Salvation…then what?
You’ve
made a wonderful decision to choose Yeshua whose name means Salvation in Hebrew. Your new life in Christ has now begun but you
need to be guided…to walk that walk and become a disciple who will then go into
the world and tell others the wonderful news of the saving Messiah.
Though
there are many aspects to this walk, it is not difficult. Remember you have the Holy Spirit to guide
you. You have now become the Bride of Christ.
You’re a part of the body of believers…you are “spiritual Israel” because
you’ve made the wise choice to follow Yeshua…joining those citizens of Israel…God’s
chosen people and its citizens who have knowledge of the saving grace of Yeshua
and have received Salvation because they too believe that Yeshua is the Son of
God.
The
Jewish wedding and its correlation to the modern-day believer’s submission to
Yeshua is the process of being sanctified. There are ancient rituals associated with the
Jewish wedding that are rich in spiritual truths that remind Israel of their
covenant with Elohim and HIS love for them.
God
has made Covenant with His set-apart/Sanctified people. These Covenants are never
initiated by man, but by Elohim.
The
Marriage Covenant
is a culmination of three Covenants and is the core of everything Elohim
ordained. Blood Covenant/Servant-hood represented by the red light;
Salt/Friendship Covenant by the yellow light and the Sandal/Inheritance Covenant
represented by the blue light. Each
covenant extends onto the previous one and when combined these colors produce a
pure
white light which is the color of Elohim.
At
the wedding feast all must wear white signifying that all covenant
relationships have been honored. Matthew 22:11-12
In
the Scriptures Yeshua identifies Himself as the Bridegroom and all who enter
into all three forms of Covenant as the bride.
In ancient Hebrew culture the wedding was a significant social and
religious event. It was also part of the
process involving commitment and covenant and could take several years to
complete.
As
we choose to grow in our intimacy with Elohim, we become conduits of His light
thereby reflecting more and more of His Divine nature. Elohim’s desire is not for us to remain servants,
friends or children but to become His bride. First we must be redeemed by going through
the process. We have to make ourselves
ready.
The
consent of the bride to the proposal of marriage in ancient Hebrew times is
equivalent to Yeshua’s invitation for the believer to receive Salvation and the
believer accepting. The Hebrew bride can
accept or reject the offer even though it was arranged just as the believer can
reject the invitation for salvation knowing what Yeshua suffered, the shedding
of His Blood, to save the believer from sin.
There
are three steps in the process. The
first step is the shiddukhin or arrangement.
The groom’s father would select a bride for his son even as he was still
an infant. Love, as we define it, was secondary. Once the bride
has been chosen, the next step is the Ketubah or formal, written contract which
details the provisions and conditions proposed for the marriage. The groom
promises to support his wife-to-be while the bride stipulates the contents of
her dowry. To prepare for the betrothal
ceremony, it was customary for the couple to separately take a ritual immersion
in water (mikveh) and was symbolic of spiritual cleansing just as the
believers’ baptism by immersion in water symbolizes the believer dying to
himself/herself and beginning their new life in Yeshua, in preparation for His
return.
Eyrusin
(betrothal) is the second step where the couple appears under the huppah
(canopy) in a public ceremony wherein they make known their intention to
become engaged. Kiddukshin (sanctification
or set-apart) describes the engagement or betrothal period. It is all about setting themselves aside for
one another for the covenant marriage.
This correlates with the believer’s promised sanctification, after
accepting the offer of salvation and has set himself/herself apart in
preparation for the wedding…Yeshua’s second coming.
The
huppah
is symbolic of a new household being planned. Items of value are exchanged and cup of wine is
drunk to seal the eyrusin vows. The couple
is considered to have fully entered into the agreement of eyrusin for one year.
Though considered married during this one year period, they were not allowed to
cohabit… no consummation… and they lived in separate dwellings just as Yeshua returned to the Father and
believers live on earth. In
comparison, modern day engagement or betrothal is not as binding as the
eyrusin. The eyrusin was so binding that
the couple would need a religious divorce or “get” to annul
the contract and was only given to the husband.
Disobedience caused Yeshua to
reject the believer who broke covenant. Revelation 16:15, 22:7, 10-11. The
wife had no say in this decision. The
couple each had their respective responsibilities during this period. The groom used this time as a time of
preparation, such as preparing a dwelling place for his bride and future
children. Usually accomplished by adding
another room to the family’s existing home.
Yeshua said “in My Father’s house
are many mansions…” John 14:2-3. The bride, in the meantime, focuses on her
own personal preparation, including consecrating herself just as believers are
to be consecrating themselves in preparation for Yeshua’s return Luke
21:34-36. For both bride and groom it was to be a year of introspection
and contemplation readying themselves for this holy covenant of marriage.
The
Nissuin
culminates the process of the Jewish wedding ceremony… the bride waits for the
groom to carry her away to their new home.
