Romanticism Holds Husbands to Ransom, Escalating the Idolisation of Women—An Artifice of The Great Whore

Study 10 – Part 2

[Study Aired April 18, 2026]

As with each of these introductory studies, which unveil the Bride’s highly anticipated joy as described physically in the SoS, they starkly reveal the reason Solomon created his Shulamite Bride. It lies in his distressing and unimpressive experiences with his thousand wives, whose treacherous kisses (her word/doctrines/silver and gold) forcefully dictate that he be intoxicated by their wine of emblematic romanticised ravishment, which proved to be as inert as water, corrupted and moth-eaten sentiments of The Great Whore.

Jas 5:1  Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Jas 5:2  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Jas 5:3  Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

Husbands in marital sex are delusively wealthy men who subconsciously believe they are rich in (unrealised) feminine church doctrines as the only way for her to feel emotionally ‘safe, loved, heard and appreciated’ before she can participate intimately. They have physically, denoting them spiritually, drunk the filth of her water, her doctrines imagining it is arousing wine. She is a foil for his worst treachery in Eden for idly letting Eve even look upon the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, let alone touch it. Accordingly, all husbands listening to their wives’ Serpent acquired wisdom of better judgment in boudoir arouses, effectively have their wives witness against them, whereby their flesh, supposedly one in their wives, is eaten up, and burning him with fire for his submission to her. Juxtapose that with the opening verse of the Bride in the Son 1:2.

Isa 1:22  Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: 

Hos 4:18  Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.

Her husband’s unwitting shame of abdication for the most part of his headship and authority, tries to love his wife by her criteria.

2Co 2:17  For we are not as many [… it’s a little flock/Church], which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. 

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine – Son 1:2

Demonstratively in Genesis 28 and 29, Jacob’s love for Rachel was not initially based on romantic love. It was a transactional love based on God’s commands for mate selection among the circumcised, with Jacob grateful for her virtuous beauty and, accordingly, a spiritually uncircumcised natural (1Cor 15:46) coquettish unity we today exaggerate as romance.

Romanticism, insidiously, becomes idol worship where the woman is the focus, the pinnacle of worship, displaying her thighs ungracefully. The sight of a wife, her thighs delicately revealed beneath an elegant dress by her spiritual walk, or, for that matter, any ‘innocent’ occasion, exudes a sense of grace and confidence. Her poised demeanour, complemented by a warm and inviting brightness in her expression, starkly contrasts with the overt lewd theatrics often associated with a harlot. This captivating elegance is reserved solely for her husband, embodying a profound allure. Similarly, the Bride’s walk, a sacred journey dedicated to Christ, carries with it a sense of reverence and beauty that further enhances the sanctity of the moment.

Son 7:1  How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.

In a world where almost every young woman’s tantalising curves are accentuated by seductive attire, the allure of elegantly dressed thighs invokes a powerful desire that captivates both men and women alike. The thought of a woman draped in exquisite fabrics, tailored perfectly to her silhouette, is enough to stir deep passions. While some may sway towards revealing G-strings and provocative ensembles, it’s the sophistication of demurely, gracefully crafted garments that truly ignites the imagination in honouring beauty righteously.

Picture a woman adorned in beautiful fabrics that highlight her body’s contours, her outfit harmonizing with her skin tone and hairstyle, capturing her ethnic beauty. The delicate interplay of rich colors and luxurious textures creates an enchanting aura, leaving onlookers spellbound. In such moments, men find themselves captivated and entranced, their usual cravings transformed into a desire not just for physical beauty, but for the elegance and depth that such refinement conveys. It’s a dance of allure that evokes both righteous and unrighteous lust, inviting a celebration of all that is beautiful in this tapestry and song of femininity.

The Song of Solomon is Christ’s equivalent of ‘romantic’ expression in Christ-centricity with and by his Bride.

Worldly feminine romanticism is the ultimate vanity of vanities that Solomon lamented (in the entire book of Ecclesiastes) and set out to correct. Its earthborn sentimentality has never transformed anyone’s heart to align with Christ. It inevitably leads to frustration, disparity, and bitterness, often resulting in divorce. In contrast, true love involves confronting oneself, reflecting on the depths of who we truly are, and acknowledging our brokenness. When we authentically review that mirror of the woman we are, it is not flattering; it threatens to betray every romantic ideal we deludedly thought shielded us from the responsibility Christ compels us to adhere to.

Love is not about finding the perfect spouse who will provide all our sensual needs and desires, but being forged in the fiery furnace of sustaining it by Christ’s power and might. Utterly foreign to the female world, the Shulamite, we shall ultimately see, is given to reciprocate her Fiancé’s dues enthusiastically.

Our Lord’s immense feeling of rejection by his wife of old is the most painful boudoir experience all husbands, to varying degrees, experience, questioning, ‘Am I not enough?’

Historically, men, symbolised by Christ righteously, have been the greater romantics, igniting a profound romantic desire in women, placing them on a pedestal to which they paradoxically declare, yet inwardly denounce, unable to escape the curse of romanticism. As women exhibit much more sensual expressions that excite both men and women, the world believes they hold the key to all romantic ideals. It sets them up to be idolised and worshipped, a majesty she fiercely protects and inevitably bereaved in that — “he shall rule over thee”.

Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

However, in reality, romanticism expressed through the Shulamite’s intentional suspense harvests exquisite physical and spiritual emotions designed by Christ, exemplifying the devotion of a profoundly transformed heart towards her husband and eagerly affirming his headship. It resonates with unspeakable love in her husband, reverberating to his wife and amplifying extravagant spiritual realities that rebound between each other – spiritually forever.

Romanticism unfolds as a deep and intimate dance between a man and a woman, set against the backdrop of divine creation. In today’s whirlwind world, this delicate balance is often inverted. Passion ignites like a wildfire, engulfing two souls in an evening of electrifying chemistry, where every glance and touch sends shivers down the spine. Yet, all too often, this fervour flickers and fades, leaving behind the echoes of what once was.

This intense emotional surge especially captivates women, luring them into a dream of blissful union and endless romance. No doubt romanticising John Keats to pen the memorable quote, “Now a soft kiss – Aye, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss.” Men, in their pursuit of thrilling encounters, might find themselves swept away by the allure of fleeting intimacy. Yet, ultimately, it’s the women who experience the deeper tides of longing and disillusionment. Just as Old Israel found herself torn between desires for material pleasures and the deeper spiritual fulfillment, today’s lovers often grapple with a similar disconnect. They chase the exhilarating rush of passion, overlooking the more profound connections that truly nourish the soul.

Amidst the vibrant chaos of desire, it’s easy to forget that genuine intimacy requires more than just physicality—it longs for an emotional tether—a spiritual bond that transcends the momentary thrill. In this erotic landscape, finding harmony between flesh and spirit is Babylon’s ultimate pursuit—a quest for love that is both passionate and enduring, not found in Zen, Buddhism, Tantra, or other esoteric pursuits, but hidden in Christ, only to be revealed to his Wife’s (the Bride’s) understanding for their mutual glory is in the Father.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 

Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 
Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 

Men, driven by both righteous and unrighteous lusts for women, and to women’s delight, both seek the emotional highs that unified chemistry ignites that they unequivocally believe are love—those small and silly moments, a song that only you and she understand. A shared moment of uncontrollable laughter forms a powerful imprint that is recalled with equal hilarity for years. Chemistry is a tremendously powerful influence on mate selection; early in the relationship, it can be deceiving. When the vital spiritual elements are established and agreed upon, chemistry is a glorious and ravishing part of marriage.

Thus, in those verses, the wife, symbolizing the church, first desires to be enveloped in romanticism, initiated in Eden, ironically turning away from the very foundation of Christ’s teachings that underpin genuine romanticism! She cannot do those physical and, more importantly, the spiritual things she would that drive the very things she lusts! Consequently, it is crazy stuff to be “against” our Lord’s original husbandly headship, having never had the chance to prove its dynasticism until today.

Jacob never had time to develop romantic feelings. Since it was ‘doctrinally’ established that he must marry within his own family, the moral basis for choosing a wife was already set. All he needed was to notice a woman’s intriguing beauty, confident that she would be traditionally submissive to his authority as her husband.

Gen 29:9  And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept them.
Gen 29:10  And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
Gen 29:11  And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.

Romanticism originates from genuine love. The most well-known biblical stories of Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Rachel do not portray romanticism as essential before engagement. Only through reflecting on these biblical accounts do we see how the concept of romanticism develops in our minds. The righteous men and women of old consistently teach that Godly covenant unity takes precedence over all emotions. Ideally, based on Christ’s truths, the minimally standard key for choosing a virginal mate, it subtly yet powerfully addresses various personal nuances and quirks of intimacy, such as hygiene—linked to spiritual cleanliness—and mutually agreeable traits, including raising children, work security, and creating a home. Spiritually, this, too, is the key to developing the wonderfully stimulating emotions and feelings the Bride longs to be imprinted by placing Christ first, as demonstrated in the Song of Solomon.

Christ introduced the concept of romanticism — God did it to incite mankind’s experience of evil further (Ecc 1:12-18) as a powerful means for mankind to boost self-glory, distinctly for women (representative of men and the harlot churches) and their inherent schemings manipulating men and patently husbands, collectively rejecting (“against”) Christ.

The supreme protagonist, Christ, represented by Solomon in the Song of Solomon, personifies the Bride of Christ and spectacularly reverses the curse, showcasing an elegant type of romanticism that glorifies her Husband. Having been a whore, she knows every detail of her former artifices that ruled her carnal husband. She is now highly skilled at using her former negative scheming to her righteous advantage, enthusiastically building her spiritual house to his pattern for him.

Eze 28:13  Thou [Mankind, typified by the woman] hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets [Timbrel, tambourine & representative or her “Song” no man could learn] and of thy pipes [Jewel settings; her joint of the Bride] was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. [Sounds pretty romantic to me]
Eze 28:14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:15  Thou wast perfect [Perfectly subject to corruption] in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Eze 28:16  By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds [the Elect]; I will be like the most High. 
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

What is Romanticism?

Romanticism was an artistic, intellectual, and literary movement originating in Europe toward the end of the 18th century (roughly 1790–1850) that championed emotion, individualism, and the power of nature. It emerged as a reaction against the scientific rationalism of the Enlightenment and the ordered, formal constraints of Neoclassicism.

Key characteristics and aspects of Romanticism include:

Emphasis on Emotion and Subjectivity: Prioritising intense personal feelings, imagination, and intuition over logic, reason, and empirical, objective truth.

Awe of Nature: Viewing nature as a spiritual, sublime, and untamed force, often in contrast to the artificiality of industrialization.

Individualism and the Hero: A focus on the “heroic” individual, the artist’s inner struggles, and the genius of the human spirit.

Interest in the Past and Exotic: A fascination with the medieval period, folklore, the supernatural, and the exotic, rejecting the modernisation of society.

Contextual Factors

The movement was heavily influenced by the social and political changes brought about by the French and Industrial Revolutions, which sparked a desire for emotional escape and a return to nature.

The fundamental distinction between contemporary Babylonian elements of romanticism and, perhaps, the romantic facets of Solomon and his Shulamite creation is that both he and she place primary importance on God’s reality as expressed through His truth. In contrast to Babylonian romanticism, this emphasis motivates only the Elect’s sensual perceptions, which are rooted in His empirical spiritual truth and are far more sensually arousing, both physically and spiritually, because they are anchored in Christ’s faith in the Father for the supreme truth, rather than centred on ourselves. Those characteristics represent the elusive love Solomon and the world seek and cannot find.

We know that God is love, but what does that mean?

Interestingly, the name” God” appears 700 times in the Bible, symbolising God’s fulfilment of the creation process.

1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1Jn 4:8  He that lovethG25 [G5723] notG3361 knowethG1097 [G5627] notG3756 GodG2316; forG3754 GodG2316 isG2076 [G5748] loveG26.

Loveth G25 – Tense, present.
Agapao
– Phonetic: ag-ap-ah’-o
– Definition:

of persons
to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly
of things
to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing

God G2316
Theos
– Phonetic: theh’-os
– Definition:

a God or Goddess, a general name of deities or divinities
the Godhead.
God the Father, the first person in the Godhead.
Christ, the second person of the Godhead, in submission to the Father.

Love  G26
Agape
– Phonetic: ag-ah’-pay
– Definition:

brotherly love, affection, goodwill, love, benevolence
love feasts

G25
Agapao
– Phonetic: ag-ap-ah’-o
– Definition:

of persons
to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly
of things
to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing

G53367
 Phileo
– Phonetic: fil-eh’-o
– Definition:

to love
to approve of
to like
sanction
to treat affectionately or kindly, to welcome, befriend
to show signs of love
to kiss
to be fond of doing

Nowhere in those definitions is there a direct indication that the sentimentality of ‘romanticism’ is a derivative of love.

Considering the meanings of love mentioned above, here is God’s definition of love leading to eternal life:

1Jn 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth [As God loves] is born of God, and knoweth God.
1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1Jn 4:9  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
1Jn 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1Jn 4:11  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
1Jn 4:12  No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 
1Jn 4:13  Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his spirit.
1Jn 4:14  And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

If we do not demonstrate love for God by adhering to His commandments, we lack the understanding necessary to love a spouse appropriately; we will fumble and bumble, focusing on sensual pleasure rather than on the supreme joy of spiritual knowledge, thereby amplifying our physical pleasure. Such is the result of the profound blindness when focused on the flesh.

Can we align the contemporary idea of romanticism with God’s love and appropriately grant that form to another person, particularly a husband or wife, appropriately reflecting Christ’s romanticised love for us? The following excerpt from Dr Brenda Ayres, with orthodox Christian leanings, is a full professor of English and member of the graduate faculty at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, helps us understand the Babylonian Christian’s view of romanticism. Ayers’ brief exposé on the origins of Romanticism reflected in Christianity, for this study’s purpose, somewhat commends and highlights a Christian’s struggle to ‘see through a glass darkly’ and to understand Christ through the beauty of nature and mankind. This represents the noble aspect of contemporary ‘romanticism’ that is widely recognised—indirectly enhancing the poetic Song of Solomon, which all Christians aspire to comprehend and diligently explore without one jot of success. It is understood solely by the Bride of Christ, that is to her, and by contemporary terminology, is inherently and phenomenally ‘romantic’ by her God-given spiritual understanding of who she is and how her idea of romance is utterly reversed!

Dr. Brenda Ayres
30 November 2016
Romanticism and Christianity

The Romantic Era, beginning in the late 18th century and flourishing in the early 1800s, made an unforgettable contribution to literature, intriguing scholars, students, and casual readers alike with its enchanting approach to the world. Reacting against the urbanisation and modernisation brought about by the Industrial Revolution, Romanticism recognised defects in modern society and sought refuge in what was simple and organic. Crafting literature that sparks the imagination and captivates the senses, the Romantics colored their poetry with themes of beauty, nature, youth, emotion, and escape. In each of these prominent Romantic features, the fervency of Romantic notions sometimes caused the Romantics to stray from Christianity; [Bold Grant’s] nonetheless, Romanticism offers many insights that can enhance Christian life and inspire worship of God.

One of the most appealing qualities distinctive of Romanticism is its appreciation of beauty. In “A Defence of Poetry,” Percy Bysshe Shelley describes poetry’s effect on the reality it portrays: “Poetry turns all things to loveliness; it exalts the beauty of that which is most beautiful, and it adds beauty to that which is most deformed” (1176). The Romantics not only wrote about beauty but also created it; their works, which include some of the most beautiful poetry ever written, focus on the stuff of daily life, drawing out the beauty in nature and in common things. A master at capturing beautiful scenes and settings, William Wordsworth exemplifies the Romantic inclination to find beauty and delight in nature. In his poem “It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free,” Wordsworth describes the stillness of an evening, painting a picture of the scene with his simple but beautiful descriptions, such as the quiet time’s likeness to a nun “breathless with adoration” and the sun’s “sinking down in its tranquillity” (3-4). He follows his description of the peaceful setting by expressing to his young companion that, through her participation in the serene moment, she is unknowingly brought closer to God. It is in its wonder at beauty that Romanticism perhaps best contributes to Christianity: the poets allow themselves to be filled with awe at the beauty of the world around them—a world that Christians know is the handiwork of a magnificent Creator. Beauty did not always lead the Romantics to worship the Creator God; yet Christians should seek to discover and delight in beauty as the Romantics did, with even greater appreciation for its Creator. [Bold Grant’s. End]

Doctor Ayres’s astute comment that “the fervency of Romantic notions sometimes caused the romantics to stray from Christianity” is, as we know, initiated by women, meaning the church’s unrighteous lust, and indicative of wives to their husbands in carnal marriages, to insist that their (unwitting) other Jesus’s obligation is to solely ravish her! Ayer’s final comment advocating the glorification of our creator, Christ, our husband, through righteous romanticism strongly reflects the Shulamite’s deportment in The Song of Solomon, mirroring her Husband’s —the Royal Lyricist of the Bible! So, yes, we can justifiably romanticise our interactions, righteously ‘inventing‘ (Ecc 7:26-29) anticipatory foreplay, precisely as the Bride does with Christ, and he, with her, each day in preparatory espousal incitements, consummately.

Deu 12:28  Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.
Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, [for this cause, the largely feminine notion for the only way for her husband to arouse her, is by her romantic methodology] saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. 
Deu 12:31  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. 
Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it. 

Typically, the Babylonian Christian mindset we are fleeing leans towards imagining that we are glorifying Christ by attributing a ‘romantic’ term to our journey from being a whore, to becoming His Bride. That ethos is akin to the Israelite’s taking on their heathen neighbour’s ways and doctrines, where we could spiritually sanitize a term to describe our “romantic” journey, maybe by calling it ‘Divine Eros’; to describe the passionate longing for God, viewing natural love as a reflection of the supernatural yearning for the divine. In the Song of Solomon, the connection is clearly observable. However, and in complete accordance with the integrity of God’s word, that passion between Solomon and the Shulamite—articulated effectively by Christ to His Bride, with Him placing the words and her actions He desires in her mouth spoken in the third person—is demonstrably his pure construct, namely, “love”—that’s all—simply, “love”.

However, mankind’s version of romanticism, compared to Christ’s in the Song of Solomon, sets carnal, espoused love up for failure.

