Behaviour Revolution Scriptures

THE HEBREW WEDDING

Remember that John is transposing his already vast knowledge of Hebrew culture (as well as Scripture) onto his visions so that they may be understood abstractly by anyone else with Yahusha's Spirit within them. So regarding this Marriage Feast, all sorts of images come to our minds of what it might be like. Remembering that 'eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which Yahusha has prepared for those who love Him', to get a fuller picture of how Yahusha views marriage and especially Wedding Feasts, let's take a look at the cultural patterns and shadows, in order to see the spiritual lessons as applied to the Marriage of YAHUSHA to His Fellowship.

1. LEAVING HOME … The Bridegroom would leave his father's house and come to the home of the Bride-to-be. So YAHUSHA left Heaven's esteem, His Father's house and came to this earth in the flesh to seek a Bride for Himself. Why would He have to seek her, if it was already `old-covenant' (divorced) Israel?

2. BRIDE-PRICE … The father of the Bride-to-be would name the price to the prospective Bridegroom that was to be paid for the Bride. YAHUSHA paid the price for His Bride that was His own precious blood. The Bridal Fellowship is bought with a price.

( 1 COR 16: 19-20 )

'Don't you know that your body is the Temple of Yahusha's Spirit, Who is in you, which you have from Yahuah, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price, so now esteem (behave) Yahusha in your body and in your Spirit, which are both of Yahusha'.

3. COVENANT … A Marriage Ketubah (contract/covenant) was signed by the couple (usually the parents if the couple was still very young) and they were as good as commited for marriage. At Sinai Yahuah raised up a Marriage Covenant for His Bride Israel, and put forth the question as to whether they would obey their side of the Covenant or not … and the whole assembly at the foot of the mountain declared “We will obey You!”.

4. BETROTHAL … Once the price had been paid and the marriage contract signed, this was the time of betrothal. It was the price of the Marriage Covenant. Betrothal was more binding then than in our times, and was counted 'as good as married'. Jewish custom counted the Bridegroom and Bride as husband and wife. This is seen in the case of Joseph espoused to his 'wife' Mary and also Israel being referred to (all through the prophets etc) as Yahuah’s Bride. So today the Fellowship has become betrothed to 'one husband' YAHUSHA and waits for the Marriage Day.

( 2 COR 11:2-3 )

'For I am jealous for you with a jealousy according to Yahuah. For I gave you in marriage to one Husband, to present you as an innocent maiden to Yahusha Messiah. But I'm afraid, that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds have been corrupted away from the simplicity that is in Yahusha'. THERE'S A SIMPLICITY IN FOLLOWING YAHUSHA!

In some cases, the Bridegroom and the Bride-to-be, drank from a Covenant-Cup, signifying the Covenant of Marriage and the relationship now existing between the two. So YAHUSHA 'drank the cup of the New Covenant' (WHICH REPRESENTED HIS SUFFERINGS) ... with His followers at the Passover Supper (Matt.26:26-28;1Cor.11:23-25). YAHUSHA loved the Fellowship and gave Himself for it in order to present it to Himself a marvellous and spotlessly perfect Bride.

(1 COR 11: 23-25)

On the night that He was delivered up, our Master Yahusha took bread, and having given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat, this is My body which is broken for you - do this in remembrance of Me. In the same way after supper (later in the night) He took a cup saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Master until He comes. OUR MARRIAGE BEHAVIOUR (WORD & DEEDS) ARE AN OUTWARD WITNESS AND DECLARATION OF THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF YAHUSHA !

5. SEPARATION … Then there came an indefinite period of time where the Bridegroom and Bride were physically separated from each other (even though they were counted as married and one in the Covenant of Marriage). This points to last 2000 odd years when YAHUSHA, the Bridegroom is in Heaven, in His Father's House and the Bride, the Fellowship, is here on earth, so they are PHYSICALLY separated for a time (though still very must connected through His Spirit). YAHUSHA said He was going to His Father's house to prepare a place for us. 

6. PREPARATION … While the Bridegroom was away in His Father's house, the Bride began to prepare her garments for the Marriage. John speaks of the Lamb's wife making herself ready with the garments of righteousness, as seen in this passage. The Fellowship, as His Bride, is to be washed in the water of the Word, to be made set-apart, and without spot, wrinkle, blemish or any such thing in order to be equally joined to her husband, YAHUSHA, who is of that nature and character. YAHUSHA could not be joined to a Bride that is not set-apart, like Himself. He could not be unequally yoked together with less than His own standard of divine set-apartness.

