‘After These Things’ 2.5 Israel and the Church – Christ’s Heavenly and Earthly Brides

From our book ‘After These Things – Summaries of John Nelson Darby’s Papers on Prophecy – and more…’ Compiled by Daniel Roberts. For more about this book click on the picture or CLICK HERE

Two brides are presented in scripture:

1. Christ’s Heavenly Bride – This is the church (or assembly) comprising all saints of the present dispensation. She is ‘of Him, like Him and for Him’.  There will be a marriage in heaven described in Revelation 19:6-10 below.
2. Christ’s Earthly Bride – Israel in a future day. There is no marriage of this bride presented though it is implied in a ‘a certain king, which made a marriage for his son’ (Matthew 22:2).

2.5 Israel and the Church – Christ’s Heavenly and Earthly Brides

The Current Relationship between Christ and His Church

When is The Marriage of the Lamb?

The Marriage Celebration

The Heavenly Jerusalem as the Bride

Christ’s Earthly Bride

What is the difference between Christ’s heavenly and earthly bride?

Conclusion

This passage describes the marriage.

The Current Relationship between Christ and His Church

The church came into existence when the Holy Spirit filled the 120 or so persons who were gathered in the upper room in Acts 2:2.  The  number soon grew to 5000.   From the start, she was united to Christ, and even at this early date fully capable of fulfilling her function as the wife of Christ.

The epistles often refer to the church as Christ’s body.  The body comprises only those who are alive now, not to all who will form the bride.  Nevertheless, the relationship between Christ and His assembly is clear: ‘For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church’ (Ephesians 5:31-32).

It is not until Revelation that we have the Church described as a bride.  His wife had made herself ready, so she was a wife before she was a bride.  The church is now the wife looking after her Husband’s affairs in His absence.  She is His trustworthy confidante. Although the marriage ceremony has not yet taken place, the relationship already exists.  There is perfect unity between Christ and His church.  Christendom publicly is something else.

When is The Marriage of the Lamb?

Before the marriage celebration of the Lamb, Babylon – the rival – will have been overthrown and judged.  It says, ‘the Lord our God the Almighty has taken to himself kingly power’  (Revelation 19:6 Darby).  He had taken the power, and was about to reign, but He was not actually reigning.  Hence, we can say that this event would take place between the great tribulation and the Millennium

The judgment seat of Christ must precede the marriage.  No doubt ‘his wife hath made herself ready’ (v. 7) would refer in part to that.  What remains is the bride’s bright clothing – the righteousnesses of the saints (v. 8 Darby).  – things that they had done which had met with God’s approval. (Note KJV appears wrong again here – most modern translations (e.g. NIV and ESV) say ‘righteous deeds or acts’, which is correct – Greek δικαιώματα/dikaiōmata/Strong‑1345).  What qualifications the bride has!

The Marriage Celebration

When a couple gets married, the persons will not have been united beforehand (at least if they have been conducting themselves according to God’s explicit ordering).  Traditions might vary, but in any marriage, there is generally a legal act and a celebration.  The bride is the centre of attention, beautifully dressed (hopefully in a comely manner), and looking her best.  A new household is established, the man and the woman having both left their parental homes (see Genesis 2:24).  The fact that the Holy Spirit introduced this concept so early in Genesis shows that the marriage relationship was always in God’s mind and purpose.

From what we have seen, this will be no ordinary marriage.  We might say that the legal side has already taken place.  Now it is time for a celebration of an existing relationship.  Until Satan had been overcome publicly, it was not yet the time for her to be seen publicly in her beautiful radiance

It says, ‘Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ (Revelation  19:9).  It has been suggested that Abraham and other Old Testament saints will be there as guests. They are children of the bridechamber, but they are not united to Christ as the church is.[1]

The Heavenly Jerusalem as the Bride

The Bride is described as a city ‘Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.  And he [the angel] carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God…’ (Revelation 21:9-11).  However, this will be seen in the Millennium – the bride (or wife) of Christ, already married.

Christ’s Earthly Bride

The holy City Jerusalem is, of course, totally different from the millennial Jerusalem on earth, described in Ezekiel 40-44 and many other scriptures.  The city we are referring to will not be physically on the earth – indeed its foundations will be visible. Revelation 21:6 describes the city as a cube 12,000 cubits (approx. 1380 miles or 2200km) in each dimension.

