The Wife of the Lord and The Bride of Christ - Congregation Yeshuat ...

Isaiah 50:1,2:Thus says the Lord:“Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce,Whom I have put away?Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have soldyou?For your iniquities you have sold yourselves,And for your transgressions your mother hasbeen put away.In Jeremiah there is a particularlystriking statement:"Turn, 0 backsliding children,saith the Lord; for I ammarried unto you."(Jeremiah 3:14)2 Why, when I came, was there no man?Why, when I called, was there none to answer?Is My hand shortened at all that it cannotredeem? Or have I no power to deliver?Jeremiah 3:8 "And I saw, when forall the causes whereby backslidingIsrael committed adultery I hadput her away, and given her abill of divorce; yet her treacheroussister Judah feared not, but wentand played the harlot also."Hence Israel, having proved disloyal to Godand having dishonored His Name, was castaside, as several of the prophets testify.Hosea declares!"Plead with your mother, plead: for she isnot my wife, neither am I her husband."(Hosea 2:2.)2

The SeparationA one hundred year period ofseparation began with Isaiah's prophecyof 50:1,"Thus says the LORD, 'Where is thecertificate of divorce by which I havesent your mother away? Or to whom ofMy creditors did I sell you? Behold, youwere sold for your iniquities, and foryour transgressions your mother wassent away.'“In order for a husband to divorce his wifeunder the Mosaic law, he had to write outa certificate of divorce in longhand andgive it to his wife. The divorce was thenfinal (Deut. 24:1).Through Isaiah God states that he had notgiven Israel a certificate of divorce, He hadmerely sent her away.This period of separation was a period ofwithholding His blessings from her.The DivorceOne hundred years of separation did not producethe needed repentance in Israel, so the certificateof divorce was issued through the prophetJeremiah.The entire book of Jeremiah could be viewed as acertificate of divorce, the key verses are found inJeremiah 3:6-10:Then the LORD said to me in the days of Josiahthe king, "Have you seen what faithless Israeldid? She went up on every high hill and underevery green tree, and she was a harlot there.I thought, 'After she has done all these thingsshe will return to Me'; but she did not return, andher treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I sawthat for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I hadsent her away and given her a writ of divorce,yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; butshe went and was a harlot also. Because of thelightness of her harlotry, she polluted the landand committed adultery with stones and trees.Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sisterJudah did not return to Me with all her heart, butrather in deception," declares the LORD.The Remarriage with Restored BlessingsAccording to Ezekiel, God will enter into a newmarriage contract with Israel in the future:Ezekiel 16:60-63"Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant withyou in the days of your youth, and I will establishan everlasting covenant with you. Then you willremember your ways and be ashamed when youreceive your sisters, [both] your older and youryounger; and I will give them to you asdaughters, but not because of your covenant.Thus I will establish My covenant with you, andyou shall know that I am the Lord, so that youmay remember and be ashamed and never openyour mouth anymore because of yourhumiliation, when I have forgiven you for all thatyou have done," the Lord God declares.Ezekiel 16:60-634

Isaiah 62 – Israel is Betrothed to God1For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace,And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,And her salvation as a lamp that burns.2The Gentiles shall see your righteousness,And all kings your glory.You shall be called by a new name,Which the mouth of the Lord will name.3You shall also be a crown of gloryIn the hand of the Lord,And a royal diademIn the hand of your God.Isaiah 62 – Israel is Betrothed to God4You shall no longer be termed Forsaken,Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate;But you shall be called Hephzibah (His Delight in Her),and your land Beulah (Married);For the Lord delights in you,And your land shall be married.5For as a young man marries a virgin,So shall your sons marry you;And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,So shall your God rejoice over you.The Bride of ChristThe importance of maintaining a distinctionbetween the Wife of the LORD, which is Israel,and the Bride of Christ, which is the Church.To fail to do so may lead one to believe that theChurch has replaced the Israelites as God'schosen people.The New Testament reveals that the marriage ofthe Bride of Christ to her husband will correspondto the Jewish wedding system that was commonin Jesus' day.The first step, the arrangement, was made whenGod paid the bride price with the blood of JesusChrist (Eph. 5:25).The second step, the preparation, is the period inwhich the church operates today.During the period of the preparation, the bridewas prepared to be a fitting wife for her mate.It was also the period of time in which she wasobserved for her purity... the Bride of Christ, theChurch, ... is even now in the process of beingperfected for the Groom.The third stage in the Jewish wedding system isthe fetching of the bride.5

