This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:32
So, I've got several studies going at once. I'm working on the Sermon on the Mount series, I just posted about the End of an Era, and I'm working on a Marriage series. I just finished the Fulfilling the Law portion of the Sermon on the Mount series, I direct the reader back to a series I did some time back (New or Renewed) about the current covenant we are in, the one the Bible explains we're in based on the original Hebrew words and Galatians 3. If you've not been here before then I've provided many links to keep you busy a while.
While laying in bed this morning, and meditating on everything I'm looking at, I had some incredible imagery from the Bible flow into my brain that further realizes the "mystery" Paul was talking about. My mind was blown so much I had to jump out of bed to make notes.
In talking about the Covenant Paul tells the Galatians (3:15-20),
"Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. [This is the case that this covenant Paul is talking about is "duly established" so "no one can set aside or add" to this covenant made by man and that also applies with God's covenant] The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. [So the covenant with Abraham was for the coming of Messiah; He is the promise] What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. [The law established in Moses does not set aside or negate the law with Abraham. This covenant with Abraham will still be established. Remember he's talking to gentile in talking to Ephesians] For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. [The inheritance of God is not dependent upon the law of Moses but the promise to Abraham].
Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. [The law of Moses was given because the people of God continued in their transgressions, they continued to sin. Therefore, God laid down the law in writing so they would follow. This law would stay as rule until the Seed, the promise to Abraham would come] The law was given through angels [messengers carried from mouth to ear] and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one." [The promise made with Abraham did not include two parties, it was one. God is the only one who passed through the blood in the covenant]
According to Paul, we are not in a "new" covenant in the way that is taught in the churches today. We are in a RENEWED covenant. God made a covenant with Abraham and then the "Old Covenant" as we know it today, came 430 years later UNTIL Messiah came which was the promise, the covenant, made with Abram. The covenant made with Moses consisted of the all the ceremonial rituals to be saved, that was NOT the covenant with Abram. The covenant with Abram was a promise of a bride and Groom.
Let's look at the covenant made with Abram.
So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. ”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates — 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” Genesis 15:9-21
God told Abram that he will obtain the land he was in and Abram was wondering how he would know he would gain possession (15:7-8). So, God tells Abram what animals to gather and Abram knew exactly what covenant this was because he not only gathered them but immediately stating setting up the covenant (9-10). The interesting thing is that this covenant was in response to a promise of land but the covenant God was entering into was a betrothal covenant. A covenant made between a brides father and the groom. The covenant was a promise from the brides father that his daughter is pure, spotless, a virgin. The promise from the groom is that he will take care of her and love her. In the process, something of value is given by the groom to the brides father.
People have long said that Abram refused to pass through because he couldn't keep his end of the covenant. He had nothing to give and he couldn't remain without sin. The problem is that Abram is not the groom. He had no skin in this game. The fact is, he had no clue of who the bride was and who the groom was. God did not talk about His people being called a bride nor did He tell Abram about bringing His Son. He didn't know who the covenant was for, he just did what God told him and then waited (11-12). God passed through the covenant twice (17) because He is promising to establish the bride (why we call Him Father) and He is the groom, God made flesh, His Son. This is the purpose of the land promised (18-21).
In the middle of all this God tells Abraham that his offspring, the bride, will be slaves in a foreign land (13). Why? Of what importance is this?
Later in the story of Abrahams generations, God gives Joseph (Abrahams grandson) a dream, knowing he will tell his brothers, also knowing his brothers would be jealous and try to kill him, causing God to guide their sin to sell their brother to Egypt (Genesis 37). God made sure the offspring of Abraham, the new bride to be, was enslaved (Genesis 47).
Later, the bride is released passing through the Red Sea (Exodus 14-15). What we have an imagery of the new bride to be bound in a birth chamber (Egypt) to pass through the water canal into freedom (Red Sea) and a new land (Canaan). Messiah tells Nicodemus, you're a teacher of Torah and you don't understand born again? (John 3:10) This imagery should have been apparent to Nicodemus.
As a good father would do, He lays down the rule of law in writing (Exodus 20). The marriage covenant promise with Himself, to His Son (Messiah), is why you'd see Him get upset and call the bride to be, "whore" when she was cheating (Jeremiah 3:1-5; Ezekiel 16:14-63; 23-5; Hosea). He made a promise of a virgin and she's not helping keep the Fathers end.
As the bride matured she was no longer under the law, it was written on her heart (Romans 2:15; 2 Corinthians 3:1-6). They have been raised on the instruction for two thousand years and now the Father will establish it in her heart. Raise a child in the way they should go… (Proverbs 22:6)
Messiah came to fulfill the Torah (Matthew 5:17-20), the promise, the marriage covenant. He's the groom who's come for His bride.
The entire story is imagery of a bride, her father, and the groom.
The sad part is the number of people who claim the Old Testament is no longer. The Old Testament is the promise of the Groom which we see so much imagery for in the New Testament writings. Without the marriage covenant from the brides Father and Groom, there is no promise of the Groom caring for the bride, there is no marriage. The removing of the Old Testament is the most dangerous teaching today as it removes the promise, the Groom, the covenant, the marriage.
Now, to the 2000+2000+2000 before the rest, or marriage feast.
