Prepare to Be the Bride of Christ

Happy Sabbath, brethren! Greetings from your brethren in East Africa, who send their greetings to you excitedly. And also, your brethren in Phoenix East. This is actually my first visit to the Northwest Church. I've been together on Holy Days for over nine years. It was a treat to come up today. My wife had a previous commitment in the East side. She's not able to be here, but she asked me to just tell you hello.

A royal wedding is brewing. An announcement is coming soon about it, and that announcement will take place in the loudest, honorable voice. If you can imagine a stadium full of 100,000 or more people all yelling as loud as they possibly could. And at the same time, the waters of Niagara Falls at the base pounding with all of their majesty. If you can imagine a massive thunderstorm, a tide that would brew a series of tornadoes just ripping the skies apart and combine all of those, the announcement of this royal wedding will be made at that pitch. Let's hear the news by turning to Revelation 19, verses 6 and 7.

Revelation 19, verse 6, John in a vision says, And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude of people, and as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty thunderings, this exciting announcement is going to be made at full pitch. And they were saying, verse 7, Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. That is the exciting apex of the lives of the saints, of those that God has called for the firstfruits harvest taking place. The great announcement of the coming together of them in spirit form with Jesus the Christ, the coming Messiah to reign and rule the earth and to put all the problems, all the peoples, all the nations, all the powers under His control and He will serve them along with His wife.

The question for you and me is, do you want to be part of not only that announcement but the upcoming wedding of these real royals? Do you want to be part of the Bride of Christ? Are you preparing to be a fit Helper for the Prince of Peace and the King of Kings? He is the perfect one, the great one, the anointed one is what Messiah means in English. He is fully capable and fully able and He is looking for a Helper to compliment Him.

Today let's take a look at some key responsibilities that you and I have at this time in preparing for the return of our Lord and Master, our Savior, our Passover Lamb. If you consider a couple of passages, one is found in Genesis 2, verse 18, it says, it is not good that man should be alone. And you think about that for a moment, that is not just speaking evidently about humans.

Or God and His Son would not have developed a process in which He will have helpers, He will have a company of helpers to assist Him for a thousand years and help reign and rule with Him. This man with a capital M, God has determined, shall not be alone. Going on in that passage, it says, I will make Him a Helper fitting for Him. And indeed, we just read in this announcement that the wife has made herself ready. He will have a full compliment in His rule on earth. The second passage is found in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 47, and it says, the first man was of the earth made of dust.

The second man with a capital M is the Lord from heaven. It is not a stretch at all to realize that the man from heaven will also need a Helper or a body of helpers that is referred to by analogy as a bride. So Jesus Christ will need help during the wonderful world tomorrow that is coming. And we find in through inspired word in Ephesians chapter 5, verses 24 through 27, that indeed He is developing helpers. He is developing a bride, as it were. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 24, it says the church is subject to, if you look up subject to, it means obedient or submissive to the anointed one, which is what Christ means in English.

So let the wives be to their own husbands and everything. So the church is subject. It is obedient. It is submissive. So wives should be to their own husbands. What kind of husbands are we talking about?

Any old guy that wants to give some orders and make some demands, be self-focused and make the woman sort of jump to his pleasures or tune? Well, verse 25, husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her. So this relationship is one of love, pure agape love, of individuals that are giving themselves for each other. As we are learning to imitate Him, verse 26, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word.

The word there is from the Greek word logos, which also refers to Jesus Christ, who was the Logos, the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

So here we are in the days, the festival of unleavened bread, where to be seeking passionately His righteousness, seek You first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness, were to be seeking that holiness, that purity, which is love for God and love for our fellow man.

We're to be cleaning up that sin that easily besets us, that self-centeredness, and becoming Christ-like. And so, by the washing of the water of the Word, He will present to Himself a bride that is holy and without blemish. It's not that we're just supposed to be sinless this week and let that picture, or leaven free this week, and let that picture a sinless life, we're actually to be scrubbed up and becoming Christ-like so that we can love, love indeed, for a thousand years with Him.

