Spiritual Marriage and the Second Coming

Excerpts taken from http://www.levitt.com/essays/endtimes_events.html

Israel’s wedding traditions in Christ’s time. There was a seven-day honeymoon in a bridal chamber for the bride and groom, preceding the marriage supper. This pertains exactly to the seven years in Heaven and the Judgment Seat of Christ, leading up to marriage with Him. (The Jewish wedding and all of its Gospel implications are explained fully in the booklet, A Christian Love Story.)

John covers the marriage scene for us in two glorious verses (Rev. 19:7–8). The white linen bridal gowns we shall wear fulfill a fascinating Bible type that reaches back to the Tabernacle of ancient Israel (Exodus 25–30). In the Tabernacle, plain white linen symbolized pure righteousness. The linen curtains around the entire Tabernacle, the tent, as it were, were pure white. Therefore, no one could enter through the sides or rear, because no one was perfectly righteous. The door of the Tabernacle was sewn with the colors of Christ — scarlet, purple, and blue threads, indicating sacrifice, royalty, and Heaven. The Israelites entered by the door, so symbolically, they were entering by means of the Messiah.

Jesus said, I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture (John 10:9). Messianic colors were worn by the priests, and also appeared in the hangings of various courts and in roof coverings.

But now, the Church shall wear white! — “Fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” That we now appear in pure white testifies to our final perfection. Paul compared earthly marriage to Christ’s marrying the Church (Eph. 5:21–33). Ultimately, we will see the result of the apostles’ exhortation of the infant Church.

After we marry the Lord, we’ll reign with Him in His Kingdom on earth. This is exactly the way the bride returned with her groom after an Israeli marriage, to housing he had arranged for them — outside of his father’s house. (Some teach that the wedding will be on earth after we return, and others have it in Heaven with the marriage supper on earth (Rev. 19:7–8).

Second Coming

Acts 1:11

They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

Jesus will return just like he left!

Mat 24:37 NASB – “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.

Mat 24:38 NASB – “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

Mat 24:39 NASB – and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Mat 24:40 NASB – “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.

Mat 24:41 NASB – “Two women {will be} grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.

Mat 24:42 NASB – “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

Mat 24:43 NASB – “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

Mat 24:44 NASB – “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think {He will.}

Jesus confirmed this in his last teachings to His disciples!

Mat 24:37-44

(37) “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.

(38) “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

(39) and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

(40) “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.

(41) “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.

(42) “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

(43) “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

(44) “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

Zechariah predicted the first and second coming of Christ

Zec 9:9-10

(9) Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

(10) I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.

Isaiah spoke of this in 11:1 and the second coming in 11:2-5

Isa 11:1-5

(1) Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

(2) The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

(3) And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

(4) But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.

(5) Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.

Isaiah and Christ both spoke to this,  600 years apart.

Isa 61:1-2

(1) The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;

(2) To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,

Luk 4:16-21

(16) And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

(17) And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

(18) “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,

(19) TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

(20) And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

(21) And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus Christ,  Son of God, Savior, Messiah will bodily and mightily return to start a 1000 year reign of the kingdom of Heaven on earth.  I hope one day very soon.

End Times Prophecy Events – excellent article from Zola Levitt Ministries

The founders on Jesus

If you need a refresher on our nation’s true history and what the founders really thought, look at this website

http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=8755

What has been carefully de-emphasized in our education system is the founders founded a Christian nation and expected those principles and focus to be part of governing, not separated by an artificial wall that did not exist until a 1947 supreme court decision that made it up by refocusing on what Thomas Jefferson told a group of Baptists to allay their fears the government would interfere with their practice of Christian worship.

Until LBJ enacted vengeance on pastors who dared oppose him on a senate run in the 1950’s, pastors were free to and did preach on good government, who to vote for, since the founding of the country until the mid 1950’s.

Consider the following quotes from their writings (historical documents)–

“John Adams

SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; JUDGE; DIPLOMAT; ONE OF TWO SIGNERS OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS; SECOND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

The Holy Ghost carries on the whole Christian system in this earth. Not a baptism, not a marriage, not a sacrament can be administered but by the Holy Ghost. . . . There is no authority, civil or religious – there can be no legitimate government but what is administered by this Holy Ghost. There can be no salvation without it. All without it is rebellion and perdition, or in more orthodox words damnation.2

Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company: I mean hell.3

The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity.”

“John Quincy Adams

SIXTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; DIPLOMAT; SECRETARY OF STATE; U. S. SENATOR; U. S. REPRESENTATIVE; “OLD MAN ELOQUENT”; “HELL-HOUND OF ABOLITION”
My hopes of a future life are all founded upon the Gospel of Christ and I cannot cavil or quibble away [evade or object to]. . . . the whole tenor of His conduct by which He sometimes positively asserted and at others countenances [permits] His disciples in asserting that He was God.7

The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the Divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made “bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” [Isaiah 52:10].8

In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.”

Benjamin Franklin

SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION; DIPLOMAT; PRINTER; SCIENTIST; SIGNER OF THE CONSTITUTION; GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA
As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and His religion as He left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see.30

The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer, like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and guilding, lies here, food for worms. Yet the work itself shall not be lost; for it will, as he believed, appear once more in a new and more beatiful edition, corrected and amended by the Author.31 (FRANKLIN’S EULOGY THAT HE WROTE FOR HIMSELF)”

John Hancock

SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS; REVOLUTIONARY GENERAL; GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS
Sensible of the importance of Christian piety and virtue to the order and happiness of a state, I cannot but earnestly commend to you every measure for their support and encouragement.38

He called on the entire state to pray “that universal happiness may be established in the world [and] that all may bow to the scepter of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the whole earth be filled with His glory.”

there are many other examples and quotes from our founder’s writings. Our freedom, liberty, and resulting wealth and prosperity are the direct result of obedient Christians founding a Christian nation.

Praising God wherever whenever

The Bible,  The Word of God,

Word of God

The Truth – The Way – The Life mentions praise over 180 times in the NASB translation.

Choose today to praise God,  and be thankful no matter the circumstances

in loss and grief  Job 1:20

In time of goodness and plenty 1 Chron 23:5

Time

(Joh 6:35) Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

(Joh 6:40) “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

(Joh 6:51) “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

(Joh 7:6) So Jesus *said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune.

(Joh 7:7) “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

(Joh 7:8) “Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.”

(Joh 7:28) Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.

(Joh 7:29) “I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

God has definite plans for our time in this life.  We can choose to participate and listen and cooperate or choose not to.

Ways to know and cooperate

1.  Read the Word of God.  This is direct communication from and with Jesus Christ,

(Joh 1:1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2.  Pray – involves talking and listening.

Mat 6:6-13

(6) “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

(7) “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.

(8) “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

(9) “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

(10) ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

(11) ‘Give us this day our daily bread.

(12) ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

(13) ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]‘

3.  Act on what you have been taught from the Word of God, using your gift of reason and common sense that comes from God.

Christian and Tattoos

This comes up from time to time.  I agree with the view expressed in this article.

the following links:

What to do when the Bible is not clear

Should Christian Teens get tattoos?

Tattoos and the Bible?

Jewish Rabbi perspective on Tattoos?

To ink or not to Ink

Disease risks with tattoos

When is Body Art a Health Risk?

Read and decide for yourself,  but make an informed and reasoned decision that can be reconciled with your faith based on Romans 14:23 perspective.