Doug L (23 June 2019)
"WHY ALL CHRISTIANS ARE NOT CHRIST'S BRIDE AND WHY ONLY THE BRIDE OF CHRIST CAN EXPECT TO BE RAPTURED AT THE END OF THE CHURCH AGE."



According to biblical-Hebrew tradition when a man and woman became bethrothed to each other they were considered married however,  the marriage was not yet consumated until after the husband went to prepare a place for them and then returned to get His bride. The bride during this time, which could take up to a year, must remain faithful, pure and ready to go with Him at a moments notice when he calls for her - even in the middle of the night or be divorced if not faithful.
 
Joseph (bethrothed to Mary) was told not to divorce her... whom he thought was unfaithful.                       God divorced Israel who was unfaithful.
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Romans 10:13 --- For "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."
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All new believers in Christ, as their Savior, are saved from the condemnation of sin and from an eternity in Hell. All new believers, now sealed by the Spirit,  become worthy of life eternal in heaven with God.
 
Not all believers go on to become disciples of Christ and are full of His Holy Spirit. Not all believers become worthy of Christ and His bride.
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Matthew 10:37,38 --- Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of me. 38And whoever does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of me.

Luke 21:36 --- Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Romans 11:20-22 --- you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; 21for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. 22Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, IF YOU CONTINUE in His kindness; OTHERWISE  you also will be cut off.
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Who then is Worthy ? Only God knows.  We are told to be faithful, pure and ready and to pray that we might be counted as worthy.... to escape (taken out, raptured) the things that are coming upon this earth.
 
All ten virgins were waiting for their Lord - only five were faithful, pure - filled with the Holy Spirit and ready when He called for them. Five were not but were told to go and get ready for another future event....(tribulation, second coming?)  They were disqualified, remained and were not taken in but rejected at that time.
 
God sees those whose hearts are perfect towards Him to whom Jesus is their first love.  Many who are the bride of Christ have been taken out from the Church and this world already and await the end of the Church Age when those who are the bride (still living)  will be raptured - taken out by Christ their husband.
 
**Eve, Adam's bride, was a part taken out from his body and so a part  from the body of Christ (The Church) will be taken out to be His bride.
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2 Chronicles 16:9 --- For the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is fully devoted to Him.
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Matthew 16:24-27 --- Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done.

Revelation 19:7,8 --- The wedding day of the Lamb is here, and His bride is ready. 8She will be given a wedding dress made of pure and shining linen. This linen stands for the good things God's people have done.”
--- And to her was granted (given the privilege)  that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Luke 14:7-11 --- Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them....
 
8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9and he who "invited you both" will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
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God chooses (from the many who are called) those whose place (privilege) will be next to Christ.
Not all believers become disciples of Christ. Not all believers remain faithful, pure - full of the Holy Spirit when Christ comes for them.... whether by death or the Rapture.
 
Each of us will be rewarded according to what we have done as believers in this life.
God never changes, by His justice and according to His complete knowledge of each one of us - He will choose those who are the bride of Christ.
 
If all believers are taught that this highest privilege is a given simply because they have received pardon for their sins, that all believers receive the same reward regardless of how they lived their lives, faithful or not.... disciples or not.... full of the Holy Spirit or not.... it removes the fear of the Lord, the motivation to deny themselves to follow Him and the desire to draw as close to Him in the most intimate fellowship possible.
 
It is wrong teaching. It denies God's true nature disregarding His purity, justice and promise that judgment first begins in His House and that He discplines and corrects each child that He calls His own.