(A Divine Love Story)
Hello, my name is Danny and I was a Latter-day Saint for 60 years.
If you are a subscriber or follow my channel - you might be aware that I started a series called Christ’s Return - a study of end-times. Thus far, it includes an introduction and four parts. But to correctly understand what happens in the end – I think it’s important to understand what happened in the beginning. There is a common thread in Holy Scripture that runs from the beginning to the end – in what is sometimes referred to as, “A Divine Love Story.”
And so, I want to pause releasing the series on Christ’s Return for now and introduce this beautiful “love story” between Creator and creation – between what the Hebrew Scripture and the Apostolic Scripture teaches as a divine love story featuring the Bridegroom Messiah and His Bride - the Church, the body of faithful believers. Afterwards, I will go back to more teaching on Christ’s Return. Then hopefully it will fit together and make more sense - when I speak of this Bridegroom/Bride relationship at His Second Coming in 70 AD.
From an ancient Jewish perspective, the one true God in Exodus 3:15 (YHWH or Yahavah) is not only Creator, the God of Israel - He is also a husband or a Bridegroom. A divine person whose ultimate desire is to be united to His creatures in an everlasting relationship - a marriage between Creator and creatures – between God and human beings – between Yahavah and Israel.
The relationship between God and Israel that was established some fifteen hundred years before the birth of the Messiah at Mount Sinai - did not simply revolve around the laws of the Ten Commandments. What happened at Mount Sinai was nothing less than a divine wedding. Have you ever thought of it that way before? Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t, if you study the Old Testament.
The Lord of Creation appears atop the mountain in fire and smoke – and gives the people of Israel the Ten Commandments recorded in Exodus 20. It is at this point that God enters, into a special relationship with His people known as a “covenant” (Hebrew “berith”). It states in Exodus 24:4-11 “And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant (Ten Commandments) and read in the audience of the people: and they said, (the children of Israel’s promise to God) All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel, he laid not his hand: also, they saw God and did eat and drink.“
From a biblical perspective, a “covenant” was a sacred bond between persons - establishing a sacred relationship. By accepting the terms of the relationship (in this case the Ten Commandments), and by offering worship to God in the form of a blood sacrifice - the twelve tribes of Israel are established in a sacred relationship with God. Established by Moses’s throwing the blood of the sacrifices upon the altar (representing God) and on the elders (representing the people). Then the covenant between God and Israel culminated in a heavenly banquet, in which Moses and the leaders of Israel celebrate by eating and drinking together.
From then on - when we read the writings of the Old Testament prophets – we find they assert that the history of the covenant at Mount Siani had a deeper meaning. From these prophet’s points of view, it was the spiritual wedding of God and Israel. The God of Israel is also, a Bridegroom. Likewise, the twelve tribes of Jacob are not just a nation - together they constitute the bride of God. Consider these romantic passages: Hosea 2:14-15 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.” Jeremiah 2:1-2 “Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.” Ezekiel 16:8 “Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.”
Those prophets are retelling the story of Mount Sinai - as a divine love story revolving around the covenant made there. All three passages depict Israel at the time of the exodus - as a young bride who is being wooed by her divine Bridegroom to enter into a marriage with Him. To win her hand, God speaks tenderly to her heart to draw her into a relationship of devotion and steadfast love. And finally, this marital relationship is sealed by means of the covenant - and through the covenant, the people become the bride of God.
Essentially, this is a “ketubah” which is a traditional Jewish marriage contract. The word means "written" in Hebrew. The ketubah outlines the couple's mutual commitments, legal rights, and responsibilities within the marriage. It detailed the husband's duties to provide food, clothing, protection, and basic care in return for her faithfulness and devoted love.
If the Yahweh is not just a Creator and Lawgiver, but also the Bridegroom - then sin is not just the breaking of a law - but the betrayal of the relationship. And, unfortunately, it will not be long - after the wedding ceremony, that we find the newlywed bride - the people of Israel - caught in the act of spiritual adultery.
Sadly, less than forty days after the making of the covenant at Mount Sinai, without Moses knowing what was going on at base camp - the high priest Aaron and the leaders of the twelve tribes abandon their covenant with the God of Israel and begin to offer sacrifice to the golden calf. Exodus 32:1-2, 4-6 “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.”
The worship of the golden calf at Mount Sinai is but - the first in a long history of idolatry. Generation after generation, the descendants of Israel fall prey to the worship of false gods of their pagan neighbors. Worship - that involves acts of not only religious infidelity, but also physical immorality, cultic prostitution, and even human sacrifice. As a divine marriage - idolatry or the worship of other gods was an act of spiritual adultery.
God’s relationship with His people becomes a “broken marriage” - a covenant relationship shattered by marital infidelity. Consider the rebuking of the people of Israel and the city of Jerusalem by God’s holy prophets. Isaiah 1:4,21 “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.” Jeremiah 2:32; 3:20 “Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number. Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.”
And according to Ezekiel 16:15-22, through her acts of idolatry not only does Israel abandon God - she also takes all of the wedding gifts given to her by the Lord – fine garments for the construction of the Tabernacle, along with gold and silver for the adornment of the sanctuary, and food and drink for sacrificial offerings – and she gives them instead to her other “husbands,” to other gods. Israel becomes an adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband.
The most important aspect of the ancient Jewish idea of the Bridegroom God of Israel - was for them to understand the mission and message of their future coming Messiah. Although the children of Israel betray their divine Bridegroom in repeated acts of spiritual adultery - God does not give up on His bride. And He promises to one day forgive all her sins by establishing a new marriage covenant to replace the old marriage covenant.
One of the most noticeable images of the future age of salvation is - this image of marital reconciliation between God and His faithless bride. Repeatedly, the prophets spoke of a future marriage covenant between God and His estranged wife. Hosea 2:15-17, 18-20 “And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.” In Isaiah 54:5-8, 10 “For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” In Jeremiah 31:31-32, 34 “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Finally in Ezekiel 16:60, 62-63 “Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth anymore because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.”
Notice that in every case - the new covenant between God and Israel is a marriage covenant. And notice that the new covenant is directly tied to the forgiveness of Israel’s sins. Although she has broken the relationship that God established with her during her youth at the time of the exodus - God promises that one day, He will forgive all that she has done. The God of Israel is the Bridegroom who wants His bride – the people of God - to know Him intimately, in an everlasting spiritual marriage. The actual new marriage ceremony – which will take place during the future days of the Messiah as recorded in the New Testament.
As we will see next week, in the Apostolic Record - Yeshua Himself will begin to unite mankind to God through an act of sacrificial love. For now, I simply want to highlight that this is the condition of the Jewish people leading up to the time of Jesus’ mortal appearance on earth. They are not just waiting for the kingdom of God, or the coming of the Messiah, or the restoration of the twelve tribes. Above all, they are waiting for the coming of the Bridegroom, God of Israel - who will forgive their sins and unite Himself to them in an everlasting marriage covenant. Or at least they should have been anticipating this – but most were not prepared.
Stay tuned for more informed teaching and important insights into this divine love story. Between Jesus, the Bridegroom Messiah – and His faithful Bride.
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God Bless!