Ladies, do you remember when your husband asked for your hand in marriage; the day you became engaged? You either were scared or excited; filled with joy and gladness.
Did you feel no one would ask for you to marry them? Did you feel as an outcast by so many in this world? Did you begin to wonder if there was any justice or love in the world that would offer you hope and joy in this life? Did trying to buy a mate not work, either?
I want to tell you a love story. It is about a person sent to preach good tidings to a potential bride. He would be the bearer of good news to a virgin unexpecting to become a bride any time soon. He was to bring good tidings to the meek, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to captives, open prisons to them who were bound, and to comfort them who mourn. In addition, he was to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.
His proclamation would bring justice to the meek and vengeance upon the unrighteous. The meek would understand the engagement but the evil would be told of their calamity by a just ruler; all in the same breath.
Let us read the story together. Turn to Isaiah 61. God chose to bring out the despised of Israel to become the bride of God. They were to become the talk of the nations. They were to be despised no more. God was calling them to a more excellent life before the world. They would still be despised but God would glorify them above all nations. Like your feeling of being unwanted, God wanted them; your boyfriend wanted you. You are to become the wife of __________________. Israel was to become the chosen bride of God again and returned to glory.
Isaiah 61. 61 The 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.
Isaiah was sent to bring requests to all who would become the bride of God. God sought to bring good news to a captive nation who had deserted God and riled him into sending them away. They had been captive in Babylon for a long time. Punishment had to be administered for an unruly stiffnecked people who rejected his love before. Now that the discipline had been ministered and fulfilled, God was ready to seek them for his bride again. They needed to know he sought them. In all their wretchedness, God chose Israel to be his bride.
Now he promises them what he will and can do for them. When your groom requested your hand in marriage, did he not make promises to you of what he intended to perform for you? Did he not make a promise to your parents of how he would treat you all the days of your life?
Vs. 4. 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. 6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. 7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. 8 For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.
The children of God would again be raised to glory before mankind. The Gentiles would do the work for them rebuilding their homes, vineyards, and tend their flocks. Israel shall receive double for their obedience and place as the bride of God. God would direct their every work in truth and righteousness. Gentiles shall know God’s bride. She shall be recognized in her gown of white. Her children and grand-children for each generation shall be recognized as the offspring of God. All who see the offspring will know the Lord has blessed them.
Have you ever wondered how the world will be judged by the saints? Here is another description of that very fact. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. (vs 9) In their pride, they will despise you but recognize the righteous, because they will not turn from their evil pernicious ways and be saved. They will hate the children of God for their own guilty conscience.
Those ladies desirous of your groom will despise you because he chose you over them. Perhaps many will turn away from you because of the choice he made.
Vs. 10. 10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
In the heart of the bride, she shall rejoice because he chose her. She shall be saved from condemnation of the evil heart of the world. She shall no longer be called an old maid; spinster, one never chosen. Her groom shall adorn her with precious gifts, jewels, and rament. She shall bud as the early spring flower and only righteousness shall come forth from her.
You, ladies, as the chosen bride of _____________, you show your acceptance to his offer by bringing glory and honor to him all the days of your life. He is your husband and you are his wife. Nothing else matters in a righteous marriage. Just as God chose Israel, Israel now will live as the chosen bride of God.
Men, when your chosen mate accepted your offer for marriage, what did you set your mind to do to get ready for this marriage? Did you not tell of the engagement from the rooftops?
Next we see the groom telling what he will do for his bride. It is a direct reference to the church of Jesus Christ, the son of God.
Isaiah 62. 62 For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. 2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. 3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
The groom is so happy, he will not sit still. He will not hold his peace of the great news; she will marry him! His bride shall be adorned and shall shine bright before the world–Gentiles. She shall be given a different name. She shall be given a prominent place in the house of the groom.
To her friends, the bride shall no longer be forsaken–she is chosen! Her life shall no longer be desolate, worthless, despised, rejected. Her name shall become Hephzibah–"my delight is in her". Her home and land shall be called Beulah–”to be married”. Everyone shall know to whom she belongs–her husband.
The church is the ‘bride’ of Christ. Everyone knows she belongs to Jesus. She is married. Her land is called Beulah land. It is a land of joy and peace; filled with love and hope.
Vs. 6 6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, 7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 8 The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: 9 But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.
Groomsmen proclaim the tidings of a marriage feast. They shall never hold their peace mentioning the upcoming nuptials. Up until the day of the marriage ceremony, and the marriage is held, the groomsmen are to share the good tidings of this longed for day of marriage.
The groom shall make all preparations and holdings for the place for the young couple to live. They will no longer sell their produce. It will be stored for the new married life. The bride shall no longer see her new inheritance be forfeited to strangers. The bounty of the land shall belong to the couple. They shall indulge from its bounty. All others shall watch and notice their goodness; perhaps with envy.
Vs. 10. 10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. 11 Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.
For the church, the chosen of God, the bride, is to pass through the gates which have held you from God’s graces. Your bonds are released; your captor is releasing you from the prison in which you have been held. Make way for the coming of the groom. This proclamation was shouted before all the nations for the chosen to return unto Jerusalem from captivity. Jerusalem was the place for the bride to live with her groom. Jerusalem is Beulah Land. All redeemed, to become the bride, are to go to Beulah Land.
God made a way to proclaim the coming of his son into the world. John the Baptist proclaimed the way before Christ. Isaiah 40:3. 3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Did you recognize Isaiah’s wording similar to the Prophecy? John 1:15, 19-23. 15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. 22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.
The new name known unto all the earth shall be called “The Holy People”; “The Redeemed Of the Lord”. Because of their righteous lifestyle and the renown glory showered upon them, they shall be sought out and not forsaken any more.
Ladies, did you feel forsaken before your husband asked you for your hand in marriage? You no longer feel that way now, do you? You are no longer forsaken; an old maid, spinster. You are somebody. You are Mrs. ________________. In the church, you are somebody; you are a Christian, the bride of Christ. You are no longer forsaken because of iniquity. God has redeemed you and forgiven your faults. The world knows you as a member of the body of Christ. Hallelujah!
Are you called to be a part of the church, the bride of Christ? Were you feeling wretched, lost, despised? Do you recognize the greatness in Jesus choosing you and plucking you from the fire; a wretched soul you once were?
Do you feel like a wretched soul; filled with unforgivable iniquity; ugly before the groom? Jesus is calling you to be a part of his bride, the church. Your wretched days can be over if you accept his offer. If you have not accepted it, do so now. Jesus stands at your door knocking. Will you open it for him?
