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The Queen
of Heaven, what and who is she?
January 1,
2018
I. Introduction: The First Wedding
The Queen of Heaven is the wife of the
King of Heaven. The King of Heaven is the creator and ruler of all things in
heaven and of the entire created universe. This King is the fullness of the
Godhead; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We know from
scripture that God is seeking and does become engaged to a wife. This occurred
at Mount Sinai at the first Pentecost when God gave the Law (Torah) to those
that had been delivered out of Egypt. We also know the God the Son, Jesus, has
a Bride. But we are still left with the question, just what and who is this
wife, this bride of God. We begin our quest In Genesis – “in the beginning”
(Gen 1:1, 26, 27; 2:7-24).
In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth and He created a man called Adam to be His companion and the
ruler over the earth that He had created. This man was created in God’s own
image to be His intimate companion and to rule over the creation He had just
made. God’s desire to have an intimate companion of His own order, a wife if
you will, is becoming evident. This companion (wife) was to love God with all her
heart, soul, and mind; to be obedient, adoring, totally loyal, and to worship
Him and no other. God knew that it was not good to be alone so he put Adam to
sleep, cut him open, took a part of him, and made a woman to be Adam’s
companion. Then comes the first wedding when God gives Eve to Adam and they
become one flesh in the bonds of the first marriage.
Jesus is called the second Adam (1Co
15:45 NKJV) - And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living
being." The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit (1 Co 15:46-47).
In the creation of Eve, we can see a
picture (a prophecy if you will) of Jesus dying (being put to sleep), being cut
open, and from Him coming forth His eternal companion, His bride.
II.
The Engagement of Israel to God
Another important marriage that will
help us define the Queen of Heaven, God’s wife, is the marriage between Jacob
and Leah and Rachel. In Gen 29 we have the story of Jacob being first married
to Leah, then 7 days later given Rachel as his wife. There is a picture here of
two marriages, one 7 days (or 7 perhaps years as a prophecy of a future very
important wedding) after the other. This will be relevant when we consider the
fate of the two houses of Israel and of the Gentiles of the nations.
Now let’s move ahead to Moses and the
giving of the Law or Torah at Mount Sinai. This event occurred at the first Feast
of Pentecost. It was here that the Law was presented to the people who had just
been delivered from the bondage of Egypt. This is called the Mosaic Covenant
and is the one conditional covenant.
Basically it is the Law or Torah.
If the house of Jacob and the sons of Israel would obey God's voice and
keep the Law God gave to them through Moses, then God promises that Israel
would be His special possession or treasure, a kingdom whose citizens were all
priests with access to God, and a holy nation, separated from all other nations
and devoted only to God (Exodus 19:5-6). The basic commandments are given in
Exodus 20.
It was this mixed multitude that built
and worshipped the golden calf incurring God’s wrath. Moses then called those
still faithful to God to kill the unfaithful and about 3000 people were killed
that day. (Exo 32:26-28)
In Jewish tradition it is said that a
flame appeared and went to each individual in the camp asking if they would
obey the commandments of God that Moses brought down from the mountain. Those
that said they would obey were spared, the others killed. These commandments
were the Law, the Torah and represented a marriage contract. Those that accepted
it were considered to be “betrothed” (kiddushin –samctified or set apart) to
God. In Jewish tradition, to be betrothed was considered to be married but the
marriage not yet full or consummated. She was considered to be a virgin bride.
So this day, the first Pentecost is called the betrothal of Israel to God. It
is called the blast of the first trump. The marriage itself would not occur
until later at the Feast of Trumpets, called the blast of the last trump, which
is a prophecy of the wedding of Jesus.
Here we have the first picture of God’s
wife. This group of the house of Jacob, natural or genetic sons of Abraham, and
the gentiles of the mixed multitude who had accepted an agreed to live by the
laws of the Torah were called the Assembly or kahal of God or the family of
God. It is interesting and important to note that the Greek equivalent of kahal
or assemble is ekklesia, translated in English as church.
