Crack! Crack! Crack! The whiplashes on the bared back of innocent…Majnu…in the Laila-Majnu Movie, an eastern oriental equivalent of Romeo and Juliet, made me move uneasily in the Cine theatre seat. I was all of 10 years at the time, and the background musical effect of that musical maestro Madan Mohan (who died before completing the film whereby the baton was carried forward by Jaidev, seamlessly) added a ring of agony to that tragic melodrama being played out on the big screen. Lo and behold…something unbelievable was unfolding in front of the movie audience! When Majnu was being whipped, the lashes were appearing on the back of his sweetheart, Laila, as well. She wasn’t far away from the whipping scene, and this left an Arabic King, who had ordered that Majnu be whipped, dumbfounded at the intensity of passionate love between these two legendary lovers.
I will stop here. I am rewinding in using this “Bollywood”-related illustration merely for the sake of making a point about “union of hearts” between two lovers. By the way, I said goodbye for good to the World of movies in October 1983 after accepting Christ as my Saviour. He has given me all the “joy” (John 15:11/John 16:24) since, which no entertaining media can provide. The proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof!
Coming to the “made for each other” relationships in the spiritual realm, one doesn’t have to look beyond “God-Israel” consanguinity of the Old Testimeny dispensation and the “Christ-Church” covenantal relationship of the Grace Age to understand the subject better. Didn’t the Heavenly Father say to the persecuted Jews,“for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye” (Zech 2:8 ESV) And didn’t Christ confront Saul the persecutor of the Early Church with these words, “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4 ESV)? By dwelling on the inseparability of Christ and His Church, I would like to bring to the readership, through this four-part series, to understand the deep similarities between the Bridegroom (Christ) and His bride (the church, comprised of His blood-bought Christians).
Creation…
If the virgin birth of Christ was a miracle wrought purely by the power of God (Luke 1:35), then the spiritual birth of a Christian, on receiving Christ as his personal Saviour, is also a singular act of the Almighty with no human plan or passion involved. Let the Scripture take over at this stage…
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13 ESV)
In fact, John goes on to record in his first epistle that in every saved individual who has received this new life from the El-Shaddai God, there is a “Seed” (in Greek “Sperma”, the root word for the English word “Sperm”) of God present. This gives the person the holy character of the Omnipotent One (1 John 3:9).
Yet another similarity we need to focus on at this stage is the means the Heavenly Father used. If He sent the Holy Spirit upon Mary to bring about a miraculous conception, then on the Day of Pentecost the Heavenly Father sent the same Holy Spirit upon the Apostles to bring about the birth of a church…with the laity numbering up to about 3000 (Acts 2). If the Virgin Mary was the means to bring about the birth of the Bridegroom, the apostles were the God-ordained instruments to bring about the birth of the Bride.
On the birth of the church at Pentecost, doesn’t the infallible Scripture speak of how genuine repentance preceded the salvation experience of the 3000? It says, “Cut to the heart” (read “thoroughly convicted of their sins”) on hearing the Gospel, and in contrite spirit, they accepted Christ (SeeActs 2:37). Has not the new-birth experience of every Christian in the last 2000 years borne the same pattern?
Prayer: Father, we praise and thank Thee for bestowing upon us a new life in Christ Jesus, Your Son. Enable us always to live a life worthy of our calling. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Suresh Manoharan
An unworthy servant
J and SM Ministries
(To access the entire “Inseperable Duo” mini-series, please click here.)