Preparing the Bride

The groom has left the home of the bride.  They are both legally married, but there is a waiting period before they can live together.  The length of time was usually one year.  During that time the bride would still live at her home and get ready for her life as a married woman.

She will still sleep in her own bed,  do the chores she did before, and live the same life she had before this.  Her life is the same, but one thing has changed.  She is now The Bride.  She has a future set before her that she never had before.

 Everything in her life seems the same except for the future she must prepare for.  She must gather her trousseau of clothes, household linens and other belongings she will need as the wife of the groom. She may live in the home of her parents, but she does not belong to that home anymore.  She belongs to her groom.

The price has been paid for us by our groom and while he is away to prepare a place for us we must prepare for our new life with him.  We do not belong in this world anymore.  We belong to the house of God.  We are now part of his family.

While the bride prepared for her future life, the Shomer (best man) would act as the go between between the bride and groom.  Everything she needed to know the Shomer would inform her of and communicate to the groom everything that came from the bride.

The Holy Spirit is our go between with Christ and us.  When we have needs that our groom could help with, the Holy Spirit informs Christ who then comes to us with the answer.  He speaks as the voice of Christ to us.

The word shomer means 'guard'.  The Holy Spirit guards us for the future day when we shall meet our groom Christ Jesus.  He helps make us ready by guarding our purity and guides us to all things righteous.

Today we are the bride preparing for our eternal future with our awesome groom Jesus Christ.  We do not know when he will come for us.  He might come before your next breath.  Are you ready?

To read other post from this series:
Part one "Purchasing the Bride"
Part three "The Brides Future Home"
Part four "The Snatching of the Bride"
Part five "The Bridal Chamber"

Photo by STIL on Unsplash

Purchasing the Bride

Jesus told his disciples "In my father's house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:2  In this verse Jesus is drawing the analogy of Him (the bridegroom) and us (the bride) to the wedding practices of his day.  Over the next five days lets examine the significance of the two. There is so much to this comparison that will surprise and delight you.

The wedding starts with the bridegroom making a trip to the home of the bride.  It doesn't matter how far she may be, he must make this trip.  The bride never makes the trip to the groom.

The groom arrives at the home of the young woman he desires to marry and meets with the father to negotiate the price he must pay to purchase the bride.  Once the price has been paid the marriage convanent is established and the man and woman are then regarded as man and wife.  The woman is now considered holy, separated, exclusive for the groom.

Two thousand years ago the groom (Christ) made that same trip to the home of the bride (us).  He entered into our world after traveling through time and space to reach us.  Jesus then paid the bride price to purchase us when he died on the cross.  His life was the cost to make us his bride.

Those who opened the door of their hearts to him, and accepted the price of his death on the cross to purchase them, are now holy and separate to Christ exclusively.  We no longer are of this house (the world) but rather of the house of God (in Heaven)

To read other post from this series:
Part two "Preparing the Bride:
Part Three "The Brides Future Home"
Part four "The Snatching of the Bride"
Part five "The Bridal Chamber"

Photo by cindy baffour on Unsplash

Landmarks to God

The Hebrew word Mitsvah means command or commandment.  The word 'command' implies a power of force such as a general commanding his troop.  Mitsvah is better understood as a directive given which leads to a goal.

The verb form of mitsvah is the word tsiyon, which means desert or landmark.  The ancient Hebrew people were nomads who traveled the deserts in search of grassy pastures where their flocks could feed.  They would use rivers, mountains, rock outcroppings and various other landmarks to give them direction.  Tsiyon was to direct a person on the journey

The mitsvahs in scriptures are directives which guide us.  They are the landmarks which show us the way we are to go.  Tsiyon can also be translated as Zion, the mountain of God.  Zion is the mountain on which Jerusalem sits and where the Temple was built.  Zion is where the throne of God stood inside the Holy of Holies at the temple.  The true Zion in Heaven is where the throne of God is which we are to keep our eyes on.  Tsiyon is the landmark to God.

God has set out landmarks for us within the commands found in scripture.  Landmarks for how we are to live according to God's will.  Landmarks to God and His will for our lives. Without following the landmarks of God we would be lost in a world of sin, pain, and death.  The commands of God guide us to life now and forever. 

Photo by Rob Bye on Unsplash

Where is God Today?