Those who were at mount Sinai when the "assembly or kahal" (NT ekklesia) was first born consisted of the
natural born descendents of Abraham (Avraham),
Isaac (Yitzchak) and Jacob (Ya’acov) and a mixed multitude who
believed in the G-d of Israel and who left Egypt (Mitzrayim) with the children of Israel. At Mount Sinai, they
were called the house of Jacob.
(Exo 12:37-38, 19:1-3)
We note that in the NT God’s spiritual family
or assembly (the ekklesia or church) is a mixed multitude of people, both Jew
and gentile who believe in the Jewish Messiah and who hold to His commandments.
(Gal 3:26-28; Rom 10:9-13)
"The point of all of this is that the
final wife of God, the Queen of Heaven, will be a mixture of the sons of
Abraham, the house of Jacob, and gentiles who accept the laws of God (the
commandments of Jesus who is the fulfillment of the Law – Matt 5:17-18) and who
accept and have faith in the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. The wife of God is the
family of God, the Assembly of God, the kahal or ekklesia.
III.
The Divorce
Our story continues as this house of Jacob or
Assembly of God travels into the trials of their time in the wilderness. This
becomes a time of testing to establish the true and faithful of those that make
up this “wife” of God. As the Word tells us, only the children of those who
started the journey make it into the Promised Land under the leadership of
Joshua, the new leader of this house of Jacob. (Num 32:11-13)
As the house of Jacob, the Assembly or family of God moves into the
Promised Land, it evolves into the 12 tribes of Jacob. In Gen 32:24-38, Jacob’s
name is changed to Israel. (Gen 32:24-28)
Gen 32:28 NKJV - And He said, "Your
name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with
God and with men, and have prevailed."
Note the prophecy here (Gen
32:27) for national Israel has surely struggled with God and with men over the ages. But also note that they
have prevailed and will prevail.
Now Jacob had twelve sons and they were called the children of Israel or
the house of Jacob. These descendents of Jacob (Israel) had entered into a
covenant with God at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). This covenant is the Mosaic
covenant; the one conditional covenant God made with Israel. Eventually these
12 sons became the 12 tribes of Jacob or Israel and were split in the 10 tribes
that settled in the northern part of the land of Israel and called the house of
Israel, and the 2 tribes that settled in the south called the house of Judah.
In Jeremiah 11:1, 6, 16-17 this house of Jacob consisting of the house of
Israel and the house of Judah is likened to an olive tree. (Jer 11:1, 6, 16,
17)
These descendent of Jacob broke this covenant because of their idolatry
and unfaithfulness and in doing so; the “branches” of the original olive tree were
broken. The branches of the original natural olive tree (the house of Israel
AND the house of Judah) were broken. Therefore, the broken branches
needed to be redeemed, restored and grafted again back into the original
natural olive tree. How did this happen?
The house of Jacob was divided into the
Northern Kingdom, the house of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom, the house of
Judah following the reign of Solomon. Solomon broke the covenant by marrying
foreign wives who brought idolatry into the nation (1 Kings 11:1-5, 9-13; Deut
7:1-4).
The house of Israel (the Northern Kingdom)
consisted of 10 tribes (1 Kings 11:26, 28-32). It was called: the house of
Israel (1 Kings 12:21, Jer 31:31), the house of Joseph (1 Kings 11:28), Samaria
(Hosea 7:1, 8:5-6, 13:16), and Ephraim (Hosea 4:17, 5:3, 7:1). The house of
Judah (the Southern Kingdom) consisted of the other two tribes (Judah and
Benjamin). Both of these Kingdoms broke the Mosaic covenant and both were
dispersed into the nations of the world (Deut 28:15, 36-37, 64). The house of
Israel was taken captive by Assyria (2 Kings 17:7-23). Eventually they lost
their identity and were assimilated into all the nations of the world. There
are some that believe that the house of Israel, sometimes called the house of
Ephraim so thoroughly lost their identity that today they would be considered
gentiles that have been grafted into the house of Jacob (i.e. Christians).
