We have travelled the road of sanctification and purification and walked on the cobblestones of the path of perfection. We are not perfect in the sense of never being wrong or even provoked into sin, we are merely capable of treading softly along the daily road of obedience of faith and bringing all of our thoughts into the obedience of the captivity of Christ. We seek first the kingdom of God and His will and trust that God will take care of all our needs according to His riches in glory, willing to forsake the passing vanity of riches of this temporal world. We hang on to this spiritual existence as trained soldiers and now we stand at the threshold of our destination, the fruit and reward of our journey of faith. We are pilgrims coming to that proverbial city on a hill. This city is situated next to the last mile-stone of the end-times destiny of Man. We have come upon THE BRIDE. It is further down the road even than the city which Bunyan’s ‘Christian’ had discovered because it is the eternal abode of God Himself. We see a preview of the city, almost as if we were an interested buyer considering whether to make the purchase of the abode we have dreamed of all our life. This is that Utopic place, the one which God alludes to throughout all the ages. It is a place of marriage with Him, more than a place of real estate. It is a place made for the soul and spirit. It is His eternal residence, that city made without hands, the eternal city of the new heavens and the new earth, the new physics still unknown to us in actual detail and operation, the new timeless and spaceless place of perfect form, which we have only guessed at and wondered about and must believe for its shape and form and substantial reality. At its end, the Bible tells us its name. It's THE BRIDE. It is not so much what, but who. It is made up of living souls redeemed from among men, nations, kindreds and tongues. It is us.
The BRIDE is the promised paradise. Dante envisioned it as a place of light and spiraling upward energy all come together into one, beautiful beyond the abilities of unglorified man to even begin to comprehend. Who knows if He was right on, but we know its something incomprehensible in its beauty and perfection. God has only given us an analogy which merely salts our imagination. It is like a great gift wrapped within some exquisite golden paper tied in a fabulous box tied with jeweled ribbon and bow. We are dazzled by the wrapping. We only can imagine how wonderful the gift that lay inside out of our view, how amazed and delighted we will be the day that God opens it up for us. Our eyes begin only now to glimpse that it is a gift of life and a living Utopia, that it is given to us as our destiny and the biggest surprise of all is that we shall not only live in perfect utopia, we shall be utopia. We cannot yet understand how this can be. This Utopic place, perfect in order and everlasting peace, where there is neither night, nor day, rich or poor, all is peaceful and the bold adventures of timeless eternity lay sprawled before our imaginations. Prospects of the ongoing glory which the Bride shall experience under the guiding light of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Ghost, give us delight, fuel our hope for the brightness and glory of our future.
We shall first inspect the gates of this mysterious city called BRIDE, which the Bible describes as the 'great' mystery among all the mysteries of Christ. We must look at Ephesians chapter five because it is there that the mystery of Christ and the Church is identified and explained. We have found her pearly gates because we have followed the Spirit. The call to Brideship has drawn us. We have travelled the path open only to the initiated believer, traversed mysteries allowed only to the person born not just of flesh but of spirit. We are of the church of the first-born, born-again we have been made into truly new creations. We can recall our education in the mysteries of Christ. The journeyman has gone through imposed rites of the mysteries of the Gospel, has undergone immersion in the things of Christ, have sufficiently bathed in the fundamental doctrines of the faith, repentance, baptisms, the spiritual gifts, judgment and resurrection power. The mysteries of godliness, iniquity and stewardship of the mysteries have been impressed upon the believer as maps, compasses, and clues are used by adventurers and explorers to find the way to their destination. These fundamentals enumerated in the sanctified section of our journey to Brideship should serve well in launching us forward and keeping us on course during our journey, so that we can ‘go on to perfection’. As with any adventure, or any endeavor worth the effort, we have been instructed to move on to higher more expert things, things far beyond the expertise of any novice or apprentice where we can set our affections on things above and not on things of the earth. This is not a given for every believer. Hurdles and obstacles must be overcome. Discourgment and perplexities must be dealt with and resolved. Persecution, tribulations and sufferings must be endured for the sake of the kingdom of God. The perfection we seek is high. It means climbing out of ourselves and riding upon the high places of the earth where the