Romanticism has enslaved the world to the worship of women. Its universally accepted stencil is: 1. marriage; 2. love and sex; 3. the end of Adamic loneliness; 4. adoration, all blithely accepted without any— 5. practicality of implementation and adjustment for mutually beneficial romantic change.

Romanticism is deeply optimistic about marriage; yet, in plagiarised marriage, fusing it to a sensually volatile shape and form in a passionate love recital, each party (in subconscious deceit) enthusiastically sees the other as their lifelong perfect match, made in heaven.

Compared to historically more localised observations of potential paramours from the field and community in agrarian society, the relatively modern notion of dating and its intensified focus on a possible mate for compatibility forces an unrealistic appraisal of the prospect. It’s a breeding ground for feminist ‘inventions’ highly evident in women and ever so easily accepted in men, as Solomon grieved in Ecclesiastes 7. It fostered unrealistic affections rooted in lust and often led to uncontrollable sexual expressions with individuals they didn’t truly care for, while their distorted ideals of love propelled the delusional, unending quest for extraordinary sex. The so-called ‘free sex’ became a fertile ground for catastrophe, and around and around the deadly cycle goes, ever searching for knowledge and with multiple partners, never coming to the truth of Shulamite-designed romantic love.

In all the purity of nude innocence, Adam’s intrinsic and righteous lust for everything Eve, and, to her unspoilt curiosity and delight, to him, seems to mark the conclusion to his loneliness. He chose to die with Eve rather than live without her love. For us today, such a unifying chemistry in marriage, intuiting our souls, is overwhelmingly refreshing. Unconscious of the holy spirit, such virginal impressions retrospectively cause mankind to yearn for a return to nature, nude in Eden.

Consequently, romanticism facilitated the conception that choosing a spouse should be guided by feelings rather than practical rationality let alone by our Lord’s covenant ministrations—you recognise that you are in love because you have a magical feeling, unwittingly enslaving you; rather, those endorphin-induced feelings should be the catalyst driving the pursuit of who her husband is designed to represent, and not solely to luxuriate in the sensuality they incite. Subsequently, that ministration of serving him is guaranteed to rebound most deliciously in his wife. Perhaps the unrivalled dissolute examples of lust were Amnon’s with his half-sister Tamar, and Ahola and Aholabah’s escapades with any endorphin-inducing young men’s eroticisms (2 Sam 13; Ezek 23), their parallel feelings unrighteously expressed most sinfully, far removed from the purity of Solomon’s conceptions of interactions with his Shulamite Bride.

Son 5:8  I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. 

Typically, romantic love overshadows the lingering concerns that issues related to finances, bathroom and toiletry etiquette, and dietary laziness will inevitably change once married. It is so unromantic to make an issue of those matters while blissful feelings flood the senses. Romanticism suggests that true love corresponds to accepting everything about the other person, pushing to the background the need for personal change that he should easily see. It’s insulting to either party that one must change, and such expressions convey a strong message that the relationship is doomed.

Historically and complicated through modern courtship, everyone accepts this broad template, which has led to an advanced experience of evil (Ecc 1:13 CLV), causing the world, the woman, to cry out in pain of being born. We shall see that the Shulamite laps it up as food, nourishing her to reverse the curse and overcome a succession of lies, her 1,000 sisters of Solomon’s court, ‘tabering’ each other their sensual rulership over their husband and king.

Nah 2:7  And Huzzab [make one’s stand] shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering [play a sound {prattling}] upon their breasts.

These are some of the myths of romanticism: that a particular person is unique in inner and outer beauty and intelligence, inciting exquisite feelings of attraction to them and us; that the first few years of sexual curiosity and experimental delights should last forever; and that it should all happen intuitively, without guidance from elders or parents, as their examples are prominent by example, detrimental. We naively believe that we will learn the finer nuances of love along the way, without secrets, in constant company, work and raising a family, we believe, will never impede sexual interest or intensity.

Christ, the Lord of the Old Covenant, inspired Solomon through the holy spirit to critically examine the modern ideals of romantic love and to thoroughly explore what about his wives and his wisdom caused him and the husbands in his kingdom to experience marital discord and bitterness. Because the flesh is highly prone to corruption of body, mind, and spirit, instinctive feelings alone cannot help us hit the mark. Therefore, he endeavoured to create the ‘perfect’ wife (illusory in the flesh) in the Shulamite. In his Song of Songs, a rare few husband-and-wife elects get to enact the Shulamite version, physically and spiritually, in a beautiful way. Still, the rest of the Elect receive only the coveted spiritual version in and with Christ, their husband.

The opposite of love is hate

Perhaps the first yet most significant example of someone’s love contrasted with hate was Jacob’s dispassion for Leah. His hatred for her wasn’t so nasty that he couldn’t fulfill his ‘espousal dues’ (1Co 7:6).

Gen 29:29  And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
Gen 29:30  And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
Gen 29:31  And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.

Jacob’s love for Rachel and the rivalry with Leah typically embody the positive and negative aspects of lovers’ interactions, evoking potent emotions in both the cast and the audience and creating a volatile atmosphere of romanticism. Since the Bible is about two men, the Old Man and the New Man, paradoxically reconfigured as a Bride, it is one of the most multi-faceted, dramatically romanticised plots ever devised — the Bible’s many tales having inspired playwrights, musicians and poets endlessly for six thousand years.

In continuation of the realities of the contemporary term of the influence of ‘romanticism’ on carnal marriages, and next week, we will continue to review ‘How Romanticism Escalates the Idolisation of Women’, and, essentially, one’s wife.

The Song of Solomon: God’s Purpose for Taking the Woman out of the Man – Part 3

[Study Aired February 7 2026]

While Adam is the principal sinner, having abdicated his headship over his wife by submitting to feminine logic, Eve highlights mankind’s 200,000,000-strong lies (Rev 9:16-18), inventively accusing and excusing themselves while manipulating relationships for personal advantage – all highlighted by the Woman, now unwittingly becoming the signified New Adam. She additionally inherits his curse from him in all carnal marriages by not outwardly tending her vineyard, her fields in her home building for him, infertile and overgrown with emotional thorns and thistles (Son 1:6), in control of espousal intimacies represented spiritually. We know that irritating truth by the Lord’s humiliating experiences with Old Israel as his wife in the wilderness, embedded in her Eve-like feminine wiles carried forward perpetually in the flesh of mankind until the First Resurrection and first corrected by his Bride.

Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh;

Our Lord designed mankind, characterised by women and wives, to reject their husbands’ headship, all ruthlessly symbolised by ancient Israel in the wilderness, the Lord’s first wife. She, like Gomer to Hosea and the budding Elect to Christ, was a God-induced heartache to her respective husbands, indicative of the New Adam’s temporary condition. As the aforementioned song goes, “It’s a Man’s World”, meaning, it is God’s world.

Eze 20:5  And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known [H3045 – espoused ‘knowing’ intimately] unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God; 
Eze 20:6  In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:
Eze 20:7  Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Eze 20:8  But they rebelled against me [rejected their husband’s intimate advances teaching them his word], and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

Exo 14:11  And they [Israel, the Lord’s wife] said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12  Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

That is what every Elect husband or wife hears from their non-Elect spouses, since what they, as Eve did, see and feel through their senses is the stark testimony to wealth physically, intellectually and monetarily. Centred in Eve’s emphasised femininity, highly subject to sensualities, those elements are vital to hiding the mystery of seeking what we must worship in spirit and truth.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Understandably, yet a vital necessity, it is a dreadful burden that the ‘weaker vessel’ is highlighted to carry her greater load of “many inventions” of Ecclesiastes 7:29, emblematically 200,000,000 of them guaranteed to embitter all husbands duplicitously. All Babylonian women, internally, know and rarely admit, and then resentfully, that they are full of female artifices to get their way in all strata of society, particularly in marriage. Upon being taken out of Adam, her stratagems, concentrated in her DNA, and mainly uncontrollably manifested impudently without apology – a wretched condition infecting mankind. Why? To condemn Adam, representing mankind who rejects God, signified by Eve rejecting Adam, demonstrated in the most impactful, hurtful manner conceived, fulfilled in Christ, rejected by his first wife, Old Israel, of a wife’s inevitable rejection of her husband’s insatiable need for espousal intimacies.

That is a significant burden of the Bride’s high calling (Phil 3:14, Zec 12); she now enthusiastically turned around in The Song of Solomon.

Mar 7:9  And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Luk 9:22  Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes [the Woman, the church], and be slain, and be raised the third day.

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law [Notice, men singularly against God and every scheming variation of women against both men, women and God; both entities being the same]
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

Our enemy, being of our household, is any member rejecting the husband’s headship, all cascading to the children being against both their father and mother, as are the Babylonian churches against Christ.

The Creation of Man and Woman:

Gen 2:4  These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
Gen 2:5  And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 
Gen 2:6  But there went up a mist [Emblematic of the holy spirit coming much later in ‘kisses’ to rejoin the man and woman effervescently] from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
Gen 2:7  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Gen 2:8  And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Skipping down,

Gen 2:15  And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 
Gen 2:16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely [begin the process of dying] die.
Gen 2:18  And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 
Gen 2:19  And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
Gen 2:20  And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 
Gen 2:21  And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
Gen 2:22  And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Gen 2:23  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 
Gen 2:24  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

In God’s plan for “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev 3:14, Joh 10:34), the birthing of man in the flesh is, from the outset, designed for destruction before being gifted eternal life with the same unspeakable power and glory at their fingertips as the Father (Gen 40:41-42).

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Consequently, the crowning glory of scriptural understanding of mankind’s terrible experience of evil is alone in this age for the Bride to understand – just who is Lord and King, she, the woman (mankind/the harlot church) or Christ, the Husband. God will not allow His headship to be continually challenged by His creation. Hence, he designed mankind to learn through the bitter experience of corruptible flesh the order of headship; consecutively, the Father, Christ, the man, his wife, and their children are represented in marriage as a significant part of the pattern of salvation! For mankind, and foremost, the Bride, to have that order thoroughly embedded in their heart, mind, and spirit, mankind must be severely humbled, and the most humbling experience is for both a physical husband and wife to be cursed by their indignant rejection that God should rule over them, telling them what is right for their happiness.

Accordingly, the world’s churches, represented by wives and women, are the key performers, comprehensively objecting to ‘some man’ ruling them and, more eminently, men objecting to Christ ruling them. That pattern experienced spiritually by every human who has ever existed is the intrinsic nature of evil flesh, highlighted by Adam and Eve’s curse, manifested in marriage, consummated in and by the star soloist, the Bride of Christ.

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

Hos 13:9  O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help [G5828 – is the same ‘help’ as Eve is Adam’s “helpmeet”]

Gen 2:18  And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Two aspects of the term “Helpmeet” are derived for its understanding.

Help – H5828 1. help, succour [Comfort] a. help, succour b. one who helps [comforts].

Meet – H5048 1. What is conspicuous, what is in front of adv 2. in front of, straight forward, before, in sight of.

When the Lord brought Eve to Adam, Adam immediately saw that she was like him, yet different. Eve’s most conspicuous difference was her outward bodily presentation, which deeply intrigued his mind and spirit to “know” her; the most profound and resultant aspect of that ‘knowing’ was the sexual unity melding all three elements into wholeness — of one mind, body and spirit as one, comforting him, oblivious to the coming complications of him listening to his wife rather than God.

1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through our hindsight discernment by the holy spirit, that ‘helping comfort’ Eve engendered in Adam, essentially enlivened by his lust, was about to transform into an experience of evil, deludedly perceived as love — an overpowering mixture of confusion afflicting Adam’s sensibilities, utterly unaware that his wife’s overruling actions would be emblematic of the future Whore, Babylon the Great (Rev 18).

Accordingly, a man’s introduction to or view from a distance of a woman, her attractiveness is instantly calculated visually, without any other virtuous “helpmeet” credentials adding to her value. Once she has aroused his attention and he can interact to learn of her other possible virtues, the inherently ignoble man will always place a higher value on the level of sensuality she evokes than on her other potential helpmeet qualities in Proverbs 31:10-31. A man of Godly sophistication is likewise always instantly visually attracted, yet knows that her beauty can evaporate equally as fast if all she represents is an intractable ‘show pony’. However, her value is akin to ‘far above rubies’ only if she embodies a synthesis of Martha and Mary. If her outward beauty is comparable to that of Leah—relatively modest and typical, as is the case with many women, varying in subtleties—her primary asset is her carefully cultivated sexual appeal. When combined with the enthusiastic ministrations reminiscent of Abishag or Esther, her basic presentation can transform into something incredibly beguiling, adding an element that is ‘too wonderful,’ as pondered in ‘the way of a man with a maiden’ (Proverbs 30:19). This perspective offers immense hope to socially anxious women perceived as lacking conventional beauty. Men are so easily seduced. Such women, with seemingly simple appearances, yet who momentarily devote a sincere, centred smile to a particular man, can immediately dispel his negative perceptions.

Pro 6:25  Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

Son 6:5  Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me…

Even though “he who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favour of the Lord” (Pro 18:22), one who brings immense joy to a husband, she comes with a hidden price, not necessarily monetarily, but spiritually, unwittingly characteristic of harlotry. Consequently, the Bible is about the torturous journey of two men, the Old Man in Adam and the New Man in Christ, paradoxically characterised by the protagonist, a woman, whom Christ transforms into the pinnacle of his creation in the Bride, and her marriage to Him for the salvation of the rest of mankind.

In the Kingdom of God eternally, there is neither male nor female. Mankind is a unique and fascinating phenomenon, designed materially to signify his progress toward becoming God. In the meantime, he impudently poses as god, on the God of God’s throne.

Gal 3:28 [In the Kingdom of God…] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
Ecc 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Ecc 3:20  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 
Ecc 3:21  Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
Ecc 3:22  Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better [while in the flesh], than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

2Th 2:4  [Mankind, represented by the Great Whore] Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

We have identified many of the results of Eve’s curse. What further impact does Adam’s curse have on Eve and mankind?

The first time the term “cursed” or “curse” appears in Scripture is in Genesis 3, and the first to be cursed from conception is the Serpent, the Devil himself.

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Possibly because Adam was not deceived, Eve is next in line to receive the outcome of her curse, followed by Adam. One would generally think that, even though Adam was not deceived, he was still the head of Eve and thus should be the first to be reprimanded. Not so, because the principle of ‘the first shall be last, and the last, first’ was already covertly in play, with God steering Satan’s inherent lying nature to pick on Eve, him knowing that Eve, in representing all women, would have a massive flow-on of artifices over all men until the end of the Sixth Day of mankind’s rule. Regarding the principle of the first shall be last, and the last, first, Eve is first to be deceived, but the New Adam in her, although last, becomes the first as the Bride. No wonder God’s word is a mystery to Christian Orthodoxy.

Even though Adam represents mankind comprising men and women, Eve, the last to be created, will represent the coming Church, likewise constituting men and women, despite that she represents the future two wives of the Lord, the Whore and the Bride – again, the first, being the Whore in the wilderness will be last to be saved, while the previous wife, the Bride is the first. It appropriately identifies the female protagonist, the Bride of Christ, as the celestial body in harmony with her Husband, who has been exalted to the place she has always desired, rather than former notoriety as The Great Whore in each of us. Sitting as a queen, impudently believing her espousal to Christ, now correctly appointed in the order of headship under, and virtuously married to ‘the’ Christ.

Gen 3:13  And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The Serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the Serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 

Again, and without repeating our many detailed studies on the significations of names, the Body of Christ is well versed in what cattle and dust represent. The upshot of Satan’s curse is that he devours mankind, particularly through the easily beguiled woman’s multiple emotional stimulations, who, in turn, conveniently beguiles her husband, Adam, particularly sexually, and he dismissively knows it, silently fearing complete disconnection bitterly. In the world, the most dissolute men easily fulfil their lust for females anywhere, worse, even of their own gender.

1Ti 2:14  And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression.

Eve couldn’t have deceived Adam, as that would later imply that the Lord was tempted to give in to Old Israel’s endless attempts to trap his heart absurdly, just as Satan tried, before Christ being taken to the cross. Both accounts required Christ, the Last Adam, to be tempted to submit to his fleshy sensualities, which we know for him is impossible, since without the Father, Christ can do nothing.

Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. [Nothing means nothing]

Since Eve came from Adam and is female, her hormonally driven level of sensory awareness is significantly higher than Adam’s, and this now forms a natural part of all women. Her heightened sensitivities bombarding her mind, depending upon the psychological makeup of the individual, leave women prone to highly variable levels of sensory overload, and to varying degrees, affecting their every decision. Indeed, some women with higher testosterone levels are less easily affected by estrogen spikes. However, if not recognised early, their high likelihood of emotional bias in decision-making can destabilise analytical thinking. Because of sentimentality, they are left vulnerable to deception and avoid critical, truthful analysis. Those God-designed female traits that make her susceptible to deception also affect men with psychological impotence from willingly submitting to lust, or naturally low testosterone, and, like the female, are far more vulnerable to deception—indicative of him being injured in his privy member and stones.

2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 

Jdg 16:5  And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her [Delilah], and said unto her, Entice [deceive] him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

Exo 22:16  And if a man entice [deceive] a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.

Although indicative of mankind, the inescapable, and for some women, the unpleasant truth is that women are purposefully highlighted as being innately predisposed to deception and deceiving (Ecc 7:26-29) to portray Babylonian churches directly. That condition from Eden, affecting all male and female interactions, and particularly carnal marriages, is a prime and necessary result of taking the woman out of the man, enlivening the Bride’s understanding of the entire process.

Adam, although not deceived, is representative of all men, by God’s design, are consumed by Eve’s mystical beauty and would much rather experience what is before their somatic sensory system, the lust of the flesh and the eyes, even while their consciences excuse and accuse them from keeping God’s word. (Somatic sensory: a subsystem for the detection of mechanical stimuli (e.g., light touch, vibration, pressure, and cutaneous tension), and a subsystem for the detection of painful stimuli and temperature.)

Gen 6:2  the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.

At this juncture, it is essential to understand the significance of Ecclesiastes 7:26, as its dynamics profoundly affect every marriage and physically represent the all-important spiritual reality unfolding throughout these studies.