Now, the marriage concept here is an analogy. It is actually the human marriage that's the analogy because here in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 32, He says, I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Christ and the church really is the marriage. It really is the bond. It's going to be an eternal bond. It's going to be an eternal relationship. Some discount that and say, well, it's just the first resurrection. Everybody that's ever resurrected, they'll join this special team, but that's not what the angel says. Revelation chapter 20 and verse 4 and verse 6, both times it says, blessed. And the Greek word means, oh, how supremely blessed are those who have a part in the first resurrection and reign with Christ for a thousand years. There's something unique and special about that relationship. We don't know the extent of it, but no other resurrection is spoken of in those terms. Blessed, it says in Revelation 19 9, are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. That same Greek word showing action. Oh, how supremely blessed are those who get to have part in this marriage supper with the Messiah when he returns. God is assessing potential helpers for his son. Who will be able to assist? I had one woman write me this morning, who I've known for 40 years in the church. She announced, I'm leaving the church. You guys have it all wrong. I've got a new preacher who's told me, you don't have to love anybody. You only love God. He loves everybody. I thought, oh wow! You know, a whole bunch of scriptures flood the mind there, but just a minute. Won't that be interesting? Jesus Christ needs a helper, but when the helper shows up, she doesn't help. She's just dead weight. She wants to be taken care of, too, along with everybody else in the world tomorrow. Well, let's just see if that's who God is looking for. But in Malachi, last book in the Old Testament, Malachi chapter 3 and verse 16, God is actually listening to us and he's watching us. Malachi 3 verse 16 says, Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. Now, what are we talking about on the Sabbath? What are we talking about when we get together? Are we really concerned or interested in other people? Are we trying to band together and fill those needs and pray for one another? So, a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and meditate on his name. Are we talking about godliness and righteousness and loving God and loving neighbor? Verse 17, They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make them my jewels.

See, God is looking for a purity that these special days that we are celebrating right now are focusing us on. Even that which we eat each day is supposed to be helping us focus on the type of mentality that the God family has.

We find that while society wants to print itself and is interested in showing off and not much else, Jesus warned repeatedly not to be conceited. Notice Revelation 3 in verse 17. He says, Because you say, Oh, I am rich, I have become wealthy, I have no need of clothing, no need of anything, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. That's the reality. And that's what these days, including the Passover, are to alert us to every year, to make us stop and think, Oh, why did my Lord and Savior have to die? And am I really in the faith? And what inside me really is corrupted, that I'm okaying? And I need to really, with God's help, get in there and clean this house.

And when we do that, then verse 10, because you've kept my command to persevere, I won't give up. I will keep fighting. I will keep loving and serving and getting rid of sin, no matter what the cost, no matter what the situation. Then he says, I will also keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

So what we find here is, if we have an expectation without a total transformation, we are being deluded. In verse 18, he says, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire. Don't run away from the lesson to the church at Laodicea. Don't do a summon and stab it with a brand of that's the old unholy group or that's some epoch in time. Listen to what the Spirit says to all the churches and listen here. Don't go get your gold from somewhere else. Don't get your own ideas. Don't listen to somebody else. Buy gold from me. Real gold, the real deal that's tried in the fire, that's refined, that's pure, that you may be rich and white garments of righteousness, that you may be clothed. In verse 20, behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. This is what we need to be doing is overcoming. And everything that we can find as an example and as a motivator to clean ourselves spiritually with God's help, and to become more like God, is making us more of a resource that will be usable at the return of Jesus Christ. This isn't just about your salvation. It's also about helping and being a helper for the Father's Son, who has an important responsibility when he comes back and, as we've seen, will not do it alone. Whether or not he could do it alone is irrelevant, because the statement is that he will have a helper. Now, how does a beautiful woman prepare to be a pride? I am a man I could guess. I married one once. I kind of guessed, kind of thought I knew, decided to do the dumb thing and asked my wife in preparation for this sermon, and her answer surprised me. I thought I'd get a little thing about doing your hair or getting a dress ready. Her answer was, it starts in childhood.