In the book of Exodus, the children of Israel built the tabernacle where God's presence resided.  A pillar of fire at night and a pillar of cloud by day showed that God dwelt with the Hebrews.

The Tabernacle was not much to look at.  It was basically a tent which could be picked up and moved as the Hebrews moved from one location to another.  It contained some priestly furniture including the Ark of the Covenant.  The Mercy Seat on top of the Ark represented the Throne of God.  Once a year the High Priest was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of a sacrificed lamb onto the Mercy Seat.  That small tent was the holiest place on earth, because that is where God resided.

When Solomon became King, he built a temple for God.  That temple was eventually destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. A second temple was then built and it was destroyed by the Romans.  So where does God reside on the earth now?  Not in any gold encrusted building with rich interiors and art works.  Not in a church building, temple, or cathedral.

If you have Jesus as your savior, he has made you his tabernacle. In John 1:14 it says that Jesus came to dwell among us. The word dwell is actually 'tabernacle'.  His earthly body was a walking temple where God lived.

2 Corinthians 6:16  says that we are the temple of the living God.  If you are a believer in Christ and want to see where God lives now, you simply have to look in a mirror.  You are not God, but the Spirit of God now tabernacles within you.

The Hebrew tabernacle was not much to look at, yet God dwelt there.  Now God dwells in a house of flesh which He formed from the dust of the earth.  We are nothing but an earthen vessels containing the most valuable of all riches within.  We are the Tabernacles of God.

Photo Credit: By Ruk7 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 

Exchanging Earthly Currency for Heavenly

I have visited many countries in my life.  I served in the Navy and visited many ports in the Western Pacific.  For three years I traveled over Europe and a little bit in Africa working for the Government. Every time I went to a new country I had to exchange my dollars for that country's currency.

Someday I am going to be in Heaven and they do not accept United States currency there.  Visa, Discover, Master Card and even American Express are not accepted.  There is nothing from this world which can be used in Heaven.

The only way what I have here on earth will be valuable in Heaven is if I trade it for Heavenly currency.  Before I arrive in Heaven my earthly valuables must already have been exchanged.  My house, car, furniture, food, and all I possess must be given to God in exchange for things of Heavenly value.

We are all going on a journey soon.  We do not know the hour of departure, but it is imminent.  All of what we own in this life will be lost.  It must be exchanged before we leave this world.  What we hold onto will be gone forever, but what we give to God will be exchanged for eternal riches in Heaven.

We are to give all we have in this world to God.  God has called us to be stewards of what He gives to us in this life.  As stewards, all that is in our possession is to be used to promote Heavenly goals.  We are to reach out to others about Christ.  We are to comfort those who weep, and lift up the weak.

"He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain what he cannot lose."  Jim Elliot

  Photo by Niels Steeman on Unsplash

In His Deaths

Isaiah 53 talks about the suffering Messiah dying for our sins.  Isaiah 53:6 says, "He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death;...."  However the word death in Hebrew should actually be translated as "deaths", in the plural.  Because 'his' is in the singular, the word deaths has been translated a singular as well.

Why would God use a singular and a plural word in the same sentence?  It is because his death is so unique and extreme that the singular form of the word could not contain the reality of it.  His death goes beyond anything that had ever happened before.

It also shows that Christ death was not just for him.  His death was the death of all.  Every death of man is contained "in his deaths"   To all who accept the death of Christ as payment for their sins, the old self also died with him on the cross.  It is finished.  The price has been paid and you are free to live a life of blessings with God.

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God Kneels for Man

The Hebrew word barach means to bless, but it also means to kneel.  When we kneel before God, we are blessing Him.  We humble ourselves before God and submit to Him.  We are lowing ourselves so that He may be raised up.

The greatest blessing God gave to man was salvation.  He blessed us by lowering himself from Heavenly glory to earth where he was mocked, tortured and executed.  He submitted himself into the power of man, when man should have been kneeling before Christ.

Christ knelt down in submission so that he could bless us with Heavenly glory.  He set the ultimate model of what it means to kneel down in submission so that others can be blessed.  In light of his blessing us, shouldn't we humbly kneel down before him?  Shouldn't we be blessing God in obedience to Him?

Us kneeling down to bless is not only for God, but for others.  Just as God blessed us, we are to bless others.  We are called upon to humbly serve others just as Christ served you.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash