Mike Bickle presents an overview of New Testament Bridal Theology, emphasizing that Jesus' ministry begins and ends with the theme of the Bride of Christ. He highlights the significance of Jesus' first miracle at the wedding in Cana, illustrating His desire to enhance the wedding celebration and the ultimate union with His bride. Bickle explains that Jesus identifies Himself as the Bridegroom, revealing His deep emotional connection and desire for His people, culminating in His final prayer for the church to be with Him. The sermon underscores the importance of understanding our identity as the Bride of Christ and the call to love Him in return, as well as the Holy Spirit's role in awakening this love within us.

Father, we thank you for the Word of God and we ask you to release your blessing upon the Word, the speaking and the hearing of your Word on the Bridal Paradigm. We trust you for that in Jesus' name. Amen. This is our session seven on the Bride of Christ studies in the New Testament. We're giving an overview tonight of New Testament Bridal Theology. The subject of the Bride of Christ begins first in Jesus' ministry. In John 2, verse 1 through 11, his Messianic ministry begins at a wedding. Most of us are very familiar with this. And Jesus releasing his first miracles as a wedding, it was an intentional prophetic picture. And the picture, there's several dimensions to it. And it's not our goal to go into depth on any one of these points. We're giving just an overview so you can have a sense of the whole grasp of the message of the Bride of Christ in the New Testament. Just in one quick overview. And my temptation is going to be to go off and get into details. But I need to stay focused. That's a note to self. Okay. But the prophetic picture of the miracle ministry, the first miracles beginning at the wedding at the Cane of Galilee, is that Jesus was going to use his power in order to enhance the wedding, the wedding celebration. That's the larger message he's communicating. It's the question, if someone had all power, what would they do with it? And Jesus is answering the question. I have all power. And what I'm going to do with it is I'm going to establish and enhance a wedding celebration in eternity that will, the fruit of it will last forever and forever. And so when he came and began to operate in the power of God, of course, the nation of Israel couldn't understand what he was saying in it. He says, I do have all power. And I'm going to use it very specifically. And my people will celebrate as those in the wedding before me all their days forever and forever. And there was a secondary message that is in this passage. Let's just read it. It starts off, there was a wedding and there was a wedding in Cane of Galilee. Then verse six, there were six water pots of stone. And Jesus said, fill the water pots with water. So they filled them all up, filled them to the brim. And then the master of the feast tasted the water that had been made to wine. And the master called to the bridegroom and said to the bridegroom, every man at the beginning sets out the good wine. And then later they set out the inferior wine. However, you kept, you saved the best wine until last is the message. And that is an intentional part of the prophetic message that Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God, the Father, they are saving the best wine until last, until the generation of the Lord returns. At the coming of the Lord and the generation of the Lord returns, there will be an explosion of Holy Spirit power surrounding the theme of the wedding. That is a secondary message. I believe the primary message is God is using his power for the wedding. But I believe the secondary is even the timing. He is saved. He is, in fact, saving his best wine until last. And there's only one time frame in human history where the church worldwide, as a bride under the anointing of the spirit will cry out, come, the spirit of the bride will say, come, as the Holy Spirit pours out the best wine of power and revelation at the very last emphasis that he makes before the second coming of Christ. Well, anyway, Jesus's ministry begins at a wedding. That's how it begins in the New Testament, the theology of the bride. B, a little bit, a little bit of time passes, not much time passes. And then Jesus is revealed by John the Baptist as the bridegroom God. In John chapter three, verse 29, John announces he who has the bride is the bridegroom. So he's introducing Jesus the Messiah with this phrase. It's it's it's a it's a descriptive phrase. It's he's called the one who has the bride. So Jesus is introduced to the nation of Israel as he who has a bride, who possesses a bride in the plan of God. And this man not only possesses a bride, he is a bridegroom. So Jesus did not just. Fulfill a certain task, you know, a bridegroom function, that he would go back to being king, you know, after we're saved and forgiven. And he called us a bride. And then from then on, after we're legally established as a bride, he would go on and just function as a king forever. He is a bridegroom. He doesn't just function like one. The essence of his personality, his emotions, the way he feels and thinks at the core of his being is as a bridegroom. He is a king and he is a bridegroom. He's a bridegroom king. So John the Baptist points to this man from Nazareth and said he possesses a bride. Number one, speaking of in the plan of God, the father, it's a sure plan. He already has the bride. It's a it's a done deal. This plan will not be derailed or frustrated. John could see prophetically into the completion of God's plan to give his son a bride. And so he introduced the Messiah in a very strange way as the man who has a bride in whom the very essence of his being, the way he thinks, the way he feels and the way he uses his power is as a bridegroom. So that was the second development of bridal theology in the Gospels or in the New Testament. We're starting in the Gospels. See, a few months later, a few months later, Jesus comes and then pronounces himself as a bridegroom. Up until then, John had said, do you know who he is? John announced who he was before Jesus did it with his own lips. And he says it in a little bit of a cryptic way or a little not cryptic, but a little bit of a parable. He's not saying it in as direct way as he could, but the meaning was unmistakable. Jesus, they were coming to Jesus in Matthew chapter nine, verse 15, a few months after the John the Baptist revelation of who Jesus was. And and they were debating with among one another. They came to Jesus and they wanted to know, you know, who was more dedicated and what's the deal? And and how come your disciples don't fast, Jesus? And he answers. And in the answer, he's revealing himself for the first time with his own lips in the Bible as the bridegroom God, as the bridegroom of the Old Testament prophecies. Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea had prophesied that God was coming as a bridegroom, but they didn't know, you know, the nation of Israel didn't know who he was or what he would look like or where he would come from. And and Isaiah said it. Jeremiah said it. Ezekiel said it. Hosea said it. And Jesus is now identifying himself as that the fulfillment of those Old Testament prophecies. In Matthew 9, 15, he says to answer the debate, he's answering a debate, but he's using the occasion to announce who he is in agreement with how John presented him a few months earlier. He says, can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? He says the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken away. And then the disciples of Jesus, he says, my disciples will fast. But here's the phrase. He's calling himself the bridegroom who will be taken away. Now that meant death on the cross. But Jesus is always doing 10 things with one sentence. He's answering their debate. He's announcing himself as the bridegroom. And he's, and he's giving his first prediction of the cross with his own lips in relationship to his revelation as a bridegroom. It's the first time in the Gospels it's recorded where he, he with his own lips is indicating that he will be taken away, which meant he would die on the cross. And so this thing surprises the apostles, possibly. My assumption is they had, they had not heard this message before. And in essence, he goes, I am the bridegroom and the apostles are, you know, they don't really quite fully understand him even to the end, even to the end. They don't understand all that he said to them. You know, when he appeared to them after he died, he said, I said, I would die. They go, wow, you, you meant die. He was, yeah, yeah. The gals got it, but the guys, they still did not understand it. They were totally confused when he died. And he said it over and over and over. So he's here, he's saying, I am the bridegroom God, which means I'm the God with burning desire for my people. He's making a statement about his emotional makeup, not just a legal function, but the way that he carries his heart in eternity. And he said, and I will be taken away. And I, I, I find it very significant that the first, uh, uh, identification Jesus gives of himself as the bridegroom is the first time he talks about his death. He's the, he's the, uh, the, the bridegroom who dies for his people and all through the book of revelation. He's the lamb with the wife, the lamb who was slain, who gets the love of his people. It's the relationship between the bridegroom and the one that would die. The one that would be taken away. Okay. Roman numeral two. Now Jesus not only, uh, began his earthly ministry with the pronouncement. Uh, I mean the prophetic statement of, uh, of, uh, at the wedding wedding at the cane at Cain of Galilee of his, uh, uh, the power of God being released on the wedding is what I'm trying to say here. He ends his earthly ministry. He ends his earthly ministry with a declaration of the kingdom of God related to bridal revelation of what's the, the phrase we use here so often is the word bridal paradigm, a bridal perspective of the kingdom, a, his final public message. This is his last public message to the human races in Matthew chapter 22 before the cross, which this message it's in a parable. It's a few days before he would die on the cross. He's in Jerusalem. This is it. He gives three parables in Matthew 21 and 22 that make up his final message. And this is the third parable. The three parables are, you know, you put them together. He's giving one message to the nation, and this is the final parable, the final point he's making, and this is it. His public ministry ends with this proclamation. Not only is the Holy Spirit, uh, uh, going to save the best wine till last. Jesus's final message was on the bridal paradigm of the kingdom. Somebody might say, if Jesus had one more message to the church, what would it be? Well, I know what it would be. Matthew 21 and 22. It is what his final message to the church was before he went to the cross. The three parables of Matthew 21 and 22. And look what he says in Matthew 22, verse one and two. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a king who arranged a marriage for his son. He sets forth the kingdom in a brand new way. He has never, now he's called himself the bridegroom back in Matthew nine, but he's not developed the theme of the, uh, of the kingdom, uh, the theme of the kingdom of God as a wedding as a wedding experience with the redeemed, the apostles would develop it far more than he did in the gospels. Of course, it's God's wisdom to unfold. There's a progressive revelation from the very beginning of Genesis to the end of the book of Revelation, more and more unfolds under God's wisdom. So the apostles would, would take this understanding to a far greater degree than G. I mean, Jesus had it far more than they did, but Jesus only gave hints. Of this reality. And he describes his father as the great king as the king and the father's plan for all the ages is a, is to arrange a marriage for his son to arrange a marriage for his son. This is what God, the father is doing with his power and with his wisdom. He's arranging a marriage for his son. Jesus is saying this. And then Jesus sends his servants out, the evangelists and the pastors and preachers and teachers and apostles and prophets. And what are these servants to do? They are to call the people to the wedding. I believe this is the highest picture of the kingdom of God and of ministry to call unbelievers to God. In the understanding that God is lovesick over them and wants to give them the power to return it. They, they would be fascinated and exhilarated with supernatural love, receiving it and returning it back. They would be exhilarated by the receiving and the returning of this love. It would be the gift of God to them to receive it. And it would be God's gift to them that they could return it back. And there's no greater pleasure than being loved and