Ecc 7:26  And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

Solomon encountered numerous instances, with his 1,000 wives, reflecting the involuntary consequences of Eve’s curse. This curse entailed a wife’s deceptive assurances of honour and respect, promising submission to her husband’s spirit in unity, which served as an inherent stratagem to entrap his heart. Consequently, upon experiencing the deception thousands of times, within the context of marriage under God’s law, he was bound in matrimony with no means of release except through death, paralleling Christ’s experience with ancient Israel.

The significant obstacle every husband faces, stemming from Eve’s (and his to Christ) curse, is her opposition to his leadership, as she insists that he pursue her sentimentalities to feel loved—dogma and complexity of a critical scriptural theme of the Bible, quite the opposite of what the holy spirit inspired Solomon to pen its simplicity:

Son 1:4  Draw me, we [The collective joints in the Bride] will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.

Much more will be extrapolated from that verse much later in the actual study of the Song of Solomon. However, for this occasion, I wish to highlight the overwhelming theme of women, particularly wives, demanding that men, and specifically husbands, run after them!

A house divided cannot stand. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand – Mat 12:25.  Every man and husband experiences that damnable obscenity; that if she honours her husband as her leader, she will have to give up her power over him—exemplifying her staunch resistance to his headship, and insistance of being against him, and Christ. However, she will angrily and with tears say that is not so, that all he has to do is “love her”—exactly, by her methodology of him bowing to her!

The ONLY man given to escape from her is the Bride through the death of herself, her old man.

Since Adam has now physically and spiritually abdicated most of his headship to Eve and, for the most part, worships her in marriage, the emblematic church that she represents runs riot with her self-elevation, becoming a host of harlot churches.

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee [Satan, our first father, we, being his seed] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed [Men and women alienated]; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel [Lead mankind to eternal life through Christ].
Gen 3:16  Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be (to) against thy husband, and he shall [Ultimately] rule over thee [unrighteously and finally, righteously]. 
Gen 3:17  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 
Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Gen 3:20  And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

The fundamental theme of Adam and Eve’s curses is their disunity of mind and spirit, with a primary focus on Eve, who sows profound sexual discord, a lustful desire lapped up by Adam, resulting in the tumultuous struggles of spiritual life. This depiction illustrates the Church’s virtuous growth to maturity. Since Eve is the mother of all living, those complex struggles highlight mankind’s painful birth from the spiritual loins of Christ’s Wife, the spiritual mother of the eternally living. Interestingly, Solomon’s profound understanding of women, as he experienced with his 1,000 wives, incriminates men for their equal ‘inventiveness’ in Ecclesiastes 7:29, epitomised by the intrinsic nature of women.

Ecc 9:1  For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them [All are deluded predominately by Eve’s curse infecting marriages mirroring the church’s].
Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Hence, women attempt to rule men, implemented rigorously by wives ruling their husbands sexually, his emasculation utterly destroying the dissemination of truth, adding to his curse by his impotence of ineffectively washing her with the word.

Rev 17:7  And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

Rev 17:16 And the ten horns [Mankind, and our power of having imagined the appropriation of God’s throne] which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

What potent methodology does that ‘woman’ employ to rule all kings, meaning mankind, whereby they willingly give her power? The principal is the natural, and then the spiritual comes into play (1 Cor 15:46-47). That first ‘natural’ element is her gloriously beguiling sexual prowess, weaponised to rule lustful men. It spiritually represents a false doctrine: the sweet lies that men indulge in to satiate their craving for intimacy, with its quid pro quo forcefully validating the woman’s illusory beauty (Pro 31:30) and her devastating control over men, primarily husbands.

Women have men believing the psychologically manipulating adage, ‘Happy wife, happy life’, magnifying her assumed divinity, his focus on her; a stealthy distortion of the truth, a spiritually ‘Happy Husband, Happy Wife’. However, while in the flesh, she arouses endless experiences of the type described in Ecclesiastes 7 to gain men’s and a husband’s unflinching focus on her. All of these constitute a significant part of rejecting his headship and creating disunity, as evidenced by her being taken out of Adam, re-created externally, and returned, unified internally, in Christ.

Throughout history, humanity has focused on women. In dance, he leads, but the focus is on her. Because of her innate charm, and if sustained righteously, even in politics, she becomes a Deborah (Jdg 4:4-5), naturally attracting immense honour and respect, usually in governance reserved for a male. At the marriage ceremony, she, emblematic of Christ’s Bride, rightfully draws the most attention, subtly usurping unrighteous authority with ease.

It is now well established that the female, recognised as the weaker vessel, is last to be mentioned, if at all, in Old Covenant family blessings and inheritances, yet subtly becomes the first (Mat 20:16). Because she is the focus of God’s work in the Old Adam transitioning to the New Adam in Christ, she is the most honoured and esteemed woman in the creation of Christ’s Wife, leading every inseminated conception to salvation. Her transition is profoundly portrayed in the Old Covenant as a whore, becoming the Bride in the New Covenant – all soundly studied in IWWB’s spiritual examinations.

Eve represents our flesh, and we are not to have our flesh rule over us. A woman, or especially a wife, is not to rule over her husband; that is Christ within.

1Co 11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
1Co 11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.
1Co 11:5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
1Co 11:6  For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. That is, covered by her husband.
1Co 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
1Co 11:8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
1Co 11:9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

Since the Bible primarily focuses on two men, the supreme protagonist is enigmatically the Old Man in transition to becoming the New Man in Christ, who is mystifyingly represented by a woman, culminating in her becoming Christ’s Bride. Hence, she describes the outward nature of her husband and mankind and is, first, attracting fiery judgment ahead of her sisters remaining in Babylon. By our Lord creating woman, her intrinsic nature contributes to the Elect’s experience of evil, ensuring our Lord’s wrath upon our Old Man as it transitions into the New Adam in Christ.

Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 
Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are [chastised and thus,] saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

The conclusion of God’s purpose in reducing some overriding female elements from Adam instils in him an unquenchable need to be reunited. While in the flesh, that unity is marred in the Potter’s hand, destined for espousal turbulence generated by him, now manifest in his wife, the symbolic church, representing mankind, their 6,000 long years of inability to be washed by their Lord’s spirit.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 
Joh 4:25  The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
Joh 4:26  Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

It was all planned before the foundation of the world that the female protagonist, destined for royalty, seated in the midst of God’s throne in and with Christ, would need to be severely humbled to attain such a breathtaking status.

That distinction is what all feminists, the unwitting noisome beasts (Eze 14:21) with another spirit, raucously demand. An impassable chasm exists between them and their younger sister, the Shulamite, who is given to possessing the same spirit as her Husband. As we shall see in the SoS, she unashamedly and enthusiastically stirs up His spirit, to which He is guaranteed to respond immeasurably, thus embodying 2 Tim 1:6 and the Shulmite’s opening expression and outstanding theme in the Song of Solomon.

1Th 5:19  Quench not the spirit. 

2Ti 1:6  For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift [spirit] of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

That fanning aflame the sensual espoused spirit in our carnal marriages to be reunited in one mind and body, is without the holy spirit, nigh impossible; an experience of evil indeed, the world is blind to mending. That experience of fiery evil, the Bride, the “anointed cherub, typified by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, physically, she likewise walks up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Eze 28:14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

And so, the purpose of taking the woman out of the man engenders much tribulation on multiple fronts in the recreation of man in God’s image. The Bride lives the epitome of the old British naval wit, “The beatings will continue until morale improves”—and to the bewilderment of Babylon within, paradoxically, it does!

The woman at the well of Christ’s word is the embryonic Bride of Christ, who in these latter times, since the cross, are an exceptionally rare few who hear, see, and ravishingly live their Husband’s word. She, the once-ensnaring ‘fowler’, is now committed to fulfilling ‘the purpose of taking the woman out of the man’, as she forsakes her noisome intimacy dogma, leading to desolation, and is given to reunite in the spirit and truth of His commands—an infinitely superior fulfilling ravishing, Solomon carnally dreamt, and she spiritually fulfils.

In that the Bride is the New Adam, he is the supreme ‘protagonist’ as Christ’s Christs. He stands quietly by in the myrtle grove, retrospectively and futuristically observing his Is, Was, and Will Be while the female within temporarily suffers violence.

Psa 91:3  Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

Eze 14:15  If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:
Eze 14:16  Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the [rest of the] land shall be desolate [until the Eighth Day of creation]. 

Zec 1:9  Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. 
Zec 1:10  And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. 
Zec 1:11  And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth [of the Bride of Christ] sitteth still, and is at rest. 

Vital marital understanding is found here:

Mike Vinson, and essential reading from https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/marriage-part-1-he-that-loves-his-wife-loves-himself/

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/marriage-part-2-wives-submit-yourselves-to-your-own-husbands-as-unto-the-lord-part-a/

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/marriage-part-3-wives-submit-yourselves-to-your-own-husbands-as-unto-the-lord-part-b/

Steven Crook’s 14-part series on The Virtuous Body of Christ, beginning here: https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-virtuous-body-of-christ-introduction/

In the subsequent study, we shall, Lord willing, see that lust initially came through Adam, not Eve.

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The Book of Amos – Chapter 3:1-15: Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing,
but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets”– Amo 3:7

[Aired November 30, 2024]

Although this study and much of the Book of Amos focuses on Israel and, specifically, the Priests directly indicting us, highlighting our guilt and punishment, it is all integral to the Feast of Trumpets and the trumpet blasts in Revelation. Thus, a degree of repetition will be reflected during these studies.

Humanity innately desires an easy life that monetary riches enable. With money, we can make ourselves look more appealing than nature has provided; it vainly authorises greater intelligence and access to the world’s best academic institutions. Monetary riches engender personal wealth on all levels of one’s presentation to the world unchallenged while remaining semiconsciously yet unashamedly naked.

Ecc 10:19  A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.

In succession with those riches, our Lord intentionally created sexual awareness to be part of our daily lives, intrinsically. Even though it is a subliminally and constantly present spontaneity of mind, outwardly, we, and even the most debauched, thankfully, practice social sobriety. Accordingly, the Bible is about the marriage of the Lamb of God to the pinnacle of his creation in the Bride who is first to be blessed to see the spiritual implications of every Old Covenant Law. Consequently, the Bible is equally about two women; one a whore and the other the Bride of Christ, as it is about two men, the old and new Adam in Christ, who, paradoxically to the churches of the world, are one representation of the Bride in transition.

Without the Law in Christ’s commandments, we would never know the spirit of the Law. Amos and all the Bible’s prophets’ prophecies are deeply connected to our sexuality and broken covenant and the most profound aspect of indicting guilt for a guaranteed punishment. Incomprehensibly to Cain (Gen 4:13… “my punishment is greater than I can bear”) and the world who see us as masochists, we have learnt to glorify God for our chastisement and send each other gifts in the form of prayers, psalms, and encouragement for the torment He has given us (Rev 11:10). That response is us joyfully ascending into heaven in a cloud while our old enemies left in the old Adam below, mournfully look upward; a chasm impossible to traverse.

Rom 7:7-25  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

There, in the last sentence of that scripture, is our realisation for our acknowledgment of the subtlety of spiritual transgressions. As seen in the previous study in Amos chapter two under the Old Covenant, we could lust all we liked physically of mind and not transgress God’s Commandments so long as we didn’t physically engage sexually. However, now and in light of the New Covenant (subtlety juxtaposed in John 8:1-11) in our study of physical Judah and Israel, we are aroused most gloriously in righteous spiritual spontaneity by the lyrics of the song only the 144,000 in Revelations 14:1-5  are learning today!

Rom 7:8  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence [meaning, inordinate ‘desire, carving, longing’ in the lust of the mind and spirit insidiously for what is now forbiden]. For without the law sin was dead.
Rom 7:9  For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I [learned to] died [daily].
Rom 7:10  And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
Rom 7:11  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Rom 7:12  Wherefore the law is holy, and the [spiritual] commandment holy, and just, and good.
Rom 7:13  Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the [spiritual] mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the [disappearing] flesh the law of sin.

Significations:

Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

Amo 3:1  Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family [the twelve tribes inclusive of Judah] which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 
Amo 3:2  You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. 

Just wow! Don’t those first verses make you shiver? Our Lord addresses his Bride, the few, nonetheless the ‘whole family’ he will drag out of Babylon and sobering us with the stark reality of his will that it is “you only [primarily meaning his Bride] have I known of all the families of the earth“! The ‘kicker’ (colloquially ‘usually unpleasant’) for the spiritually immature is that he “will punish you for all your iniquities“! Now, that is too much for our former Gentile Christian selves to stomach and attracts a jolly good spiritual stoning for the consternation it unsettles the Babylonian within.

With the taste of wording common to the Body of Christ, ‘no person will ever see eternal life without the wrath of God through chastisement in his life at God’s appointed time’. This process of chastening brings salvation and teaches us righteousness (Isa 26:9).

Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
Hos 11:3  I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
Hos 11:4  I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love [hidden chastisement]: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
Hos 11:5  He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return [to God].

Not returning to Egypt and going into Assyria and Babylon is part of our journey towards becoming Christ (Jer 29:3-23).

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared [in their order of salvation] to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching [chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world [Not all sins are transgression, but are highly apt to lead into transgression. Christ must increase as we decrease the flesh subject to corruption];

Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

1Co 11:32 But when we are judged [Hebrew: “krinō”], we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned [Hebrew: “katakrinō” = a later judgement] with the world [to the later “great white throne… judgment”].

Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

It is only the Elect who are being chastened since Christ and the foundation of the world. All of the Gentile Christian Church are bastards in their own time and order.

Psa 119:71  It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

It is only the Elect who can hear and live in the fire of his word. The Lord’s Elect, “they that have done good [in] this present time” (Rom 8:18), are being judged in ‘this present time’ and will not need to come up “unto the resurrection of judgment”. “When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world… unto the resurrection of judgment.” Nevertheless, even those who are condemned to the resurrection of judgment are still being judged by God, and when His judgments are in the earth men will learn righteousness, even those in the lake of fire, the second death, the Great White Throne Judgment:

Isa 26:8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

It is only by the Lord’s sovereign will that some few are given to be judged in “this present time”. If we are blessed to be part of “the house of God [in] this present time”, then we will also be given to believe these words of the apostle Paul concerning this the greatest of all honours:

Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. [God chastises us for our good!]

Jer 24:5  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
Jer 24:6  For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
Jer 24:7  And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Jer 24:8  And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
Jer 24:9  And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
Jer 24:10  And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

The answer to all of the following rhetorical verses is profoundly yes.

Amo 3:3  Can two walk together, except they be agreed? 

That verse makes a subtle connection with marriage. Every spirit-led Elect of God coming out of Babylon and married to an unbeliever, like Lot coming out of Sodom with his wife looking back, immaturely experiences initial ‘bitterness’ for their spouse’s seeming ridiculous blindness in not realising that it is God that blinds all people, including the incipient Elect.

2Co 6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

1Co 7:12  But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
1Co 7:13  And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.

Isa 42:19  Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’S servant?

Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles [In the Lake of Fire].

And, for the time being,

Isa 42:2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street [in this age unless he is asked about his faith].

Amo 3:4  Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? 

The Lord assuredly will roar as a lion out of Zion when we haven’t fed the spiritually hungry, just as the wolf feeds her young in the evening (Gen 49:27).

Joe 3:16  The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

Amo 3:5  Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin [lure for the unfortunate bird we are] is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? 

It is every person since and inclusive of Adam conceived to the end of the One Thousand Year rule who is the bird taken in the snare of our whorish mother, Babylon the Great. Even righteous Gideon bowed to femineity and unconsciously emasculated himself and Israel (Deu 23:1).

Ecc 7:26  And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

Jdg 8:27  And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah [female fawn]: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
Jdg 8:28  Thus was Midian [Effectively the Ammorites] subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.

Gideon’s subduing the Midianites is akin to what some Babylonian Christian girls do today, supposedly for Jesus, by deliberately luring unbelieving young men, justifying sex ‘for Jesus’, deludedly thinking that they have done their duty in saving them. Gideon’s action is a classic act of not trusting in God’s strength over appeasing the downright alluring girls next door who, with exposed thighs, are ‘delightfully’ ensnaring (Ecc 9:12. Prov 7:6-27).

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? 

Those rhetorical questions asked by our Lord through Amos lead us back to the theme of an earthquake, symbolised by a mighty trumpet blast corresponding to a force of 10 on the Richter scale. The Lord’s Elect, as seen in Isa 42:1, are blessed to have their earth shake their self-styled temple to powder and are wonderfully “afraid” to give Christ all glory. That verse of Amos 3:6 is one of the most profound statements emanating from God’s throne that affects everything we think and do; “shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” However, we all inwardly sigh for it being one of the greatest delusions and “gin” (Amos 3:5) to our family and friends for the ‘snare’ it is and them, as we once were, beguiled by the chief ‘birder’, Satan to oppose themselves stubbornly parroting that God allows sin by our will.

2Ti 2:25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
2Ti 2:26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

For Babylon’s churches, there is no greater enigmatic demonstration of Trumpet blasts than the Seven Trumpets of Revelations. These Trumpets herald the Elect’s swift understanding that the Trumpets, Vials, Woes and associated plagues are different versions of the same great tribulation first to come upon them and, ultimately, all mankind in his order.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
Ecc 9:3  This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

Everyone will hear Christ’s voice in his God-given time and order to hear. Understanding Jesus’s “loud voice” on the “great day of the feast” today is the greatest Trumpet blast the Elect will ever hear. The expression, “for three transgressions and four,” adds up to seven and represents the Seventh Trumpet expressed eight times (judgement) in Amos. The rest of humanity, hearing it, will assuredly hear it without understanding at the end of the One Thousand Year rule in death by fire, be that death his fiery word or both in a literal fire, before being instantly resurrected to hear it all again in the Resurrection to Judgment and the Last Great Day, the Eighth Day following the Feast of Tabernacles. Hence, every generation hears that trumpet blast.

Rom 11:7  What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

Rev 1:9  I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Rev 1:10  I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

Joh 7:37  On the last day, the great day of the feast, [of Tabernacles] Jesus got up and said in a loud voice, If any man is in need of drink let him come to me and I will give it to him.

For a far more in-depth understanding of the Feast of Trumpets, begin here with other localised links:
https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/revelation-81-6-the-seven-angels-prepare-to-sound-seven-trumpets-part-1/

As is demonstrated in those preceding verses, the Lord says,

Amo 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. 
Amo 3:8  The lion hath roared [Trumpet and Earthquake], who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy? 

