Husbands, love your wives just as Messiah also loved His community and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, having cleansed her by immersion in the word.
Ephesians 5:25-26
Seed:
Ephesians 5:24-28; Psalm 119:1-7; 2 Peter 3:14-18; Revelation 19:6-8
Plant:
I learned something last week. It was something that connected another piece in the ever-expanding puzzle I call my faith. I was reading a book someone loaned to me called Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom to Come, by Joseph Good. If you haven’t read it, you definitely need to put it on your 2024 list of books to read. Here’s what he said that not only got my attention, but also brought tears to my eyes:
“Each Jewish wedding requires two witnesses. These two are often the same as the friends of the bridegroom, one assigned to the bride while the other is assigned to the groom. Yochanan the Immerser (John the Baptist) who is of the spirit of Elijah, called himself a friend of the bridegroom.”
“You yourselves testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah,’ but rather, ‘I am sent before Him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the best man rejoices when he stands and hears the bridegroom’s voice. So now my joy is complete!” – John 3:28-29
Good went on to say, “According to Jewish tradition, the other friend of the bridegroom is Moses. He is understood to be the one assigned to the bride. A function of this friend of the bridegroom is to escort the bride to her groom. The rabbis saw Moses in this role as he escorted Israel to Mount Sinai to meet with G-d for the betrothal.”
“Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the lowest part of the mountain.” – Genesis 19:17
In scripture, Elijah represents the prophets. They were the friend assigned to the bridegroom. It is through the prophets that God revealed the coming Messiah to His people. John came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way of the LORD. He was the one who would announce the coming of the bridegroom (Messiah) to His bride (the children of Israel, both native born and grafted in). (See Matt. 3:1-3 and 17:12-13)
Moses represents the Law, or Torah. Torah is the friend who escorts the bride to the wedding. What is the job of the one who escorts the bride? Ephesians 5:25-27 explains:
“Husbands, love your wives just as Messiah also loved His community and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, having cleansed her by immersion in the word. Messiah did this so that He might present to Himself His glorious community—not having stain or wrinkle or any such thing, but in order that she might be holy and blameless.”
I hope you’re starting to feel the glow of a little lightbulb over your head right now, but in case you’re not, let me see if I can connect these puzzle pieces together for us. In Jewish tradition and throughout scripture, Torah (God’s instruction in righteousness found in the first five books of the Bible) is called the Word. We also see in John 1:1-14, that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Word. Yeshua didn’t just embody or live out Torah. He WAS Torah. He was the Word made flesh. He was the living, breathing righteousness of God.
Here’s where the tears came for me. I knew Torah was for our good, to keep us set apart for the LORD that we might be holy as He is holy and useful for His good purpose. They were instructions from a loving Father to His children, and keeping Torah is not a way of salvation, but is a result of our salvation and love for God. A loving father sets boundaries for his children, and loving children honor their father by staying within those boundaries. But I’d never seen Torah as the protective detail assigned to keep watch over His bride. Oh, what love He lavishes upon us! What care He gives to His beloved.
God gave us His Torah so that we could be found without spot or blemish when our Bridegroom (Messiah) comes for us, His bride. Since the beginning of time, God’s Word has been twisted, and our hearts have been hardened, and spots and blemishes have appeared all over His bride. So, God sent our Messiah. He showed us by the example of His Word made flesh what it really means to follow God, to live lives that are holy and set apart for our Heavenly Father, without spot or blemish. Not only did He show us how to live, but He died in our place so that all our spots and blemishes could be washed away. Then, not only did He promise the Holy Spirit as our Helper to walk as He walked (Torah observant), but He commissioned husbands to carry that torch as the head of their households. What an extraordinary responsibility to bear.
In the garden, Adam was given the instruction not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God didn’t give this instruction to Eve, just Adam. And He expected Adam to lead his wife. But Adam didn’t. He was standing silent by Eve’s side watching as she interacted with the serpent. Not only did he not stop Eve, but he indulged in the sin with her. And the silence of Adam continues. The role of men has been diminished and twisted and despised. And so, too, has the role of Torah in the lives of believers.
Men, we need you. We need you to be the protective escorts God has commissioned you to be. We need you to be examples of faithful followers of God’s instruction. I know this is a big job, a high calling. It is a HOLY calling. But we need you to lead like David, who’s heart longed so deeply for God and His Torah that he penned these words:
Turn me away from the deceitful way, and be gracious to me with Your Torah.
I have chosen the way of faithfulness. I have set my heart on Your judgments.
I cling to Your testimonies. Adonai, do not put me to shame!
I run the course of Your mitzvot, for You open wide my heart.
Teach me the way of Your decrees, Adonai, and I will follow them to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep Your Torah and observe it with all my heart.
– Psalm 119:29-34
And again, he said:
If Your Torah had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget Your precepts. For with them You have kept me alive.
I am Yours, save me! For I have sought out Your precepts.
The wicked wait for me to destroy me. But I will study Your testimonies.
I have seen a limit to all perfection, yet Your commandment is boundless.
O how I love Your Torah! It is my meditation all day.
– Psalm 119:92-97
Women, we are not exempt if we do not have a godly husband or father in our life. We, too, are called to be holy as He is holy. To be examples of righteousness and faithfulness. As the men in our lives are out slaying the dragons (as my husband would say) we need to be lifting them up in prayer. We need to be managing our households and raising our children and working at our jobs, all the while doing everything as unto the LORD. (Col. 3:17) If we have an unbelieving husband, it may be by our example that they come to faith in the One True God. (1 Cor. 7:16, this same principle applies to husbands, too.) And we, too, need the prayers of our husbands and fathers and brothers, that we might be found faithful in our calling as daughters of the King of kings. It may be our husbands who are to be the example of how to lead like Messiah, but it is us who are called to be the example of how to submit to Messiah. An equally extraordinary responsibility to bear.
Our love of and commitment to Torah, God’s instruction, His protective escort for His bride (that’s all of us, men and women alike), is the key to living a life pleasing to our Bridegroom. It’s not a burden. It’s not just for the Jews. It wasn’t done away with when Yeshua died and rose again. All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for restoration, and for training in righteousness, so that the person belonging to God may be capable, fully equipped for every good deed. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
That’s how much God loves us. That’s how much He want us to be with Him. That’s how fiercely protective He is over His beloved (that’s you and me, by the way).
Do these things because they will keep you safe on your way to Me….
Don’t do these things because they will not only stain your wedding gown, but they may even keep you from our wedding…
Harvest:
- Is this revelation of Torah new to you? If so, how can you begin to embrace the idea of Torah as your escort on your way to the Wedding of the Lamb?
- How can you be praying for the men in your life to be godly leaders of not only their homes, but also in their workplace, church, and community, showing what it means to lay down their life, pick up their cross, and follow God? How can you support and encourage them in this role?
- How can you be praying for the women in your life to be godly examples of what it means to submit to the will of our Heavenly Father, saying, “Not my will, but Yours be done,”? How can you support them in this role?
A Scarlet Cord 