in one’s mind as peculiarly fitting. It was not selected for the occasion; it was our ordinary morning reading, but it seemed significant that the mind should be turned to it. However valued our brother is (and he and our sister are valued as of those in whom God has wrought), the Spirit of God would say to us throughout this day, and particularly now, “Behold, the bridegroom”. Matthew 25:6. The Holy Spirit has been saying this for years, the word being added, “go forth to meet him”; and there have been results. Indeed, according to the parable, the ten virgins trimmed their lamps and went forth, but I speak of the mind of the Spirit as entering into the present occasion. I am not diverting from our beloved brother and sister. They would, I am sure, wish to be diverted from themselves; and the only true way is to have our attention called to Christ. That is the great balancing, modifying thing in these circumstances; for every lover of His, however much he may be in prominence, wishes that he should be eclipsed by Him, in the spirit of John the baptist, who said, “He must increase, but I must decrease”. John 3:30.
These scriptures call attention to Christ, and also to the bride, in the most instructive and touching manner, but always as subservient to Him, whether it be the Lamb’s wife in chapter 19: “the bride, the Lamb’s wife”,
in chapter 21:9; or “a bride adorned for her husband”, in chapter 21:2. That is the final view of the assembly. She is thinking of him. That is the divine thought. The assembly is for Him. And that suggests, dear brethren, how an occasion of this kind — and we are thankful for these occasions, and would they were more frequent according to God, for marriages “in the Lord” contribute to the testimony — is of great interest to heaven and serves as an opportunity for the Spirit of God to bring Christ before us; and no occasion can be spiritually profitable otherwise. So the remarks I make will be to direct our minds to this great matter of marriage as a whole and what it means in the mind of God; for He is the Author of it. Hardly any event appeals more to natural feelings than a marriage, and these must always be dissipated if the occasion is to be profitable, and they are only truly dissipated by our minds being directed to Christ by the Spirit.
The Spirit has been occupied with Christ from the institution of marriage, and will be until the last marriage celebration — that of Christ and the assembly — will be in its bearing the final marriage. This passage in the beginning of Revelation 21 alludes to the eternal state of things. The Spirit of God has been occupied throughout with Christ, and the more spiritual we are in having to do with these occasions, the more Christ will be in mind and the more urgent will be the Spirit in our hearts saying, “Behold, the bridegroom”. Matthew 25:6. Were we to be ushered into heaven today, would that not be so? We should not ask His name; there is only One really. In the full consummation of the divine thought, there is only one Bridegroom; and therefore in the eternal state of things, all else is subservient. And so throughout, the primary thought is, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” Genesis 1:26; that is, man is to be the representation of God here and for ever; so that Christ is said to be the “image of the invisible God”. Colossians 1:15. Christ is the image of God — not made that; He is that. But Adam was a figure of Him; and that, dear brethren, puts this occasion in its own proper place; for it relates to what we are here, our head, Adam, in innocency, being only a figure of Him that was to come; and this applies to marriage, as I have said; so that what has taken place today points to Christ. Thus, “Behold, the bridegroom”, Matthew 25:6 enters into all marriages that are according to God. “Let us make man”, was a great thought. “Male and female created he them” Genesis 1:26,27; that is, the female, the woman, is the expansion of the thought, in order to create an area of reciprocated affection and feelings. That is seen perfectly in Christ and the assembly, and is held by faith. It is the radiation of affections from the man to the woman and from the woman to the man; and with that, intelligence — understanding — for the assembly characteristically understands Christ, and that brings in headship. It brings in union and headship so that there is a proper representation of God here. The thought of love is extended enormously by two thus joined together. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “What ... God has joined together”. Matthew 19:6, Mark 10:9. What an affecting and far-reaching thought! And it enters into every marriage “in the Lord”. So there is radiation of affection and mutual feeling, and with that, the intelligence that belongs to this divinely ordered state, and that thought is eternal. It will soon be seen consummated in Christ and the assembly, and only there; so that all we have in the meantime, whether it be Jehovah’s relation to Israel or whether it be the present state of things or the millennial state of things with Israel, these are all provisional, leading up to the one great thought when the assembly comes down as “a bride adorned for her husband”. She is said to be the holy city, the new Jerusalem, something that had not been before — new Jerusalem.