Preparing to be a bride starts in childhood? Oh, yeah, it starts in early childhood. First, you have a desire, and as a little girl, you have pretend weddings and you have dress-up, and you play this over and over and over, and you're excited about weddings and about romance. Then you have a mother who teaches you. She's an example. She mentors you in all the things that you're going to need to be a bride one day and to serve a family. There are many layers and levels of that, including domestic experience with various chores and experience in assisting. Those abilities grow over time until responsibilities can be given. There's intellectual development, spiritual education, schooling. There's talents. There's personality. There's so much that a child has to learn and prepare before they are ready to be a bride. There's external development in the body, in the dress, in the beauty, the grooming, the hair styling, and learning all of those things. There are social skills, speaking, listening, loving, serving, helping. There's the work ethic that includes diligence, constancy, perseverance in those things that a young mother will have to do over and over and over, which aren't the most exciting things to do in life, but her life will be filled with them. There's financial. There's a time where she probably will have to work in a job. She has to know finances and manage them well. She has to do budgeting, wise spending, frugality, savings, coming to nutrition, which is an important part of her husband and her children's lives. There's the knowledge of nutrition, the shopping, the gardening, the preparation, the cooking, the serving. There's the wedding preparation itself with the event planning, the facility, the guests, the reception, her attire. And the results through all of that from a young child up is you have a bride that's ready and that's prepared, a fitting helper.

You know, the bride of Christ is similar. It starts in our early spiritual youth. We are called a spiritual babes. And if we are not developing, we're sort of coasting on grace. No, I don't have to do anything. I've got grace. I don't have to develop. I'm covered. I can just sit around. I don't have to do any growing. But the vital lesson is, are you preparing to be Christ's helper and bride in a sense of really helping? In Matthew 25, he actually gives a parable about his upcoming wedding. Matthew 25, in verse 1.

If you take this in the time frame or the context of the rest of chapter 5, you notice he chooses, separates the church as a shepherd separates sheep from goats, and then he selects who will be in that resurrection. This is in the same chapter. And he's talking about when a bridegroom is coming, and the kingdom of heaven will be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. And all of these lived in a world of darkness, and yet all of them were given the Holy Spirit. You know the story. Five of them developed, five of them produced, and became capable spiritual people. The other five just didn't do much with it and were not valuable. They were not helpful. We find that there's a time when the church will be tested in various ways, and the end time Jesus said the church will have all kinds of persecution from within without. There will be all types of tests, but the one who continues loving and endures and perseveres with a godly mentality to the end. That one's going to be useful. That one's going to be saved. In Luke chapter 21, in verse 36, to us and to those of us in this time, he's talking about the same thing as in Matthew 24, the Olivet prophecy. Here in Luke 21, skipping down to verse 36, he says, watch therefore, pay attention to your spiritual development and pray always. Be a person of prayer. Watch like you do during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That's what he's talking about. Pay attention. Root that sin out. Always be alert and aware like a sentry on guard. And be a person of prayer that you may be counted worthy to escape all of these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man, to be resurrected as part of that first fruit's harvest. There's a lot of work to do. We know in Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 through 7, it says, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and then things ratchet up. Government will be on his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. A prince of stitching people back together who have been ripped apart. His bride is instrumental in making that happen. It becomes, you see, part of our responsibility, part of our work in assisting him to make sure those big names and those big titles are all fulfilled. And the Father has called some to be the bride of his Son, and He has chosen them. And we are to be there to assist. And it says, the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. There's a lot of responsibility for the assistance that will be with our Lord and Savior when he returns, not people who have just sort of coasted in, maybe bring problems to the table, need fixing. Now, this is a team that will have been purified and cleaned up in the sense of having righteousness as their garment, that white gown that the bride will wear. It says in Isaiah chapter 30, verses 21 and 22, that to the people of that time, they are guaranteed direction. They will have assistance. They will have light for their path. And who that come from? It'll come from those who are trained in righteousness, those who themselves have learned to put sin out of their lives and move forward into godliness. They can now be mentors of others. It says in Isaiah 30, verse 20, and though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers.

Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way. Walk in it. They will be good instructors like a mother of a child to always be there reinforcing, gently nudging, encouraging whenever you turn to the right hand or you return to the left.

