JESUS CHRIST, the LAMB of GOD, is actively pursuing a Bride for Himself from the midst of a fallen mankind that He has redeemed from the curse of sin and death [Gal 3:13; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Rom 8:2].
YESHUA is actively sanctifying and cleansing a ‘body of disciples’ [Matt 28:18-20] redeemed from the curse of sin and death, so that a Bride – holy and blameless – will stand before Him.
This Bride will be the product of His faith and love actualized [by grace in the inward parts of the Bride] through a washing of renewal and regeneration by the HOLY SPIRIT [Titus 3:5-7] with “the washing of water by the [Rhema] Word [Eph 5:26-27]”.
YESHUA’s faith establishes the Law [Rom 3:21-22, KJV; Rom 3:31] through the communication of the substance of His fullness [John 1:16-17, NASB/NKJV] into us; and, YESHUA’s love actualized in a heart of flesh fulfills the Law [Rom 13:14, 10; 2 Cor 3:3, NKJV].
His faith and love, communicated and manifested through the Testimony of JESUS expressed in the finished work of the Cross, is being brought into being in His Bride, by the HOLY SPIRIT [John 16:14].
This communication of YESHUA’s fullness comes into being through a washing of renewal and regeneration by the HOLY SPIRIT [Titus 3:5-7]. This washing of renewal and regeneration unfolds through “the washing of water by the [Rhema] Word [Eph 5:26-27]”unfolding a spotless and blameless Bride, in fulfillment of the Law [Rom 8:2] in a heart of YESHUA’s flesh [2 Cor 3:3, NKJV; Ex 31:18; 32:16].
Scripture tells us that through His willing sacrifice, YESHUA became the LAMB that takes away the sins of the world [John 1:26-36; 2 Cor 3:3, NKJV; 2 Cor 5:21].
All four Gospels describe the LAMB’s sacrifice in fulfillment of what is written in the Law [see Leviticus 1-7, 23; Numbers 28-29] and the Prophets [see Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53].
Hebrews 10:4-23 [NASB] points to YESHUA’s atoning sacrifice in the following words: < 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, But a body You have prepared for Me; 6 In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure. 7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the book it is written of Me) To do Your will, O God.'” 8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, And on their mind I will write them,” He then says, 17 “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.
19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place [KJV/NKJV: ‘enter the holiest’] by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful >.
The Book of Hebrews points to four realities in which YESHUA actively ministers to us so that we can become a spotless and blameless Bride:
i. In Hebrews 3:1, YESHUA is proclaimed as the Apostle and High Priest of our confession
ii. In Hebrews 7:25, YESHUA is proclaimed as the One who ever lives to intercede for us
iii. In Hebrews 9:15, YESHUA is proclaimed to be the Mediator of the New Covenant
iv. In Hebrews 12:2, YESHUA is proclaimed as the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
Ephesians 5:25-32 points to the highest purpose of YESHUA’s ministry, the active pursuit and creation [Eph 2:10; 2 Cor 5:17-18a] of His Bride: < 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. >
We need a revelation of this passage from Ephesians to be manifested in a circumcised heart of flesh in our inner man. From this passage, we can understand [see Heb 11:3a; Prov 9:10b, NASB] several things that are necessary ingredients to us becoming a Bride for the LAMB. These ingredients are GOD-given realities [revealed realities – Deut 29:29; Mark 4:22] that we should actively pursue in prayer [asking, seeking and knocking, by the SPIRIT; see Luke 11:9-13] with a view to actualizing [through His substance actualized] an understanding [that comes about in substance through faith authored and finished by YESHUA; see Heb 11:3a; 12:2a] that knows the HOLY ONE [see Prov 9:10b, NASB]:
The First Revelation
The first revelation we need to receive and develop in our inward parts is the reality that YESHUA loves the Church and gave Himself for her.
YESHUA’s gift of Himself [communicating His fullness – John 1:16-17, NASB/NKJV] to us is the exclusive basis to becoming His Bride. It follows that what YESHUA has given us we must receive and actualize in a heart of flesh. The result is a GOD-given understanding that knows the HOLY ONE.
