For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by
whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make
the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Heb 2.10
To buttress his thesis on the hope of reaching perfection, we find the author takes a seemingly insignificant O.T. passage to highlight the associated truth of humanity being also ‘crowned with glory’ (Ps 8.5). This glory and perfection are connected.
Now, he first uses the psalm to prove Christ is superior to angels, but then digresses to establish this important truth of humans not always remaining as ‘babes and nursing infants’
(Ps 8.2). Humanity, as he lays out, ultimately will have a standing in the cosmos superior to that of the angels, a destiny breathtaking in scope.
Humans don't as yet enjoy this ‘glory and honor’ (Ps 8.5), but a forerunner does (the Son of Man(kind), the guarantee the current subservience to angels is only temporary (Cf.1Cor 6.3).
In fact, in this time of our humiliation and probation, angels are the servants (1.13-14) appointed to aid us as the creation destined to be ‘ kings and priests’ (Rev 1.6) in the Kingdom.
‘You have made him (humanity) a little lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of Your hands…put all things in subjection under his feet.’ (2.7) God is not satisfied with only one Son being ‘crowned with glory and honor’ and, therefore, has determined more ‘sons’ (along with the ‘Head’) are to be honored. Christ retains the honor of the ‘firstborn’, but these mature ‘sons’ will also reflect the Father’s glory (Eph 1.17, Rom 9.23), and though this glory is limited, it will mean great honor for them while also vindicating Heaven's plan to redeem
humanity. This coming ‘glory’ (Col 1.27) to clothe believers is not a wild dream, but a hope to greatly ‘rejoice in’ (Rom 5.2).
When Canaan is called the ‘glorious land’ (Dan 8.9), this confirms it as the archetype for the ‘land’ the new ‘Israel of God’ (Gal 6.16) is to possess. In fact, evidence the church will gain full entrance into a realm of glory and perfection (they go together). Now, the word ‘glory’ in Scripture refers to honor and excellence; reaching a state of glory, then, is to attain a level of moral excellence fully honoring to God. (This glory is not any elevation to ‘divinity’ or ‘godhood’ as the new-age groups or Mormons advance.)
Both the Tabernacle and Temple were built in a nearly identical pattern to represent realities in the supernatural realm.
To represent the throne room of heaven, both had a Holy of Holies, the innermost room radiating the ‘shekinah presence’
of God. On the ‘Day of Atonement’, the High Priest encountered the glory of this divine presence and Christ fulfilled this in the heavenly holy of Holies where He was
‘crowned with glory’ (2.9). If the mature ‘sons’ are to be crowned with glory, they too must gain access to this (heavenly) room. Not to remain there but as a final witness to the gospel’s power to save, come and go from this place of safety to minister its grace and glory to the ungodly.
This ‘glory’ will radically change anyone it mantles, in the main, transforming them to the ‘likeness’ (1Jhn 3.2) of Christ, including His moral purity. (This doesn’t mean they attain the same status as Him.) Yes, a transformation ‘into the same image’ already happening as believers go ‘ from glory to glory’
(2Cor 3.18), but this change will be far greater in those who encounter this glory; transforming them into the glorious
‘bride’ presented to Christ as His co-regent. Not every believer, then, qualifies for this ‘bridal company’; only those taken from the ‘side’ (Cf. Gen 2.21) of the ‘body of Christ’ and who have met certain conditions. Those who fail to remain faithful and
righteous miss out. To think otherwise is to delude ourselves, both as to the ‘ways of the Lord’ and the fact of Christ’s death being the payment of the ‘bride price' (1Cor 6.20). And He paid for a virgin ‘not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish’ (Eph 5.27).
Not all members of His body are willing to take the steps necessary to measure up to this standard.
THE BRIDAL CHAMBER
I realize it is difficult to see how the fulfillment of all this typology fits together in the endtimes, but we get a clearer picture by looking at a Middle Eastern marriage. While the Tabernacle and Feast of Tabernacles offer the important typology, a Middle Eastern wedding as described here confirms the same sequence of events: On the day of the wedding, the groom and his friends dressed in their finest clothes and went to the home of the bride. Together the couple went back to the groom’s house. Their friends sang and danced their way back to his house. Once at the groom’s house, the couple was ushered into a bridal chamber. The marriage was consummated through sexual union as the guests waited outside. Once that fact was announced, the wedding festivities continued, with guests dropping by for the wedding feast.
Usually, the wedding party lasted for a week (Gen. 29:27 ).
[Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary: (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1995.]
