The Gospel of John - Christ our Bridegroom

The Christ our Bridegroom is the theme here. This is the idea that Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride. And by the way, that's something that the president of the seminary that I went to specifically taught against, interestingly. But I looked at the scriptures and it's pretty evident that it's there. And so we'll be going through some of these passages. One of the things in parallel with that is the Jewish wedding customs, and that's where some of these things draw out pretty clearly. So one of the things we see in Scripture, starting at the end of the Gospel of John and on into Revelation, is Christ is the bridegroom and the Church is the bride. Many of these passages are better understood once we include also the...

What's that? You're broadcasting downstairs. Oh, jeez. Well, they've got it messed up now. And the people were looking at me saying, your lips aren't moving. But we had some other joke comments or something. That was him. This is possibly intentional. OK. That's bizarre.

All right, so at any rate, with the understanding of the cultural context, that also sheds additional light. So two important points here to bring out on the bullet points here. The bride and the bridegroom theme in the New Testament, which is the Church and Christ, is not to be confused with the Old Testament theme of God as the husband and Israel his wife. OK?

Because you'll see that theme in the Old Testament. And it's important not to get them confused. Nancy and I actually even encountered one couple, not from Holly Hills, so we don't know who they were, who were actually having empirical difficulties because of this confusion.

So important distinction. The second bullet there, the bright room theme in the New Testament is also connected to the teaching of the rapture, which also requires that we observe the distinction between the church and Israel. So those two points, I think, are critical in order to be clear again.

One of the reasons why we say it's important to make a distinction, the Old Testament theme of God as the husband, and Israel as his wife, includes their marriage while the people of Israel are on earth, and the unfaithfulness of Israel. And I reference there Ezekiel 16, and then Hosea, the whole book.

And even divorce of God from Israel. which there is nothing equivalent to that in the Christ in the Church. So the New Testament theme of Christ in the Church sees the present stage as the total, that is, its official engagement. And the wedding takes place in heaven. So the bride of Christ's picture is being presented as a wedding that's holy and blameless rather than unfaithful, and never is the divorce of Christ and the Church brought on the beat. So big distinctions between those two. The bride-in-the-bridegroom theme in the New Testament is connected to the pre-tribulation rapture of the Church in a few aspects.

One is the timing of the rapture, that is Christ coming for his bride to church, is based on a parallel with the Jewish wedding custom where the father says to the groom, go get your bride. So the father calls the timing for the son to go get his bride. So the father will tell the son, go get your bride, and we see that in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Acts 1-7.

So those three passages. John 14, 2 and 3, we read, Christ said just shortly before he was betrayed, in my father's house are many dwelling places that were not soiled. I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Those words were words that a groom would say to his bride, bride-to-be. Can you imagine what the disciples were What? What's he saying? Trying to figure out, what's Jesus saying here? Because they were, in fact, words in preparation for getting married. And so I imagine they were quite puzzled.

So this passage here is about Christ coming back not to rule and reign in the millennial kingdom, but will instead come again and receive it to myself that where I am you may be also. This is the rapture, not the second coming of Christ to earth with us. The main point I have is the first passage about the rapture is this passage in John 14, 1 through 3 that we just looked at here. OK, and now point three. Since the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place in heaven, the church must be brought to heaven first in order for the wedding, including presenting the bride holy and blameless, and the marriage supper to take place.

In the church, the distinction between those who are of ethnic Israel and those who are not of ethnic Israel, that is, ethnic Gentiles, is seconded. In other words, if you think about it, whether someone in the church, whether someone is Jewish or Gentile, is of secondary importance. Their membership in being a part of the church is primary.

The primary identity and eternity of those in the body of Christ in the church is related to Christ rather than ethnic history, identity, and future. Gentiles, Israelite, and church saints will maintain separate identities and characteristics of relationships to God and to Christ on into eternity. This is something, looking even at the last couple of chapters of Revelation, the identity of the church and the Gentiles and Israel is still maintained as separate on into eternity. Really interesting, those three separate groups continue to be identified independently.

Now, here's the bride and bridegroom theme in the New Testament. So God the Father did the choosing of the bride, the church, for his son just as the Father did the choosing of the bride in Jewish families. And that's the way it's still done in a lot of traditional families.

