We of the EOE ask nothing of our readers; we hope with all our heart that the following pages on the bride and her betrothal to Christ the Bridegroom will encourage a person to love and trust Christ so they can consider the free invite to come to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb – we further hope that just maybe, if someone’s heart is touched, they will become one of the betrothed.

It is More Than Proper It is Highly Advisable…

by Eloise Gardenier

… even in these last days urgent; that all persons introduced to Jesus Christ should intently study under the guidance and tutelage of the Holy Ghost, the ongoing scriptural theme of Christ and His Bride. The theme of the bride is at the very heart and desire of all scripture; it is the first hope of God from the very start that He would provide for His son an eternal wife, so that He would not be alone. The bride must become one of those whom He saves through providing eternal life through paying the price by His own death and dying in their place. The theme saturates the books of the Bible from its very first pages of Genesis to the last quote of the Bible which is the invitation broadcast from heaven: “the Spirit and the bride say: “Come!” It is the ultimate invite to come and drink of the waters of eternal life freely.

For the most part the churches of history have miserably neglected this most fundamental theme of all themes called the bride of Christ. The Bible’s wealth of parables and references about the Bridegroom and His bride (found throughout both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible) is little known and has been unwisely ignored by the churches of Christ. Nevertheless, the Scriptures are replete with marvelous love stories and dramas about the Bride all revealing what her heart has been like down through history. There is a full chronicle of prophecy recording what her love affair with God would entail and what she would have to endure. That it would cause her to be an outcast from the concerns and beliefs of the world, a refugee from her own flesh, and the foil and protagonist of her husband-to-be’s enemy, Satan.

The Bride’s story runs throughout scripture, finds expression in a sweet bevy of loving places, in the book of Genesis, in the saga of the courageous Joshua, in various places within the historical accounts and dramas of the state of Israel and its prophets and its corrupt and valiant priests and kings. There she stands, humble behind the veil, often ignored, maybe abused and mocked by those who seek their own reward, those impressed with their own power and station in this passing life. She is forsaken by the world, but it is to drive her into the arms of God for she must learn to live only for Him, it is where her happiness and existence finds life everlasting. She is a contradiction to all that this life perceives and believes. She is obscure and unknown, lost from an heritage of this world, freed of the limitation of the gravitation of this earth. As her father, the father of faith Abraham, she is a stranger in a strange land though it be the home of her birth, this Israel, this earth, this rebellious people named after Abraham’s grandson Israel. She walks solemn and alone with but little support except from her chosen God, she is the humble yet shining and glorious personage and spirit and the primary and most alluring presence of all the themes of the testimonial books of Esther and Ruth and is the single portrait of the greatest poem of all time, the Song of Songs, painted in the words of God Himself. The triad of Old Testament books of spiritual wisdom, Ecclesiastes, Psalms and Proverbs are perfumed with scents of lavender, cinnamon, cherry and apple blossom, she is clothed like the lilies of the valley. She is modest yet every bit of her body, soul and spirit is devoted to her Lord. Her character is revealed sometimes subtly, sometimes directly.

Yet, it is in the 16 books of the Prophets that her prophetic purpose and destiny is revealed. In them not only does she live and breathe but her love and devotion, her faith and patience for her loving Lord is threaded, sometimes delicately, sometimes elaborately, like beautiful golden needlepoint in a tapestry of a montage of military, pastoral, stately and marital scenes, which can only be seen by the special 3D spiritual vision which is given to a believer by the Holy Spirit Himself.

It was not until New Testament times, when the gospel became available to the whole world, that the Holy Ghost was made personally available through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. There is no relationship possible with the Holy Ghost in this epoch age without the personal approval of Jesus Christ.

The Father and Jesus would not put the Holy Ghost through having a relationship with someone who has not more than acknowledged Jesus Christ, but has also, at the very least invited Jesus into their personal life by faith. At the moment of Christ’s spiritual availability to the spirit of Man, so to the availability of the Holy Ghost residing within any believer was made possible. This meant the Holy Ghost could indwell the common Man in a personal way never before known among God’s people anywhere. Brideship, with the advent of Christ, is now offered universally to those who meet the requirements of faith, as never before.

In our age, the 2000 year-old age of the New Testament, Mankind has been given the merciful advantage of having the Holy ghost for our guide to not only reveal the meaning of those hard to perceive truths of the Old Testament, but to understand the mysteries of salvation that were discussed and revealed by Jesus in the book of Matthew as well as the ones revealed in the Acts of the Apostles, the epistles, pastoral letters and the Book of Revelation. Especially, how these sheathes of knowledge and wisdom relate to and reveal the realities of brideship.

Following the first coming of Christ things dynamically changed in a spiritual way in that the Holy Ghost became personally available to those who would believe and receive Him as their guide and tutor. This personal relationship with the Holy Spirit would be invaluable to the relative few who would give up everything so that they would be accepted by Christ as one of his betrothed.

Those who trust wholly in the Holy Ghost are able to realize that the Spirit is the oil in the lamp that gives the betrothed sight through the dark mist of this world so they may see clearly in this last epic of salvation – in these dark and perilous last days the light of an eternity of being married to Christ as one. In the New Testament the Bride is told that the Holy Ghost would be her tutor, her guide, her eyes and ears, and the inspiration needed to love the Master with her whole undivided heart. That he would take up residence in her, he could sweep her ‘house’ clean of all unclean things, fumigate and air out her house, if only she will allow it.

The Holy Ghost would show her that He is not only to be a landlord of her house, but its owner and operator. He would not only show her what is required by way of concession, that she must daily give a gentle and genuine bow, offer gracious allowance so that he can take up ownership of our temple without giving him a hard time, and allow him to be the keeper of her heart – but that He would also be the one to give us the grace, promote the generosity in her, to let Him hold sway over her. Devotion to The New Testament shows us that It took Jesus’ coming and His series of revelations about the more than dozen mysteries that are denoted in the Book of Matthew to show us mysteries of the Spirit and the faith that could lead us there. In these mysteries and words of Christ, the real salt to be eaten with the Word of God is given to her. They bring out the true flavor and the real nourishment of the first and foremost desire of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Ghost – that Christ was sent by the Father, Ministered to by the Holy Ghost, and endured the Cross – so that He might have for Himself a perfect and loving wife to be one with Him for all eternity.

We of the EOE ask nothing of our readers, we hope with all our heart that the study on these pages of the bride and her betrothal will encourage a person to love and trust Christ and to consider coming to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and maybe even, if someone’s heart is touched, to become one of the betrothed.