However, God who knows the number if each hair on your head also knows all who
are still ethnically linked to the house of Israel. (Hos 7:8, Gen 48:19)
The house of Judah was taken captive by the
Babylonians for 70 years (Jer 25:1-11). After the 70 years, a remnant returned
to the land of Israel during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. This remnant was
called Jews (Ezra 2:1, 5:1; Neh 1:1-2). After the destruction of the second
Temple in 70 A.D. the Roman Empire caused the dispersion of these “Jews” into
every nation of the world. However the house of Judah never lost their identity
of being a nation of people called Jews from the house of Judah.
The 10 tribes of the house of Israel are not
called Jews because they are not from the house of Judah. Instead they are
called Israelites. By breaking the Mosaic/Torah covenant, they were cut off
from the natural olive tree. The book of Hosea tells the story of Hosea’s marriage
to Gomer (Hosea 1:2-3). The children of this marriage, were Jezreel (God will
scatter), Lo-ruhamah (no mercy or no compassion), and Lo-ammi (not my people)
(Hosea 1:4, 6, 9). These are a prophecy of the future judgment of house of
Israel. In effect, God was divorcing the house of Israel (Jer 3:6, 8).
Therefore they were cut off from the natural olive tree and lost their rightful
inheritance as a part of the family or Assembly of God. (Jer 3:6-8)
As for the Southern Kingdom of Judah, they
also broke the covenant but God said that they would be punished but that He
would not remove His mercy from them or divorce them. This was because of His
love for David and the city of Jerusalem (Ps 89:1-3, 28-37; 1 Kings 11:34-36).
God promised that He would always have mercy
upon the seed of David (Ps 89:1-3, 28-37) and that the Jewish Messiah was to
come through the seed of David (Isa 11:1-2). David was a man after God’s own
heart (Acts 13:22-23).
We also note thatJesus is the root and
offspring of David (Rev 22:16) and has the key of David (Rev 3:7).
Even though the house of Judah did play the
harlot and were disloyal to God, because of God’s promises to David and his
offspring, they would be punished but God’s mercy would never be taken away. Ultimately
this mercy will be given in and through Jesus, the Jewish Messiah who is called
a son of David. The implication is that the “sons of David” (the house of Judah
or Jews) will receive the mercy of God (salvation and restoration) through
Jesus the Messiah.
As for the Northern Kingdom (the house of
Israel), they are promised mercy if they repent. God is slow to anger and quick
to forgive (Ps 103:8-9, 17-18; Jer 3:5, 12-13). God promised the house of
Israel that if they would repent they would again be called His people (Hosea
1:10).
How is this to come about? The apostle Paul in
Rom 9:23-27 tells us. This mercy will come through the Jewish Messiah Jesus.
There is provision in the Torah that if a
family member of God loses his inheritance (which the house of Israel did when
God divorced them) one of his kin (someone from the house of Judah) could
redeem them. This redeemer/kinsman was the Jewish Messiah Jesus (Lev 25:25).
Jesus is the kinsman redeemer for the house of Israel; the ones cut off from
the olive tree, the ones no longer God’s people. Jesus is the agent of God’s
mercy upon His people (Lk 1:54-55, 72-73).
By repenting of their sins and putting their
faith and trust in Jesus (their kinsman redeemer), the Northern Kingdom (the
house of Israel) are grafted back into the natural olive tree and once again
become member of the assembly of Israel (God’s family, God’s wife). This mercy
and redemption given freely by and through Jesus is also available to the
gentiles (all people who are not genetically linked to the house of Jacob (all
the natural descendants of Abraham - Eph 2:11-15; Eph 2:19).
The Commonwealth (politeia) of
Israel is defined as a state or commonwealth,
citizenship, or the rights of a citizen.
The “one new man” of Eph 2:15 will
turn out to be the Queen of Heaven where
Gentile and Israelite are fellow citizens and members of the household of
Gen 32:28
NKJV - And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but
Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."
od.
IV.