This knowing comes out of the substance of YESHUA actualized by faith in Him [Heb 11:1, KJV/NKJV] – through the grace that YHWH has chosen to lavish us with [see John 1:16-17, NASB; Eph 2:8-10; 1:4-8, NASB]. This knowing in substance is given through a heart of His flesh [2 Cor 3:3, NKJV].
This heart of flesh carries the Covenant that YHWH has given through the gift of the SON. This heart of flesh is of the fullness of the SON, manifested in a heart of flesh that is the exclusive work of the HOLY SPIRIT. This heart of flesh will one day be consecrated into a Marriage Union, where two hearts become one flesh.
We need the FATHER to give us a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, so that we each receive (from the FATHER’s Heart) this “inexplicable” reality [which is the Mystery] of CHRIST’s love for us. Ephesians 3:19 [NASB] declares that the Mystery of CHRIST’s love surpasses our knowledge forms and is the conduit by which we actualize the fullness of GOD in the Temple of our being [see John 14:23; Rev 21:9-11, 23]: < 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. >
We actualize YESHUA’s love by the SPIRIT’s work in our inward parts [see John 16:14; 2 Cor 3:3, NKJV]. This work in our inward parts, that revolves around the creation of a circumcised heart of [YESHUA’s] flesh [John 6:51], involves prayer by the SPIRIT that objectively pursues the revelation of the BELOVED [see Eph 1:17-23].
The revelation of the BELOVED from the FATHER’s Heart is the only means by which we develop and grow to become the Tabernacle of David [the Dwelling Place of YESHUA, the BELOVED].
The Tabernacle of David takes form in us and amongst us in the Root of David [as we are rooted in YESHUA, the BELOVED; Rev 22:16], as the Offspring of David [as we grow and develop as the fruit of YESHUA’s Body – see Ps 132:11-12, 7-18], having the Key of David [the Key of YESHUA, the BELOVED, in which stand the Keys of the Kingdom; see Matt 16:17-19; Rev 3:7-10], so that the Horn of David [see Ps 137:17, 11-17; the glory of YESHUA the BELOVED] will arise in us and amongst us, as we each unfold as the Dwelling Place of the BELOVED, giving us a dwelling place of rest [Ps 46:10-11] and refuge [Ps 91:1-2, 9], where we grow and develop [Gen 22:14; Ps 24:3-5; Ps 15:1-2] to become the Bride of the LAMB.
The Horn of David, speaks of the glory of the inward anointing [the life-giving Spirit of JESUS CHRIST – see 1 Cor 15:45 + Phil 1:19c] that communicates the strength, the power and the authority of YESHUA as we actualize the reality of Him as our BELOVED in our inward parts. The Horn of David is the unction of Kingdom Government that a Bride is predestined to stand in:
i. 2 Cor 5:21 [NKJV] declares: < 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. > YESHUA became sin on our behalf so that in Him and through Him we might [actualize in our being the fullness of JESUS CHRIST (John 1:16, NASB/NKJV/KJV) and] become the righteousness of YHWH [through what we progressively actualize of the substance and witness of JESUS CHRIST].
ii. Isa 53:4-7 [NASB] declares: < 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? > All the issues afflicting our inward parts [our spiritual condition] have been dealt with by Him [in Him and through Him]. And, we can actualize this freedom from sin and death and come to love YESHUA as the be all and end all of our lives, our BELOVED.
iii. Ephesians 1:3-11, 22-23 [NASB] declares some of the awesome and incredible outcomes that YHWH has predestined for us – in CHRIST JESUS: < 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will …. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. >
The Second Revelation
The second revelation that we need is the reality of YESHUA sanctifying and cleansing His Bride with the washing of water by the Word (Gk: Rhema).
