W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

transfiguration, the human body is neither a member of the Church nor a citizen of the Kingdom, except in a
modified, conventional sense. Therefore it will never really be known who does constitute the mystical spiritual
body of Christ till the sons of God are made manifest in His glory, (Col. 3:3).
The supernatural birth makes you a member of God's Church and a citizen of His Kingdom, just as the infants in
the United States are counted in the census and signify as much in the citizenship as the adults, although they
have nothing whatever to do with the government till they reach majority. In a similar manner regeneration
makes you a citizen of the Kingdom, but during your minority you have no voice in the government, (Gal. 4:4),
“But I say unto you so long time as the heir is an infant he differs from a slave as to nothing, even though being
lord of all, but is under tutors and guardians until the time appointed by the father .” And verse 7, “So thou art
no longer a slave but a son, and if a son indeed, an heir through God.” Here we have a contrast between infancy
and adultage in the Kingdom. The minority is the servile period and the majority the filial. Now this is the same
person all the way through, the difference simply consisting in his relation to the Divine government, before
sanctification being a servant and afterward a son, both characters existing contemporaneously throughout, but
during minority the servile predominating and after majority the filial.
We have the same facts set forth in Heb. 13:14, “or every one partaking of milk is unskillful in the word of
righteousness, because he is a babe, for solid food n for the perfect who have their senses exercised by use unto
the discernment both of the good and of the evil.” Here we see the same two classes again contrasted by the
phrases nelpios, an infant, and teleios, an adult, I. e., a perfect man.
The Apostle here says the infant is unskillful in the word of righteousness, I. e., he does not well understand how
to apply it to himself or to others, while the adult, or the perfect man, as the Greek says, has his spiritual and
intellectual senses developed by use so that he can discriminate between the good and the evil.
We have the same contrast developed in the parable of the virgins who represent the kingdom of Heaven on the
earth. You remember how they all alike set out with lighted lamps to meet the Bridegroom, but afterward five of
them concluded that security demanded that they should lay in a supply of oil for coming emergencies, the other
five thinking that it was not necessary, as the lamps were burning very nicely and they were getting along real
well. Eventually the Bridegroom came and they all started to meet Him. Now while the five who had laid in the
supply of oil had no trouble whatever, you remember that the five who were delinquent in this respect utterly
forfeited their place in the Bridehood. There is no intimation that they lost their place in the Kingdom. The
English Version statement, “Our lamps are gone out,” led all of the old commentators astray on the subject,
relegating them as apostates. The true reading, “Our lamps are going out,” indicates a low state of grace, normal
to the unsanctified, but it is utterly incompatible with the conclusion that their state was graceless. They were
still citizens of the Kingdom, but never had been members of the Bridehood.
I have heard preachers contend stoutly for the identity of the Church and the Bride. This is a mistake which you
will all readily see. Regeneration makes you a citizen of the Kingdom, (John 3:3) identifies you with the body of
Christ, and makes you a member of the Church, (Eph. 1:23), but assuredly does not make you a member of the
Bridehood, whose pre-eminent signification is the idea of wedlock. All brides are married and always imply the
existence of the groom, the cognomenal counterpart, somewhere, either present or absent. It is one experience to
be born into the Kingdom and an infinitely different one to get married to the Son of the King. The latter
positively implies adultage, as infants are not marriageable. Our Lord is coming back to this world for His Bride
only.
He is certain duly to care for the infants, both spiritual and physical, but they are not members of His Bridehood.
Those who enjoy the study of the sweet, precious Word and are delighted with the erudition of the Holy Ghost,
the Author and Revelator of the deep things of God, would be much edified studying this book, “Church-Bride-
Kingdom.
The Booklets
These are twenty-seven in number, all directly expository of the great and absorbing theme, “Holiness to the
Lord,” which floods the Bible from the Alpha of Genesis to the Omega of Revelation. These booklets contain