Divine Character of God dwells and is made accessible to the spirit of faithful men and women. Requirements are arduous, not without suffering. This perfection is attainable only through spiritual death that results in resurrection of Christ in one's life and spirit. If we delight ourselves in God's ways and not our own, then, He "will cause [us] to ride upon the high places of the earth, and [be] fed with the heritage of Jacob thy father". Daily we are required to act and make decisions consistent with this mysterious ‘perfection’ which includes at its base the mystery of the personal cross, which must be taken up day by day if one is to be an accomplished disciple of Christ. this the Bride will do and be. It demands a living contradiction where we routinely live death daily. We are fully equipped for the adventure by the fundamentals which were taught to us in our days as a novice. We have grown. We have gone from a diet of the milk of the Word to the meat of the mysteries of the Gospel of Jesus Christ partaking of a proper adult diet, of profound nutritious spiritual things. We have been moved by imperatives which are directed toward adult-like believers. Be ye holy for I am holy; be perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect; come out from among them and be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing; seek peace and holiness without which no man shall see God; keep yourselves from idols – and other such calls to righteousness, have affected our faith, prodding us onward to perfection which must be realized and lived moment to moment. But now we begin to see that God has a specific goal beyond just perfection for perfection’s sake. The goal is manifest in this life, here in this world, should be confirmed in our heart-felt personal relationship with God. Our journey’s destination is coming into view. It is a journey that He intends will end with the individual being a part of the bridal party, hopefully even a full-fledged member of the Bride itself.
We say full-fledged bride-member because not all members of the greater bride shall be reckoned as the espoused wife per se. The parables told by Jesus revealing secrets and hidden things of the kingdom of God show that there are various groups and members of the bridal party from maids, family and guests to the Bride, the wife of Christ. The Bride might better be named the Bride and its bridal party. We use therefore Brideship as a term to describe the variegated or faceted beauty of the Bride along the lines of a faceted jewel refracting degrees of glimmering light and shades of its charming rays. There will be and are levels of immersion into the mysteries of Christ, understanding to be had of each of the parables that pertain to the glories of brideship. There are degrees of maturity, perfection and holy faith within the Bride-at-large. Some who are in the ‘bride’ at large will be given more authority and honor than others. Some will be ‘closer’ to Christ (as it were) than others. Just as there are degrees of closeness in natural relationships, the wife is closer than the child, relative, friend or acquaintance, so it is in the bridal party which makes up the matrimonial retinue of Christ. This notion we shall discover in our look into the parables and the pictures presented in the Scriptures on the Bride. As depicted in one particular scene in Revelation chapter 14, a relative few will be given the privilege reserved for the wife herself to follow Him where ever he goes. It is suggested in the Song of Solomon, Psalm 48, and other Old Testament prophecies, as well as in the parables about the Bride and Bridegroom of the New Testament that the ‘beloved’ has a troop of maidens invited to the marriage, but who are not specifically members of the esprit des corps of the espoused wife. In this regard the marriage Supper of the Lamb and the Bride-at-large will be no different in appearance and attendance than any traditional marriage celebration. The parables of the Ten Virgins and the Five Talents in Matthew 25 impart this type of understanding to us of the overall calling and conditions that constitute Brideship as a whole. It would seem, as we get intermittent fleeting glimpses of who and what the New Jerusalem really is, what and who that city made without hands which Abraham and
Mary Magdalene
Sarah looked for with full assurance of hope, really is - that we are seeing God’s Bride and her ensemble looming majestically on the horizon. We discover that the Bride is the residence of God where ultimately Jew and Gentile alike will reside together and God will be the light and heat, the utility of it forever. There is no longer Jew and Gentile, but only the Bride and her bridal party “dressed in white linen, which is the righteousness of the saints”. This city we see is not a thing or inanimate object, as we ought to emphasis and re-emphasize throughout the discourses of this final section of journey to Brideship. It is not a house or planet or galaxy, or any lifeless possession God might create. Would that not be ridiculous and disappointing if it were? God could have created inanimate perfection at any time without having to send His Son to die so it could be brought back from death. Christ came to earth under necessity because he