in loving in return. It's not enough to be loved. The ability to love back is one of the great dimensions of the new covenant. It takes God to love God. And the servants, the preachers, the songwriters, the intercessors, the disciples, the pastors, their, their entire ministry was summarized in this inviting the people to the wedding. So we do every Friday night. We're calling you to the wedding. We don't have to use the phrase, the wedding. We're calling you to the reality of being loved and the exhilaration of loving back with all of your heart. And of course, when we love back, uh, in, in the vertical sense towards God, it always overflows the people. It's impossible to love God without an overflowing to love people. People say, well, if we're going to love God, we should love people. I go, it's not a should. If you love God, you do love people. There is a false dichotomy that you could have a tenderized heart overflowing and surging with power towards God. And somehow it does not have an outlet towards people. That is a total hypothetical impossibility. Because it's the same work of God, uh, pulsating through the heart, exhilarating and tenderizing the heart. It's filled with love. It's when the love touches the heart towards God, it overflows towards believers, unbelievers, the unlovely, the lovely loves just flows like a river through the human heart. But the point I want to make is in Jesus's final public message. It's the Holy spirit's final message. At the end of the age, when the spirit of the bride cries out, calm, we cry out, come to Jesus and intercession as a bride. And we cry out, come to unbelievers across the world. We cry, come to God. And we cry, come to people. We get lost in that cry of the spirit. So Jesus's final message is an invitation to the wedding. But so is the Holy spirit's final emphasis. That is the grand emphasis of the spirit before the Lord returns. It's one of the great signs of the times. An increased desire and revelation and authority. It's an increased desire, but it's also increased revelation and it's increased authority to communicate it. The message of the bridal paradigm, the wedding, the love, the overflow, the beauty, all of those go together. Be Matthew 25. It's not just Jesus's final public message. It's his final private message. He's with the disciples in Matthew 25, Matthew 24 and 25. It's private. Now, uh, uh, I'm, I'm thinking of, uh, in Jerusalem, we could, uh, you could obviously talk about the upper room discourse where many of the themes of love and passion and supernatural joy, it's all bridal themes, but I'm talking about here in the gospel of Matthew, it's his final private time. He's with his disciples and he's wanting to teach them about leadership in the kingdom. And he describes the ministries in the kingdom as, as, uh, those that go forth as virgins with lamps to meet the bridegroom. He says in Matthew chapter 25, the kingdom of God shall be likened to 10 virgins. Now notice these virgins, these are ministries with lamps. If you're, if you read the entire text, they have ministries, they have lamps, but the point of it is the strength of it is it's these ministries. Their focus is to meet the bride groomed to encounter the Messiah, not just as healer, not only as savior. And we're certainly not minimizing those. We, we need healing and we need salvation, not just as King with power, but he's describing these virgins with lamps, these ministries encountering God as more than savior and healer. And even more than one who releases power, but as a bride groom, as a God who is lovesick, whose heart is filled with desire for them. And Jesus is talking, of course, about himself. And in essence, he could have said it this way. The day is coming when the kingdom of God will be like this. All the ministries that have oil in their lamps, they will have me in their heart as a bridegroom God, not just a God that they're serving and they want power, but a God that they love. And they overflow in partnership and bringing the message to others. The powerful message is that they will be those that meet the bridegroom God as a bride groom. And then in verse six, he describes the, the cry at the midnight hour. He talks about a cry that would go forth at the midnight hour of human history. Of course, there's a parable. And so you can't press all the details in a parable, but I believe that this detail is intended to be understood at the midnight cry of human history. There will be God, those God raises up those forerunners, they will cry out at midnight. Behold, the bridegroom behold, he is coming. And that's going to be the message. I believe this with all of my heart. The Holy Spirit will emphasize with greatest power and authority in revelation is behold, the bridegroom is coming. Oh, yes, we will preach the King. We will preach healing. We will preach salvation. But all of those will flow under the paradigm of a beautiful God with a burning heart for his people. Those are bridegroom themes. The fact is filled with desire for us, not just that he has power. He's filled with desire for us. The God of power is filled with desire and he possesses infinite beauty and he will fascinate the people that serve him. He will exhilarate the people that serve him and that he chooses to express his power through. Okay, let's go to see this final recorded prayer intercession. His final prayer in terms of an intercessory prayer for the church. It's in John 17. Look at this. He says in verse 24, you know, all of John 17, 21 to 26 is his prayer for the end time church. He's praying for what's actually praying for the church throughout all history. He's praying for all of those that would believe in Jesus through the ministry of the apostles. And there's more people that will believe on Jesus and the generation returns in any other time of human history. Here's what he says. This is a bridegroom cry. He says, father, I desire that they whom you gave me may be with me where I am. That they may see or they may encounter or behold my glory. He goes, father, I asked that they would encounter my glory. They would experience my glory. They behold it. That means to encounter it. Verse 26, I have declared to them your name. And it goes on to prophesy about the future. He goes, and I will continue to declare your name to them. Why? That the love with which you loved me would be awakened inside of them. Look at, I mean, what a powerful prayer. I mean, there is so much theology in this