( EPH 5:23-33 )

'Husbands, love your wives, as Yahusha loves His Bridal Fellowship and gave Himself for it, in order to set it apart and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, in order to present it to Himself a splendid Fellowship, not having spot or wrinkle or any of this sort, but that it might be set-apart and blameless. In this way husbands should love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his woman loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but feeds and cherishes it, just as Yahusha does His Bridal Fellowship. Because we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 'For this cause a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his woman, and the two will become one flesh.' This is a great secret, but I'm talking about Yahusha and His Bridal Fellowship. So now everyone, each one of you must love his own woman as himself, and let the woman see that she respects her husband'.

7. PROCESSION …At the end of this unknown interval of time, a great procession took place. The Bridegroom came in his best robes, bringing friends with him, accompanied by singing and rejoicing, to the home of the Bride. Generally this took place at nighttime and all carried their lamps or torches of fire enroute to the Bride's house. YAHUSHA speaks of the virgins with their lamps going to meet the Bridegroom at the midnight hour (Matt.25:1-14). YAHUSHA promised to come again from His Father's house in Heaven and receive us unto Himself.

8. TRUMPETS … The Bridegroom sometimes gave a shout for his Bride to hear and be ready to receive him and be received by him. The Bride did not know the exact time, but she had to be always ready for the unexpected hour of his return. So YAHUSHA has told His followers to be always ready, for in such an hour that they don’t think, He will return. His coming will be accompanied with the shout, the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of YAHUSHA.

( 1 THESS 4: 16-18 )

'The Master Yahusha Himself will come down from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of an Archangel, and with the trumpet of Yahusha, and the dead in Messiah will rise up first. Then after that, we, the living (who are still alive) will be caught away together with them in the clouds to meet the Master Yahusha in the air – and so we will  always be with Yahusha. Now, encourage one another with these words'.

The Bridal Fellowship does not know the hour, but she does know the times and seasons so that she is not caught as a thief in the night (1Thess 5:1-8). In many weddings, the Bride went out with her Bridesmaids to meet the Bridegroom, each leaving their own house to meet each other. This is seen in the Parable of the Virgins as they "went out to meet the Bridegroom" who was coming at the midnight hour.

10. WEDDING FEAST … The Marriage feast followed the Covenant of Marriage, where the guests were invited to enjoy the Marriage-Supper with the Bride and Groom. It was after this that the Marriage was consummated and they lived ‘happily ever after'. So YAHUSHA and His Bride will meet 'face to face' and be joined to Him eternally. The Hebrew Marriage had these two phases: Betrothal was counted as 'Marriage' and then in due time they met face to face and were then 'married' and the Marriage was consummated. So the Fellowship is now 'married to YAHUSHA' and betrothed as ’yet to be married' when they meet face to face. This is the picture that the Scriptures in Old and New Blood-Covenants present to us of the Marriage of the Lamb.

As mentioned, the Old Blood-Covenant provides us with the imperfect type and shadow of the Marriage of YAHUSHA and His Fellowship through the Marriage of YAHUAH to Israel, His Bride and wife. Old Blood-Covenant Israel is spoken of as the 'wife' of YAHUAH. YAHUAH is spoken of as being her husband. The tragic story is that Israel 'played the whore' and ended up being given 'a bill of divorce' (Jer 3 ... Isa 50 ... Ezek 16 ... Hos 2 & 3). Israel broke the Marriage Covenant to the Master by playing the whore with other deities and other lovers. Idolatry is spiritual adultery, as we’ve seen going through Revelation.

The Father, however, chose out of the nation, the virgin Mary, to bring forth His only begotten Son, the Master YAHUSHA Messiah, the Man-child of the Gospel times. Now in the New Blood-Covenant, the Fellowship is the Bride of YAHUSHA and is to be joined to Him in set-apart matrimony.

THIS MARRIAGE WILL NEVER END IN DIVORCE FOR IT’S FOUNDATION IS ON THE FULFILLMENTS AND BEHAVIOURS OF THE WHOLE LIVING WORD OF YAHUSHA (TORAH-PROPHETS-WRITINGS). ITS THE EXACT SAME MARRIAGE COVENANT AS ISRAEL WAS GIVEN ON SINAI, BUT SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED THROUGH VERY DIFFERENT BLOOD. YAHUSHA AND HIS TRUE BRIDE WILL BE JOINED TOGETHER ETERNALLY.

YAHUSHA will also follow the pattern and He will have a virgin Fellowship for Himself, pure, spotless and set-apart, and suitable to be joined to Him. This is the picture that the New Blood-Covenant presents concerning the Marriage of the Lamb. This is the picture of Rev.12 and the result of this set-apart Marriage will be the Man-child Company of the end times.

