GOD'S MARRIAGE TO ISRAEL  

 This marriage relationship was established by God because national Israel typified and foreshadowed the spiritual Israel of God which was to become the eternal bride of Christ. 

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    We know this spiritual marriage between God and national Israel existed because of

God’s complaint recorded in Jeremiah 3:14 concerning the spiritual fornication practiced by His wife: (the golden calf, Santa Claus, Easter Bunny) Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: ...

   He was not married to them as individuals; as individuals, they were spiritually married to the law of God.  Rather, He was married to them as a corporate entity.  But God faced a real problem.  At no time in national Israel's history were they faithful.  Repeatedly they lusted after other gods.  What was God to do with His fornicating wife?  According to God's eternal law, death is required for the adulterous wife.  But God could not utterly destroy Israel as a nation, for it was out of national Israel that Christ was to come. Furthermore, God planned to use national Israel as an example of His patience and mercy. 

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Remember, in the parable of Luke 13, the fig tree that repeatedly had not borne fruit was to be cut down.  But then it was to be given one more opportunity.  If there still was no fruit, it was to be cut down.

 

  The Parable of The Ten Virgins  

1. Matthew 25:1-13 1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’  9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you; go instead to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.

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3. 11 Afterward, the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

4. In this parable, there are five critical words that require definition to enable us to extract the full intended meaning…those five words are (page 16) Wise: The wise is one who hears and obeys.

   • Psalm 19:7 The law of Yehovah is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of Yehovah is sure, making wise the simple; 

           Matthew 7:24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

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Foolish: The foolish are those who are disobedient. Fools hate instruction; (Torah meaning ‘instruction,’ as it relates to the Word of God).

• Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD (YHWH) is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

• Proverbs 10:8 The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin. 

• Matthew 7:26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

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Lamp:  This is the commandment.   

• Proverbs 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life, LIGHT: THE LIGHT IS THE LAW, THE TORAH. 

• Proverbs 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

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Light: The light is the law, the Torah.

Proverbs 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

Oil:  Is the desire for obedience. Before reading this commandment, remember, that the lamp is “the commandment” and the light is “the law.” 

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Leviticus 24:2 “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly.    

 Remember, the result determines who is welcome to intimacy with the bridegroom. Those who have light are welcome. Light is the condition for the appropriate result. Think about this. The end was that the foolish did not have LIGHT, we need to remember this throughout this teaching.

 

Let’s begin 

Biblically defining the terms: Revelation 19:6-96 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For Yehovah, our Elohim the Almighty reigns.7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb, has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.9 And the angel said[a] to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

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The New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb

• Revelation 21:9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. 22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lambare its temple. 23 The city does not need the sunor the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

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And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

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 25 Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 

(page 17)  14 Return, OF faithless sons,' declares the LORD; For I am a master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family, And I will bring you to Zion.' 15"Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding…“For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused (betrothed) you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:2) (John 14:1-4) “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” (Mark 13:32-37) “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”  “While the groom builds the new home, the bride waits and wears a veil and a headband with the coins. This shows she belongs only to the groom; she is no longer available. She prepares for her wedding by making blankets, trying to become the Proverb 31: 10-31 woman. She also shows gratitude to her family for raising her, and she mends hurt relationships. No matter what, she had to be ready because he would come at night.”