If there is a scripture which brings out the features, beauty and glory of the earthly bride it must be Psalm 45 – ‘Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him… Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.  I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever’ (Psalm 45:10-11 and16-17).  A clue must be in verse 16 – ‘princes in all the earth’ – not heaven.  This is what the Lord enjoys here in the Millennium.

What is the difference between Christ’s heavenly and earthly bride?

The following table shows the difference between the two:

Conclusion

We should guard ourselves against applying too much human logic and chronology to these holy matters.   I have not wanted to be technical but have been feeling my way prayerfully through this sacred subject.

But it is a marvellous thing that we are part of this beautiful bride!  Magazines are full of pictures of stunning women – images often enhanced digitally.  No such outward improvement will be necessary for the bride of Christ.  She will be just how Jesus wants it.

And we will be part!

[1] See Ministry of James Butler Stoney vol 6 page 116

‘After These Things’ Chapter2.4  Three Judgments – The Judgment Seat of Christ, the Judgment of the Nations and the Great White Throne

From our book ‘After These Things – Summaries of John Nelson Darby’s Papers on Prophecy – and more…’ Compiled by Daniel Roberts. For more about this book click on the picture or CLICK HERE

2.4  Three Judgments

There are three distinct occasions of judgment.: The Judgment Seat of Christ, the judgment of the nations (or of the living) and the Great White Throne.

They are at different times, for different subjects with different outcomes.  Christians often confuse these.  One thing is common to all – the Judge is Christ.

The Judgment Seat of Christ

All those who will have been Raptured or raised when the Lord comes to take His own will experience this.  Hopefully, this includes you, dear reader.

Though scripture is not specific as to timing, the judgment seat of Christ will doubtless be the first thing that the believer in Jesus will experience following the Rapture.  It must be between the Rapture and the marriage of the lamb.– maybe as we are changed into our bodies of glory  ‘In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed’ (1 Corinthians  15:52).

It is a great blessing that we shall be with Jesus and have exactly His view on everything in our lifetime.  2 Corinthians  5 tells us, ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad’ (v.10).  The word ‘appear’ in Greek is φανερόω/phaneroó/Strong-5319, meaning, ‘make clear or manifest’.  So it is not like appearing before a court with prosecution and defence.  It is more, seeing everything in our lives, good and bad, just as Jesus saw it.  The thought of a judgment-seat comes from the Greek tradition.  The word used is βῆμα/bēma – a step or foot (up).  A judge or umpire would sit on a raised platform and would adjudicate.  It is like the umpire in a tennis match.

The important thing for us is that the Judge is also our Saviour, and what abounds is mercy.  Our time of responsibility will have finished.  There will be no guilt and no penalty.  Any idea of a period of purgatory is foreign.  Look at it from the Lord’s point of view.  He has finished the work, His church is complete, His bride is ready, He wants the marriage to take place immediately – ‘The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready’ (Revelation 19:7).  We will be able to enjoy the Lord’s presence eternally, and the Lord will enjoy His bride in her perfection.

The only other direct reference to the judgment seat of Christ is in Rom 14:10 ‘But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ’.  Here it is a question of judging our brother (or sister). The message here is that we should have good relationships with the Lord and with our brethren now, so that no adjustment will be necessary at the judgement seat.

The following hymn brings the positive aspects of the judgment seat of Christ:

1. What will it be with God to dwell,

• And there to gaze on Jesus’ face!
• To meet the One, we’ve known so well
• As Priest and Saviour – in that place!

2. Before Christ’s judgment seat to stand,

• With Him look back on all the way;
• To learn the meaning, at His hand,
• Of every deed in every day!

3. Clearer than ever shall we see

• The grace which God our Saviour showed,
• The love that led so faithfully
• Along the pathless desert road.

4. How blessed when this time is o’er,

• To find that love had all-sufficed,
• As there upon the heav’nly shore
• We reach the day of Jesus Christ.

Maria Carlsson-Carrèn (circa 1865-1955)

Little Flock Hymn Book No 299

The Judgment of the Nations

The judgment of the nations (or judgment of the living) is an event that will occur seven years after the Rapture, immediately following Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ to the earth. As the Lord sets up His earthly kingdom, His first order of business is to judge the nations and eliminate the unsaved from entering the Millennium.

These scriptures are often incorrectly applied to the gospel.   For example, the scripture quoted above in Matthew 25 ref Zephaniah 3:17ers directly to the judgment of those living on the earth – not to the Great White Throne.   The same applies to the scripture in Joel,  ‘Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision (Joel 3:14).  Sometimes it is misapplied to our making a decision; sometimes to the Lord judging those who are saved and those who are not.  If we are alive at the Rapture, this judgment does not apply: either we are saved and will be Raptured and have the judgment seat, or we are lost are not raised until after the Millennium and condemned to hell as unbelievers.