Notice, how the wedding feast of seven days corresponds with the final element of the Feast of Tabernacles when the nation lived in booths. And as the Middle Eastern groom returns to collect his bride, Christ (our High Priest) will come back to take a ‘bridal’ company into the ‘bridal chamber’ (true Most Holy Place) to (spiritually) ‘consummate’ the marriage.
As to the fulfillment of the week of living in booths or tabernacles (what it entails or when it takes place), this is not
clear. (Most see its fulfillment in the millennium, but for me, this seems unlikely.)
‘This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us…having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’ (6.19-20).
These verses underscore both the hope of reaching perfection and confirm it is only realized if believers enter where Christ (the ‘forerunner’) has gone—‘ behind the veil’, into the Holy of Holies. This hope of entrance is to be the ‘anchor for the soul’
able to ‘stabilize and hold us fast’ (6.19) in the coming turmoil bringing its powerful winds and strong currents. In the ‘day of trouble’ (Zeph 1.15), those in this ‘bridal chamber’ have a
‘shelter from the storm’ (Is 4.6).
Let’s now recap: to complete the fulfillment of the ‘Day of Atonement’, Christ our High Priest must ‘ appear for the second time’ (9.28) to take into the ‘bridal chamber’ the believers (the ‘bride’) waiting expectantly for their groom to return (Cf.Matt 24.42). A hope David expressed also by asking to dwell ‘ under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty’ (Ps 17.8, 57.1, 61.4), a poetic reference to the golden cherubim on the mercy seat in the Most Holy Place. The place known also as the ‘secret place of the Most High’ (Ps 91.1) and ‘secret place of His tabernacle’ (Ps 27.5).
THE BRIDAL COMPANY
How this all plays out (the exact nature and sequence) may be hard to fathom, but any schema adopted for it will be faulty unless it recognizes the body of Christ in the endtime is not a uniform company. Despite modern egalitarian desires, the church has always had its ' children’, ‘young men’, and ‘fathers’
(1Jhn 2.13-14), distinctions to become even more pronounced as Jesus confirmed (cf. Luk 19.26) in speaking of soils with different harvests (Matt 13.8); or when Paul refers to the
resurrected having a different glory (1Cor 15.40-42). Though the end of the age sees a ‘sorting’ of the godly from the ungodly, also taking place is a winnowing of the church even as the parables of Jesus confirm. Those told about ‘wedding guests’ (Matt 22), ‘virgins’ (Matt 25), and the ‘servants with talents’ (Matt 25), show not all believers have the same reward.
The three areas of both the Tabernacle/Temple (both
‘types’ of the church) represent these different companies.
When the sun goes down on this day (age) of grace, ‘outer court’ believers who have not progressed in maturity lose a source of ‘light’ (supernatural understanding), while those more mature, symbolized by the ‘Holy Place’, still have the light of the Holy Spirit (represented by the ‘golden lampstand’) as their guide. A third company hid ‘within the veil’ and represented by the ‘Holy of Holies’ have the glory of God as their light. This last company is the ‘bride’ who paid the price of holiness to make ‘herself ready’ (Rev 19.7); in the main, those believers who desire to ‘ know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death’ (Phil 2.10). A yearning they have realized in this heavenly marriage chamber.
Despite the requirement to be ‘ cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God’
(2Cor 7.1), not all believers are sufficiently dedicated to comply with this apostolic admonition. Yet, to ignore these words of Paul or the directive by James’ to be purified of the love of this world ( ‘double mindedness' (Jam 4.7)), will be regarded as disobedience by Heaven, in effect, the refusal to prepare for what lies ahead—what many now are failing to do.
When the apostle John beheld the ‘bride’ of Christ, he saw a
‘ wonder’, a woman clothed with the ‘sun, moon and stars’
(Rev 12.1) symbolizing the glory of the Godhead. (It is the futurist interpretation I subscribe to) He also saw a company described as the ‘rest of her (the woman’s) offspring’ who
‘ keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ’ (Rev 12.17). Unlike the first company, these believers do not enjoy protection in the time of the ‘Great Tribulation’ and, therefore, must suffer the onslaught of an enraged dragon. The ‘bridal company’, however, escapes on
‘ the wings of a great eagle’ (Rev 12.14) to a safe place represented by a ‘wilderness’ (Israel’s place of protection).
THE OVERCOMERS
My reading of Scripture leads me to believe this ‘bridal’
company are also the ‘overcomers’ who ‘ have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name’ (Rev 15.2). A group of believers referred to also in the letters sent to the 'seven churches' where they are promised special rewards if they ‘overcome’. (Rev 2,3) The
‘futurist’ interpretation of Revelation sees these ‘churches’ as symbolic of the groupings in the 'seven-fold' church (seven-branched lampstand, Rev 1.12,13) at the end of the age, and represented (due to certain characteristics) by seven churches in Asia Minor.
