BRIDE ARTICLE  BY LEW WHITE

THE AIM OF THIS STUDY, AND YAHUSHA’S MINISTRY ON EARTH:

RESTORING THE LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL TO THE COVENANT IN THE LAST DAYS

PREPARING THE BRIDE (ISRAEL) FOR THE GREAT DISTRESS AHEAD

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COME, I SHALL SHOW YOU

THE BRIDE;  THE LAMB’S WIFE

   If you are not the bride, but think you are, this is especially meant for you.  Scripture identifies a “bride”, which is the same as a “wife”.  Shaul (Paul) speaks of this bride, and so does the writer of Revelation, and the prophets of Yahuah.  The “war in heaven” is still waging, and “the bride” will become a fortress on the day of redemption, also known as the return of Yahusha, at the end of the distress (great tribulation).  After 1000 years (known as the Millennium), the war in heaven will end with all those in rebellion being cast alive into the lake of fire.

The bride is discussed by one of the messengers that release the 7 last plagues:

  “And one of the seven messengers who held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come, I shall show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.’”  Rev 21:9  (Please stop and read this chapter).

   The bride is described as a “great city” coming from the skies, and “her light”  was like a most precious stone, clear as crystal, and named the “New Yerushalayim”.  The 12 gates each bear a name for a tribe of ISRAEL, and there is a qualification stated concerning those who may enter her.

People practicing error will be blocked from entering:

  “Blessed are those doing His commands, so that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city.  But outside are the dogs and those who enchant with drugs, and those who whore, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and all who love and do falsehood.”  Rev 22:14,15

   Clearly, we see there is unconditional obedience to the Commands of Yahuah required (not unconditional indulgence as many false prophets and teachers have stated).  We are given our faith (belief, fidelity) as a gift, and that faith produces the “good works”: obedience to the Torot (instructions) of Yahuah.  If we practice idolatry, or worship Yahuah in a way He did not command worship, we must purge such things and learn what pleases Him.  We are counted righteous by belief, and our belief is perfected and shown by our obedience (our obedience is the fruit of righteousness).  We can identify a tree by the fruit we see on it.  By the fruit we see in the bride, we can identify her.  If we see what we think is the bride observing ChristMass, Easter (Ishtar), Sun-day, Lent, Ash Wednesday, Halloween (all of which stem directly from Pagan practices and times), is it remotely possible that we are deceived?  Where in Scripture was the bride instructed to practice any of these things?  “Houses of worship” using steeples (obelisks) and bells are of Pagan origins.  If the “Christmas tree” didn’t originate from Yahuah’s Torah, how did it get mixed-up with what people do?  It is not secular either;  it is an ASHERAH (please verify this by personal research).  Evidently, the bride currently has a few major “spots and wrinkles” which need to be wiped away. 

(Google the words: ASHERAH, ORNAMENTS, TREE)

What we do is the evidence of our belief.  Brother Ya’aqob (James) tells us:

   “You see, then, that a man is declared right by works, and not by belief alone.”  Jas 2:24    He continues the idea in a later verse:

  “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so also the belief is dead without the works.”   Jas 2:26

  Shaul tells us that a person without belief (living solely in a perspective of the flesh) doesn’t want anything to do with obeying:

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the matters of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the matters of the Spirit.  For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.  Because the mind of the flesh is hatred towards Elohim, for it does not subject itself to the Torah of Elohim, neither indeed is it able; those who are in the (mind of the) flesh are unable to please Elohim.  But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of Elohim dwells in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Messiah, this one is not His.”  Rom 8:5-9

  The “mind of the flesh” is hatred toward Yahuah, BECAUSE it does not subject itself to His Torah.  There are plenty of preachers who do not want anyone to submit to the Torah of Yahuah, and they tell us this quite often.

THE BRIDE WAS HIDDEN, AS IN A FIELD, LONG AGO      THE FIELD IS THE WORLD

  As a result of disobedience, the bride (Israel, Yahuah’s wife) was scattered thoroughly among the nations, driven from the land.  This was the curse, and it remains in effect.  The parable at Mt 13:44 speaks of a “treasure” (lost Israel, the bride) found by a man (Yahusha, the Pursuer of His bride), who bought the field (paid the ultimate price).  The bride is now His property, but “she” remains hidden.  Like Yusef in Egypt, Yahusha will one day reveal Himself to His brothers, to all the scattered tribes of Israel.  The first work of Yahusha involved atonement, but the second work is redemption.  He is sent to seek and deliver that which was lost, and will unite the house of Yahudah (the ruling tribe) and the house of Israel (also called Ephraim, first-born blessing tribe) into “one stick” (Ez 37:15-19). 

