John 14:2-3 (Christ Betrothes Us)

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Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon We pray that as we declare the

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Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who

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Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you today's

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Palm Sunday and I thought we would do something a little bit different Instead of going back to John 12, which is where we were

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Who knows how long ago at this point, but instead of going back to John 12 I wanted to look at the very next passage, which is

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John 14 1 through 3 we covered this last week But I wanted to look at it again from a little bit of a different angle because we asked the question

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Jesus has come into the city and John chapter 12. He's come in but now he's talking about leaving.

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Why is he talking about leaving? Well, that's what we're gonna learn today. This passage is the crescendo of the triumphal entry

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Now as you remember the scene would have been pandemonium after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead

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The Pharisees would have been emboldened in their anger and they would have been looking for an opportunity to murder

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Jesus and when Jesus entered the city Riding on the back of a donkey which would have been the traditional way that a king would have ridden into the city like Solomon Of old like this prophecy in Zechariah a king riding into the city ready to take on his throne

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Come into his rule sit down on the throne and reign The irony would have also been quite thick

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Because the throne that Jesus was going to Was not the palace in Jerusalem, but a cross on the hill called

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Calvary Jesus approached the city if you remember weeping

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All of his disciples were singing praises the city was bursting out in this Hosanna Hosanna on the highest and yet Jesus's Tears flooding down his face.

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Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem I think he was weeping because he was approaching a fruitless city that was supposed to bear fruit for God Jerusalem was called the vine and the

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Old Testament was supposed to bear fruit for the living God and yet all they gave him was leaves on the ground

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It's an interesting parallel That they welcomed him without fruit

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By laying down on the streets just leaves now the leaves were a messianic symbol They were a symbol of hope a symbol of prosperity a symbol of future glory

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But the irony is that the fruitless city offered him no fruit Because all they had to give him was leaves

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Now Jesus dismounts the donkey I Think some people at that moment would have thought that he's going to Herodium Herodium was the great palace that was attached to the temple complex

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It was where King Herod sat many would have thought that Jesus is going and he's gonna take down the

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Itamian Ruler Herod was not a full -blooded Jew. He actually was

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From the line of Esau. He was called an Itamian. He was an imposter He was a puppet king that Rome put in place

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So many would have thought that Jesus is going there to displace the puppet king to set up the messianic kingdom

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And yet Jesus doesn't do that. He goes to a different throne. He goes to a different palace he goes to the temple, which is known as the throne room of God and He cleanses what is a fruitless temple and he causes pandemonium

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This is why I say that Jesus is not the European hair model with with the hair flowing that I can't believe it's not butter

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Jesus He flips over the tables.

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He causes a stampede to happen in the temple. He braids a whip and he chases them out

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We need to recapture that Jesus in our imagination The Jesus who saw the temple that was perverted and apostate and would do anything to purify it

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Now Jesus could have remained in the city We don't know exactly what would have happened if he did because he didn't 45 minutes an hour after he cleanses the temple

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He leaves he goes back to Bethany back to the home of Lazarus where he stays Overnight and the interesting thing is the very next morning early in the morning

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The first thing that he does is he curses a fruitless tree Do you see the theme that's playing out here?

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He comes to the fruitless city that offers him only leaves now He's cursing a fruitless tree with just leaves He says this tree will never bear fruit this tree will be ripped out of the ground thrown into the fire and what

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Jesus is doing there is He is acting out a parable in the

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Old Testament Many times the prophets would tell parables and sometimes they would do parables for instance

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Ezekiel he built a model city of Jerusalem one time and Then he charged it with a sword and started whacking over the con or the cardboard pieces of Jerusalem or however he did it

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Maybe was Legos just Annihilating it the message was Jerusalem is gonna be destroyed one time

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He cut his beard and then chopped it up into little pieces and threw it up in the air The idea was that Jerusalem is gonna be scattered

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They're gonna be conquered and they're gonna be scattered lived out parables were important because lived out parables meant that judgment was so close

