JESUS, THE MISSIONARY BAPTIST BRIDEGROOM

     Let me restate our original text. "He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom ..." (John 3:29). The verb is in the present tense, and it bespeaks possessiveness. The words of the text were spoken by John the Baptist, and in this same text, he identifies himself as a "... friend of the Bridegroom". In this friendship, John's joy was fulfilled, and his decrease was the increase of the Bridegroom. And God gloried in that fact.
     Just recently, a Campbellite said to me: "The name of your church is not in the Bible". I have read the Bible with scrutiny and at great length, and as yet, I have not come across the name of the founder of the church commonly known as Campbellites; that is, Alexander Campbell. I found "John the Baptist", but not "John the Methodist". In my reply to the Campbellite, I said: "I am a Baptist, and everybody who knows me knows that I am a Baptist. When I baptize a person, every observer knows that that person comes out of the water a Baptist." Jesus knew that Baptist baptism was not merely important, but essential, to the ecclesiastical honor of God. So, He went to the first Baptist preacher, John the Baptist, and He was baptized by him in the river Jordan. I asked the Campbellite: "What does that make Jesus?".
     Jesus was a Baptist preacher, and the Sovereign and exclusive Head of His church. Being a Baptist, He would not be satisfied with just any Bride. So it was, Jesus established His church, the first Bridal church, from, or out of, the disciples of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was sent from God, and his mission was to preach repentance, and to prepare the human building blocks from which Jesus would build His first church. The life of John the Baptist on earth was brief, but the powers of darkness could not terminate him before his mission was complete; which mission was to baptize Christ and make disciples for Him (Matt 3:13-15; John 1:29-37). Speaking of false churches, we can in truth, say: "All roads lead to Rome and the Pope". But concerning the Lord's church, there is but one road. It is straight and narrow, and it leads to Jesus Christ and the new Jerusalem (Rev. 3:12; 21:2,10).
     "He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom ...". There has not been a day, no, not an hour, since the constitution of the first Baptist church, that Christ has been Brideless; nor shall the heavenly made betrothal ever be in danger of being terminated. Notwithstanding, the devil and his bride (Rev. 17:1,15,16; 19:2) have incessantly tried to bring it to a bloody climax. But the all glorious and Sovereign Head of His Bride made a promise to her before He went away, wherein He said: "The floodtides of hell shall not prevail against my beloved and faithful church" (Matt 16:18).
     Christ has a three-fold ownership of the New Testament church. (1) He created it (I Cor. 12:28). (2) He bought it with His own blood (Acts 20:28). There has never been a greater dowry paid for a bride. (3) It is His Bride and Wife to be (Rev. 19:7). Paul, speaking to one of the Lord's churches, said: "But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us ... hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:4,6). In this text, Paul is speaking of a present tense experience of the Lord's churches.
     The gospel commission which the Lord gave His church before He left the earth is clearly delineated by Him in four different books of the New Testament, i.e., Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-49 ; and Acts 1:8 . Whatever else the church may be, one thing is absolutely sure; it is a missionary church. The church has paid a great cost for her faithfulness to this charge, but she knows her loving Head will reward her a hundred-fold for her obedience to the worldwide and age long commission which He gave her in His affectionate farewell to her.
     The most heavenly place on this earth a person can be is in an assembly of one of the Lord's churches, for the omnipresent Lord has promised to be with His churches every time they assemble for worship. And worship of their blessed Head should be the supreme purpose of each and every meeting of the church. This is why I could never understand why any member of one of the Lord's churches would ignore the scriptural admonition not to forsake the assembly (Heb. 10:25), and go to a worldly event to have a good time. A New Testament Baptist church worship service is not paradise, but it is as close to it as a mortal can come.
     Matt. 18:20 - "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." This is a glorious and comforting promise given to the Bride, by the Groom, and He that promised is faithful. But let not the Lord's churches take that "two" or "three" as a standard, and be satisfied with it. To do so (God forbid) is to be hurtful to the church, and it is to bring reproach on our nail scarred Groom; for He has made missions and evangelism the interim work of the Bride.
Christ said to His virgin Bride: "I go to prepare a place for you ...". And while I am gone, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). In obedience to this command, the Lord's churches have successfully withstood the heresies of Arminianism and the slothfulness of Antinomianism. But in being faithful to her Groom, the Lord's churches have suffered martyrdoms untold.  And the contemporary Bride, while not so viciously persecuted, is homesick for heaven and desiring the consummation of her betrothal, joins her prayer to her blessed forerunners, saying: "Even so, come Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:20).