BLIND TO OUR MORTALITY

From Yahusha’s point-of-view, we are all sinking into oblivion, and the grave will consume us without His intervention.  Our wanton dependence upon Him every instant is pushed aside in our daily lives, but Kepha experienced how fragile his life was for a few fleeting moments.  Beyond the “surface” of this miracle lies the stark reality of our dependence, and that our susceptibility to death is overcome by belief in the authority of a single Person that has the power and will to rescue us.

  MASTER, SAVE ME!

THE BRIDE WILL BE REVEALED ON THE DAY OF REDEMPTION

  “For your Maker is your husband, Yahuah of hosts is His Name, and the Set-apart One of Yisrael is your Redeemer.  He is called the Elohim of all the Earth.”  Is 54:5  (read the context)

   Yahusha has chosen His bride, but He has not yet taken possession of her.  The “wedding supper” is still ahead of us at a future festival of Sukkoth (the harvest festival we are to observe for 7 days in the fall, Lev 23, Dt 16.  Notice in the following text the reference to a “booth”; “tents” (Hebrew, Sukkoth) will be the time of the return of Yahusha, at the harvesting of the Earth:

“And I, Yahuchanan, saw the set-apart city, new Yerushalayim, coming down out of the heaven from Elohim, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the heaven saying, ‘See, the Booth of Elohim is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and Elohim Himself shall be with them and be their Elohim.’”  Rev 21:2,3

   Yahusha is preparing His wife so that she may be without spot or wrinkle.  Again, from more texts we can see our redemption comes during the observances of the 7th month, after the last shofar, or “feast of trumpets”:

1Th 4:13-18:  “Now, brothers, we do not wish you to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you be sad as others who have no expectation.  For if we believe that Yahusha died and rose again, so also Elohim shall bring with Him those who sleep* in Yahusha.  For this we say to you by the word of the Master, that we, the living who are left over at the coming of the Master shall in no way go before those who are asleep.  Because the Master Himself shall come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of a chief messenger, and with the shofar of Elohim, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first.   Then we, the living who are left over, shall be CAUGHT AWAY together with them in the clouds to meet the Master in the air – and so we shall always be with the Master.  So encourage one another with these words.”   

“CAUGHT AWAY” in the above text is the same Greek word used at Acts 8:39 (HARPAZO, G726, to seize;  Latin: RAPTUS, as in seizing property).  Enabled by the Spirit of Yahusha, Philip was “teleported” to another location instantly; as together, we will also at the coming of the Master.   For a clearer understanding, let’s pretend that modern “feminism” never happened, and we’re thinking like a person who lived long ago.  To be Yahusha’s “property”, His BRIDE, we must examine how Scripture identifies those who live within the BONDS OF THE COVENANT* (of marriage) to Him.  Every denomination on Earth sincerely believes they are the bride of the Mashiach, ahead of all others.  While Yahusha is away to receive His Kingdom and prepare a place for His bride, those who await His return are partly wise, and partly foolish.  At Mt 25:1-13, “ten maidens” seem to correspond to the ten “lost” tribes of Israel.  Some have wisdom and have prepared themselves more than others.  The “oil” that is discussed surely represents the guidance of Yahusha’s Spirit, helping make the wise maidens aware of what is needed to prepare themselves for the abrupt arrival of the Bridegroom.  Indeed, the wedding feast is an exclusive affair.

   Yahuah says we will obey in the latter days, while among the Gentiles:

Deu 4:30:  “In your distress (Great Trib), when all these words shall come upon you in the latter days, then you shall return to Yahuah your Elohim and shall obey His voice.”      (Read the full context of all the texts being quoted in this study!)

Deu 30:1-4:  “And it shall be, when all these words come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you shall bring them back to your heart among all the Gentiles where Yahuah your Elohim drives you, and shall turn back to Yahuah your Elohim and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your being, you and your children, then Yahuah your Elohim shall turn back your captivity, and shall have compassion on you, and He shall turn back and gather you from all the peoples where Yahuah your Elohim has scattered you.  If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under the heavens, from there Yahuah your Elohim does gather you, and from there He does take you.”  Ez 39:28,29: “And they shall know that I am Yahuah their Elohim, Who sent them into exile among the Gentiles, and then gathered them back to their own land, and left none of them behind.  ‘And no longer do I hide My face from them, for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ declares the Master Yahuah.”   The One doing this is Yahusha, the Bridegroom, Who will end our captivity.   Who is Yahusha married to?  Is it “the church” as we have been told?