[p. 256] Well, in making these remarks, it is only to touch briefly on the passages read; but I would wish particularly that the brethren have clearly in their minds the great divine thought in this institution and how it all culminates. However extended it may seem to be, it all culminates in the divine thought. It is consummated in Christ and the assembly, abiding for ever. It is a primary thought and hence an eternal one. The bride is seen in the beginning of Revelation 21 as considering for Christ, for it says, “adorned for her husband”, and so in all the types — Adam and Eve, Isaac and Rebecca, Joseph and Asnath, Moses and Zipporah, Othniel and Achsah, Boaz and Ruth, and David and Abigail. It is all the same thing; all converging on the one thing, that the man was not made for the woman but the woman for the man. She is “out of” him to bring about a state of things that accentuates the thought of love in its radiation, which could not be otherwise; and we should have part in that and grasp it, and know what union is and what the assembly’s place is in relation to Christ in eternal ages.
So in Revelation 19 it is a celebration — “the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” Revelation 19:6; that is, God has created a free state of things; for marriage is supposed to take place under those circumstances, not under pressure — not in a state of war, but in a free state of things, God omnipotent clearing the way. “Let us rejoice and exult, and give him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready”. His wife, that is the object; it is the assembly in this provisional time as His confidante. She is His wife, and so trusted by Him; and this is important in every marriage. “And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure”. It was given to her; that is, she is never seen as acting independently. It is what is suitable under those circumstances. She is given the privilege [p. 257] of clothing herself in those garments, and they are said to be “the righteousnesses of the saints”; that is to say, looking back upon our history, every one of us doing his part. How suggestive this is as to our beloved brother and sister here and their household, the mutual side of things, what is clean and bright, and the explanation being righteousness — one righteousness after another, and viewed as a garment. What a wife! her clothing composed of a number of righteousnesses one after another, and yet it is not assumed that she could have this of her own right. She is “granted” the privilege. It is the principle of subjection throughout.
In Revelation 21:9 she is shown. The angels that had to do with the rival, that is, the false bride who sits a queen and is no widow — one of those says, “I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife”. And John says, “And he carried me away in the Spirit; and set me on a great and high mountain, and shewed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God”. He sees the city, that is to say, the principle in the wife in administration, of being able to carry on in the absence of her husband — a very important matter, for it is often a necessity that a wife has to administer, has to do the household ruling; and this is the principle of the city; and in the rule, there is the radiation of light. She comes down from God. That is another great point, that she has to do with God. A wife must have to do with God. It implies that she prays. How could she rule the house otherwise? And this wonderful city illumines the universe and rules over it; the principle of rule emanates from it. But then you see how applicable it is to any wife. She comes down from God out of heaven. She has to say to God. A wife can have to say to God, taking things up with God and on the elevation of heaven. How different from the ordinary custom in young [p. 258] wives of following the ways and the fashions of the world in the furnishing and ordering of their houses! Heaven suggests the moral elevation that belongs to the wife in a household in which God is recognised.
And then finally she is “the holy city, new Jerusalem”. A great principle has been at work, so that this wonderful city is new Jerusalem, the word indicating that there has never been a Jerusalem like this. There is only one, and she is adorned for her Husband. That is the great principle. It is set out in the original creation of man and woman, that the woman is for the man, and so the assembly is for Christ; and she is for Him in suitable attire, attire that will endure eternally. She is adorned for her Husband, not for public show.
That is all I had in mind, dear brethren, and especially directing one’s remarks to our brother and sister; for although these are great eternal thoughts, they may be brought down. Such are the thoughts of God that they can be brought down to the smallest necessary compass. God Himself came down, God manifest in the flesh. God came in in smallness, as a Babe, so as to be with us; and so all His great thoughts can be brought down to bear, as needed, on our circumstances, so as to become formative.