Was the relationship between Christ and the church ever revealed in the Old Testament?
The relationship between Christ and the church was not revealed in the Old Testament. It is a great mystery, a secret God revealed to the Apostle Paul. Nothing like this relationship appears anywhere else in Scripture, not even between Israel and God, Abraham and Jehovah, or Moses and Jehovah.
Les teaches that the relationship between Christ and the church is a great mystery, one of Paul's words for a secret God has now revealed to this Apostle. He emphasizes that you never saw any of this anywhere else in Scripture, and you never saw this kind of relationship even between Israel and God, or between Abraham and Jehovah, or between Moses and Jehovah. In Ephesians 5, Paul speaks of Christ loving the church, giving Himself for it, and believers being members of His body, His flesh, and His bones. This total integration with Christ, being in Him and He in us, is why Paul uses the marriage relationship to illustrate Christ and the church. It was hidden in the Old Testament but revealed in the New.
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
More Questions
What is the exact relationship between Christ and the church compared to a husband and wife?
Christ is to believers exactly what a husband is to his wife, and the husband-wife relationship is the same as the Christ-church relationship.