Session 5_The Bridegroom Generation.doc

The Bridegroom Generation

Session 5—Foundations & Lifestyle of Forerunner Ministry—D.  Hiebert

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SESSION 5 – The Bridegroom Generation

I.                   behold I will allure her: The eternal plan of God

A.                 Hosea, under the anointing, is describing the activity of the Holy Spirit at the end of the age. Hosea has a watershed breakthrough revelation of God’s personality: the second Person of the trinity is a Bridegroom. There is a particular time frame in natural history when the Bridegroom God is going to speak comfort to a rebellious generation that has forgotten the Lord. His strategy will be successful.

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, I will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. And it shall be, in that day," Says the LORD, "That you will call Me 'My Husband,' And no longer call Me 'My Master,' Ho 2:14, 16 (NKJV)

B.                 A real day in our future: The Lamb’s wife has responded. The bride of Christ has said yes to the dealings of God and has prepared herself in love.

Re 19:6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!  "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. "And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." Rev. 19:6-9 (NKJV)

C.                 This plan was from eternity

…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love…Eph 1:4 (NKJV)

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Ro 8:29 (NKJV)

elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. 1Pe 1:2 (NKJV)

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Re 13:8 (NKJV)

1. 1. 1. The great wedding day was in His heart from before Genesis 1. His plan was always that natural history would culminate at a wedding feast.
      2. The eternal blueprint is secured by power, wisdom and love of the Father. No hindering or opposing force can cause this plan to fail.
      3. From eternity, the main purpose of the Godhead has been to select,  prepare, and train Jesus’ eternal companion for royal authority.
      4. God’s plan has always been to bring forth voluntary lovers of God. He will bring His Son the mandatory obedience of all creation, including unbelievers, believers, angels, demons, etc. However God’s specific gift to His Son is those who voluntary choose to love Him.
      5. We can only understand and interpret history through the lens of the marriage supper of the Lamb and the Bride’s growth in mature voluntary love.

II.                i will allure them by unfolding their hidden glory

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Col. 3: 1-5  (NKJV)

A.                 Paul is motivating the saints to say “no” to sin and yes to righteousness. We find Paul’s method in the grace of God of motivating people to repent and to extravagantly commit themselves to obedience and righteousness.

B.                 Paul shows them the glory of who they are in God.

C.                 “Seek those things which are above”—go on a journey of discovering the things that are true about you that relate to your eternal glory. Learn and discover the truths about your life that is rooted in Jesus seated at the right hand of God, and you seated with Him. (Rev. 3:21)

D.                 “Set your mind on them”—Fill your mind, study them, meditate, pray about them. This is something the church rarely does as a habit across the world. It is so powerful and changes our emotional chemistry.

E.                  “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God”—Here Paul gives the reason we should meditate on eternity. The glory and beauty of our life is not fully revealed to us even though we are born again. The fullness of glory and beauty of our lives is veiled from us. Why does God choose to veil this glory from us? The Lord creates a context where we don’t’ see fully but believe. 

1. 1. 1. Who died? The natural man. The person who was defined by natural things no longer exists.
      2. Paul is exhorting believers to begin to live in the understanding of their spiritual identity. Your life is supremely crowned with glory and honor.

F.                  “When Christ who is our life appears, [on the last day] then you also will appear with Him in glory.”—The glory you possess now, will fully appear to you when He appears. The reason Paul exhorts believers to seek and study out eternal things is because our glory lies in that realm. We are eternal beings and will only thrive in context to understanding who we are through eternity’s lens.

III.             A Bride made ready for the Son of God

A.                 The Son’s Promised Inheritance

Revelation 19 is truly one of the greatest passages of the Word of God, describing the great marriage ceremony of the Lamb of God with His eternal Bride. I believe this is the greatest event of all the ages. It is the event for which the cross and resurrection occurred. Jesus didn't die on the cross as an end in itself. He died on the cross for the promise of an inheritance made by His Father, of an eternal companion, an affectionate bride, that would stand at His side through all the eternal ages. He went to the cross and the resurrection for that joy that was set before Him.

1. 1. 1. He knew the promise that His Father gave Him could not fall to the ground. The Father told Jesus to pray for His inheritance in Psalm 2:8. John 17 records the very cry of the Son’s heart, as He fulfills the Father’s exhortation to pray for His inheritance.
      2. He knew that this bride would be filled with affection. He knew that she would be equally yoked to Him in love.

B.                 The greatest event of all the ages is about to be revealed to John the apostle by the Holy Spirit. (Rev. 19) John sees this event with a clarity that no other apostle or prophet had ever seen. John has the privilege of peeking into just a glimpse, just seed form, of the greatest event of all the ages.

“After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in a heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! Rev. 19: 1

1. 1. 1. “After these things”—We will have just witnessed the greatest calamites the world has ever faced: God’s judgments, Satan’s rage and man’s sin will all be colliding together. The Bride begins to sing her testimony. She was victorious through that darkest night of human history.
      2. “A great multitude”— But there is going to be a day when the Body of Christ will all be gathered and assembled for the first time together to meet the Lord in the air. The first time the bride in heaven and the bride upon earth is together.

C.                 What is this multitude saying? We say that His judgments were wise, they are true and righteous. The fierce zeal of the Mighty King has judged all the enemies of His Bride. “Woe to the enemy of the King on His wedding Day.”

