30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 20 27-40 He is not the God of the dead but of the living 09 Luke 20 34-35 Eternal betrothal with Jesus
📖 Luke 20:27-40
28Mar2021 - *Eternal betrothal with Jesus* - _Luke 20:27-40_ - HE IS NOT THE GOD OF THE DEAD BUT OF THE LIVING 9 – Bible reading: _Hosea 2:19-20_
Jesus is telling us that the institution and relationship of marriage, as we experience it here on earth, is only for this age. It is not for the age which is to come. Neither will we have the institution of family life, as we know it here, since there will be no more giving and taking in marriage. Marriage and family relationships are only for this age and not for the age to come.
What is the relationship that will thrive and flourish in the eternal kingdom? The relationship of the marriage of the church with Jesus is the eternal betrothal. This marriage has already begun and we as the church are already married to Jesus.
Therefore, when we go stray away from God and do not walk in His ways, His heart breaks because He is in a marriage relationship with us. He sees this refusal on our part, of not willing to walk with Him, as a husband who is spurned and rejected by His wife.
The church must see ourselves as one. We are the bride of Christ. We are not to be divided, with barriers amongst us, for we are together the body and bride of Christ. We are one and, in our oneness, we become one flesh with Christ, as the bride with her husband.
_Hosea 2:19-20 “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; (20) I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD._
_(Romans 7:1-3)_ Apostle Paul explains that there has to be the death of a spouse before the other can marry again. We were once married to the law. We were under the law and we were under a heavy burden for we were not able to meet the righteous requirement of God that the law prescribed for us, in our own strength.
So, Christ came and took our flesh, fulfilled the requirements of the law in the flesh and died in our place. We identify with His death and His burial, and simultaneously we are also dead to the old husband, the law.
_Romans 7:4-6 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become *dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God*. (5) For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. (6) But now we have been delivered from the law, *having died to what we were held by*, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter._
When we become one with Jesus in His death and His burial, we died to the law. The old marriage relationship is over. We were once married to the law and the law was over us and we were not able to meet the requirement of the law, by our flesh, but when we died with Christ, we died to the law.
We are set free from the burden of the law and we are now married to Jesus and through Christ and in the enablement of the Holy Spirit, the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us.
_II Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ._
Paul is burdened here that since the church is now married to Jesus, the church ought to walk in a deep love relationship with Jesus. For Jesus empowers us, through His Spirit, to meet the righteousness of the law but if we go back to living by the flesh, then we are negating the new marriage relationship that we are in now, with Jesus.
We are in an eternal marriage relationship with Jesus and the Lord longs for us to remain under His shelter and in His care. For it is out of this deep, intimate and passionate relationship that we are in with Jesus that we are able to serve others, for we are secure and content in Christ.
*Thought to ponder*
```Are you enjoying your marriage with Jesus and are you looking forward to the eternal bliss with Him?```