prayer. There's so much prophecy in this prayer. There's so much revelation of his heart and his personality in this prayer. He starts off and he goes, father, I desire that they whom you gave me. The very cry of Jesus in this prayer, thinking of you. He doesn't say, father, save them. He says, father, I desire them. His heart was filled with desires. He's anticipating the cross hours away. His heart was overflowing with desire. There's passion. There is an explosion, a volcanic explosion in this prayer. It's a prayer of desire. The God of the burning heart is in prayer expressing his heart. And what does he desire? Again, he doesn't whisper that. I see this mighty outcry of his heart. I desire them, father. You know why I'm doing this. It's for them. Here it is that they may be with me. I don't want them just to escape prison. It's not enough that they escape hell. I want them with me. I want them reigning with me. I want them living with me. I want them lost in the realm of glory that I possess. I want them with me. Beloved, this is the ultimate bridal cry. It's his final intercessory prayer for the church recorded in scripture before the cross. He goes on in verse 26. And he sums up his ministry in such a brilliant, succinct way. He says his ministry in one sentence. I have declared your name. I've manifest your name, your personality to them. When I healed somebody, I was telling them what you were like. When I preached, I was telling them the way you thought and the way you felt. When I withstood my enemies in silence or whether I turned the tables over in anger, I was simply declaring to them what you're like and how you feel. What a statement. And he says, and I'm going to continue to declare it. Now he's talking about from the place at the right hand of the father after the his death and resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the father. Jesus's ministry for 2000 years could be summarized in one phrase. Jesus is declaring the father's name through miracles, revival preaching, through a blessing on finances, healing his leadership over the church. He's declaring the way the father thinks and feels. Beloved, this is what we want to do as a people. We want to get lost in this realm of declaring God to people. And now we call it the knowledge of God, what God's like, what God feels and what God thinks. But look at the intended impact. He says, I'm going to declare your name. Why that the love with which you love me, father, the way you love me. It would be supernaturally given to them, awakened inside of them. If I tell them what you're like, if they come into contact with what you're like, they will be awakened in love. They will love me like you do. Can you imagine that Jesus wants you to love him the way the father loves him? I mean, this is so out there. I mean, it's true, but I mean, it's out there. I'm talking about compared to my very, very small capacity to understand. I am going to love Jesus the way the father does. Jesus is going to look in your eyes one of these days and says, you love me like my father does. And you know what you're going to say? Something like this. Oh, I love to love you. I never knew it was this dynamic. I love feeling the way I feel when I look at you. Beloved, this is for us now. No, I mean, obviously not the fullness of it, but a little bit of this goes a long way. A little bit of how Abba loves Jesus goes a long way. But here's the point I'm making. I mean, this is one of my favorite passages in the scripture. So it's hard not to kind of camp here for a minute, but I'm going to move on. But here's the point I'm really making. Here's the real point I'm making. It's that Roman numeral to his final public message. The kingdom of God is a wedding. His final private training in the book of Matthew. All the ministries are those with lamps like virgins. They are encountering God, the God of desire and the God of beauty. John 17, his final intercessory prayer. He's crying out. I desire them. I want them with me. I want them to love me like you love me. I want them to love me like you love me. That's the cry. That's what the cross is about. Beloved, this thing is a big love affair that we are. It's our destiny. It's our inheritance. We have every reason to have confidence to live a lifestyle and to expect God to release supernatural love in our spirit. We do not have to settle for this kind of spiritual lethargy, quasi depression way out there. The word is boring. Prayer is boring. Worship is boring. I love God, but I'm really more afraid of hell than I love God. But I do love him. Technically, I do. Beloved, that's not the extent of our inheritance. Our inheritance is to get lost and swept away into this realm, this reality, this river of God's love for his son. It would be awakened in our heart. But this is what Jesus cried for. My point is in his final message, in his final preaching and his very final act itself on the cross was about, was about love. His final act in Hebrews 12, 2. I don't have this on the notes. You can put this in here. In Hebrews 12, 2, his final act was going to the cross. And Hebrews 12, 2 says it was because of the joy set before him. He went to the cross and endured the shame. It's the joy before him. What is before him? Well, his final public message, his final private message, and his final intercession is for the bride to be, understand her identity and her destiny and to be empowered in love. This is the joy before him in his final act called the cross. Okay, let's go to D. He's on the cross. He's on the cross. He doesn't change gears at all. He doesn't, his thing is pulsating in his being. Luke chapter 23, verse 43. He's on the cross. He looks at the thief who wants forgiveness. And he says today, it's the same thing as John 17. You will be with me. He didn't say today you're going to be pardoned from your, the penalty of hell. That was true too. He didn't, he didn't describe, uh, salvation as an escape from trouble. He described salvation. Here he is under the anguish and the agony of the cross. But there's one thing pounding on his heart. And there's a primary thing pounding on his heart that the father would be glorified and the church would be with him. And he looks at that, that thief and he doesn't say you're pardoned. He says, you will be with me. That's his paradigm. You're going to be with me next to me. You and me. This thief, thief is going, I'm not getting this, but I want it. But, but it's more than the good of