The Forgotten Books of Eden Adam and Eve Chapter 74
The betrothal of Adam and Eve.
THEN God looked upon the words of Adam that they were true, and that he could long await His order, respecting the counsel of Satan.
2 And God approved Adam in what he had thought concerning this, and in the prayer he had offered in His presence; and the Word of God came unto Adam and said to him, "O Adam, if only thou hadst had this caution at first, ere thou earnest out of the garden into this land!"
3 After that, God sent His angel who had brought gold, and the angel who had brought incense, and the angel who had brought myrrh to Adam, that they should inform him respecting his wedding Eve.
4 Then those angels said to
[paragraph continues] Adam, "Take the gold and give it to Eve as a wedding gift, and betroth her; then give her some incense and myrrh as a present; and be ye, thou and she, one flesh."
5 Adam hearkened to the angels, and took the gold and put it into Eve's bosom in her garment; and bethrothed her with his hand.
6 Then the angels commanded Adam and Eve, to arise and pray forty days and forty nights; and after that, that Adam should come in to his wife; for then this would be an act pure and undefiled; and he should have children who would multiply, and replenish the face of the earth.
7 Then both Adam and Eve received the words of the angels; and the angels departed from them.
8 Then Adam and Eve began to fast and to pray, until the end of the forty days; and then they came together, as the angels had told them. And from the time Adam left the garden until he wedded Eve, were two hundred and twenty-three days, that is seven months and thirteen days.
9 Thus was Satan's war with Adam defeated.
2 Corinthians 15:20-24
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
Bride of Messiah
Revelation 19: 7-9 KJV
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
The Book of Revelation: The 7 Dooms
WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM?
To this question there can be but one answer. The "Bridegroom" is the King's SON of the Parable of the "Marriage of the King's Son" (Matt. 22:1-14), or JESUS, spoken of here as the LAMB. John the Baptist spoke of Christ as the "BRIDEGROOM," and of himself as the "Friend" of the Bridegroom who rejoiced to hear His voice. John 3:29. Jesus also represented Himself as the "Bridegroom," saying--"Can the 'Children of the Bride-chamber' mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them." Matt. 9:15. And in the Parable of the "Ten Virgins" Jesus refers to Himself as the "Bridegroom." Matt. 25:1-10. The Bridegroom then is Christ.
Who Shall Preform The Wedding?
The character of the ceremony or who shall perform it (though doubtless it will be God the Father Himself), and what vows the Bridegroom and Bride will take, is not disclosed, but that there will be a ceremony of some kind that no divorce or separation can break, cannot be questioned, for there never was a legal marriage without some ceremony. Of one thing we are certain that there is no one to give away the Bride, for Christ presents her to Himself a "GLORIOUS CHURCH, not having SPOT, or WRINKLE, or any SUCH THING." Eph. 5:25-27.
Who is The Bride?
We must not forget that there are "Two Brides" mentioned in the Scriptures. One in the Old Testament, and the other in the New. The one in the Old Testament is Israel, the Bride of Jehovah; the one in the New Testament is the Church, the Bride of Christ. Of Israel it is said--"Thy Maker is Thine husband." Isa. 54:5-8. Because of her Whoredoms, Israel is a cast off WIFE, but God, her husband, promises to take her back when she ceases from her adulteries. Jer. 3:1-18; Ez. 16:1-63; Hosea 2:1-23; 3:1-5. She will not be taken back as a Virgin, but as a WIFE. But it is a VIRGIN that the Lamb (Christ) is to marry. So the Wife (Israel) of the Old Testament cannot be the BRIDE (Virgin) of the New Testament. Again the Wife (Israel) is to reside in the earthly Jerusalem during the Millennium, while the BRIDE (the Church) will reside in the New Jerusalem. These distinctions make it clear that Israel cannot be the "Bride" of Christ. We must remember that John did not call the bride--WIFE, until Rev. 21:9, which was after the marriage, when she was no longer Bride but WIFE.
The Bride of the Lamb is from a disowned and outcast race, made so by the disobedience of the head of that race in the Garden of Eden, but the Bridegroom saw her and loved her. To redeem her He came from His own lovely home in Heaven to her sin-cursed home on earth, where He was rejected by members of her family, and seized and subjected to a mock trial and nailed to a cross as a malefactor, where He laid down voluntarily His life for her, thus demonstrating His love, and opening up the way for her redemption from the Law that held her in bondage. He then left her to return to His Father's House to prepare a home for her, and during the period of her betrothal He has left her with her own family, simply sending the Holy Spirit to teach and protect her, and fit her for the day of her marriage, when He will descend into midair to meet her on her way to the BRIDAL HALLS OF HEAVEN. 1. Thess. 4:16-17.
Many assume that the "Bride" is composed of all the saints from Abel down to the time of the taking out of the Church, but this can-not be so, for the Church did not exist until the Day of Pentecost, and only those who live and die in Christ between Pentecost and the taking out of the Church belong to the Church.
WHAT IS MEANT BY HER MAKING HERSELF READY?
