The Church ESPOUSED to Jesus
The CHURCH (Bride) is currently espoused (engaged) to Jesus Christ (Bridegroom). That means that the CHURCH and Jesus are intended for marriage.
Biblically, historically, an espousal was as fully binding as a marriage. Thus, unfaithfulness on the part of either the bride or the groom was legally viewed as adultery.
From a spiritual
standpoint, adultery is claiming to love God while fostering a relationship
with the world and the things of the world (includes other gods). God is no
stranger to this unfaithfulness from His people (Jeremiah 3:20; Ezekiel 16:30-34;
James 4:4-5) and even uses the life of His prophet Hosea to show His great love
and faithfulness to His unfaithful people (Book of Hosea).
So where does the CHURCH
stand today? I believe it is here, as Paul warned in his day:
“For
I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure
bride to one husband—Christ. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided
devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning
ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if
they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of
Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one
you believed.” (2 Corinthians 11:2-4)
I’m not saying the entire
CHURCH is in this state, but there are many born-again by the Spirit Christians
who have been led astray with false doctrines and teachings. Paul came across
this in his day, what more is there now!
It all boils down to a lack
in KNOWLEDGE of God’s word, Who He is, and who we are in Him, coupled with a
lack in UNDERSTANDING of His truth.
We have to KNOW GOD’s WORD!
And I don’t just mean the scriptures, but the WORD MADE FLESH, our mighty Lord,
Jesus Christ (John 1:14).
To KNOW is defined as to
perceive directly; to recognize the nature of; to discern; to be acquainted or
familiar with; to have experience of; to be aware of the truth or factuality of;
to have a practical understanding of
.
So I ask you “Do you KNOW
Jesus?”
Did you KNOW that you can
KNOW Jesus?
Just asking.
Many converts spend years not
even KNOWING their Savior, much less WHO THEY ARE IN HIM.
Did you KNOW that Jesus is
the Bridegroom and we, the CHURCH, are His Bride? That understanding alone should
change your perspective of the relationship God has with His people.
You see, you come to KNOW
someone by being in relationship with them. To be in relationship makes it more
difficult to stray away from one another because you become invested in one
another.
And trust me, God is
invested in you! If you don’t believe that, here’s a few scriptures (out of
multitudes) that reveal God’s love for mankind.
“But
God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God
and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this
the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten
Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that
we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins.” (1 John 4:7-10)
“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.” (Romans 8:38)
“But
God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even
when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace
you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in
the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the
exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
(Ephesians 2:4-7)
“Are
not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten
before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear
therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6-7)
“For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not
send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)
And that’s just the tip of
the iceberg!
Think on this, that God,
Who created us, and knew that we would fall into sin, made the way of our
redemption before we were even created! In Revelation 13:8 Jesus is referred to
as the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world. And Peter tells us in 1
Peter 1:18-21 that:
“knowing
that you were not redeemed with
corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received
by tradition from your fathers, but with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot. He indeed was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who
through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so
that your faith and hope are in God.”
So how do you get to KNOW
the LORD? I mean, He already KNOWS us. Where does one start in getting to know
God?
Its not too difficult.
Spend time with Him.
Spend time with Him in His
word and in prayer. Talk to Him for goodness sake! He wants to hear from you,
and most importantly, He wants you to learn to hear from Him.
His word says that if you
“draw near to Him, He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). And I’ve always found
this to be true!
There is an open invitation
from God throughout the entire Bible for us to “Come” to Him, to be reconciled
back to Him.
“Now
all things are of God, who has reconciled
us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of
reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the
word of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
So, if you set yourself to
seek Him with all your heart, He will be found (just a side note: He’s never far
from you 😊).
As you seek God, you come
to KNOW more and more of Him. And when you KNOW God, you cannot help but love
Him. Paul tells us in Romans 5:5 that God’s love has been “poured out in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
This scripture alludes even
further the depth of relationship God has with those who are in Christ Jesus.
He has given us the gift of His Holy Spirit, Who is with us always and Who
reveals to us the heart and character of God.
This act of gift-giving is actually
a major part of a betrothal, in that the Bridegroom presents the Bride with
gifts. But only after paying her dowry.
Did you know that
biblically, historically, the Bridegroom paid a dowry price for the bride? The
dowry sealed the betrothal and led to the bridegroom pledging gifts to the
bride.
Well what do you know….God
has already paid our dowry price!
“For
you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God's.” (1 Corinthians 6:20)
“knowing
that you were not redeemed (purchased) with corruptible things, like silver or
gold .... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot.” (1 Peter 1:18-19)
And He has given us a GREAT
GIFT along with a MARVELOUS PLEDGE….
Jesus
said "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper (the
Holy Spirit), that He may abide with you forever” (John 14:16)
God
has “set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a
deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:22)
Jesus
promised “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you
may be also.” (John 14:3)
Let’s face it! Our God is
TOTALLY devoted to us. Who else has loved us with such a perfect,
all-consuming, never-ending, longsuffering love? The answer: No one.
So knowing all this, one
has to wonder how people in the CHURCH have been so easily swayed and deceived
into straying away from Jesus Christ?
Again I believe it all
boils down to a lack of relationship with Jesus, which comes from a lack of
knowledge of Him. Because if you KNOW Him, you can’t help but love Him, and if
you love Him you become one with Him.
Jesus said that if we abide
in Him, He would abide in us. (John 15:4)
He
went on to say “As the Father loved Me,
I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have
kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” (John 15:9:10)
I encourage you today to
not let your passionate fire and zeal for the LORD burn out. In a marriage, you
have to be intentional in keeping the relationship strong and healthy. The same
goes for our relationship with God. We have to be intentional in spending time
with Him, seeking to KNOW more and more of Him. Be intentional with your prayer
life. Be intentional with your worship. Don’t wait to do those things when you
“FEEL” like it. Because I can guarantee you that there will be days you won’t
“FEEL” like pressing in through prayer, or reading your Bible, or singing hymns
and songs of praise to God.
But I can tell you this,
when you set your heart on God, He will help make up for your deficiencies.
Paul learned this when
faced with a “thorn in the flesh.” Paul wrote, “And He [the LORD] said to me, “My
grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in
reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For
when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Stay close to Jesus. He is
all you will ever need and as you come to KNOW Him you’ll discover that He is
all you could ever want. Only He can satisfy you. Only He can sustain you. He
is our Bridegroom and loves us with a love more powerful than death and the
grave. Never having committed sin, He overcame it and paid the price for our
sins.
“Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
What more could anyone ask
for? We’ve got the BEST BRIDEGROOM EVER!!!!
So I urge you today, dig
into the word of God. Search the scriptures as diligently as you have been searching
your social media pages. Let that desire to KNOW the things of the world SHIFT
into a desire to KNOW GOD! I can promise you that there is nothing better than
KNOWING the Lord. He has become my EVERYTHING and I no longer find fulfillment
in the things of this world. My heart is set on Jesus and His Kingdom. I
encourage you to do the same. He will NOT disappoint!!!
God bless you!
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