This washing [which takes place as we pray and worship by the SPIRIT, in CHRIST JESUS (Rom 8:2, 1-4, NKJV)] is the work of the HOLY SPIRIT who washes in a washing of renewal and regeneration [Titus 3:5-7] through the water of the Rhema Word [Eph 5:17]. The HOLY SPIRIT, whom the FATHER has poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, washes us [renews and regenerates us] with water by the Word in the power that works within us [Eph 3:20] in renewal and regeneration [which manifests and operates as power is energized by the HOLY SPIRIT, in the Witness of Spirit, Water and Blood within us] in order to build us and to accomplish with us, exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. Prayer by the SPIRIT always involves thought flows in our heart [Matt 5:8; Ps 24:3-4; 15:1-2; Prov 21:1-2].
i. Titus 3:5-7 [NASB] reads: < 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. >
ii. In this washing of renewal and regeneration, through the Water with the Word, a Bride unfolds spotless, without wrinkle, holy and, without blemish (perfect). This Bride, which is in its entirety the product of YESHUA’s faith and love, is predestined to stand in glory, in the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets [Luke 24:44-45; Matt 5:17; Rev 21:9-11].
iii. 2 Cor 4:6-7 [NKJV] declares: < 6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. >
iv. Revelation 21:9-11 [NKJV] declares: < 9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God [Col 1:26-27; Eph 3:19]. Her light [John 8:12] was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. >
The Third Revelation
The third revelation we need to come to grips with is that in this fulfillment, the Bride is a construct of YESHUA’s flesh and His bones.
Just as bones give structure to the human body, YESHUA’s bones give structure to the form of His Bride. And, YESHUA’s bones speak of His faith authored and perfected into the Bride [Heb 12:2a] that stands as a living and growing Body of His flesh and His bones.
His faith authored and perfected within us enables to be positioned and to walk into all that the FATHER has predestined for the Bride. His flesh is the Word become flesh, in His Testimony – His Words [see John 6:63; Luke 21:33] – established in hearts of flesh that are of His fullness [John 1:16-17, NKJV/NASB/KJV] which, unfolds us as peculiar Epistles of CHRIST [2 Cor 3:3, NKJV] that are of His flesh. Hearts of flesh speak of covenant relationship [Covenant intimacy] with YHWH through YESHUA that unveils each one of us as peculiar Epistles of CHRIST. In the near future this covenant relationship [intimacy] will be consecrated in a Marriage Union [where the two will become one flesh].
We are prepared as a Bride through hearts [that are of His flesh] being circumcised to carry the Name that is above every other name [Luke 2:21; Rom 2:28-29; Phil 2:9, 5-11]. This is the Name of our Husband.
In the name of YESHUA, through the functional dynamic of His Witness [1 John 5:10a, 7-8, NKJV] and His Testimony [Rev 19:10c], alive within us, by the HOLY SPIRIT [Rom 8:2, 1-4], the Bride will do the works of YHWH [John 14:12-14; 16:23-28], in the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.
In the unveiling of the Bride in a Marriage Union, the Mystery of CHRIST [Col 1:26-28] will be brought into its highest fulfillment.
In the unveiling of the Bride, the Ministry of JESUS CHRIST will come into its predestined purpose of actualizing the stewardship of the Mysteries of GOD, from the inward parts of the Bride [1 Cor 4:1; 2 Cor 3:6, 4:6-7; Eph 1:9-11; 3:9-11] in a unity of being in oneness. As Ephesians 4:4-6 declares: < 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. >
We are perfected and completed in the fullness of JESUS CHRIST as we learn to live and function [in thought, word, deed and relationship] – by the HOLY SPIRIT, in CHRIST JESUS [as noted in Rom 8:2, 1-4].
The Bride of the LAMB is being wooed to carry the Name of Her Husband; whose Name is above every other Name!
There is no higher honor that the Church can actualize than the honor of carrying the revealed, testimonial reality of the Name of YESHUA MASHIAH in a circumcised heart that is entirely of His flesh!
Unfolding the testimonial reality of the Name in a Bride – through a heart of MASHIAH YESHUA’s Flesh – is the highest purpose of the Scripture.
In John 17:6a, 26, [NASB] YESHUA MASHIAH declares: < 6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world … 26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” >
The creative revelation of YESHUA MASHIAH in us [Eph 2:10; 2 Cor 5:17; John 1:16-17, NKJV/NASB] is at the heart of the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets in our inward parts – both formatively [in our being created in CHRIST JESUS] and functionally [as we progressively learn how to function by the HOLY SPIRIT, in and through the fullness of CHRIST JESUS actualized in our inward parts, as noted in 2 Cor 4:16, 6-7, NKJV].
GBU in and by and through YESHUA’s love manifested, perfected and completed in you! Amen!
Written By: James Niles
The Tabernacle School of Ministry