God created man for fellowship. He produced a magnificent masterpiece when He created the human body with all of its capabilities. But God's thoughts were on the eternal. He was setting in place the plan after which man's life would be patterned. It was a plan and a pattern for man’s good, in that God's own purposes were intermeshed within man's every day life to keep him mindful of his Creator. The most vital of all patterns was that of marriage.

In the beginning, all was perfect. The communion between the Creator and Adam and Eve must have been beyond comprehension to the human mind. One can only imagine the pure interaction between God and man. It had to have been nothing short of rapturous euphoria. The Spirit to spirit communication would be on such a level that only "adams" and their "eves" can understand as they experience incredible degrees of ecstasy in that spirit to spirit connection of the marital relationship. That ecstasy alone should be enough to cause mankind to acknowledge God as "God," but does he?

An example of the kind of relationship that Almighty God desires to have with man is described in Genesis 2:24: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. During those times of intimacy, ordained for marriage by God Himself, there is a unique sense of incredible oneness.

Procreation was to result from the intimacy between a man and his wife. But, most of all, this God-designed relationship was intended as a model, in this life, of the relationship of Christ and His Bride. Man was created for intimacy with God, first and foremost. The life in the flesh is merely secondary, yet to self-centered man the flesh has become everything. The marriage act was intended to be a model of man’s "intercourse" with his Creator, with the "foreplay" symbolizing praise and worship, and then consummation in the ultimate ecstasy of His presence. The "after glow" is to be symbolic of lingering in His presence with all the strength of flesh having been spent in total surrender. (For an even more graphic description of God’s desire for man, read the Song of Solomon.)

Gross error has blinded man to the reason he was created. It is the same error responsible for almost all deception that has invaded the "church" – failure to understand that the knowledge of good and evil has resulted in flesh-focused, self-centered man. Rather than knowing that God’s desire is for intimacy, man is taken up with himself and he offers to Him mere tokens: all in the name of "serving" God. What God wants is man. He wants a Bride for His Son. The pattern of this reality was made clear in the Old Testament, with God’s constant pleading for Israel to acknowledge Him as God.

Jehovah's "Wife"

Israel was regarded as the spouse of Jehovah who required exclusive loyalty, as the word "jealous" means. In Exodus 34:14-16, Moses said, …For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. It was not the intermarriage of the people that was adulterous: it was the "whoring after" the gods of heathens that provoked the LORD to jealousy. Their idolatry was considered "adultery" as the Hebrew word means.

This next passage, from Jeremiah, gives even more evidence of Israel's adulterous acts against her "Husband" Jehovah. Moreover the LORD said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. The LORD, in His love for Israel, believed that she would come back to Him. And I said after she had done all these things, she will return unto me; but she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw, when for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD. …Return, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am a husband [baal] unto you: Jeremiah 3:6-10, 14. (Older KJV) In her adulterous turning away from the One that desired a relationship, Israel's new "lovers" were "stones and stocks." Yet, God continued to plead with her to return to Him, to be His wife.

When the word "Baal" appears in the Old Testament it is capitalized, and is referring to a Phoenician deity. In several other references the same Hebrew word is translated "husband," the true meaning. Therefore, when the Israelites turned to trusting in Baal, they were unfaithful because they committed idolatry [adultery] against God, with another "husband."

The words "harlot, whoredom, adultery," and "bill of divorcement," had their origin with God in His Word to man. Their application had to do with man's relationship to his Creator, and yet man, the creature of flesh that he is believes that it is all about man and his own "doings." He can see these words being defined as they relate solely to the "sins" of man. Lost in the error of all errors is the reality that this life consists of mere patterns of that which is real: the spiritual. This life is to be the training ground for eternity, with man seeing how God is so intricately involved in every aspect of this life. But man is obsessed with man, and the things of the flesh, while God is forgotten.

God took very drastic measures in His dealings with Israel as they repeatedly forgot Him. Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that gave thee birth. And the LORD saw it, and abhorred them, because of the provocation of his sons, and his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. Deuteronomy 32:18-21. (Older KJV) The people that "are not a people" and "a foolish nation" are the Gentiles to whom God offered eternal life through His Son: TO PROVOKE ISRAEL TO JEALOUSY.