So then Ephesians 1, 3, and 4, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love. And when we see Ephesians 1, 3, and 4, many do not see the marriage words in there. But when we look at the rest of Ephesians 5 and the passage on marriage, those same words, holy and blameless, show up.

So then it was the intent of everyone involved that the bride be presented at the wedding as a pure virgin, holy and blameless. The groom would also present his bride to himself as holy and blameless. So the wedding ceremony, the groom is presenting the bride to himself, the family and friends, everybody present is there to present. the bride to the groom, holy and blameless, including the groom himself. So that was the Jewish mindset regarding the wedding ceremony.

So 2 Corinthians 11, 1 and 2 would be an example of that. Paul, for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you. Now, that's past tense, right? So he essentially said, I engaged you, I made you officially engaged to one husband. so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. Those are words out of the Jewish wedding ceremony. Yeah, Pat? When they say, I betrothed you, they're talking about the church, not an individual person. That's right. And that is also what they're talking about in Ephesians 1. That's right. And it's plural in both places, right? So I betrothed you is you plural. So as a body. So those are all wedding kinds of words or marriage kinds of words that are being brought out here in these passages. But unless you know what to look for, unless you're looking for the pattern, many people won't see it and won't get the picture. Is that clear?

So here's Ephesians 1-4, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him. So then there's that. Now 5-27, that he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. So this groom presenting the bride to himself, with this character, preserved, holy, and blameless. It is the intent. So then Colossians 1, 21 through 23, although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in a celestial body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. See that again? The same words here. and presenting the Church before Christ.

One of the things that, as Nancy and I do seminars and marriage counseling and that kind of thing, I'll tell people openly, I'm really excited about being married to Nancy. One of the things that gives it growing significance is that this marriage is the reality, and it's the ultimate and eternal marriage. And so what is happening is the marriage between Nancy and myself is a day-by-day opportunity to live out the eternal romance of Christ and the Virgin. So this is the reality when a couple gets married here on planet Earth. They're living out an analogy. They're living out a copy in the shadow of this eternal romance.

All right, let's take a look at page 3 here. At the appointed time, the father would send the prospective bridegroom from the father's house to the home of the prospective bride. So we see repeatedly, and I only gave a couple instances here, John 12, 49, the father himself who sent me, and the father who sent me in John 20, 21. There are actually more instances than that, but I just gave a couple examples.

There he would negotiate with the father of the woman to determine the purchase price of the bride. For us, the Church, the bride price was Christ's death on the cross, motivated by love to bring him to the cross, and motivated by joy and anticipation of what was ahead of him. So double motivations Christ had, love to bring him to the cross, and joy in anticipation of future relationship.

So, Ephesians 5.25, Husbands love their wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, hating the bride price.

Two years ago now, two and a half years ago, Hassan, over in Uganda, got married. And I went over and did the ceremony. And they said that was, they'd never heard of that before. A guy comes from the United States to do a wedding over in Uganda. But Hassan had to pay a bride price for Juliet. And it turned out he didn't have to give his life. But he gave three cows and four goats and some chickens. I forget how it is.

So that was the bride price. In this case, the bride price that Christ paid was his life. That was a part of what was accomplished on the cross. So once the bridegroom paid the purchase price, the marriage covenant was thereby established that the young man and woman would then consider the husband and wife as betrothed. But they were not to be intimate until after the wedding. So they would call them husband and wife. But that doesn't mean that intimacy was allowed. It was not until the actual wedding ceremony.

Since Christ the bridegroom has paid the price, the marriage covenant has indeed been established, and the Church is now betrothed, officially engaged by agreement and payment of the bride price to Christ. So 2 Corinthians 11, 1 and 2 also illustrates this. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband, and officially engaged, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin." So the betrothal was made on the basis of Christ already having paid the bride price. So then the bridegroom would declare to the bride before the father of the bride that she was consecrated, sanctified, and set apart exclusively for her bridegroom. That is why Paul would say in Ephesians 5, 25 and 26 that Christ paid the bride price so that he might sanctify the church's bride. Husbands loved their wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her so that he might sanctify her.

