GOD AS HUSBAND, US AS THE BRIDE: A picture of the relationship between Christ and the church4/28/2021 Gen. 2: 24 When Adam first sees Eve, he pronounces her "bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh" then says that for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother andcleave/join to his wife. This is the word dabaq, which is also used in the following passage to describe our relationship with God. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life. Deut. 30: 19-20 From the beginning, God designed marriage between men and women to imitate and point to a larger truth and an ultimate destiny: the marriage of Jesus to his Bride. Marriage as a prophetic symbol The ancient Jewish wedding ceremony God gave was a prophetic symbol of Christ and the church. You'll notice that many of the traditions and oral statements foreshadow things that Jesus will say and do. The ceremony was given as a way to help Israel recognize Jesus. For example,
Marriage as a model and standard Marriage provides a model or standard for INTIMACY:
Sex as a model for worship I realize that this may sound very strange to your ears, but sex as part of marriage, is a model for worship. They have very similar characteristics: intimacy, a lack of inhibition, giving oneself wholly over to another, full of adoration, a focus on the Beloved, affirms the worth of the Beloved. For example, the Song of Songs is a picture of the love affair between Solomon and his wife, and also the Great Romance between Jesus, the Husband, and us, His Bride. Consider the language in light of how it is used to indicate sexual union for the couple as well as how it describes the relationship of adoration between Jesus and us. SoS 1: 4 the Beloved (female figure): "Take me away with you - let us hurry! Let the King bring me into his chambers." This is the cry of the Bride for union. Also, the Lover (male figure) in SoS 2: 14 says to the beloved, "show me your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely." This is God calling out to us His desire to be intimate with us. He wants intimate worship that pours out of the nakedness of our souls - not out of duty or to please men, but out of true passion. This is why God is constantly saying to us that our heart attitudes are more important to Him than outward shows of religious behavior. He wants worshippers who worship in spirit and truth of heart. The following passage demonstrates God's pairing of sex and worship through a passage in Romans 1. God assigns judgment to the people's idolatry (which is a worship sin) in the form of allowing sexual perversion to flourish unchecked. In the context of Rom 1: 18-27, verses 25/26 say that "they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised. Because of this God gave them over to shameful lusts …" This relationship between sex and worship is why God addresses sexual sin so strongly. When sex is misused, it no longer helps to point us to spiritual truth (just as bad marriages fail to be accurate prophetic symbols). It also explains satan's aggressive attempts to pervert sexuality and to entice us into the misuse of it. As with many other issues, satan has covered sex and sexuality with lies, and our culture has endorsed those lies. (E.g., you can engage in sex without it meaning anything). Unfortunately, the church's response has largely been to focus exclusively on the "thou shalt nots" associated with sexuality rather than imparting a vision for what Godly sexuality represents. The need for restoration In the Spirit, we have not guarded our marriage relationship with God. We have bitterness toward Him, anger, blame, and suspicion. We have broken faith (i.e., believed wrong things, not believed the best of Him, broken our loyalty.) We have walked in a spirit of harlotry and have given our worship to things that aren't worth it. It is not a surprise then, that those same things show up in our human marriages. This is the end of the age when God is raising up a righteous remnant who will walk the earth in truth, and who will accurately represent the grace of God. If we are to be part of that remnant, we must be transformed - including our marriages. Marriage has to return to the truth of its original design: a representation of the way in which Jesus loves and relates to His Body. Hosea 2: 14-23 & Eph. 5: 21-33. Designed to tell us something about how God feels about us and how He wants us to relate to Him. E.g., "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. …I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion .. I will show my love to the one I called "Not my loved one.' I will say to those called 'not my people', 'you are my people'; and they will say 'you are my God.'" "Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her … In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. .. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery- but I am talking about Christ and the church. Below, you will find The Husband's Love Letter. We developed this based on a series of scriptures to help you hear the heart of Jesus as your Husband. Note: much of the information concerning the Jewish wedding ceremony is taken from The Seven Festivals of the Messiah, by Eddie Chumney. For more information about this topic or Mr. Chumney's books, visit his ministry website, Hebraic Heritage Ministries International. The Husband's Love Letter Arise, my darling, my love, my beautiful one, and come away with me. I have chosen you; I have called you by name and you are mine. Let me be your husband. (Jer. 3: 14; Is. 43: 1) See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the time of birdsong in the land. Arise, my love, my beauty, come away with me. (SS 2: 10-13) I have loved you from the beginning of time and will love you 'til its end. Eternity itself will hear of my love for you. (Jer. 31: 3) Look at you - how beautiful you are. (SS 1: 15) You fill me with joy and I find myself singing and shouting your name. (Zeph. 3; 17) You are carved into the palms of my hands and your face is always before my eyes. (Is. 49: 16) I will be yours 'til the end. I will carry you through flood and fire. I will be the Kinsman-Redeemer in the midst of your distress to rescue and save you. (Is. 43: 2; 63: 9) I will know every tear you cry, for they are precious to me. (Ps. 56: 8) Everything about you is beautiful, my love - perfect and unique; you are flawless to me. (SS 4: 7; 6; 9) You are a garden locked up, my bride; a spring enclosed, a garden fountain, a well of flowing water. Open to me, my darling, my dove. (SS 4: 12; 5: 2) In the clefts of the rock, in the secret place on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely. (SS 2: 14) You have stolen my heart, my bride; You have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes. You have ravished my heart and in so doing, given me courage. (SS 4: 9) How sweet is your love! Better than fine wine! And your fragrance fills me like a flower's perfume fills the air. (SS 4; 10) I am overwhelmed by the look in your eyes. (SS 6: 5) You are like a tree laden with fruit and I long to climb your branches, to breathe the sweet fruit of your mouth, to taste your exquisite delights (SS 7: -10) When the day's cool breeze comes up and the shadows lengthen, I will get myself to your mountain of myrrh, to your hill of frankincense. (SS 4; 6) All of my desire is for you. (SS 7: 10) I want to show myself to you, to tell you my secrets. (John 14: 21; 5: 15; Matt. 13: 11) I long to be in you, and you in me. (John 17: 20-21) You are my beautiful Beloved. Come away with me my love. Come into my chambers.
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