101. The church belongs with the Lord. Because of the spiritual marriage between what is good and what is true, the Lord is called Bridegroom and Husband and the church is called Bride and Wife. Christians know this from the Word, especially from the following passages in it.

John said of the Lord, “The bridegroom is the one who has the bride. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices because of the bridegroom’s voice.” (John 3:29)

Jesus said, “As long as the bridegroom is with them, the children of the wedding cannot fast.” (Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34– 35)

I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)

The angel said to John, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb,” and from a mountain he showed him the city, the holy Jerusalem. (Revelation 21:9, 10)

The time for the Lamb’s wedding has come; his bride has prepared herself. Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Revelation 19:7, 9)

“I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning star.” And the spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And those who hear, say, “Come!” And those who are thirsty, come. Those who wish to, take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:16, 17)

63. How did it come about that theologians attributed merely human qualities to God? The underlying cause is that all spiritual perception and enlightenment come from the Lord alone. The Lord is the Word, or divine truth. He is the true light that enlightens everyone (John 1:1, 9). He says, “I have come into the world as a light so that anyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). This light and the awareness that is gained from it flow only into people who acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth and who turn to him alone. This light and awareness do not flow into people who think in terms of three gods, as has been happening since the early establishment of the Christian church. Because the idea of three gods is an earthly notion, the only light it receives is earthly. It is incapable of opening up to receive any inflow of spiritual light. This is why the only qualities people have seen in God have been earthly in nature.

For another thing, if theologians had realized the vast incongruity between their ideas and the true divine essence, and had removed these ideas from the teachings on justification, this would obviously have amounted to a complete abandonment of a Christianity that had always been centered on the worship of three gods. [No alternative was available] before the predetermined time for the new church, when fullness and restoration would come.