By E. A. Rawlence.
(Note: The original article has been edited because of its length. However, the argument and purpose of the author is clear. We do not necessarily condone all the writer says, but it seems to be the best answer to age old question. The publishing of this article does not imply that we agree with any departure from the KJV, should the author do so.)
It seems to me impossible from this to regard the Bride as composed of any but Israelites. Let us then look back through the Word for any indications of such a solution. In the prophets we frequently find Israel referred to as the wife, and Jehovah as the husband. “Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord” (Jer. 3. 20 and see Hosea 2.).
We have already shown that she was put away for spiritual adultery, but these same prophets make it equally clear that she will be forgiven and received back again, when there will
be a re-marriage in the future. “For thy Maker is thine husband ; the Lord of Hosts is His name ;and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel ; the God of the whole earth shall He be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee” (Isa. 54. 5-7).
“For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee ; and, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee” (Isa.62. 5). Our Lord Himself gives details as to this re-marriage in Matt. 22., “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain King, which made a marriage for his son.” The whole scene is Jewish.
The guests who were first invited were obviously Israelites, and naturally near relatives and friends of the Bridegroom and Bride, and the Bride must obviously have been a virgin of Israel, otherwise it would have supplied an excuse for those invited to have stayed away. For, according to the law of Moses, it was forbidden any Israelite to marry a Gentile (see Deut. 7: 3). But when the near kinsfolk and friends of the Bride and Bridegroom would not come, then it was that the bond-servants were sent out into the “highways” to procure the necessary company, and when they were procured “the King came in to see the guests.”
I think all will agree that, on the return of Israel as a nation to their own land, the bulk of the nation will follow the Antichrist, whilst the residue will form the godly remnant upon whom the Spirit is to be poured out, as prefigured by the promise, “I will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month” (Joel 2: 23).
Pastor Ken Blue was born in Boswell, Ark. In 1955 he accepted Christ as his Savior. He and his wife Joyce were married in 1955. They have 5 children. He graduated from Midwestern Baptist Bible College in 1969 and started the Open Door Baptist Church in Lynnwood, Wa. where he pastored for 39 years. Because of health issues (ALS) he was forced to resign as pastor. It is his desire to continue to be used of God to help pastors and believers through this ministry.