Grace Thoughts
God’s Judgment: How It Works – Part 20
We have seen several ways that Christians view future things (eschatology). You can read previous studies by linking to them at the bottom of this article.
We’ve been looking at the “timing” of Christ’s return and now turn to “relationships” and their impact on His return.
Relationships
The Old Testament clearly states that Israel has a special relationship to God … Israel is God’s “wife.”
Return, O backsliding children,’ says the Lord; for I am married to you.
JEREMIAH 3:14
God, through the prophet Jeremiah, made it clear that Israel was His wife but that she had played the harlot.
They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man’s, May he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,’ says the Lord.
JEREMIAH 3:1
God continued with Jeremiah to say that He called on adulteress Israel to repent, but gave her a certificate of divorce; “yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.” You may remember that God had allowed Assyria to capture the tribes of Israel and their land more than a hundred years earlier.
God said that Judah had not turned to Him with her whole heart, but only in pretense. God’s call was “Return, O backsliding children,’ says the Lord; ‘for I am married to you.” Then God promised at a future time to restore to Jerusalem “The Throne of Lord, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. No more will they follow the dictates of their evil hearts. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.” (Jeremiah 3:6-18)
The prophet Isaiah wrote something similar concerning God being the Husband of Israel:
Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth. For the Lord has called you Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused,’ Says your God. For a mere moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,’ Says the Lord, your Redeemer.
ISAIAH 54:4-8
What we see here is that Israel/Judah will be the restored wife of God during Christ’s Millennial Reign on earth. So, what about the Marriage and Marriage Supper of the Lamb described in Revelation 19 as happening in Heaven before Christ returns to earth to establish His Millennial Reign?
The Apostle Paul helps us with this in his letter to the Ephesians:
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
EPHESIANS 5:22-33
Jesus gave Paul many mysteries to reveal and one of them is about a special relationship the Lord has with the Church. Paul explained it in light of a husband’s love for his wife and a wife’s respect for her husband. Paul reached back to Genesis 2:23-24 and revealed that this was looking forward to the relationship Christ would have with the Church.
For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Paul wrote something extraordinary about his calling by Christ to betroth the Church as a “chaste virgin” to Christ. Paul reached back yet again to the early verses of Genesis:
Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
2 CORINTHIANS 11:1-4
One other key note about relationships is how God will bring everything together in the end.
Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’ Then He who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful’ … Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
REVELATION 21:2-5, 9-13
We see the Lamb’s wife in the New Jerusalem. It will contain all those who God has redeemed through the ages. Jews and Gentiles together forever in God’s House. And below them will be the the nations of the saved, along with the kings of the earth who will “bring their glory and honor into it” (Revelation 21:24). The only people allowed into the great City will be “those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Revelation 21:27).
Revelation ends in an interesting way with an emphasis on the Bride of Christ.
And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
REVELATION 22:17
The relationships we find in Scripture between God and His people are intimate and will last forever.
Conclusion
I’ve studied this question of the timing of Christ’s Return to earth for more than 50 years and the Pre-Tribulation or Mid-Tribulation Views seem to work best with the Scriptures that address the subject. That is not to say there are not good students and teachers with other views. I’m presenting what seems best based on my study. I hope you will be encouraged to do your own study and confirm your beliefs based on the Word of God rightly divided.
Next Time
We will look at the meaning of “the day of the Lord” in the next part of our special series “God’s Judgment: How It Works.”
If you have not read all of the parts of this study we’ve published so far, we invite you to do that now for the Scriptural background to Christ as Judge.
- Part One
- Part Two
- Part Three
- Part Four
- Part Five
- Part Six
- Part Seven
- Part Eight
- Part Nine
- Part Ten
- Part Eleven
- Part Twelve
- Part Thirteen
- Part Fourteen
- Part Fifteen
- Part Sixteen
- Part Seventeen
- Part Eighteen
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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