The Wife of the Lamb. If we would be part of her who is to be without spot or wrinkle, the complement of the Lord of Glory, we must submit to the Holy Spirit as He cleanses us from every vestige of Satan. No spiritual death can be permitted to remain in those who are part of the Bride.

The Christian Church is referred to as the Wife of the Lamb. This is because we are joined in total union with Christ by eating and drinking His Life, as the Israelites were commanded to eat the Passover Lamb.

The Lord Jesus is the Bread from Heaven. If we eat of Him we will live forever. He is the Tree of Life. His body and His blood are eternal life. If we eat His flesh and drink His blood we have eternal life and He will raise up our flesh in the last day.

It is not possible that the living Word, the eternal Life that has been with the Father from eternity, can be joined in union with the flesh and blood personalities of human beings. Like must be joined with like. Before we can be made one with Life we must become Life. We must partake fully of His Life in order that we may become Life and be joined eternally to Him who is the Resurrection and the Life.

From eternity the Word has been One with the Father. Now the holy Father has purposed that the Word will be increased by adding to Him a multitude of persons who are in His image and who are joined to Him in perfect, complete oneness. Each person joined to Christ loses his individuality but never his identity. Christ and His Bride are to become one bone and one flesh. They are to be One for eternity.

God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone." It is true also that it is not "good" that Christ should be alone. Adam could not fulfill the edicts of God apart from Eve. Christ (and we say this reverently) cannot fulfill that which God has spoken concerning Him apart from His Bride. He is the Vine and we are the branches. The desired fruit of righteousness and praise is borne on the branches.

Christ is willing to lose His individuality in order that we may become one with Him. The Song of Solomon reveals to us the attitude of the Lord Jesus toward those whom God has destined to become an integral, eternally indivisible part of Him.

No marriage ceremony was necessary for Adam and Eve because Eve was created an integral part of Adam. No marriage ceremony is necessary for the Lamb and His Wife because she has been created an integral part of Christ.

When the Day of Christ comes and it is time for the Bride to be filled with the Presence of Jesus, God declares: "the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready" (Revelation 19:7). This is not a marriage "ceremony" as we employ the term but the fruition and revelation of what has been created previously as the members of the Bride have climbed the steep stairs of pain and perplexity that are necessary for the forming of Christ in us.

To be continued.