THE FATHER'S LOVE

THE FATHER’S LOVE

                “His (God’s) understanding is infinite, says the Holy Scripture (Psalm 147:5) God’s wisdom foresaw and knew that man would fall. But God nevertheless created man and He not only created him but He prepared for the future of man- already after the Fall when he was able to be renewed- a Kingdom prepared… from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34). Because God knew that man would return to Him; he could not live without him.”  From the book: Reflections of a Humble Heart.

                I have pondered the meaning of Jesus parable of the ten virgins many times and in many ways and my conclusion is that this is not a parable about being saved, or being lost. It is rather a parable dealing with the issue of whether a believer will be a Bride of Christ or just a wedding guest.

                The foolish virgins having no oil were sent out to purchase the oil and while they were gone the Bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the marriage feast.  “And later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ But he answered and said, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.” Mt. 25:11, 12.

                This has a great deal to do with the Tabernacle of Moses and the progressive relationship of the believer with His heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. For instance, outer court Christians are saved, but unless they enter within the veil, into the Holy Place and finally into the Most Holy Place… in human terms we would say that they never consummated the marriage.

                So when Jesus says that He never knew them, He is saying that they never became one… never became intimate… never conceived in the womb of the Most Holy Place in order to produce sons and daughters of God.

                Our salvation and subsequent relationship with Christ through His Holy Spirit is really a marriage. And in this analogy there are millions of Christians who are perpetually coming to the altar, but they are never going into the bridal chamber to consummate the marriage.
And as expected they have invented a form of grace that says that we only need to come to the altar. We don’t have to enter into the Bridal chamber, because Jesus did it for us.

                Such a marriage is a low blow to the infinite love of God, who longs to dwell in us, making us a temple of His presence. He wants to be the treasure we hold in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.

                Marriage, as a type of our salvation, was intended to be a complete death to the single life. It is the complete giving of two people to each other and a combining of body, soul and spirit into one new creature. There were no escape clauses, for marriage was to be in sickness, or in health, good times and bad till death do us part. Marriage is not a contract, but a covenant.

                This is why God can say (once we have been married to Him), that He will never leave us or forsake us. He is not a covenant breaker.

                We see this in His longsuffering with Israel in Romans 11. Israel divorced itself from their Messiah, not only divorcing Him but putting Him to death. But what does the Holy Scripture say?

                “And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief will be grafted in; for god is able to graft them in again. (Back into the marriage) and Paul goes on explaining this saying: For I do not want you, brethren to be uninformed of this mystery lest you be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and thus all Israel will be saved, just as it is written; “The Deliverer will come from Zion, HE will remove ungodliness from Jacob and this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins. And in verse 29 we are told that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.”

                That’s not what I was told when I was growing up. I was taught as a matter of doctrine that God’s promises to Israel were conditional and when they crucified Christ God was finished with them and replaced them with the church. This was in fact an old reformation doctrine stemming from the Papacy that was contrary to scripture and it has been responsible for untold suffering of the Jews.

                God did not replace the Jews with the church, rather He grafted us into the Jewish tree with the idea than when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, He will once again graft the Jews back into their own tree and the olive tree will then be complete and we, Christians and Jews will be one new man in Christ.

                I bring this issue up here mostly to say that our relationship with Christ is by covenant marriage. It is a marriage that must be consummated if we want to be the bride of Christ, rather than just a guest at the marriage feast. Outer court Christians who refuse to consummate the marriage, being conceived and born again by the Holy Spirit and the Word (The Word is the seed) will not be a part of the Bride of Christ. They may be saved… or like the thief on the cross be ushered into paradise, but they will not rule and reign with Christ. They will not be seated with Him on His throne.

                And one other aspect of this is that, not having consummated their marriage with Christ, they will not be caught up in the rapture, but will have to be refined and purified through great tribulation. We need to take a harder look at Yeshua’s parables. We have presumed that we don’t need to consummate the marriage in order to share in all of the benefits of marriage, but we have been wrong.

                Jesus said: Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” Mt. 7:21     And then He lists lawlessness as one of the things that will keep people out, but really the entire Bible expresses the will of the Father and it is all about intimacy and a marriage to the One who loves us.

                Mankind was created to be a container of God’s presence. We were never designed to be apart from Him and so the story of the Bible is a story of God wooing us back into that intimate relationship that Adam and Eve had with Him before the fall. For such a relationship He was willing to give His life    and He did so from the very beginning, knowing in His infinite understanding that we would fall. But in also knowing that we would return to Him, He could not live without us.