what it brought the thief. That's, that's the part we really care about. And it's the good it brings us. But I'm wanting you to see the perspective under, under the duress of the cross. He had still two primary things, the glory for his father and the fact that we would be his forever with them. E in revelation chapter two, after the resurrection, 60 years later, he only gives one more message to the church after the resurrection to the church. I mean, talking about a, a full message and it's seven letters and you can call it seven messages, but I like to think of it as he had one major final statement in the word of God that he would make with his own lips. He had to go tell the church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 things. I want you to give this message to them. And like this final message had three parables in it. In Matthew 21 and 22, I see this final cry from the heart of God to the planet. And so it's a seven fold message. It's of course, we can break it down into seven distinct ones and then even break that down further with different points within those seven. But here I, I, I see a divine pattern here at the very first statement he made. And Matt revelation chapter two and three, here it is 60 years after the resurrection. It only comes once to give a message to the church in this sense. I mean, he visited Paul and said, Hey, Paul, do this, do that. Few of those, but never did he give a, a, a, a, an overall broad sweeping message to the church. One time he stands. It's I mean, he never changes. It's the same old, same old, but it's glorious. Revelation chapter two, verse four, he goes, here's the deal. They don't love me like they used to. John says, boy, you're still on that. Aren't you? He goes, I am still on that. His first point is they don't love me like they used to. They've left the first love. That's his first point. I mean, you would think after 60 years, you just don't know what he would say. You know, he might say it's really awesome up here. You know, I got a human body. It's feels very, it feels different in some ways. You know, I didn't use to have a human body. It's really, wow. What's it like, or, or wow. You know, the father, I knew he would, but he kept his word. I am exalted in heaven. You can't imagine what's going on up here. I mean, who knows what he might've said, but he has what he has this. He has this, uh, unrelenting focus. He goes, they don't love me like they used to love me. And what, again, what I'm trying to get you to see isn't just the need to love him. It's the focus of his heart. It's the, this is bridal theology. This is the cry of a bridegroom. This is not the cry of a King. He is King. He's not talking mostly about power. He's talking mostly right now about passion and heart reality. He is a King and all the book of revelation tells you. He is a bridegroom King and judge. He is a King. I love Jesus the King. I'm not in any way minimizing that, but it's interesting theologically that his first point of concern is about emotion and passion and heart connect. He goes, I am a lover. I am a lover. And matter of fact, I am a judge because I'm going to remove everything that hinders love. I use my judgment to destroy what hurts love. Beloved, we're, we're into something really heavy duty called the kingdom of God. We're in way over our head and it's a good thing. Look, well, he gives the seven messages. Look how he ends it. He ends it just like he begins it in revelation three 20. He, he has this message, this seven part message. The first part is they don't love me like they used to. His final part is I want to have a wedding feast with you. I want you to be with me. I want you to dine with me. I want you to be with me. John could have said, that's what you said in that prayer in the upper room. You wanted us to be with you. That's what you said to the thief on the cross. I was there. That's your final word of your seven part message. You want us to be with you? He goes, yes. And he's talking about the marriage supper, the lamp in its ultimate expression. He goes, I want to dine with you. I want you to dine with me. We're going to celebrate together forever. And I want you with me. Now, obviously, there is a, a symbolic dimension to this throughout church history. And even today, we dine with him feasting on the word. But there is a literal dining with him that he's actually talking about. And in meaning for it to be understood in the, in the, in the personal sense, all through 2000 years of church history that we're feeding on the word. But beloved, it's more than that. We're going to feed on the word in his presence at a wedding table forever. But the point I wanted you to get in this is that Jesus has gone 60 years. He comes back. He has one more message for the church. And he starts it with, they don't love me like they used to. And that troubles me. And I'm going to have a wedding feast. And I want you with me. It's like, it's the same message. We love that, don't we? Go to top of page two. So that's a bridal theology through the lips of Jesus. Now we're going to look at bridal theology as a paradigm for new testament ministry. I mean, not bridal theology. The bridal focus, the bridal paradigm as, as the norm for new testament is the norm for the new testament ministry. This is not accidental. This is intentional. John the Baptist, A in John 3, 29, we're going back to that verse, but we're looking at a different, a different focus on it. In John chapter three, verse 29, one of the great verses in the new testament where John, the only time in the Bible, John opens his heart and describes himself at the heart level. It's the only time he does it. He makes a 12 different statements about himself in about five or six verses. It's absolutely profound. The only time this man did this. John chapter three, verse 29 is the center of it. The core of it. He calls himself the friend of the bridegroom. He saw himself as a man like the best man at a wedding. And that's how all new testament ministries are to function. Jesus called him the greatest man ever born of a woman, the greatest man besides Jesus ever walked the earth. The way he ministered in the spirit and in the word was as a friend of the bridegroom. He said, my number one thought is to get the Messiah as a bridegroom connecting with the, with the redeemed as a bride and to get them to connect in love and to get out of the way. That is my number one paradigm of ministry. The best man at the