The fact that God would use the words "a foolish nation" to describe the Gentiles, (the non-Jews,) tells us that we North Americans are not nearly as important as we may think we are. God took up with the Gentiles in order to make His "wife" jealous. And I believe the greatest irony in the whole Bible can be found in the story of Saul of Tarsus becoming Paul the Apostle. Paul was an Israelite called by God, and transformed by God, to take the message of God to the "foolish nation" who were "not a people." Paul was the best of the best according to the religion of the Jews, yet God chose one of their own to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the heathen. What an amazing account of the marvelous Grace of Almighty God! Oh what love, that He would come in the likeness of sinful flesh to die for a bunch of "foolish" nobodies.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans he told of how Israel had been taught to acknowledge God, and to put their trust in Him, yet they remained in disobedience. Paul told how God's plan was to provoke Israel to jealousy in this next passage. First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, with a nation void of understanding will I anger you. And Isaiah is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I became manifest unto them that asked not of me. But to Israel he saith, All the day did I spread out my hands unto a disobedient and gain-saying people. Romans 10:19-21. (Older KJV)

The transformation that made Paul an "Apostle" also put within his being the same godly jealousy that caused him to plead with the Gentiles to be faithful to Christ. For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ. II Corinthians 11:2-3. (Older KJV)

Strange Fire

In the first chapter of Leviticus there is another interesting account of adultery against God. Moses’ brother Aaron had two sons, Nadab and Abihu. They were priests according to the Law. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer, and put fire thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And there came forth fire from before the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Leviticus 1:1-2. (Older KJV) The Hebrew word translated "strange" means literally "to commit adultery." In their direct disobedience to God's commandment they had been unfaithful and committed adultery. Rather than placing on the altar an offering to be consumed by fire from the LORD Himself, these two priests took it upon themselves to play "God" and offered their own fire. And it was the fire from God that consumed them.

In Ezekiel 23, God is speaking of the adulteries against Him of Samaria and Jerusalem with the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. It is a long and descriptive chapter, but the following five verses will suffice in showing God's displeasure with their unfaithfulness to Him. And the Babylonians came to her [Jerusalem] into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them. So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my soul was alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister [Samaria]…These things shall be done unto thee, for that thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols. Thou [Jerusalem] hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore I will give her cup into thine hand…Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. Ezekiel 23:17,18,30,31,35. (Older KJV)

The Greek word for "apostasy" is closely related to the word for "divorce." This shows again how much man's relationship with God is paralleled in the marriage relationship. There is also another Greek word meaning, "apostatize" or "male paramour," which is translated "adulterer."

Another example is the Hebrew word for Noah, which means, "rest." An additional word, taken from the word for "Noah," very specifically means, "matrimony." It is translated "rest" in the following three verses:

For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you. Deuteronomy 12:9.

Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. Psalm 95:11.

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. Isaiah 11:10. Marriage to Jesus shall be glorious!

The Bridegroom

Paul went to great lengths to explain the relationship for which the Bride of Christ is to be prepared. In these next verses he took the law regarding marriage of earthly man and woman, and compared it with man's marriage to Jesus. Paul explained how they could not remain "married" to the Law, and at the same time say that they were "married to Christ." Or are ye ignorant, brethren, (for I speak to men that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth? For the woman that hath a husband is bound by the law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from the law of the husband. So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held, so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. Romans 7: 1-6. (Older KJV) If the people were to attempt to revive the Law, believing they could still be righteous through the Law, they would be committing adultery against their new Husband. Christ, the new Husband brought death to the Law in Himself so that they could be married to Him.

These next three verses summarize how the Lord will restore his "wife" Israel to Himself. All He had ever wanted was to be their God, their protective "husband." He had made the first covenant with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt, but they broke the covenant even though He "was an husband unto them." Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD. The Lord Himself will bring about His "wife’s" restoration and fulfill His heart's desire for a relationship. …but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:31-33. (Older KJV)

There are countless "lovers" vying for the affections of those that believe they are the "Bride of Christ." And, as unbelievable as it may seem, these "lovers" are found within the churches. They may not always be in the form of other creatures of flesh, but all too often such is the case with leadership drawing to themselves admiration and even adoration. Unfortunately there are even "churches" where leadership demands adherence to THEIR ways, and people are led to believe that this is pleasing to God.