The rewards in these letters all promise the overcomers a haven of safety in the time of ‘Great Tribulation’ (Rev 2.22)—
they escape what other believers suffer. Who, then, qualifies to be an ‘overcomer’ and a member of the ‘bridal’ company? A study of the seven letters shows it to be those believers who
'have an ear to hear' (Rev Chpt 2,3) what Christ speaks to His church (not only hear but obey); they alone are protected during the Great Tribulation when all ‘who dwell on the earth will be tested’ (3.10). It is also clear this promised refuge is the true Holy of Holies (a supernatural realm) as most of these rewards (I list them below) refer to items and furniture within this ‘innermost sanctuary’.
This first reward promising, ‘a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who
receives it’ (Rev 2.17) is the guarantee of admission to this
‘safe-house’. A white stone in Roman times was equivalent to the modern entrance ticket to ‘invite only’ events. ‘Small white tablets were used as tokens for admission to banquets’. [Pg 1055, The Eerdmans Dictionary 1987.]
‘To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God’ (2.7). The promise here is entry into a realm epitomized by the ‘Garden of Eden’
(paradise) with its ‘tree of life’—a place of resurrection life and intimate communion with the Lord. It is why ‘f igures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers’ (1King 6.29) representing this royal garden of Eden adorned the Holy of Holies in both the tabernacle and temple.
To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat’ (2.17). As the mysterious ‘manna’( the food of angels’ (Ps 78.25)) sustained the children of Israel in the wilderness (their place of safety), the promise here is one of supernatural strength for the overcomers. (A memorial quantity of this heavenly food was kept inside the Ark of the Covenant within this ‘throne room’.) What the manna represents spiritually sustains the ‘overcomers’, not a survival cache of natural food and drink.
“He who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations, ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron’ (2.26-27). The promise here is the resurrection life which made Aaron’s dead rod miraculously bud. It too was secreted inside in the Holy of Holies and is symbolic of the rod of authority these overcomers govern with.
‘He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life.’ (3.5) The
‘overcomers’ have the promise here of being clothed with the righteousness (perfection) symbolized by the ‘white garments’
the High Priest wore on the Day of Atonement (See Lev 16.4).
(What also clothes the ‘bride’).
‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more’ (3.12). The promise here is of ‘eternal security’ within God’s house and what is represented by the four immovable pillars at the entrance to the Holy of Holies. In other words, the guarantee they will never
‘fall away’ as confirmed by the promises of not being hurt by the ‘second death’ (2.11) or their names taken from the ‘Book of Life’ (3.5). Other believers don't have this assurance.
THE CHALLENGE TO BE READY
Since the 'overcomers' alone receive these rewards, not every believer has access to this place of safety. Only those
‘ready’ for Christ's return (the ‘bride’) qualify for this divine protection in the time of ‘Great Tribulation’. (Rev 19.7). Those who decide the price is too high and careless about preparing for the arrival of the ‘groom’ miss out; some fitting this profile are the ‘ lukewarm’ (Rev 3.16) and those unwilling to ‘deny themselves and take up their cross’ (Lk 9.23). Now, let me be clear: though they paid the price to be eligible for the ‘rewards’
(not wages), those who qualify to enter this realm of glory have not earned their place. They are still 'unprofitable servants'
who only did what they 'ought to do' (Lk 17.10). On the other hand, those who remain asleep, disobedient to the call to wake up, or those unwilling to pay the cost of ‘extra oil (in) their lamps’ (Matt 25.8), cannot blame anybody but themselves when disqualified.
As explained, trumpet blasts were sounded in this last feast to announce the approaching Day of Atonement, and while the fulfillment of this began with Christ, these trumpet calls must continue to sound to complete what they typify. More ‘alarms’, then, will trumpet the warning to ‘ be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect’ (Mat 24.44). Ignoring such a warning must result in missing out on what others receive, even as Jesus confirmed by saying many will cry,
‘ Lord, Lord open to us’ (Matt 25.11) when denied entrance into the ‘ark’ of safety (as in Noah’s day). The Middle Eastern bride
‘waiting’ for her groom to return prepared for a quick departure. Obvious imagery for those believers ‘ eagerly waiting’ (9.28) for Christ’s return, for like the Middle Eastern bride, they too only know when the groom is likely to come, not the exact day. Are you longing for the bridegroom enough to make yourself ready? (Matt 25.6)