03/08/2002 Sabbath Meeting Transcript

Shalom dear brethren!

Tonight I'd like to tell you about:

THE MYSTERY OF THE BRIDE OF THE MESSIAH

Some of you have seen this before but perhaps we need to consider it again.

We're going to look at some things about the phrase in Ephesians 5:32 ‘The Mystery of The Congregation as The Bride of the Messiah'

We see in Ephesians 5:23 - 33 that Paul draws an analogy from the Messiah's relationship to the congregation to the husband's relationship to his wife.

He says in Ephesians 5:32, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning the Messiah and the congregation."

Like some other so-called ‘mysteries' in the New Testament (NT), this mystery is an idea that was not entirely clear in the Old Testament (OT) but is now being cleared up in the new.

Indeed, when we look back into the OT we see many vivid scriptures that talk about Yahweh and his wife! In preparing for this message I HAVE BEEN STUNNED by these OT accounts!

Let's see what we can learn from these scriptures as we look at them in the new light from the NT.

Ezek 16 is a long chapter but it's well worth reading. I'll try to summarize Ezek 16 for us.

Yahweh talks about Jerusalem which He finds as a pitiable newborn girl, rejected, discarded and bloody in the field and He rescues her and cares for her. She grows up and He lavishes care on her and marries her!

He makes her the most beautiful in the earth.

He gives her gorgeous clothes and jewelry. Even a jewel for her nose - Mmmmm. {:q )

They have children and she begins a life of GREAT UNfaithfulness!

She uses the beautiful things he gave her to entertain her lovers!

Yahweh tells her:

20. "Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, 21. that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire?"

Yahweh tells her He is going to expose her to shame and hatred from all her lovers until they abuse her terribly and she finally ENDS her harlotry.

Then He says: 41. "They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers. 42. So I will lay to rest My fury toward you, and My jealousy shall depart from you. I will be quiet, and be angry no more."

Yahweh is going to cause her to repent and end His anger toward her. Then He says,

59. 'For thus says the sovereign Yahweh: "I will deal with you as you have done, who despised the oath by breaking the covenant. 60. Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed . . . 62. And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am Yahweh, 63. that you may remember and b

YAHWEH IS GOING TO TAKE HER BACK !!!!!!

After all she has done, He is going to honor His covenant with her.

Yahweh values His covenant word VERY HIGHLY.

Yahweh cares deeply about his wife! He is sorely hurt by her adulteries

But HIS COVENANT CAN NOT BE BROKEN!

He is that good of a husband.

His honor is far above reproach in every way.

He goes far beyond what we would think of as right.

But HOW can this be?

It will not be clear in the OT. We need the NT to clear up the mystery.

The story of this relationship is told again in the book of Hosea. You may remember that the prophet Hosea was told to marry a prostitute.

He has children and gives them names that reflect the story of Yahweh's relationship with Israel.

Hosea 1:8-11 Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, [not pitied] she conceived and bore a son. 9. Then Elohim said: "Call his name Lo-Ammi, [not my people] For you are not My people,

And I will not be your Elohim. 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel SHALL BE as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass, in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' there it shall be said to them, 'You are sons of the living Elohim.' 11. Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together . . . .

Chapter two tells again about the heinous harlotry of Israel.

Once again we see the story of Israel's terrible idolatry and Yahweh's amazing forgiveness.

After all she has done Yahweh says:

2:19. "I will betroth you [the word means to woo as a virgin] to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; 20. I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know Yahweh.

Brethren I think we begin to see how much higher Yahweh's ways are above our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts.

Not only is He going to forgive but He is going to treat her like she was pure and clean!

But how can Yahweh be that righteous??

Can He really take this tramp to himself again?

HOW He will accomplish that is only revealed in the NT.

Isaiah 54 tells basically the same story again.

Just a few verses:

Isaiah 54:5. For your Maker is your husband, Yahweh of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the Elohim of the whole earth. 6. For Yahweh has called you Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused," Says your Elohim.

Look at when this marriage was made.

It is revealed in the promise of the New or Renewed Covenant:

Jeremiah 31:31-33 "Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will make a new [renewed] covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; 32. not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, THOUGH I WAS A HUSBAND TO THEM, says Yahweh.

Notice! The covenant at Mount Sinai was a MARRIAGE COVENANT.

And Yahweh entered into it with his eyes wide open.

He can see the future. And He married Israel ANYWAY.

It was exactly because He could foresee the WHOLE future and the outcome is good overall.

33. "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people."

We learn all this from the OT.

But what does it mean? Why did Yahweh cause these things to be written?

For our example is surely one reason.

Yahweh is our example of how an ideal husband might behave.