“For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her. Again, they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!” Rev. 19: 2

D.                 The Throne Room Scene: Sea of glass mingled with flaming fire, 7 huge torches of fire whirling around us which are the seven spirits of God, the 24 elders, the four Living Creatures. (Rev. 4 & 5)

“And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen! Alleluia!” Rev. 19: 4

E.                  The voice from the throne

“Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great.” Rev. 19: 5

1. 1. 1. “a voice came from the throne”—One of these voices straight from the very center of the throne of God was released in John's hearing. It was a voice of highest authority. I believe it is the voice of the Holy Spirit.

F.                  The Bride begins to sing to the Father and the Son on her Wedding Day

“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “alleluia! The Lord God Omnipotent Reigns! (Rev. 19: 6)

1. 1. 1. We’ll all be there before the Father and in any moment we are going to see Jesus.  Any moment we are going to get to see our Bridegroom God.   We’re so excited and we lift up our voice and we say, “The Lord God Omnipotent, He reigns!” 
      2. And when we sing this we can’t even believe it’s OUR voices.  Our voices sound more beautiful than the angels, our voices sound like God. 
      3. The Bride’s voice sounds like the Father and the Son. In Rev. 1:15 Jesus’ voice is described as “the voice of many waters” In Rev. 4:5 the Father’s voice is described as the sound of many thunderings (Psalm 29: 3) Her voice has in it some resemblance to the voice of the Bridegroom and the voice of the Father, the sound of many waters and the sound of great thunderings.
      4. When asked before the throne of God, what do you have to say now about the way that the Lord Jesus has led your life and dealt with you? The voice cries out one great confession, “Praise God, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reign”.
      5. The voice is giving the final confession of the Body of Christ concerning the dealings of the Lord Jesus over her on the earth. But what’s going to be different about this time?  It is time to celebrate without measure. It is time to celebrate without any restraint whatsoever. The restraint of religion, sinful desires, fear, anger, bitterness and pain are gone forever.
      6. Paul the apostle prayed in Rom. 15:13 oh God that with one voice they would glorify the Lord Jesus. Jesus prayed in John 17:21 Father that the unity we have they would have. John the apostle, by the spirit of revelation, says, “I heard the voice”.

G.                 The Bride Rejoices and Gives Him Glory

Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready.” Rev. 19: 7

1.                   “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory”—We are going to start worshiping then and we are going to never stop.  Forever and forever; for billions upon billions of years, that’s what we get to do. 

2. 2. 2. “The Marriage of the Lamb has come”—It has finally come.  It’s finally here.  Every moment I was on the earth I longed for this moment and it has finally come.  The two shall become one flesh.  The great mystery of the ages, Christ marries His Bride. I will no longer be separated from the One that I love.” 
      3. “and His wife has made herself ready”—the Holy Spirit presents us to Jesus a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but we are holy without blemish before the Eternal Bridegroom. (Eph. 5: 27) When He appears, we appear with Him in glory. (Col. 3:4) When He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (1 Jn. 3:2)
      4. 1. This is a powerful reality in the moment that we see Him as He is, we see ourselves as His wife.  I imagine it to be as Job said, “Therefore I uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know…I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You; therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42: 3-6. Except that in this moment we have been raised with Him incorruptible, we have been changed into His likeness.  In the way that Job wanted to repent, we will be ruined in gratitude a billion times over. By His royal blood we stand before Him pure and spotless. 
         2. When I see Him, I am going to say, “I didn’t know you looked like this. You are far more beautiful then I ever imagined. You are terrifyingly beautiful!” I will fall and tremble before the majesty of my God. And in the same moment as I fall and tremble He will say, “I choose you to be My Bride. You are my best friend. And I’ll say, “No, Jesus, this is too much. It is too wonderful for me to be your Bride. You see, when I was on the earth I had imagined You as the Bridegroom God, but you were too small in my eyes. My thoughts of You on the earth were so small, Now I am seeing You.
         3. What we dared to believe, things we did not understand, has now become our eternal state. We are His Bride. We are forever in the privileged position as His friend, the one who He shares His secrets with.
      5. “I have made myself ready”--what a powerful testimony.  He tells the end of the story ahead of time. He sees it necessary and valuable for us to know our victory ahead of time. Why? Knowing that I will be prepared and ready for Him gives me courage today to persevere and endure hardships. I begin to view life’s pressures and trials as a means to “qualify” me for My Husband.

H.                 The Bride radiant in righteousness

“And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” Rev. 19: 8

1. 1. 1. Human beings arrayed in righteousness.  They are pure and bright, clean before the Father and their voice sounds like God. 
      2.  

IV.             The Bride’s testimony “after these things”

A.                 The Bride’s testimony: The Bride begins to sing this song after she’s witnessed the most dramatic time of human history called the Tribulation.  She has persevered in the midst of Satan’s Rage and God’s judgments on the earth. Here is her testimony on that Day:  

1. 1. 1. “The Lord God Omnipotent Reigns”—She is not offended at His leadership.
      2. “Let us be glad and rejoice, for the marriage of the Lamb has come!”—She is filled with joy.
      3. “True and Righteous are His judgments”—She agrees with His Judgments.
      4. “His wife has made herself ready”—She is prepared as Bride.

B.                 The number one issue we are going to deal with is the issue of accusation. Satan accuses (1) the love of God (2) God’s wisdom (3) God’s power. The Bride responds to the culminating rage against the way the God-Man leads the human race, she says, “The Lord God Omnipotent reigns!”

C.                 After the Bride has gon...