I started preaching on marriage
about a month ago. I'm going to try to do so over
the next few weeks as much as the Lord will enable me to. I'm
going to try to. One of the reasons is because
I have I have experienced far too often having folks come and
want to look into these things once they're having problems
in their marriage or once they're in the middle of a divorce. And
it would be better to look at these things beforehand. And
like all things with a believer, it would be best to follow God's
Word and obey and cling to Christ and follow Christ in what He's
done. Now marriage, marrying a spouse
is one of the most important things we'll ever do in our life.
And one of the reasons that God has so ordered it this way is
because marriage pictures our Lord Jesus Christ better than
anything else. It's a picture of Christ and
His bride. All through the Scriptures, the
husband and the wife are a picture of Christ and His bride, the
church. We saw when we looked at the
first marriage, we looked at Adam and Eve, and we saw that
God created Adam and Eve and married them, and He did all
that after the pattern of that marriage that already existed,
the marriage between Christ and His bride, His church. So, another
thing God did was He worked in the hearts of men, of old, to
create traditions in the Eastern world which showed the four parts
that are involved in the marriage between Christ and His bride.
God works everything in the earth. He works in the hearts of men
and when traditions come up, that are honoring and that glorify
Christ is not by accident. It's God has worked it to do
that. And there are four things, they're
in the scriptures. There are four things that are
the four steps that show us how Christ marries His bride. The
first is the betrothal. It's also called the espousal.
This is somewhat like what we would call an engagement, but
an engagement is not binding like this is. This is far, far
more legal and binding than what an engagement is. The second
step in this marriage is the interval. After the betrothal,
there comes an interval, and during that time, it was a very
important things taking place. The bride would be preparing
herself for the wedding and the groom would be doing a very,
very important work that had to be done before he could marry
the bride. And then the third part of this
marriage is the wedding procession. The wedding procession. When
the interval ended, The bride has got herself prepared. She's
ready for the wedding. And the groom would deck himself,
you know, in his finest garments and he would gather together
his friends and his best man and all his friends and they
would go together from his house. to the bride's house in this
great, grand procession full of pomp, singing, rejoicing. And they would go and he would
retrieve his bride. It would be announced to the
bride that the groom is coming. And he would take her to himself
and he would go back and they would go back to the wedding
feast. And that's the fourth thing, the wedding feast. And
this is the marriage supper. This is where actual public marriage
takes place. So I want to look at these today.
We're going to look at the first two in this hour and we'll look
at the second two in the next hour. Now first, the betrothal,
the espousal. Now in our culture, men and women
date, young men and women date. They, you know, find the one
and the young man goes and asks the father for a hand in marriage. It's good if he's got a good
job and he pays money and gets her a pretty ring and that's
how he proves he can provide for her and what have you. And
the father says okay and he goes and proposes to her and she says
yes and they're engaged. Well, with Christ and His bride
it's different. Before God created the world,
God the Father chose a bride for His Son. God chose, He elected
by free grace, not because of anything in us. Not because of
anything in us. Simply by grace, doing with His
own what He would. We do with our own what we will.
God does with His own what He will. And God chose a multitude
of Adam's race. And those chosen children of
God make up the church. And that church is portrayed
in Scripture as the bride of Christ. The Bride of Christ. You look today as you hear this,
you who believe, you think of yourself individually as the
Bride of Christ. The Bride of Christ. And the
whole church together is the Bride of Christ. Now God our
Father gave this Bride away. God our Father is the Father
of the Bride and He gave this Bride away. He gave this Bride
away as a gift to His Son. But it was given, she was given
upon set and ordered betrothal terms. Betrothal terms. And this is what would take place
in the betrothing. There would be terms that would
be laid out for the groom. And he would have to agree to
enter into those terms to betroth the bride to himself. This was
a very important thing. This was a legal thing. This
was not like just an engagement between a young man and a young
woman. This was something far greater because it pictures the
everlasting covenant. It portrays the everlasting covenant
of grace. When he gave the bride to Christ,
Christ entered into betrothal terms. And He said in John 17,
He said, Thine they were and Thou gavest them Me. It was a
gift from the Father to Christ. And the betrothal agreement typifies
the everlasting covenant of grace. Christ agreed to be our husband. He betrothed us to Himself as
His bride. Now this was typified by Hosea
betrothing Gomer to himself. Go to Hosea 2. This is pictured by Hosea betrothing
Gomer to himself. Now listen to what he says. This is picturing the terms of
the everlasting covenant of grace. He said, I will betroth thee
unto me forever. So there is something we see
about the terms of this betrothal is forever. And Christ agreed,
I will betroth thee to me forever. I will betroth thee unto me in
righteousness and in judgment. That means this thing is going
to be done right and justly. The law is going to be honored.