Do you want to help? Jesus Christ is returning soon, sooner for some of us than others in the sense that once we die, that's it. And next comes the decision, the judgment. What is Jesus Christ looking for? Now, when we look at this concept, we have to look over at you ladies and say, what is it that the ladies do to assist? What is it that God is looking for? He's the one that gives us the analogy there in Ephesians 5 of marriage and Christ in the church. So what is it that ladies do? Turns out, ladies, wives and mothers have a focus on serving. Just as Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve. They observe and they see needs and they prepare and they cook and they wash and clean and provide. They listen, they serve, they discuss, they plan.

And they do this with perseverance to the very end. That's Jesus's analogy of what you and I are to become. So what is Jesus Christ looking for in a bride? Let's go to Proverbs chapter 31 and let's see a passage of Scripture that we can extrapolate the very qualities that he will need from you and me at his return. Proverbs 31 and verse 10, who can find a virtuous wife?

That's kind of curious that this is where it is in Scripture, written by who it's written, not necessarily targeting anyone in particular that we can see, and yet inspired by God to be put there almost as if the Father or Jesus Christ himself is asking the question, who can find a virtuous wife for my son?

For her worth is far above rubies, is far above anything that exists in the universe. She needs a husband. She needs the heart that her husband can safely trust in so that he will have no lack of gain. Remember all the gain that he is prophesied to have? This kingdom and the gain, there will be no end of it. She's going to help with this gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. Now, if you can apply that to yourself, the Jesus Christ arriving soon, how does he view me? What does he see? Is there something there that really is going to help him achieve all of those things? Again, these days that we're observing, the great example of his that he gave us at Passover, and now the opportunity to focus on developing into something very useful is a real blessing to us and something that we should carry on all year long. What is your value to him? How much can he trust you? What is your contribution to his kingdom and doing him good? We in the Church need to be preparing to be chosen. We need to be, yes, these are the ones. I want these for my son. We want to be part of that.

Notice what the faithful are doing in developing in. In verse 15, she rises while it's yet night. Guess what? We live in a world of darkness, and we are to be light and provides food for her household. She's sharing this bread of life that we've been given, teaching truth and providing this spiritual food. And a portion for her maidservants, those around her by example, are seeing this. She considers the crop in a field, looking at it, analyzing it for its value, for its worth, and buys it. She is focused on fruit. The fruit of the harvest is God's Holy Spirit developing his nature in us. We should be fully focused on that. All about spiritual fruit.

From her prophet, she plants a vineyard. Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. Produce much fruit. This is my father's will. Verse 17, she guards herself with strength. We don't have strength, but we're to gird up ourselves and have the strength and the might and the power of the Lord. And then it says and strengthens her arms. Yes, with God, we can do this. We can do anything. We have to rely on him. Verse 18, she perceives that her merchandise is good. At this time of year, we're to examine ourselves, and we need to perceive that our merchandise is good and evil. And that which is evil, we need to perceive as well and get rid of it. And her lamp does not go out by night. Not like one of the foolish virgins. Remember, their lamps were going out. We're not just on cruise control. We're not getting by on some grace. We haven't taken God's Spirit, wrapped it in some handkerchief, some special linen cloth, and put it in a protected place. No, we're using it. We're growing by it. Verse 20, she extends her hands to the poor. Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.

You know, this is Jesus Christ's definition of sheep and goats, those who reach out, those who give, those who serve, and those who don't. She opens her mouth with wisdom, verse 26, and that wisdom from above is pure.

It's peaceable. It's gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, full of good fruits.

Jesus Christ is coming back.

Jesus Christ is coming back. Jesus Christ is coming back.

We've talked about this before.

He is coming back, and He is coming with a great need.

And that need is that you and I are prepared to rule and serve with Him.

That need is His need, as much as it's your and my need. That need is the success of the Kingdom of God on earth for a thousand years.

Question for you and me is, do we want to be Christ's helper?

Do we want to be there with Him? Do we want to serve with Him?

If we truly do, then we will make it our aim and we will make it our prayer to be preparing to reign with Him as a bride is preparing for the great wedding that is coming and will be announced with all of that voice, all of that noise, all of that enthusiasm from God on high.

Brethren, let's be preparing to be one with Christ and assist Him in the Kingdom of God.