When the Groom returns for the Church, theShofar will sound just as in the ancient weddingcustom of announcing the groom.I Thessalonians 4:15-1815 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, thatwe who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lordwill by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 Forthe Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,with the voice of an archangel, and with the SHOFAR ofGod. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then wewho are alive and remain shall be caught up togetherwith them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Andthus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Thereforecomfort one another with these words.Matthew 22:1-14 Parable of the Wedding CrasherAnd Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parablesand said: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain kingwho arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out hisservants to call those who were invited to the wedding;and they were not willing to come. 4 Again, he sent outother servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited,“See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattedcattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to thewedding.” ’5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one tohis own farm, another to his business. 6 And the restseized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killedthem. 7 But when the king heard about it, he wasfurious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed thosemurderers, and burned up their city.Matthew 22:1-14 Parable of the Wedding Crasher8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, butthose who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore gointo the highways, and as many as you find, invite to thewedding.’ 10 So those servants went out into thehighways and gathered together all whom they found,both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled withguests.11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he sawa man there who did not have on a wedding garment.12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in herewithout a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him handand foot, take him away, and cast him into outerdarkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”Matthew 22:1-14 Parable of the 10 Virgins“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to tenvirgins who took their lamps and went out to meet thebridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five werefoolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps andtook no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in theirvessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom wasdelayed, they all slumbered and slept.6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, thebridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then allthose virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And thefoolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for ourlamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying,‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; butgo rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’Matthew 22:1-14 Parable of the 10 Virgins10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroomcame, and those who were ready went inwith him to the wedding; and the door wasshut.11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying,‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said,‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day northe hour in which the Son of Man is coming.Yeshua the Groom is preparing a place for HisBride, the ChurchJohn 14:1-4 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believein God, believe also in Me.2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were notso, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will comeagain and receive you to Myself; that where I am, thereyou may be also.4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”6

The final home for the Bride is the NewJerusalemRevelation 21:9b-10“Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’swife.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit toa great and high mountain, and showed me thegreat city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out ofheaven from God…Application:Our first responsibility as the Bride of Christ is tounderstand and articulate that the church has notsupplanted the Jewish people in the heart ofGod.We must be defenders of the Jewish people andtheir land at every opportunity.We must fight anti-Semitism wherever occursand recognize that it originates from Satan andhis deception.Our second responsibility as the Bride of Christ isto submit to the process of preparation to takeon the role of wife to Lamb.Ephesians 5:26-27Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ alsoloved the church and gave Himself up for her, sothat He might sanctify her, having cleansed herby the washing of water with the word, that Hemight present to Himself the church in all herglory, having no spot or wrinkle or any suchthing; but that she would be holy and blameless.According to verse 26, the Church is nowundergoing a process of sanctification. The word"sanctification" means to be set apart.The Church, then, is now being set apart toeventually be presented a pure virgin to Yeshua,in accordance with II Corinthians 11:2.2For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy.For I have betrothed you to one husband, that Imay present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.Furthermore, verse 26 points out that she isbeing cleansed by this means of sanctification,which is by the washing of the water with theWord.It is not by water baptism, but by the water ofthe Word of God. As the Church becomes moreand more conformed to what the Word of Godteaches, she in turn becomes more and more thevirgin to be presented to Him.Our third responsibility as the Bride of Christ is toprotect the sanctity of marriage.In his famous letter to the Ephesians on theduties of a husband and wife Paul says,"This mystery is great, but I am speaking withreference to Christ and the church" (5:32).Christian marriages have a higher calling thanthe happiness and well-being of the husband andwife.7

Christian marriages should represent to theunbelieving world the love of Christ for Hischurch and the love of the Bride for herHusband.When we allow Satan to dilute the importance ofmarriage as a symbol of this greater spiritualtruth we are weakening the church andmisrepresenting Christ to the world.The church of today must find a way to love thedivorced individual while maintaining a strongstand against divorce.Next Week:The Six Abodes of SatanNew Time7pm Saturday Nights3610 N. Chapel RoadFranklinwww.YeshuatYisrael.comA presentation on the career of Satan and his long awaited demise.End Time Bible Prophecy SeriesBegins in Two Weeks8