The Father is going to be honored, glorified. I'll betroth thee
to me in loving kindness and in mercies. How in the world
is righteousness and mercy going to meet together? Justice and
mercy going to meet together and one not pollute the other? Only in Christ can that be. And
then it says, and I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness. This means He's going to actually
take her to be His bride by His faithfulness. She's going to
know the Lord by His faithfulness. So there's a great difference
between our engagement and the betrothal. In the betrothal between
a man and a woman, when the terms of the marriage were publicly
accepted, God's blessing was pronounced upon it. And it became,
from that day forward, they became husband and wife. And it was
considered legally, they were legally married. This is why
you remember whenever Joseph and Mary, Scripture says she
was espoused to Joseph. That's betrothed. She was betrothed
to Joseph. And when he found out she was
with child, he was of a mind to put her away because he thought
it was adultery. And the Holy Spirit came to him
and said, it says, then Joseph her husband, not Joseph her fiancé,
Joseph her husband, was mindful to put her away. And the Spirit
came, and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream,
saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary
thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost,
and she is going to bring forth a son, and his name shall be
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. So you
see, she was his wife in the betrothal. Now that's not so
in an engagement. They're not husband and wife.
Not so. So, when Christ betrothed us
to Himself in that covenant of grace, and He entered into all
those betrothal terms in that covenant of grace in eternity,
every one of His elect people became His bride. We became the
church, we became the bride of Christ right then. We were married,
legally married to Christ before God from eternity. God has not
even made the world yet, and this is so. All right, now, secondly,
let's go and look at the interval. There's another part of the betrothal,
but we're going to see that in the middle of the interval. Now,
during this interval, the groom paid what is translated in scripture
as a dowry, a bride price. Now, there is a dowry that the
the bride's parents give. And this is for the protection
of the bride. In case the husband is not a
faithful husband, the bride will be taken care of. She'll have
a dowry. She'll have something to provide for her. But the scripture
speaks of a dowry being that which the groom pays to the father
of the bride. And this was This was partly
to ask the bride's father for the honor of her hand in marriage. You remember Shechem when he
wanted to marry one of Jacob's daughters? Genesis 34, 11 says,
Shechem said unto Jacob her father, Ask me never so much dowry and
gift, and I will give according as you shall say unto me. Just
give me the damsel to be my wife. He said, I'll pay whatever Whatever
you say, whatever price you name, I'll pay it. Isn't that a good
picture of Christ in eternity? Christ promised the Father, whatever
I have to pay, I'll pay it. I'll pay the dowry. Now, if a
bridegroom is a faithful believer, if a bridegroom, I'm talking
about the groom now, if he's a faithful believer, he desires
to convince the father of the bride that he will faithfully
provide for his daughter. He wants the father of the bride
to know he will provide for his daughter. Well, our Lord Jesus
Christ is faithful. And his chief reason
for coming to this earth was to assure and to show the father
of the bride, God the Father. He is the one that had this bride
and gave her to Christ to assure God the Father He can provide.
He is faithful and He shall provide all things for His bride. They have not even come to the
wedding yet. We see a picture of Christ in
Jacob. You remember Jacob when he went
to Laban's house? And he fell in love with Rachel. And it says, Jacob served seven
years for Rachel. That was the dowry. He served
seven years for Rachel, and they seemed unto him but a few days
for the love he had there. Well, Christ came into this world
to provide fully for His bride, Before as yet he had ever betrothed
her to himself. I mean, before she was betrothed
to him, you know, in her experience of it. He came into this world
to provide for her fully so that she would not have to pay for
anything. She wouldn't have to pay for anything. He is going to make sure that
before he ever takes her hand in marriage, she is provided
for. Everything is in order for her.
Christ knew the great dowry that He Himself would have to pay.
