The Bridal Paradigm

[watchman F]

This is actually the second of a three part series I taught in Church on Wednesday nights called ''The Bridal Paradigm'', the first lesson is call ''How Then Shall We Live''. If you all want me to post the first lesson after reading this one just let me know.


Last week we spoke on the Grace of God, and the fact that He expects us as His Church/ Bride through the empowerment of His grace to live righteous lives. Tonight we are speaking on the love of God, the unending, unmeasurable love Jesus has for us. Do you remember when you first fell in love how, you thought about that person day and night, you couldn't think about anything else, and your greatest wish is that they would one day return that same love for you. Well that is how Jesus feels about us. He cannot get us off His mind He thinks about us day and night wanting us to love Him back. His deepish wish is for us to return His love, He longs for the day we will be together with Him, He longs for the day we He returns and receive us into Himself. To understand this love He has for us we need to change our entire perspective, we need to get a new conception of Jesus as His relationship to the church. This perspective is called the Bridal Paradigm.

''Bridal Paradigm''
par·a·digm (p?r'?-d?m', -d?m')
n.
1.One that serves as a pattern or model.
2.A set or list of all the inflectional forms of a word or of one of its grammatical categories: the paradigm of an irregular verb.
3.A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.

The bridal paradigm is not a precise theological term. Rather, it is a practical term that communicates a body of truth related to Jesus' heart as a Bridegroom God, and our experience as His cherished Bride.

God will bring forth a Bride that will love Jesus as the Father loves Him.
John 17
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

She will be empowered by the grace of God to love Jesus. This love will overflow with lovesickness for her Bridegroom Messiah. It takes God to love God. We need the Spirit's impartation of God's love in us to equip us to love God. Our love for God is a gift from God to us. Our love and desire for God is an expression of His desire for us. We are able walk victoriously in love with Jesus because of our Bridal identity, and the knowledge of this truth.
Ephesians 5
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Our experience of Jesus as our Bridegroom can be described according to the seven longings common in each humans heart.
#1 The assurance that we are enjoyed by God.
#2 To be fascinated.
#3 To be beautiful.
#4 To be great
#5 To have intimacy without shame.
#6 To be wholehearted, and passionate.
#7 To make a deep, and long lasting impact.


#1 The assurance that we are accepted, and enjoyed by God.
We all have a longing to be accepted, first by God, and then by our friends and family. When we understand God's acceptance and affection for us we begin our journey in the romance of the gospel, our hearts are exhilerated by God's love. God beckons us to receive of His embrace.

I believe the most prevailing stronghold of the mind is fear of rejection, and the trama of shame. We are emotionally drained, and sometimes devastated if we feel we have been rejected by God or our family. The sheer feeling of it can knock the wind of of our emotional lungs.

Most of us desire romance, and our God wants to romance us. Our Bridegroom Kings desires us. He pursues, and enjoys us. When we are assured of this, something awakens in us and we are changed for ever.

It is not too hard to believe that God enjoys us when we are spiritually mature, but the truth is God not only loves us but likes us as well, even when we are young in the faith, spiritually immature, making many mistakes. This seems to good to be true, but it is gloriously true.
Song of Solomon 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.
10 How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine!

Romans 5
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Romans 8
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


#2 To be fascinated.
There is a craving in every human spirit to be fascinated. We long to be awestruch, and filled with endless wonder. Many search through secular entertainment to fulfill this God given craving to be fascinated. Without a sense of awe, we live aimless, and spiritually bored lives. This makes us vulnerable to satan's tactics. A spiritually bored Church is weak, but believers fascinated by Christ are strong and adequately equipped to face temptation.

The Lord will answer this longing by revealing to us the beauty of Christ. God will fascinate His people beyond anything we have ever known, by revealing to us the fullness of the Son. (King, Judge, Bridegroom)
Psalms 27:4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

Psalms 33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.



#3 To be beautiful.
Every one of us longs to posses beauty, and to feel beautiful. Most people pursue beauty at great lengths because we feel unsettled, and unhappy when we feel ugly. Our hearts vigorously chases after the realm of beauty. The good news is that the very beauty God possesses he imparts to us through redemption. His beauty is transferred to us through Jesus. God imparts His beauty to a formerly demonized, hopeless, sin-ridden people through redemption by the blood of Christ. A beautiful God created us in such a way that we would long to posses, and feel His imparted beauty.
Psalms 90:17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us:

Psalms 149:4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.

Isaiah 61
1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.



#4 To be great
In the core of our being we long to be great, to be successful, to be noble. God created this pursuit of greatness deep within our genetics. Sometimes we assume we must repent of this longing, but that is not true. We need not repent of this God given longing. we only need repentance if we pursue it in the wrong way. We were made for greatness, Jesus declares that we will one day be exalted to His right hand co-rulers of the Earth.

He meets this longing for greatness by granting His Bride a position of authority that will even surpass the greatest of angels. As the Bride of chriist we are at the very pinacle of the created order. As the Church takes hold of the truth that we are indeed the Bride of Jesus Christ, then our lives will begin to portray the divine nature of Christ Himself. We will be filled with inner strength, a fierce determination to be wholly His, and holy as He is.
Revelation 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

1st John 3
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

 

[watchman F]

#5 To have intimacy without shame.
We each long for intimacy without shame, and free of fear of being left alone. We long to know, and be known before the Lord. Jesus will entrust His Bride with the longings of His heart. We will also share the secrets of our hearts with him. God desires to give His secrets to the redeemed. Because of our value to him, we are invited into the mysterious realm of divine knowledge. God puts this longing in us because He wants us to find our satisfaction in what is in His heart, and He will share His heart with His Bride forever.

