In the beginning God created man, male and female. He told them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” The purpose of creation is for God to have eternal companions. “He created man in His own image” actually referring to Jesus Christ who was a physical being. Thereafter however, man was damned for transgression.
Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
However, with His testament of salvation, God began inviting man to go back to His fold again concomitant to His original plan of having eternal companions. To put it plainly, God woos the people, as a man courts a woman, to become His bride. This is enunciated in the book Song of Solomon. Jesus Christ told His Disciples:
Joh 3:12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
Earthly things are but shadows of heavenly things:
2 Cor 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
As in earthly marriage, heavenly union with God is preceded by courtship. God expressed this comprising two days in manner of speaking, but He alone knows the span of spiritual period.
Joh 2:1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee…
Applying God’s way of reading the Holy Bible (Isaiah 28:10 KJV) , He directs us to the following during the period of His courtship:
Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
“Return to the Lord” indicates man’s coming back from his waywardness after the Fall. From the “image of Jesus at creation” (Gen. 1:27), a “lamb,” turning into a spiritual “goat” that marked man’s damnation, back to his image at creation with spiritual purification.
This is the “period of courtship.” Jesus expressed this in:
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
To many people, courtship is what our Lord said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Mat 11:28). In truth however, this is after God “hath torn… and hath smitten” the people He is “calling” or courting.
God’s way of courtship is diametrically oppose to that of man. If to man courtship involves expression of endearing words and acts of allurement to the lady; to God the person is put to some unfavorable circumstances in life concerning health, emotional depression for loss of loved ones, fritter away of wealth, or other adversities in life. God’s test for love is that of ordeal both to the prospective and to those already in His fold. To the prospective, it is a call. To those in His fold, it is chastisement.
Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth…
“He hath torn…”
In courtship God tears or rips the prospective bride with whatever man has planted on regarding the word of God. God knows how people are deceived with His very word by the servants of His enemy. Satan showed this when he tempted our Lord in the wilderness. Satan speaking:
Mat 4:6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Satan cited verses in the book of Psalms:
Psa 91:10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
During the time of Christ the Scribes and Pharisees, clearly the servants of God’s enemy demonstrated how they misled people out of the way to eternal life with the written word of God. Thus, the rebuke:
Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Never did we hear from the mouth of our Lord the following scathing rebuke leveled to murderers, thieves, adulterers and other felons but to these religious people:
Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
This truth on deception has not passed away. It is true all the time. No wonder our Lord gave this warning. Consider the different doctrines introducing Jesus Christ:
Some say, “Jesus is only a man and not God,”
- Others say, a derivative, “Jesus is only a mighty God for there is a supreme or Almighty God,”
- Still others say, “JESUS CHRIST is the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit,”
- Man say, “Jesus is both God and man, and He is the second person of the Trinity.”
Thus, the warning:
Mat 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before.
Observe how people are being deceived with wonders purportedly coming from our Lord that benefit the body.
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
False prophets do not recognize the true Christ. They perform wonders instead of miracles. The words of God are spiritual and do not benefit the body: In truth they came from Satan.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils?and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Let us be guided by the following truth that many people cannot accept. This is what is meant by our Lord’s words like a twoedged sword (Heb 4:12, Rev 1:16) . To note, all have the purpose of humbling the prospective bride to the Lord.
1. The common saying, “To see is to believe,” is just the opposite of spiritual truth. God emphasizes the invisible which is contrary to what appeals to many people:
2 Cor 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2. The “flesh” or the body does not profit from the word of God contrary to the general belief. Aside from John 6:63:
Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Joh 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
3. God emphasizes the characteristics of His New Testament ministers by the spiritual nature of His words.
2 Cor 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
4. In spiritual matters, God condemns trust in other people for He alone can be trusted.
Jer 17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
5. In spiritual matters, a jealous God (Exo 34:14) condemns respecting people for He alone deserves respect and adulation.
Jam 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
6. In spiritual matters, God forbids using man’s own understanding of His words for He alone can make a person perceive the intended message.
Prov 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
7. In spiritual matters, God directs us to minimize using our feeling or emotion.
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
8. In spiritual matters the Holy Spirit alone is the Teacher.
1 Joh 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
9. Who can really trust God more than men in learning the ways of the Lord?
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
10. How many people believe and accept that the establishment of Bible Schools and Seminaries to learn Theology is but an invention of man? No wonder the dearth in spiritual revelation regarding the identity of God and the comprehension of the deep message of His words:
2 Tim 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
The prophets of God and the Apostles of Christ never were taught by men of things pertaining to God and His words. Therefore using man’s intelligence and oblivious to God’s spiritual language, who would believe the following?
