Jesus Christ is Not an Adulterer

The Apocalypse, indeed the entire Bible makes clear that the chosen people, the Jews in the Old Testament and the Church in the New Testament are the undefiled bride of God, of Christ.

From Chapter 6 of Apocalypse - Letter by Letter:

The term “the heaven” is an abbreviation of the phrase, “the kingdom of heaven” [Mt. 23:13, 25:1]; and this kingdom is also called “the kingdom of God” [Luke 13:18, 11:20].  In almost every instance throughout the Bible, this term symbolizes the visible organization or body, composed of the people of God: in the Old Testament, Israel; in the New Testament, the Church.  It can also symbolize the spiritual condition or state that qualifies a person as one of God's people.  Since there are those who, by “invincible ignorance,” are outside the visible Church but who qualify, by spiritual condition or state, for membership therein, the term “the heaven” must be discerned most carefully according to its context in the Bible. 

Whereas:

(1)   Christ commanded John to write the seven letters to the seven churches, and, thereby, symbolically indicated that he intended the Apocalypse for the whole Church;

(2)   Christ, in 1:19, stated the format of the Apocalypse, i.e.,

“Write now the things you saw [the seven lampstands and seven stars, Chapter 1] and the things that exist [the seven letters, Chapters 2 & 3, plus Chapter 4 on the Church as an organization, and 5 on the Eucharistic celebration of the Mass] and the things destined to come into existence [future events, even to the Last Judgment, Chapters 6-21],

and thereby indicated that he intended the message for the whole Church for all time;

(3)   there can be only one true Church, since Christ is not a dunce for redundancy, nor an adulterer having more than one bride;

it is clear and plain that the term “the heaven,” in the Apocalypse, means strictly the Church founded by Christ, and no other founded by mere man.

The citation of Apocalypse 20:11 cross-referred with Matthew 24:35, plus several references at the beginning of part two of this commentary, additionally demonstrate that “the heaven” in the New Testament means the Church.  Notwithstanding this information provided by the Bible, it is fact that some still do not accept it.

Therefore, let a few more passages be proffered, in the hope this will help such to right reception of the text.

Consider Apocalypse 19:6-8,

And I heard as the sound of a great multitude [the laity or Sea of Glass like crystal] and as the sound of many waters [the elders, who most often dispense the waters of life to the laity] and as the sound of mighty thunders [the episcopate, who hold the highest power and authority after Christ, and who ordain men as elders] saying, “Hallelujah!  that the Lord our God the Almighty began reigning.  Let us rejoice and exult and give the glory to him, that the marriage of the Little Lamb came and the bride of him made herself ready and it was given to her so that she may be clothed with bright, clean linen”: for the linen is the righteous deeds of the holy ones [the saints].

In this passage, the people of God are presented in the collective sense, and their order of mention is ascendant, according to rank.  The angels are not mentioned because they do not have bodies; and therefore, though God permits them to participate in his divine nature, in the strictly spiritual sense, they cannot participate in it, bodily, through Jesus Christ. 

St. Paul wrote,

If there is a body of the soul [σῶμα ψυχικόν = söma psykhikon, i.e., the psychosomatic], there is a body of the spirit [σῶμα πνευματικόν = söma pneumatikon, i.e., the pneumatosomatic].  And thus is it written, “The first man Adam became unto a living soul, the last Adam unto a life-giving spirit.  But not first [is] the one of the spirit but the one of the soul, then the one of the spirit.  The first man [was] dust from the earth, the second man from heaven. [1 Cor. 15:44-47]

The bride is clothed in “bright, clean linen,” and the “linen” is the righteous deeds of the saints; ergo, the saints, collectively, are the bride of the Little Lamb, Jesus Christ.  Clearly, the saints are the Church, the mystical body of Christ, the bride, as St. Paul repeats what Christ said,

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”  This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and his Church.  [Eph. 5:31-32]

Again, St. Paul indicated that the bride of Christ is the members of the Church,

For I am jealous with God's jealousy toward you, for I promised you to one husband, to be presented as a chaste virgin to Christ.  [2 Cor. 11:2]

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, even to the end of the world, Christ cannot have more than one bride, lest he commit the sin of adultery; and yet, in this last year of the twentieth century, some 2500 denominations individually aver, “I am the bride of Christ!” Judge for yourselves, ye Friends, the signs of these times, when hundreds and hundreds of millions testify, “You, Jesus Christ, are a fornicator, like us!”  Contemplate earnestly, therefore, what is coming, and make ready.