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It was so soon upon the horizon that they're going to act it out in front of you just so that there's no confusion the act out parable that Jesus does here is he curses a fig tree a symbol of Israel and says that it will be ripped up and Thrown into the fire and then that very day he comes into the city and he tells the

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Jews This kingdom will be taken from you. It will be given to another people who will bear its fruit and Then he says in Matthew 22 that that God will send his armies and His armies will come upon Jerusalem like the fig tree and will set it on fire

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Jesus through all of this is telling Jerusalem about their doom about their about their impending destruction

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He's evoking Deuteronomy 28 covenant curses If you read Deuteronomy 28 Deuteronomy 28 the first part of it is wonderful You'll be blessed when you go in blessed when you go out blessed when you eat blessed when you drink blessed when you sleep blessed when you wake

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But the second half of Deuteronomy 28 is if you do not obey the covenant you will be cursed

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Cursed when you go in cursed when you go out cursed when you eat cursed when you drink curse when you need the bread in the bowl

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These are the curses that Christ is evoking on a people who perpetually were apostate and Because of this

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Matthew 23 Seven woes Jesus is evoking. Woe to you Pharisees and scribes

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Hypocrites seven of those at the end of that crescendoing perfect.

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Woe seven woes He says all of God's wrath and judgment will be poured out on you

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On this generation and behold,

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I will leave to your house the temple desolate He says Jerusalem.

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You're known as the city that kills the prophets No longer will be they known as the city that kills the prophets from that point forward.

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They will do the unforgivable sin in killing the Christ It will be their undoing

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Jesus says that long -awaited judgment will come

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Their temple will be burned to the ground one stone will not be left upon another He says in Matthew 24 because they killed the

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Christ Now what Jesus is doing in all of this is not just revenge

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Jesus is doing what he planned to do all along The temple in Jerusalem was never meant to be a permanent fixture

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Jerusalem itself was never meant to be permanent All of these things are types and shadows of the full thing that Christ was going to be bringing all along So he's coming promising to tear down that temple because he's gonna bring a new temple

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Tearing down that sacrificial system because he will become the true and greater sacrifice Disestablishing the priesthood because he's the true and better priest he is he is undoing the old covenant

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Norms because he is the covenant head Better priest better prophet better King better sacrifice better temple and more than that He's not only tearing down the old

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Temple which had a cube shaped room in the very back of it called the Holy of Holies It was exactly a cube top to bottom.

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All three dimensions were square shaped cube He's doing more than that He's taking that small tiny room that only one person once per year could experience it

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He's going to turn the entire cosmos into a cube shaped Spectacle for his glory look at Revelation when the

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Holy of Holies the New Jerusalem comes down. It's 12 ,000 by 12 ,000 by 12 ,000 It's complicated.

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Here's the simple answer. He's making the entire cosmos His Holy of Holies.

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He's bringing his presence everywhere No longer protected in the back room because we're so sinful that we can't deal with it because of what

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Christ has done in forgiving us of Our sin the presence of God burst out of the Holy of Holies and will overtake the cosmos.

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That's what Jesus is saying Filling the world with his glory one

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Christian at a time because the Christian as We talked about last week is the walking talking temple of God If you're in Christ, if you have the

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Holy Spirit inside of you, you're a temple of the Living God And you're being built together into a magnificent cathedral for the glory of Christ that fills every nation

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By that I want to say That the coming of Christ was not merely listen to my words here not merely about the salvation of individuals

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We can have a very individualistic view of salvation Yes, he came to save individuals.

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Praise God for that You and I are here because of that but it's more than it's more expanse in that he came to Overturn the entire world order and remake it in his image all reality

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Every bit of it Said there's no more curse. No more tear. No more thorn. No more No more evil

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All done away with in Christ. It started it's happening. It's growing

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It will have it will come to completion when Christ returns Now the question is what does this have to do with John 14?

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Well last week we said that when Jesus said that he is going to his father's house. We talked about how that was a temple reference

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That that one of the reasons that he left was that he's gonna make a new temple But that's not the only reason that he left Today I want to talk about another theme

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Last week you indulged me You allowed me to nerd out on Old Testament temple language.