Luk 8:10  And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others [Everyone who is not given of God to be an Elect] in parables [designed to hide the meanings]; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Amo 3:9  Publish in the palaces at Ashdod [Powerful cities of Egypt, Sodom and Old Jerusalem – Babylon], and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults [confusion] in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof. 
Amo 3:10  For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces. 
Amo 3:11  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled. 

Today, December 2024, the entire world is living in foreboding fear of nuclear war, but not the Bride. She looks upon worldly, apparently end-time events with immense intrigue since she knows her husband’s mind in blessing her with good and not evil. She glorifies in her Lord identifying her confusion and seeing Satan coming afar off and having her old man within destroyed. She utterly disdains the physical riches of this world and shakes her head for having impudently exposed her beauty validated by a leering world to the point of spiritual adultery.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Amo 3:12  Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch. 

The Bride of Christ is the ‘two witnesses’ represented as ‘two legs’, the shepherd who testifies in transition in hearing her husband’s voice represented as ‘a piece of an ear’ in the house of Jacob. She is embarrassed by her whoredoms and steps out of bed, and on looking back, is temporarily shocked that she was in bed with her sisters still fornicating with Damascus and, in humiliation, flees as did Joseph from Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39).

Amo 3:13  Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, 
Amo 3:14  That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel [house of God]: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. 

Gen 6:1  And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
Gen 6:2  That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Once our Lord has made us aware of our sins and transgressions and, in symbolic frustration, chastised us multiple times, we hopefully become acutely aware of our tendency to oscillate like Old Israel between physical riches and validating our beauty in bed with Babylon, much like Ohola and Oholibah. When this chastisement ceases, we no longer feel His spirit striving with us. This leads us into a dangerously insidious state as we again begin to act as a law unto ourselves, excusing our behaviour in the absence of His guidance and swift correction (Rom 2:14-18). Consequently, Christ, our horns and altar of his strength to overcome, are cut off, and we fall again to the dust of the earth. Accordingly, we return to a wintery fruitlessness in the summertime when we should spiritually harvest in abundance. Where there isn’t a harvest, our spiritual barns are empty, and we starve of Christ’s word.

Amo 3:15  And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD. 

To that end, and again, the indictment is upon the very Priests of God, his Elect; we shall continue to see in the next chapter our enduring guilt and punishment.

The Book of Romans, Part 15 – Married to Another

[Study Aired October 3, 2023]

Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. 
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

———————

Romans 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

In this verse, Paul addresses his fellow believers in Rome, acknowledging that he is speaking to those who are familiar with the Jewish law. He begins by emphasizing that the law has authority over a person if they are alive. This means that individuals are bound to follow the requirements and regulations of the law of Moses throughout their lives.

Paul states the following. “(for I speak to them that know the law,)”. He is speaking to the “Jews” who know the law of Moses. As Christians, being non-Jews, are we to take what Paul is explaining as doctrine? There are denominations in the Christian assembly that state these messages do not apply to non-Jews. We must understand that Paul’s writings just as the writings of the Old Testament are types and shadows. We are warned to not be “carnally minded” and that “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Rom 8:5-8 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

With this in mind. Who is a Jew? We were told this in Romans 2 and also other verses.

Rom 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings.

Who are the circumcised of the heart?

Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

How are we circumcised of the heart?

Colossians 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

We must always keep in mind Paul is teaching the law of Christ which is a spiritual law.

Romans 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

Paul uses a marital analogy here to illustrate his point. Just as a woman is bound by the law of marriage to her husband if he is alive. As carnal believers we were once bound by a law. The law of “another Jesus”. However, if the husband (another Jesus) dies, the woman (bride of Christ) is freed from that marital obligation.

Romans 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Continuing the analogy, Paul explains that if a married woman marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is considered an adulteress because she is violating the marital covenant. However, if her husband dies, she is no longer bound by the law of marriage and can marry another man without being labeled an adulteress.

Romans 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

In this verse, Paul draws a spiritual parallel. He tells us that, through the death of Christ (His sinful flesh), we have been released from the bondage of the Mosaic law (carnal commandments). This freedom allows us to be joined to Christ, who was raised from the dead. The purpose of this union is to bear fruit for God, which refers to living a righteous and godly life.

Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

Joh 15:1-8 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Romans 7:5-6 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Paul explains that when we were living according to the flesh and under the law, sinful desires were aroused by the law’s restrictions, leading to sinful actions that ultimately resulted in spiritual death. However, through faith in Christ, and presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice we have been released from the law’s hold, enabling us to serve God with renewed minds and a focus on the spiritual intent of the law rather than merely obeying its letter.

Rom 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

In summary, this passage from Romans 7 explores the freedom found in Christ. We have been released from the carnal law by dying to the flesh. Paul uses the analogy of marriage and the death of a spouse to illustrate how we are freed from the law’s dominion through our union with Christ, enabling us to live a life that brings forth fruit for God.

1Co 15:26-34 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? And why are they then baptized for the dead? And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

A Mystery Hidden from the Ages and Generations: How Not to Be Bitter Against One’s Wife and How Not to Make a Husband Bitter – Part 3

[Study Aired July 29, 2023]

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 
  Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them” – Col 3:18,19 

The torturous search for the mystery of an outstandingly loving marriage is found in the almost ridiculous simplicity the Shulamite elegantly announces in the Song of Solomon.

Son 1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.

It is really that simple, for the most part (mental or physical abuse notwithstanding), to physically restore ailing marriages! With such a spirited wife, why would any husband be bitter against her? 

Our Lord designed the end from the beginning by giving his Bride an experience of evil flesh to look back upon her forebear’s experiences to know that it is impossible without his spirit for a wife, representing the Church to not be bitter against Him and all husbands in the flesh to be bitter against their wives.

Outstanding connectivity in marriage should result from a Shulamite detailed devotion to one’s spouses’ mind and body that corresponds to the mind-blowing spiritual consummation! That adoration should significantly inspire an unbelieving spouse’s arousal to know the Christ, yet, without his kisses interpreted by him, she will remain inert.

1Pe 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; 

1Pe 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Should husbands and wives refuse or lethargically, like Leah, the Laodiceans and the woman of Mt Agar, to give each other deeply passionate love, they both have to fight not to be bitter against the other. The greater weight of potential bitterness rests on the husband since he is rejected sexually, as was Christ spiritually by Israel.

Possibly no greater act for a righteous wife to win her unbelieving husband is for her to spontaneously build up ingenious anticipatory arousals in him; that is the Shulamite’s creative methodology for her already eager Lord. It is much harder, as the Lord of the Old Covenant knew, for him to similarly arouse his fickle wife since she is already cursed with an unreliable desire to be aroused by his word. His New Covenant Bride unashamedly arouses him to his immense delight depicted by Solomon.

Pro 5:19 Like the loving deer and pleasant doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times, and be ravished always with her love.

For the retiring and demure womenfolk’s timidity, please note that the biblically seemingly over-focus on a wife’s breasts, and as previously stated, are the first significant origin of her heart’s arousal after other more delicate and elegant titillations that stimulate anticipation. The emphasis on breasts is a means of understating her other, more private blazings and for this study’s cause, particularly spiritually.

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 

To the spiritually astute Saint, the foundation of this study is about us all having been unwitting dull-eyed harlots, unconsciously in the wilderness and Babylon asking our Lord, ‘Are you nearly finished?’

Hosea married a known ‘run-around-Sue’ (the title of a crappy song by Dion in 1961) type of girl typifying Christ marrying Israel; a pretty but flighty girl who believed she was too good for Him, elevating herself and noting her neighbours overtly lewd arousals was tremendously more satisfying. Christ, like Hosea, knew they were marrying harlots. Israel soon became a ‘run-around-Sue’ girl like Aholah and Aholibah (Ezekiel 23).

Aholah, Aholibah, Gomer, Israel, and we combine all our harlotry characteristics, making us one harlot. Clearly, any husband would be bitter against such a wife.

Having designed men guaranteed to be bitter about our wife’s intrinsic apathetic awakenings, our Lord seems to rub salt into their wounds by saying,

Col 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be bitter against them.

Of course, by understanding Eve’s curse, wives naturally tend to feel exceptionally relieved that they have an escape route to justify their Leah-like eyes; that attitude is the continued embodiment of harlotry. Husbands respond with the immutable word of God in hand to soundly crush their wives by rubbing their faces in her curse ~ which is bound to arouse marital intimacies! And so, around and around goes the deadly loop. No matter how much washing of her by the word of God he splashes, she digs in her toes to his humiliating actions and now gross arousals; both behave like ‘snotty’ Queen Vashti and refuse to try the Shulamite’s methods of arousing the intrinsically sluggish sexual and spiritual nature of the woman. 

A lukewarm wife deeming her condition inherently insoluble with covert bias against her husband leads to both spouses’ inevitable resentment and a husband’s potential bitterness. That condition is the same as Babylonian Christianity thinking; ‘Nobody can completely understand the Bible; we all are saved, and we have a husband, so what’s the problem? He’ll (physical husband will) get over it.’  Even though Christ wasn’t looking forward to the cross, He effectively couldn’t wait to return to the Father’s glory. Likewise, it’s a bitter-sweet thing that an unrighteous fleshy husband frequently ponders his marriage “more bitter than death” (Ecc 7:26). Such an indifferently thinking church will land her in the Lake of Fire.

I have a musty-smelling insightful book written in 1958 named “The Power of Sexual Surrender” by Marie N. Robinson, MD. It resonates deeply with what the contemporary Australian Sexologist Bertina Arndt has discovered regarding only psychologically sound and unabused women’s growing avoidance of sexual intimacies after the honeymoon and childbearing urges of marriage. And wouldn’t you know it, subsequently, their husband’s enduring melancholic bitterness against them.

Col 3:18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 
Col 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Arndt discovered from scores of private interviews that intimacy-avoidant people, a bit too broadly and unfairly termed “frigid” in Robinson’s late 1950s book, surprisingly regained or, for the first time, found their desire by persistently ‘just doing it’. The wives discovered that their desire was amplified first by arousal.

Of paramount importance, they unintentionally discovered the first key was to build Shulamite-like anticipation cunningly over hours, even days, before elegantly committing the incurable coup de grâce. Unless the husband is an uncouth beast, that formula IS the key to knowing His kisses are better than wine!

One study found that 65% of women’s greatest fantasy was being dominated, submissive and controlled. I’d be scripturally confident that if the remaining 35% looked honestly into their hearts, they all unwittingly desire to be submissive to an honest, morally sound guy who stealthily becomes good-looking, just as a spirited wife to him becomes more beautiful.

Of course, by design, Jesus was far from being the classically good-looking guy; only a Shulamite could see within him the hidden treasure of unfathomable price. If anyone should be bitter against his wife, Christ and Hosea are prime contenders embodying most husbands.

Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 
Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: [His wife hated him] and we hid as it were our faces from him [His wife evaded and despised his arousals for her]; he was despised, and we [the church] esteemed him not. 
Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted [… and was not bitter against her!].
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are [being] healed [sexually and spiritually].

1Co 7:2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. 
1Co 7:3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. 
1Co 7:4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
1Co 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

The quality of marital bedroom intimacies reflects the day-to-day merit of a husband and wife’s physical and spiritual relationship. We can easily prophesy the outcome if it is as lacklustre as Israel’s was with her Lord.

By the Lord’s design, the harsh reality is; a disgruntled wife (church) who despises bedroom intimacies even loathes her righteous husband’s spiritual ‘light bread’ (Num 21:5) yet abides by the letter of “Defraud not one another” [1Co 7:1-16 (YLT)], he is deserted, and she is a wooden marionette, to him, little more than a masturbation mannequin and the interaction effect is admissible rape (i.e. any form of unwanted sexual or spiritual intimacy). Withholding enthusiastic engagement is defrauded and no different from what old Israel forced on Christ. The antithesis is an unrighteous husband who, brutish in his spiritual understanding for its physical equivalence by not engaging in Shulamite (God-given) designed anticipatory arousals, is a rapist.

It naturally grates on the Lord’s people’s sensitivities to understand that those pitiless self-assigned responses our Lord experiences were required to highlight His humiliations when married to old Israel, and they didn’t stop there. Furthermore, he was married to a whore. After that appalling understanding, we automatically want to protect our Lord and husband from those distressing confrontations with our shock and outrage, like Peter protecting him from the Jewish high priest’s vigilantes and Christ foretelling His death (Joh 18)… ‘This will never happen to you, Lord!’ ~ and by design and foreshadowed by Hosea, it did.

The vast difference in not directly committing whoredom and rape is that our Lord designed His wife in the default of “evil flesh” to fulfill her part of desolating their marriage, whereas he went above and beyond righteously fulfilling His marital dues. The Lord sanctioned Satan to put her in that position, and the Lord took responsibility for the entire affair.

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Mat 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. 
Mat 16:22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 
Mat 16:23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Mat 23:39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Our Lord has given his Bride a downpayment of His inflaming spirit, the fullness of which is given upon the First Resurrection and His consummative marriage.

Luk 22:16 For I say to you, I will not any more eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 
Luk 22:17 And He took the cup and gave thanks and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. 
Luk 22:18 For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. 
Luk 22:19 And He took bread and gave thanks, and He broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of Me.

Christ came in the form of sinful flesh without committing sin. Engaging His wife in the deliberately vain hope of igniting a Shulamite-like spark was disheartening and unsatisfying, yet it wasn’t a sin but one of many unclean acts of sinful flesh that diminished the marriage to the eventual point, “Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he (she) that cometh in the name of the Lord.” 

The Lord of the Old Covenant could file a divorce bill for her ‘uncleanness’, but not so a man in the spirit of the New Covenant if she is happy to dwell with her husband. He remained doubly ungratified by his wife’s spiritless absence, reminiscent of Hosea’s wife whose validating arousals were elsewhere (Hosea).

Deu 24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

This paper is hoped to stir up the gift of the holy spirit as typified by its inflaming sexually.

2Ti 1:6 Therefore I remind you to inflame [1. to kindle up, inflame one’s mind, strength, zeal. 1. into the midst, in the midst, amidst, among, between] anew the gift of God, which is in you by the putting on of my hands. 
2Ti 1:7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 
2Ti 1:8 Therefore you should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord [or your love for your husband or wife], nor of me His prisoner. But be partaker of the afflictions [for this paper’s cause, “bitterness”] of the gospel according to the power of God, 

2Ti 1:9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the eternal times [in downpayment before the full complement at the resurrection].

What is God’s gift, what does it mean to “inflame anew the gift of God”, and what does it mean to have a “spirit of fear?”

John 14:15 If you love Me, keep My commandments.
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, so that he [God] may be with you forever,
John 14:17 the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him nor know him. But you know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you.

1Co 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwells in you? 

John 4:24 God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.

1Co 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

1Th 5:19 Do not quench [1. to extinguish, quench a. of fire or things on fire {opposite to inflame] the Spirit. 

God is spirit, the holy spirit who dwells in us and increases His truth of growing grace and knowledge, exhibiting His good works as our works until we are fully changed into Him at the First Resurrection.

To the Elect of God, it is foundationally recognised that the ‘natural comes before the spiritual’. So, to understand how to inflame our Lord’s spirit, we must be the opposite of being dull and slothful for the ‘kisses of his word that are better than wine’ (Son 1:2). The Lord is the spiritual reality of a fleshy man. All fleshy husbands are immediately and delightedly aroused by their wife’s bright and purposely inflaming intimacies. She is skilled at stirring up and inflaming him physically to engage her Shulamite love-making, knowing his unstoppable response will cast out of her land, little by little, all resistance and submit to his delight in her mind and body. Her slower responses, she knows, will exhilarate anticipation exponentially as they, like Solomon, are depicted with his bride. In the ‘natural’, they are inflaming their sensual intimacies. 

So, as the Lord’s bride, we inflame him, the holy spirit, by being a pretty bright-eyed and enthusiastic young woman purposely pursuing His word and living by it that is designed to rapidly inflame His spirit! As should spousal bedroom intimacies, His dynamic spirit becomes an unstoppable fiery eye-to-eye interactive passion that will not return to Him void ~ and hopefully forever.

Dan 10:6 His body also was like the beryl, and his face looked like lightning. And his eyes were like lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet in colour were like polished bronze, and the voice of his words like the sound of a multitude. 

Psa 104:4 He makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire.

Isa 55:10 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring out and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 

Son 7:12 Let us rise up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flowers, whether the tender grape appears, and the pomegranates bud forth; there I will give You my loves. 
Son 7:13 The love-apples give a scent, and over our doors are all pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for You, O my Beloved.)

Isa 55:11 so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do.
Isa 55:12 For you shall go out with joy, [following bedroom dynamic submissiveness that spiritually is us with our Lord] and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break out before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 
Isa 55:13 Instead of the thorn, the fir tree shall come up; and instead of the brier, the myrtle tree shall come up; and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off.

Why would any husband or wife wish to sensually quench that spirit!? The Bride of Christ is singularly focused on inflaming her Lord as he is for her, and their fire will be everlasting and not cut off.

Isa 26:8 Yea, in the way of Your judgments, O Jehovah, we awaited You; for Your name and for Your memory is the desire of our soul.
Isa 26:9 With my soul I desired You in the night; yea, with my spirit within me I will seek You early; for when Your judgments are in the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. 

The Bride’s treasure is being single-eyed to expressly inflame her Lord’s spiritual ardour. She knows, as any wife elegantly skilled in husband arousals, that her bright smile and Shulamite-like anticipatory planning will cause him to overpower her for her (ecstatically submissive) and his immeasurable delight.

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye. Therefore if your eye is sound, your whole body shall be full of light. 
Mat 6:23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

In the negative, if a wife (as did Israel in the wilderness) continues to submit to Eve’s curse and not dynamically respond and or plan her husband’s unquenchable desires for her, her eye is evil, and indeed, her whole body will be full of darkness and bitter moaning as was given Leah.

2Co 12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 
2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 
2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 

Eze 16:45 You are your mother’s daughter, who despises her husband and her sons. And you are the sister of your sisters, who despise their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite [H 2865 – 1. to be shattered, be dismayed, be broken, be abolished, be afraid], and your father an Amorite [H 550 – to say, speak, utter; to say, to answer, to say in one’s heart, to think, to command, to promise, to intend]. 