The Bride of Christ
This takes us to the next story about the wife
of God (the Queen of Heaven), the Bride of Christ. (2 Co 11:2, 21:9)
The NT paints a picture of Christ being the
head of church (the ekklesia, the assembly) in a marriage relationship. (Eph
5:23-32)
All people who love Jesus, confess His name,
and live as best they can by His commandments (the fulfillment of the Law or
Torah) are redeemed, saved, and promised eternal life as the Bride of Christ
(the wife of God and the Queen of Heaven). (Jhn 14:15, Mar 16:16, Rom 10:9)
When it is all said and done, God’s wife, the
Queen of Heaven is all people who are saved by and through the one that bought
them by paying a bride price. The bride price for the Queen of Heaven was the
very life of God’s own son, Jesus, God the Son in whom the fullness of the God
Head dwelt (Col 2:9-10).
Note that a bride price was not a part of the
engagement of the house of Jacob with the Mosaic covenant. It was still a
mystery in those days so there was incompleteness in this engagement of the
“sons of Abraham (the house of Jacob - both the house of Israel and the house
of Judah). It could only be made complete when they were offered the bride
price and they agreed to accept it. Like the Jewish tradition of the first
Pentecost where each person was asked if they would accept and follow the law,
each person is offered the bride price and must accept it to become the
betrothed of God. This bride price was
offered at Calvary with the death of Jesus, the Son of God when He paid the
price for all of the sins, the rebellion, and faithfulness of the sons of
Abraham (the Hebrews or Israelites). But this bride price was so valuable that
it paid the price and took the punishment for the sins of all mankind,
Israelite and Gentile alike.
At this present time we find the whole house
of Jacob (the house of Israel and the house of Judah) and all gentiles who are
saved by Jesus, now fully engaged or betrothed to Him but not yet officially
married (the marriage not yet full or consummated). The Queen of Heaven has not
yet appeared and has not been presented to all creation. How and when does this
happen?
Paul tells us that in the end, the Queen is
neither Jew nor gentile. (Rom 1:16, 2:9, 10, 17, 28, 29; 3:1, 10:12, Gal 3:28,
Col 3:11)
The identifying of being a Jew by circumcision was for all the house of
Jacob so Paul’s use of the term Jew in these scriptures is a reference to all
of the sons of Abraham, the house of Jacob. The term Greek was a reference to
all gentiles.
As to how and when the house of Israel, the house of Judah, and the
gentiles are gathered for the great wedding of King Jesus, Paul gives us some
insight in Rom 11:1-36).
Rom 11:1 NKJV - Paul tells us that he is an Israelite, and of the tribe
of Benjamin, part of the house of Judah. All of the house of Judah are called
Jews and they are Israelites. The house of Israel are not Jews but are also
called Israelites.
Rom 11:5 NKJV - The remnant here is of Israelites, both the house of
Israel and the house of Judah.
Rom 11:6 NKJV - This remnant is preserved or saved by grace, God’s mercy
through the Jewish Messiah.
Rom 11:7 NKJV – Again the reference to Israel is a reference to Israelites,
the whole house of Jacob.
Rom 11:11 NKJV - Paul is concerned for his fellow Israelites. He tells us
here that salvation has come to the Gentiles to provoke them (the Israelites)
to jealousy so that they might receive Jesus as their Messiah and be saved.
Rom 11:12 NKJV – When the Israelites come into their fullness and God’s
unconditional promises made to
them in the Abrahamic covenant are fulfilled, the saved gentiles will participate in these promises.
Rom 11:14 NKJV - Here Paul is speaking about ethnic Israelites.
Rom 11:15 NKJV – Life from the dead is eternal life.
Rom 11:16 NKJV – This is a reference to the holy olive tree that
represents the original family of God, the house of Jacob. The root is Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the fathers of Judaism.
