3. A Herald to Jesus of Nazareth's Bride

The Church in this country is at a time in which there will be no Isaiah 64:1-3 without Joel 2:13 first.

Transcript

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Okay, this is uh episode three uh of the um audiobook I'm doing on a herald Jesus of Nazareth's bride in the United States of America. Just uh the first two episodes dealt with chapter one, my background. And um with this uh third uh episode, I'm gonna deal with a chapter titled The Training. Again, I uh I'm pausing because I'm trying to remember the just instructions to you as the listener. Uh I'm not reading um the footnotes, and I just haven't figured out a way to read the main part of the text and then stop and do the footnote. Excuse me, it just doesn't work very well. So I'm not trying to sell you a book, but um the paperback is available, and of course, so is the ebook on Amazon. And the uh the footnotes will help, you know, you'll get most of it just from this uh from the um these podcasts as an audio book, but you will miss out on some of the uh footnotes, which again can be helpful in understanding the things I'm talking about. So the training in 1991 I had a dream. I call it the Shaking Dream. The dream began with me climbing up some steps, which led to a pair of large, heavy, and imposing wooden front doors of a church building. Notice the direction I was going. The entrance was sort of like the entrance to some cathedral tribe-type structure. As I made my way up the steps, this building reminded me of one of those large inner city church plants that in its day was full of people and activities, having a thousand-plus seat auditorium, a multi-story educational building and a gym. But today it stands like a museum, testifying to what used to be, which wasn't much of the kingdom anyway, rather than being a place with the actual presence of the living God. Once inside the outer doors, I then opened the four-year doors to enter the auditorium. And when I entered the auditorium, I almost vomited. For the gaudiness and blitzness, the lavishness and extravagance, the flamboyance and the ostentation of it profoundly nauseated me. Immediately I turned around and re-entered the four-year, determined to leave. For this place truly turned my stomach by all of its way over the top of design and decor. The worldliness of it was grotesque, and I was grossed out. Clearly, whoever designed and built this place must have been completely ignorant of what Jesus said about materialism and money, as well as being enslaved by the ways and the philosophies of the world. Surely these people did not know Jesus of Nazareth, for it seemed clear that they had missed the point of what his followers are supposed to be about. Example, Mark 8, 34 through 38. But as much as I wanted to get out of there, the Spirit stopped me, told me that I was there to perform a wedding. Note, not at church service. As abominable as this place was, the assignment Jesus gave me held me. And so I grudgingly went back into the auditorium and began to make my way to the pulpit area. And as I did, I kept my head down to avoid looking at this sickening sight, but also to look in my Bible for some scriptures to use in this wedding. When I arrived at the pulpit area, I found myself standing at the bottom of an incredibly tall staircase of maybe two or three stories that led up to the platform. The sickening feeling I had intensified, for the pulpit area had been built far above the congregation. And once again, I had questions about those who had designed and built the place, and how out of touch with the scripture, this was for leaders to be so highly elevated above the people. Thus, I wondered where was the evidence of what Jesus taught about those who want to be great in his kingdom? Where was the reality that the way up in Jesus' kingdom is down, not up? What about the living God giving his grace to the humble, opposing the proud? His perfecting of his power and weakness, and the fact that we must decrease for him to increase. I wondered why these people's version of Christianity had clearly been more impacted by Americanisms than by the Word of God. Half-heartedly, trying to stay focused on the purpose of performing a wedding, I climbed this enormous staircase to stand on the platform. And once again, I returned to looking in my Bible for some scriptures to use in the wedding. Then, as I stood there doing this, I became aware that the pulpit area began to shake. The shaking started rather slowly, but it simply, but it rapidly increased to the point that it knocked me off my feet. When I tried to get back to my feet, the shaking became even more violent. In fact, the harder I tried to stand up, the harder and more violent the shaking became. As the shaking was occurring, I happened to look out at the people. They were experiencing none of it. They were befuddled at what they were seeing. Then, as it was becoming quite clear that I could not get myself onto my feet, I started to get scared. And in my fear, I was just about to cry out to Jesus for help when he suddenly appeared before me. Before I could say anything, he looked at me with resolute sternness, pointed over my left shoulder, and said, Go, find out why the pulpit is being shaken. Instantly I was standing in the middle of a commuter bus. When I looked to my left, I saw a person I know who is a ministry leader driving the bus. I know this person to be a nice guy and a well-intentioned minister, but also someone who relies heavily on worldly versions to be successful in the ministry. Then I looked to my right and I saw another front of the bus. And in this driver's seat was the Lord. I looked back and forth at the two fronts of the bus that were, of course, facing opposite directions. The point was obvious. One direction is of man, and the other is of the Lord. Then I was taken to a second scene in which I was standing at the top of some stadium seats overlooking a race track like the Indianapolis Speedway. On this track, there was a great number of cars, more than the track could actually hold. They were all trying to race each other, and it looked ridiculous. In fact, the track was so crowded with vehicles that no one was able to go anywhere, much less determine who was ahead of whom. Some were going this way and others were going that way, and some were zigzagging crazily. As I watched, I realized that these were individual churches and ministries. It was a sad sight, for it was all about trying to win something more than the others. As a result, there was also almost nothing of kingdom building, rather, but rather an effort to build individual kingdoms. Then I was taken to a third scene, in which I was standing on top of a hill overlooking an ancient battlefield. To my right was the enemy's army, who clearly knew what they were doing, for they were very prepared, very organized, very disciplined, thus very purposed. To my left was a group of people who had some connection to some Jesus, but who looked nothing like an army, for they were very unprepared, very unorganized, very