At the judgment of the nations (which also includes the Jews), there are four parties:

• The sheep – the saved or righteous believers
• The goats – the lost wicked unbelievers
• The brethren – believing disciples – messengers of the glad tidings
• The Judge – Christ Himself

People are judged according to how they had received these messengers, whether well or ill, as though it had been done to Himself – see the full passage in Matthew 25:31-46.  They had been predestined but were seen as righteous by God.  Those who despised the testimony and those that bore it had despised the King who sent them; they should go away into everlasting punishment.  The sheep will love and help the brethren because they appreciate the message of the gospel brought to them by the ‘brethren’. The goats, who reject God’s timely message, will show indifference and hatred toward the ‘brethren’.

But for the saved the judgment of the nations will be a wonderful day. Zephaniah 3:17 says, ‘The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in love, he will joy over thee with singing.’

In Matthew 25:41,46, we have the awful condemnation of the unsaved. ‘Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:’ and ‘…these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.’  Likewise, in Zephaniah, God intends to assemble the nations, and pour upon them His indignation – a terrible judgment.  ‘Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms to pour upon them mine indignation’ (Zephaniah 3:8)

 The Great White Throne

This event is the solemn final judgment.   It will take place after the Millennium. Satan will have been released ‘for a little season’, during which time he will have deceived and gathered the nations against the camp of the saints, only to be devoured by fire from heaven.

Then:

1. Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire.
2. The dead will be judged and condemned,

‘And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire’ (Revelation 20:10-15).

‘But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death’. (Revelation 21:8).

Earth and heaven flee – the dead have no escape.  They have refused the gospel of the grace of God and are judged in their sins.  Their works, however good cannot save them.  Moreover, they must ‘confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Phil 2:11).

Need I say more?  May this not be the portion of any reader of this book!  ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved’ (Acts 16:31)

‘After These Things’ Chapter 2.2 The Dispensations

From our book ‘After These Things – Summaries of John Nelson Darby’s Papers on Prophecy – and more…’ Compiled by Daniel Roberts. For more about this book click on the picture or CLICK HERE

2.2 The Dispensations

The Word ‘Dispensation’

List of Dispensations – Schofield

List of Dispensations – Savage

Biblical history is divided by God into dispensations, defined periods or ages to which God has allotted distinctive administrative principles.

J N Darby is sometimes referred to as the ‘father of dispensational theology’.  Although the thought was not new, and it is clear from scripture, there was in his time (and still is) a lot on muddled thinking amongst believers.  Many teach that we are part of a steady continuum, with, for example, the church replacing Israel, that Christ’s kingdom is present and that the interpretation of periods is purely spiritual or figurative – sometimes called ‘covenant theology’.

J N Darby’s teaching, and also that of many servants of the Lord, has been based on the understanding that Biblical history is divided by God into dispensations, defined periods or ages to which God has allotted distinctive administrative principles.  Dispensationalists’ view of history has the glory of God at its centre, whereas traditional teaching focuses on humanity and man’s physical and spiritual needs[1].

The Word ‘Dispensation’

The word, οἰκονομία /oikonomia /Strong 3622 — (Ephesians 1:10), translated ‘dispensation’ there — is a compound word ‘house’ and ‘law – the rules or administration, of a household, as in our word  ’economy’.  In the phrase, ‘dispensational truth,’ it looks at the world as a great household, in which God is dispensing, or administering, according to the rule of His own establishing, and in whose order, He has from time to time introduced changes, the understanding of which is consequently needful, both

List of Dispensations – Schofield

There are several lists of dispensations, and to my knowledge, Darby did not produce a formal list, but the classic view lists the following, each associated with a covenant between God and man.