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I appreciate that. I hope you learned something from that this week We're gonna be learning about The betrothal of God to his church and it is beautiful and I've been wanting to preach this message for three weeks

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So I hope that you learned something here as well today. We're gonna be looking at how does Christ betroth us to himself?

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How does he marry a church? What does that mean? So if you will turn with me to John 14 1 through 3

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As far as I know, this will be the last week in these passages The Holy Spirit might deal otherwise with me, but let's continue

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John 14 1 through 3 Do not

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Let your heart be troubled Believe in God Believe also in me In my father's house, there are many dwelling places if it were not so I would have told you

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For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you,

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I Will come again and receive you to myself That where I am there you may be also let us pray

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Lord Jesus we thank you so much for this very dense Beautiful passage

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With so much beauty so much Meaning underneath these words

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Lord. I pray today that we would see How beautiful they are That we would see that this is sort of the crescendo of what these passages are talking about Lord, I pray that it would excite us

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Lord, I pray that it would mystify us Lord. I pray that it would conquer us Lord, I pray that it would produce joy and passion in us in Christ's name.

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We pray. Amen Now one of the things I found so fascinating Is that the language of temples in the

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Bible and the language of marriage in the Bible is often interconnected When you talk about a temple reality, sometimes you talk about a marriage reality

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So last week we talked about temples when we went all throughout the Bible and we looked at that but there is this concept of marriage that Interconnects with the temple and I want to show you a few examples just so you don't think

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I'm crazy We're gonna start in Exodus 19 Exodus 19 you remember is where the

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Israelites were preparing to hear the law of God Exodus 20 to 10 Commandments So they were preparing for that and God calls them in this passage his treasured possession

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Now that word treasured possession is a word that comes out of marriage ceremonies in the ancient world

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It's a word that a man would call his wife or his his betrothed. He would call her his treasured possession

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So when God as the Israelites are preparing to receive the law, he calls them a marriage title

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Treasured possession look at what it says in Exodus 19 5 through 6 Now therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples for all the earth is mine and You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation

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These are the words that you shall speak to my people the people of Israel Again this is

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Identical to what a bridegroom in the ancient world would have said to his bride when they're writing out the engagement contract

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When they're saying here's the stipulations if you can agree with this and I can agree to that we will become betrothed

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We will become married and you will become my treasured possession. So right before God gives them the law

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He says if you will obey these things you will come my bride. That's what he's saying Now I want us to not read this passage with a modern lens

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Feminism has ruined biblical Christianity when I say treasured possession wives.

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I'm not saying that you're a property I'm saying that you are priceless That's what

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God is saying when when a man in that world looked at a woman and said you are my treasured possession

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He's not saying I own you What he's saying is that out of everything that touches my life you are priceless

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Now think about God who owns the cosmos out of everything that touches God's hands Israel you're priceless.

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You're my beloved. That's what he's saying So that's the first point

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Treasured possession is marriage language in the covenant with Moses Second thing

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I would tell you is a covenant is sealed in blood and marriage is no difference. This will be

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Interesting probably to you Some of you will say this is TMI Because some of the passages in the

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Old Testament can get a little TMI Children, you may have questions after this section We're gonna try to do our best here to PG this

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Okay every covenant is Sealed in blood every single one of them the

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Mosaic Covenant the Noahic Covenant the Adamic Covenant Every covenant is a covenant that is made with blood

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Exodus 24 8 Behold the blood of the covenant That the

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Lord has made with you in accordance with all of these words. Now, that is wedding language, even if it doesn't

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Become apparent right away consider Deuteronomy 22 13 through 19 if any man takes a wife and goes into her and then hates her and accuses her of misconduct that's adultery and Brings a bad name upon her saying

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I took this woman and when I came near to her I did not find in her evidence of virginity

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Then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate and The father of the young woman shall say to the elders

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I Gave my daughter to this man to marry and he hates her behold, he has accused her of misconduct saying