wedding. He goes, I'm going to, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to spend all my energy, uh, uh, uh, introducing this bridegroom to the, to the, uh, uh, redeemed. I'm going to those that are not redeemed to get them redeemed. And then when they are to tell them about the love of the bridegroom, the character of the bridegroom, the plan of the bridegroom, and to see her heart awaken and blossom in love. I love him. I love him. And then to get out of the way and to encourage that love. Johnson, that is how I function. When I plan ministry, I plan it with this paradigm in mind. What happens? There's, there's three. This is not on the notes. I'll just take a little, uh, bunny trail for a second here. A quick one. There's three basic identities in the Bible. Uh, of our relationship before God, that we are servants. We are servants of God. There's many places, old and new Testament. We are sons before the father and we are the bride before Jesus. And as servants, as servants of God, that would talk of our relationship, peculiar, particularly to our, to the Holy spirit. I mean, it's all to God. I mean, I don't want to overly, uh, separate it. But as servants, we have relevant function. We have, we are, we are accepted in the empire and we have a function that matters. And that's really important that we have a real function. We're equipped with a relevant function. We're accepted on the team. We're in the empire. We made it. We're in, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're a citizen of the empire and we have a function and a job to do. And it's exciting. And we're equipped and empowered to do it. We're servants of God. And that describes particularly our relationship before the Holy spirit, obviously before the father and son as well. But it goes beyond that. We are sons, male and female before the father, before the father, we are entrusted with authority in a relationship of security before the father, the father in his, as the father brings us to security, as he releases the authority of the kingdom to us. Our inheritance is sons of God, male and female. We are all sons of God because that's a position of, of being heirs. We are entrusted with authority in the context of security with the father. It's a fantastic thing. But the bridegroom thing is a different thing. We're all bride, male and female. We are entrusted with his heart. We have partnership with his heart. Partnership with his heart. And that is, in my opinion, in my opinion, it is the most difficult part of our identity before God for us to grasp, but it's the one that has the deepest impact. And I don't think we have to, you know, pit them against each other, which is the best or the most. I want all three, but here's the point I'm making. Most servants of God, most believers stop at the servant of God paradigm. They are so excited to have a task and to be equipped and a little bit empowered and for it to be relevant and remembered forever. Their work makes an impact in this age, in the age to come, and it's meaningful and it's real. And they've been entrusted with a responsibility. It's like, wow. And the father said, I would give you more than that. I would give you true kingdom authority. And then Jesus says, I would give you something in addition. I don't want to call it more than that. In addition to it, I would give you the revelation of intimate partnership with my heart as my bridal partner forever. But anyway, John the Baptist, he goes right to the top and he says, I am about awakening in their heart. The understanding of their destiny and identity is a bride. I'm a I'm a friend of the bridegroom. It's I don't want to just get them saved. I do. I don't want to just get them functioning as a servant of God. I do. I don't want to just get them inheriting a position as heirs of the kingdom, position of authority or security. I do. But I want them red hot in love with the God. They understand is the God of the burning heart. I'm a friend of the bridegroom. That's what the essence of that means. That's what that means. OK, a few months later in B, Jesus now calls the 12, the friends of the bridegroom. John the Baptist, you know, I can imagine John and Peter going, wait, that's John the Baptist's role. He he uses that term that he's the best man of the wedding. And and John, as in as a ministry, was a friend of the bridegroom. As an individual, he was a part of the bride. So we don't want to push the the symbols too far to where it's either one or the other. I've had people ask me, was John a friend of the bridegroom or the bride? Well, as an individual worshiper, he's part of the bride. But as a person with the anointing on him trying to impact others, he's functioning in this capacity as best man in the wedding. And so Jesus looks at his the 12 and he says, I want you all to function that way. I want you to function this way before the people. I want them to understand the ways of God and the ways of the kingdom, but more that they would love me and they'd be prepared for the the extravagant love relationship with me in time and in eternity. So the apostles, I don't think they understood hardly any of it when he called them to be friends of the bridegroom. I think they kind of went cool. We're like John the Baptist. And Jesus might have said not. That's not exactly what I'm trying to say. I'm not really telling you you're like John the Baptist. I'm really telling you that the way that you will function under the anointing and the way that you will relate to me and the way that you relate to the people is you will introduce my beauty and my burning heart to them and awaken them and encourage them to return it and get out of the way. That's what I'm telling you. I can imagine the 12 going cool. Let's do it. We don't get it, but we're all we're let's go all the way. Paul, the apostle comes some years later. Second Corinthians 11, verse two, and he understands the friends of the bridegroom paradigm. He knows as a ministry what he's doing. And he says in second Corinthians 11, verse two, he goes, I have betrothed you to one husband as pure and or as chaste virgins because I betrothed you to one husband, Jesus. In other words, he goes, I use my preaching as an apostle. I had one thing on my mind to bring you into a marriage relationship as a pure virgin before your bridegroom. He goes, I understood that. He goes on the last day, I will present you to Jesus as a bride. Paul's entire paradigm, the way he viewed