Dearly beloved of the Lord, the Bride of Christ, set apart and being prepared for Jesus, Yeshua, your Bridegroom King.
I so love the parallels the Holy Spirit reveals between our human instiution of marriage and that of the heavenly eternal one, between our Lord Jesus and you His precious Bride. And so it should be because one is meant to be a reflection of the other and even the very words that are used in the marriage ceremony are there to reveal a deeper truth and a higher revelation for us.
I dont know whether its the same in your culture but in ours in England its the Father that gives the Bride away and hands Her over to Her husband for his safe keeping and protection.This is reflected and emphasized by the question written in the official wedding ceremony… “Who gives this woman away?” and the Father responds “I do!”
So it is in the spiritual realm in the sense that it is Father God to whom the Bride belongs first before she is given to Jesus the Son.
Jesus said to His disciples in John 17:6 “And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed. I have revealed Your name to those You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.“
Yes we were conceived and born in the heart of the Father before time began and then the Father drew us out of the pierced side of His son on the cross, so She was made of His same spiritual DNA, had His Divine Natural Attributes, in order for us to be completely compatible with Him, of HIs Spiritual Flesh His Spiritual bone. ….a Bride formed for Him and given to Him by the Father. It ever was Gods Eternal Purpose.
But it is one thing for the Father to form a Bride for HIs Son, another to give away the Bride to His Son, yet how does He sustain and perfect Her to be on that day “Without spot or blemish”.Eph 5:27?
” To present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.”
He does this in two ways one which is passive and spontaneous as far as the Bride Herself is concerned for it is the work of the Holy Spirit and the other for which she must take resonsibility.
In a Jewish wedding the Bridegoom after their betrothal must go away to prepare 1) the Chuppah or Huppah, a canopy under which they will get married and 2) the room or Bridal Chamber where they will consumate the wedding, and whilst He is away he sends his ‘best man’ to bring gifts to her from him and messages of encouragement in case she forgets him. Likewise Jesus our Bridegroom sends the Holy Spirit to be with us who remind us of Him and “teaches us all things”. We all know that experience of delight when He brings back to our memoy something about Him which we had forgotten and which causes us to wonder at His love and care for us. This is the precious work of the Holy Spirit in us conforming us day by day to Jesus our Bridegrooms image and causing us to reflect HIs beauty.
” But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and remind you of everything that I have told you” John 14:26
Then secondly, there is that active response on our part in which we fulfill the Word in Rev !9: where it says “and the Bride has made Herself ready”.
“Let us give him the glory, for the wedding-day of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” Rev 19:7.
Our responsibility is to ensure we are watching with our lamps lit and primed, neither sleeping or unprepared as were the foolish virgins in Matt 25.
A question many ask us after a Call2Come conference on Awakenig the Bride is ….Please tell us. How do we prepare ourselves? Their love for Him as His Bride has be reingnited and the jouney towards intimacy has begun in earnest. The desire is now about how can I please Him alone and be ready for Him? The cry of their heart is Come Lord Jesus! Maranatha!
It is by meditating on the Word and earnestly seeking more and more intimacy with Him that the heart is satisfied and the preparation made. Its about breaking through into the silence and obeying His invitation to come away. “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away” SoS 2:10. To come away to a secret place away from the noise and preoccupations of this life and to sit in His presence a while. To meditate upon His Word. Both His Word and His Presence will transform us and begin to “Make us ready”.
So it is written, “By the word of thy lips I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer.” Psalm 17:4.
And …”Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You” …Ps119:11
The preparation includes clothes that we must begin to wear some of which are our acts of kindness, love and mercy, acts of supernatural power and miracle (the mighty acts of the Saints (Rev 19:7and 8)
Let us rejoice, and be glad, and give him glory,
because the marriage of the lamb has come
and his bride has made herself ready.
She has been given the privilege of wearing fine linen,
dazzling and pure.”
(These clothes of fine linen represent the righteous and mighty acts of the saints.)
Other times is clothes of grace and gentleness, forgivenes humility and patience. We clothe ourselves with the fruits of the Spirit of Gal 5;22 and 23 or the Warrior armour of Eph 6.
Dressed in these clothes, with the incense of intercession and the perfume of praise thanksgiving and worship we will walk in a posture of readiness and be a constant delight to our coming Bridegroom King
Maranatha
howard@call2come
