Here I go again, but this time, I'm not on my own; this time I've got backup ( you know who you are )!
More Implications & Applications? How far will we go; where will we stop?
Well; this could go on forever, almost! Covenant theology, and in particular, as the case may be, Covenant Eschatology has many far-reaching ( and sobering ) implications. Some of these implications make more acceptable fodder for our canons, while others are pretty much taboo!
As for implications, have you ever thought seriously about what Paul was actually saying when he coined the phrase 'Christ in you', why Jesus would call the Church His 'Bride', and why Paul again calls us 'the Body of Christ' and says that we are married to Him? Okay, sure, it's common knowledge ( to most Christians ) that Christ is in us and we are in Him, metaphorically speaking ( Paul says that we are 'the temple of the Holy Spirit' ). Again, though most Christians would probably say that we are not yet married, the Church, at the Consummation of the Ages, became the Bride of Christ, One with Him, and therefore, His Body!
Why are we, as Christians, so afraid to go where no man has gone before and acknowledge what God in Christ has done for His People? By making us, or more correctly maybe, the first-century Church His Bride, and putting His Holy Spirit ( the God-head-John 14:23 ) within us, what kind of imagery should that evoke?
Well, for whatever reason, and you can probably blame the larger part of it on puritanism, certain subjects are taboo, at least in public! We should not delve to far into these matters because, well 'it just ain't right'! While it's a touchy subject to broach, especially in 'pub-lic' ( and God forbid anyone explore or be comfortable with their sexuality outside marriage ); 'May God Have Mercy on Your Soul' if you even think about attributing anything of this nature to our Heavenly Father!
I'm delving into it now; I'm headed for second base! Arguably, not the brightest move I have every made, but here goes; it's about time that Christians, of all shapes, size, and constitutions began to realize & acknowledge what it truly means that we are the Wife of God, or the Offspring of the Bride of Christ! Maybe that has been one of the problems with the Church all along; not wanting to admit that She is 'the weaker sex'! This is most definitely the root of all the evil when it comes to the notion that the Marriage has not yet been Consummated and furthermore that we will not be joined with our Husband till we meet Him in some sort of pie-in-the-sky affair!
'Let's talk about sex, baby; let's talk about you and me'!
Admittedly, this is a hard subject to broach, and one could easily question the wisdom of doing so in today's ecclesiastical landscape! If we can't discuss this rather touchy subject without getting all red-faced ( or is that 'purple' ), maybe that could help explain why the Church has been so lax in the past millenia or so when it came to Her Wifely duties.
What DOES it mean that we are the Wife of our Husband, or even just the Offspring of the Union of Heaven & Earth? If we are the Wife, are we not to God what our wife is to us, or as wives, what we are to our husband? Could our interaction with our Heavenly Husband, our Communion, be termed 'spiritual sex'?
If we are simply the Offspring of that Union of Unions, does that mean we are the result of 'spiritual copulation & fertilization'? Usually, this is how offspring are produced, biologically speaking: the male enters into the female and copulates, thereby fertilizing her egg, in effect germinating the seed which becomes a full-fledged offspring! In much the same way, when the Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin Mary, her Seed was germinated through 'Spiritual Copulation'! Of course, we know that this Blessed Event was simply a picture of the Consummation of the Ages, when Heaven & Earth became One, and God married His Bride!
There is a joke circulating on the 'web' lately that states, 'The Roman Catholic Church says that abstinence is the best form of birth control, but try telling the Virgin Mary that'!
Rather crude maybe, but it brings up some interesting speculation; whether you believe that it was an Immaculate Conception ( before she came together with her husband ), or whether she was somehow physically inseminated ( 'Who done it?' ) by the Holy Spirit, her Seed was germinated in a very real and very physical, biological sense!
The implications of this kind of reasoning are very hard to swallow, maybe, and could get quite graphic, but what good are implications without the necessary applications? Whether we are the Wife of God or simply the Offspring of the Marriage of Heaven & Earth, what does it mean to us today that we are One with our Creator, that we are His Temple, and Priests individually within that Temple? Why has the Church, for so long, been simply preparing Souls for the Afterlife? Could it be because She believes and has taught for ages that we will not be Married till the Afterlife ( AKA, Eternity )?
If the Church, as the Wife of God, would simply come to the FULL understanding and realization of Who She really is, and start acting as One with Her Husband, instead of a simpering old maid waiting for her fiancee to return from the war, then maybe we would see more & more of Heaven on Earth!
This may be a shocking revelation, but if there is Offspring, there was Copulation & Fertilization; Jesus was truly a man, yet He was truly God ( even the Creeds say so ); How the ( expletive ) did that happen?!
Charles Haddon Shank
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