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I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity and Yet this is the evidence of my daughter's virginity and they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him and They shall find him a hundred shekels of silver and Give them to the father of the young woman because he's brought a bad name upon a virgin in Israel She shall be his wife and he may not divorce her all of his days

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Now what's going on here in? that time period When it was time to consummate the marriage they would put the whitest sheets that they had in their

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Possession on the bed not because they wanted to have clean sheets per se the idea was that when a woman who viciously protects her virginity enters into a marriage there's evidence on the sheets and When they left they would have handed them over to her mother and father as a standing

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Testimony of her perpetual virginity of her virginity and her and her purity

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Now in our day that would that would seem very strange like We would hide that we would we would we would wash that we would get rid of that stain

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But in that day they boldly announced it This is this is the evidence of this the parents would hold on to it.

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They put it in their bookshelf or the trophy case Maybe they didn't have that but you know, you get what

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I'm saying? They would have honored that piece of evidence Because it was a standing symbol not only of her purity

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But that the covenant had been cut You see the word for making a covenant anytime you see that the

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Lord made a covenant that word is barit, which means to cut So the better way to translate this is the

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Lord cut a covenant. Every covenant is cut Adam the covenant of redemption

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God cut an animal and clothed Adam in his nakedness Noah cut an animal and sacrificed it to the

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Lord Abraham was told to cut himself To enter into the covenant

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Moses cut the animals and sprinkled it on the people God Constantly is using this language of cutting so in marriage the idea is that a husband and a wife together cut a covenant that is forged in blood as a symbol of an everlasting bond that cannot be broken

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That's what the Hebrew word means. It's very strange for us to think about The action of consummating a marriage as cutting but the

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Hebrews thought that way you can see it now

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When God enters into an intimate relationship with Israel He cuts the animals.

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He sprinkles all the people with his blood He is entering into the most intimate and sacred

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Relationship where there is no boundaries. There is no walls There is no shame.

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He's entering into a marriage relationship with his people Cutting the covenant with them

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Sprinkling them in his in the blood evidenced Through the writings of the scripture as the token or as the symbol that these things are so that's the second thing

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The third thing is the bathing ritual that happens in Exodus 19 Before a woman would get married in the ancient world

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She would bathe now that seems obvious because we bathe all the time

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We bathe every day sometimes twice a day if we go outside and do something strenuous in that day.

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They didn't Water was not super abundant. I remember when

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I was in Iraq. I didn't get my first real shower for 45 days I Lost the ability to smell myself after about 30

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Praise God for that because it was actually actually better in those days.

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They didn't have an abundance of water So when you were gonna get married you washed you perfumed you primped you got yourself ready

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Well, why is it isn't it fascinating that? Isn't it fascinating that in Exodus 19

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God tells them to wash before they enter into the covenant God tells them to wash themselves

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To separate themselves out to come it's almost like comparing themselves to a

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Virgin who is betrothed to her husband who is preparing herself and setting herself apart for the marriage and the entire time

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They weren't supposed to go to the mountain. They weren't supposed to touch it. It says don't you touch the mountain? Don't let your animals touch the mountain you stay here and prepare yourself while God and Moses work out the covenant on the mountain

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It's the exact same thing a woman would have done she would have prepared herself while her husband got things ready for her and She would have stayed separate from him until the marriage was enacted.

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That's exactly what Israel was supposed to do and Yet Israel did what?

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They made the golden calf Now the golden calf is not described in the Bible as just a mere religious sin

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God tells them this I think is so fascinating Instead of telling them you've sinned against me.

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He says you've whored against me You've played the harlot with the nation's

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He compares her sin to adultery Why would he do that unless God envisioned that the

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Mosaic Covenant was a sort of marriage? He wouldn't have used sexual infidelity language if he didn't actually

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Intend to use that as a medium to communicate the intimacy that's going into this covenant Hebrew scholars have long said that God married

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Israel at Mount Sinai. That was their wedding There's all kinds of examples of this all over the scriptures.