Rom 11:17 NKJV - The branches of the house of Israel were broken off are
all from the house of Jacob except the remnant that God preserves ( Rom 11:5,
and mentioned throughout the OT prophecies). The wild olive tree is a reference
to the Gentiles. Gentiles are grafted in by being found in Christ Jesus. The
grafted in Gentiles become Israelites by adoption into God’s family and are
considered to be sons and daughters of God (2 Cor 6:18; Rom 8:15, 23; Gal 4:5-6;
Eph 1:5; 2 Co 6:18).
Note
the adoption is fully effected at the redemption of our body which occurs when the Lord catches us up to meet
Him in the air (1 Thes 4:13- 18; 1 Cor 15:50-54)
Rom 11:23 NKJV – Here is the promise to graft the natural branches back
into the family of God.
Rom 11:25 NKJV - The blindness in part is
on all Israelites and will last until the number of Gentiles who are to be filled with the presence, power, agency, and riches
of God and of Christ is
complete.
In part has the idea of
“temporary”; Israel’s blindness is
temporary. “One day the Jews will realize their blindness and folly. They’ll
accept Jesus Christ, and the glorious national restoration of these people will
bring in the Kingdom Age.” (Smith)
Rom 11:26 NKJV - The
house of Jacob, all Israelites, will be saved, saved by accepting the mercy offered
in and through the Messiah, Jesus. It is interesting to question just what “and
so all Israel will be saved” means. Since no one is saved except by accepting
Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God who died for all sin, and was resurrected
and now sits on a Throne in Heaven, does this mean that in the end, literally
all Israelites will receive Jesus as their savior, the Messiah?
It does not mean that
every last person of Jewish descent will be saved. Instead it is a time when
Israel as a whole will be a saved people and the nation as a whole embraces
Jesus as Messiah. The choice to accept Jesus is always a personal one. (Isa 27:12-13)
Isa 27:13 NKJV –Note that
those gathered one by one will come from the lands of Gentiles at the sound of
the blast of the great trumpet, the Shofar Ha-gadol.
Even as the apostasy of Israel did not extend to every last
Jew, so the salvation of Israel will not extend to every last Jew; Paul is
speaking of the “mass” of Jews when he says “all
Israel”. “All Israel is a recurring expression in Jewish literature,
where it need not mean ‘every Jew without a single exception’, but ‘Israel as a
whole.’ ” (Bruce)
n summary, Paul makes a clear distinction
between saved Gentiles and the “Israel” that is to be saved after the fullness
of the Gentiles has come in. There is an “Israel” that is the holy olive tree.
The roots are the fathers or foundations of this “Israel”; Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. This Israel is the house of Jacob, Israel as a whole, Israelites. There are natural branches (ethnic
branches) of this Israel that are cut off. We have discovered that the 10
Northern Kingdoms, the house of Israel, was divorced or cut off of this
cultivated tree that represents Israel as a whole. The Southern Kingdom of Judah
was not entirely cut off but was punished for their rebellion and both Kingdoms
eventually scatted throughout the nations of the world. The Northern Kingdom
eventually lost their identity but the people of the Southern Kingdom of Judah
never completely lost their identity and are known today as Jews. The promise
of Roman 11 is that these cut off natural branches of the olive tree be grafted
back after branches from a wild olive tree are grafted in. Paul says these branches
from a wild olive tree are Gentiles.
At some point this olive tree that symbolizes
the faithful Israelites becomes a holy tree that fills the whole earth (Matt
13:31-32). It is neither Jew nor gentile
(Gal 3:28, Col 3:11). It consists of branches made holy by the gift of mercy
given in and through the Jewish Messiah Jesus. This tree is the wife of God,
the Bride of Christ, and the Queen of Heaven.
V.
The “Birth” of the Queen
How does this happen? First the dispersed
ethnic Israelites are gathered from the nations of the earth and brought back
to the land of Israel (Ezek 38:8, 12; 39:27; Ps 107:3; Isa 43:5; Zec 8:7).