Yes. What's the difference between consecrated and sanctified? A sanctified is made holy, and a consecration is an exclusive dedication to it. So the words are related but not identical. So as a symbol of the sacred relationship that had been established, the groom and the bride would drink from a cup of wine over which a betrothal benediction had been pronounced, are taking the Lord's table is a commemoration of the betrothal we have with Christ, who has paid the bride price in full with his own blood until he passes.

Isn't it interesting? OK, let's take a look at page four then. Then the betrothed bridegroom would begin preparing a place for the bride and the bridegroom to live in which they would live together once the wedding had taken place. So in John 14, 3 and 4, I go and prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

From then until the time of the wedding, the father of the bride was to keep the bride consecrated, sanctified, and set apart exclusively for her bridegroom. Family and friends were expected to help in the task. See, so everyone who came to the wedding, the idea is that they had been spending the time during this engagement to keep the bride holy and pure. That was the understanding. So everyone present was then doing the presenting, having contributed to the purity of the bride.

So again, we have 2 Corinthians 11 too. On the wedding day, the father of the bridegroom would say to the bridegroom, go get your bride. And the bridegroom would go to receive his consecrated, sanctified, set-apart bride unto himself, to be presented to him by the bride's father, family, and friends, and the groom also presenting her to himself, she being holy and blameless, a pure and spotless virgin.

Think about this. Think about Joseph and Mary in this little town called Nazareth. Maybe a few hundred people at the most. I'm in a little tiny town. Everybody knows everybody's business. I went to high school in one of those little tiny towns, and everybody knows everybody's business. People even make up things that are part of everybody's business. But can you imagine, here is Mary, who is pregnant before the proper time. So what's Joseph's initial thought? What's his initial plans? He discovers Mary's pregnant. Quietly divorce her. Yeah, quietly divorce her.

See, they had two court systems in Israel. And that started about in the century right before the Testament period. They had two court systems. And you could go to the court of Shammai, and there they would ask, why are you divorcing her? But at the court of Hillel, and you could choose which court you went to, at the court of Hillel, they didn't ask. So guess what Joseph was planning to do? He was planning to go to the court of Hillel, where they wouldn't ask any questions. You want a divorce? Okay. So that's what Joseph was planning, to go to the court of Hillel, where they wouldn't ask any questions about why he wanted a divorce, and the fact that Mary was pregnant would never even come up.

Yes? They were just betrothed though, they weren't married, right? That's correct. What's interesting, in that culture, it was an official step to be engaged, whereas in our culture, engagement is not anything official. And so you actually had to get a divorce if you wanted to break an engagement. And that's why the word betrothal is used, because it's not like our informal engagement. Nancy and I have heard of people who have gotten engaged several times and not gotten married with any of them. Because in our culture, an engagement is not formal. It's not legal. It doesn't have a legal standing. In this culture, it did.

And so Joseph, in order to get a divorce from Mary, and he wanted to do it quietly, so he was choosing to go to the court of Hillel, where they didn't ask any questions about why he wanted to get a divorce. And therefore, it wouldn't, at least in the legal documentation, open Mary up to shame. But also think about this. For Mary to be pregnant, in this culture where it's everybody's job job to keep her pure, everybody, family and friends, would have this great shame of having failed to keep Mary pure, at least without believing and understanding this. You can imagine the decision after the birth of Jesus to go back to Nazareth was not an easy one.

So Ephesians 5.25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. that he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. By the way, that washing of water with the word, a couple of things to bring out. The bride would have a ritual bridal bath before the wedding. And so that was not just to be clean, but also to picture her cleanliness. So that's what that's referring to. This word right at the end of verse 26, word, is not the usual term for word. That's logos. This particular word is remon in spoken word. Spoken word.

It's one of the reasons why Nancy and I will talk about, in a marriage counseling or seminar context, we'll talk about the husband his wife, not just, here's why I want to go to church, but actually talking to her about spiritual things. Okay, our taking the Lord's table is a commemoration of the betrothal we have with Christ, who has paid the bride price in full with his own blood until he comes.

The anticipation of that day when Christ, our bridegroom, comes for us to take us to be with himself is eternally rewardable and is called the blessed hope of the believer. So this is why in the Lord's Table it's until He comes, right? And this is why when we look at the anticipation of the Lord's coming, it's not just, gee, it's really nice to be able to look for His coming for us, but also it's eternally rewardable. Isn't that amazing? We will impact our eternity by anticipating His coming.