ministry was he was taking unbelievers, introducing them to a God who was lovesick, that would forgive them and awaken corresponding passion and dedication and loyalty back to God. This is a fantastic paradigm of ministry. This paradigm of ministry is going to fill the body of Christ before the Lord returns. It's not that widespread right now, but it's going to be widespread. Okay, let's look at Roman numeral four, Roman numeral four, Paul's revelation of the bride, particularly in the book of Ephesians. Paul had the greatest revelation of the bride of anybody in the New Testament. Well, in some ways you could say John, because John in the book of Revelation, he saw the bride in the great city, Revelation 21, 22. That was pretty intense. But maybe it's just a different one. It's hard to exactly compare them. But in the normal teaching ministry, Paul the apostle had an insight as to the relationship of the redeemed before the Lord. In Ephesians five, very important, I mean, very well-known passage, but I want to point out a phrase or two. He says in Ephesians 5, 25, he says, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. So he identifies the way Christ loving the church as the model for which a man loves a wife. And he goes on to say that it's his plan to cleanse her with the word, to cleanse the church. Beloved, there is no full cleansing in our heart. I'm talking about, I don't, I mean, there's forgiveness. I'm talking about getting it free out of our emotions without our heart being filled with the word. We are cleansed. I'm not talking about forgiven now, because forgiveness is the full act of God. It's a free gift to us. I'm talking about cleanse where the stain of our bitterness, anger, greed, covetousness, and lust is removed or diminished in our hearts. It's done, God washes us by the word, by filling our hearts with the word. Now he's going to go on and say, verse 27, he goes, why, why is he going to do this? Paul says he's going to present the church back to himself as a glorious church. It's pure, filled with radiant glory. Then he goes on in verse 29 and gives us the key. And I'm skipping a lot of key phrases here. He says this, that Jesus is going to do this by nourishing and cherishing the church. Beloved, it's the preaching of the word that washes, not just the preaching of it, actually, it's way more than preaching of it. It's when the people, I get transformed by meditating on the word. I get ideas from people preaching. I get stirred up by people preaching, but I don't get transformed by people preaching. I get transformed when I hear it. I take notes. I go somewhere later. I think on it. I get it into my language with God, into my heart language. That's what washes my heart and cleanses me. But look, look at the kind of word that cleanses. It's, it's the message of Jesus cherishing the church. The Holy Spirit is going to release a revelation of Jesus cherishing the church, how he feels about the body of Christ. The body of Christ in her brokenness and in her stain and sin, there is something so tender and dear in the, in the son of God's heart. And Jesus is going to cherish. I mean, he cherishes us. The Holy Spirit is going to take this and he's going to wash us with the teaching and the doctrine of God cherishing his people. And this is what's going to cleanse the church to be filled with glory. Now there's going to be a few other things like the great tribulation and a few other things going on to help get our attention. But circumstances are going to really get intense and the power of God is going to be intense. But at the centerpiece, the centerpiece strategy of God to the heart of his people is to reveal the nourishing, cherishing heart of Jesus to remove the stain of sin out of our personalities. I don't mean forgiveness. We're forgiven is one act instantly. I'm talking about removing the stain out of our emotions through the word. It's the cherishing heart of Jesus. The end time church will excel in their understanding of Jesus cherishing us. That's what's going to bring the church to glory. Be Paul's revelation of the bride of Christ as God's greatest mystery. Now, the word mystery means I mean, I don't mean the Greek. It means this in the Greek. It's what it means. Bottom line, it's a hidden plan in God's heart. It's what it means. Practically, when God says he has a mystery, there's four different dimensions of the mystery of God. It's all one great plan, but it's the great hidden plan of God. But there's one part of the fourfold mystery of God. One part of it is called the great mystery. It's the highest part of the plan of God. And it's the fact that Jesus receives the church as his bride. That's the highest. That's the pinnacle of the hidden plan of God. When it says here in Ephesians 5, verse 31 and 32, it says a man should leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife. The two should become one flesh. This is the great part. This is the highest part of the plan of God. When it says the great mystery, again, there's four dimensions of the mystery of God. But the ultimate expression is that Christ and the church would operate in heaven before God as bride and bridegroom. Now, it's interesting. It's interesting that when Paul the apostle, when Paul was giving this verse, he was quoting Genesis 2.24. I have it in the notes. In Genesis 2.24, it was a statement about Adam and Eve. And Moses was making the statement. Moses is the one that wrote the book of Genesis. He was making a... He was giving his prophetic interpretation onto the event. When Adam and Eve were cleaving, embracing one another, Moses throws in here in Genesis 2.24, he goes, by the way, the whole point or the main point of the relationship is they would leave and cleave. They would leave father and mother and cleave. There would be this loyalty, this cleaving between them. So Moses is interpreting what happened in the guard of Eden. Now Paul comes, you know, 1500 years later. And he says, I'm going to take Moses's interpretation and bring it up a notch. He says, Moses rightly said they should leave their father and mother and cleave to one another. He goes, rightly said, and it was right. That is God's plan. But he goes, I got something that Moses did not have. When God had Adam and Eve doing this that Moses interpreted some centuries later, he goes, what Moses didn't know is that that was really a picture of Jesus in the church. And so Paul looks way back into the garden of Eden and says, you