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By the way, this idea of marriage is all over the place Isaiah 40 or 54 5 for your maker is your husband

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Israel The Lord of hosts is his name The Holy One of Israel is your

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Redeemer that means he paid the bride price the God of the whole earth he is called Isaiah 60 to 5

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For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you And as the bridegroom rejoices over her bride, so shall your

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God rejoice over you Hosea 2 19 through 20 and I will betroth you to me forever

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And I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice and steadfast love and in mercy

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I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the

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Lord The language is there that God had set apart

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Israel to be his bride and yet from Mount Sinai to the plains on The way to Canaan inside the land of Canaan all throughout their history

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It's not a history of fidelity. It's not a history of faithfulness to history of spiritual adultery and God throughout the scriptures does not just talk like an angry deity who's mad because they've broken his religious system

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When God talks about his anger it is mixed with jealousy emotion and Intimacy like a man who has caught his wife in the act

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That's the language that it's here. Look at Jeremiah 2 to Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem thus says the

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Lord I remember the devotion of her youth your love as a bride how you followed me in the wilderness.

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He's Lamenting he said I remember those days when you loved me I remember those days when you were married to me at Mount Sinai when you cared for me when you were faithful to me

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And now you're not Ezekiel 16 really

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Seals this I'm gonna read a large portion of Scripture Because all of it is good

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All of it is hard It showcases God's emotional connection to his people and how he sounds like a bereaved husband

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Who's just been cheated on? Listen to these passages they're filled with emotion.

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It's not as if God is in the heavens and you have sinned against me God is heartbroken listen to these passages

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Again the word of the Lord came to me son of man make known to Jerusalem her abominations and Say thus says the

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Lord God to Jerusalem Your origin and your birth are of the land of the

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Canaanites your father was an Amorite your mother was a Hittite and as for your birth on The day that you were born your cord was not cut

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You were not washed with water to cleanse you Nor rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.

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No, I pitied you To do any of the things you to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out in an open field

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For you were abhorred on the day that you were born Striking language and when

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I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood I said to you in your blood live and I said to you in your blood live.

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I Made you flourish like a plant of the field and you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment

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Your breasts were fully formed and your hair had grown and yet you were naked and bare

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And when I passed by you, this is God talking to Israel When I passed by you again and saw you behold you were at the age for love and I spread my corner

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The corner of my garment over you and I covered your nakedness This is at Mount Sinai.

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I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you marriage covenant declares the

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Lord God and you became mine and then I bathed you with water and I washed off your blood from you and I anointed you with oil

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I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk and I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrist and a chain on your neck and I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and A beautiful crown on your head because Israel was to be his queen thus you were adorned with gold and silver and your clothing was a fine linen and silk and Embroidered cloth you ate fine flour and honey and oil

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You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced in royalty and your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty

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For it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed upon you declares the

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Lord But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore Because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby

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Your beauty became his and you took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines and on them you played the whore

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The like has never been nor ever shall be you also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver which

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I had given you and you made for yourself images of men and with them you played the whore and you took your embroidered garments to cover them and Set my oil and my incense before them

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Also my bread that I gave you I fed I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey you set them before them the idols as a pleasing aroma and so it was declares the

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Lord God and you took your sons and your daughters whom you had born to me and These you sacrificed them to be devoured

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Where you're whoring so small of a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them

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And in all your abominations and your whorings you do not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare wallowing in your blood and After all your wickedness.

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Whoa, whoa to you declares the Lord God You built yourself a vaulted chamber and you made yourself a lofty place in every square at the head of every street

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You built your lofty place and made your beauty and abomination Offering yourself to any passerby

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Multiplying your whorings you played the whore with the Egyptians your lustful neighbors multiplying your whorings to provoke me to anger behold therefore

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I stretched out my hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and Delivered you to the greed of your enemies the daughters of the

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Philistines who were ashamed of your lewd behavior You played the whore also with the Assyrians because you were not satisfied

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Yes, you played the whore with them and you still were not satisfied. You multiplied your whoring Among the trading lands of Chaldea Even with this you are not satisfied.

