March 2020 – APOSTOLIC INFORMATION SERVICE

In the beginning of the story, the Lord God had close communion with Adam and Eve in a beautiful place called the Garden of Eden. Tragically, that special relationship was disrupted by the sin of disobedience. The rest of the Bible, from Genesis in the Old Testament, all the way through Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, is an unfolding of the romantic relationship that God had with his special creation.

The lineage between Adam and a man named Abraham was a very important one. Through Abraham, God promised to create a special nation that would make his name great and be a blessing to the whole world.

In time, Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. Jacob/Israel had twelve sons who became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Israel has had a very colorful and exciting history. Some of it was very dramatic and full of supernatural influences from God. The deliverance from Egypt, and occupation of the promised land are but a couple of the great happenings that Israel experienced when this nation had the favor of its God.

God declared that the relationship between himself and Israel was one of husband and wife. (Isaiah 54:5) God repeatedly warned Israel to be faithful and not to flirt with, or commit whoredom with, any other gods. But, as good as God was to his wife, and no matter how God tried to keep Israel faithful, the marriage was doomed to complete failure. Not on God’s part of course. Israel just couldn’t resist the urge to be unfaithful.

The marital relationship seriously floundered after Israel chose to be ruled by earthly Kings, rather than by God himself. The Kings were a predictable problem and in time, led to God’s nation dividing into two nations. The larger nation consisted of ten tribes and was called Israel, the remaining, smaller fragment was called Judah.

In time, God would have no choice but to divorce Israel. God however, chose not to divorce Judah. This decision to keep the marital door open to Judah, was for a specific legal reason, as shall be seen at a little town called Bethlehem.

All through this tumultuous relationship, God never stopped loving Israel. He wrote love letters and had them delivered by way of prophets. He begged Israel to please come home. But, Israel could not be persuaded. Finally, when God divorced Israel, things went very badly for this lost and soon to be scattered nation.

Her enemies were able to enslave her. She lost her finest cities, and in time she even lost her name Israel and the identity of who she was. History lost track of Israel during her wanderings as well. The lost, cast-off, and scattered nation of Israelites appear variously in history under the assumed names of Celts, Normans, Basque, Lombards, Scythian, Angles, Saxons, Vikings, Franks, among others. At the time of Christ, they were largely known as Gentiles. Jesus called them his “lost or scattered sheep.”

Many times, God would have loved to have taken Israel back as his bride, but God was legally forbidden to do so, because of a very specific clause in his marriage covenant.

The Law stipulated that once a divorce was final, the divorced mate who was sent out to marry another, could not later, after a change of heart, return and remarry the first party. (Deut. 24:1-4) With this stipulation, how could God ever have Israel back as a wife? Israel was divorced, and adulterous. God himself was now a party to a divorce. Could there possibly be a solution to this dilemma?

God was lonely and there was no way the love of his life could come back to him, even if she wanted to. Israel, like any other wife, was bound to the law of marriage until the death of her husband. God could never die, could he? If there was to be any hope for a future relationship with his lost love again, God would have to perform a very special work.

At the appropriate time, God came to Judah, whom he had not divorced and thus had a lawful marital right to approach. His Spirit came unto a virgin named Mary, who conceived a child_ literally, an offspring of God called, the Son of God. The invisible creator put on a robe of visible flesh and went town to town. village to village, in order to seek and save that lost nation. That was God’s only mission. The scripture says, Jesus was “not sent. but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The journey was depressing in so many ways. “God was in the world, the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came to his own and his own received him not.” (John 1: 10-11) One time he even wept and cried out loud,

“Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and you would not.” (Luke 13:34)

In fact his ex-wife, Israel, rejected him so vigorously, they hanged him on a tree until he was dead. Israel was so depraved spiritually, she was unable to perceive who Jesus was. Indeed.

“… for had they known who he was, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.” (I Corinthians 2:8) But, with Christ’ death, something very interesting happened.

After dying, being buried and then rising from the dead, this God/Savior, named The Lord Jesus Christ, was literally born a new creation. God made a grand-opening on an entirely pristine new stage. His death, burial and resurrection had a profound and wonderful affect on his legal status. It had freed him from the remarriage prohibition clause contained in the law of divorce. Legally, his status was now equivalent to that of a man that had never been married.

What wonderful news! God is eligible to be married and he is actively seeking his bride.

But poor Israel, who had thrown her life quite literally away and became lost and scattered like sheep, was not qualified, because of her divorced status, to be married to God again unless she too, were able to die and be reborn or “born again.” Well, that’s exactly what she has been able to do since the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2)
Two thousand years ago messengers like the Apostle Peter and others, began to proclaim a special marriage invitation from the groom.

“Israel, your husband tasted death and has come back to life, thus making it possible for him to marry you.” In your present state, you are unable to accept the marriage proposal, but…

You, too, can submit yourself to the same rebirthing process. You can die by repenting of your sin, you can then be buried by baptism, in a watery grave in the holy name of your every loving, always faithful, never wavering, constantly seeking, love-letter writing, blood washing, God and Savior. When you come out of that symbolic grave, you will be given new life through the Spirit of your God and a part in the upcoming marriage. You too, can die, be buried, and rise to walk into the newness of life.

It is important for us to be patient. It may take some time until all who are bidden to the marriage, have an opportunity to receive their invitation. Messengers are tirelessly busy, seeking all over the world for Adam’s scattered seed.. Someday, in the future though, it will be time for the marriage and its celebration to take place.

“. . . For the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready….. Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb…..” (Revelation 19:7)

“… I, John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband … …there came unto me one of the seven angels …saying, come hither I will show you the bride, the Lambs wife. … and the angel showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God…..and on the walls …names written which are the name’s of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel…..and there shall in no wise enter into (the city) any thing… but they, which are written in the Lamb’s book of life…”
(Revelation 21::2,9,10,12,27.)

Is your name written in the Lambs Book of Life?

The above article The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is the eighth chapter in the book Without Controversy, written by Pastor Rick Strawcutter.

The material is most likely copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study and research purposes.