Married

This is the Sabbath before Shavuot, the Feast 0f Weeks, which has been a topic in recent posts. It is on this feast that the Holy Spirit was poured out in Jerusalem in the Upper Room upon believers in Christ (see Acts 2). In Greek, this feast is called Pentecost, because of the timing of the feast - fifty days from the Feast of Unleavened Bread. To the Jewish people, Shavuot also memorializes the receiving of the Torah from God on Mount Sinai by Moses on behalf of the congregation of Israel. The Torah is the first five books of the Bible. The receiving of the Torah by Israel was also, according to their teaching, the receiving of a marriage covenant between God and His people. Because of this understanding, people of the Jewish faith use these days before Shavuot to prepare themselves for this marriage to God. We also, as Christians, have a marriage relationship with the Word of God, who is Jesus (John 1:1-5): "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (v. 14). Revelation 19:6-9 announces from heaven the marriage of the Lamb saying, "His wife has made herself ready". The New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, is a bridal city adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2). Paul defined earthly marriage as representing Christ and His church: "'For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." (Eph. 5:22-33, excerpt). Paul described the relationship of Christ and the Church as a marriage with "the two becoming one flesh". We are not called to know Jesus as Lord and Savior only, but also as "Husband", which is a more intimate and inseparable relationship. Paul said of that relationship: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:35-39). It is the marriage relationship between Christ and each one of us individually as believers, and with the Church corporately, that overcomes all created things, even death. On one memorable occasion, Jesus kept repeatedly asked Peter if Peter "loved" Him. Peter didn't understand what Jesus was trying to draw from him, perhaps being a little uncomfortable with the question also, and answered that he had a fondness for Jesus, a brotherly affection. Perhaps we can say that because Jesus knew what manner of death lay ahead in the years to come in Peter's life, and what would be ordained for Peter as an apostle, Jesus also knew it would require Peter to have more than the bond of fondness or friendship with Himself to get him through (Jn. 21:15-19). The same is true for the Church of the latter days. We will need to know that we are bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh to get through. We will need to know Jesus with more than a brotherly affection. Do we understand this, and are we preparing ourselves for the depth of a marriage relationship with Christ, as the Jews are preparing themselves during this time of year for marriage to God? Is it possible for us to understand all that is entailed in a marriage relationship with Christ in an era when marriage is not taken seriously at all, when marriage is profaned and easily disposed of even in the Church? If because of this worldly view, marriage has become less in our eyes than what God intended, our spiritual enemy's relentless, strategic attack on marriage in general has therefore also been effective in negatively impacting our view of a marriage relationship with Christ. Part of the Sabbath reading for this "wedding preparation" time before Shavuot is from the haftarah. It is from the Book of Hosea. Hosea was a prophet who was instructed by God to marry a prostitute. Hosea had to continually go and buy back his wife from the men who had purchased her for illicit use. God used this sad marriage of Hosea's to prophesy about the condition of His own marriage to Israel. The LORD says about His marriage: "Say to your brethren, Ammi ("My people"), and to your sisters, Ruhamah ("Mercy is shown"). 'Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts...' I will punish her for the days of the Ba'als (bloodthirsty false gods) to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers; But Me she forgot, says the LORD." (Hos. 2:1-2, 13). The LORD is angry here with His people, His wife, who has turned her back on Him to chase after others who don't even love her. However, because of His marriage relationship with Israel, the LORD seeks to reconcile with her: "Therefore, behold, I will allure (pata- entice, persuade, be open, seduce) her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor (trouble, calamity, to disturb) as a door of hope...And it shall be in that day, says the LORD, that you will call Me 'My Husband', and no longer call Me 'My Master' (Baali)...I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know (yada- to know by experience, to be able to discriminate or distinguish, to know intimately) the LORD...And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy ("lo-ruhamah"); Then I will say to those who were not My people ("lo-ammi"), 'You are My people ("ammi")!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!'" (Hos. 2:14-23, excerpt). The LORD had to bring His people into the wilderness in order to pull Israel aside from her false gods, and to draw her back to her true Husband. Perhaps that is one reason why the title of this Sabbath's reading portion is B'midbar or "In the wilderness". A marriage relationship with the Lord is different in every way from a service, or even a friendship relationship with Him. In this marriage relationship, the two become one flesh, and it is not possible to separate them. In connecting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the believers in the Upper Room in Jerusalem on Shavuot or Pentecost, to a marriage covenant, Jesus described it this way, "Behold, I send the Promise (epangelia- an announcement (for assent or pledge), to reconcile) of My Father upon you.." (Lk. 24:49). The Promise of the Holy Spirit indwelling us can be seen as part of a marriage promise making us one with Christ, as well as a promise to empower us. As Paul told us above, the victorious power to overcome all created things comes from our inseparable marriage relationship with Christ. May we prepare ourselves and accept Jesus not only as Lord, but also as Husband. Our Father is preparing a Marriage for His Son. If you would like to know Jesus as Savior, Lord, and Husband, you can pray: "Lord Jesus, I believe that You died for my sins, and rose from the dead for me. I believe that the Promise of our Father is one of a marriage with You. Nothing can separate me from You, and I become more than a conqueror joined in You. You sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within me, and to unite me with You. Let the Holy Spirit lead and teach me in the marriage relationship I have with You. In Your name, I pray. AMEN."