needed to give up His life for something living, that was the only exchange that resurrect death into life, life for life, the only thing, from death springs life. The city we seek, the city we are shown in the final words of the Bible is a metaphor for a living thing. It is a living creation and that creature is redeemed man. It is us. We shall not fully understand this until that day, how this picture of a city could be a living being and of what it shall actually consist and thrive. We have discovered that it is us, we of the faith, people redeemed from all peoples, nations, tongues and kindreds. More specifically it is redeemed men, it is us, the ones who are “built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” Eph. 2:22. In the final revelation of the Bible we see it is The Bride which God has had in mind all along, had as His ultimate aim and goal and reason for creation. This should astound us when we first become cognizant of this mystery, and this is why it is called the Great Mystery. …
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he reason why so little is known among Christians about the mystery of the Bride is exactly because it is THE great mystery, the mystery of mysteries of Christ and His Gospel. Of the mysteries that are enumerated in the New Testament only two are called ‘great’, one is the mystery of godliness the other is the mystery of the Bride (Christ and His Church). Realizing that the Bride is a mystery is of primary importance if she is to be understood. Understanding spiritual mysteries requires trust and faith in God’s word. Without trust and faith we cannot see the veiled secrets of God, we cannot fathom God’s true purpose and goals. We can never discover why He does things the way he does, why things turn out the way they do, unless we trust “that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” We must trust God that He knows and that He knows what He is doing and never makes a mistake as we are inclined to do regularly. Believing this is much easier said than done, even for the mature Christian. We must never take it for granted that we trust God, either. We must always be suspicious of ourselves, certain that we can fool ourselves into thinking we are trusting God when we are really engaging in wishful thinking or trusting in our own strength or power. When we understand God’s goals we have a much better chance of trusting Him because we can see the mark at which he has us aiming, obviously we have an excellent chance, with His help, of hitting the mark when we have our eyes on the correct target. We must trust God to clear our vision and give us eyes to see His target, His goal. Seeing God’s goals gives us a better understanding of why we should be trained and schooled on how to accomplish the goal set out before us. We are more likely to endure all things (which God endures), believe all things, bear all things, hope all things (which God does) when we understand the purpose behind exercising the conditions of love’s truth. The Bride hopes for perfection in God’s eyes, believes in the value and worth of beauty of spirit in His sight and will try to make herself ready and beautiful as possible, is willing to endure until the end because of the prize set before her, and will bear the cost required of daily taking up her cross (just as her husband took up His cross) for the glory set before her, which in her case is to win her suitor’s love and to be identified with Him as one in spirit for all eternity. She is willing to strive for love’s matchless joy and power, which is her only means to winning the full approval of her Lord and Master. As with all the ‘mysteries’ in Christ (of which the New Testament Scriptures show that Christ revealed no less than a dozen at His first coming), the mystery of the Bride (Christ and His Church) is a sacred truth, guarded with the highest jealousy by God Himself; reserved for the faithful only, kept from the vulgar and those inclined toward infidelity or any sort of idolatry, regardless of how religiously good it looks or how many good works surround its freakish religious cabana.
It is the Bride’s province to understand and to handle with holy hands, as priests of the new and living way, all the mysteries and keep them as good stewards. The mysteries are enumerated in the New Testament and discussed. They are expounded upon in the nearly 40 parables which Christ taught, as well as in numerous living metaphors recorded in the Bible as examples and testimonies written for the benefit of the faithful. These teachings reveal and explain the mysteries of the kingdom of God and His plan for redemption. Their execution in the lives of the saints will form a chaste and worthy Bride fit for His habitation and fellowship for the ages to come. Their light should provide a spiritual mirror in which one can peer into one’s own heart and discover the condition of the spiritual life within as well as the position in regards the bridal party of Christ. That is one of the hopes we have in this final section of the Journey to Brideship for you. We hope it will provide you with not only a one-time study but something to which you can return to time and time again for solace and instruction in these last days just prior to the Return of Christ.
