One major problem remains. It is that the Wife of the Lamb must be a helper suitable for Him. An immature, self-seeking, sinful, disobedient member of the Christian religion is not a helper suitable for the Lamb of God.

The purpose of the two thousand years of the Church Age has been to call out from the nations of the earth and bring to maturity the members of the Church. This is not to indicate that the members of the Church are the only persons who will be saved from wrath. Rather, the members of the Church have been predestined to be in the moral image of Jesus Christ and to be in untroubled union with the Father through the Lord Jesus. When such moral transformation and union have been accomplished, then the world will believe God indeed has sent Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the world.

How much has been accomplished in the way of bringing the members of the Church to the necessary maturity remains to be seen. There is an intimation in the last chapter of the Book of Isaiah that in the last days there may be a sudden appearing of Christ in the believers.

"Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?" says the LORD. "Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?" says your God. (Isaiah 66:8,9—NIV)

In my opinion the nation that will be brought forth in a moment is the holy nation, the royal priesthood, the Church of Jesus Christ. I don't think the Lord Jesus Christ will return until the members of the Church come to maturity, until they form a helper suitable for the Lord.

The above passage does not mean, I believe, that spiritually slothful, unbelieving, self-seeking believers will instantly become giants of faith. I think it is true rather that those disciples who have patiently sought the Lord, doing His will diligently, will suddenly be displayed. At birth a baby is suddenly displayed to the world, but the formation of the baby from embryo to fetus to baby occurs during previous months.

How are the members of the Body to be brought to maturity? They will be brought to maturity by means of the differing ministries and gifts that are given to the members of the Body so they can build up the Body to maturity. Also, God will employ additional means such as suffering, delayed gratification, the incidents through which we pass, and so forth to bring us to maturity.

The program of bringing the believers to maturity has been developing very slowly because the gifts and ministries of the Body are not as prevalent as they must be in order to perform the task assigned to them. I think this situation will be changed in the days to come and we will see many, many more gifts and ministries operating in the Christian assemblies. Let us hope so.

To be continued.