So 2 Timothy 4.6-8 reads like this, For I am already being poured out as a drink offering.

Paul is close to the end of his life. And the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. And in the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day. And not only me, but all who have loved his appearing.

Anticipating Christ coming for us is rewardable prayer. And that's a key thing. a nice thing to look for the Lord's coming, but the Lord wants and desires that we anticipate and eagerly await His coming. And He says, I will reward you forever if you'll do that in time. So that is not just, I'm looking for the rapture of the Lord to take me out of this horrible place called planet Earth. But it is also a matter of looking for our bridegroom. That's the ultimate marriage there.

Titus 2, 11 through 14. bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. Now, some of the things you see in here are, one is the blessed hope and the appearing of our great God and Savior. That is the Lord coming, Him having been told by the Father, go get your bride, right? And in addition to that, something else you see in here, great God and Savior Christ Jesus.

What does that say about Christ? Christ is two things. What? God and Savior. God and Savior. And that God and Savior, meaning that both of those refer to Jesus Christ, is called the Granville-Sharpe Rule, and that's another story, if I have time for it. Looks like I do. It's called the Granville-Sharpe Rule, and it says that God and Savior Both identify Christ. So Christ is deity, not just an exalted man, not just a human being who did well.

Both of those. Who gave himself up for us. That is, he's the bride price. To redeem us from every lawless deed. And it purifies for himself a people. This is the bride being kept pure. And in this case, made pure. made pure, ready to take on being the bride. So you have within here different, multiple things that point to the bride and the bridegroom.

Now, let me tell you the story behind this brand new chart rule in verse 13. The United States, of course, July 4, 1776, declared independence from Britain. And of course we sent it over by fax, right? Not so much. What did we do? We had to go over by ship. So here's this declaration of independence, it goes over by ship, it lands over there in Britain and gets delivered to the King.

Well, as soon as that came, there was a guy who was in charge of ordering all military supplies for the British military. And his name was Granville Sharp. And so when the order came to order munitions and all supplies in order to begin battling the Americans, Granville Sharp refused. Yeah, he refused. And they said, well, you'll have to resign. He says, OK, I'll resign. But I will not order the missions against the Americans.

And at any rate, he went on to be a Greek scholar. And so this little granule chart rule that you see that applies to this and about 80 passages in the New Testament is one where it specifically points out that Christ is deity. And this isn't the only place that does that. Christ is not just a good man, not just somebody who tried really hard or did well, but is, in fact, deity. He is God and Savior.

Both of those are identified with him. OK. Thoughts here. We're kind of done quite early. But thoughts, questions? The question I have is, why? I mean, God has Israel and Christ will have the Church. And the Holy Spirit functions to bring both of those together, or to make it possible. Why? I mean, is that so, like you said in that revelations course, when the church is around Christ and the throne. Okay, so does that mean The people for Israel, is he only talking about the Millennial Kingdom, or is he talking about eternity as well? Probably eternity as well, right? After the Millennial Kingdom? After Israel?

With their husband? Yes. It would seem to us to be, well that's kind of puzzling, two different situations. One is, that the relationship between God and Israel is quite different than the basis for the relationship between Christ and the Church. One is, what's the fundamental principle, the reigning principle among us in the Church? It's grace, right? For those in the nation of Israel, the reigning principle is law. So you have a different operating principle. That's one key point there.

It is not directly Christ himself being married to the church and to Israel. But then, again, also Israel and the Church and the Gentiles are not just on Earth, but forever having a separate identity. So they aren't just simply merged into one. I don't think that has anything to do with the fact that God, like in Ezekiel, that he picked Israel and chose Israel, and has a relationship with Israel, and then Jeremiah talks about being the wife of Israel. And so that's Israel, and so the nations really obviously aren't included in that.

So if I bring the nations into some kind of formal fellowship or intimacy with deity, They knew it through Christ, right? Well, and if you think about it, Israel is an ethnic identity. The church, the ethnic identity means secondary. It means nothing. So here is the Apostle Paul. who is Jewish, writing to, in great part, a number of Gentiles. And he writes to them, just says, I'm a part of the Church.