The most predominant of all "lovers" is flesh itself. Man loves to "do:" it makes him "feel" good. Churches are full of enticements to lure people away from their Bridegroom. These "enticements" come disguised as "ways to serve God," but they can become as "gods" to the people, and can become "baal" [husband] to them. People's affections turn to "doing" for Jesus, and they forsake their affection for Him, thereby becoming unfaithful to Him. They are committing adultery against their Bridegroom and the Father's heart is aching over the condition of His Son's Bride. (See the article, "Contemporary Message…")

The phrase "sanctity of marriage" is often heard in reference to earthly marriage. The reason marriage is sacred is that it is to be patterned after the relationship between God and man. In this life we see all kinds of deviations from what is rightfully considered "normal." One such deviation is that of "common-law" relationships, of which there are many. And in the "Church" there are far too many that are satisfied with a "common-law" relationship with the Lord. They have no true commitment to the Bridegroom. They are content to be identified with Him for what they can get from Him without being totally and unreservedly His. They want to offer mere works of their hands, like Cain, and expect to receive blessings from Him. All the while Jesus is waiting, with longing, for the "Church" to love Him …with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. Mark 12:30.

"Gay" Flesh

The most prevalent deviation of all is the one that is totally opposed to the pattern God intended for man to follow as a reminder of Him and His desire. The extreme length to which man has gone in his preoccupation with flesh has been manifested in what is called a "gay life style." Paul the Apostle explained the waywardness of man in spite of the evidence of Himself that God had provided in all that He created. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse: because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness that their own bodies should be dishonoured among themselves: for that they changed the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. Romans 1:20-25. (Older KJV)

It is the same today. Man is taken up with creatures of flesh: both himself and others. God does not hold first place in the hearts of the majority that name His Name. The lusts of their hearts have caused them to change the truth of God for a lie and to follow the dictates of creatures of flesh that also name His Name. God does not tolerate man being his own "god" and making "husbands" [baal] of other creatures of flesh. Paul continued, For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was due. And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, with understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, unmerciful: who knowing the ordinance of God, that they which practise such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent with them that practise them. Romans 1:26-32. (Older KJV) God in essence is saying, "If you persist in your obsession with flesh, then flesh is what you will be. I take my hands off: go and do your thing, but the consequences are deadly as in all fleshly pursuits."

Someone told me of a book given to her so that she might "understand the gay person." In the book she read that "Gays are self centered, and very selfish." This "self-centeredness" is the manifestation of flesh being taken up with flesh. It is diametrically opposed to all that God ordained for man because it is the literal "living out" of man chasing after man. Rather than mankind modeling in this life the relationship of the Bride and the Bridegroom, the "gays" are exhibiting the degree to which man has fallen in his unfaithfulness to God.

What kind of example is the "church" to those that are in the "world" if those that name the Name of Christ are "self-centered, and selfish?" The "church" that is taken up with the things of the flesh has rightfully earned the name "Sodom." A fleshly "Bride" cannot attract others to join her in her pursuit if she is not pursuing her Bridegroom, but is obsessed with mankind. The "Church" will not lead the "world" to Jesus if He is not resident in the "Church," because only God can draw man to Himself. A self [flesh]-centered "church" can only repel those with a real spiritual hunger that is of God.

God will work His purifying process in individuals to remove those things that stand in the way of their relationship of faithfulness to Jesus. Those willing to submit to that purification are the ones that make up the Church of Jesus Christ. But the Church as a whole will be purified through the separation of the true from the false. Just as it was in the days of the early Church, when she was purified by the removal of the unfaithful as they turned to other gods, so also will it be in the end time. In the early Church there were those who denied the Christ whom they had professed to know, and in these end times there are those also who deny Him by their deeds of self-righteousness, churchianity, and religiosity. They are more interested in their denominational doctrines and following the precepts of men in their attempt to "please God." All of these things are spots and wrinkles.

If Jesus is coming for a Bride without spot and wrinkle, I believe that all those engrossed in deeds of the flesh are "spots and wrinkles," and they will be left out of the kingdom of Heaven.

David understood that the marriage relationship is a pattern after that which is spiritual, and that made him the "man after God's own heart."  Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.  He went on to make a clear statement about those that "go a whoring" from the Lord.  For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.  But it is good for me to draw near unto God: I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all thy works. Psalm 73:25-28. (Older KJV)


WHEN WE LONG FOR HIM, WE FULFILL HIS LONGING!