For the Elect’s sake, it is a harsh and bitter curse! From that scripture, we see that Israel, married to our Lord, was a fickle woman who depicts all women (the church) since mother Eve! She broke submission and her vow to God’s ordinances by shattering His commandments. She despised the kisses of His vow and, by design, left Him dismayed and crushed. She was likewise dismayed by her Lord’s chastising responses. The emotion in her eyes was equally a dispassionate, desolate wilderness, demonstrating a non-connected mannequin tediously suffering her husband’s (a righteous husband) impassioned love ~ a harlot, collaborating self-pleasuring. Under the Old Covenant, the Lord got immensely humiliated and hurt ~ even “jealous” since he showed her all the treasures of his house… bar his spirit.

Note that this woman’s daughter and sisters are alike in their hatred for righteous leadership and a husband’s eagerness to wash his wife by the word. To varying responsive degrees, every aspect of a woman’s body is a sensory organ. Washing her with the Lord’s word to him is sensually highly arousing and carried forward spiritually in our Lord! He is delighted by her animated sensual (spiritual) responses, just as we enjoy another’s bright interactions.

The Lord’s true word is intentionally seductive for the Bride alone! When engaged in Shulamite-like interactions, the encounter is unwitting spiritual foreplay for which the Body of Christ is delightfully incontinent.

1Co 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. 

Prolonged, vivacious and deeply meaningful spiritual interactions with any member of the Lord’s Body induce profound connection and spiritually inflamed arousals that curiously correspond totally unconsciously, a little biologically with our pudenda. Without spelling it out, only folk with acute anatomical awareness and naturally elevated emotional responses, with socially fragile amusement, would notice that very private oddity. It is a natural biological response to all deeply passionate Christs. Its spiritual correlations prepare our minds for His word’s easy and excitable engagement. Non-believers are not the least bit aroused to receive His truth, and for Christ to proceed enthusiastically to force conviction is outright rape. It is a beautiful and fascinating aspect of “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual” (1Co 15:46).

The Lord designed those sensual responses to correspond to spiritual stimulus when one finds spiritual gold that deeply secures ‘joint’ adhesion and growth (Eph 4:16). Outwardly, for example, it happens every time, particularly between young single men and women delighting in any deeply connecting conversation, notably if both parties contain some beguiling quality. Warmly engaging conversation and being one mind,  particularly between a man and woman, rapidly advances ravishing likeability between the two, as it does between Christ and His Bride, who ravish each other. It is a God-given phenomenon for ‘the’ Christ’s deeply and jealously guarded fusion of spirit and body.

Amo 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed? 

Gen 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

2Co 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 

Of course, Christ is always beguiling to His Bride, which is why the Shulamite yearned for His kisses. 

Christ outrageously arouses His Bride, and she, Him. To embarrassingly deny our biological responses that reflect the spiritual is akin to denying our Lord’s passion for us. 

Mat 10:33 But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in Heaven. 

His deeply ravishing connections with us engage Him as our God, just as deliberately seductive arousals outside marriage connect a man with an Ashteroth-like god; yet, within marriage, a wife’s outrageously designed preparations for her husband’s arousals IS the key to her delightfully slower responses for her immeasurable joy!

Exo 20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
Exo 20:4 You shall not make to yourselves any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 
Exo 20:5 You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. For I Jehovah your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation of those that hate me, 
Exo 20:6 and showing mercy to thousands of those that love Me and keep My commandments [As does the Bride of Christ].

A god above God is anything you hold in greater esteem than the God; its often innocuous perishing corruptness, you believe, will give you a more pleasurable life and eminence than He can. If we love a husband, wife, sex or anything more than God, that thing can become a god.

The Lord was true to His word. Under the Old Covenant, he eventually ditched his dull-eyed wife; as such, she never became an Astheroth, a god to him. Rather, he gave His love to a wife who was given to dynamically plan daily her spiritual arousals for their never-ending mutual love. Under the New Covenant, the converted spouse practices peace and is always in a state of forgiveness for his or her unconverted spouse’s condescension towards bedroom intimacies. Nonetheless, he (or she) lawfully infrequently engages his insipid spouse-mannequin for his ironic ‘frequent incontinence’. He doesn’t engage in fornicating thoughts of another woman, and his dispirited intimacies are temporarily alleviated (effectively an act of self-pleasuring); the humbling trial drives him too long for Christ.

Our Lord’s experiences with Israel were precisely the same for him to long for the Father. He is also rapturously ‘incontinent’ for the truth that he inherently is, as is the Father (Joh 14:6). Our Lord made for himself a wife who would seek Him with her entire heart. Christ’s incontinence is royally established in His Bride’s unity of incontinent truth; it is what makes them blissfully “one”.

Num 21:5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

Today, God’s people must be careful not to be lifeless, loathe our Lord’s burning interactions with us where his flocks rest at noon, and humiliate him for his ardour.

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired [H183 – covet, wait longingly, wish, sigh] thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Mal 1:2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 
Mal 1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 

Deu 7:6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 

Under Eve’s curse, and starkly typified by Vashti’s swift dismissal, it is too often irksome for a wife (Israel) considering her husband’s desire for the entirety of her body, mind and heart, symbolised by a focus on her breasts; universally she disdains it as groping; a term guaranteed to humiliate a husband into forced abstinence and possible cheating, especially for the incontinent unbeliever. 

The fundamentally vital key the Shulamite knew, as sequentially portrayed in the Song of Solomon, is her bright, sensual and cunning development of anticipation, designed tantalisingly hours, even days (maybe weeks) away from her ‘main menu’, for the intensity of mutual escalation of tensions. She thus “builds her house”.

Song of Solomon – Part 6, The Bride’s Dream

Song of Solomon 3:1-11

[Study Aired December 3, 2022]

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:13)

Before proceeding with the third chapter of the Song of Solomon, it is important to address the questions in everyone’s minds regarding the Song’s covert sexual innuendos. The vast majority of the Body of Christ see those creative references, and none of us can precisely identify their erotic tag; such is the beauty of poetry and elegant anticipatory arousals. For newcomers to the site and for this study to not resolve, the intent of Solomon’s apparent steamy wordplay is to the ‘natural mind’ blatantly missing the most significant aspects of erotica. Because of the curse of blindness, what the flesh doesn’t see and cannot see is…

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Mat 13:15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 
Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Blindness is one of the symbolic giants inhabiting the nations within the Elect of God’s spiritual land. The Lord drives out that giant of a curse called blindness. Those given eyes that spiritually see are the Elect of God whose judgement is happening right now, as they were of their brothers in Babylon cursed with equal blindness; now they are given to excitedly see and hear like the Shulamite ~ because they are the Shulamite!

Deu 11:22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; 
Deu 11:23 Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. 
Deu 11:24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.
Deu 11:25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.
Deu 11:26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
Deu 11:27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: 
Deu 11:28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. 

We assuredly do now know that the most outstanding god we all pursued in Babylon. ‘He’ was and is a three-fold god beginning with the lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh is driven by the lust of the eyes that consolidates our self-ordained right to pursue (as did Solomon) our indulgent glory and is called the pride of life. Even Solomon came to the frustrating conclusion that “all is vanity of vanities” (Ecc 1:1-11). His frustration was born from not having the Lord’s spirit of discernment, as we understand in John 6:63.

We are admonished to not lust after the flesh, to have it rule us, and for the Song of Solomon’s cause not to awaken love (erotica) until it is provided by the Lord in a righteous environment.

1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

So, the overwhelming rationale for not endeavouring to identify the multitude of sexual innuendos in the Song is that it is of no spiritual value. If the individual or a husband and wife wish to muse on the suggestive symbolism, it has some whimsical value yet ultimately is fruitless.

However, the Shulamite’s erotic spiritual subtleties are infinitely more ravishing.

The Lord made the woman physically and spiritually for the man to fulfil the Father’s plan for his Son (1Co 11:1-16). The entire intricate form of the female gender is a unique phenomenon of intrigue, as is male sexuality; both are to disappear in the Kingdom (Gal 3:28).

The Body of Christ is somewhat exasperated by Babylon’s wholesale degradation of anything related to mankind’s sexuality. Subconsciously, every sexually maturing male (like the Shulamite) knows that the more subtlely and elegantly anticipatory expressed details of a female of his attention are far more arousing than blatant in-your-face flesh. Merely go to the beach (on YouTube for most of us) and view the perversion of righteous lust for the female form, where nano-eye-patch-like bikinis are the norm. A somewhat good thing, reminiscent of a seared heart, is that every male on the beach is a well-practised slaughterman of his awakenings with an internal parody of the Shulamite charging him, ‘do not awaken my lust until I please’.

The Shulamite is undoubtedly well taught by her mother and senior female peers in the fine art of righteous and infinitely more exhilarating male seduction, and it is guaranteed not to involve indelicate displays of skin that scripture describes as nakedness that is sin.

Of course, the Lord-designed juxtapositioning of the other extreme in some Islamic cultures female dress code is pure slavery to both men and women. How can an Islamic man tell if the girl’s eyes behind a jail-like mesh hijab are that of a dove or loving hind? Her hair beneath the ‘tent’ of humidity would smell more like a flock of goats from Mt. Gilead rather than the effect of Solomon’s visual imagery. Nonetheless, that cultural environment has a one-hundred- and eighty-degrees positive effect on a Muslim man’s arousal compared to a Westerner’s, should his eyes be assaulted by a glimpse just above her ankle. No wonder young Muslim men lustfully spin out for the bounty when coming to a Western country full of infidels.

Solomon, the wisest man ever lived, maintains, and builds sexual suspense by compelling the reader to dream as lucidly as the Shulamite. Remembering earlier studies in the Song of Solomon, women’s roller-coaster arousals are generated precisely as the Shulamite fantasises. Likewise, the Bible is a book of turbulent foreplay designed primarily for the Bride of Christ. For Solomon to bluntly identify the erotic imagery would destroy the purpose of foreplay. The Lord could have been just a blunt in the Garden of Eden and dispensed with seven thousand years of spiritually developing ‘foreplay’.

Let’s continue with the Song of Solomon, Chapter 3:1-5.

It is a beautiful thing that all Christ-centric fiancées committed to marriage dream in effusive detail of how their courtship will bloom into their wedding day. That vivacity in Christ is a testament to her commitment. The Shulamite continues to rehearse her vivid dream that constitutes the entire Song as the spousal summation of the Bible. To the Elect of God, that dream is being lived in reality, and hopefully, we, too, are given to unabashedly and deeply experience the same spiritual arousals.

Remembering that the Song is a continuous event in her mind that could be daydreamed in an hour or two ~ yet, the philosophical Solomon could have taken weeks to compose.

Continuing from chapter two, the Bride pursues that dream in chapter three.

Son 3:1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
Son 3:2 I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. 
Son 3:3 The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? 
Son 3:4 It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. 
Son 3:5 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

Son 3:1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

In verse one, the Bride delights in the fantasy of righteous lust that epitomises the entire Song. She knows full well where her beloved is, and her internal pretend game amplifies the intensity of her arousal with the make-believe of her fiancé’s absence. The adage, “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” holds true.

Verse one is easily seen by the Elect of God as their spiritual event of first love in seeking and finding Christ. In the early dawn of having their eyes opened, they sometimes agonisingly question whether they have found the truth as they continue with a pounding heart beneath their ‘Temple mount’, searching the word to prove all things and stir up the spirit of truth.

Disconcertedly, their flesh sometimes questions the remarkable gift they are blessed with and pray that it is not written in this age that His spirit departs. As with the Shulamite, and many of us in the midnight hour, search for our Lord with troubled hearts.

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. 

2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Psa 51:11 O do not fling me from Your presence, And do not take Your holy spirit from me. (CLV)

Son 3:2 I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

The Shulamite in verse two continues to heighten the intensity of her arousal with the drama of a seeming classic female-superhero rescue. Christ and men love to ‘rescue’ a genuine woman, as did Boaz with Ruth and Christ with the Bride ~ both parties receive an emotional and spiritual high from the theatre (Ruth 3:1-18). Bards like Shakespeare and the Bible are full of such parables. 

Most women seem to secretly delight in tough and a little scary masculinity, which will fight for them; it amplifies their femininity and subsequent arousals. In today’s world, that romantic drama for women is a paradox since the curse from Eden torturously tears them in two directions ~ that of being submissive to a truly powerful man and her mostly unconscious desire to rule him. The Shulamite is rescued by a powerful and, in a positive sense, scary ‘man’ and kisses from him are immensely arousing! Her ‘Man’ didn’t just step up to the plate; he created the entire event, the love story from the beginning to the end.

A King or Priest serving in the holy of holies must be a perfect sacrifice. Our Lord is not the man in Deuteronomy 23:1 and Leviticus 23:1-24! He never had a blemish in any department of his spiritual anatomy; now, neither does she; she is about to be equally yoked in every way. He is her head and leads with his God-ordained headship symbolised by physically fully functional masculinity. The other spiritually dysfunctional parts of human anatomy, such as blindness, being crippled, deaf, and various diseases, are common to males and females. 

Deu 23:1 He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

Lev 21:17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
Lev 21:18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
Lev 21:19 Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, 
Lev 21:20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
Lev 21:21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. 
Lev 21:22 He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. 
Lev 21:23 Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.
Lev 21:24 And Moses told it unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel.

Of course, spiritually, the love ‘game’ plays out precisely as planned. Women delight in the extended love play of a sizzling romance, and men love the sizzle. The Shulamite knows the outcome of her romantic impression and frequently reminds herself ‘to not stir up love until He pleases’. She plays the internal charade of amplifying anticipation by pretending that she can’t find her beloved. Compared to Eden’s curse on women (the world’s churches), she doesn’t have an internal disquiet of her heart being torn with feminine desire by wanting to rule him. She sincerely wants Him to pursue her and find her, and He does.

Son 3:3 The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

Likewise, in the Body of Christ, she goes to many counsellors, the watchmen, to prove everything. She knows full well that she will find her Lord, the pearl of great price, because it was written that He would find her ~ from a babe in the field, budding into a beautiful bright young girl without breasts, to the spiritual stunner she is in the Song of Solomon.

In verse four, the Bride continues her dream and imagines her wedding night.

Son 3:4 It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

The Shulamite, a classic damsel in distress, searched for her beloved with all of her heart and the pretence that she couldn’t find him. In a little while, and undoubtedly with an immense surge of emotional release, blow me down ~ she found Him! Her aspirations serve to escalate this one-off marriage event, the pinnacle for which a righteous Bride (particularly she) is created. (1Co 11:9 – the woman is created for the man…)

Psa 63:8 My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. (BSB)

The Shulamite is utterly determined to bring her husband into the sanctity, figuratively of where her mother conceived her, a bed-chamber where marriage in heaven is sealed. She knows her inheritance as the Bride of Christ through the imbued lineage of righteous women, beginning long ago with Sarah, Abraham’s wife, “a mother of nations”.  She clings to her husband, the pearl of great price and dreams of consummating her marriage as the beautiful New Jerusalem above, the final and spiritual mother of us all.

The Shulamite maintains the sanctity of marriage that her mother and all preceding righteous mothers taught and is, to us, a spiritually pure doctrine symbolised by the marriage bed.

Heb 13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

It appeared the custom in ancient Biblical times for a bride to honour her mother’s teaching her the art of being a God-fearing wife who, too, honoured her husband and the order of headship. Likewise, a groom performed the same ritual in his mother’s tent or ‘chamber’ to honour the holiness of marriage. Not long after the death of Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah sealed their marriage in Sarah’s tent. The shadow of consummating a marriage in a mother’s bed chamber is in honour of God and the sanctity of marriage that doesn’t necessarily involve one’s mother’s chamber for conceiving. In a God-fearing family, a mother has a massive impact on her sons’ social and spiritual development, as does the Church on the laity. Even though a righteous wife doesn’t rule her husband, she is an immense blessing to him and their family, as was Rebekah to Isaac and all righteous women in scripture.

The Body of Christ lives a major aspect of being positively ravished by Christ, with Him having created her to ravish Him, and thus the marriage bed of pure doctrine is undefiled.

Gen 24:67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. 

Pro 5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Pro 5:16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
Pro 5:17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.
Pro 5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
Pro 5:19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished [H7686] always with her love. 
Pro 5:20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? 

In the negative for the meaning of “ravish” (H7686), we know Israel’s neighbouring strange women lovers embraced her bosom, thus ravishing her in the wilderness H7686 meaning to lead “led [her] astray”, and they did.

Lev 11:44 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile [H2930] yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Defile H2930
– Original: טמא
– Transliteration: Tame’
– Phonetic: taw-may’
– Definition: 
to be unclean, become unclean, become impure
(Qal) to be or become unclean
sexually
religiously
ceremonially
(Niphal)
to defile oneself, be defiled 1b
sexually 1b
by idolatry 1b
ceremonially
to be regarded as unclean
(Piel)
to defile 1c
sexually 1c
religiously 1c
ceremonially
to pronounce unclean, declare unclean (ceremonially)
to profane (God’s name)
(Pual) to be defiled
(Hithpael) to be unclean
(Hothpael) to be defiled

– Origin: a primitive root
– TWOT entry: 809
– Part(s) of speech: Verb 

The Shulamite and all the righteous women in scripture honoured their mother’s and father’s instructions in every aspect of Godliness, particularly for this purpose, by not defiling the marriage bed. The Shulamite in the SoS is not a filthy dreamer as were the men of Sodom.

Jud 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, [that all are false doctrines] are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 
Jud 1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

Today, a young groom’s last desire is to have their wedding night in the mother-in-law’s bedroom. However, for spiritual eyes, the biblical custom is for the Bride of Christ’s understanding.

The marital bed is akin to the holy of holies that only the high priest can enter. Solomon is portrayed as Christ, and it is Christ who enters the bed-chamber of the mother-to-be of all nations through the righteous lineage of mothers, with the Shulamite being the final consummative spouse. Taking one’s spouse figuratively or literally into a mother’s bed-chamber signifies the purity of Christ’s wife’s submission to his doctrine. It is the final act for the beginning of delivering her children, the world.