Jesus rejoices and celebrates in us. He knows the depths of our longings, dreams, and intentions to love him. Even our failed attempts to love Him are seen and cherished. He forgives us, He feels our pain, He knows our shamefull deeds, yet He loves us, protects us, believes in us, and treats us with honor as we work our ways through the minefield of sin toward perfection in Him and for Him.
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;



#6 To be wholehearted, and passionate.
We desire to give the deepest affections of our heart back to God. The joy, and power of lovesickness for Jesus can be exhilarating.

The human heart does not work properly in half-heartedness. An unpassionate heart is bored, and vulnerable to many destructive lusts. In order to be emotionally whole, we must live wholeheartedly. We must passionately give ourselves over to a person or purpose beyond ourselves. If we do not have something to die for we will have nothing to live for.

God will fulfill this longing of our Heart by making the first commandment first in our lives. He will place an wholehearted, passionate love for Christ within us.
Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

John 17
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.




# 7 To make a deep, and long lasting impact.
God designed us to long to make a difference in the lives of others. We are desperate to live with meaning. We desire to make a contribution to the lives of those we care about. We delight to share things that cause others to change, and brought into joy and goodness. We need to know that our contributions are significant to God, one that He will esteem and remember forever.

This longing is fulfilled when we begin to walk in the second commandment, instead of continuing in self-centered isolation. When we begin serving others in a way that results in eternal impact.
Mark 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

2nd Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.



These seven longings comprise the theological core of our experience in context to the ''Bridal Paradigm''. The redeemed across the Earth will one day see their Messiah as their Heavenly Bridegroom. In the overflow of this revelation, we will redefine ourselves as a cherished Bride. God will empower our hearts for new measures of enjoying Jesus by answering these seven longings. When these longings are fulfilled we will find ourselves extravagantly in love with Jesus. The Lord built these seven desires into every human heart to reflect aspects of His own glorious personality. He will bring us into the knowledge of who we are in Christ, especially as it related to our bridal identity. God desires to set us free from the inferior pleasures of sin. He does this by satisfying these ''designer longings'' introducing us to the superior pleasures of the gospel.
Psalms 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.





So.....Why is the Bridal Paradigm necessary?
It gives us the grace to not only stand during this last evil Generation, but to rise above it walking in more love, and power than the Church has ever seen.
1 Timothy 4:1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

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

Matthew 24
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Daniel 11:32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

Daniel 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

Revelation 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.



The generation in which the Lord returns will be filled with emotional brokenness that is unprecedented in Human history. The perversion and woundedness of the human heart will reach proportions unknown in history. Sinful perversion, occult activity, divine judgments, and martyrdom will reach the highest intensity ever seen.

Jesus describes the people of the last generation as being filled with bitterness, offense, and betrayal, with hearts growing cold in love. There will be an explosion of pornography through the rapidly growing technological industries. There will also be an exponential spike in occult activity.

God will bring victory to His people by revealing His Son to us as our Bridegroom. The Bridal Paradigm has been reserved by God to empower His Church to overcome the coldest, most lawless, demonic, and sexually perverse generation in history. The Church/ Bride will live in the power of lovesickness that enables her to walk in victory over sin.
Ephesians 5
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.


Supernatural emotional strength will be vital in light of the coming global crises of social, spiritual, economical, political, and emotional disruption. Only satisfied people happy with God, wholeheartedly in love with Jesus Christ will be equipped to stand in that hour. Thus, the seven longings related to the bridal paradigm are significant for today. Paul prayed that we would be strengthened in our inner man with divine power through the knowledge of the love Christ has for us by which we will be made complete in Him. God will do this as He reveals to us the truth of Jesus as our Bridegroom and we as His Bride.
Ephesians 3
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God


If we can receive this revelation, of the Bridal Paradigm it will change our lives. If we let this change of perspective root itself in our hearts we will never be the same. Once we know who we are in Christ, the Bride of the King, betrothed to the God that has created all that is, we will remain stedfast, we will crucify our flesh, we will make manifest our Savior, work out our own salvation, purifying ourselves, cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, we will perfect holiness in the fear of God, we will make ourselves ready for our Bridegroom King. We will adorn ourselves with the righteousness of the saints, clean and white, pure before our God. Sinless, righteous, unblameable, unblemished, without spot or wrinkle. We will shine like the sun, being salt and light to this world, we will walk in all the power, and authority God has always meant for us to walk in. We will happily give up our very lives to remain faithful to our relationship with Him. Once we get this revelation rooted deep in our hearts we will be able to keep God's great commandments to love Him with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength, and love our neighbors as ourselves. We will be set completely free from the bondage of self and sin, releasing us to fulfill the deepest most heartfelt longing of our hearts which is to stand before God truly pure, totally sinless, completely righteous, wholly holy, fully worthy to be an equally yoked Bride for our Messiah.

 

[watchman F]

Bump, it will be worth your while, read it.