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How sick is your heart declares the Lord? Because you did all these things the deeds of a pray a brazen prostitute

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Building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street and making your lofty place in every square But you were not like a prostitute

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Because you scorned payment adulterous wife who received strangers instead of her husband

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Men give gifts to the prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to them Bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings

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So you were different from other women in your whorings No one solicited you to play the whore you gave them payment

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Even while no payment was given to you. Therefore you were different What a striking passage

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He's saying that the greatest act of adultery that could Conceivably be paid was done to him by Israel She was not solicited and she went out on her own.

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She was she was not paid. She paid them and as a result of these lewd and disgusting abominations

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The Lord cut Israel off from the Covenant When I say

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Israel, I mean the ten northern tribes. I Mean the ten northern tribes.

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I mean the ten northern tribes Ephraim Manasseh those ten tribes They were divorced

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By God, he cut them off from the marriage covenant because they were so sick of heart

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Isaiah 50 verse 1 says to Judah. Where's your mother's certificate of divorce?

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He's talking about Israel Where's the certificate of divorce which I gave her and sent her away with? Jeremiah 3 if a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife

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Will he return to her would not the land be greatly polluted if that happened? you

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Israel have played the whore with many lovers and would you return to me declares the Lord? Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see where where have you not been ravished by the waysides?

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You have sat awaiting lovers like Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom

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Therefore the showers have been withheld the spring rain has not come you have got the forehead of a whore

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I don't exactly know what that means, but that's very strong You refuse to be ashamed

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Have you not just called to me my father? You were the friend of my youth

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Will he be angry forever Will he be indignant to the end behold you have spoken all you have done all the evil that you could have done the

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Lord Said to me in those days Have you seen what she did? The faithless one

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Israel and how she went up on every high hill and ever and under every green tree Verse 8 she saw that for all these adulteries of the faceless faithless one

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Israel I had sent her away with the decree of divorce and yet Her treacherous sister

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Judah did not fear But she went also and played the whore

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She took her whoredom lightly and polluted the land yet for all of this treacherous sister

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Judah did not repent and turn to me with her whole heart, but did the same and even worse

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So God issues a divorce to the ten tribes of Israel because of all of their faithlessness and he's saying even in Jeremiah, which is hundreds of years before Christ came that Judah's doing the same thing in Malachi which is the last book of the

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Old Testament. God says I hate divorce Why would God say that don't look at that passage in a vacuum? He's saying

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I hate divorce I am broken in my heart because my bride is about to get divorced because what she's doing

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I don't want to divorce her. That's what but she will get it. She will receive it because of her whore because of her whorings

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The Old Testament ends with a broken marriage the New Testament begins

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With God's bride Judah rejecting him in Christ with her murdering him the ultimate act of betrayal with her playing the harlot with Rome, which is what she was doing and She will receive the covenant curses that are going to come upon her and remove her as the bride

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So the New Testament begins with Judah being removed How does it end?

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It ends with the church The church becoming the bride Now in order to understand this we've done a lot of background

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God entered into a marriage relationship with Israel and Judah and by their Continual adultery they were put away

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How is God gonna enter into a marriage with the church John 14 is the answer but in order to see that I Want us to look at the marriage customs of the first century

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Now I get it. Let's just have a heart -to -heart real quick When I say that we want to talk about the marriage customs of the first century you're like what a yawn fest

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You will not be saying that in just a moment These are beautiful and they connect to every part of the

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New Testament This is this is why I've been so excited to share this message with you. So hang on for a second

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I want you to see what a First century man would do to marry a woman and I want you to see what

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Christ has done to you. Okay? Now a man in that time period he would take the initiative.

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Imagine that a culture where men were men He would take the initiative and what he would do is he would leave his father's house and he would go to the house where the woman was and he would begin to negotiate the bride price with the father and Them two men together the young man and the father they would work out the bride price

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How much is it gonna cost for you to marry my beloved daughter in most cultures in the ancient world?