Does he talk about the fact that he's a Pharisee? Yes. Does he talk about the fact that he has this Jewish background? Yeah. But what does he say? He says, being a part of the Church, all that Jewish background that I have. And actually, in Philippians, he mentions seven things. Four of them were things that were part of his birth and heritage. Three of them were personal accomplishments.

And he calls it all skubalon. Some of the translations are rubbish. It actually means sewage. He says it's garbage compared to the relationship I have with Christ. So recognizing, even though he has this powerful Jewish background, Very distinctive. And he comes out and says, in the end, it's my personal relationship with Christ that counts far more than any of this.

Other thoughts, questions? So you're saying Israel is an ethnic identity? Yes. Being Jewish, is that an ethnic identity as well? Right. Right. Yeah, we have different terms for, when we say Israel, and sometimes the Bible, especially the Old Testament, just simply refers to Israel as Jacob. And you'll even see them sometimes in the same context.

Because of the Hebrew poetry patterns, we're going to have repetitions of similar or identical terms. Israel, sometimes called Jacob, sometimes called the nation, the people, definite article singular, the nation and the people. They're called Hebrew, as we're seeing in the book of Hebrews. And they're called Jews. And those each have slightly different nuances, but those are all different terms used for Israel.

What's the difference in Jewish language between bride and wife? Between what? I'm sorry. He's asking, what's the difference in Jewish language between bride and wife? The bride particularly focuses on the wedding day. And the wife is the standing of the wife with the husband after that wedding day. Why do you think there's a difference? Oh, well, I think it's a matter of pointing to an event and then pointing to position or standing.

So the wedding day would have to do the meal or the dining, what's that called, the feast or the wedding feast? Yeah, frequently there was more focus on the feast afterwards than there was on the wedding, because the wedding ceremony itself may be relatively short, but what do they do at biblical times? I mean, it's frequently up to a week. that you had this wedding feast. So like, for example, the wedding in Cana, we studied in John chapter 2. There's almost, there's no reference to a wedding other than to say there was a wedding there. But the feast afterwards, everything was about that. And you're saying here that the wedding is in heaven?

Yes. And it would be with the church. And it's prior to the Millennial Kingdom? Yes. So the church returns with Christ as Christ's bride. And that also goes along with what the Apostle Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18, where he describes the rapture. And then at the end of that, he says, and forever we will be with the Lord. Why? We're his bride.

And by the way, when Christ comes down to rule the earth, Will he rule by law or by grace? Grace. Pardon? Grace. Actually, he'll rule by law. He'll rule the earth by law. And here is how. The Jews will have the Holy Spirit to know and live out the law, right? This is the new covenant. The Jews will have the Holy Spirit to know and live out the law, and so they will abide by the law.

Jesus will be, then, the King of the Jews, the King of Israel, and he will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentile nations. That title, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, was used for several empires back. as a title for the one who is over a massive empire. And so Christ will be king of kings and lord of lords over the Gentile nations. He will be ye king of Israel. He will be Israel's Messiah. And we will be with him, he being our bridegroom, he being the groom. We, the church, will be an island of grace in a world ruled by law, but in which the Jews will be empowered to know and live out that law. Anybody's circuits blown yet? What does that mean, an island of grace? We're not physically separated.

No, but imagine, we will be quite a phenomenon to people on planet Earth because we would not only save entirely by grace, everything about our position in Christ is all by grace. Entirely by grace. The way we put it when we're going through Romans 5 through 8, we drink from the Niagara Falls of grace. So the church is entirely by grace.

As a matter of fact, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, not to live out the law, not to know the law, but to live out entirely apart from the law in the coming millennial kingdom. The Jews, on the other hand, will have the Holy Spirit in order to know without the law. So we will come back a people of an identity that's not based on ethnicity, a people who will have been saved and given our position entirely by grace, a people who will have been made holy and blameless. coming back to be with the Lord, and to rule and reign with Him, when He is King of kings, and Lord of lords over the Gentile nations, and King of the Jews, and King of Israel over the Jewish people. Yes?