Proving that the Bride is
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e feel compelled by the fact that Christ and the church is called the great mystery to prove the Scriptural foundation and truth of the concept of the bride by compiling the evidence for her reality and existence from both New and Old Testaments references. The references and prophecies are abundant, though they are parts of the ‘great’ mystery their understanding have always been shrouded in parables and hidden in symbolism. The believer must first believe that the Bride is, before one can wait and love the way an espoused bride should. The place to begin in introducing this evidence is in the place where its existence is directly stated without the veil of parable or symbolic form. The starting point therefore is where it is the mystery that is called the Great Mystery is declared. This is Christ and His Church (The Bride) which is stated in the epistle to the Ephesians in chapter five. Here we find no subtlety or secret meaning for we are told frankly that marriage between a man and woman is a form which points to the ultimate marriage between Christ and His church. This espousal begins now in this Age between members willing to be married to Him and Himself. He loves us and we are to be submitted to Him completely. So “he might sanctify and cleanse it [the church] with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Eph. 5:26, 27 In another passage we are expressly told by Paul that he was working as the bridegroom’s agent (in a sense) by the spreading of this Good News, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present a chaste virgin to Christ.” 2 Cor. 11:2
We have been directly told about the Bride’s existence and that it has been God’s plan to provide a Bride for His Son. We have been told, but now we are shown her so we can see what she looks like, what she has been doing and what her future shall be. Throughout Scripture God has equated Jerusalem and New Jerusalem with His most prized jewels, has announced that it is His beloved, His Bride. The final Revelation of the Bible shows us the Bride. It is New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a BRIDE adorned for her husband.”Rev. 21:2 Just a few chapters before, Rome, the world’s eternal city is depicted. It represents the spirit of the world. It is made of mortar and concrete, granite stones and marble, all by the hand of man. It has all the riches and glory of the world and it has been built through the ages by man. Man calls it the eternal city, but it has already gone up in smoke, its gaseous fumes rising forever into the eternal realms. It is the eternal cinder. But New Jerusalem is the true eternal city, made without hands, comprised of living souls, eternal spirits built into a habitation for God. A moment later, after seeing the eternal New Jerusalem, an angel appears and informs the apostle John that he is looking upon the bride, the Lamb’s wife, “And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb's wife.”vs. 9 If any doubt lingered in our mind as to the reality and purpose of the symbolism and talk of the Bride throughout the Old and New Testaments they should be dispelled entirely.
Now, those who have knowledge of the Scriptures hearken back to Old Testament teachings and books which are recalled to them by the Spirit. Perhaps the great romantic poem, The Song of Solomon, first comes to mind. References and symbolism requiring meditation and consideration, with a fresh look at their meaning, circulate in our spirit. Psalm 48 as the bridal party, the prophet’s references to the bride and bridegroom, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Joel become relevant to the Bride in a new light. We can wonder about Psalms, Esther, and a myriad of potential living metaphor’s that may have power to shed light upon the Bride and her living reality. Sidebar here of Christ’s not being alone. A walk through these things, that we are espoused to one husband, that the Bride is revealed as such in the last vision of the Bible, and that a myriad of Bridal promises lay open even in the Old Testament, especially in one whole book of the Bible, The Song of Solomon, gives us irrefutable spiritual knowledge, with understanding, that the Bride is and that she must be of prime importance if Christ has vowed to make her spotless and without blemish and holy, by being washed in the water of the Word.
To think properly of the Bride we must never, never, never think of it in terms gender. This is why we will often speak of her as “it”. In the Bride there is no male or female. This should be obvious. If we do not keep this misconception in abeyance we shall open up ourselves to the confusion of spiritual forces who wish to keep us from understanding and entering into the ‘great mystery’ of Christ and the Church, who shall present unto Himself ‘a’ glorious church (that is: a church from among the churches, but not all that is called church) that is perfect in the Spirit.
Who and what is the bride?