Generally, the list of dispensations is taken from the explanatory notes in the New Schofield Reference Bible.  Dr Cyrus I Schofield defined a dispensation as ‘a period of time during which man is tested in respect to his obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God[2]’

Schofield listed the dispensations as follows:

1. Innocence– Adam is under probation before the Fall. This dispensation ends with his expulsion from the Garden of Eden. This is designated by the Edenic Covenant (Gen 1:28)
2. Conscience– From the Fall to the Great Flood. It ended with the worldwide deluge when only eight were saved. (Gen 3:7) – The Adamic covenant – conditions in the life of fallen man.
3. Human Government– After the Great Flood, men were to execute the death penalty for murder. This dispensation ends with the dispersion at the Tower of Babel. Some use the term Noahide law about this period. (Gen 8:15)
4. Promise – From Abraham to Moses. Ends with the refusal to enter Canaan and the 40 years of unbelief in the wilderness. Some use the terms Abrahamic law or Abrahamic covenant about this period. (Gen 12:1)
5. Law– From Moses to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Ends with the scattering of Israel in AD70. Some use the term Mosaic law about this period. (Ex 19:1)
6. Grace– lasts from the cross to the Rapture of the church. The Rapture is followed by the wrath of God comprising the Great Tribulation. Some use the term Age of Grace or the Church Age for this dispensation. (Acts 2:1)
7. Millennial Kingdom (or Fullness of Times) – The 1000-year reign of Christ on earth centred in Jerusalem. It ends with God’s judgment on the final rebellion, Satan having been released ‘for a short time’. (Revelation 20:4)

List of Dispensations – Savage

John Ashton Savage (1818-1900) wrote a very useful book, ‘The Scroll of Time, or Epochs and Dispensations of Scripture’[3].  It lays out the events systematically and chronologically.  There is no doubt that Savage was greatly influenced by Darby and indeed referred to him extensively.

He lists dispensations and epochs are as follows (mainly chapter titles)

The Millennium is often described as ‘The Day of the Lord’ (Joel 1:15, Amos 5:8, Zephaniah 1:7,14, 1 Corinthians 1:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:2).

The Eternal State with the New Heavens and Earth is often described as ‘The Day of God’ (2 Peter 3:12, Revelation 16:14).

[1] See ‘Elements of Dispensational Truth Volume 1 by R. A. Huebner, page 3’

[2] Note 3 to Genesis 1:28.  New Schofield Reference Bible page 3.  Bible published by Oxford University Press 1970 edition.

[3] Available from Kingston Bible Trust, Lancing, Sussex

‘After These Things’ Chapter2.1 – Premillennial Prophecy Clarifications

From our book ‘After These Things – Summaries of John Nelson Darby’s Papers on Prophecy – and more…’ Compiled by Daniel Roberts. For more about this book click on the picture or CLICK HERE

This part, entirely written by the author, is consistent with the teaching of     J N Darby as to the events to come, but are designed to give

1. An overview of prophetic events
2. An explanation of happenings of similar character (comings, judgments etc) which Christians often confuse.

SECTION 2 – J N DARBY’s PROPHETIC TEACHING

2.1 Introduction

2.2 The Dispensations

2.3  The Rapture and the Appearing

2.4  Three Judgments

2.5 Israel and the Church – Christ’s Heavenly and Earthly Brides 54

We look at the dispensations, how God has dealt with men at various times.  Darby’s dispensational teaching had a profound effect, especially in evangelical circles

Next, we have the difference between the Rapture – the event immediately before us, which I trust every reader of this book eagerly awaits, and the appearing when He comes with His saints to reign in His millennial kingdom.

We now look at three judgments – a frequent cause of difficulty:

1. The judgment seat of Christ – when we get the Lord’s view of our lives (I hope we can all include ourselves in this).
2. The judgment of the nations (or the judgment of the living) – those people on the earth when He comes to reign.
3. The final judgment of evil – and all who have rejected Jesus – the Great White Throne.

Finally, we look at what applies to Israel and what applies to the Church.

‘After These Things’ Chapter 1.3 – The Prophetic Timeline

From our book ‘After These Things – Summaries of John Nelson Darby’s Papers on Prophecy – and more…’ Compiled by Daniel Roberts. For more about this book click on the picture or CLICK HER

[1] Whilst these events have been happening during the last 100 or so years, especially since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, they are not preconditions to the Raptur

‘After These Things’ Chapter 1.2 Chart of the Ages

From our book ‘After These Things – Summaries of John Nelson Darby’s Papers on Prophecy – and more…’ Compiled by Daniel Roberts. For more about this book click on the picture or CLICK HERE

We all like charts, especially prophetic charts.  So this book has two!

1. A well-known, public domain chart, often seen as a display in meeting halls published by Gospel Hall Publications. This covers the period from the captivity of Israel to the new heavens and new earth.
2. The Chart of the ages – a simpler one by my friend Bill Chellberg, and covering eternity to eternity.
3. 

Graphics from the former have also been used to illustrate chapters.