Bedchamber H2315
– Original: חדר
– Transliteration: Cheder
– Phonetic: kheh’-der
– Definition:

chamber, room, parlour, innermost or inward part, within

– Origin: from H2314
– TWOT entry: 612a
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine 
– Strong’s: From H2314; an apartment (usually literally): – ([bed] inner) chamber innermost (-ward) part parlour + south X within.

Gen 17:15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 
Gen 17:16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
Gen 17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 
Gen 17:18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 
Gen 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

The marriage bed, meaning marriage, is holy, with no place for fornication or adultery, the perversion of pure doctrine.

The following verse speaks of the judgment of Jerusalem, our former selves.

Zep 3:4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, [H6944] they have done violence to the law. 

Our bodies are the Temple of God, and the marriage bed is kept holy only through marriage, equally yoked in Christ.

Sanctuary H6944
– Original: קדשׁ
– Transliteration: Qodesh
– Phonetic: ko’-desh
– Definition:
apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness
apartness, sacredness, holiness
of God
of places
of things
set-apartness, separateness 

– Origin: from H6942 [1. to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate]
– TWOT entry: 1990a
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine 
– Strong’s: From H6942; a sacred place or thing; rarely abstractly sanctity: – consecrated (thing) dedicated (thing) hallowed (thing) holiness (X most) holy (X day portion thing) saint

1Co 6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 
1Co 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

The Shulamite is dreadfully alert to keep the sanctity of marriage for her Lord and constantly recalls,

Son 3:5 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. 

The Bride is the holy Temple, the city of God, the New Jerusalem where Christ resides.

Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 
Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 
Rev 21:24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 
Rev 21:25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 
Rev 21:26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
Rev 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Lord willing, the Bride continues her dream next week with her groom arriving at the wedding.

Song of Solomon – Part 2, The Bride Confesses Her Love

‘Defrauding Christ’s Spiritual Conjugal Rights is Denying Him ~ Invalidating Marriage.’

[Study Aired November 5, 2022]

Song of Solomon 1:2-7

In this study, Part 2 of the Song of Solomon, we continue with the Shulamite’s implicit, inherent conviction by experience that through kisses, arousal comes before desire and is the ointment that cures spiritual dispassion.

We are reminded that the lengthy introductions and this part in the Song of Solomon are justifiable to understand the Bride’s six thousand years of spiritual preparations for marriage to understand her intimate expressions.

For the Bride, the Song of Solomon is the culmination of her daily struggles from dying to the flesh. Women in biblical times rarely had a say in who they married, for example Solomon’s 1,000 women who did not choose to marry him.

Gen 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 
Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Likewise, the Shulamite never had a say; however, her astonished understanding of her Lord’s intentions makes her unequivocally gladly chosen by Him. Her passion for arousal and their consummation is the fruit of her learning from life-long struggles, and her joy for its finality is approaching its zenith. Upon marrying her Lord, they are perfectly “one” spirit of all understanding; the dust she was has done its job and is behind her. At her Lord’s hand, what remains is saving her brothers and sisters ~ but first, her focus in the Song of Solomon is solely on marital consummation! At this point, all chastisement for her (the Church) is done. The Song of Solomon is her grateful expression and affirmations of truth for doctrinal understanding finalised in marital consummation and not necessarily for previously unseen theological enlightenment ~ the Bride, dressed in fine white linen, is unconditionally accepted by her Lord.

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 

The Song of Solomon is the end of her fiery struggles in dying daily. In an utter joyful submission to her Lord, she is given the expression of erotic purity we see spiritually that the world breathlessly debauched for six thousand years and could never satiate. 

Before resuming the Song of Solomon, I wish to briefly share a first-hand example of arousal before desire and expected spiritual consummation.

I’m sure every one of the Lord’s teachers feels tired and a little overwhelmed after work. He (She – a joint of the Bride) struggles to excite a spiritual ‘conjugal’ desire to reactivate his passion for picking up where he left off in developing his already late bible study draft. My experience is that my ‘marital’ obligation is, as the Shulamite implicitly knew, to begin being kissed by the word of God. I find that the fine wine of truth from the Lord’s mouth arouses a Shulamite-like awakening. The Lord’s spiritual passion increasingly wells within and ravishes my heart to desire more! ~ I’m bright-eyed as His word caresses my mind in a wonderful foreplay of spiritual enlightenment. The Lord’s “good ointment” cures my naturally feminine sluggish desire by first being aroused. Arousal increases the desire to be further aroused by a cascade of exciting spiritual truth. 

The Woman’s (the Body’s) post-study discussion almost always consummates with its members exclaiming by their exciting spiritual discoveries, unwittingly, that the ‘earth moved’ for them. As with “the natural”, some studies don’t outstandingly climax, yet, the Woman contentedly drifts into a peaceful afterglow in her God-given assurance of future arousals. Never again does she withhold her body from her husband or need consent for fasting and prayer since she is at one in Him in eternity with her enemies within under her feet. Fornication and defrauding her Lord of his conjugal rights is thinking above what is written she deletes from her mind, which is significantly why she is the Bride.

Let’s continue to be aroused to desire more of the Lord’s phenomenal truth that gives eternal life and “is better than wine.”

Following are the translator’s or Solomon’s orders of books. The original manuscripts were never broken into chapters and verses in the time of scriptural writings. The seeming chaotic disorder is compliant with a fiancée’s romantic dreaming.

The Bride Confesses Her Love
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
The Bride Adores Her Beloved
The Bride’s Dream
Solomon Arrives for the Wedding
Solomon Admires His Bride’s Beauty
Together in the Garden of Love
The Bride Searches for Her Beloved
The Bride Praises Her Beloved
Together in the Garden of Love
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
The Bride Gives Her Love
Longing for Her Beloved
Final Advice

The verses we are studying are Song of Solomon 1:3-7.

Son 1:3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. 
Son 1:4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. 
Son 1:5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 
Son 1:6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
Son 1:7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

In Song of Solomon 1:3, her Lord’s savour [H7381 ~ scent; fragrance; aroma; odour and derivative of H7306 – understanding] from his kisses of good ointments is an arousing balm compared to the torture of trying to keep the Law under the Old Covenant, especially today when we understand that nobody will be burning in a literal fiery hell forever.

The Hebrew for “ointment” is H8081.

– Original: שׁמן
– Transliteration: Shemen
– Phonetic: sheh’-men
– Definition:

fat, oil
fat, fatness
oil, olive oil
as staple, medicament or unguent
for anointing
fat (of fruitful land, valleys) (metaph)

Ointment’s most significant representation and meaning refer to oil and figures 165 times, primarily representing God’s word by the holy spirit. The more aroused we are for the holy anointing of the Lord’s word whose ways in which we are to walk, the more “oil” we have in our lamps that light the way.

Mat 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 
Mat 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 
Mat 25:3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 
Mat 25:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 
Mat 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 
Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 
Mat 25:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 
Mat 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 
Mat 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

Christ’s blood was poured forth as a drink offering and sweet savour “as an ointment poured forth”. With that understanding of the entirety of our Lord’s sacrifice and what he has planned for his Bride, the collective “virgins”, the Christs are aroused with immense desire and devotion, which is why they, “the virgins [plural] love thee”. 

In the next verse, 4, see how after we are individually aroused by the knowledge of our Lord’s word, “we” as the collective members of the Bride are past being dragged; they desire to run after Him and gladly rejoice in the Temple’s innermost sanctuary remembering that the heavenly gift of His love is better than wine. The collective Bride is the upright “we” who loves Christ.

Son 1:4 Draw [H5959 – drag] me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: [H2315. 1. chamber, room, parlour, innermost or inward part, within.   (Qal) to encompass, surround, enclose] we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. 

Verses 5 and 6 seemingly continue confusing the identity of the Shulamite; however, our Lord is not interested in the world’s physical ethnicity; he is ultimately only interested in spiritual ethnicity.

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

No matter what skin tone the Shulamite has, it is of no consequence since all people on the eighth day will ultimately be one spirit in God.

Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

Continuing in the Song of Solomon:

Son 1:5 I am black, [H7838 – black]  but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 
Son 1:6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

It is well established that the Shulamite’s name and ethnicity are indistinct and not critical to our learning. Her mysterious origins and convoluted shadows of her identity are confusing. What matters is that she is the shadow of spiritual majesty among the 700 wives of royal birth depicting the completion of judgement and 300 concubines for completing that process of judgment comprising the number 10 and the completeness of the power of corruptible dying flesh. That perdition is for the entirety of Solomon’s wives representing Israel in the wilderness, including its vast mixed multitude (Exo 12:38) coming out of Egypt, and subsequently Babylonian, the world, in the Lake of Fire.

Solomon’s wives were of many ethnicities – Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites of nations the Lord commanded Israel to not take wives. The most notable wife was “Pharaoh’s daughter”. She would account for the Shulamite’s feasible colour, possibly black, since coppery-toned Egyptian skin would tan darker in the sun; still, we can’t identify her ethnicity.

1Ki 11:1 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; 

1Ki 3:1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.

It is obvious, especially to Solomon, that young women of any ethnicity can be outstandingly beautiful; what matters to God is the beauty of their hearts, not their outward appearance.

Most notably, Moses saw the stunning beauty of Ethiopian women ~ one cannot help but think since Moses was particularly good-looking (“exceedingly fair” ~ normally not meaning fair-skinned – Act 7:20,21) and he married an Ethiopian, there was potential startling elegance in his children. It is strange for the Shulamite to say that she is black but comely, as if being ethnically black isn’t comely. Since the Shulamite was scorched by the sun, her skin tone was no doubt more “dusky” as noted for the Hebrew for ‘black’ in the KJV Pro 7:9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black [H380] and dark night: 

The Lord does not make a physical distinction of one ethnicity having greater superiority over another by the seeming inequality of the Shulamite being “black but comely”.

Interestingly, the word “but” doesn’t feature in the original Hebrew text, as noted in the Hebrew Interlinear Bible.

ה : shchure dusky אֲנִ י ani I וְ נָאוָה u·naue and·comely בְּ נת bnuth daughters-of יְ רוּשָׁ לָ ִם irushlm Jerusalem.

The YLT has the translation in keeping with the original Hebrew:

Son 1:5 Dark am I, and comely, daughters of Jerusalem, As tents of Kedar, as curtains of Solomon.(YLT)

The Shulamite familiarly associating herself “as” the tents of Kedar would add credence to the possibility that she is Egyptian and maybe Pharaoh’s daughter since Kedar was the habitation of the Ismaelites, Abraham’s first son born to the Egyptian, Hagar, the bondwoman. The Shulamite is both black/dusky and comely “as” the tents of Kedar and Solomon’s curtains. However, the colour of any curtains in Solomon’s Temple or his palace is not mentioned in scripture and is assumed to be black.

There are several potential connections as to why the Shulamite is, or associates herself with, “black”. The negative of black in scripture relates to sickness, disease, plague, blindness, foreboding and death (Lev 13:31).

In the previous study, we saw that the name Shulamite^H7759 means “the perfect or the peaceful” and is the derivative of H7999. Jerusalem likewise means city of peace, and since the Shulamite regards herself as “black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem”, she can be prophetically referring to the imminent famine, disease, destruction and death of the beautiful comely city of peace; its physical distinction peaked in Solomon’s time. Of course, and for us, it is the blackness and destruction of our Old Man Jerusalem below and the creation of the New Man, the Heavenly Jerusalem above clothed in pure white linen.

The Bride’s “oil”, the Lord’s spirit within, is never “hurt” since she shall soon see that she is the apple of her Lord’s eye.

Rev 6:5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 
Rev 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. 

A positive connection with the Shulamite linking herself with “black; as the curtains of Solomon” and the name Solomon [H8010] and its definition of “peaceful” and H7965  bonds them both as one in “completeness; soundness; welfare; safety; health; prosperity; quiet; contentment and covenant with God” as does the name Jerusalem.

The Shulamite stating that she is black can be aligned with the casting off of her dead old man within, indirectly juxtaposing her spiritual comeliness. The Ishmaelites, like the Egyptians who pursued Israel out of Egypt, had their minds darkened, even pitch black as the tents of Kedar and Solomon’s curtains. 

Upon Moses lifting up his rod and parting the Red Sea to deliver the Israelites to the east bank, utter darkness shadowed by the pillar of cloud pervaded the Egyptian camp. Still, to the Israelites, a pillar of fire lit their way.

Christ is the cloud of blackness and the midday son of righteousness that has shaded her for endurance, hidden her from her enemies, lit up her way and burnt up her previously uncircumcised heart. The blackness of chastising grace resulting in her comeliness, mentioned five times in the Song of Solomon, is the symbol of the past trials of her faith that to God is as gold refined in the fire. Her Lord will not give her glory to her Babylonian sisters who claim Christ’s name.

Exo 14:19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: 
Exo 14:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Job 30:30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 

Isa 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Isa 48:11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

The most profound positive connection and application of the Shulamite considering herself black can be coupled to the following verses and particularly the definition of “apple” and two separate Hebrew connections with the same meaning:

Psa 17:8 Keep me as the apple [H380] of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.

Apple H380
Original: אישׁון
– Transliteration: ‘iyshown
– Phonetic: ee-shone’
– Definition: 

pupil of the eye
middle of the night (that is the deepest blackness)

Zec 2:7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
Zec 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple [H892] of his eye.

Apple H892
– Original: בּבה
– Transliteration: Babah
– Phonetic: baw-baw’
– Definition: 

the apple (pupil) of the eye; (hollow out)
– Origin:

Zec 2:9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me. 
Zec 2:10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. 
Zec 2:11 And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. 
Zec 2:12 And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. 
Zec 2:13 Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.

The Shulamite clearly is the apple, the pupil or black centre of Solomon’s eye of delight for her, and her eye for him, as is the Bride of Christ on him and he on her. The somewhat morbid connecting definition of “hollow” further substantiates the connection for the sensitivity and centrality of devotion when the eyeball (the “apple”) is set biologically in its hollow in the skull. Anything touching the eye’s pupil causes an instant reflex to protect the vital organ, and anyone touching the Bride, the Lord’s eye, touches him with deadly consequences for even seeing her holiness of Christ.

Num 4:18  Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites [descendants of Korah; figuratively the Bride’s Babylonian sisters] from among the Levites: 
Num 4:19 But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons [the Bride] shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden: 
Num 4:20 But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

We know that singleness of mind, depicted by “one” eye and “one” chain that in freedom bonds the Bride to Christ, compared to the chains that formally yoked her to the cooperative of Babylon.

Pro 1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Pro 1:9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

Son 4:9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

Eze 19:9  And they put him [Israel] in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

The Shulamite is figuratively Zion even with her sisters Israel and dwells with the daughter of Babylon, collectively taking on the name Babylon. She effectively is Judah, a spiritual Jew our Lord chose as the apple of his eye. She was called out by her Babylonian sisters and made into his personal new Jerusalem and habitation.

Continuing with the rest of verse 6, the Shulamite seems to plead kindness from her mother’s angry children. They depict the angry and jealous ten tribes of Leah’s children, Joseph’s brothers, who sold him into Egypt since Joseph was the favoured one of his father, Jacob.

As we know, Joseph represents the Bride of Christ who, under Christ, her husband, saves her brothers and sisters in the Lake of Fire.

Gen 37:3 Now Israel [Jacob] loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. 
Gen 37:4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. 

Gen 45:4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 
Gen 45:6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 
Gen 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 
Gen 45:9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:
Gen 45:10 And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: 
Gen 45:11 And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.

The ending sentence of Song of Solomon 1:6 speaks of the Shulamite’s brothers and sisters making her keep other vineyards, possibly theirs, to the seeming detriment of her vineyard, where her painful trials produced remarkable blessings. She worked in the scorching sun of their Babylonian Christian vineyards. She was allegorically chastised black in the furnace of affliction through lack of spiritual understanding before bringing forth faith represented as fine gold.

Isa 13:11 And I will punish the world [first for the Bride] for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 
Isa 13:12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

The Shulamite’s brothers and sisters made her attend their vineyards with the command, “… my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept”, is reminiscent of Christ reaping where he did not sow.

The Bride of Christ is well versed with her not having a say in her Lord’s choosing her as his Bride. She worked in the fiery furnace of affliction with her brothers and sisters in their vineyards while her Lord was attending to her vineyard within.

To help understand Shulamite’s statement of not keeping her vineyard in good order, we need to look at the end of the Song of Solomon. Solomon had a vineyard which he let out to keepers whom he required a return on his investment of 1,000 pieces of silver.

Son 8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; [H1174 – meaning, Lord (possessor) of abundance; husband; and derivative H995 – the possessor of a multitude] he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

The number 1 is unity, and the collective of 1,000 (10x10x10) is the completeness of the flesh, the power of corruptible dying flesh, and ultimately the dying of Babylon. It affirms that the Shulamite has come out of her brothers and sisters in Babylon, their “mother’s children”, as Solomon’s “choice” wife among the 1,000 other women. Her vineyard is suggestively unpruned and in disarray, yet she knows that she is her Lord’s handiwork to complete her vineyard within.

Son 8:12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
Son 8:13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.
Son 8:14 Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

We shall leave examining the above verses in detail until the end of the Book of the Song of Solomon. In the meantime, the Shulamite’s vineyard, she says, is hers she compares to Solomon’s vineyards numbering 1,000. She and her Lord are one and a witness of two (two hundred) in each other since He dwells in her vineyard and harkens to His voice, which is why she is immensely spiritually aroused. Her brothers and sisters do not hear the voice of her shepherd. The completion of tending her vineyard is in her Lord’s hands; she is his workmanship and has no fear of what happens to her physical garden of her dying old man within.

Her 1,000 sisters of Babylon reap the fruit of their disobedience, and dance their whoredoms in their physical vineyard and unwittingly produce rotten fruit that they think is a fine wine, but are lies ~ Deu 28:39  Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 

Yet, the entire harem of Solomon’s 1.000 wives has lavishly indulged in the flesh of his abundance and drank from their vineyard of ‘vanities of vanities’ (Ecc 1:2-12). Remembering that Solomon was righteously betrothed to his wives, yet, in his old age, his many wives caused him to fornicate by turning his heart away from the Lord.

Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 

The Shulamite is given a jaw-dropping understanding of her predestination. She says ~ Son 1:7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? 

