Copyright © 2020
Michael A. Brown
‘…while we wait
for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour,
Jesus Christ…’ (Titus 2:13)
The motif of the church as the body of Christ has been much emphasised
throughout the worldwide Church since around the mid-1950s. In a nutshell, we have learned that believers
should pray to discover the ways in which God has specifically gifted them, so
that they may then serve him effectively and fruitfully in his work. This motif teaches us about the functionality
of the church, i.e. about what we do: we are best placed to
serve fruitfully and happily if we serve according to our God-given gifts,
talents and skills (cf. 1 Cor. ch.12).
However,
in contrast to this, the motif of the church as the bride of Christ teaches us about who we are and how we should be living. There are several things which normally
characterise a bride-to-be: she is deeply in love with her intended bridegroom,
she has a single-eyed focus on him and him alone, and she is waiting with
increasing anticipation and preparing herself for her special day. So, as the bride of Christ, we are intended
by God to be living a holy and pure life which brings him honour, according to the principles of his word.
We should be keeping our love for him warm and remaining faithful to him
in our hearts, and we should be washing ourselves daily with the word of God and
making ourselves look radiant for him (cf. Eph. 5:25-32).
The teaching of
biblical topics such as the prophetic Scriptures, end-time events, the return
of Christ and eternal judgement is neglected by many Western church leaders
today. Perhaps this is a reflection of
our departure in some significant ways from the clear teaching of the
Scriptures: we no longer call sin, what God himself calls sin; we do not emphasise
in the way we should the need for whole-hearted repentance; we do not emphasise
the total Lordship of Christ over every aspect of our lives, and so on. In many ways, Western church life and
Christian living have become secularised.
The stage and the music are often more important than the pulpit. The lights and the comfort of our buildings
are often more important than life-applied discipleship. We live by and large for the success and
material prosperity of human life in this world, and so we have neglected much that we should
have been emphasising…
The responsibility for
this lies fairly and squarely with the leaders of churches, whose
responsibility it is to fearlessly and faithfully teach us the whole counsel of
God.
The fact that around 35% of the
Scriptures consist of prophetic writings is not reflected at all in how much
emphasis these receive from the pulpit.
Often it is far, far less than this.
However, the ‘whole gospel’ includes not only the message of the cross
and resurrection, and also the ascension and exaltation of Christ, but
also his return for his bride.
To neglect this latter point in particular is to miss out on an
essential dimension of the total message of the word of God. Not only does this mean that many professing
Christians are unprepared and simply not ready for the coming of the Lord, it
also means that they miss out on the source of perhaps the greatest joy and
living hope that they could possess in this present life.
The
return of the Lord Jesus for his bride was a foundational and central teaching
in the life of the early Church, mentioned as early as the apostle Peter’s
message in Acts ch.3: ‘Repent… that [God]
may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you…’ (Acts 3:19-20). This return of Christ was emphasised
repeatedly by the writers of the New Testament epistles. The apostle Paul calls it the Christian’s
blessed hope (Titus 2:13).
Christians
were taught that the Lord is returning soon for his bride. So they were exhorted repeatedly to prepare
themselves for this, and to live their daily lives in this world in the light
of it. As a consequence in their own
personal lives, they would consistently experience the heart-warming love, joy
and inward peace that this brings to a believer. They would realise that the deepest
fulfilment of the meaning of their lives lies not in following after the things
of this world which is passing away, but in living for the kingdom of God,
knowing and walking intimately with the living One who has redeemed them and is
coming soon to gather them to himself.
We
live in a time now when the return of the Lord Jesus for his bride needs to
once again receive the same emphasis that it did in the early Church. It is the next major prophesied event which
will happen in the life of the worldwide church. Many professing Christians live their daily
lives in almost complete ignorance of what the Bible teaches about this, and
similarly of what it teaches regarding other related end-time topics. Many of them live in fear and anxiety of what
is happening in the world, because they do not understand the direct and
all-round relevance that the Bible has for their lives today. So, because they are not prepared for the
coming of the Lord, they miss out on the deep inward joy, peace and hope that living
in the light of this can give to them in these times.
While
the world around us is waxing worse and worse, and while the end-time prophetic
events which the Bible tells us of are being increasingly fulfilled, it is time
for us to lift up our heads, because our redemption is drawing nigh. We are now living towards the end of the end-times. The things that the Bible prophesied many years
ago are coming upon us, and the news headlines confirm
this day after day. Things are falling
into place, and the final acts of the prophetic drama are being played out for
all to see. So we need to know and live
with the deep inward assurance that our heavenly Bridegroom is coming for us
very soon, and to be preparing ourselves for this.
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