Revelation 19:7-9
Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and
bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
This passage about the Wedding of the Lamb in Revelation mentions
(1)the Bridegroom (Jesus, the Lamb),
(2)the bride, and
(3)"those invited to the wedding supper."
The WMSCOG say that if the church/believers are the bride, then who would be the guests? They conclude that it must be Jerusalem Mother who is the bride, and the church/believers are the guests. How can you be invited to your own wedding?
Well, let's look at this in a different way...
Let's imagine a romantic bridegroom who has chosen a bride and will have a wedding soon. The groom has planned the lavish wedding, but hasn't told the bride when it will be. She only knows that she needs to have a travel bag and dress ready at any moment. She may even find herself wearing her nicest clothes and carrying her travel bag as her purse every day! Finally the day of the surprise wedding arrives. The groom stops by to pick up his unsuspecting bride, and drives her to the wedding banquet, and they are married. Since the groom did all of the wedding planning, and the bride only had to show up, she is both a guest and the bride at her own wedding. When she accepted the bridegroom's proposal, she accepted the invitation to her wedding.
Now let's take that same scene, and imagine it as the Wedding of the Lamb in Revelation...
God Himself is entirely in charge of arranging His own wedding--His final union with His faithful Church. We don't know exactly when it's going to be, but of course each believer wants to be ready at any moment. When the time is right, Jesus ushers His Church (the collection of believers) into the Wedding celebration. The Church CAN be BOTH the bride and the guest at the Wedding of the Lamb.
When you accept God's invitation to faith in Jesus Christ, you accept the invitation to be part of the Bride of Christ. You are invited to the Wedding where you will also be part of the Bride. The invitation is open to EVERYONE.
The Church IS the Bride of Christ.
How wonderful is that?!
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Biblical Answers to the World Mission Society Church of God
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.--1 John 4:1
Are you or a loved one struggling with this group? Do you need Biblical answers about the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCoG or CoGWMS), their founder Ahnsahnghong (Ahn Sahng/Sang-Hong) or their current leader "Mother Jerusalem" (a.k.a. "Heavenly Mother God," Zang/Zahng Gil-Jah, or Chung Gil Cha)? Thank you for coming here. I hope my blog helps you. Questions and comments are always welcome.
Are you or a loved one struggling with this group? Do you need Biblical answers about the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCoG or CoGWMS), their founder Ahnsahnghong (Ahn Sahng/Sang-Hong) or their current leader "Mother Jerusalem" (a.k.a. "Heavenly Mother God," Zang/Zahng Gil-Jah, or Chung Gil Cha)? Thank you for coming here. I hope my blog helps you. Questions and comments are always welcome.
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Quotations are from the NIV or NKJV unless otherwise noted.
" The bride is also a guests at her own wedding."
ReplyDeleteWhat.
No offense, but that is a pretty awkward set up.
God uses labels and titles for a reason - if the bride was to be both the Bride and the Guests of her wedding, then her title as Bride would be unecessary.
That naturally doesn't make sense. A wedding is for marriage, for the Bride and the Bridegroom to partake in. The Guests are but guests.
A Bride is honored at her wedding, for she is deserving of it, while the guests are nothing more but guests lol, who were invited to share in the joy of the matrimony.
Lol so how can the bride be the person of honor and a mere guest there just to enjoy the matrimony?
She's the bride for a specific reason - and the guests are guests for specific reasons. They are not getting married - but she is. They are not getting honor but she is.
This is like you inviting people over to YOUR house and then expecting them to treat you like a guest. No that is Your house, you are the hostess, the one of higher stature and honor in your abode, not a mere guest.
Lol it's very awkward, and just seems like an attempt to manipulate the circumstance to suit another belief. But it's not a very good manipulation.
I've encountered this odd detail of the church being both the bride and guests but it just overall makes no logical sense.
Lol and the Bridegroom made the wedding arrangements for his bride's honor, not the honor of the guests. She doesn't need an invite and she sure in the heck ain't goin until she's ready.
" She has made herself ready..."
Now what guests can waltz into someone's wedding, and tell the bride to get off the altar for an hour until the guests has made themself ready to attend the wedding?
What?
The Bride is the one of honor, and therefore holds prestige over the guests, which sets her in a different category - or else she would haven't been labeled as such. There are female guests at wedding - they aren't brides too, just guests.
Plus, the bible says countless times that the church is God's body not his bride, and the people in it make up the parts of the body. Not to mention that the church is clearly stated as the church in the bible, or temple, or synagogue, never mysteriously implied as a Bride.
Plus, the bible testefies that the churches will become corrupted; how can the Bride of God become corrupted before the wedding?
The bride would have to be pure and holy - we're talking about the wife of God here -
The church is a temple of sinners lol. Not very pure, nor holy...
I guess you've never been involved in a surprise party? The person of honor at a surprise party can also be considered a guest (an honored guest!). They take on none of the hostess duties, but get to act as a guest at their own party. Now imagine if they were told ahead of time that there would be a surprise party in their honor, and to be ready for it to happen any time.
DeleteMaybe you are not romantic enough to imagine this kind of scenario with a bride and groom, but I sure am! If it were my groom who told me to be ready any time, I would have my wedding dress and a packed suitcase in the trunk of my car. :)
The WMSCOG teaches that symbols can represent different things in the Bible, such as a lamb representing God's people and a lamb representing Jesus. So this idea of multiple representations should not be knew to you.
If it helps, you can think of it as the "Bride" representing the Church as a whole, and the "guests" representing the individual members of the Church. This is similar to the nation of Israel being represented as a "mother" and the individual Israelites being represented as "children." (Did you ever wonder how someone could be their own mother?)
You said, "Plus, the bible says countless times that the church is God's body not his bride, and the people in it make up the parts of the body. Not to mention that the church is clearly stated as the church in the bible, or temple, or synagogue, never mysteriously implied as a Bride."
I haven't heard this in a while, so I thought maybe the WMSCOG stopped teaching it. I guess not. Here are verses that describe God's people as a Bride:
http://encountering-ahnsahnghong.blogspot.com/2010/06/who-is-bride.html
I appreciate your input. If you'd like to discuss more, I'd be happy to hear from you again.