The number two means multiply in the Hebrew mindset.
The first 2000 years God told man to physically multiply
The second 2000 years God tells Abram HE will multiply
The last 2000 years the groom tells His bride to spiritually multiply (make disciples)
1000 years of rest.
While laying in bed this morning, and meditating on everything I'm looking at, I had some incredible imagery from the Bible flow into my brain that further realizes the "mystery" Paul was talking about. My mind was blown so much I had to jump out of bed to make notes.
In talking about the Covenant Paul tells the Galatians (3:15-20),
"Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. [This is the case that this covenant Paul is talking about is "duly established" so "no one can set aside or add" to this covenant made by man and that also applies with God's covenant] The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. [So the covenant with Abraham was for the coming of Messiah; He is the promise] What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. [The law established in Moses does not set aside or negate the law with Abraham. This covenant with Abraham will still be established. Remember he's talking to gentile in talking to Ephesians] For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. [The inheritance of God is not dependent upon the law of Moses but the promise to Abraham].
Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. [The law of Moses was given because the people of God continued in their transgressions, they continued to sin. Therefore, God laid down the law in writing so they would follow. This law would stay as rule until the Seed, the promise to Abraham would come] The law was given through angels [messengers carried from mouth to ear] and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one." [The promise made with Abraham did not include two parties, it was one. God is the only one who passed through the blood in the covenant]
According to Paul, we are not in a "new" covenant in the way that is taught in the churches today. We are in a RENEWED covenant. God made a covenant with Abraham and then the "Old Covenant" as we know it today, came 430 years later UNTIL Messiah came which was the promise, the covenant, made with Abram. The covenant made with Moses consisted of the all the ceremonial rituals to be saved, that was NOT the covenant with Abram. The covenant with Abram was a promise of a bride and Groom.
Let's look at the covenant made with Abram.
So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. ”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates — 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” Genesis 15:9-21
God told Abram that he will obtain the land he was in and Abram was wondering how he would know he would gain possession (15:7-8). So, God tells Abram what animals to gather and Abram knew exactly what covenant this was because he not only gathered them but immediately stating setting up the covenant (9-10). The interesting thing is that this covenant was in response to a promise of land but the covenant God was entering into was a betrothal covenant. A covenant made between a brides father and the groom. The covenant was a promise from the brides father that his daughter is pure, spotless, a virgin. The promise from the groom is that he will take care of her and love her. In the process, something of value is given by the groom to the brides father.
People have long said that Abram refused to pass through because he couldn't keep his end of the covenant. He had nothing to give and he couldn't remain without sin. The problem is that Abram is not the groom. He had no skin in this game. The fact is, he had no clue of who the bride was and who the groom was. God did not talk about His people being called a bride nor did He tell Abram about bringing His Son. He didn't know who the covenant was for, he just did what God told him and then waited (11-12). God passed through the covenant twice (17) because He is promising to establish the bride (why we call Him Father) and He is the groom, God made flesh, His Son. This is the purpose of the land promised (18-21).
In the middle of all this God tells Abraham that his offspring, the bride, will be slaves in a foreign land (13). Why? Of what importance is this?
Later in the story of Abrahams generations, God gives Joseph (Abrahams grandson) a dream, knowing he will tell his brothers, also knowing his brothers would be jealous and try to kill him, causing God to guide their sin to sell their brother to Egypt (Genesis 37). God made sure the offspring of Abraham, the new bride to be, was enslaved (Genesis 47).
Later, the bride is released passing through the Red Sea (Exodus 14-15). What we have an imagery of the new bride to be bound in a birth chamber (Egypt) to pass through the water canal into freedom (Red Sea) and a new land (Canaan). Messiah tells Nicodemus, you're a teacher of Torah and you don't understand born again? (John 3:10) This imagery should have been apparent to Nicodemus.
As a good father would do, He lays down the rule of law in writing (Exodus 20). The marriage covenant promise with Himself, to His Son (Messiah), is why you'd see Him get upset and call the bride to be, "whore" when she was cheating (Jeremiah 3:1-5; Ezekiel 16:14-63; 23-5; Hosea). He made a promise of a virgin and she's not helping keep the Fathers end.
As the bride matured she was no longer under the law, it was written on her heart (Romans 2:15; 2 Corinthians 3:1-6). They have been raised on the instruction for two thousand years and now the Father will establish it in her heart. Raise a child in the way they should go… (Proverbs 22:6)
Messiah came to fulfill the Torah (Matthew 5:17-20), the promise, the marriage covenant. He's the groom who's come for His bride.
The entire story is imagery of a bride, her father, and the groom.
The sad part is the number of people who claim the Old Testament is no longer. The Old Testament is the promise of the Groom which we see so much imagery for in the New Testament writings. Without the marriage covenant from the brides Father and Groom, there is no promise of the Groom caring for the bride, there is no marriage. The removing of the Old Testament is the most dangerous teaching today as it removes the promise, the Groom, the covenant, the marriage.
Now, to the 2000+2000+2000 before the rest, or marriage feast.
The number two means multiply in the Hebrew mindset.
The first 2000 years God told man to physically multiply
The second 2000 years God tells Abram HE will multiply
The last 2000 years the groom tells His bride to spiritually multiply (make disciples)
1000 years of rest.