undisciplined, and very unpurposed. If these were two football teams, one was from the National Football League and the other was from Pop Warner Little League. Clearly these Christians were easy pickings, for the enemy was doing a much better job at his job than these followers of some version of a Jesus were doing at their job. After this third scene, I was returned to the original church building. This time I entered the building by a side door by going down some steps, opening a door and emerging into the auditorium. Again, noticed the direction I was going. Yet again, I was grossed out by this place, but still being purposeful, performed this wedding. I made my way toward the pulpit area. But this time, when I arrived at the stairs of the platform, it was now completely different. There were just two or three steps to get onto it because it had been greatly lowered. And so once again I began searching my Bible for some scriptures to use in the wedding. And as I was doing this, I heard a noise. When I looked up, I saw that the congregational part of the auditorium began to be shaken. It was shaken just as violently as the pulpit had been. I waited, as the pulpit here was feeling none of this shaking. When the shaking of the congregation had finished, this part of the building was now utterly different. Now the entire church had been changed. Even more, most of the people were gone, leaving only a small remnant. As gross and as ugly and as nauseating as this place had been, the new simplicity and purity of the place was breathtakingly beautiful. As I stood there in awe and marveling over what happened due to the chasmic cataclysmic changes, the shaking produced, I felt Jesus come up behind me and whisper in my ear, now do the way. When I woke from this dream, this encounter, Hebrews 12, 25 through 29 stood before me. See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken, that is, created things. In other words, as in man made instead of God-made, so that whatever cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably, with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire. Another thing happened early on in Jesus' relationship with me, as what my purpose was in the shaking dream illustrates, was his revealing and imparting of the bladderal paradigm to me. The bride has several ways of describing, I'm sorry, the Bible has several ways of describing those who belong to the living God. All of these are good metaphors, but the highest, the most important, the foremost description is that of the bridal pharadigne, the wife of the bridegroom king, Jesus of Nazareth. One cannot get any higher revelation than the reason Jesus created creation, so he could have a marriage-like relationship with the sons and daughters of Adam. Now, in order to begin to lay hold of the bridal paradigm, the first thing one needs to grasp is that the Son did creation, not the Father. John chapter 1, verse 3, and Colossians chapter 1, verse 16, and following, tell us that it was the Son of God who created creation. Once this biblical truth is understood, then one can one can begin to see the Son's purpose for doing this. The Son's purpose in creating creation and making Adam in his image is revealed to us in the first two chapters of Genesis. In Genesis chapter 1, the Son gave Adam his job assignment. You're the governor of this planet, so govern it. That's verses 26 through 30. Adam might have said, Gee, thanks, Lord. That's pretty cool, but I don't know how to do that or what to do. So maybe the son says, Yeah, I know you don't. Tell me, I'll tell you what, why don't you show up here tomorrow morning early and I'll show you? So Adam gets up early and meets with the son. He's enthusiastic and excited to get going. He says, So what should I do first, Lord? The son says, I think the first thing you should do is to name all the animals. Adam says, Sounds great. But uh two questions. Yes, Adam, the son says. First, what's an animal? And secondly, what's a name? I'll show you what an animal is in just a moment, Adam. As for a name, what a name is, a name is what you call something. But more importantly, when you name something, Adam, you have authority over it. Then the sun begins to bring the animals two by two before Adam so he can name them. This is intriguing. Why does the sun bring each animal, each creature as a pair, one male and one female? Why didn't he merely bring one of each creature, sometimes a male and sometimes a female? Why does the son very purposefully bring each creature as a pair, one male and one female, to Adam? Now Adam is new and thus he's not all that sharp yet. So it might have taken him a little while to notice this pairing, this coupling, this male and female thing. But eventually Adam notices this and turning to the sun, he says, Lord, I've been noticing something here. Really, Adam, what have you noticed? Smilingly asks the son. Well, it says Adam, I see that all these animals are paired up. They have a companion that is like them, but not exactly. For example, one is male and one is female. And yet they as a couple fit together. That's quite observant of you, Adam, says the son, quite pleased. Adam says, So, Lord, where is my companion? Where is someone who is like me but not exactly? Someone who pairs with me. And this is where the son creates woman, a man, someone who is like Adam but not exactly, someone who fits Adam but isn't Adam, someone who will be Adam's companion and helpmeet, you know, exactly like the church was created from the Son, and he is, and it is, and it is to be his companion, his helpmeet, someone who fits with him. Paul told the Christians in Corinth in his second letter that he had been called up to the third heaven, that he heard and saw things he can hardly put into words. Amazing, mind-blowing, tremendous things. Well, I believe Paul expresses one of these amazing, mind-blowing, tremendous things to the Christians in Ephesus when he's talking about the relationship between husbands and wives. For he quotes what the son said to Adam in Genesis 2 for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. Then, bursting with one of the surpassingly great revelations he was given in the third heaven, Paul says, This is a profound mystery, but I'm talking about Christ and the church. The Son created creation, and in this he created creatures that are like him in that they have his image, but who are not him, so that the son could have a companion, a help meet, a marriage-like relationship with these human beings. Not a servant-master relationship, not a teacher-disciple type of relationship, not a commander-warrior relationship, not even a relationship with children, as good as all these are. Thus, the Bible is more than a book of history about encounters between the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the one true living God and human beings. The Bible is more than a collection of theological writings and spiritual advice. At its core, the Bible is the romance novel of all romance novels. For its central topic, subject, and focus is about the bridegroom king and his