He agreed to it in eternity. After Christ betrothed Him to
us in eternity, and He knew this from eternity, after He betrothed
us to Himself and this legal marriage was binding, He knew,
He already knew, and it came to pass that the bride, you and
I who are the bride, We became this wild, adulterous, unfaithful
harlot. That's what we became. Now, you
know, in this life, if a man and a woman are married and
that happens, well, it can be a lot less than that that happens
and they'll get a divorce. Imagine if you were just engaged.
and your bride became this wild, adulterous harlot, are you going
to still marry her? Christ did. Christ did. He agreed in that covenant of
grace that He would go and pay whatever was necessary to make
her faithful and pure, make her a chaste virgin to Him. And so the Scripture tells us,
in all things it behooved Him. Listen to this now, "...in all
things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God." This was
necessary. This was the betrothal terms
he agreed upon with God. And he would be made like unto
his brethren that he'd be a merciful and faithful high priest to intercede
between the father and his bride, but also to make reconciliation
for the sins of his people, for the sins of his bride. His unfaithful
harlot bride was flesh. It behooved him. to be made flesh
like unto His bride. That's the only way He's going
to be able to represent her as her head is for Him to be made
flesh like her. She was under the law. He must
be made under the law in order to honor it for her. So it behooved Him to be made
under the law. She was sinned. So he who knew
no sin was made sin because it behooved Him to reconcile her,
to make her the righteousness of God in Him. It behooved Him
to declare God just, to show the righteous justice of God.
It declared Him to be made sin for her. And she was under the
curse. So he must be made a curse for
her if He will redeem her from the curse. You do realize that
being made a curse is worse even than being made sin. That's the
next step. That's the result of being made
sin, being made a curse. Adam was made sin, then he was
made a curse. Christ was made sin, then He was made a curse.
I wouldn't say that about Him if Scripture didn't. I'd be too
afraid to say that about Him if Scripture didn't. But because
Scripture do, I'm afraid not to say it. But it was so. It behooved Him
in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might
be a merciful, faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God to make reconciliation for the sins of His people. That's
the first message, the first book I preached when I came here.
The book of Hebrews. And bless God, that's what he
did. That's exactly what he did. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride, and with his own blood he bought
her, and for our life he died. But not only must his bride be
made righteous by his payment of the dowry price, Christ will
not marry an unbeliever. Our Lord will not marry an unbeliever.
God will not have that. God forbids it and Christ is
faithful and He will not marry an unbeliever. So she's going
to have to be given a new heart and created anew and made righteous
and holy within so she'll be faithful to Him and be a chaste
virgin unto Him. The Scripture says, 2 Corinthians
6.14. Go there with me. 2 Corinthians
6.14. Here's why Christ wouldn't just
come and take her and take her out of this world. Since He paid
the price at Calvary, why then doesn't He just take her home
with Him? There's another work that He's
responsible to do. There's another betrothal obligation
He agreed to perform. That's to create her new within.
And here's why, she has to be made into a true faithful believer.
Verse 14, God says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? You see that? They're going to
have absolutely zero fellowship. Christ can't have fellowship
with an unbeliever. God can't have fellowship with
an unbeliever. No fellowship there. And what
communion hath light with darkness? They won't be one. They won't
be one. You see that? If He just took
her to Himself, having made her righteous, if He just took her
to Himself, they can't be one yet. She's a harlot. She's an unfaithful, God-hating,
God-despising unbeliever is what she is. Verse 15, And what concord
hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? You see, they have a different
religion. The believer and unbeliever worships
two different gods. She, this harlot bride, as she
stands now, she's worshipping herself. She's her god. And she won't ever submit to
Christ and she won't ever believe on Him and follow Him and honor
the Father. She'll never do it. Left to herself. So He's going to have to come
and make her into what she's not right now. As God has said,
I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God
and they shall be my people. So Christ has got to make this
wild and faithful harlot into a faithful, holy, pure, spotless
bride. And the Scriptures, the psalmist
spoke of this beforehand. He said the king's daughter is
all glorious within. She is all glorious, even within. Her clothing is of wrought gold
and she shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework. That is within and without. She
is going to be made holy and righteous. She is going to be
pure. So Christ has got to send His
friend. Who is the friend in Scripture?
Go to John 3. Who is the friend in Scripture?
