Betrothed To The Lord – It’s The Real Deal!

Rev. 19:6-7 “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.” 

Rev. 8-10 “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.“

It’s time to talk about God’s wife, His Son’s Bride and other things we read right past without pondering!

Let’s start with God’s “Wife”…

We often wonder why scriptures refer to God’s people as his wife and why God called Israel out when she committed fornication with other gods. Why God called Israel a harlot and said she went whoring after other Gods? Why God said he set her aside but did not give her a bill of divorcement?  These are among the things that were not fully explained to us who follow the Lord, especially things concerning believers in Him as His bride. For the wedding customs of the Jews were never taught to us in the modern day church. At least, I had never heard them explained there. Have you? Oh, I’m not talking about the “Marriage supper of the Lamb and whisked away to dine while the rest are stuck left behind.” I’m talking about the customs and what that really means.

When we learn these things we see more clearly why God said he was a jealous God (husband) and jealous for Israel (His wife). Imagine for a moment…. put yourself in God’s place and your wife, (or women imagine your husband) going after another man or many men? And having an affair? If you love her and provide for her, protect her, and she is in the fullness of your heart, and you have a beautiful future planned for her and you see her going after other men and laying with them and forgetting you… what would you be inclined to do? Yet, Gods ways are not man’s ways and he gave his wife many chances to return home to him. He sent prophets to fetch her, but she would not listen. But, he kept sending more and more to plead with her to return. He did not make her return, for he wanted her to come back on her own love for Him from her heart and not be forced. When she does not return, he finally says… you are now on your own.

This is a sad love story…

God was very patient. He kept asking His wife to come back to Him for many years and sending prophets out asking her to repent and return to me and I will take you back in. Imagine being the ones hearing, “I will not take you back with all your lovers and the wickedness you do in my face to disgrace me among all the other people for all who see you behave like this, it disgraces both me and you. I will have no part in this… and be not disgraced by you. I will let you go and when you have had enough… and repent… I will take you back for my love for you is everlasting, but I cannot be a mocking and a laughing stock because of your whoredom. For what type of husband is that who would allow such a thing?“

And you know what folks. God was right, for to this day there are those who still mock God for being a jealous God and mock Israel for whoring after other Gods and many because of that have placed the God of Israel among the pantheon of the pagan gods and turned the truth into a nest of lies.

It is a truth and a fact in scriptures that God sent prophets to bring his people back to him and spoke of His people in terms of a husband and His wife.

Jeremiah 3:8-11

⁸ And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. ⁹ And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

¹⁰ And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord. ¹¹ And the Lord said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

Ezekiel 16:14-22

¹⁴ And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. ¹⁵ But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.

¹⁶ And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. ¹⁷ Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

¹⁸ And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. ¹⁹ My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord God.

God refers to the children that they slayed upon the altars of Baal as MY CHILDREN.

²⁰ Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, ²¹ That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?

²² And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.

As a father, what would you do if your children were slain upon altars of satanic rituals? That is yet happening still to this day.

If this were a movie… you would cry for the husband who had to watch such hateful things and such horrible things done to YOUR OWN CHILDREN! People would come to this part of the film and close their eyes and say, “I can’t.. I just can’t watch this part. I can’t!”

Ezekiel continued to shout the words of the Lord God to His wife, (His chosen people) who have whored against Him. Ezekiel 16: ^“23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord God;) ²⁴ That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street. ²⁵ Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.

²⁶ Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. ²⁷ Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.

²⁸ Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. ²⁹ Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied therewith.

In all of their sacrifices and whoredom, God points out that they were NOT SATISFIED, but had to seek out more whoredoms and did the works of a whorish woman. 

We have read these scriptures yet many still act out whoreishly saying such things like, “I can not believe in a jealous God?  Well those are words of a lost soul and the truth is not in them, nor in their fruit for they have followed the way of the Harlot who also has said such things. These are the same words of those who could not be satisfied as they continue to play the harlot and rebuke what is good and all that is of God.

Ezekiel spoke the word from God accusing them of what they have done, so they might turn from their wickedness and whoredom with other gods and they would not turn away and repent of their wickedness. Ez. 16: 30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; ³¹ In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;

³² But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! ³³ They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. ³⁴ And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.

