Great is the mystery of the church, body and family of GOD as known in the new witness of GOD's Spirit being restored to the soul of the redeemed of man. For this reason I will look at Ephesians 5:25-32 which states this; "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loves the church and gave Himself up for it, that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body (as seen and known in Genesis 1:26-27 and 2:1-3, 6-7, 24). "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church." Of this union of body heart and soul no man can separate from the Love of GOD now residing, indwelling, within us. From here I want to look at this from many ways, such as the Bridegroom, the Church a bride, and our Union as Christ ones to GOD, to name but a few.
The Preciousness of the Church,
Deuteronomy 12:8-10 of 1-14 "These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their (pagan) gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You will tear down these their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You will chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. You will not worship the LORD your God in that way. But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put His name and make His habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. "You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you. But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when HE gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, then to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make His name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the LORD. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, but at the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you."
Isaiah 62:3 of 1-5 "For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. You will be a crown of beauty in the hand (a spiritual kingdom rule) of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You will no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so will your sons marry You, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so will your God rejoice over You."
Zechariah 2:8 of 5-12 "'I will be to her a wall of fire all around it, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in the midst it.
Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north,' declares the LORD. 'For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens,' declares the LORD. 'Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.For thus said the LORD of hosts, after His glory sent Me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of My eye: Behold, I will shake My hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me.Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and they will be (become) My people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. And the LORD will inherit Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.'"
Zechariah 9:16 of 11-17 "As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free (in Matthew 27:51-54 and other writings of Paul's letters) from the water-less pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. For I have bent Judah as My bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword. Then the LORD will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning; the LORD GOD (YHWH) will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. The LORD of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar. On that day the LORD their God will save them, as the flock of His people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on His land. For how great is His goodness, and how great His beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women."
Malachi 3:17 of 16-18 "Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed His name. 'They will be Mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up My treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.' Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves GOD and one who does not serve Him."
Acts 20:28 of 25-35 "Now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of GOD. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of GOD, which HE obtained with His own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
Ephesians 5:25 of 25-33 with Colossians 1:24 "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it, that HE might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, so that HE might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body (it states this in Genesis 22:24). "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."
Colossians 1:24 of 21-23, 24-29 "You, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death (separated us from the universal law of sin and death and the Mosaic Law of condemnation active in mans flesh), in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from GOD that was given to me for you, to make the word (and works) of GOD fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. To them GOD chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that HE powerfully works within me."
No comments:
Post a Comment