Journey of the Bride
Beauty For Ashes Part III - George H. WarnockPREFACE
This writing concerns the Bride of Christ, and her journey to the heart of God. Genesis 24 forms the basis of what we have to say: the story of Isaac and Rebekah, and her journey to the land of Canaan, under the watchful care of Abraham’s trusted servant.
But we also give a lot of emphasis to the role of the servant, who was given the charge to make the journey into Mesopotamia, to procure this virgin bride for Isaac. We know the Holy Spirit is that faithful One who prepares and enriches the Bride of Christ. But He abides in His people in the earth, so that in a very real sense we are all responsible to take our place as ministering servants to the Bride of Christ. For as Eve was the Bride of Adam-and at the same time "of his bone and of his flesh" - so we are the Bride of Christ, yet joined to Him in one Body. And the Body of Christ is to "edify itself"... as each member takes his place as a ministering servant to Christ. We recognize of course that there are special ministering servants that God has set in the Body, whose responsibility it is to minister the Word of God faithfully, as "stewards of the mysteries of God."
But we are slow to learn from the mistakes of another. Human nature is just that way. Usually we have to learn the hard way. But as we do, it is good that we can look into the Scriptures, and into the wilderness episode, and discover God's faithfulness in and through it all, and His pattern of deliverance for an erring people.
May the manner and the deportment of this faithful unnamed servant be a challenge to all of our hearts, to faithfully fulfill the charge that is laid upon us to minister the life of Christ to God’s people. For as members of His Body we are all involved, and we are all to be servants one to another, while at the same time being a part of the corporate whole.
-George H. Warnock (February, 1989)