³⁵ Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord: ³⁶ Thus saith the Lord God; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; ³⁷ Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. ³⁸ And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

God points out that even Sodom didn’t do as bad as His wife has done. ⁴⁸ As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

⁴⁹ Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

But God also says that after all of this, for he knows beforehand what they all shall do… for He is God almighty… yet he shall be and is merciful, and has prepared a way of forgiveness, repentance and a path of a new covenant for His people and all nations to return to Him.

Ezekiel 16:59, For thus saith the Lord God; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant. ⁶⁰ Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. ⁶¹ Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.

⁶² And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: ⁶³ That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.

Which brings us to A New Covenant and a New Marriage!

When we see how The Lord God sees us as His chosen people, betrothed to His Son, we see how we have entered into His Heavenly House, and all who enter into His Grace are all his children… Our Father has paid the Mohar which in the Jewish wedding custom, the Father of the Groom provides the price paid as a dowry for a wife. God gave His only begotten Son as the ultimate price paid for His Son’s Bride.

All who believe in His Son have entered into God’s House. We are part of the Heavenly Kingdom of God, but only through the Groom, which is His Son. We who believe and accept the Lord’s proposal to come are His Bride. Accepting the proposal comes first. And the wife is now making herself ready.

Are you ready?

To understand this new marriage, we must first look at the Hebrew/Jewish wedding customs and the first covenant which was a shadow of things to come.

“When the people of Israel stood before the mountain of Sinai, the Lord said unto them: ‘Remember that I said to the Sabbath: The community of Israel is your mate. Hence: Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it’ (Ex. 20:8).

Exodus 20: ² I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ³ Thou shalt have no other gods before me. ⁴ Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

⁵ Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; ⁶ And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. ⁷ Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

⁸ Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: ¹⁰ But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Exodus 20:22- 26  ²² And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. ²³ Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. ²⁴ An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

²⁵ And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. ²⁶ Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

God did not allow his people to do as the heathen do, and go whoring after the manner of which they did their pagan worship of idols and sacrificial rituals to Baal. Going up the steps to their high altars of sacrifice.  His way was set aside and Holy.

This was the covenant God made with man and it was a shadow of the things to come. For the new covenant made through His Son was to come as God told Moses on Mt. Sinai when he gave him the book of Jubilees and the times of the years, and seasons and foretold what happened in the beginning  and what shall be up unto the end. 

The Sabbath was a Shadow of the Betrothal of The Bride of Christ and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb…

The Sabbath representing the shadow of things to come, our Lord paid the price for His Bride and has now gone to prepare a place for us. We who believe and have faith are entered into His Betrothal, and await for our Lord to return to gather His bride for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

The shadow of things to come were present in customs, traditions, and in the laws of the Temple.

Remember the Sabbath … a shadow of the betrothal to come….

The Hebrew le’kadesh, to sanctify, means, in the language of the Talmud, to consecrate a woman, to betroth… With all its grandeur, the Sabbath is not sufficient unto itself. Its spiritual reality calls for companionship of man…”

This companionship is demonstrated anew every week: the custom of many Rabbi was to put on special robes on the eve of the Sabbath and then address the day: “Come O bride, come O bride.”

The Sabbath is a bride and its celebration is like a wedding.

The Midrash makes many comparisons: “Just as a groom is dressed in his finest garments, so is man on the Sabbath; as a man rejoices all the days of the wedding feast, so does man rejoice on the Sabbath; just as man does no work on his wedding day, so does a man abstain from work on the Sabbath day; and therefore the Sages and ancient saints called the Sabbath a bride.” As the Sabbath was like a wedding, so the wedding took on characteristics of the Sabbath. Wine signaled the sanctification. As the Sabbath sanctified the day, investing the commonplace with the mystery and grandeur of holiness, calling activities such as eating and sleeping oneg (delight), marriage is able to sanctify the mundane routines of life with the sense of the holy and to endow personal relationships with the character of covenant.

Now we know why the Lord said, “The Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath”. It was His betrothal and His wedding.

Matthew 12:6-8  ⁶But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. ⁷But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.”

