The Bride is a Sight, Not a Sound

(originally posted for Pure Life Revolution – www.pureliferevolution.net )

If you have been in church or around Christians for any period of time, chances are you’ve heard the term, “The Bride of Christ.” This biblical phrase refers to a time in linear history when the church becomes so clean and spotless, it becomes a pure “bride” now ready for her groom, which is Christ. Hence the term, the “Bride of Christ.” In reference to this term, I’d like to ask a question. Have you ever overheard the following conversation between two people discuss a previously attended wedding: “Did you hear how beautiful the bride sounded?” Why is this question totally ludicrous? Because a wedding is a visual spectacle, not a verbal one. Or put plainly, the bride is a sight, not a sound. As the bride walks down the aisle, she is glowing and radiant, looking more beautiful than ever before; and both her and the groom are silent. They don’t need words in that moment. The inspiration of the beauty and love of the event draws everyone to silence, awe and reverence.

But it appears that the “Bride of Christ” in our present day has been far more verbal than visual. Especially here in Nashville. In Nashville, we are verbally polished in our music, our sermons and our programs. You can hear the “bride” on nearly every street corner in Nashville’s surrounding cities on Sunday mornings, tune her in on numerous radio stations, listen to her on a slew of television networks. But can you see her? The Bible says the church is the “head and not the tail, above and not beneath,” (1) that it is to model and embody “life and life more abundantly.” (2) Is her current visual presence enough to cause those that gaze on her to stop and stand still in silence, awe and reverence? Is the church visible in the streets, in the marketplace, in the college campuses, in such a way that its actions don’t need many words? I dare not slight the gargantuan efforts of many fine leaders in this city, but based on the lack of citywide transformation, we would have to objectively say the answer is no. The Bible says, “they will know us by our love.” (3) Love is active; words can be passive, no matter how polished they are. The bride is a sight not a sound. Think about it. If Christ is the groom, what man falls in love with a woman solely by the sound of her voice? Is it not both the beauty she portrays and the actions she engages in, along with her heartfelt and personal conversations that which draws a groom to his bride? The bride is a sight not a sound.

And so let’s get real. As a bride, we’ve been caught up in the very same “unsightly” things the rest of the world is enraptured with. Statistically, we are just as ensnared in pornography, just as ready to jump into divorce, just as caught in the snares of immorality as the rest of the world’s “maidens.” And because of this, our shame often causes us to shout even louder, to make our voices more known, because our visual appeal begins to wane. There is nothing worse than an unkempt, unattractive woman bragging about how she’s “all that.” After she finishes her cat callings and flauntings, we usually chuckle to ourselves, possibly even saying, “that’s just plain sad.” God says it this way: because of His people’s unsightliness, “I’ll make you a byword and a laughingstock among the nations.” (4) How does one become a laughingstock? When verbal declarations didn’t match up to the visual appeal. Hypocrisy is derived of sights that don’t equal up to the sounds. The bride is a sight not a sound.

But the more pure and spotless a bride becomes, the less words need to be spoken. The more pure and spotless the bride, the more the focus is on visible and tangible action, not verbal declaration. Why? She is preparing for her silent walk down the aisle. We won’t need all the words; the beauty of our very appearance and our actions will be enough. This was echoed today as a group of women drove by our procession of prayer warriors. As our spokesperson handed them a flyer, one of the women looked at him and in a pensive and gentle tone said, “You know at this point you are all really hypocrites standing there. Until you become truly pure you can’t stand there without being hypocritical.” She wasn’t attacking us, and there was a lot of truth in what she said. We are calling out for a standard that God himself says he looks to and fro around the earth to find… and says He didn’t find it. We’re certainly not so bold as to claim we’re there. But then she nailed the purpose of this Revolution with laser precision; “but when you truly become pure, you won’t need to make a stand like this, people will walk away from all their immorality because what they see in you that they can’t get in there, and they’ll want what you have.” Bingo. This woman understood it. The bride is a sight not a sound. You see, even in our silence, out on Church Street, we are still a sound – a silent roar, calling for us, and the rest of the church to get pure.

