Thousands had partaken of the five barley loaves and two small fish. They had followed Jesus and His disciples to Capernaum, hoping to have more free food.

Then, deliberately, the Lamb of God began to speak of His body and blood—of that by which the true Bride lives. The Bride of the Lamb is created from the body and blood of Jesus just as Eve was created from the bone of Adam. The bone became Eve. The body and blood become the Wife of the Lamb.

Jesus knew that all would leave except the twelve whom He had chosen. Even the twelve disciples had further refining to undergo; for there was self-seeking among them, and one of them (even though he had been chosen!) would betray Him and die separated from God.

Thus the true, eternal Bride of the Lamb finally will be distinguished from the multitude of Christ's followers.

The second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation are a love letter from the Lamb to His Wife. There are the seven churches, and then there are those who overcome all hindrances until they finally are revealed as the Wife of the Lamb.

Jesus gives freely of His holy body and blood to all who ask. The Bride is formed from those who choose to live by the inner life and strength that Christ provides. The majority of believers choose to maintain the life and wisdom of their original personalities and because of this do not enter the formative stage of the marriage of the Lamb.

When Christ created Adam, He observed that none of the other living creatures was suitable as a helper for the first man. He recognized also that He—Christ Himself—was alone. None of the angels of Heaven could be His helper because they are different in kind and unsuited as companions for Him.

Christ set about to create another human being who would be suitable for Adam, who would complete Him.

Christ caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, typifying His own death on the cross of Calvary. The Lord then took one of Adam's ribs, a part of Adam, and closed up the flesh in its place.

Then He built the rib into a woman.

And the rib, . . . made he a woman, . . . . (Genesis 2:22)

The rib (part of Adam) was made a woman. God did not use the rib as a nucleus and build Eve around it such that she was a separate person having one of Adam's ribs. Rather, the rib itself was built into a woman. This means that every part of Eve, from her hair to her toes, came from the substance of Adam. In this sense, Eve "was" Adam.

The same identification is true of the Wife of the Lamb. The Wife of the Lamb does not consist of individuals who have a piece of Christ in them. The Wife of the Lamb is made up of those who have been created from Christ just as Eve was created from Adam.

To be continued.