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BRIDE
BODY
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wedlock' (Ezek. 16:38). The phrase, which has become common in modern matrimonial lawsuits, `breach of
promise', is used by God of Israel in Numbers 14:34; and divorcement is employed by Jeremiah to set forth this
people's unhappy position.
`They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her
again? ... Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you' (Jer. 3:1,14).
Isaiah speaks of divorcement saying:
`Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away?' (Isa. 50:1).
The same Isaiah has some glowing words to say regarding the ultimate restoration of this wayward people:
`Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken: neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be
called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married' (Isa.
62:4).
The prophet Hosea, is the prophet of the interval between the setting aside of Israel and of their restoration. In
Chapter 1, he has three children bearing prophetic names:
Jezreel. `Scattering' and also `Sowing'.
Lo-ruhamah. `Not having obtained mercy'.
Lo-ammi. `Not My people'.
In chapter 2 the prophet continues, `she is not My wife, neither am I her husband' but at the close, all is reversed, all
is restored:
`I will betroth thee unto Me for ever'.
`I will sow (Jezreel) her unto Me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I
will say unto them which were not My people, Thou art My people; and they shall say, Thou art my God' (2:23).
Chapter 3 speaks of the long waiting period of Israel's divorcement: `Thou shalt abide for Me many days ... for
the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a Prince, and without a sacrifice, and
without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim'.
We have already considered the dispensational boundary of Acts 28 where Israel's hope is suspended, Israel's
long period of blindness and wandering commenced, and where Israel entered into her long period of divorcement.
This later thought is implicit in the word translated `departed' in verse 25 which should be rendered `dismissed' for
the word is passive. This word apoluo had a distinct meaning, and one that bears closely upon the divorcement of
Israel in Acts 28. Here are the first occurrences of this Greek word in the New Testament.
`Joseph ... was minded to put her away privily' (Matt. 1:19).
`Whosoever shall put away his wife' (Matt. 5:31).
`Shall marry her that is divorced' (Matt. 5:32).
The predicted `lo-ammi' condition of Hosea 1 commences here, the long night of Israel's exile begins here, and
the new dispensation of the grace of God to the Gentiles begins here. The Bride of the Lamb must be distinguished
from the national restoration of Israel, set forth in the symbol of a wife divorced, then taken back forgiven and
blessed. The Revelation is particularly concerned with a believing, overcoming remnant, and it is this overcoming
remnant out of Israel that is depicted under the figure of a Bride. While this distinction must be observed, some
expositors have attempted to make a distinction between the `wife' of Revelation 19 and the `bride' of Revelation 21
and 22. Restored Israel, as the wife once divorced and at last taken back again is not the subject of the book of the
Revelation. Restored Israel as such, has no place in the heavenly city, that is reserved for the heavenly calling of the
kingdom. Abraham had the land as an assured inheritance but as an overcomer, he looked higher, and waited for the
heavenly city. In both Revelation 19 and 21 it is the `Lamb' who is the Bridegroom.
It is assumed, that because Revelation 21:1 opens with a vision of the new heavens and new earth, all that
follows belongs also to that great day, but this cannot be, for it is still possible to be excluded as verses 8 and 27