The sanctity of marriage means embracing life and elevating it to the level of the sacred. As the Sabbath made a sanctuary of time, marriage must make a sanctuary of a human relationship. “The saintly Shelah drew more specific comparisons: There are seven blessings in both the Sabbath silent devotion and in the nuptials. The central prayers are those of ke’dushah—the Sabbath devotion’s ata kidashta, and the wedding’s kiddushin. There is recognition of the quality of joy, simchah, in both—on the Sabbath the prayer yismach moshe, and the same’ach te’samach blessing at the wedding. As the Sabbath has an “additional” service, mussaf, the wedding contract prominently contains an “additional” commitment of support, tosefet ketubah.” Ancient_Jewish_Wedding.pdf (jewishjewels.org)

In summary:

The 7^th day…. The Sabbath of the old covenant is Holy and a shadow of the wedding of the bride to come. A betrothal under the old covenant. God’s chosen people set aside…. God’s bride. In Jewish customs the engagement, or betrothal was the official declaration of the marriage. The bride was agreed to belong to the groom and set aside in purity to await the coming of the groom. This was God’s Holy day…. Set aside. God’s rest we entered into on this Holy Day of celebration and just as a man does not work on his Wedding Day, man was set aside on the Sabath to enter into union with God. (In Jewish wedding custom the bride went to live in the Groom’s house until the wedding. The Sabbath we enter into God’s House.)  The 7^th day in the wedding custom was the day of consummation. Which brings question as to the year we enter into God’s millennial reign of rest and blessings on earth…. is the millennial reign symbolic of the Sabbath and the Wedding day? Or is it a time of preparation and the feast of celebrations? Will the wedding feast come after, or during, or is it to come at the end of the preparation of the bride?

Mohar as Purchase and Gift

The mohar was originally the purchase price of the bride, and it was paid by the father of the groom to the father of the bride. In ancient days, marriage was not an agreement between two individuals, but between two families. The newly married man usually did not found a new home for himself, but occupied a part in his father’s house. The family of the groom gained, and the family of the bride lost a valuable member who helped with all household tasks. Therefore, that the father of the groom paid the father of the bride the equivalent of her value as a useful member of the family. (As Jacob paid the price in labor for Rachel).

Over time the mohar lost its original meaning and today, we are not understanding of this tradition.

Betrothal and the Wedding Customs

The custom was that marriage consisted of two ceremonies that were marked by celebrations at two separate times, with an interval between. First came the betrothal [erusin]; and later, the wedding [nissuin]. At the betrothal the woman was legally married, although she still remained in her father’s house. She could not belong to another man unless she was divorced from her betrothed. The wedding meant only that the betrothed woman, accompanied by a colorful procession, was brought from her father’s house to the house of her groom, and the legal tie with him was consummated.

This division of marriage into two separate events originated in very ancient times when marriage was a purchase, both in its outward form and in its inner meaning.

Marriage, as with any type of purchase, consisted of two acts. First the price was paid and an agreement reached on the conditions of sale. Sometime later the purchaser took possession of the object. In marriage, the mohar was paid and a detailed agreement reached between the families of the bride and groom. This betrothal was followed by the wedding, when the bride was brought into the home of the groom, who took actual possession of her.

In those days the betrothal was the more important of these two events and maintained its importance as long as marriage was actually based upon a purchase. It was a common custom for the bride to join the groom’s father’s household, rather than the groom and the bride establishing their own household. So, if the bride and groom were of a marriageable age, the groom would return to his father’s house after the betrothal to prepare a bridal chamber. This process traditionally took a year or more (the length of time being dictated by the groom’s father). When the place was complete, the groom would return and fetch his bride. The bride would not know the day or hour of her husband-to-be’s return, so the groom’s arrival was usually announced with a trumpet call and a shout so the bride had some forewarning.

Jesus Speaks To His Bride at His Last Passover Seder on Earth…

At His last Passover seder on earth, Jesus spoke of the price he was about to pay for His bride. Just before He paid that price in full in Matthew 26:20-, it states he first called out that one would betray him and that one was he who would dip his hand in the dish with him and it was Judas who did so. Next, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

The last supper was the betrothal of the first followers of the way of Jesus, and a declaration that all who believe on Him no longer belong to ourselves because we have been “bought with a price”. We now belong to our Lord, our Bridegroom. Jesus freely gives us his all and paid a high price for each one of us showing how valuable we are to Him. When he died on the cross, He said: “It is finished!” (John 19:30). The word that He spoke as His final thought is from the Hebrew root ka’lal which means to complete, make perfect or finish. It is the same root of the word for bride: kallah. Jesus’s last words on the cross was for His bride as He paid the highest price.

