The Bride is Spiritually Mature And the damsel
was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her.
-Genesis 24:16
In Genesis 24, we see Eliezer coming for Rebekah, a damsel and a virgin-just as Yeshua is going to come for a spiritually mature bride, not a baby Christian who has not reached spiritual adulthood and isn't old enough to marry.
The Hebrew word for "damsel" is
Na'arah, which means "a girl from infancy to adolescence." This is a prophetic picture of the Bride of Christ who has grown to spiritual maturity. She is old enough to marry.
A spiritual child is a carnal Christian (saved, but babes in Christ). They are carnally minded, controlled by the flesh, and not able to learn and understand the deeper truths of God's Word. They live on simple truth, "as newborn babes."
We see in 1 Corinthians 3:1-2:
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal,
even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able
to bear it, neither yet now are you able.
The Scriptures tell us in 1 Peter 3:18 that we are to grow in grace-like the parable of the seed, we are to mature in the understanding of God and kingdom principles. We are to leave the elementary things and grow into spiritual maturity. For Hebrews 6:1 says: "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection."
The Greek word for "perfection" is
Teliotace,which means "completeness and full maturity." The root word
Telios means "completeness, full grown, adult, and mature."
Our goal as believers is not just salvation. We are to strive for perfection and grow in knowledge, having a deeper understanding of God's ways, entering into a deeper intimacy with Him. By growing from faith to faith as Romans 1:17 says, by being drawn from the breast, weaned from the milk-for it is precept upon precept, line upon line, as it says in Isaiah 28:9-10.
For more information about the Who is the Bride, visit our website at
http://www.ratw.org or purchase a copy of Rebecca's book, Who is the Bride online at bookstores everywhere.
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