5. That in the sense of the parable the Bridegroom had come. Come where? Answer, To the marriage. Was the marriage of the Lamb to take place in this world at the second appearing of Christ? The Bridegroom had not come. But if the marriage of the Lamb was to take place in Heaven, the position might be correct. And right here the charge of our Lord to the waiting ones comes in with peculiar force: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding.” Luke xii, 35, 36. If our Lord at his second appearing returns from the wedding, then the marriage of the Lamb must take place in Heaven prior to his return. Therefore, the coming of the bridegroom in the parable illustrated some change in the position and work of our great High Priest in Heaven in reference to the marriage of the Lamb.
In a letter to the Voice of Truth for Feb. 19, 1845, William Miller says:
“I presume, Bro. Marsh, you have seen Brn. Hale and Turner’s Advent Mirror, printed in Boston, Jan., 1845, concerning the marriage, in the parable of the virgins. I do believe in the main they are right—that cannot be the personal coming of Christ. Why, say you? Read Luke xii, 36: ‘And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he shall return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately.’ You see his coming, for which we look, is after the wedding.
“Has Christ come in the sense spoken of, Matt. xxv, 10? I think he has.
“I know many of my brethren whom I highly esteem, will, and do, disagree with me on this matter. I would advise them not to have any hardness. Remember what James says, v, 9: ‘Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold the Judge standeth before the door.’ It would seem that in this very time when we have need of patience, the apostle, by the inspiration of the divine Spirit, foresaw that there would be danger of grudging, or grieving one another, and warns us not to do it, lest ye be condemned: for ‘the Judge standeth before the door!’
“Let the dear brethren see to it, that we give meat in due season. Let no one say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and begin to beat and bruise, and grudge against his fellow-servant. He that seeks to save his life now by conformity to the world, or worldly men, will lose it; and he that loses his life now for the truth’s sake, will find eternal life.”
6. That the established view, that in the marriage of the Lamb the church is the bride of Christ, was among the errors of past times. By investigation it was clearly seen that there were two things which the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments illustrate by marriage. First, the union of God’s people in all past ages, as well as at the present time, with their Lord. Second, Christ’s reception of the throne of David, which is in the New Jerusalem. But union of believers with their Lord has existed since the days of Adam, and cannot be regarded as the marriage of the Lamb. It is supposed that Isaiah [liv, 5,] speaks of the church when he says, “Thy Maker is thine husband;” but Paul, in Gal. iv, applies this prophecy to the New Jerusalem.
Says John, speaking of Christ, “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom.” John iii, 29. That Christ is here represented in his relation to his followers by a bridegroom, and his followers by a bride, is true; but that he and they are here called the bridegroom and bride, is not true. No one believes that the event called the marriage of the Lamb took place eighteen hundred years since.
Paul, in writing to the church, 2 Cor. xi, 2, says, “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ.” But does this prove that the marriage of the Lamb took place in Corinth? Or, did Paul only wish to represent by marriage, the union which he had effected, through the gospel, between Christ and the church at Corinth?
He also says, Eph. v, 23, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church.” But please turn and read from verse 22, and it will be seen that Paul’s subject is the relation and duty of man and wife to each other. This is illustrated and enforced by the relation of Christ and the church. Those who suppose that Paul is here defining who the Lamb’s wife is, are greatly mistaken. That is not his subject. He commences, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands.” Verse 22. “Husbands, love your wives.” Verse 25. It is, indeed, an excellent subject, but has nothing to do in determining what the bride is.