For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until its righteousness goes forth as brightness, and its salvation as a lamp that burns. And the Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. (Isaiah 62:1-3)
The crown of glory in the hand of the LORD speaks of even more than gold and jewels; it speaks of her who has risen to preeminence in the Kingdom of God. It speaks of the Bride of Christ herself.
A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that makes ashamed is like rottenness in his bones. (Proverbs 12:4)
Too many have taken the words of Paul to the Ephesians concerning a bride to mean that all who call themselves Christians, or all in the church, automatically attain that status. Paul says,
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 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 5:22-32)
“This is a great mystery,” says Paul. But what is the mystery if the whole church is the Bride? One key to understanding comes in verses 22 and 24 above, wives must submit and be in subjection to their husbands. Prophetically, that is, in a spiritual sense, Christians must submit to Christ. Most say that they do, but their actions, their way of life, belies their supposed submission.
Just this morning my wife dreamed of a very rich couple we fellowshipped with in the mid nineties. Although we knew them to be millionaires, in her dream she wondered through their home and found it to be barren and poor. There was not even a headboard on their bed, for example. We knew these people to be into “the prophetic” and spiritual gifts, but we became convinced over time that they, like the “prophetic” church we had left a few years before that were lawless. They took the grace that Jesus is and abused it. They were rich in the natural and they supposed, because of their prophetic gifting and knowledge, that they were rich spiritually. We discovered they were not spiritual overcomers and this dream today simply confirmed this afresh. (By the way, as I shared the contents of A Perfect Jewel (5) with my wife this morning it was she who brought the further revelation that the crown speaks of the Bride)
The significance of this dream and this teaching is that many who think they have it made with respect to their dreams of salvation really don’t. I am not talking about your eternal salvation or whether you will end up in Hell. I am talking about whether you will be cast into the “outer darkness” at the time you thought you would be basking in the wedding feast. I speak of the warning Christ gave to the Laodiceans:
Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white clothing, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (Revelation 3:17-19)
But, be encouraged! Even these blind and naked and pitiful Christian wretches who belong to the Laodicean church have hope! They can “buy” provisions from the LORD. And if they do, they will, says Jesus, be granted permission to sit with him on his throne. And only the King and Queen get to sit together on a kingdom’s throne.