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od’s thinking is not like our thinking, nor is His ways in any manner comparable to ours. His idea of perfection does not conform to ours and never will. That means, our idea of perfection must conform to His if we hope to have any understanding of the perfection expected in the Bride of Christ. We can never attain to a mistake free existence in this life. We will surely even stumble and fall into some problem of which we need to repent. When we rely on our advocate with the Father to intercede for or trespasses against the Truth or its righteousness, part of perfection in God’s eyes is when we say we are sorry and truly repent. This is part of acquiring and re-acquiring perfection. God expects His perfect Bride to let Jesus iron out the wrinkles, take out the spot, remove the blemish. It is not perfection to never have these defects; but it is perfection to let the water of the Word wash clean these things at the hand of Jesus. We must not only bath in the blood of the Savior if we wish to be clean, we must wash in the water of the Word, soak in its bath-oils and sweet smelling scents to be clean and perfectly ready for our husband. The Song of Solomon makes this analogous point of perfect directly for the Bride without equivocation or implication or symbolism. No doubt, one of the things which she is, is clean and spotless, having been washed regularly from the filth of the world and her own flesh. She is picture perfect in this sense.
The parables of Christ play a big role in inspiring the Bride to striving in the spirit to live those things which are most appropriate for the Bride. The parable of the Ten Virgins, etc., tell us what to do, how to do it and what the rewards of obedience are. The mysteries and the understanding of their hidden truths compliment the parables, the two in tandem are even necessary to understanding the will of the Lord and His call to us for Brideship. Then as a treasure trove of hidden jewels we are shown the lives and outstanding character of certain select women who have exhibited the heart of Christ’s wife for us to use a s mirrors or our own soul and makeup. Belief, submission, separation from the world, obedience, service, courage, waiting, watching, unrivaled love and oneness in marriage are the pictures drawn in ten of the women representing brideship and add profound meaning and help impart faith to those of us who take serious the reality and worth of the journey to Brideship.
Perfection, purification and preparation for the Bridegroom’s coming are things which must be discussed and examined by the espouse wife of Christ. Our journey has itemized and taught the call to readiness and perfection. Among those things which must be mastered is ourselves and our will. The Bride will be overcomer. This is evident in t he seven letters to the churches which strongly demands that each believer be an overcomer in numerous things of critical import if they are to receive the reward of the good and faithful servant. This will certainly be one of the accolades given the bride by her husband. She will have been a good and faithful servant, just as the idealized woman of Proverbs 31 symbolizes. The Bride will be overcomer in the Church, overcoming all perversion of the word and every idolatry that has crept into its walls. She will be overcomer of the three great enemies of our eternal soul, Our Flesh, World and Satan. Because she has overcome all enemies by obedience and subjection to Him, Christ will give His beloved all things. This is who she is. Overcomer, good and faithful and perfect with the qualities of spirit, washed not only in the saving Blood, but by the water of the Word she has been sanctified and purified so that Christ could iron out the wrinkles, remove the blemishes, dissolve the spots and make her holy.
What the bride is doing today
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he afore mentioned pictures are spiritual cameos of woman carved out of the Bible to represent Brideship by real life dramas. They should help the believer to recognize themselves in the mirror, to determine the extent to which they conform to the Bride. It should help to show any glaring deficiency so that one may better be prepared for the coming of the Bridegroom. Though this runs contrary to the love affair the churches often carry on with good works, the greatest work of the Bride today is in preparing for His instantaneous appearing. Heeding each one of the suggestions and warnings to be ready for 
His appearing is a fetish far better to have than counting simply on good works to win our way into the graces of God and our espoused husband, Christ. With excitement Paul summarized the reward for His life’s toil in Christ this way: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” Notice he included all them also that love His appearing. It is safe to say that this could be described as the appearing of the Bridegroom to the Bride. Unthinkable to most Christians of this day and age is that God would place a condition on the Rapture like, loving His appearance. Remember, however, he said he would come as a thief in the night at a time when you think not. He said there would be two in a bed and one taken the other left. There will be two in the field on that day, one taken the other not, implying that the two are in the same faith, doing the same work, but not necessarily reckoned worthy. He said pray always that you be accounted worthy to escape all the things and tribulations that are coming on this earth. The Bride will be vindicated for her faith and undying love only on that day of her departure into the arms of her waiting husband.