We are told in verse 7, that she hath "made herself ready," and in verse 8, that it was permitted her to be "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; which is the righteousness of saints," and in chapter 21:2, she is described as--"prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." The fact that the "fine linen" in which the Bride is clothed is called not the "righteousness of Christ," but the "righteousness-es (plural) of SAINTS, makes it clear that it is not the "imputed righteousness" of Christ that is meant, and that the "Wedding Garment" in the Parable of the "Marriage of the King's Son" stands for, but the righteous acts and works of the saints themselves.
Where does the Church thus clothe herself and when? It is certain that she does not thus clothe herself on earth, for we must
not forget that the Bride does not put on her wedding robes until after she has been tried at the Judgment Seat of Christ, where all her "false works" will have been consumed by fire (1. Cor. 3:11-15), and it is this "Fiery Judgment" that Peter refers to as the "TRIAL OF FAITH" which--"being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the APPEARING OF JESUS CHRIST." 1. Pet. 1:7. The "righteousnesses" then of the Saints will be their righteous acts and works that will come out of the "fiery test" of the Judgment of Reward, and be found unto PRAISE and HONOR and GLORY at the "APPEARING" of Jesus Christ; and these shall make up the beautiful wedding garments in which the Saints shall be clothed. What a contrast there will be between the purple and scarlet colored dress, and jewel bedecked person of the "Harlot Wife" of Antichrist, and the spotless white robe of fine linen of the "Bride" of the Lamb.
5. WHAT IS THE MARRIAGE SUPPER?
It is not the wedding itself. The "Marriage Feast" is the supper that follows after the Marriage has been solemnized. There is one thing about this Feast it will be such an honor to receive an invitation, and to be present, that the angel said to John, "WRITE," put it down in black and white lest you forget, do not trust to tradition lest the world never hear about it, but--"WRITE, BLESSED ARE THEY WHICH ARE CALLED UNTO THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB." What a supper it will be. As a Feast, the Feasts of Belshazzar and Ahasuerus will be but a poor meal in comparison. It is called a "Supper" in contrast with the supper mentioned in the seventeenth verse of the same chapter, where the fowls of the air are invited to gather themselves together unto the "SUPPER OF THE GREAT GOD, that they may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit upon them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great." Rev. 19:17-18.
6. WHO ARE THE GUESTS?
Here again there is a difference of opinion. It is clear that the Guests are not the Bride, at least this is true as to earthly weddings. The Bride would not be "called" or "invited" to the Wedding, she has a place there of her own right and there could be no wedding without her. Some hold that the "Virgins" in the Parable of the "Ten Virgins" are not the "Bride" but simply "Bridesmaids"; and that those invited to the "Marriage Supper" of the King's Son, are simply "Guests" and do not constitute the "Bride." But as both of these Parables do not mention the Bride, and are "Kingdom of Heaven" Parables, which describe the character of this Gospel Dispensation, and have a double significance, we are led to believe that the "Wise Virgins" and the Guests who possessed a "Wedding Garment" are intended to represent the BRIDE, because they represent true believers, and true believers constitute the Church, and the Church and the Bride are one and the same.
But there will be "Guests," for as all the dead in Christ shall rise and be present at the "Marriage of The Lamb," and as only those who are saved from Pentecost to the taking out of the Church, belong to the Church (The Bride), there will be present as "GUESTS" the Old Testament Saints, such as Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Job, Moses, David, the Prophets, and even John the Baptist who claimed to be only the "Friend" of the Bridegroom. Then there will be the "Blood Washed Multitude" that come out of the Tribulation after the Church has been caught out. Thus we see that the righteous of all the past Ages and Dispensations, and all the Saints of God who shall be worthy, and who are not included in the Bride (The Church), will be "Guests" at the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb." Angels will be "spectators" of the scene but they cannot be "Guests," for that honor is reserved for only those who have been redeemed by the "Blood of the Lamb."
7. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE MARRIAGE SUPPER?
What happens at earthly weddings after the supper? The guests make merry among themselves. Often there is music and dancing, and then the Bridegroom and the Bride change their wedding garments for a travelling dress, and steal away on their wedding trip. Generally this is to some pleasure resort or place that they have never seen. Often it is a trip across the ocean to some distant land. Sometimes it is a visit to the old home of the Bridegroom or the Bride. So after the "Marriage of the Lamb" the Heavenly Bridegroom will take His Bride on a wedding trip, and to what more suit-able place can they go than back to the old home of the Bride, this earth. The place where the Bridegroom suffered and died to purchase her redemption with His own precious blood. The place where her people rejected Him, and despised His Royal claims. Then He will show them that He was no imposter, that He was what He claimed to be, the Son of God. He will then set up His Earthly Kingdom, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the "THRONE OF DAVID," and His Bride (The Church) shall reign with Him for a THOUSAND YEARS.
Oh what a sweet and delightful "HONEY-MOON" that will be, when, during that long "Millennial Reign" the earth shall be blessed with the presence of the King of Kings and His Consort--THE CHURCH. But that long "Honey-Moon" will end, not for the Bridegroom and the Bride, but for the Earth, by the return of the Bridegroom and the Bride to the Father's House. Then after the Earth has had its "Baptism of Fire," they will return with the descent of the "Holy City" to abide on the "New Earth" forever. So enraptured was John by the Revelation that he says--"I fell at his (the angel's) feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the Testimony of Jesus is the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY." That is, all prophecy testifies of Jesus.
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