The Love of God in Christ: Jesus and His Bride (Part 1)

Now, there is something else about the Lord on that day when He was baptized: He could see who was part of His bride and who wasn’t. He could see the coming bride. Were those He met that day part of His body? Part of His bride? Nobody was His bride…yet. Forgive me, but He was saving people by eternal action, not by what was accomplished in time. Now, can I explain myself? He said to one, “Your sins are forgiven.” But were their sins forgiven? You say, “Yes, their sins were forgiven.” Yes, but He was operating on the basis of eternity. It had not yet happened in time. When were their sins forgiven? On the cross. Of course, I have to say the cross happened before time began. Praise God, but in time, it had not yet taken place. Nonetheless, He forgave, through eternity, that the crucifixion had not yet taken place. When did the bride come into being? Tell me, does anybody know? In the resurrection. Nonetheless, He could walk around and see who would be His bride. Audience: In eternity, there is the bride. Please clarify that.

There is the bride in time, now, starting on the day of resurrection. Don’t put the bride off further. We’re not going to have any of that stuff. Now then, the bride… we will see… we will see the bride. We will see her glorious…we’re going to see the bride. Praise the Lord. But now, can we only see her through His eyes?   So tonight, I’m going to ask you to do this: would you all do this? And don’t anybody move. Would you all get right back here, come back here, keep coming, and come back here until you’re right here? And from this point on, I ask you to forget you and look only through the eyes of Jesus Christ. Would you get behind Him and see what He sees? Would you get right behind His eyes and see what He sees? Would you do that? Can you do that? Would you do that? It will help us all.

He sees two men, and what are those two men doing? Following Him. Why are they following Him? He was drawing them. Why was He drawing them? They heard his voice. Had He said anything? No, but they heard His voice. Where do they hear His voice? They were being drawn. My sheep hear my voice. Those whom the Father gave Me, hear Me and follow Me. These are the first two who ever, ever, ever, ever followed the Lord. They had just heard John calling the Lamb of God, and they were awestruck. They were, you know, they were unconscious of one another. They were trying not to let Him see what they were doing. They were keeping a good distance, and the Lord Jesus turned to our brothers. The Lord turned around. He initiated the action, turned around, and said, “What do you want?”

Now, were they anxious? Were they anxious? Was He anxious? Who was more anxious? The Lord was more anxious. They had just found Him. He had found them an eternity ago. He had fallen in love with them. They were part of His bride. They would make up His counterpart. There is a passion in Him for them. And they just ask for His name and address. Someday, maybe when we get a lot of nerve, we’d like to walk by and see where you live. That wasn’t the mind of the Lord. He said, when they asked, “Where do you live?” He said, ” Well, for goodness sake, come and find out. And they stayed for an afternoon tea? They spent the whole day and the rest of the evening with the Lord Jesus. The first two men in history who ever sat down and had fellowship with God. It was the first time in history that the Lord Jesus could finally fellowship with His bride.

Sometimes during this time, the Spirit drove the Lord to the wilderness, and for 40 days, He fasted. He ate no food. Probably, He drank water, but He ate no food. He was very weak. He was very weak; extremely weak. And someone came to Him. Who was it? Satan. What do you look like? He was beautiful. Describe him. He was light. Light. Something leveling. Something very beautiful. I hope you never see him the way the Lord saw him that day. You might become his follower, but maybe not, because he doesn’t appear that way very often. I told you last night; I described the scene. This is where we left off. They saw one another, and Satan looked at this creature. He recognized Him as God, but this was the first time he had ever seen God limited, and he had gotten limited inside a created being with temporal light.

He saw God, but he also saw a man. Yet more than a man, there was no fall in Him. Satan’s temptation in the garden had covered all humanity, and none had escaped it. They were all in his clutch and all under his power and all under his authority, but here was a man who had escaped the fall. Here was one not under him. Here was a new species. I said last night that he was a species that had not yet begun to reproduce. He did not yet have His counterpart. And He was killable. Do you know what that means? It means that Satan found God vulnerable. For the first time, Satan saw where he could liquidate his enemy. Because God was now in man, and God could be put to death, for man was a temporal creature.

But something had to be done, and Satan was about to do it. The Lord Jesus stood there and looked at the end of it. Boy, you can be sure there was hate boiling in His being. You think God can hate? Can God hate? God can hate. There was just as much negative passion in Him as He stood there and looked at this creature. So, this is what Adam felt when you offered him the fruit. So, this is what Adam felt. This is the drawing that was in His being. And he wavered. He was tempted, and what happened? Deep within His being, He could feel His Father speak. He heard the voice of His Father. He looked at that creature. He knew that as the Son of God, He could turn those stones to bread, and He was hungry, and He was tempted. But he heard a voice speak, and He shifted the whole issue. “I know what you’re after. I am the Son of God. I can turn that stone into bread. But you’re not after the Son of God. You’re after a man, and you’ll not get Him. Because this man is after His wife.”

(Continued in Part 2)