The Marriage
When a woman marries, she loses her identity. Her self becomes consumed and annihilated in the identity of her husband. She becomes his person. So it is with the bride of Christ. When she is married to Christ, she loses her identity in His and now only is who He is. She becomes one and the same with Him. Instead of John Doe and Mary Smith, it is now Mr. and Mrs. John Doe. When a woman marries Christ, she is now named after Him. She carries His name and is infused with His character. The Scriptures plainly show how a woman with her own name is a reproach. "And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach." Isa 4:1. The seven women are asking the man if they might be married to him. They want to be called by his name. They want to be identified with him. These seven women are the symbols of all the believers. They are the visual sign for all to look upon. They are the seven lamps that point to the marriage of the Lamb with His city.
It is true that marriages in modern life are not so inclined. The woman now wants to keep her own name. She wants to teach her husband and demand that he recognize her particular wants. She boasts that she is free of him and he has no authority to tell her what to do and the main root of the marriage is that it is a simple business deal in which they each own half of the property. It is equally true that the man in modern life has wanted a cook and someone to sleep with. He values his bride in that she can keep the place clean. The modern marriage relationship is based on the selfish expectations of the other. This is simply adultery, and abuse, when one considers marriage in its true perspective.
The Promise
Isa 62:1 For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
Re 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. The reason that the name of the city is written on the bride is that the city is the bride.
These Scriptures all refer to the marriage of the people with their God. The city is the bride prepared and she has made herself ready for the name. She had made herself ready to lose her identity. She is taken into Him and they are wed into one being.
The Eyes are Opened
The Day of Atonement is not a marriage. It was a time for repentance since the newly escaped Israelites had just lost their vision and returned to their old ways. A marriage is more referenced by the love of two persons consummated. This Day of Atonement more illustrates the beginning of the ten day period leading up to Pentecost which was the day when fire came down from the heavens and illuminated those present with the understanding of what the cross signified and with the eyes to see who Jesus was. This illumination for us was clearly illustrated ten days ago.
We will now enter the time of teaching when Jesus visited with the scattered followers from time to time, causing them to be encouraged as to His mission and purpose. He visited mainly with those who were seeking eagerly for the answers to their troubled minds.
The people of God should not mainly focus on the symbol as do the modern Christians. They use crosses and sometimes put images of what they think Jesus looked like on them. The cross was actually a symbol of God yielding Himself up to man. He was reconciled to man and refused to retaliate or persecute His enemies. The Father in the Son had given Himself over. When men finally receive that image into their own soul, it causes them to give themselves over to God and cease persecuting the Father for imagined offenses of His. When men see what happened on the cross, they will go into the marriage with the Father. They will not just be atoned for, they will be union with Him, since their poor vision is now corrected.
God Was Not Angry
For long years men have envisioned the cross in a way that pictures the sins of men so wicked and so hated by God that He sent His own son to die for those sins, so wicked men could go to heaven. They picture God so exacting concerning the least infraction that He took out his rage on His own Son. This view of things puts all the weight on how God punished His Son since men were so vile.
It is true that men are vile, but God came to vile men to cause them to yield up their hearts to His ever present love for them. His Son came to show us visually how God reacts to our hostile nature against Him. All men in their natural state hate God and are offended with His dealings concerning them. Christ Jesus revealed God's attitude in regards to fallen men. He didn't fight back when accused and abused. He gave Himself over to men. He doesn't find fault or hate His creation and the death of Christ proved it.
When our hearts are sufficiently opened to God's precious and gentle love for us, we yield as He did and give up ourselves as He gave up. We marry Him in perfect trust. We no longer believe He is setting about to hate us and reject us.
Messiah Commits Adultery
Now Messiah introduces the marriage. The marriage illustrates in very graphic detail how the woman yields to the heavenly husband, trusting that she is union with him instead of rejected and judged by him. She willingly gives up herself to His loving and gentle invasion of her most private places. She is naked and unashamed since she knows He does not have a heart of criticism or contempt. He makes her one with Himself. She does not yield because she is supposed to; she yields because she has fallen in love with Him.
At the time of the crucifixion, the cross was a most unthinkable symbol of God's forgiveness. That was the place for criminals and the lowest life of society. It was the place where society's enemies were terminated. No one would look to a cross for redemption. No one would! The consummation is similar in that it is a most unlikely symbol in this age. How could God literally present such a symbol since it would appear as adultery or fornication.
Yet, consider the principles. In an earthly marriage there are two individuals promised to each other. They are committed for better or for worse. The wife promises to obey her husband and the husband promises to love and cherish the wife. The time comes when one of them accepts Christ with all his heart. That one will now not participate in any of their previous worldly practices. The one who has found God now is no longer the beloved property of the other. That one is the beloved property of God. The unbelieving spouse feels abandoned and is no less angry than if the believer had been sleeping with the neighbor. This "adultery" has cause the dissolution of many a marriage. God comes in and steals the affections of one of the married partners in a way that is much more invasive than any physical adultery. The very spirit has been adulterated as far as the earthly minded one goes.
The thing often missed by those suffering spiritual adultery, is that humanity is the creation of God. We are born His property even though we are married to another. The love of God simply gives back the true husband of man. Mankind is restored to its rightful husband and gives up its adultery which seemed so right previously. By instituting the marriage, we are ceasing our adulterous affairs with earthly lovers and worldly ways. The physical consummation is a sign, but the reality of the physical consummation is that we are united with our true lover and see Him as completely yielded to us as well. God, in the consummation, is only taking a yielded wife into his own very yielded self. He is not His bride's judge or persecutor as in earthly relationships. He is completely yielded and totally in love with her. This is the focus and this is the thing which must be received into the soul. This completes the mystery and satisfies the heart. This very thing finishes all human activity and the yielded and loving God now is given the bed instead of the one who has previously laid claim to the woman and oppressed her with his many fits and spiritual tortures. Now she will receive her rightful husband. Now she is free and completed in Him.
The Yielding
There are those who consider themselves yielded to the heavenly husband. Some mistake the true nature of the yielding. They pray for many things as one might ask Santa for a gift. They want this or that good thing or this or that character trait. Yielding is not a list of expectations from God. Yielding yields the list as well. Those who yield, bring no agenda to their heavenly lover. Others expect that their heavenly lover will see their beauty (righteousness) and rightfully regard their holy state. They do all kinds of good deeds and humble their hearts in a most obvious way. No one should miss seeing how beautifully dressed they are, arriving for the marriage they so obviously deserve. This is not yielding either. The yielded heart expects nothing. It has nothing to seek for itself. It is finished; it is empty. "My love, do with me as you will. I have nothing to require, I give you myself without expecting anything or requiring anything. I have no clothing of my own or any possession. Do with me as pleases you."
All men should see themselves as the yielded bride. All men should be so united in marriage that all things are seen as the property of the new heavenly husband. All things previously thought to be the personal possession of the soul, are now given over to be the possession of our heavenly love. We are given over, and wherever our heavenly love leads, we follow in a most yielded way. We are given over. We are yielded up. Now, all that we receive will be the caresses of our most precious pursuer. We are back with our true husband having given up our worldly adulteries. This is a most precious moment, and one in which all heaven rejoices.