The friend of the bridegroom? Well, in our culture, we would
call that the best man. The best man or the groomsman.
But in Scripture, he's Christ's preacher. That's who he is. He's
Christ's preacher. And John the Baptist was the
best man. He was the first one to come
forth for Christ to declare Christ to the bride. He came forth declaring
the good news to the bride concerning Christ. Look here in John 3.28.
You yourselves bear me witness, this is John speaking, that I
said I'm not the Christ, but that I'm sent before Him. He
that hath the bride is the bridegroom. He said, Christ is the bridegroom,
but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him,
rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And this
my joy therefore is fulfilled. He said, I'm the friend of the
bridegroom. He must increase, but I must
decrease. I'll give you another example.
Christ's preacher is like the servant of Abraham. Remember
the servant of Abraham? Abraham sent forth his servant,
said, go take a bride for my son Isaac. Take a bride for her. So that servant came forth and
he said, what if she don't want to come? He said, should I bring
Isaac down to her? The father said, no way. No way. You don't bring Christ
down to the bride's level. No, she got to hear about him
and come bowing to him. And he said, but if she won't
come, you're free from your obligation. All you have to do is go and
tell the bride about him. So he went forth. He went forth
with ten camels laden down with riches. Christ's preacher comes
forth speaking nothing but Christ and His unsearchable riches. And when he did that, Rebecca,
She heard that good news and she said, I'll go. I'll go. I'll
go to Him. And she went and became His wife. Now, this work is just as much
necessary as the work of our husband on the cross. You know,
this is why we don't dare deny the work of God in the heart
in an effort to glorify the work of God on the cross. We do that
and we're diminishing both of them. They're both equally necessary. Because when he entered those
betrothal terms, he not only said that, I will betroth thee
unto me in righteousness and judgment and loving kindness
and mercy. He said, I will betroth thee unto me in faithfulness
and you shall know the Lord. You shall know the Lord. So even
though Christ has betrothed Himself to us in old eternity, You see,
he's going to have to send forth his messenger, send forth his
gospel, declaring the unsearchable riches of Christ, and he's going
to have to create the bride anew within by the Holy Spirit and
draw her head over hills in love to him. And that's what's happened
to you who believe. That's what he did for us. It's
all through the Scriptures. That's what he did for us. When
Abraham sent that servant to fetch that bride for Isaac, Scripture
says He brought forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold
and raiment and gave them to Rebekah. It didn't cost her a
dime. It didn't cost her a thing. And that's what Christ does.
He comes and gives us all this great treasure. Remember where?
We have this treasure in earthen vessels. It's within. That the
power may be of God and not of us. He gives it to us. He gives
it to us. And Christ sends His preacher
preaching these riches. And His Scripture says, And blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee,
that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. And the servant
of Christ, the best man, he's faithful to Christ. He doesn't
just go and tell her about Christ once and then start talking about
other things. He goes and speaks to her about
Christ from the beginning until she's with Him, until she's with
Christ. Remember Paul, he said to the
Corinthians, I'm jealous over you, Just as if you were my own
bride, I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy for I have espoused
you. I betrothed you to one husband
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. So, the interval
is going to last until every single chosen child of God is
called to Christ. That's what Peter said. He said
this world is held in store. The Hebrew writer said it's held
in store by the word of Christ's power. What word is that? Is
He just speaking, constantly speaking to hold everything in
place? It's the word of that covenant promise that can't be
broken. The word of those betrothal terms
that can't be broken. That can't be broken. And He's going to fulfill them.
Every single one that make up this bride is going to be called
to Him. So believer, you are Christ's bride, betrothed to
Him. We experience it when He does
this work to us. Betroths us to Himself and we
give our heart to Him in commitment to Him. We are betrothed to Him.
We betroth Him to us. This thing is through faith. And we're united. And so, this
is all the work of our blessed Redeemer. All the work He's accomplished.
So, let's stand together. Lord willing, we'll come back
and look at the rest in the next hour. Father, we thank You that You
have so ruled everything in this life, in this world, to picture
Christ His glory and His work of redeeming His people. Lord,
help us to see Him and see how truly honoring it is to obey
Him in these relationships and to do them the way You say do
them because of what they picture. Forgive us of our sins, Lord.
We pray You'll meet with us now and truly bless us with Your
presence. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.