Bride of Christ – Page 2 – Light from the Word

The Story of Two Sisters

(Luke 10: 38-42; John 12)

Now while they were on their way, it occurred that YAHSHUA entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha received and welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Lord’s feet and was listening to His teaching (vs.38-39). Bethany was the village where Martha, her sister and her brother lived. It was located on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about two miles from Jerusalem according to John 11:18. Today Bethany’s name is el- Azariyeh, meaning the place of Lazarus and it is a ruinous village; a village separated by wall where tourists no longer have access to it. But it remains with a beautiful and silent past, for our Savior often visited it and had supper with His friends, Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Lazarus was brought to life there and many came to believe in YAHSHUA. Bethany will always shine its past!

After the death and resurrection of Lazarus, YAHSHUA was invited to supper with them. While Martha served, Mary anointed Him with a pound of ointment of pure liquid nard [a rare perfume] six days before His death. Spikenard or nard, according to Wikipedia, is “a class of aromatic amber-colored oil. It was offered on the specialized incense altar in the time when the tabernacle was located in the first and second temples.” This perfume-oil was very significant in the action of Mary when she anointed the Savior six days before His death. It speaks volume concerning Him as the Lamb of God being prepared for the Passover sacrifice. Mary had no idea of the prophetic meaning her action had. She was only expressing her gratitude to Him, but at the same time, she was being part of the fulfilling of God’s plan for His Son. The Lord defended her action against those who criticized her and confirmed the purpose for her action by saying, Let her alone. It was [intended] that she keep it for the time of My preparation for burial (John 12:a). The Lord blessed Mary in return. Her action did not go unnoticed. He rewarded her by saying, Surely I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the entire world, what she has done will be told in memory of her (Mark 14: 9).

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He Brings Her to the Banquet Table

(Song of Solomon 2)

The Song of Solomon is for most part misunderstood, because of lack of understanding of its meanings. The carnal and human mind in their interpretation misses the point and the context for what it was written. It is impossible to read this book and understand it outside its spiritual sphere. One cannot read it with a carnal mind as one reads any book. The author of the Song of Solomon’s book is the Creator of man and woman, the Designer and the establisher of marriage between the two. Song of Songs is a depiction of marriage as God intended for it to be; it is a love song. It exalts the virtue of love between a man and a woman- husband and his wife. It shows the intimacy between the two, their hard times and the ultimately victory in their union.

Chapter two expresses a beautiful dialog of love and caring between the two. The bridegroom, in his desire to have his bride with Him, invites her to come up. The place He invites her to is close to Him. He says, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away; For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing as come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land; the fig tree puts forth and ripens her green figs, and the vines are in blossom and give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away (2:10-13). It is the season when life is expressed everywhere in the spring of life. The season to celebrate. The horizon springs up with new colors of life. This is figurative of Christ’s and His bride’s relationship. Winter, a thing of the past in color of lifeless grey is no more. For it symbolizes hardships and trouble.. “Rise up My love” implies the rapture. His invitation comes with eternal blessings in His presence. It is the time for His bride to celebrate her redemption! A time to sing. The intimacy of His words compels His bride to respond in a loving way. “My Beloved is mine and I am His.” YAHSHUA, as the church bridegroom, finally takes complete possession of His bride, whom He has bought with His own blood, by calling her to her new home. As Paul mentioned, “And so always we shall be with the Lord!” In His priestly prayer our Lord YAHSHUA prayed, Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me; You loved Me before the foundation of the world (John 17: 24).

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Holy Unto the Lord

(Exodus 39; 40: 34-38; I Cor. 6:16-19; II Cor. 6:16)

The ministry of Moses in the wilderness was one of sanctifying the people to present them holy to the Lord (Exodus 19:10-11). In Israel’s experience of Mount Sinai, when God descended to the Mount to meet with them, they experienced the unapproachable holiness of God: thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain…Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly (Ex. 19:16,18). God, desiring fellowship with men, formed the nation of Israel to be that vehicle through whom God would review Himself to the nations. They in return, would come to know the existence of the true and holy God. Forty years in the desert, a frame of time seemly long, but not in the mind of God, it took for the nation of Israel to be set apart and consecrated holy unto Him. Although they never achieved the position of complete holiness, they came to experience the extent of God’s holiness when trembling with fear, and falling back at the holiness of God, said, You (Moses) speak to us and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, lest we die (Exodus 20:18-19).