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It was opposite in every other culture. It was the woman's family who brought a dowry

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How much are you gonna pay me so that I'll marry her not in Israel. Israel was how much can

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I pay? to enter into a relationship with her So the bride price would be negotiated

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After the bride price was paid. They were considered fully married You remember in Matthew chapter 2 where Joseph is gonna divorce

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Mary even though they've never Consummated their marriage. The reason is because he's already paid the bride price.

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They were engaged but in their culture engagement meant marriage marriage without consummation

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So when the bride price was paid Then they would enter into a 12 -month period of rest and preparation but before that as An act of celebration the young man has just paid the father

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He's giving him the bride price. The father would reach into his wine cellar and he would grab a

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Wonderful dusty 50 60 year old bottle of Jewish wine and he would pour it in one cup and the two men together

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Would drink from one cup of wine and they would say a benediction the cup of this covenant and they would drink the wine together and then the man

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Motivated more than he's ever been in his life would leave and he would go home. He'd say honey I'm coming back but I gotta go for a little while because I gotta go to my dad's house and I gotta make it a little bit bigger so that it will have room for you and for 12 months

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He would be adding on to his father's house. He wouldn't be building a mansion. He didn't have the money for that He would be building a single room onto his father's tent or onto his father's stone house or or mud brick house

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But he would add a room the entire time that he was doing that for 12 months. That woman would get ready

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She would be hand making clothing She'd be making sheets the white linen sheet that she would lie upon on her wedding night she would make in that 12 month period and She would gather together all of the resources the spices the oils the sheets the clothing because women think about that more than men do still do

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At least it's true in my home for 12 months she would prepare diligently joyfully and She would not know the day or the hour when her beloved was going to return

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But she knew that it was gonna happen and instead of staring out the window and and wanting to see is he coming now?

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Is he coming now? Is he coming now? She would diligently prepare now when that 12 months was over and The bridegroom was ready what he would do is he would gather together his friends the friend of the bridegroom in the wedding party and they would go at night and They would light their torches and they would go singing to the bride's house from the father's house

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So they would sing the entire way and when he got close with a great shout he would say the bridegroom cometh and she would hear the shout and She would put on her white linens

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And she would put on her veil Her mother and father would kiss her goodnight kiss her goodbye and She would arm and arm with the bridegroom

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They would march back to the father's house where all of the attendants were waiting and they were ready for a party

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As soon as they arrived they would enter into the marriage chamber to consummate their marriage while the friend of the bridegroom waited on the outside and He waited on the outside because he wanted to hear the declaration that it is finished

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That the covenant has been cut and as soon as he heard that he would go announce it to the entire party imagine that That's how it happened then

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Seven days she would remain hidden in her marriage but on the seventh day she would come out unveiled in all her glory and Everyone would celebrate and there would be feasting.

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There would be great joy if you haven't already put together

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How all of this connects in the New Testament? Let's read John 14 In my father's house are many rooms not mansions remember that If it were not so would

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I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you And if I go to prepare a place for you

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I will come again and take you to myself and where I am you may be also he's using marriage language

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He's saying the father and I have worked out the bride price and The bride price to purchase you was on the hill called

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Calvary where I'm gonna give my body and give my blood for you That's the payment that's gonna have to happen for me to enter into a marriage covenant with you

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I'm gonna have to give myself up for you I'm gonna have to die for you bleed for you.

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That's the blood of the covenant for you and When the bride price was paid as a celebration

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Christ drank the cup of God's wrath The father handed him the cup and he drank it

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He celebrated by drinking the wrath that you and I deserve he took the cup and Then what did he do?

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He rose from the grave and With the most joy that Jesus could muster he goes back to the father's house in heaven

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And he goes and he prepares a place for you And all of that time that he separated from you.

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He tells you to be preparing yourself You don't know the day or the hour that he's gonna return Don't look out the window

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Don't look up into the sky Prepare yourself get yourself ready because the bridegroom is coming and one day in the future

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Christ is gonna return and what is he gonna do? he's gonna gather around himself all the heavenly host his friends his community and he's going to come at night and With a great shout the bridegroom cometh.

