The Kingdom of Heaven is Like a Marriage
(Mar 24, ’01 in my journal.) I am on the verge of learning the wonderful, great truth Yeshua (Jesus) and then Paul were trying to teach: that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a marriage. Paul said it is a great mystery. Our relationship to Yeshua (Jesus) is like the most ideal, romantic love relationship we can dream of. Our romantic dream cannot be fulfilled here on earth. It can only be fulfilled through Yeshua. No human being can fulfill that longing—only Yeshua can. I am starting to see that it is actually idolatry for me to be seeking only earthly romance instead of seeking Yeshua. Our marriage relationship should be worked on until it becomes more like what Paul describes in Ephesians 5, but it can’t become anything more until we each release the other from fulfilling that romantic dream and allow Yeshua to fill it. Then we can love each other in the proper perspective.
I need to lay on the altar my romantic dream and release my husband from having to strive to fulfill it. I need to look to Yeshua to fulfill it. Then to love my husband the way Yeshua would want me to.
But it is a loss—a grief, to have to give up my romantic dream in my earthly man. Help me, Yeshua.
Scriptures that say the Kingdom is like a Marriage (NRSV):
Parables:
Wedding banquet Matt. 22 and Luke 14: 28-33
Ten Bridesmaids Matt 25
Paul:
Eph. 5:21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Eph. 5:22-23 Wives be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is head…. As Christ is head of the church—of which He is the Savior
Eph. 5:25-27 Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy by cleansing her with washing of water by the WORD to present her to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle, so she may be holy and without blemish…
Eph. 5:32 This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.
Revelations:
19:7 the marriage of the Lamb has come and his Bride has made herself ready… Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
19:7 Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb… and he showed me the Holy City Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.
A marriage feast signals a beginning of something wonderful!!—an exciting BEGINNING that will bring forth new LIFE!!
Ways to worship God:
Bless his Name Give thanks to his Name
Declare his Name Glorify his Name
Glory in his Name
(The above is from Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby, p. 60 and from notes in my journal, Apr 25, ’01)
It’s just as to a young girl, her boyfriend’s name means so much to a her. She loves to say it, to hear it, to think it, to write it, and to put hers next to it. That’s the way we should feel about Yeshua’s Name.
Mary’s Expression of Love for Yeshua:
With Mary’s extravagant worship with the ointment, she ministered to Yeshua—prepared Him for burial—prevented Him from getting a criminal-like burial where there would be no anointing, no body preparation at all (from Women’s Bible Study Fellowship).
One expression of Yeshua’s Love:
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Yeshua was open and transparent with his emotions. He shared them with his disciples. He said, “I am deeply grieved even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me” (Matt. 26:38).
He loved His disciples and wanted love and compassion in return.
That really tugs at my heart—really tugs, Yeshua.
Praying for a breakthrough to know Yeshua’s Love
Dear Yeshua, please fill me with Your Love so much that it breaks through whatever in me is blocking the realization that You really do Love me. Please remove the block. Remove the lies. Remove whatever barrier it is that keeps me from feeling Your Love and TRULY knowing Your Love in the deepest core of my being. Please OPEN my heart to receive Your Love into the depths of my heart and soul—that I will know the JOY UNSPEAKABLE and full of GLORY that Your LOVE brings.
I want to know the complete fullness of Your Love. I know it will be IMMENSELY MARVELOUS!!! Remove the blinders that keep me from seeing your Love—from seeing that You are already flooding me with it. Remove the thing that numbs me and keeps me from feeling Your Love. Just as when I was young I couldn’t see my mom’s love for me, I can’t see Your Love, but it is there. Remove pride, selfishness, and false expectations. Circumcise my heart, Yeshua, so I may feel and know your Love, so I may truly Love You.
Help me open the door of my heart—the deeper door. Help me open it.
(Yeshua answered this prayer. Read about it in some of the following insights.)