But it’s not a purity that leads to more sounds, but instead leads to more sights. We are making a final “sound” declaration, because a pure church will produce a sight like the world has never seen. Action will flow out of love, not obligation; words will merely serve as acknowledgements for positive visual actions not for defending verbal declarations. Read for yourself all the benefits of purity. The pure will see God (5), shine like stars in eternity (6), help widows and orphans (7), experience all gifts and fruits (8), and make themselves ready for the Groom (9). Signs and wonders follow the pure bride. And wisdom and revelation follow the pure bride. The Bible says that a pure and spotless Bride can come up to the Hill of the Lord (10). And in Isaiah 2 we learn one of the treasures of that entrance: “come up to the Mountain of the Lord and reason.” A pure and spotless bride will have supernatural solutions for natural dilemmas the world cannot ascertain the answers for. And these solutions will manifest through visible action, not merely through words. Think of becoming like George Washington Carver, who invented over 300 uses for just the little peanut, for some of today’s most critical problems: poverty, crime, disease, the environment; etc. The Bible says that when we become oaks of righteousness we will “rebuild the ancient ruins, and repair the ancient cities.” (11)

And the enemy of mankind knows this. Why do suppose so many inventions, so many systems, ideologies and programs are designed to ensnare and tarnish the look of the bride, but not her sound? Just like the unkempt, unattractive woman, the louder the sound, the less respect we have for the woman herself. The more we as the bride have allowed these systems and inventions to enrapture and capture us, the more disfigured we have looked… and it’s completely strategic. Remember, the enemy, is the enemy of mankind… not just the bride.

Because the Bible says that the pure bride, now washed in power and provision, sets her actions, not on just the Groom himself, but on the world around her. Revelation 19:8 states: “it was given to her (the bride) to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. The bride’s loving actions to the world makes her ready for the Bridegroom. A pure and spotless bride, bathed in the power of purity and all its supernatural treasures, will become a sight the world will not be able achieve with any of its systems or schemes, and it will be wholly attractive. Because this bride carries with it what the world is crying out for, the rectification of the world’s issues. And the successful actions of pure and spotless bride engaged in the world around it, in total love, will draw the world to want the bride for themselves: the Bible says that “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (12)

And here we can see just how amazing our God is. Because again the Bible says “I (the groom) am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.” (13) What does a man with authority and confidence over the woman he is courting and loves do when other suiters attempt to snatch the woman he intends to marry? He snatches her up for himself. The forward attempts of others toward the woman he loves, arouses his jealousy and he takes action. Through the treasures that come from purity, our outward actions toward the world, and the success of those actions, will draw the world to want the bride for themselves – and then the true groom will step in and jealously command, “no, she’s mine!” We arouse the jealous love of our Groom, by enrapturing the other suiters toward affection to our standard of purity, thereby drawing them into the bride and therefore to the groom as well. God stated that “every knee will bow”… I think He means it. And he’s given us the formula:

Victory is Certain as the bride becomes pure. The world’s attraction to the church is certain when bride becomes a sight not a sound. And a wedding is certain when the groom is roused to jealousy for his pure and spotless bride.

THE PARADIGM SHIFT TOWARD “SIGHT”

So how do we start from sound toward sight? Here are a few suggestions: First, we must seek purity with all our hearts. We don’t attempt to stop engaging in pornography, or other immoralities just for the sake of stopping immoral actions; we set our hearts toward the power, treasures and relationship found in purity. Like the women in the car understood; without a higher standard, censorship and self-willed sacrifice collapses. It’s not sacrifice when you have the end in mind, it merely a necessary component towards an end goal. Second, begin to assess “where have I been more sound than sight?” Critically examine how you “look” to the world around you, not what you say. Are you kind, gentle, caring, compassionate, do you do things that other would say “look at them” in admiration of your actions? Sounds carry far more potency when you’ve become a sight. Third, immerse yourself in the word of God. It is “living and active” (14) – it’s a sight that uses sound. Search it to teach you how to produce more sights. Fourth, you must become a person devoted to prayer and intercession. Prayer and intercession are sounds done in secret that produce sights in the natural that are awe inspiring and divine. In the book, “Intercessor” Rees Howles, cites the silent sounds of prayer and intercession during WWII as the catalyist by which the undefeatable German army was routed. Silent sounds from a pure bride produce powerful sights, because these sounds move God to step into the visual. And fifth, in the same way as the Word, turn your personal voice into a sight producer and developer in the lives of those around you. Build people up to become greater sights, not sounds. Listen to sounds (sermons, music, teaching) so that it produces sights (actions), and lovingly nudge those around you that are more sound than sight to begin to shift the paradigm.

How do we gauge our shift from sound to sight? When our sounds we do make begin to produce sights like those in the following verses from Proverbs 10:

“The mouth of the righteous is a tree of life…” (Pr 10:11)

“The mouth of the righteous flows with wisdom…” (Pr 10:31)

“The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver…” (Pr 10:20)

“The lips of the righteous feed many…” (Pr 10:21)

Scriptural References: (1) Duet 28:13, (2) John 10:10, (3) John 13:35, (4) Ps 44:14, (5) Matt 5:8, (6) Phil 2:5, (7) Jas 1:27, (8) II Tim 2:20, (9) II Cor 11:12, (10) Ps 24: 3-4, (11) Isa 61:4, (12) Isa 45:23, Rom 14:11, (13) Zec 8:2, (14) Heb 4:12