THE BRIDEGROOM
[p. 242] THE BRIDEGROOM
Psalm 19:4 - 6; John 3:29 - 31; Revelation 22:16,17
The thought of Christ as the Bridegroom is that He has an influence and a voice. The great need, especially for young believers, is to come under His influence, and His influence is universal. No influence is so touching. He has affection, and His affections are in activity. That is the way this scripture presents Christ. But His influence goes beyond the bride. Every one at the marriage feast is influenced by the Bridegroom.
Psalm 19 sets forth the way that Christ was received in heaven. He was rejected here, but the Father has set a “tabernacle” in the heavens for Him, a special place; and He comes out of His “chamber” in the character of the Bridegroom, animated by affection, and “rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race”, in the energy of divine strength. “His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it”. He is in the position to influence all on earth; “there is nothing hid from the heat thereof”. All come under the direct and blessed influence of Christ.
Now John the baptist took account of Christ as the Bridegroom. How did he get that thought? By being near to Christ. The Lord’s servants get divine impressions by being near to Christ. If you get near to Christ you will find that He is absorbed with one object, and that object is the assembly. John the baptist got near enough to Christ to hear His voice. And what kind of a voice was it? It was the voice of affection in Christ for the nation. That is the way John knew Him as the Bridegroom. So he says, “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom”. The Bridegroom alone has title to the bride. John heard the voice, and his joy was “fulfilled”; he “rejoices in heart because of the voice of the bridegroom”. He shines out in full sympathy with Christ. He disappears in happiness, having heard that voice, and he says, “He who comes out of heaven is above all”.
The voice of the Bridegroom is now no longer in Israel; it is heard from heaven; and that voice produces a bride here whose voice also is heard. It comes out in Paul and the universal character of the testimony. The heavenly bride is formed by the ministry of Paul. Paul not only heard the voice of the Bridegroom, but he brought in the bride. He espoused the saints as a chaste virgin to Christ — to one Man.
The voice now is, “Son, give me thine heart”, Proverbs 23:26. That voice is heard in the gospel. The apostle Paul says, as it were, I have given you to the Son; “I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”, 2 Corinthians 11:2. This was his great desire, for he was in the full light of the desire of the heart of Christ.
The saints should be captured for Christ and wholly apart from this world. Paul knew that as the serpent beguiled Eve so the enemy would seek to corrupt the saints from the simplicity that is in Christ, the simplicity of affection for Christ. Nothing is so simple as affection for Christ.
We see at the close of the book of Revelation that the Lord triumphs notwithstanding all the devices of the enemy. That book presents His triumph. He is seen as the Lamb in chapter 14, the One who was rejected, and the saints are in sympathy with Him. John was shown the “bride, the Lamb’s wife” (Revelation 21:9) the trophy of His triumph. She comes out of heaven in dignity and glory, and her influence is universal. Chapter 21 shows her as to what is without; chapter 22 what is within. In [p. 244] chapter 22 she has a voice, in response to the voice of the Bridegroom, and she is in full accord with the Spirit, inviting Him to come. That is a marvellous triumph for Christ! Not only the Spirit, but the bride says to Him, “Come”. But her voice is the result of His voice, His influence. She, in company with the Spirit, says to Him, “Come”. The unity of the Spirit is the unity of affection; there is no other.
May we be responsive to His voice!