You Don't Have Time!
Bride, Bridegroom. Terms used for a woman and man about to be married or just married; also used to describe the relation of Christ to his church (Eph 5:25–27).
25 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, pLord, Lord, open to us. 12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 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. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.”—Jeremiah 2:32.
IT is a clear proof of the great love of God to his people that he will not lose their love without earnest expostulation. When you do not care at all for a person, he may love you or hate you, it is all the same to you; but when you have great love for him, then you earnestly desire to possess his heart in return. This, then, is clear proof that God greatly loves his people, since, whenever their hearts wander from him, he is greatly grieved, and he rebukes them, and earnestly pleads with them setting the coldness of their hearts in a true light, and striving to bring them back to warm affection towards himself. Not only are God’s rebukes proofs of his love, but when he goes farther, and deals out blows as well as words, there is love in every stroke of his hand. Most truly does he say, “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten,” since rebukes and chastenings are proofs that he will not lose our hearts without a struggle for them. Do not look, therefore, upon a sermon that rebukes as something to be avoided. Far from it. Hear it and accept it as a token of love from God to your souls. That man is very foolish who will not bear the warning of a friend. Few prize a friend’s rebukes, and yet a wise man knows that there is no greater token of the affection of a friend than when he will undertake the unpleasant duty of pointing out our faults. Many parents are like Eli: they cannot endure the task of chastening their children; and so, when their sons grow up to be their plague, they must not wonder, for they have procured this evil to themselves by their unworthy love of ease. Our heavenly Father is never an Eli: he will not “spare the rod and spoil the child.” He loves us too well to suffer us to go on in our iniquity. He will not stay his hand, and leave us to perish. He will scourge rather than abandon; he will chide rather than lose. To-day he speaks in tones of severity that he may not be compelled to utter to-morrow words of doom. Accept, then, at this time, dear friend, whatever shall come to you out of this text. If it should be bitter in your mouth, yet receive it thankfully from God as good medicine to your spirit, and so may his Spirit cause it to be.
11 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed abear with me. 2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, fthat I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.
21 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, gcoming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit yall things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and emurderers, and fwhoremongers, and gsorcerers, and idolaters, and hall liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
9 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. 10 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, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;