Isa 28:9 [Bishops Bible and KJV] Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Luk 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
2 Tim 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
How does God value human wisdom in spiritual matters?
1 Cor 3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
1 Cor 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God…
Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
The foregoing truth would certainly “tear and rip” the prospective bride (physical male or female) with the word that is like a twoedged sword. However, after God knows how “she labour and is heavily laden.” Now our Lord’s invitation for “healing” making the “burden light and easy.”
Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
The heavy “yoke” is symbolized by the cross that reveals the truth of salvation through the clear identification of Jesus Christ. This is possible with the preaching of the “spirit” instead of the “letter” of the word (2 Cor 3:6). God will now reveal the distinction between the “voice of the Lamb” from the “voice of the beast” or Satan.
When Jesus was in the wilderness and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, Satan simply saw literal hunger of our Lord that he told Him:
Mat 4:3 … If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
However Jesus retorts:
Mat 4:4 …Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Hunger to our Lord is spiritual. And to satisfy the person He has to give food which is the truth in the word. Thus,
Jer 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart…
Christ is the truth
Truly knowing Jesus leads to the identity of God (Joh 8:19). Jesus represents the truth in His words. “Union with the Truth” is the essence of marriage with Him. Praise and glory to the husband is directed to the truth in the word. Thus,
Psa 56:10 In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word.
Respect to the husband is reverence to His name where, as revealed in Rev. 19:13 refers to the Word of God.
Psa 111:9 He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.
Now the following prohibition is clearly understood:
Jam 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
With God’s jealousy, the prospective bride is rescued and hence set free from the following abominations:
1. The pitfall in trusting men in spiritual matters.
Jer 17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
2. Erroneous perception that one can understand the word of God:
Prov 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
3. Steering clear of emotionalism:
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jealousy of God therefore leads a person to trust Him more.
1 Joh 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Jam 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Courtship ends for the person becoming “born again of water and of Spirit.” This is what our Lord told Nicodemus in:
Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Details of the significance for this, aside from becoming a Bride of God, are discussed in the article:
BORN AGAIN, The key to salvation:
- Before, Nicodemus a renowned preacher of salvation was not “born again!”
- How many of the professing apostles of Christ today are “born again?”
- How and why did Jesus refer to people deserving eternal life as “sheep” and to the damned as “goats” in His Parable of The King at the end of the world?
http://www.purechristianity.org/index.php?module=articles&func=display&ptid=1&aid=64
The wedding
Finally, God wins the “hands” of the chosen and is now to be married with the Maker or Creator as revealed to Isaiah in:
Isa 54:5 For thy Maker [Jesus in His role as Father] is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer (Jesus in His role as Father] the Holy One of Israel [Jesus in His role as Son, model to the chosen]; The God [Col 2:9, 1 John 5:20] of the whole earth shall he be called.
From this verse are revealed the following:
- God is the spiritual Husband (Man)
- The chosen, both male and female, are the Bride (women)
- Jesus Christ, Emmanuel that means “God with us” shows His two roles.
- Jesus in His role as FATHER God is the spiritual husband
- Jesus in His role as SON shows the Way (Joh 14:6) by example (1 Pet 2:21) to the Bride
This union is found in the following:
Mat 19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Jesus Christ in His role as SON, acting as Bride, inspires the chosen:
Joh 17:11 And now I am [Jesus as SON] no more in the world, but these [the Chosen] are in the world, and I [Jesus as SON] come to thee [Jesus as FATHER]. Holy Father [Jesus as FATHER], keep through thine own name those [the Chosen] whom thou [Jesus as FATHER] hast given me [Jesus as SON], that they [the Chosen] may be one, as we are [joined together].
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee [joined together], that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me [Jesus as SON showing the example].
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
The union of God with His chosen as “husband and wife” is “God-joined or bonded” that no man can separate them. Sins of the “wife” are forgiven by virtue of the following:
1 Joh 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Divorce
All along the Natural Man (1 Cor 2:14) thinks of marriage and divorce pertain to the union of a man and woman conducted in religious rites. Actually this refers to the union of God and His chosen. Jesus referred to it in the spiritual sense:
Joh 3:12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
Thus,
Mat 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Mat 19:7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
In the Old Testament books:
Deu 24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
In the beginning it was never intended to dissolve the “marriage of God with His chosen.” However, our Lord said:
Mat 19:8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
Hence, a provision for divorce or dissolution of the marriage bond between God and His chosen:
Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Examples of spiritual divorce:
Esau initiated divorce from God when he sold his birthright to Jacob. Birthright indicates salvation and everything related to it. Esau did not follow the lesson of ants physically as well as spiritually as God illustrated it in the following:
Prov 6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. 9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 11 So shall thy poverty come…
Therefore when hunger lurked without any provision for sustenance, and Esau not valuing his birthright very much sold it to Jacob.