But do not get me wrong. The Bride will not be without multitudinous works, not by any means. She will help to prepare the way for the Second Coming. In the Spirit of John the Baptist and Elijah she will pave the way for her husband to be received. In the spirit, she will issue the invitation to others to come to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The Bride is the ultimate priest, a priest after the order of Melchezidek, in the New Testament mold. Daily she will minister the sacred things of the Gospel, the kingdom of God prayer and the sacrifices of praise and other New Testament offerings. She will even have the authority of the king’s name. She will be laboring in the fields of the spirit with all the tools that have been given her of gifts and knowledge, with fervency of the salt of love.
Where the bride will be found today
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nswering the question where will the Bride be found today is terribly illusive because of the way we think in the churches. We think in terms of walls and steeples and membership rosters. We think of sacraments and joining together in good works and missionary pursuits. The first Christians did not think in these terms because the preponderance of fellowships and gatherings were in the households and homes of people like Priscilla and Aquila, or Stephanos, Philemon and the elect lady to which John had addressed his third epistle. We need to debunk ourselves of these traditional notions in the way we must not think of the Bride in terms of gender, intellect, wealth, success, ethnicity, or in any worldly sense of beauty or performance. The Bride is to found in the Philadelphia/Smyrna Spirit – wherever it abides. We know this sounds ominously ethereal, vaguely spiritual, mystically mystical, even somewhat evasive. Nonetheless it is true. Philadelphia is an open door with the keys of David stuck directly into the lock where it may lock or unlock according to the blessing of promised love of Christ for those who are after His heart. Christ says he will keep that door open and no man can shut it. The same holds true for shutting doors behind us for our protection. Her Lord is recognized by her as the one who is Holy and True. How much more fitting a picture can one have than this one of the bridegroom’s power to protect His wife? He is the trusted conductor of the faith of the people of the commendable church of Philadelphia. Wherever you find a person or two held under the sway of these things you may find the Bride in waiting. The Philadelphian is willing to stake their life on the word of God. His name is above all others and the hold no rival love in their heart or mind. They will overcome the pressure to lose their patience waiting for Him or in defending Him against all on-comers. They will believe, truly believe by action of faith, in the promise of the Rapture and the promises of the Utopia that is to come, and they will hold these promises as self-evident, higher than any earthly hope or promise. She is the one clad in the sun travailing for the birth of her man-child who will be caught up to heaven. The Bride will cast its crowns at the feet of His throne in the moment of their nuptials because they have given all glory to Him by word and deed in this life as they waited for His appearing and deliverance from this present evil world. This is what she is doing and anyone doing these things in truth is where she can be found.
Where is she? Wherever there is one or two gathered around the sacrificial body of Christ like eagles licking up His atoning blood. Be mindful, it does not require ten, twenty or a hundred souls. Where two or three are gathered together in my name so there I will be also, he told those who are invited to Brideship. She may even be living a priestly life with its daily course of sacred duty. She partakes of prayer and of the manna daily and distributes the cleansing word with undefiled hands. Wherever there is true submission there you will find her working, trying to love as Christ has loved us. Taking heed to herself to see she be not deceived. Watching. Waiting patiently.
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
Where shall we find the bride and those of her party, those delving into Brideship and its qualifications by faith? Not on any membership roll or because they were sprinkled in some particular baptismal fount by ‘holy’ water. No….
For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” Matt. 24:27, 28
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37But as the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matt. 24:38-51
The Bride will issue the invitation to come to the Bridegroom and freely drink of the waters of salvation. Wherever that is being issued there she will be. Behold He comes quickly. Hold fast and see that no man takes your crown. Finally, this website called ThePhiladelphiaFaith.org asks the same question that Jesus asked to a small group of disciples following Him one day - WHAT SEEK YE?