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This is what it says I'm getting so excited. I skipped ahead. Look at this First Thessalonians 4 16 through 18 for the

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Lord himself would descend from heaven with a shout Jesus isn't wasting his breath here.

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He's not this is not some sort of like warrior thing like where he's a call He's shouting because that's what bridegrooms do

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He's shouting because he's saying that I'm coming for you dear one in the voice of the

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Archangel with the trumpet of God and the dead and Christ will rise and then all who are alive and remain will be caught up Together with him and where do we go?

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We go back with him to his father's house where all the hosts of heaven are already assembled and ready for a party and Then Jesus enters into the marriage with us and consummates the covenant so that there so that that covenant is finished.

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It's good It's fulfilled. There's no more curse. There's no more sin. There's no more brokenness. It is it is done and Then the bride is presented to heaven like it says in Revelation 19 and all her splendor and all her glory

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Revelation 19 7 through 9 let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him for the marriage of the

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Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready And it was given to her to clothe herself in the fine linen bright and clean for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the

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Saints You and I will be clothed in the brightest white linens

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Because instead of our sheets Being the blood -stained ragged.

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It was his grave clothes that were blood -stained for us Instead of the bride

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Being the one who was cut Christ is the one who was cut and His grave clothes stand as an eternal record of what he has done

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Dear brothers and sisters when Christ says that he is going to prepare a place for us

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He is saying you are my bride When he drank the cup of God's wrath, he's saying you are mine

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So if you struggle this morning with whether or not he loves you

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I Want you to look at the cross and how for the joy set before him he drank

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God's cup Celebrating you And I want you to remember

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That even though this 2 ,000 year period of separation has been long. It will not last forever

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Because when Christ has finished preparing a place for you, he will come and with the shout he will bring you home

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And for all of eternity You will be in the presence of the one who loves you more than anything

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There's two things I want to remind you of today You cannot be separated from Christ because he paid for you already he purchased you

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You can't lose what you didn't pay for The second thing I want to remind you of is that he's called us to prepare for his return

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He's called us to prepare How easy is it sometimes for us to just autopilot, right?

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He didn't call us to autopilot. He called us to diligently joyfully Exuberantly prepare for his return

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He didn't call us to stare out the window stare at the television or stare at our goals and our dreams. He told us to Diligently prepare for his return to get ready for his coming

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He's given us a guide in order to prepare us. Remember I told you the friend of the bridegroom He's given us a guide to help us the

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Holy Spirit who will produce fruit in you who will convict you of sin Who will cause you to repent and chase after righteousness?

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Don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God He's your guide to help you prepare for the return of Christ He's given you a wedding manual

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He's given you explicit directions on how to be the bride of Christ how to live how to think how to move how to walk how to how to Think how to do everything plunder the pages of Scripture as You wait for your

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Lord and Savior to return He's given you a great gift Use it to prepare for him and then finally we've been given a community

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Because we don't have an individualistic faith We are the bride of Christ Not just you and not just me

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Do not prepare in isolation Do not prepare by yourself Invest in the community get to know people in the community

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Let them get to know who you are so they can call you out on your sin We need rearview mirrors.

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We need something for our blind spots If our life is about preparing for the return of our bridegroom

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Let us not be like the wicked virgins in Matthew 25 Who didn't have enough oil and at the last minute had to go out and buy some off the market and they missed it

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Let us diligently prepare for Christ the one who loves us above all things Let's pray

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Lord thank you so much that from Genesis to Revelation. You're telling a story of how you will betroth a

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Sinful people Lord we are no different than the Israelites who chased after many gods were no different than the

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Judeans who did the same the only thing that makes us different is

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That it's not our linens That serve as a symbol of our salvation, it's yours

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Our linens are soiled and stained with many adulteries Many chasings after many other gods.

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It's your linens. It's your grave clothes It's your blood -stained cross

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That is a symbol of our purification our justification our atonement

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Our adoption Our betrothal on The cross

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Lord Jesus you paid our bride price in Our life Lord, let us prepare for you in Christ's name.