bride. Am I quite sure about this? Well, the vital paradigm shows up throughout the Bible. Here's a short list of examples. When Yahweh gets Israel out of Egypt, Moses leads the people to the very spot where he himself had encountered him on Mount Sinai. Then at Mount Sinai, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the one true living God, conducts a wedding ceremony with Israel in which they both exchange marriage vows. Yahweh says, some I wills, and Israel says, some we wills. That was the day in which the son married Israel, making her his wife, becoming the God of Israel, which is like saying, Israel's husband. At the final party, someone might ask, so honey, who is your husband? Israel will point and say, See that glorious hunk over there? I'm his wife. Who is he? Someone might ask. He is Yahweh, Israel will say proudly. But you may know him as Jesus of Nazareth. Isn't this Jesus guy, the bridegroom came? Someone may ask. Smiling broadly, Israel will say, Yes, yes, he is. Oh my honey, you married very well. Someone will say, I sure did, Israel will say softly. As you know, when Israel committed idolatry, the prophets confronted the people with the sin of adultery. To all the prophets, when Israel committed idolatry, they said she was committing adultery. Adultery and adultery and idolatry are synonymous. Both are about being unfaithful to the one with whom one has a covenant, with whom one has vowed to be faithful and to love. Paul understood this paradigm as evidenced by what he told the church at Corinth. 2 Corinthians 11 2. I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. When we get to John the Baptist, he is literally the last Mosaic covenant prophet. Yet he does not refer to himself as a prophet. John is also the forerunner to the Messiah with the spirit of Elijah on him. But again, he does not refer to himself as the forerunner. Instead, John had a unique title on his business card: John the Baptist, friend of the bridegroom. John did not say he was a friend of the Lord or the Savior or the King, but rather the friend of the bridegroom. Then, interestingly, the very first time Jesus of Nazareth demonstrated divine power was at a wedding. Surely he could have shown such power at a variety of events, but quite purposefully, I believe, he does so at a wedding. Lastly, the last event in Revelation that transitions human beings from this age into the age to come is not a meal for children. It's not a For warriors, it's not a supper for servants, or a dinner for disciples. The last event is a wedding banquet. This is when the Son, Jesus of Nazareth, finally gets what he has wanted from the very beginning, why he did all he did. A marriage-like relationship with human beings. I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven, shouting, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. For true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute and corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants. And again they shouted, Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, and they cried, Amen, hallelujah. Then a voice came from the throne saying, Praise our God, all you his saints, you who fear him, both small and great. Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters, and like loud peals of thunder, shouting, Hallelujah! Our God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself red. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given to her to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints. Then the angel said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. And he added, These are the true words of God. In the course of revealing and imparting the bridal paradigm to me, Jesus of Nazareth showed me something of the process he uses to create a lovesick bride individually as outlined in the Song of Songs. And during this time, when Jesus was showing me the Song of Songs, he used an event to form the bridal paradigm into the marrow of my bones. This began when a young woman showed up in our congregation. After a few weeks of visiting, an attractive young woman came and asked me if she could come by my office and talk with me. At the appointed time, uh she arrived at my office, sat down, and started by saying, I was a paratrooper in the army. I said, wait, wait, wait. You were a paratrooper in the army? She said, Yes. I said, You're kidding with me, right? She said, No. I said, You train to jump out of airplanes to kill people? She said, Yes. I had the hardest time trying to reconcile this strikingly beautiful woman with someone in the military. I mean, beauty pageant contestant? Absolutely. Airborne paratrooper? No way. She then told me that she had left the army because she had had an affair with her commanding officer. She told me she she even moved to Houston to get away from him, but she said this man was now coming to Houston to see her. She told me he would drive all night and show up at her apartment door wanting to spend the weekend with her, and of course, to have sex with her. She told me that she knew this was sin and she tried to resist him. But no matter what she did to have nothing to do with him, he kept persisting, telling her he loved her, even though he was married and had children. And because she couldn't get him to stop pursuing her, she came to me for help. I took two letters and contacting this man's commanding officer, who was a deacon with this man in the same congregation, to get this man to stop chasing after this woman. Then, some months later, I noticed that there was a young man sitting next to this young woman in church. And week after week I saw them sitting together, each time a little closer. So it wasn't much of a surprise when about a year later they came to me, told me they wanted to get married, and that they wanted me to do this do the ceremony. At the Friday night rehearsal, we went through the whole ceremony practicing each person's part. We even practiced the bride coming down the center aisle to the classic music of Here Comes the Bride. The next day at the real ceremony, everything was going as planned and as practiced. We then came to the time of the ceremony for the bride to come down the center aisle. And when the young woman stepped to the top of the center aisle and began her walk, instead of hearing Here Comes the Bride, the pianist played and the soloist sang, My Jesus, I love thee. This is my very favorite hymn. For to me it seems to have a connection to the bridal paradigm. And although I love this hymn, hearing it at this moment confused me. I'm expecting Here Comes the Bride, and I'm hearing, My Jesus, I love Thee. So I looked over at the pianist and the soloist, wondering what they were what they were doing. And they're just focused on doing their thing. I then looked back at this young lady who was walking down the aisle, and suddenly I had a vision. In this vision, I see the bride of Jesus of Nazareth. This is kind of hard for me to read. Here is this woman, Apple W. Once adulterous, now dressed in white, made righteous and holy, and she is breathtaking me stunningly.