Yes, a wife is supposed to be submissive to her husband, but maybe the husband doesn't always enforce that on her.

Maybe a perfect husband loves her NO MATTER WHAT.

We'll learn more in the NT

Later Yahshua would say:

John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; AS I have loved you, that you also love one another.

With these stories of Yahweh's patience and commitment we see what kind of love he has.

Yahshua then demonstrated that love for our example.

Another reason for these OT stories may be that Yahweh wanted to set the stage for our understanding of the congregation as the bride of Elohim.

So many images from Yahshua's last supper and other words of Yahshua are showing that he is the husband or the bridegroom of the congregation.

This story reveals one reason why gentile believers have to become Israelites. They must become part of the wife that Yahweh/Yahshua already has.

Let me cite one passage to explain that Yahweh/Yahshua term.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2. all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3. all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and THAT ROCK WAS THE MESSIAH .

So we see that the being that is called Yahweh in the story of the Exodus is actually Yahshua the Messiah.

In most cases in the OT, when we see Yahweh, it is actually Yahshua coming in his father's name.

Back to our subject:

Many NT scriptures use these images to teach us about our marriages.

It is not that we can understand the heavenly family, the relationship between Yahweh the Father and Yahshua, by knowing our own families.

NO, WE CAN UNDERSTAND OUR OWN FAMILIES AND OUR ROLES IN THEM better as we learn more about the family of which Yahweh is the head.

Let's go back to Ephesians where we started:

Ephesians 5:28-33 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Master does the congregation. 30. For we are members [parts] of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32. T

I'm talking about Yahweh and his relationship to Israel.

I'm telling you that we men have to love our wives like Yahweh loves Israel -

100%,

ALL THE WAY,

NO MATTER WHAT!

33. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

v30-31 parallels this scripture:

Genesis 2:23-24 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

And this:

Matthew 19:5-6 "and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 6. So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what Elohim has joined together, let not man separate."

Did Yahweh join them to be one body,

or did he take Eve from Adam's body?

Both are true, aren't they?

They started as one body and they are to become one body.

But the one body they become is not the same as the one body they were. Its better. Its got good things it didn't have before.

Well, lets get back to the mystery.

John the Baptist recognized Yahshua the Messiah as the bridegroom

John 3:29 "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.

In Matt 22:1-14 Yahshua explains that the kingdom is like a wedding. Many are called but few are chosen. The father in this parable goes out and takes those who were not invited because they were not of high enough stature. They were peasants and drifters. But he invites them in and gives them wedding garments. He MAKES THEM INTO acceptable guests.

Of course we have the example of the one guest who refuses to put on the garment and gets thrown out.

We see the great marriage in Rev 14:

Revelation 14:1-5 Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads. 2. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. 3. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elder

defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to Elohim and to the Lamb. 5. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of Yahweh.

How does He clothe them in white bridal raiment?

Colossians 2:11-13 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of the Messiah, 12. buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of Yahweh, who raised Him from the dead. 13. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him,

2 Corinthians 5:15-19 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 16. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known the Messiah according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17. Therefore, if anyone is in the Messiah, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have becom

ALL THINGS? Idolatry? Adultery? Whoring with everyone available?

YES! That is how Yahweh makes it feasible to take the people back to him. Through Yahshua the Messiah He changes to evil nature to a good and obedient nature. He changes the old man to a new man who is obedient to Yahweh's laws in every way.

Not by compunction but by NATURE. It is in their heart!

18. Now all things are of Yahweh, who has reconciled us to Himself through Yahshua the Messiah, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19. that is, that Elohim was, in the Messiah, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word [story] of reconciliation.

Revelation 19:6-9 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "HalleluYAH! For the sovereign Yahweh Omnipotent reigns! 7. Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. 8. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the ri

9. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of Elohim."

So let us together be the faithful, pleasing bride for Yahshua. Pure and white, ready to be bonded to Him to make a strong team to do Yahweh's will for all eternity.

Let us show in our homes today that we understand the lessons Yahweh is teaching us about faithfulness and everlasting love.

Yahweh sets an example in his home that we need to follow in ours.

We can do it by calling on Yahshua to dwell in us.

By calling on Yahweh to guide us and teach us His ways with His Holy Spirit.

Yahshua has shown us the way.

Yahweh has lovingly given us the tools we need. – His scriptures, and His Spirit.

We have to use those tools according to the pattern we have seen. We have to walk that narrow path Yahshua walked.

We have to strive to build our family as Yahweh desires it to be.

We must strive to bring our entire family to that great marriage of Yahshua with the congregation.

May Yahweh grant that we all meet there.

HalleluYAH ! !