WHO IS THE HOST & BRIDEGROOM?

The host is none other than the Father YAHUAH. It has been in the heart and in the eternal purpose of the Father to have a Bride for His only begotten Son. This has been shadowed in Abraham, as the father, to have a Bride for his only begotten son, Isaac (Gen 24).

MORE BRIDAL SHADOWS :

• Adam and Eve 

• Isaac and Rebekah 

• Jacob and Rachael 

• Joseph and Asenath 

• Moses and Zipporah 

• Boaz and Ruth 

• High Priest and his Bride 

• The King and Queen (Psa.45)

• The Shulamite and Shepherd-King (Song 6)

• Marriage of the King's Son (Matt22)

• The Parable of the Virgins (Matt25)

• The Sun-clothed Woman (Rev12:1)

As the Father YAHUAH prepared a Bride for Adam, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and the various others listed here, so YAHUAH is preparing a Bride for His Son YAHUSHA. He is actually the Father of the Bride as well as the Groom, for we know that the two are ONE! As Abraham sent his servant, Eleazer, to bring back a Bride for his son, Isaac, so the YAHUAH is finding and preparing a Bride through the power of His indwelling Spirit!

WHO IS THE BRIDE?

Israel in Old Blood-Covenant times was counted as the wife of YAHUAH, and YAHUAH was her husband, but she received a bill of divorce for being a whore. So this must exclude Old Blood-Covenant Israel from being the Bride of YAHUSHA. Why? Because the laws of Marriage for the High Priest foreshadowed the Marriage of YAHUSHA to His Bridal Fellowship. AND THE HIGH PRIEST WAS NOT PERMITTED TO MARRY A WIDOW, A HARLOT, OR A DIVORCED PERSON OR A PROFANE PERSON. HE MUST MARRY A VIRGIN OF HIS OWN PEOPLE (Lev.21:10-15). These terms are spoken of national and natural Israel of course. The Bride of YAHUSHA must be a virgin Fellowship (consisting of both Jew and Gentile) whom YAHUSHA will marry. The Bridal Fellowship washed in Yahusha's blood and implanted with His incorruptible spirit/seed is actually Yahusha's wife Israel, a many-membered body consisting of both jew and gentile. 

So what may be called "the living Bride" is the Fellowship (the woman) of Rev 12:1, alive to the coming of Yahusha and then "the Bride-city" includes all the redeemed of all ages in their various esteems in the new city of YAHUSHA. This is after the coming of YAHUSHA, the resurrection of the dead in YAHUSHA, the transformation in the twinkling of an eye of those still alive and a picture of the eternal state of the redeemed of all ages. Those who are in the Bride of YAHUSHA are those who have come to Scriptural Bridal qualifications of life, relationship and intimacy with the Bridegroom, YAHUSHA MESSIAH. What a marvellous honour!

WHAT IS BETROTHAL?

The word 'betroth' means to contract with a view to future Marriage'. The word 'espousal' means to unite by a promise of Marriage'. It is the modem equivalent to the word 'engagement', which is symbolised in the giving of an engagement ring (PAGAN CUSTOM). It speaks of a period of time and the promise of the Marriage to come, It speaks of a promise to keep oneself pure and exclusively for each other. So the Fellowship is at present, espoused to YAHUSHA, her future husband, and is to keep herself wholly and exclusively for Him. She is not to play with any other lovers. At the present, the Bridegroom is away in 'a far country' - Heaven. The Bride waits for him to come for her, when they meet face to face.

WHAT ARE THE BRIDAL GARMENTS?

The Bride was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white (bright), and the fine linen is defined for us as 'the righteousnesses' (plural) of the believers. Belief and righteousness are both imputed and behaviours. The fine line is the garment of the priests ministering to the Master. These are the garments of deliverance. The Bride is to make herself ready for the Marriage. This is preparation of the heart and life to be joined to YAHUSHA. Just as Rebekah, Esther and the other Brides mentioned in Scripture 'made themselves ready' for their Marriage, so the Fellowship, the Bride of YAHUSHA. The Bride will keep her garments unspotted from the world.

The Master YAHUSHA Messiah is the new first-fruit creation. He is sinless, spotless, having both Divine and human natures in the one person. He has a resurrected, esteemed body of flesh and bones. His blood was poured out and then taken to Heaven. His Bride will be like Him for the Marriage. There can be no union of dissimilar natures or characters. What YAHUSHA is now bodily and spiritually, in nature and character, is what His Bride will be, She will be sinless, spotless, immortal, having the union of both human and Divine natures when joined to YAHUSHA. She is His new creation. She is His spouse, His beloved, His wife. This is the picture of the Bride in the Song of Solomon.

