The Bride Of Christ

Right from the very beginning in eternity past, God had planned history with His Son having a bride, a companion that would co-reign with Him and enjoy Him forever. That is the eternal purpose of God in creating a bride for His Son. If you read the Scripture from cover to cover, you would discover that God teaches us in a variety of different ways. Sometimes God uses powerful word pictures, sometimes He uses symbols, sometimes He uses examples of people both good and bad. Sometimes God uses a direct word, an authoritative word, sometimes He uses examples from nature, like a tree planted by the rivers of water that will not cease to bear fruit. This book highlights how God gave us an example of an ancient Jewish wedding ceremony that correlates with Christ, the Bridegroom, and His bride the church. From the father choosing a bride for his son, paying the bridal price, the bridegroom snatching his bride and bringing her to the bridal chamber, and then finally co-reigning with him in their household with him as the head. It is absolutely amazing the correlation between the two. What was a mystery to the Jews has been revealed. The mystery was that both Jew and Gentile called the church would be the bride of Christ. The bride of Christ is describing the kind of relationship we can have with Jesus. God is seeking willing lovers, who would voluntarily seek His heart, voluntarily surrender to Him, and voluntarily love Him with all their heart, soul and mind, and strength.

The Book of First Kings 4:32 says that Solomon wrote 1005 songs. A song is poetry like the Psalms that were sung to bring forth a message from God. God deemed this song important enough to keep it in His manual, the Bible. The Books of First and Second Samuel are the historical books of David, but His love and emotions for God were written in his Psalms. Likewise, the Book of Revelation is a historical book of the bride of Christ, but the Song of Solomon is the love and emotions of Christ and His bride. This book is being published at the same time as Revelation to be companion books with the same overview. God desired a people who would be adopted into His kingdom. Christ would redeem every person who would acknowledge the plan of God to become children of the Most High God. The Bible was inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16). The Book of Song of Solomon shows the love of the Lord Jesus to His bride, the Church, who is called Shulamite. Shulamite in Hebrew is the feminine noun for Solomon. Solomon in Hebrew is shalom meaning peace unto wholeness. This wholeness comes from a relationship with the Lord which is offered to everyone, male or female, Jewish or Gentile (non-Jewish). Do not think of Solomon in this book as the king, for he too is a believer in the Lord, so therefore He too can be the Shulamite. This is not a picture of Solomons love for a woman, but instead the story of how Solomon came to love the Lord and grow spiritually throughout His life. Both Books (Revelation and Song of Solomon) are actually a symbolic picture of the Ancient Jewish Wedding. The bride is the Church, and therefore, seen as female, yet we know that God is identified as being present in both male and female. Therefore, Solomon is writing as a believer growing in his walk with the Lord. Song of Solomon, like all books in the Old Testament, point to Jesus. It cant be about Solomon and his love for a woman; IT HAS TO BE ABOUT JESUS. Therefore, it shows how a believer grows in their relationship with Jesus. The Jewish wedding takes us from the first time we see Jesus in the spirit and are engaged (salvation) to the time we see Jesus face to face in marriage (our resurrection) to the time we return with Christ to rule and reign as His wife (Millennium) to the time we live in the new heaven and earth (eternity). The intention of this book is to experience in the spirit the life of the believer growing in our knowledge and relationship with Jesus Christ.

This in-depth 6 week Bible study will help you see the church as Christ sees her - a shining Bride preparing for her beloved Bridegroom. You will discover how Jesus often used the marriage relationship to teach us about Himself, His purposes and His ways. The study draws from the rich symbolism of the ancient Jewish wedding customs, familiar during Jesus' time, but not always understood by today's Christians. This remarkable journey through Scripture will encourage and inspire you as you come to better understand God's plan for the church and how believers can work together to prepare for Christ's return. By the conclusion of this study, you will discover fascinating biblical truths that point the climax of human history— the marriage feast of the lamb!

The early Christian writer Tertullian first applied the epithet "bride of Christ" to the uppity virgins of Carthage as a means of enforcing female obedience. Henceforth, the virgin as Christ's spouse was expected to manifest matronly modesty and due submission, hobbling virginity's ancient capacity to destabilize gender roles. In the early Middle Ages, the focus on virginity and the attendant anxiety over its possible loss reinforced the emphasis on claustration in female religious communities, while also profoundly disparaging the nonvirginal members of a given community. With the rising importance of intentionality in determining a person's spiritual profile in the high Middle Ages, the title of bride could be applied and appropriated to laywomen who were nonvirgins as well. Such instances of democratization coincided with the rise of bridal mysticism and a progressive somatization of female spirituality. These factors helped cultivate an increasingly literal and eroticized discourse: women began to undergo mystical enactments of their union with Christ, including ecstatic consummations and vivid phantom pregnancies. Female mystics also became increasingly intimate with their confessors and other clerical confidants, who were sometimes represented as stand-ins for the celestial bridegroom. The dramatic merging of the spiritual and physical in female expressions of religiosity made church authorities fearful, an anxiety that would coalesce around the figure of the witch and her carnal induction into the Sabbath.

Unveiling the Mystery of the Bride of Christ clears up the mystery of the bride by leading you on a journey through the scriptures, showing without a shadow of a doubt who the bride is and what her preparation is all about. The early church knew and understood that God, through his Holy Spirit, was preparing a people, a special group, who would embrace a coming revealed truth and be qualified to reign with Christ at his return when the kingdom of God would be set up on the earth. This special group is the bride of Christ, and understanding the mystery of the bride will captivate and motivate believers into achieving their destinies as ordained by Creator God. In this book, you will discover: The plan of God for mankind Why you were born for such a time as this What role the Bride will play What makes the Bride special What is covenant relationship Who are the jewels of God Why God must send Elijah in these last days What Torah is all about Why obedience is so important How the love of God is perfected in the believer The meaning of firstfruits What the key of David is all about The true meaning of the parable of the 10 virgins

The Church in God's Program is a biblical study covering the entire scope of the church - its beginning, government, ministries, and the new covenant.

Raised on a farm in rural North Carolina, Jane Lowder gave her heart to Christ at an early age and felt called to His work. But tragedy struck her sharecropper family, and the resulting circumstances pressed her into many years of seemingly fruitless labor and personal suffering ... until she was at the point of despair and possible death.Then she began to see visions of Jesus on a regular basis, and her life was turned around. Not long afterward, she joined a group of men and women who were preparing to dedicate their lives to carrying the Gospel to the nations, and she was suddenly launched into a remarkable world of fasting and prayer and believing God for miracles.When the last remaining child of the founding family of the ministry she had joined went home to her reward, Jane was named as her designated successor. Suddenly, Jane found herself in charge of a world-wide ministry. Here is the amazing story in print for the first time!

How can we experience the glory of the Lord? Who is the Bride of Christ? Get answers to these questions as the author explores how the Bride of Christ is no ordinary pew sitting Christian. The church has fallen and it is time to arise, get cleansed, sanctified, and restored to the King of Glory. This book will show you clearly what must be done to restore the Bride so that she will be ready to meet the Bridegroom as well as bring restoration to the tabernacle. If we do what David did, we will consecrate ourselves to experience God's glory, worship the King like kings, be transformed into His likeness and change the world around us. Every church leader, as well as the entire Body of Christ, will be impacted by this message. Get your copy today!