The groom’s and the wedding party’s time of arrival was a surprise that
he, the groom, didn’t know because it was determined by his father just as
Yeshua warned that we are to be prepared because only the Father knows the day
and the hour of the groom’s coming. It
was therefore the bride’s, as it is every believer’s, who has consecrated
him/herself to be prepared for the Bridegroom’s, Yeshua’s, arrival Mark
13:32-33, Matthew 25:13, if the year-long betrothal period was taken seriously
and is expecting the Bridegroom. The
bride/believers should be anticipating the Bridegroom’s arrival even into the
late night. A member of the groom’s
party would run ahead and shout/announce that the groom is coming and the shofar
was sounded to proclaim this special event Revelation 22:20. The bridal party was to keep the oil lamps filled
burning just in case the wedding was to begin.
We are reminded in the parable of
the ten virgins that only five had oil in their lamps. The other five went to buy oil and returned
to find the doors locked Matthew 25:10-13. They were turned
away by the groom because they had not kept...they broke covenant. At the sound of the shofar the groom would
lead the wedding party through the streets to the bride’s house. The groomsmen would carry the bride back to
the groom’s house where the huppah/canopy was set up. The couple would yet again say a blessing
over a cup of wine. It was not the same
cup used at the blessing of the betrothal the previous year. This ceremony is the culmination of the
earlier promises and vows. The earlier promise was now consummated in
this, the nissuin ceremony.
The
celebration was continued with the marriage supper which could last many days
and involved not only eating and drinking, but music, dance and other
festivities. The new husband is now free
to take his bride to their new home and to live together within the full
covenant of marriage.
The
Marriage Covenant and all it entails…and the believer’s covenant with Yeshua
are exactly the same. Believers are to
consecrate themselves, be set apart from the world so that when Yeshua returns
we will be prepared, dressed in our white garments Revelation 16:15 ready to
go with Him and not be as the wedding guest who was rejected because his garment was not white Matthew 22:11-13.
The Third Cup of Wine
Four
cups of wine are directly related to the Covenants. God established four cups
of wine as milestones to signify exactly where the betrothal parties were in
their negotiations. Each cup corresponds
to a covenant. We will focus on the third cup of wine.
The
third cup of wine corresponds to the cup Yeshua shared with His disciples
during the Passover (Seder) feast…the Last Supper when He washed their feet John
13:5 and thus transferred His
inheritance to them (Sandal Covenant). Yeshua also made further reference to His
coming marriage to “His called out ones”,
knowing that it was customary for the Bridegroom not to drink wine again until
the wedding ceremony. It explains why He
said He would not touch the fruit of the vine again until He could do so with
them in the Kingdom of Heaven Mark 14:25, Luke 22:30 and why He
refused the pain-numbing wine that was offered by the Roman soldiers as He hung
on the cross Matthew 27:34, Mark 15:23.
It is important that believers, as we partake in the communion ceremony,
remember that we are reaffirming our commitment as Yeshua’s bride. The
communion in the Upper Room is a picture of the Covenant sequence except that
Yeshua reversed the sequence. He first
removed His disciples’ sandals and washed their feet John 13:9 (inheritance);
He then broke bread, I Corinthians 11:24
(friendship) and passed a cup of
wine I
Corinthians 11:25 (service). Finally, a few hours later, He went on to
shed His blood on the Cross in the ultimate blood covenant. Believers must recognize at every communion
occasion, what Yeshua did on the cross.
Holy Communion is a very solemn experience and
should be reverenced by those partaking of the Communion table. It
is important that we remember that we’re making a re-commitment to pursue Him,
our friendship with Him and to be good stewards of all that He has given
us. We must be cognizant that each time
we partake of the cup, we are recommitting to serve Him, obey Him, to follow
His rules and ordinances. We must walk in Torah. The commitment we make at communion is the
same as what a bride and groom make to each other. Believers are in Covenant with Yeshua. It is
binding. The cups of wine of the
betrothal covenant overlay and therefore reinforce the individual covenants in
the sequence. This was purposely done in
order for Yeshua to build a seamless mosaic of concepts that will ultimately
establish and maintain a relationship leading to marriage,
Lost In Translation, vol. 1 …a marriage between Yeshua
and His bride, the church. GOD’S APPOINTED CUSTOMS…
"There is a wedding coming for every true believer..the wedding between God and us. Heaven is married life, but you can't prepare for heaven in heaven. The only time you have to prepare for heaven, as for a marriage is now. This whole life on earth is premarital, and the wise person spends their time preparing for the marriage to come. The only time you have to store up your treasures in heaven is now. Life's joys, sorrows, victories and losses are all to prepare you for the marriage so that you might become beautiful and spotless. Don't lose sight of the reason you're here. Remember it is the only time you have to prepare for eternity. It will never happen again...so use it wisely. Use everything in your earthly life to prepare for your heavenly life, because heaven is the marriage and this life is your premarital course."
Treat every situation today as a class in Heaven's premarital course. HOPE OF THE WORLD --- Sapphires
It is the believer's responsibility to be in a progressive
covenant relationship with Yeshua/Jesus. If we've sinned and therefore
broken Covenant, we must, as states in I
John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness"...confess and ask
for His forgiveness so that we can return to that Covenant relationship.
Without that progressive Covenant when Yeshua, our Bridegroom, returns we
won't be in Covenant and won't be wearing our white attire and cannot go into
the wedding feast, as the five virgins who had run out of oil. We won't
be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and be with Him forever.