Remembering that in the previous verses, the Shulamite is passionately kissing her Lord and receiving his love that is better than wine ~ her teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up out of the wash (Son 4:2, 6:6) to feed on his righteousness and rest at noon peaceably in the fiery heat of blessed trials while retaining a breath as sweet as apples. (Son 7:8) Job’s wife, initially like he, couldn’t understand the nature of his fiery trials. 

Job 19:17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.

The Shulamite is likewise being entreated in her own body for her brother’s and sister’s sake yet to come out of Babylon.

While considering her sisters, who appear similarly beautiful, in all righteous humility, the Shulamite says, “… for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?” She effectively says, ‘why should I be the chosen lamb drafted aside from the other 1,000 sheep?’

The Shulamite today is given to know the answer to her humble question:

1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Psa 17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, 
Psa 17:9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about. 

This concludes the study. At the Lord’s hand and next week, we will look upon the Bride’s beauty in verses 1:8–17.

The Love Energy Loop between Christ and His Wife is Constant and Endless

[Study Aired May 26, 2021]

In April, the previous mini-study showed how nature, and particularly Birds of Paradise, displays that it is a shame for a man to have long hair. It graphically and colorfully portrayed the order of headship in the Godhead with an earthly husband representing the Father’s shadow as head of the family. It was an excerpt from a particularly long draft study in the making I named, “The Worship of Women Destroys the Love they Covet.”

Following is another excerpt from the same paper. It doesn’t give away the ultimate expression of that paper, yet for this exercise, I hope to inspire those Elect in marriage to deeply consider privately between the spouses how they can attain the love expressed in the next section as physically portrayed by David and Jonathan. The single saints can likewise do the same in their hearts, yet more directly to their fiancé, Christ. The advantage the married Elect have is their profound bond through the emotions of their marital union that should leave them awestruck in excitement for the spiritual reality when they see Christ in person.

As we progress through this paper, the purpose is to please reflect on how Christ can amplify His spirit – that energy flow between him and us, and us back to him.

The ultimate goal as a physical being

The ultimate goals are to live our physical lives, especially in marriage, to the fullest as a mirror-image of the Bride’s relationship with her Husband; to be “one” as Christ and the Father are “one”.

The Bride of Christ is not yet fully married to Christ. We are in the courtship phase. While we all are asleep and waiting as the Bridegroom seemingly tarries, we still can refine a few fleshly acts to reflect our relationship with our Lord more elegantly. It may seem pointless since we will soon hear the horse’s hooves thundering in the distance as He comes for us, especially when we understand these verses.

Rom 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

1Co 7:29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none. “Let no man glory in men [women!] for all things are yours”.

Men glory in women, and women glory in women. Ironically, if only women could fully see that if they gloried in their husbands, they would be on the path to a stunning physical relationship which points to a spectacular spiritual relationship with Christ. Yet, in these troublesome “end times”, the above scripture admonishes us not to focus on the earthly delights a beautifully seductive and Christ-like wife can lavish on her husband, since the reality in Christ infinitely surpasses the shadow of the breathtaking pleasures she can give serving the flesh.

Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

In our haste to mortify the deeds of the flesh, we overlook some vital male and female differences that would help make our marriage yoke light and result in a love that could “surpass the love of women”. It is infinitely more critical for us to have a love for Christ that surpasses the love of what a saintly wife of the Lord can bring to a relationship. Christ and the Father do have a love that surpasses the love of women.

2Sa 1:23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death, they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

2Sa 1:26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.

David and Jonathan, in type and shadow, are juxtaposed in lockstep as the Father and Christ. Their love assuredly was, is, and will be more wonderful in the Elect than the love of an earthly woman can sensually and spiritually delight her husband and him, her. What man wouldn’t like to experience that kind of love, both physically and spiritually? What saintly woman wouldn’t want to give that kind of love to her husband? If she did have within her that quality, she would be as Christ, even God. Try to envisage how physically a woman can give her love to a man that surpasses any conceivable love ANY woman who has ever existed can give to her husband. The very same physical aspects two males can righteously give to each other as did David and Jonathan. The physical delights with which she is potently gifted are amplified beyond measure when she has the mind of Christ. What a woman! What a Bride of Christ!

The ultimate plan in the primary paper is to show how we can have a love for Christ that infinitely surpasses the love of women, the same love Christ has for the Father and He for Christ. It is the type of love reserved only for the Bride of Christ.

The title, “The Worship of Women Destroys the Love they Covet“, highlights Rachel’s physical and spiritual expression that ravished Jacob. There is nothing more ravishing (H7686 to go astray; to mislead always) to a man than a pretty girl who unreservedly expresses delight in him. Her authentic presentation and laughter in uninhibited responsiveness to him and showing in her eyes is designed by God to ravish him. What seals that ravishing, in the positive sense, is her dedicated submission to him in all things spiritual. To boot, should they have vastly more common interests than differences, then their relationship is a match made in heaven. Those heart-thumping experiences create anticipation in him. If she is authentic in every detail of her personality, she, too, delightedly experiences immense tension in their relationship. She would be a fool and a whore to be inauthentic with her romantic and erotic machinations. These enormous and sensual titillations are why God told a young man (any man) not to go near a loose woman. She doesn’t have to have the traditional looks of a whore to lure him, for she is far more wily with the subtle use of her God-given femininity. She is infinitely more likely to be a mutual friend in your circle of friends or the girl next door, even the church down the street that exudes ‘love’.

Conversely, the more delusions and imagined commonalities a couple have, that, too, is a match made in heaven of a turbulent kind. If one or both parties of a courting couple gloss over personal dislikes in the other, the stage is set for growing discord that will ultimately end in strife. A little leaven leavens the entire lump, and since God bound the two together, it is a match made in heaven for much overcoming and spiritual strife.

When the physical ravishings overrule the spiritual ravishings, any heart’s idols will come back to haunt and mislead the couple. If a girl’s idol of the heart is to give sex or sensual titillations just to get ‘love’, or for a guy to give ‘love’ with an underlying plan to get sex, their idols of the heart potentially will bite them badly. Sexual strife, pre-marriage and in a marriage, is a result of spiritual strife. David and Jonathan, in their relationship, didn’t have the discord any woman has the potential to bring to a relationship to “err”; or a man to his relationship to Christ. Consequently, their love was “wonderful” and “passing the love of women”. Whoa! Now that concept should make us sit up and take notice!

2Sa 1:26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.

Wouldn’t it be astonishingly “wonderful” for the husband if his wife, with all of her extraordinary womanly delights, also had embedded in her heart and soul the same love David and Jonathan had for each other, for her husband?! She would be the recipient of everything beautiful from him if she (at God’s will) broke the curse of being against him.

Wouldn’t it be astonishingly “wonderful” for Christ if every member of the Body of Christ with all of her extraordinary womanly delights also had embedded in her heart and soul that same love Christ has for her? She will be the recipient of everything “wonderful” in the First Resurrection, if to Him she submits in “everything” – a relationship without discord and contention and being”One” in Christ.

The stark reality is that Jonathan and David did have a “wonderful” relationship that surpassed any love a woman could give a man short of sexual love. A woman’s unique sexual delights are designed expressly for the man; an ace-card surpassed by the righteous love two men can have for each other. That love (the two men) is a shadow of the love of God that the Father and Christ have for each other. Their love is one of implicit unity and oneness in “everything” as an earthly wife is to have for her husband in “everything”.

Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the Wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

He becomes a saviour of both the physical body from a sexual standpoint and the spiritual connection. How good is that!?

Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Now, as I’ve frequently been known to say, a wife being subject to a husband in “everything” doesn’t mean that if the husband loves anchovies on his pizza that his wife has to fall in line and love anchovies, too. However, the more remarkable that oneness between them in “everything” is, the closer their relationship is to surpassing the love even a saintly husband has for his wife. It is a physical shadow of Christ’s love for the Father that surpasses the love He has for his wife, the Bride of Christ. That quality is the pinnacle of love I hope (at His will) to guide submissive Saints, both male and female, in the Body of Christ to possibly achieve certain marital interactions that highlight Christ’s love for the Father.

What Type of Love  Surpasses the Love of a Woman?

That heading is a topic which will make every human since the beginning of creation sit up and take notice! They all will look in astonishment upon the wife of Christ, who walked hidden in their midst for two thousand years, and wonder at the Son whose love for the Father surpassed His love for His wife. Yet, He gave His life for His wife and family.

Mat 10:37 He that loveth Father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

David’s slaying of Goliath breathtakingly overshadowed Jonathan’s outstanding battle accomplishments. This ruddy complexioned stripling of a lad turned battle-hardened soldiers’ heads in awe. Seasoned soldiers, steeped unflinchingly in the gore of many conflicts, gaped at this lad in astonishment before an uproarious applause.

1Sa 18:1 And it came to pass, when he [David] had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
1Sa 18:2 And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his Father’s house.
1Sa 18:3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
1Sa 18:4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.
1Sa 18:5 And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.

Men delight in every aspect of a woman; every detail of her is titillation to his senses. So what is this quality two men can have for each other that a woman (thankfully!) is incapable of contributing?

I say, “thankfully” since we are not to confuse the sexes by a woman taking on the man’s qualities in a vain attempt to achieve the love that Jonathan and David had. Saul, Jonathan and David would loathe any Zena warrior-like woman standing shoulder to shoulder with them holding an enemy’s head aloft.

Jonathan’s and David’s very souls were knit by David’s extraordinary courage to slay the uncircumcised Philistine whom the armies of Israel feared. Saul, like Cain, became sullen and morose for not “do[ing] well” with their offerings and prefigures the likes of Esau and Queen Vashti and a host of other notables who nonchalantly refused God.

Christ, like Saul, takes us, His bride, permanently into His house forever. Before Christ took His bride, the Father and Christ made a covenant together to create man and the resulting slaying of man’s giants in his land. Christ and the Father, as did Jonathan and David, love each other as do the Father and Christ love mankind.

Christ likewise makes a pure white linen robe, the same as His, and dresses His wife together with His sword and bow of truth to protect and guide her in rulership just as Jonathan gave David his fighting gear. Jonathan and David were one in everything by their souls being knit, as husbands and wives are to be. Jonathan and David were the epitomai [plural] that flesh could produce which reflects the love Christ and the Father have for each other as males without the sexual union, which a female is unique in bestowing.

As from the First Resurrection, the wife of Christ goes out wherever He sends her to judge wisely and bring out His sword upon a lawless generation in the fearful sight of all the people, Saul’s figurative servants.

I make no apologies for the endless juxtaposing of the natural against and preceding the spiritual examples in this paper. Consequently, God created utterly graphic violence of intense colour and imagery as “ensamples” in both the animal world and the human beast world as mechanisms to partly shock us into submission. Only through painful trials and sufferings to which all flesh contributes will eventually the world be subdued to say, “Your will be done, mighty Lord and King; your word rules; you are God.”

Thankfully, our delightful lady-folk are unlike Zena, the warrior princess for the married husbands and to whom he comes home. Nonetheless, are our lady Saints afraid to read and see the graphic and intense imagery of Heber’s wife driving a nail through his temple? How about a son killing her other son, as did Cain with its horrific and nightmarish recollections for decades? What about seeing your son beat up and nailed upon a cross right before your eyes? Christ didn’t like the idea, yet his mother and family were made to endure the violent imagery ~ pretty graphic and colourful, wouldn’t you say? The Bible is a book full of harlotry and whoredoms of which the sisters, Oholah and Oholibah outrank the most outlandish shady ladies.

All of those vivid pictorials are ensamples for us to muse upon for their spiritual applications in which we delight. Especially Gentile Christian women, and likewise men, are not exempt from shying away from those expressive images; they cannot understand why God wants our forebears to kill little children and women.

Men who cannot lead as God requires are men who unwittingly reflect the nature of women; they are feminised and unconsciously have women ruling over them. A woman doesn’t have the “privy members” of a male that denote masculinity and leadership. His privy members are the two highly notable assets at birth that clearly denote masculinity.

Deu 23:1 He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD. [A eunuch could not be a priest of the Lord; why?]

Lev 21:17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
Lev 21:18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
Lev 21:19 Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
Lev 21:20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
Lev 21:21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.
Lev 21:22 He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.
Lev 21:23 Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.

All of those “blemishes”, as we know, are symbols of the higher spiritual meaning. Aaron’s seed came from Abraham and down to Christ and was sworn by Abraham’s servant’s hand “under my thigh” to garner a wife for Jacob from his “seed” or kindred. A blind man denotes the endemic blindness of all mankind. A lame man (spiritually) cannot walk in truth and spirit to rightly judge even these issues and even speak righteously about them. A more spiritually savvy Saint may have a better meaning for the “flat nose”, yet it means deformed, as does all things “superfluous” or deformed. Likewise, a broken foot or hand handicaps our walk and work’s spiritual use, as does a crooked back and dwarfism and poor eyesight and diseases.

So why couldn’t a man having a damaged or missing “member” or “stones” be a Priest, and why should that be a problem when the New Covenant was being established and enacted? Philip outrageously, to the Jews, by guiding the Ethiopian eunuch in God’s word, showed the fact that eunuchs, like us with blemishes, will be made into the new man.

A male’s privy members highlight his masculinity, and only males, in the Law of Moses, complete with those qualities and lacking blemishes, could be a priest. Having a full complement of privy members without bodily blemishes portrays the purity and headship of the Father and, in order, Christ, the man and then the woman and children.

We in the Body are fully aware that we must not attempt to state a date or time when Christ will come ‘in person’ for the First Resurrection. We can see clearly that these increasingly unstable times are an overture to that event. Given the seemingly short time between now and the First Resurrection, it seems somewhat trite that we should be seeking to fulfil the desires of the flesh in our marriages, especially since Paul said it is nobler to not focus overly on the flesh in marriage:

1Co 7:29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
1Co 7:30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
1Co 7:31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
1Co 7:32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
1Co 7:33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his Wife.

Nonetheless, we can be given to see some astonishing connections in our fleshly marriages that will greatly ravish our love for Christ; again, the natural precedes the spiritual.

There is a correlation that ultimately exists between the Father and Christ and the order of headship! That order is the Father, Christ and His wife and then the rest of humanity. Ultimately, the Father and Son’s priority is to the Father as if Christ had no wife! “… that both they that have wives be as though they had none.” Hypothetically and in the impossible event that the wife of Christ is found to be impure and cast out forever into nothingness, the Father and the Word would default to what they were before creation – as though they had none – no wife. The Father without Christ and Christ without his wife  would yet exist as God and the Word being with God – a love that is “wonderful” and “passing the love of women”.

Yet, we still need to care for our spouses and not defraud the other by avoiding conjugal rights both physically and spiritually while in the last days of the clay.

In part, this paper will seem like an amplification of the flesh; well, yes, it possibly will appear like that, yet to the glory of God. The hopeful revelations exposed, I expect, will make Christ and God brighter and exceedingly more massive in what they propose for the Bride. Seeing the natural more clearly will vastly amplify the thing that casts the shadow, Christ!

Rom 6:14 For sin [flesh that is so easily subject to sin] shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. [So, it will seem a bit uninspiring to reflect so strongly on aspects of our flesh. We don’t walk away from our marriages to be wholly freed from the flesh ~ just yet.]
Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin [the flesh].

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. [In this instance, when we see more fully what God has given us in the flesh, we will see and experience more dramatically the fullness of Christ, our Husband.]

The answers as to how the flesh can have a love for their spouse which is greater than any woman can give to a man, is for possible future study.

With the following discussion, I would like it to be a part of this study, probably not for the Babylonian’s viewing, since they cannot eat from our table.

I dissuade any overt sexually sensitive expressions; however, how would you envisage the Elect could more intensely complete the spiritual energy loop in a married couple that is a shadow eclipsed by the Wife’s relationship with Christ? In electrical terms, it would be similar to a direct current as opposed to main alternating current – an endless and powerful flow from Christ to his wife and back to Him.

[Author may be contacted at gtsquelch (at) gmail.com]

Jer 3:18-25 You Shall Call Me, My Father and Shall No More Turn Away from Me

[Study Aired February 14, 2021]

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
Jer 3:19  But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
Jer 3:20  Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Jer 3:23  Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
Jer 3:24  For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Jer 3:25  We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

The Lord pleads with us to repent of our backsliding infidelity and return to Him, and that is what we are doing. However, the Lord has divorced Himself from our adulterous ways, and the law prohibits an estranged wife from returning to her husband:

Deu 24:1  When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
Deu 24:2  And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
Deu 24:3  And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
Deu 24:4  Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

If the law of Moses were all we had, then we would all be irredeemably lost. According to the law of Moses even if her second husband dies, her first husband is prohibited from taking her back to himself. The apostle Paul was familiar with these words of the law of Moses, which is what prompted the holy spirit to have him to write:

Rom 7:1  Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

“You also” demonstrates that Paul understood clearly, as he states three times here in verse 2 through four, our ‘husband’ must first die, and even then “[we] also [the Lord’s wife (2Co 11:2, Rev 21:9)] are become dead to the law… that [we] should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead…”

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Rev 21:9  And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

There we have it. That is the “that His banished be not expelled from Him” spoken of by the “wise woman of Takoa” means:

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

The ‘means’ which the Lord has devised that we “be not expelled from Him” is only “through death”, both the death of our first Husband and the death of His wife. Christ is our husband, and as His wife, “[we] also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ” (Rom 7:4).

Our husband, Christ, was once married to a physical nation. They “that know the law” know that Christ had to die to that marriage covenant before He could be married to another wife. While He was here in the flesh, he went only to physical Israel, while at the same time, as did the law itself, prophesying of a time when He would go to the Gentiles:

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

This is Christ’s first recorded message to “His own country”. Because He prophesied of being rejected “in His own country” and being sent to the Gentiles, except for the providence of God, He would have lost His life. The rejection by “His own country”, His own people, and even His own family, of His doctrine of eventually going to the Gentiles was just that radical and repugnant to them.