WHAT IS THE MARRIAGE NAME?

In the natural, the Bride leaves her own name and takes the Bridegroom's name, which is also the name of the Bridegroom's Father! So the Bride takes on herself the name of the Master YAHUSHA Messiah, which also involves the Father's name upon His Son (Yahusha means Yahuah is my Deliverance). The name always speaks of the nature. The Bride takes His name and His nature. The Bride will be one with Him, having His name, His nature and His character. The instruction YAHUAH has given the Fellowship for the initial reception of this name is in water immersion, which points to the Marriage of YAHUSHA and the Fellowship, when the fulness of that name is invoked on the Bride.

A suitable SUMMARY of the truth that has been covered in these questions would be Psalm 45 along with the Song of Solomon 6:8-10, for they speak of the King and His Bridegroom. It points prophetically to YAHUSHA and His Fellowship. In the Psalm there are a number of groupings or classes of people in attendance at the Marriage of the King to His Bridal Queen. It is the scene of an Oriental wedding. It is a royal wedding.

PSALM 45

¹Amazing, astonishing thoughts fill my mind as I speak these good words for my King. These words pour from my lips like the pen of a skilled poet. ²For you are more handsome than anyone, and you say such pleasant, beautiful things. So YAHUAH will always bless you. ³Put on your sword, O' mighty warrior, so impressive and regal in your splendid uniform. ⁴Ride out in your greatness to win the battle in humility, righteousness and truth. Let us see the amazing things you can do with your powerful right arm. ⁵Your sharp arrows will go deep into the hearts of your enemies, who will fall to the ground in front of you. ⁶YAHUAH Your Kingdom will last forever, your sceptre is eternal and Your authority for straight justice. ⁷You love what is right and hate what is wrong. That is why YAHUAH Your Alahim has anointed you to be King with the oil of gladness, giving you far more joy and honor than your peers. ⁸From your clothes comes the intoxicating scent of myrrh, aloes, and cassia. In palaces decorated with ivory, you enjoy the music of stringed instruments. ⁹Here are the ladies of honor, daughters of Kings. Your Bride stands at your right side, wearing a gown decorated with the finest gold of Ophir. ¹⁰My Lady, listen carefully to me and understand. Forget your people and your father’s family, ¹¹so that the King will be pleased and delight in your lovely beauty. He will be your new husband,so you must honor and obey him. ¹²People from Tyre will bring you gifts. Their richest people will try to win your friendship. ¹³The Princess is so beautiful in her gown, like a pearl set in gold. ¹⁴Clothed in embroided beauty, she is led to the King, followed by her Bridesmaids. ¹⁵Filled with joy and excitement, they enter into the King’s palace. ¹⁶Your sons will be Kings like their ancestors. You will make them rulers throughout the land. ¹⁷You will be famous and remembered for generations, and people will Praise you forever and ever.

SONG OF SOLOMON 6:8-10

There are 60 queens and 80 concubines, and innumerable maidens. My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, the choice of the one who bore her. The daughters saw, and called her so blessed. Queens and concubines praised her. Who is she who shines forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?

John's mind as a Jewish believer and apostle of the Master would be familiar with the scene. John seeds many of these thoughts in his inspired words on the Marriage of the Lamb. After the Marriage, YAHUSHA, the King comes forth riding on His white horse. But this brings us to the next verses in Rev 19 ...

MARRIAGE IS A METAPHOR IN THE SCRIPTURE FOR A COVENANT. I WANT TO SAY THIS AGAIN BECAUSE I'M NOT SURE THIS HAS EVER TAKEN HOLD AMONG BELIEVERS. MARRIAGE AND COVENANT ARE VERY NEARLY ONE IN THE SAME. A COVENANT BETWEEN YAHUAH AND HIS WORSHIPPERS CREATES AN INTIMATE AND UNBREAKABLE UNION. SINCE THIS OCCURS IN THE INVISIBLE SPIRITUAL SPHERE, YAHUAH HAS PROVIDED A WAY FOR HUMAN KIND TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE FORCE OF EFFECT OF A COVENANT WITH HIM BY GIVING US THE VISIBLE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE IN THE PHYSICAL SPHERE. THIS IS WHY WE READ SO MUCH IN THE SCRIPTURE ABOUT WEDDINGS, BRIDES, BRIDEGROOMS, HUSBANDS, WIVES, AND WE HAVE SEVERAL SPIRITUAL LESSONS GIVEN TO US BY YAHUSHA THAT USES THE ILLUSTRATION OF MARRIAGE AND BETROTHAL; IN FACT HE USES THIS IN SOME OF HIS PARABLES.