The Perfect Man.

If Christ is the Head, and the Church is the Body, then the two should make a Perfect Man, for we cannot conceive of a perfect Head like Christ, joined to an imperfect body. This is just what Paul tells us should be.

"And He gave some, Apostles; and some, Prophets; and some, Evangelists; and some, Pastors and Teachers; for the

Perfecting of the Saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the

'Body of Christ;'
till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a

PERFECT MAN,
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Eph.4:11-13.

In 1 Cor. 3:9-17, Paul speaks of the Church, under the figure of a Building or Temple, of which Christ is the Chief Corner Stone, "in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an Holy Temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for an HABITATION OF GOD through the Spirit." Eph. 2:19-22.

Here we see that as God's presence was manifested in the Tabernacle in the "Shekinah Glory," so now in this Dispensation, when Israel, nationally, is out of fellowship with God, and there is no Temple at Jerusalem, the Church, since Pentecost is the visible "Habitation of God" on earth, where He manifests Himself through the Holy Spirit.

John tells us (John 1:14), that the "WORD" (Jesus) Tabernacled among us, and spoke of His Body as a Temple, John 2:19-21, so between God's manifesting Himself in the "Shekinah Glory" of the Temple, and now through His Spirit in the Church, He manifested Himself in the "person" of Jesus, and John tells us that he and Peter and James saw the "Glory of God" in the person of Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration. John 1:14.

4. It is to be the "Bride of Christ."

At present the Church is a virgin espoused.

Paul said to the Church at Corinth,

"I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste VIRGIN to Christ." 2 Cor. 11:2.

In Christ's day an espousal was as sacred as a marriage.

The First Adam had his Bride, and the Second or Last Adam must have His Bride. In Gen. 2:18,21-24, we are told how the First Adam got his Bride.

"The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and with the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made (builded) He a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man."

Now Jesus during His life on the earth as a man, abode alone, but a deep sleep the sleep of death fell on Him, and out of His wounded side, as the result of the Atonement He made on the Cross, there came that from which the Church was formed, and to which the Holy Spirit gave life on the Day of Pentecost; so that, as Adam said of Eve "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh," so we can say of the Church "We are members of His Body, of his Flesh, and of his Bones." Eph. 5:29-33.

The Woman was brought to Adam and presented to him, but Christ will present the Church to Himself, Eph. 5:27. That Eve was married to Adam is indicated in Gen. 2:24 and referred to in Matt. 19:4,5, and Eph. 5:31.

We have a beautiful illustration of how Christ is gathering out His Bride, the Church, in the story of how Isaac got his bride.

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