According to Ezekiel 37 they are brought back in unbelief. This ingathering in
unbelief actually began in the early 1900s with the Belfour Agreement and
continues to this day. In 1948 the nation of Israel was officially reborn, a
great fulfillment of an old prophecy. (Isa 66:8)
As the Gospel of Jesus is spread throughout
the earth, many gentiles are saved through faith in Jesus and are adopted into
the original family of God. This period of time is generally called the time of
the gentiles or the church age. There are also some ethnic Israelites that
accept Jesus as their savior and are saved. These are called Messianic Jews or
Israelites. The blinding of Israel in Rom 11 is only a partial blinding.
When God sees that “the fullness of the
gentiles has come in”, this group of saved Gentiles is taken up to meet the
Lord in the air (1 Thes 4:13-18; 1 Cor 15:50-54). Note that in 1 Cor 15:52 this
putting on of an incorruptible, immortal body occurs at the sounding of the
“last trump”. The Feast of Trumpets is known as the Feast of the Last Trump.
God then turns His attention back to what Paul
calls Israel, the whole nation or people of Israel (Israelites), to draw them
back into His family by their finally accepting not only the marriage contract
(the Torah) but also the bride price that is the life of Jesus the Messiah. The
process by which God does this involves sending out a called out group of 144
thousand Jewish believers (12 thousand from each of the 12 tribes of Israel) into
the land of Israel where the Israelites have been re-gathered and many
Israelites are saved (Rev 7:3-8).
Rev 7:4 NKJV –Note
that this group includes Israelites from both the house of Israel and the house
of Judah.
After a period of 3 ½ years, God also sends
out two special witnesses for another 3 ½ years and more Israelites are saved
but in a time of great trouble called the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:7, Rev
11:3-4).
Zec 4:14
tells us: - “So he said, "These [are] the two anointed ones, who stand
beside the Lord of the whole earth."
Some believe
that these two witnesses are men who come in the spirit of Moses and Elijah;
Moses representing the Law or Torah, and Elijah representing the prophets (the
Word and the spirit). This would be consistent with the prophecy that Elijah
will come before the great and terrible day of the Lord, and that John the
baptizer came in the spirit of Elijah (Mal 4:5, Mat 11:13-14).
Also,
it was Moses and Elijah who appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration
(Mat 17:1-3).
These ethnic Jews or Israelites are saved during
the 3 ½ years of the 144 thousand Jewish witnesses and the 3 ½ years of the two
witnesses by “the Blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and they did
not love their lives even unto death” (Rev 12:10-11).
Very near or at the end of these 7 years, God
removes these saved Israelites from the earth to join the saved gentiles in
Heaven where a great wedding and wedding supper take place (Rev 14:12-16).
This two stage wedding process (Gentiles then
Israelites) was probably prophesied in the weddings of Jacob to Leah and
Rachel.
VI.
The Revealing of the Queen
It is at this great wedding and wedding supper
that the new wife of God, the Bride of Christ, and the Queen of Heaven
is introduced to the entire universe. She is a composite of people both
Israelites and Gentiles who have accepted the terms of a wedding proposal or
covenant (originally the Mosaic covenant but replace by the New Covenant and
Jesus’ commandments (which fulfill the ordinances of the Law). They have
accepted the bride price (the life of Jesus, the Son of God), and have sealed
the arrangement and by sharing a cup of wine with the bridegroom. For the
Gentiles this is cup of wine of the sacrament of communion (Matt 26:28-29; Mark
14:25, Lk 22:18).
For the Israelite it is the 3rd cup
of wine of the holy Seder the cup of redemption. There are four cups of wine
involved in the Jewish Seder; the cup of Sanctification, the cup of wrath, the
cup of deliverance, and the cup of restoration (the cup of the Kingdom). During
the last supper, Jesus probably shared the first two cups with His disciples
during the Seder meal. It was probably during this part of the Seder that Jesus
told Judas Iscariot to go and do quickly what he was going to do. It was after
the supper that Jesus took the 3rd cup saying; “This cup is the new
covenant in My blood. This do as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me (1
Cor 11:25).
The 1st cup is the cup of
sanctification (set apart). This cup celebrated Israel’s deliverance for Egypt.
