The Bride of Christ And The Tabernacle Experience
The Bride of Christ is a common theme in the New Testament. Here are a few scriptures that speak to this.
“For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
2 Corinthians 11:2,
“And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he 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.”
Revelations 21:8-10
Furthermore,
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”
Revelation 19:7-9
In fact there is an entire book about the bride of Christ, called the Song of Solomon, which typologically foreshadows our spiritual courtship and marriage to Jesus Christ.
“I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.”
Song Of Solomon 5:1,2,
The Bride of Christ and the Tabernacle Experience
The Tabernacle experience (divine love) is much like the relationship that develops between a man and woman as they fall in love. As the relationship grows deeper their mutual love and attraction intensifies until they cannot bear to be apart and must marry in order to know each other fully. Spiritually speaking, divine love draws us to Jesus in such a way that we cannot bear to live without Him and we must know Him as we are known. A by-product of Heavenly love is that it draws the members of the body of Christ together in the bonds of love too.
The Devil fears the unity that divine love brings more than anything else because a unified body of Christ is a powerful body of Christ.
Luke says,
“And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.”
Acts 4:32
Many groups down through the centuries have tried to practice “all things in common” like those believers in the book of Acts, but it has never worked out very well. The reason why these communes have never achieved “all things in common” is because the communal spirit in the book of Acts was not the result of earthy agreement but merely a byproduct of the divine love of the Holy Spirit. First century Christians experienced as a group the spiritual fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles which is divine love. The Tabernacle experience is what gave them one heart and one soul making “having all things in common” not only possible but inevitable.
There steps to the perfection of the saints
In the book of Acts three separate and distinct spiritual experiences took place in the new-born church. Salvation came on Passover, the infilling of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, and oneness during Tabernacles. The church began to experience Tabernacles beginning with Peter and John at the gate beautiful.
God says,
“Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God:”
Acts 3:1-9
Oneness with God
Peter demonstrates “oneness with God”, leading to a chain of events which naturally culminated in everyone having all things in common. In fact, Peter became so “one” with Jesus we read,
“Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.”
Acts 5:15
The Tabernacles Experience is the final feast
The Tabernacle experience is the final stage of becoming one with God. Believers express Divine Love as the chief characteristic of this experience. The Bride of Christ shares Oneness with God, therefore she is one with her many members. YHWH perfects us through a love relationship with Jesus. Our love love relationship develops through experiencing Him in and through each other. Letters between lovers only go so far, eventually love demands expression. People talk about becoming love sick for one another because they cannot bear to be apart. Likewise, the Bride of Christ cannot bear to be away from Jesus for a moment. For this reason, the body of Christ leaves the church and again dwelsl together having one heart and one soul. It is only at that point that we are ready to become God’s wife.
God says,
“For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.”
Isaiah 54:5