Gen 25:29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint…31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Too late for Esau to recover the birthright:
Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
King Saul initiated divorce from God when he became intoxicated with jealousy. After David killed the giant Goliath:
1 Sam 18:6 …when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick. 7 And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. 8 And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? 9 And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
Finally after Saul failed in his quest to kill David, like Judas Iscariot he committed suicide:
1 Sam 31:4 Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith…But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
The third Bible character initiating divorce from God was Judas Iscariot. His failure takes both physically for covetousness for money, and spiritually for self-exaltation.
Mat 26:15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
The other cause of Judas Iscariot’s fall involved his spiritual life. This was his pride to feel above the other Apostles by “dipping his hand in the dish with our Lord.” Does not this act mimic the pride of Lucifer who wanted to be at par with God?
Mat 26:23 … He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.
From the beginning, God has been marrying His chosen. In the case of Abel when God revealed to him to offer a “lamb” that symbolizes Jesus Christ. This spiritual episode continues and will end only when the last person on earth, with the foreknowledge of God, will embrace the truth. This was revealed to prophet Jeremiah.
Jer 3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
This kind of “marriage” of God with the chosen happens during their life on earth. This is but a shadow, for the reality will happen at the White Throne Judgment. Now this great message looking at Jesus in His two roles for emphasis:
- Jesus in His role as Father God, and
- Jesus as Son of God showing the Way to the chosen
Joh 17:11 And now I am[Jesus as Son] no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father [Jesus as Father God],keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:21 That they all [from Abel to the last soul chosen] may be one; as thou, Father [Jesus as Father God], art in me [Jesus as Son],and I in thee, that they also may be one in us[Father and Son as “husband and wife”]: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Mat 19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Never does SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE refer to the popular “Religious weddings” where a man and a woman are pronounced “husband and wife.” This is conducted by Christian sects and denominations, considered as plain social activity. Nothing is written where the prophets and apostles ever conducted religious weddings. Even Jesus Christ in His role as Son never conducted this kind of marriage. Jesus and His Disciples were just guests at the wedding in Cana.
Joh 2:1 …there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
Christ spoke of Spiritual Marriage in the following and never intended on the physical union of husband and wife:
Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Otherwise, it will contradict God’s non-recognition of physical gender in:
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
The distinction between Spiritual and Religious marriage is, in the latter, not a few union are ever successful. As observed, divorce and broken families are not uncommon. Clearly “church wedding” is only a religious tradition. In Spiritual marriage, no man can separate the union of God and the chosen. Only God through the chosen’s fallout does, as illustrated in the case Esau, King Saul, and Judas Iscariot.
In Spiritual marriage many things happen never before were known to the person. Now the chosen while before had only PHYSICAL LIFE, after becoming a Bride of Christ acquires a SPIRITUAL LIFE. This are the respective components of the two kinds of life:
PHYSICAL LIFE consists of the following:BODY (is composed of the five senses, physical strength, and instinct)SOUL (is manifested by the intellect, feeling, and conscience)SPIRITUAL LIFE consists of the following:SPIRIT OF THE GOD (Holy Spirit)SOUL (same as in Physical Life)
To be noted is the dual role of the SOUL. It is found in the two kinds of life.
In PHYSICAL LIFE, the SOUL should take charge of the BODY for its physical sustenance. Spiritually therefore, the flesh or body does not profit from the word for God emphasizes the invisible.
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
2 Cor 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
In the SPIRITUAL LIFE however, the SOUL should submit completely to the dictate of the SPIRIT OF GOD. This process of soul’s submission to the Spirit of God is revealed to Paul in:
1 Cor 15:31 …I die daily.
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.
Lust does not only refer to the flesh or body but to the soul where envy and pride are manifested.
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Finally however, before God takes His chosen from this life, He chastens them as “silver and gold are cleaned of dross” through the “fire of chastisement” as John the Baptist reveals in:
Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.
In eternity
Finally, the union of God with His chosen, simulated in marriage, culminates at the White Throne Judgment where the “husband and the wife” are eternally joined inseparably.
Rev 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Maranatha!
END
- Isa 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
- Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
- Rev 1:16 And …out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
- Exo 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
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