It is a picture of the cup of betrothal. For the Israelite is occurred at Mount
Sinai. For the gentile it occurs when you become a disciple of Jesus. As we
share the cup of wine during communion, we are sharing the cup of betrothal to
Jesus. We are committing to be His bride. We are betrothed, considered married
as in Jewish custom, but not fully married. That great day when the marriage is
complete awaits us as we look forward to the great wedding of Jesus in His
Father’s Kingdom.
The 2nd cup they did not drink. It
was poured out on the table. This cup of wrath was a prophecy of the wrath of
God that was poured out on Jesus as He died on the cross. (Lk 22:42)
The
3rd cup is the cup of
blessing or the Ha-Geulah , the cup of Redemption. It is a celebration of God’s
promise that He will redeem us. The Jews used this cup to symbolize the blood
of the Passover Lamb. Jesus said “This cup is the new covenant in My blood”. This
is where Jesus announced the New Covenant for the forgiveness of Sins (Lk
22:20, Mat 26:27-28). In a few hours Jesus would be the Lamb, shed His blood,
then is 3 days, walk out of the tomb, bringing redemption to all mankind for
those that would accept it. (1 co 11:25, 26; Mat 26:27-29, Lk 22:18, Mar 14:25)
Jesus did not drink of the 4th cup,
the cup of the Kingdom; the cup of restoration. This cup is a proclamation; “I
will take you as My people”. It is the coming Messianic Era, the Kingdom of
Heaven. It is the restoration of the world, in which there is only one nation –
the Kingdom of God with one king, the Messiah Jesus. This is the marriage cup.
Jesus spoke of eating and drinking this fourth
cup in the Messianic Kingdom with his disciples because this is the final cup
that the bride and the groom drink on their wedding day. This is the only cup
that he did not drink of because it is reserved for the wedding day.
In Jewish tradition, this cup is the Cup of
Praise or Restoration. It takes place during the Hallel. It is a time of giving
joyous and exuberant praise to God. Psalm 136 is often recited at this time in
the traditional Seder. This 4th cup of praise is also associated
with the traditional Jewish wedding. The bride and groom stand beneath the
chuppah, a canopy held up by four poles, symbolic of their dwelling together
and the husband bringing the wife into his home. They then recite seven
blessings (sheva brakhos) in the presence of 10 Jewish men. Then, the marriage
is sealed as the couple drinks a cup of wine. All of this is but a prophecy of
the marriage ceremony of Jesus to His bride. Jesus and His bride, the one new
man (Eph 2:15), share the 4th cup of wine to seal their marriage.
The marriage supper of the Lamb takes place during
the Feast of Tabernacles 5 days after the Lord returns to earth on that final
Day of Atonement. Traditionally the marriage ceremony takes place several days
before the wedding feast or supper. This was a 7 day “time of the chuppah”. It
was a time of intimacy, giving of gifts, and consummation of the marriage, a
honey moon if you will. The revealing of the bride, the Queen of Heaven, takes
place as the wedding supper begins. Traditionally it is a 7 day party.
When Jesus returns to the earth, He comes to take
His rightful place as King of kings and Lord of Lords on the Throne of David in
Jerusalem with His Bride, the Queen of Heaven sitting beside Him (Lk 1:32-33, Rev
3:21).
After King Jesus and His Bride the Queen reign
and rule over the earth for 1000 years God creates a new heaven and a new
earth. At this time the Bride of Christ, the Queen of Heaven is presented as
the New Jerusalem. The gates of this “city” (the Bride) is presented as the
12 tribes of the children of Israel (Judaism), the wall of the city had twelve
foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb
(Christianity). (Rev 21:1-23)
These scriptures reveal the beauty of the
Bride, the Queen of Heaven forever.
We close this study with the Words of the
Lord Jesus:
Rev 22:7 NKJV - "Behold, I am coming
quickly! Blessed [is] he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this
book."
Rev 22:17 NKJV - And the Spirit and the
bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!"
And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires let him take the water of life
freely.
Rev 22:21 NKJV - The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you all. Amen.