Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Bittersweet! We come to the end of another year long journey. We have gained many valuable insights as we have read, reread, studied, pondered, and meditated on God’s Holy Word. We pray that you will continue on the journey. Allow God to direct your steps! Thank you for making this journey with us. Please consider giving us some feedback on this study.

Imagine with us the wedding banquet in the New Jerusalem.

Revelation 19:7
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
Jesus compares our relationship with Him as a marriage. We can compare the betrothal agreement in the Jewish and Hebrew wedding ceremonies to the wedding in the New Jerusalem.

In the Jewish and Hebrew betrothal ceremony the groom would give the bride a ring. He would confirm his love for her and his desire to be united to her in the bond of marriage. The ring would be given as a token, a promise of the wedding to come.

Jesus offers us the engagement agreement. He offers us salvation. We accept and the promise of our later wedding is confirmed and sealed with the Holy Spirit. Just as the betrothal agreement in a Jewish wedding is sealed with the giving of a ring, our agreement is sealed by the indwellment of the Holy Spirit. As the ring guarantees the marriage, the beginning of a forever relationship, so the Holy Spirit guarantees our marriage in a forever relationship to the Lamb.

Our betrothal period, our waiting time, is our life here on this earth until the day arrives of our marriage to the Lamb. During this time of betrothal, just as any bridegroom would do, Jesus is preparing a particular, exceptional sectioned off room just for us in His Father’s house. (John 14:2-3)

We will be clothed with garments of righteousness as we are changed into spirit. Just as any groom views his bride as beautiful and perfect, so Jesus sees us as perfect. (Jude 24)

Jesus is the bridegroom who comes for us. He will come to take us to be with Him. All along the route to His  Father’s house the cry rings out from the great heavenly multitude. The wedding has come. The bride is ready. The Holy Spirit has guaranteed this marriage will take place. The vows have been made, we have accepted Jesus’ offer and are secured salvation with Him. The marriage celebration supper follows as we take up residence in His Father’s house, the new heaven, the New Jerusalem. In eternity we will know God fully with an intimacy that we could never have on earth in our physical bodies. (I Corinthians 13:12) This will  be the banquet in the mansion.

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Jude 1:24
To him (Jesus) who is able to keep you (put your name here) from falling and to present you (put your name here) before his glorious presence (God the Father) without fault and with great joy—“
Revelation 22:20
He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The Bible ends the way it begins…….perfect……and in paradise.
For us as believers it ends with an urgent note, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
In a dark and evil world with problems, persecution and suffering,
we can have hope.
God is in control.
His will WILL be done!

Revelation 22:21
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people.

AMEN!

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