see, Adam and Eve hugging each other. He goes, that was a picture of what God's after in redemption. It's the ultimate mystery. It's the pinnacle of the hidden plan of God that we would cleave to him forever. That's the great mystery. Oh man, Paul must have just been loving this. Writing this right. You know, he's in prison. He's writing the book of Ephesians. Oh, I'm going to give it all to him. This might be my last shot. The ultimate mystery, the great, the highest pinnacle of apostolic revelation is that he's interpreting what Adam and Eve were doing in the garden is cleaving was only a picture of what salvation was meant from the beginning in God's mind. See, Paul, the apostle, he cries out. It are the famous prayer we've prayed. This is the prayer that's been prayed here more than any other prayer. Over the five and a half years we've been doing IHOP. Ephesians 117. Here it is. The spirit of revelation that the church would understand by revelation, the glory of being Jesus's inheritance, his bride. That's in essence, his bride. What it means, the riches of the glory of belonging to Jesus as his inheritance. What a stunning insight into our being. You exist in the plan of God as God's reward. The father wanted to give Jesus a reward and he gave Jesus you. You look in the mirror and say, poor Jesus. And the Lord says, look again through the mirror of the word. I did a good work. I did a good work. When I wanted to give my son an inheritance, I gave him you. And there is a wealth, riches is the word. There's a wealth of glory in my gift to my son called you. And Paul said, oh, that they could see who they are. Oh, that they could see who they are. The ultimate expression of the mystery of God, the pinnacle of God's hidden plan. Let's go to page three. We're at the end here, so I'm going to go through this quite fast. I just want you to have the verses and make sense of them when you read them later. The heart impact. John the Baptist says, I hear the voice of the bridegroom in John 3 29. Again, we're going back to the verse a third time, but now we're looking at a different angle of it. John the Baptist, he said, my heart is filled with joy. Here he is living out in the wilderness. His ministry is decreasing. More and more people that were following him are leaving him to go to the other church on the other end of town that this young Nazarene guy, his new Nazarene church, Jesus of Nazareth was leading. And everyone said, oh, man, they're all leaving. He says, oh, my goodness, I'm so alive in my spirit. He's going to die at the hands of Herod some months down the road. He goes, I am so filled with joy. How on earth could you be filled with joy? You live in the wilderness. Your ministry is decreasing. You're going to die soon. He said, I've heard the voice of a bridegroom God. It's touched my spirit. I know who he is. I know who I am and I know where I'm going. And my joy is not because my ministry is growing or decreasing, not because I'm in prison, out of prison. Whether I live or escape, I am alive in my spirit because I've heard the voice of God as a bridegroom touch my spirit. Now, I don't mean we hear the audible voice of God, although he heard God's audible voice. He heard Jesus's voice. But in our sense, it's through the word of God. It's through the teaching of the scripture. We hear the voice of the God of desire. In B, you may not be able to follow B, just read the notes. I have the two times where John, the apostle, fell down and worshipped an angel. Now, you think John in his 90s, the most mature man of God, probably in human history, besides Jesus. I mean, he was an apostle in the spirit over 60 years. He gets the book of Revelation. You think a guy with that good theology and that kind of encounter, he wouldn't be overwhelmed easy. He falls down and worships an angel. And you know what? He worships the angel right after he sees the married supper of the lamb. He worships the angel. He goes, Oh, my God. I love it. Oh, I worship you, angel. Stop, stop, stop, stop. He goes, I know you're excited. This is bad. And then the angel takes him up on a high mountain and shows him the eternal city. He does it again. He falls down and worships the angel. The angel says, listen, I'm gonna get myself fired if you do this again. Stop. But both times, both times, John was overwhelmed both times by the bridal revelation. And he was on such over, you know, his circuits were overloaded. And he just, I love you. I love you. I worship you. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. It's him. He goes, Oh, I know. I know. What was I thinking? I'm just, I'm just totally undone. But it's, it's amazing. It's after the marriage supper of the lamb. And then it's after the marriage city, the city, the eternal city called the wife's lamb, that the wife's, the lamb's wife. It's, that's when he fell down both of these exactly after those two bridal encounters. It's quite, I mean, uh, revelations of the bride of Christ. Okay. We're going to skip Roman numeral four. It's a good one, but we're going to skip it. We're going to, uh, oh no, that was six. I did it backwards. Six, not four. Okay. Go on to Roman numeral seven. The Holy Spirit's emphasis at the end of the age. I'll just do this real quick. The spirit and the bride are going to cry. Come revelation 22. At the end of the age, the anointing on the church with a bridal identity. Look at the next one. Hosea chapter two, verse 14. Jesus said at the very end, I mean, at the very end, I mean, the Lord said to the prophet Hosea at the very end of verse 16, he goes in that day, you will call me my husband. You will come before the Messiah and call the Messiah. My husband. See, and though this is a love song, I believe it has prophetic, uh, reality. Who is this coming up from the wilderness and song of Solomon? Who is this person coming up in victory, leaning on her lover, the end time church. Of course, we can apply it all through history, but Jesus talking about the end times in Isaiah 64, he goes in that day, in that day, in Isaiah 62, verse four, you will be called Hefzibah. The Lord loves you. The Lord delights in you in that day. You will know that I am the God that rejoices over you like a bridegroom. Amen. You can just read the other verses on your own beloved. There is a, such a strong theology in the new Testament about the Messiah coming for a bride. And, uh, there's other passages beside, but I just wanted to give you an overview of it. Amen. Let's stand.