The Bride of CHRIST has never experienced such extent of God’s holiness; we have never realized the awfulness of sin and its power to destroy us, or we would have hated sin. In His holiness, the Son of God completed, paid in full the price of our redemption, satisfying His Father once and for all, so that we would be regenerated unto holiness and ultimately unto glorification. Living to satisfy the flesh’s sinful desires, defeats the purpose for which YAHSHUA died on the cross; Like Israel in the desert, the bride of CHRIST is left here for as long as God’s determined purpose of holiness will be accomplished in every believer’s life. For that reason, the Promised Holy Spirit came to earth to sanctify Christ’s bride and present her blameless and holy unto the Lord. As we think on how holy our God is, we find ourselves undeserving of His love and undeserving to come close to Him. As the Holy Spirit guides us, Moses guided the people to do what was right through their pilgrimage through the desert. When Israel chose to satisfy their fleshly desire instead, Moses faithfully stood before God to intercede for them, saying, Oh, these people have sinned a great sin and have made themselves gods of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin- and if not, blot me, I pray You out of Your book which You have written! Moses, as a go in between, offered to take the punishment of the people, so that they would not have to suffer the consequences of their doing. This is a true picture of what was to come in the Son of God, when He took yours and my place on the cross. Even though Moses’ ministry was not that of a substitutional ministry, He was a prototype of what was to come in the person of the HOLY SPIRIT. Until his death, he led the people in the direction God had shown him – the direction to God’s holiness.

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Under His Shadow I Delight To Sit

(Song of Solomon 2; Psalm 91)

The beauty of this Song lies on the fact that this is a picture of a marital relationship with spiritual roots and meaning between Christ and His bride. She confesses to finding delight under His shadow, the secure place for her to be, as Psalm 91 so declares: He who dwells in the Secret Place of the Almighty shall remain fixed and stable. While the bride of Christ delights to be in His presence feeding on His Word, she makes a proclamation that His fruit was sweet to her taste. His Word, like a fruit, nourishes and satisfies the craving of her soul. I will say of the Lord: He is my refuge, my fortress and my God, in Him I will trust. He delights in covering His bride with His love. In His presence, she experiences the abundance of a banquet- a spiritual banquet. While He spreads His love over her she is sustained, and protected, refreshed and completely absorbed in Him. She is enveloped by His embrace, a symbol of complete protection from all evil. He covers her with His pinions and under His wings she finds refuge. No one will be able to harm her. His truth and faithfulness are a shield and a buckler. He is to her a Protector and a Defender. Therefore, she will not fear terror, arrow, pestilence, and destruction that attack and surprise at any time of the day. Even though a thousand may fall at her side and ten thousand at her right hand, nothing will even come near her. Secured under the shadow of the Almighty, she becomes only a spectator or a witness of all that is happening around her.

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Picture of the Rapture

(Exodus 12)

The Lord’s deliverance of Israel before judgement fell on Egypt is a type of the rapture. In it we see the consistency of our God saving His people before judging nations. Israel had been in Egypt for 400- 430 years. From the time of famine in the land and their deliverance by their brother, Joseph, Israel never went back to Canaan. According to the words the Lord God spoke to Jacob, Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will there make of you a great nation; I will go down with you to Egypt and I will also surely bring you up again.. (Gen. 46:3-4). In obedience, Jacob moved to Egypt with his family of seventy total. That’s when the 430 years stated for Israel’s permanency in Egypt. Thirty years of freedom and 400 hundred years of slavery. That was to be fulfilled according to what God had told Abraham when covenanting with him (Gen.15:13). God said to Abram, Know positively that your descendants will be strangers dwelling as temporary residents in a land that is not theirs, and they will be slaves there and will be afflicted and oppressed for 400 years (Gen. 15:13).