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Knocked down. Gorgeous. Beauty I have no human words to describe.

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And at the sight of this, I was utterly undone. I began to weep so hard that my tears were shooting out of my eyes and soaking the insides of the lenses of my glasses.

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To the point that I could not see physically.

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Also began to tremble uncontrollably. The weeping and the trembling took such a strong hold of me, I thought I was going to fall to the ground. So I dropped to one knee in an attempt to hold myself together in front of all these people. But the harder I tried to try to control myself, the more I was unable to regain my composure. All I seemed to be able to do was to sob and to tremble at the redemptive beauty of the bride. After many minutes, still weeping and trembling, I began to plead with Jesus to back off as I could begin as I could regain myself and finish the ceremony. Mind you, most of the people in the audience did not know me, yet they sat there quietly, not understanding, but waiting patiently for me to get my act together. Finally, the Holy Spirit began to slowly back off. I mean finished weaving into my DNA, or as the rabbis say, into the marrow of my bones, the bridal paradigm. And when he finished, after I wiped my glasses with a tissue, I was finally able to regain myself. By this time the two of them were standing before me, grinning at me. She spoke, saying, We wanted to bless you in some way. She of course had no idea what an indescribable gift she had participated in giving me. Yes, I completed the ceremony. But for me, I went home with something that became much more than mere theology. I went home with a clear vision of the absolutely crucial and non-negotiable importance of the vital paradigm. I'll stop there.