The Last Supper was a Betrothal/Ketubah – we who believe are now awaiting the Lord to return with a Trumpet sounding as he comes to get His bride and have the marriage supper of the Lamb. We are to prepare ourselves and have oil in our lamps for we know not what day or time he shall return for His bride.

In Matthew 22 Jesus told the story of the Marriage of the King’s Son. He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and they would not come.” The parable showed the rejection of the Jewish people and the story of the invitation to the gentiles and the marriage supper of the Lamb. In Matthew 25 Jesus spoke the parable of the ten virgins who went forth to meet the Bridegroom and five were wise with oil in their lamps and five were foolish and had no oil. All the people understood what Jesus meant for they knew the wedding customs.

The Apostles taught the marriage supper to the people it was never a mystery.

,Jesus used Jewish marriage customs as an allegory of God’s relationship with the church, His “bride.” The people understood the message because they knew the customs of the wedding and the sabbath. Jesus purchased believers with His blood, shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 6:19–20; 11:25). He is currently preparing a place for us (John 14:3), and at a future time no one knows (Matthew 24:36) He will return for His bride with a trumpet call and a shout (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). The dead in Christ and those alive in Him will be joined forever with the Lord (Revelation 19:7) and take part in the marriage feast of the Lamb (verse 9). The same as Hebrews tells us the old covenant was a shadow of what was to come in Christ our Lord and the New Covenant made with man, foretold by the prophets.

God’s Holy Spirit is our spiritual guide who teaches us all things, keeps us safe, comforts us and gives us Wisdom all in preparation to be ready to meet our Heavenly Bridegroom. This is our Holy Spirit Bridal Gift. Such a perfect of any possible gift of great price for it cannot be purchased, it can only be given to the Bride by our Heavenly Father. Amen.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22, “1Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

2 Corinthians 11:2, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

Many times  in Jewish weddings the bride had not seen her husband-to-be, but had found out about him through the arrangement. This is the case with the bride of Messiah. We have not seen Jesus face to face, but God’s Holy Spirit has revealed Him to us. 1 Peter 1:8: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” We see Jesus through our spiritual eyes in faith. 

Now Under The New Covenant We Are No Longer Under the Laws of the Old Covenant

Paul in Romans 7:4 says: “Therefore, my brethren , you also have become dead to the law through the body of Messiah, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” We are married to  One who has been raised from the dead. That One is Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah. The purpose of our union is to bear fruit to God . . . fruit in terms of souls (Proverbs 11:30), works that glorify God (Ephesians 2:10), as well as the fruit of the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) (Galatians 5:22).

Romans 7:6 “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”

Jeremiah 31:31-34, ³¹ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new 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 bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:³³ But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.³⁴ And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Colossians 3:1- 1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Hebrews 8:8 “For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:”

The Old Covenant required blood sacrifices, but it could not provide a final sacrifice for sin. The Old Covenant required repeated, daily sacrifices of animals as a reminder of the people’s sin. But, as Scripture says, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). Under the Old Covenant, the same inadequate sacrifices were constantly repeated. For every sin, the process was replicated, day after day, month after month, year after year. The Old Covenant never provided a full, complete sacrifice for sin. “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second” (Hebrews 8:7, ESV).

Hebrews 9 King James Version

9 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. ² For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. ³ And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; ⁴ Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; ⁵ And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the Mercy seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.

⁶ Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. ⁷ But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: ⁸ The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:

⁹ Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; ¹⁰ Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

¹¹ But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;¹² Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Hebrews 9:18-27, ¹⁸ Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. ¹⁹ For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. ²¹ Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. ²² And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.²³ It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

²⁴ For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: ²⁵ Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; ²⁶ For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

²⁷ And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: ²⁸ So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

I know this is long, and this is condensed as to all that can be said. For the marriage of the Lamb of God is throughout the Word of God, and yet it is the most misunderstood. God bless you every one.

KEEP ON PRESSING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD! PRESS, PRESS, PRESS!

DIANNE