OK, so there's going to be, during the millennial reign, there will be a church, which is an island of grace, and then there will be there will be Jews who are alive, and there will be Gentiles who will be alive, and they will be on the earth at that time. OK. When they die, Where do the Gentiles go and where do the Jews go when they die? Because the Church is already on Earth. Yes. And you're saying that the Jews will become the wife of God. And I presume that anyone in the nations who die would be part of the Bride of Christ, right? Of those who believe. Right. So where do they go? Well, let's talk about that. Because only the Church is the Bride of Christ.

Right. from Acts 2 until the time of the rapture. After that, you'll have a separate identity of the Jews and the Gentiles. The church will only be those from Acts 2 to the time of the rapture, and only resurrected saints and new bodies then in the morning of Cain.

So it won't be us walking around in these kinds of bodies. We will have new bodies and be with the Lord. And we will have been saved and given our position in Christ, including as the bride, all by grace, pure and totally, absolutely only, only by grace. I'm sorry. No, go ahead.

So you're saying in the Millennial Kingdom, Christ rules by law? Christ rules over those who are on the earth in these kinds of bodies, not resurrected bodies, by law. As a matter of fact, think about it. When he's ruling over the earth, there will be people, particularly Gentiles, who will have sin natures and be inclined to do bad things. So when he rules, you can imagine someone who does some criminal activity.

Imagine showing up at court when the judge knows everything. You will not get anything past the judge. The judge doesn't even need testimony. He knows exactly what's going to happen. And the judge does not have any flaws. And the judge has perfect judgment.

Are you going to get away with anything very easily? Not so much. And so it would be an entirely different environment. When I say rules by law, yes, he rules by law. But on the other hand, people will not get very far trying to live out some criminal, wild, rebellious kind of lifestyle. Not going to happen. Well, won't the law be written on the hearts of the Jews? Of the Jews. So only the Jews get that promise, but the Gentiles do not. And these Gentiles are the ones that survived tribulation? Yeah, if you look at it, going into the tribulation period, all those who are saved are taken out first, because that's the rapture. Those of the church are taken out first.

So only unbelievers will exist after that time. There will be some who will come to believe shortly after that. But after that time, at least at that moment, only unbelievers will be on planet Earth. Only, at the end of the tribulation period, only believers in these kinds of bodies will enter and populate the Millennial Kingdom. Okay? Only believers. Imagine going into an Earth where there are only believers on the Earth.

It is only those born after that time who will have a choice to believe or not believe. Because there will be others born, right? Others born, and so they will have a choice to believe or not to believe. If they choose not to believe, they better not misbehave, because things are ruled by a principle of law. And only the Jews will be empowered to know and live out the law.

So we, as the body of Christ, will then be in heaven with the Lord, during that tribulation period, and frankly not focus terribly much on the tribulation events. Our focus will be on the Lord. And then we will come back with the Lord, the marriage already having taken place in heaven, come back with the Lord, only in the resurrected bodies, the church all saved. There will be, with that second coming, Christ, the angels, and us, and also Old Testament saints, the Jew and Gentile, resurrected at that point. Yes? OK, so then at the end of a thousand years, Satan is released. Yeah, for a brief time. Brief time. Yes.

Is that when the old heaven and the old earth are destroyed? And then at the end of that time, this present heavens and earth are destroyed completely. It's described, and Peter describes it as everything is just vaporized. John describes it as a scroll being rolled up. Everything here just kind of rolls away. But this present heavens and earth gone, and a new heavens and new earth developed that will only include those who were saved by faith out of this present heavens and earth.

And it describes that. It describes the church being there in the New Jerusalem with the Lamb. And it describes Israel being at the gates of the New Jerusalem. And it describes the Gentiles as being on the earth and bringing the glory and honor of nations, is what it describes, into the New Jerusalem. So the church and Israel and the Gentiles are independently described, and each has a different place And it goes through heaven's new order. Now, will the people live forever then, into eternity? Yes. No more sorrow, mourning, crying, pain, death. No more of that. And it says, and there will be no temple for the Lord. The Lord and the Lamb is his temple. Yeah?

The church consists of the people that are believers after Acts. So that means that Mary and Joseph will not be a part of that church. Here's the interesting thing. Acts chapter 2 is the time, right, that starts the church. So the thief on the cross, Jesus Christ, be with me in the paradise, right? Was that before Acts 2 or after? It was before. So the thief on the cross, the same, went to heaven that day.