Joh 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

He again demonstrates that He had to go first to “His own country” when dealing with a Gentile Syrophenician woman:

Mar 7:24  And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.
Mar 7:25  For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
Mar 7:26  The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
Mar 7:27  But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

Christ called this poor desperate Gentile woman a “dog” right to her face, and at first refused to heal her daughter. But, as a type of all who come to Him, she was desperate, and she was undeterred by being made painfully aware of how unaccepted and rejected she was:

Mar 7:28  And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.
Mar 7:29  And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
Mar 7:30  And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

Christ rewarded this desperate woman “for this saying” because He knew that His Father had put those words in that woman’s mouth. He knew that she was speaking for Him and confirming His words to us and to “His own country” who were in the process of rejecting Him and His soon to be new spiritual wife. It was the beginning of “the time of reformation” which was prophesied of in the law of Moses:

Deu 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me [Moses was a great reformer]; unto him ye shall hearken;

Heb 9:7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Heb 9:8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

He and His first wife were both “made of a woman, made under the law”. That law forbade Him marrying a wife He had put away until He Himself died and she “also [died] to the law by the body of Christ; that [she] should be married to another, even to Him wo is raised from the dead…” (Rom 7:4).

Another prophecy from the mouth of Christ Himself concerning the necessity that He must put away of His first wife are His words to the Gentile woman at the well of Samaria:

Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the [spiritual, Rom 2:28-29] Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Let’s read that law again, and then also read where the Lord tells us that He has put away and then divorced His first wife:

Deu 24:1  When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
Deu 24:2  And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
Deu 24:3  And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
Deu 24:4  Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

For those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear, those words are just another way of saying:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Here is the Lord severing His relationship with ‘flesh and blood’:

Isa 50:1  Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

If our husband must die before He can marry His wife who was “under the law” (which ‘law’ dictates that she cannot be taken back by her first husband), then it follows that no one who is “under the law” can marry the husband who has put them away. It so happens that even the Gentiles to whom Christ would go are also under the law for this reason:

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

For this reason “[we Gentiles] also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that [we Gentiles, who were also under the law] should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead…” Here it is again… both Christ and His wife are “become dead to the law by the body of Christ”:

Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Christ cannot take us back as His wife, even after He dies for us, unless “we also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that we should be married to another… even to Him who is raised from the dead”.

Our ‘death’ to “the law of sin and death” is our “judgment [which is now] beginning at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). The judgment which is now on the house of God comes upon us as we “present [our]selves unto God a living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1). Our judgment is our “crucifixion with Christ” (Gal 2:20), and it is our “dying daily” spoken of by the apostle Paul:

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Gal 2:19  For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

This is the death which must be taking place within us before “we also [must count ourselves as] dead by the body of Christ, that we might be married to another, even to Him that is raised from the dead”.

In Biblical symbolism our judgment always comes from the north:

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah [‘Aholiabah’ (Eze 23)] shall walk with the house of Israel [Ahola (Eze 23)], and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

We will say more about our “inheritance” and to whom it is promised later in this study, but for now we will take note that “the land of the north”, as we will demonstrate, symbolizes our judgment, which ‘judgment’ gradually destroys our old man and chastens us to learn “the righteousness of God which is by [the] faith of Jesus Christ” and must precede our “inheritance.”

Jer 1:14  Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

Jer 6:1  O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

Jer 10:22  Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.

Here in Jeremiah 10, Judah is said to be “desolate and a den of dragons”. Notice how similar these words are to:

Jer 51:37  And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

The reason Judah is called “a den of dragons” is that she (Aholiabah) through her self-righteousness, has become more wicked than her elder sister Israel (Ahola). The judgment of both the harlot sisters comes “out of the north”:

Eze 9:1  He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
Eze 9:2  And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
Eze 9:3  And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.

This prophecy certainly has an outward, dispensational application (Rom 8:22-23), but it is to be applied first and primarily with ourselves (1Co 15:31). This is our “slaying”. This “slaying” is the judgment and death of our old man, and it is only through this judgment and death that we are granted “to be married to another, even to him that is raised from the dead.” This is the chastening judgment of the grace of God which “chastens us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lust and to live Godly lives in this present age”:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811: paideuo, chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world [Greek: G165 – aion, age]; (KJV)

Ezekiel 9:1-7 describes the chastening grace of the Lord’s judgment of our time first as ‘Aholah’ and then as self-righteous, yet also lascivious ‘Aholibah’. The fact these two harlot sisters symbolize different stages of our single experience is demonstrated in a later chapter of the prophecy of Ezekiel. It is found in Ezekiel 37, known as the prophecy of “the valley of dry bones”. This is what we are told of the meaning of all these bones and who it is they symbolize:

Eze 37:1  The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
Eze 37:2  And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
Eze 37:3  And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
Eze 37:4  Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
Eze 37:5  Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath [H7307: ruach, spirit] to enter into you, and ye shall live:
Eze 37:6  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath [H7307: ruach, spirit] in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 37:7  So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
Eze 37:8  And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath [H7307: ruach, spirit] in them.
Eze 37:9  Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
Eze 37:10  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army [Rev 7:4 and Rev 14:1 symbolically 144,000].
Eze 37:11  Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
Eze 37:12  Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
Eze 37:13  And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
Eze 37:14  And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

“I will… bring you into the land of Israel… and place you in you own land” is the inheritance of ‘Israel’, and Israel is the Old Testament type of the Lord’s elect who alone are promised “an inheritance among all them which are sanctified… of this present time” if we keep ourselves from false doctrines and at the same time oversee the Lord’s flock (Act 20:32, Rom 8:18).

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
Act 20:32  And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified [in “this present time” Rom 8:18]

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory [the inheritance] which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

This promised ‘inheritance’ is not promised to just anyone. Rather it is only promised to a “predestinated… few… who first trusted in Christ”:

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in [the] Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [“in advance as security for the rest”] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

The “great army” of Ezekiel 37:10 is ‘great’ only in that it is the Lord’s army. It is symbolized in the New Testament by one hundred forty-four thousand “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Compared to the millions who are called but not chosen, those who cannot go beyond the six milk doctrine of Hebrews 6, this “great army” are but very “few” indeed:

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

The promise of “an inheritance” in Jeremiah 3:18 is just one of the many Old Testament verses which give great meaning to all the New Testament promises of an inheritance for the overcoming saints:

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah [Aholiabah (Eze 23)] shall walk with the house of Israel [Ahola (Eze 23)], and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

“The redemption of the purchased possession” refers to “our inheritance” as “kings and priests” ruling with Christ over the kingdoms of this earth for a thousand years followed by being made judges at the white throne judgment (Rev 20).

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life [“this present time”]?

Just as Joseph was given the throne of Egypt immediately upon coming out of prison, we, too, are given dominion over all of our false doctrines when we come out of our Babylonian prison in “the north” to which we have been carried away as slaves to “the law of sin and death”:

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Like Joseph coming out of the dungeons of Egypt, we also “come out of her”, out of the Babylonian religious systems of this world to receive our inheritance with Christ in the heavens immediately in “earnest”, down payment form, in Christ.

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Being under either the law of Moses or the law of the Gentiles is our spiritual prison. Scripturally there is no difference between the law of Moses and the law of the Gentiles. Here is what the Holy spirit has inspired to be written for our edification:

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

It is the holy spirit which says the law of Moses is “a (disannulled) carnal commandment” no more capable of giving life than the Gentiles who “are a law unto themselves”:

Heb 7:16  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
Heb 7:17  For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:18  For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

Our time as slaves is spent in our whoredoms in the false doctrines of our Babylonian exile. It is the time we spend being dominated by the fear of men, the fear of death and by the doctrines and laws of Babylon.

This is what Paul tells us of the time we spend under such bondage:

Gal 4:1  But I say that so long as the heir is a child [a spiritual infant], he differeth nothing from a bondservant though he is lord of all;
Gal 4:2  but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world:
Gal 4:4  but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, [“under the rudiments of the world”]
Gal 4:5  that he might redeem them that were under the law [“under the rudiments of the world”], that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

When we begin to come out of the prison of being under the law, then we are becoming one with Christ. We begin to be seated with Him, and we are being enthroned with Him in His kingdom within us in down payment form “until the redemption of the purchased possession”:

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [down payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

“The redemption of the purchased possession” is to be given part in the first resurrection, and to rule “with Christ a thousand years” and then to be the judges of the great white throne judgment, which will judge the dead small and great according to their works:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

However, death is not yet destroyed as per:

1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Therefore, this prophecy continues:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them [“the nations in the four quarters of the earth” (vs 8)].
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever [the ages of the ages]

The lake of fire is the second death (vs 14) which has power over and hurts the second group who “Live not again until the thousand years [and the “little season” of universal rebellion – verse 3] are finished” (Rev 20:7-10), and then we come to “the resurrection of judgment” which Christ spoke of in John 5:28-29. This is the second resurrection, and it is called the “great white throne… judgment”:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

If there is a first resurrection (Rev 20:5), then this must be the second resurrection. If there is a second resurrection, then there must have been a first death. When did the previous ‘death’ take place? Here is the straightforward answer to that question:

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

The first resurrection is also called “the marriage supper of the Lamb”:

Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

This union cannot take place until we see ourselves as hopelessly lost, self-righteous Aholibah, the younger, more sinful and self-righteous harlot sister. When we have acknowledged that we were first adulterous ‘Ahola’ and that we, through our self-righteousness, have surpassed the sins we committed while we were under the law, and that through our self-righteousness we ourselves have abused the Lord’s grace, then, and only then, are we in the humbled position of being ‘crucified with Christ [and] dying daily’. It is only from this position that we can be exalted to the throne of Christ and His Father because we have now “acknowledged our transgression” and we know whence we have come, and we know it is all His working from the beginning to the end for our good (Rom 8:28).

Jer 3:11  And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Jer 3:12  Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

Luk 14:11  For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Peter confirms these words of Jeremiah when he tells us:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Coming out of the north signifies coming up through great tribulation and judgment. Coming back to the Lord out of the north signifies the Lord’s judgments in our earth have taught us righteousness:

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Ezekiel helps to reveal to us that we are all first the elder sister Aholah. Aholah is elder because she typifies our self-righteousness “mine own righteousness, which is of the law”:

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Aholibah, the younger sister harlot, symbolizes our own self-righteousness as we turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, thereby becoming more wicked than our older sister, our time under the law.

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
Jer 3:19  But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
Jer 3:20  Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.

When we read of “Judah… with the house of Israel… coming together” to be one again, we are always speaking of the Lord’s elect who are being given “a goodly heritage [an inheritance] of the host of nations”.

Here is the promise of being given “a goodly heritage”, an inheritance “of the host of nations” to rule over in the New Testament:

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

This honor is given only to those who the Lord has “crushed to powder”, and who have “judged themselves (1Co 11:31), humbled themselves, and have died with Christ in this present time (1Co 15:31 and Rom 8:18).

These verses speak to the concept of acknowledging our transgressions and judging ourselves:

Jer 3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Jer 3:23  Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.

Looking to the nations of this world, whether inward nations of this world… all our false doctrines, or outward nations of this world with their militaries; if we are depending on them for our life and safety it is disastrous. There is no salvation but through Christ and His words and His doctrines. He alone has the words of life:

Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Joh 6:69  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

Joh 14:5  Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

In this prophecy the Lord is reminding us of who we were, how we have treacherously treated our spiritual husband, and how unfit to be His wife we are as two self-righteous whores. With the promise of being delivered from His wrath if we will “only acknowledge [our] transgression” I want to include verses 21 and 22, along with our last two verses in which we offer “weeping and supplications” to the Lord for our unfaithful, whorish ways toward Him:

Jer 3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

Jer 3:24  For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Jer 3:25  We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

These verses are ‘Ahola, and Aholibah’ in us acknowledging that [we] have transgressed, and these verses are the Lord healing us of our backsliding. If He does not do so, it will not be done, but He is in the process of doing just that, and we are accepting of “His workmanship” in our lives:

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Here are the verses of our next study:

Jer 4:1  If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
Jer 4:2  And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
Jer 4:3  For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Jer 4:4  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Jer 4:5  Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
Jer 4:6  Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
Jer 4:7  The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
Jer 4:8  For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
Jer 4:9  And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

Marriage and divorce

April 26, 2019

Marriage is a very important topic with the Lord. This study will only touch on the concepts found within the context of Deuteronomy 24, but there have been other writings on this topic placed on IWWB which I encourage anyone who is so inclined to search out. Namely, the marriage series by Mike and also the law of Moses versus the law of the Spirit article.

The Lord takes marriage seriously. It is the institution of marriage that allows us to come into the household, and therefore the family, of God.

The price that had to be paid for this marriage was paid for in blood, the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore, it is important for us to examine the reasons why marriage is important to the Lord when we happen upon scripture discussing this topic.

For this examination today, we are going to cover Deuteronomy 24:1 and the context of this verse.

Deu 24:1  When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
Deu 24:2  And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
Deu 24:3  And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
Deu 24:4  Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

At first glance, it seems like a cruel act for a husband to look upon his wife and decide he is unhappy with her because “she finds no favor in his eyes”. However, we all know that this happens from time to time, but the Lord institutes a way for the woman to find another husband.

This is important because we need to be able to know how to handle these types of situations, but we also know that the Lord is fair and just in giving an order to the process of things, especially to the woman who hasn’t found favor in her husband’s eyes.

Additionally, we are told with these sets of verses that a husband, even with a bill of divorcement freeing the woman, could not take her back as a wife, because the Lord sees this has an abomination.

One of the main reasons this is the case is that when a man and woman leave their father and mother, they will become one flesh with their wives. Once this union happens, it is considered to be permanent.

Therefore, if I “cut off” my hand, how can it be reattached? If I divorce my wife, how then can I take her back as a wife after she has been divorced again from her second husband?

Jesus speaks to this when He is asked about it by the pharisees.

Mat 19:1  And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan;
Mat 19:2  And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.
Mat 19:3  The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
Mat 19:4  And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
Mat 19:5  And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Mat 19:6  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Mat 19:7  They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
Mat 19:8  He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
Mat 19:9  And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Mat 19:10  His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
Mat 19:11  But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
Mat 19:12  For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

I know that is a lot to take in at once but let us break this down a bit.

First, notice when we come together as man and woman we become one flesh. When we understand the full sovereignty of God, and these Jews did not whom Jesus was speaking to, then we understand that it is the Lord who has brought them together.

This is not something that man can separate, even in a court of law. For God, your union as husband and wife was considered permanent. However, knowing the hardness of our hearts, we were given a way for a man to divorce his wife and for the woman to marry again.

These mandates were a way to make it known how to act in this situation, but it wasn’t a get out of marriage free card.

In fact, in order to get a bill of divorcement you had to have witnesses and it was made public. Therefore, it was something that was not taken lightly. You couldn’t just rashly get rid of your wife.

Rather than have a man beat his wife, murder her or otherwise harm her in some way, there was a method given to divorce his wife, but the union was made by God. Therefore, it was always intact.

The answers of the disciples proves the very thing Jesus mentions as the reason why a bill of divorcement was given to them as a method to use, “His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.”

The reason for a bill of divorcement is due to hardened hearts which don’t understand the real meaning of marriage “from the beginning”.

In fact, the very first act of polygamy in the bible was done by man, and specifically from a very familiar line of mankind.

Gen 4:16 (ESV)  Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Gen 4:17  Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.
Gen 4:18  To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.
Gen 4:19  And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

The first sign of not being “one man and one wife”, came from the line of Cain which is instructive to us or should be anyways. The Lord is Faithful to one bride, and He expects His bride to be faithful to Him.

Jesus’ answer to, “If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry”, is to tell His disciples what types of eunuchs there are. Most might find this strange to mention in regards to marriage, but what was Jesus getting at?

The first types of eunuchs did not do so of their own volition. They were made eunuchs either by God in from birth or from men.

The last group is a group which has chosen to become eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. This group has chosen to fight the natural tendencies of the flesh and is a form of the spirit conquering the flesh by bringing it into subjection.

This was a way to not be distracted by the things marriage distracts us by, and to serve the Lord wholly.

Also, of great note are those who have a wife but act as if they have none.

You haven’t heard of such a thing? Well, it is scriptural, and it has meaning.

1Co 7:25  Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
1Co 7:26  I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
1Co 7:27  Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

Whatever set of circumstances that Lord has dragged you unto Himself in, married or unmarried, does not disannul you of that life in order to serve Him in a capacity you think you should serve Him.

Serve Him in the same position of life that He has called you in because that is where He has placed you to serve Him.

1Co 7:28  But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
1Co 7:29  But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

When serving the Lord, we need to be doing all that we do to His glory. So, even when I am married, my service to the Lord is first and within the context of my marriage. My marriage compliments and reflects my service to the Lord but it does not diminish it.

1Co 7:30  And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
1Co 7:31  And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
1Co 7:32  But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
1Co 7:33  But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
1Co 7:34  There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
1Co 7:35  And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
1Co 7:36  But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
1Co 7:37  Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.
1Co 7:38  So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.
1Co 7:39  The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
1Co 7:40  But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.

When bringing this all back into focus for what marriage is to the Lord, and why a bill of divorcement was needed, we need to also balance that with situations where divorce was not permitted.

Deu 22:13  If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,
Deu 22:14  And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:
Deu 22:15  Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:
Deu 22:16  And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;
Deu 22:17  And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.
Deu 22:18  And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;
Deu 22:19  And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

And

Deu 22:28  If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;
Deu 22:29  Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.

Simply put, the Lord has given us actions we can take to deal with divorcement, but if we are honest as Christians then we realize that the Lord sees marriage as very important.

To continue this thought of the importance of marriage to the Lord, we must be reminded that Jesus changed things when He told the Pharisees what the rules for divorcement were.

Comparing the laws and liberties of Christ with the law of Moses will show how Jesus changed these things.

The law was for Israel “according to the flesh,” not the Israel who are “the children of promise,” also known as the Israel of God.

Jesus Christ is pointing out to His disciples that God is all powerful and in complete control. If God has joined us in marriage, then no man can put asunder that work, and we should see things this way.

This is what brings us to the ultimate meaning of what it is to be a child of God or the bride of Christ depending on how we are being described by the Lord at that time.

Rom 2:2  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Rom 2:3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

The law of Moses was and is opposed to the inward spiritual new man:

Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

What this all means in the context of this study is that our commitment to our physical spouses is a reflection to our commitment to the Lord, but that is not all.

Everything we are and do is a reflection of what the Lord has done, and we need to always strive to see the importance to the actions of the Lord.

Mike wrote a series on marriage which I encourage everyone to listen to or read if you haven’t done so already. He also wrote the law of Moses versus the law of the Spirit which goes over a lot of the concepts behind divorcing according to the law of Moses.

For this study, we briefly covered some of the key points in Deuteronomy 20 concerning divorce and also how that applies (or doesn’t) to us today as Christians.