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In Tragedy Hope Arises

(Ruth 1-4)

A family of four fled the famine in the land in the time when the judges ruled the country. There were four of them: husband, wife and their two sons. Theirs was a life of tragedy and misfortune in the period of ten years while in the country of Moab, where they made it their home for a while. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah, a place linked to prophecy concerning the birth of the Savior of the world. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans or rulers of Judah, out of you will come for me One Who will be Ruler over Israel, whose coming forth from of old ( Micah 5:2). Nothing in God’s calendar happens by mistake. Although circumstances pointed out tragedy, His plan of old, from eternity was firmly established through the lives of this family, although indirectly, for it was not going to be from them, but from a Moabitess woman and a kin of the husband, that Bethlehem was going to be exalted above the heavens.

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The Last Three Feasts Yet to be Fulfilled (part 1)

There are seven feasts ordained and established by the Lord given to Israel when in their journey to the Promised Land. These feasts constitute YAHWEH’S purpose for the future of the world and in particular for Israel. For that reason it is called the feasts of the Lord. In them we see YAHWEH’S love for humankind, for they have to do with redemption, His future plan to establish His kingdom on earth, and the future for His bride- the church. The Passover Feast and the Unleavened Bread had to do with YAHSHUA’S sacrificial death. He was crucified on this feast day. Paul confirms when he said, Purge the old leaven that you may be fresh dough, still uncontaminated, for Christ, our Passover [Lamb] has been sacrificed ( I Cor. 5:7). He was resurrected on the feast of first fruits. Paul once again confirms when he said, But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead, and He became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep [in death]. For since through a man that death [came into the world, it is] also through a Man that the resurrection of the dead [has come] for just as in Adam all people die, so also shall all in Christ be made alive (I Cor. 15:20-23). The Feast of weeks happened fifty days later when the disciples were in the upper room and the Holy Spirit descended upon them according to Acts 2 verses 1-4: And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all assembled together in one place when suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were siting and there appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were separated and distributed and which settled on each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression.

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Behold, the Lord Will Make the Land and the Earth Empty

(Isaiah 24)

The land and the earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly pillaged; for the Lord has said this (Vs.3). This chapter of Isaiah is a mini book of Revelation. Throughout the Old Testament God’s future judgements are predicted ultimately to destroy the earth and its wicked people with it. It is His final measure to deal with the stubborn, rebellious people. When this period of grace is past, His wrath will dominate the world and none who have rejected Him will escape. It will be merciless, with vengeance and no turning back. We see in this chapter, the character of His judgements, and the extent of it in verses 1-3: The scope of His judgements will include all peoples and all class of people. It shall be with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with this master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. No class of people will escape with the exception of those who have accepted Him. YAHSHUA said, For it will come upon all who live upon the face of the entire earth. But for those who have accepted Him He gave a word of warning: Keep awake then and watch at all times, praying that you may have the full strength and ability to escape all these things, that will take place, and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man (Luke 21:35-36).

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The Gentile Bride

(Ruth 1-4)

The story of Ruth, the Moabite, does not stop with the end of the book of Ruth; instead, it begins. It is an amazing story to read. In fact, it is the kind of story everyone would like to read for its wonderful ending. In the days when the Judges ruled, as the Bible tells us, a family of four from the town of Bethlehem of Judah, left their country to sojourn in the country of Moab, due to a famine in the land. They were Elimelech, Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. It was a trip of about twenty to thirty miles, not far at all. Moab, is located east of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea, South of the Arnon (Num. 21:10-15). The Moabites descendants have a questionable history due to Lot’s daughters in their incestuous relationship with him (Gen. 19:31-35). After the judgment that came to Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s daughters assuming they to be the only females in that region where they settled, they took upon themselves the responsibility to solve the problem by bearing Lot’s children to enable the line of their family to continue. In a devious and perverse way, they caused their father to lie with them and they both bore his children. Not an attractive story, is it? But God, as it is said, “Writes straight on a crooked line.” As a matter of fact, we are all crooked before Him, but His love has covered the multitude of our sins through His Son, YAHSHUA.

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At That Time Michael Shall Arise

(Daniel 12)

Daniel was a young man when taken captive to the land of Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar in approximately 604 B.C. He was from a noble family. His name bears the meaning God is my judge. Through the entire time Daniel lived in that foreign land, he displayed faithfulness to God. His testimony before King Nebuchadnezzar always gave credit to God for his success in the interpretations of dreams, even before he went as far as to interpreting the dreams.

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