But he's not a part of the church. So far as we have any evidence at all, Joseph had died prior to Jesus starting his ministry. As a matter of fact, because Jesus was the eldest son, he very likely had to wait to start his ministry until all the kids had been raised. There's four sons and at least two daughters.

But now Mary would have died after Acts 2. Mary, the last time she's mentioned by name, is in Acts chapter 1. So it's presumed, because her death is actually never recorded. So it's presumed that by Acts chapter 2, she's still around. It just talks about Mary in Acts chapter 1 and Jesus' brothers being present there with the apostles. And so here's Joseph would be a part of Old Testament saints, but Mary, part of the New Testament saints of the church.

Fascinating, huh? So an interesting dividing line. If you're a believer, Acts 2 or afterwards, up until the time of the rapture, then you're part of the church, the body of Christ. Is there going to be a test on that? Would you like one? No. Yeah, we've actually gotten a little into some things. I've got some separate handouts which help make things a little more clear.

But the bottom line is that the Church, being not an ethnic group, identity, has a different position and a different future than those of Israel and the Church. And that's on into eternity. by what Scripture reveals. On into forever, we've got a separate identity. On into Revelation chapter 21 and 22, it talks about the church, and Israel, and the Gentiles having a separate identity forever.

And by the way, why would God do things that way? Why not just make everybody all in the same group, and treat everybody the same? Why don't you go through that? It must have something to do with genetics, because it starts all the way from the beginning, where he's always dividing out according to different people, like the three sons of Noah.

And then you've got Abraham as the first Jew, who comes out of a particular line out of those three sons. And previous to that, you had divisions as well. Isn't it interesting that God divides up by different ethnic groups, and then he also creates a separate group, the church, in which ethnicity is no big deal. For the Jews, you know, with your ethnic background, it's a big deal.

That has to do with time. But that's due with time and things here on planet earth. And so what the Lord, the Lord very interestingly has those saved out of the Gentiles. Here's Noah, he walked with God. A preacher of righteousness. A Gentile. And then he's got Jews. The whole line of Jews is described here in the Bible, all the way into the New Testament. Enoch. Yeah, here's Enoch walking with God before the flood, a Gentile. And so you'll see examples all the way through scripture.

So the first group that comes up is the Gentiles, and that's starting with Adam. The next group, starting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there's the beginnings of the Jews. and the Church, spoken about only at the ends of each of the Gospels, but brought into existence in Acts chapter 2 of the Day of Pentecost. And God is glorified by having a variety of those saved.

Isn't that interesting? And by the way, let's take another example. Are all angels the same? No, all angels are not the same either. So very interestingly, angels, he made different kinds and groups of angels as well. So God is glorified and his glory is expressed in that variety.

And he's revealed about those things from the very beginning all the way to the last chapters of the Bible. Yeah. It's kind of interesting when you talk about that because if you look at the book of Genesis, you know, it talks about every species being of its own kind that's repeated over and over and over again. Yes. Of their own kind. Yes. So, you know, and then here comes a world with Darwinism who says that they're, you know, Each one goes into the next, but that's so akin to Genesis, because each species is of its own kind.

Yeah, God made different kinds of beings. He made even human beings of those saved. He had three different groups that were treated differently forever. Of the angels, who don't seem to change, other than those that chose to fall, about a third of them, the angels also not all of the same kind. They're cherubim and seraphim, and that kind of thing. And they have different hierarchies. They're not the same kind either. God has deliberately chosen with the spiritual creations that he has made, he's deliberately chosen to make different kinds, and they're different forever.

And he's glorified in that. And the Gentiles who are on the new earth, they're going to be just as happy as can be with what the Lord has done with them. The Israelites, just as happy as can be with what the Lord has done with them. And we will be as happy as can be with what the Lord has done with us. Variety in what God has done forever.

Well, let's pray. We've got to get people to start pressing those buttons over there. Lord, we thank you for what you've revealed here, not only about what has happened in the past, but also what you're doing with us now. We are in a betrothal state, and what you intend to do in the near future. And just as we saw here this morning, we do have that blessed hope, and Lord, I hope it's today, that you would come and take us to be with yourself. And Lord, we look forward to these wonderful and marvelous things, to see the working out of the promises you made long ago. So give me thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.