Does the Bride of Christ have to Die First?
Here is one response we got to the first 2nd Coming post that we thought we would address here as well. This is the second response in the conversation--first one we were accused of saying Jesus' beats up his bride before the wedding.
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You are saying that they must die... this is even worse than beating up His bride... you are saying that we must die in order to be worthy of being His bride... so He allows us to be killed before the wedding?!?! Not only is this notion not Biblical it also implies that His death was not enough, that to be worthy of Him we have to earn His lie by our death... that our salvation can be earned by our works!
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Answer:
Jesus was crucified. He tells us that we will be hated of men and will be delivered up and killed. Most of the Apostles were beaten and killed. Countless thousands, if not millions, of Christians have been tortured and murdered throughout the entire Gospel Age. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints..." What makes you think dying for Christ is "earning" anything? You make "works" sound bad, but "faith without works is dead" and "I will show you my faith BY my works." Faith and works go together. You CANNOT have one without the other. They are not mutually exclusive. Nowhere was it implied that we are saved by "works", but you can NOT be saved without them
"ALL who live Godly in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer persecution." Paul even says that if we, as Christians, do NOT suffer persecution then we are "bastard children", illegitimate, faux Christians.
"To live is Christ, to die gain..."
~~~
You are saying that they must die... this is even worse than beating up His bride... you are saying that we must die in order to be worthy of being His bride... so He allows us to be killed before the wedding?!?! Not only is this notion not Biblical it also implies that His death was not enough, that to be worthy of Him we have to earn His lie by our death... that our salvation can be earned by our works!
~~~
Answer:
Jesus was crucified. He tells us that we will be hated of men and will be delivered up and killed. Most of the Apostles were beaten and killed. Countless thousands, if not millions, of Christians have been tortured and murdered throughout the entire Gospel Age. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints..." What makes you think dying for Christ is "earning" anything? You make "works" sound bad, but "faith without works is dead" and "I will show you my faith BY my works." Faith and works go together. You CANNOT have one without the other. They are not mutually exclusive. Nowhere was it implied that we are saved by "works", but you can NOT be saved without them
"ALL who live Godly in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer persecution." Paul even says that if we, as Christians, do NOT suffer persecution then we are "bastard children", illegitimate, faux Christians.
"To live is Christ, to die gain..."