“THE BRIDE” REPRESENTS THE “CHILDREN OF ISRAEL”. 

The “church” (derived from a Pagan word, Circe) is really the KAHAL, or congregation of Israel.  Israel is anyone who enjoins to the Covenant, “walking” according to the Torah.  We who teach the Covenant are called fishers of men, and hunters:

“Therefore see, the days are coming, declares Yahuah, when it is no longer said, ‘Yahuah lives who brought up the children of Yisrael from the land of Mitsrayim,’ but, ‘Yahuah lives who brought up the children of Yisrael from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’  For I shall bring them back into their land I gave to their fathers. ‘See, I am sending for many fishermen’, declares Yahuah, ‘and they shall fish them.  And after that I shall send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.’”  Jer 16:14-16

A SPIRITUAL FORTRESS

This Dwelling Place of Yahusha will be made up of His bride with 12 portals. 

The ultimate camp of Israel, it will be unapproachable and safe from spiritual attack as well as physical attack.

THE BRIDE WILL BE RESTORED TO THE COVENANT IN THE “DAY OF DISTRESS” (GREAT TRIBULATION), AND REALIZE HER RELIGIOUS FILTH:

“O Yahuah my strength and my stronghold and my refuge, in the day of distress the Gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the Earth and say, ‘Our fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them.’”  Jer 16:19. 

(False terms like “GOD” and “LORD” will cease)   Now notice Ps 80:14-19:

“Return, we beg You, O Elohim of hosts; look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine, and the stock which Your right hand has planted, and the son whom You made strong for Yourself.  It is burned with fire, it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of Your face.  Let Your hand be upon the One at Your right hand, Upon the Son of Adam whom You made strong for Yourself, and we shall not backslide from You.  Revive us, and let us call upon Your Name.  Turn us back, O Yahuah Elohim of hosts, and cause Your face to shine, that we might be saved!” 

   The bride will eventually know her Husband, and take His Name on her lips.  The bride has always been Israel, into which Gentiles must engraft (Is 56, Jer 3, Acts 15, Eph 3, Rom 11).  Those who bond with Yahuah do so through His Covenant.  Foreigners enter the Covenant by immersion in the Name of Yahusha, calling upon Him for deliverance through His blood offered for sin, and promising to obey Him, thus becoming His bride, taking their place in the commonwealth of Israel, as Eph 2:8-13 discusses.  (Please stop and read Is 56).  The Sabbath is mentioned because it is the “sign” of the Eternal Covenant (Ex 31:17, Ez 20:20), the mark of Yahuah.

THREE TEMPLES?

   Everyone knows of the two Temples which were built on the Temple Mount, and we keep hearing about the re-building of the “third Temple”.  Schlomo (Solomon) built the first one, and the second was begun with the return of the Yahudim from Babylon under the leadership of NehemYah and Ezra.  Herod the Great expanded it, so the second Temple is often referred to as “Herod’s Temple”.  The first Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE with the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar’s army from Babel.  Every stone was removed from the second Temple in 70 CE when the Roman army led by Titus laid-waste to Yerushalayim.  In the fury of the battle, the fire melted the golden décor and the gold flowed into the crevices of the building stones.  These 2 Temples served during the atonement phase of Yahusha’s work.  A THIRD Temple, built without the hands of men, is coming from the skies and will endure for all eternity. 

It is made up of “living stones”, and it is the bride.

FANTASY  vs.  REALITY

   Even science-fiction writers draw from the words of Revelation. 

  Their “antagonist” is portrayed as whatever threatens the perpetuation of human government.  The governments of men (led by ha shatan) will fight against the “threat” coming from the skies, because ha shatan’s rule of Earth (through men) will be at its end.  One of the most obvious parallels between science fantasy and prophecy is the appearance of the BORG CUBE and it’s similarity to the New Yersushalayim.  The Borg Cube has an “assimilation chamber”, and a “hive mind”, akin to bees or ants.  Even this seems to reflect the “collective” mind of the Spirit, as we will all be “one” with Yahusha when He comes to reign.  Resistance is futile, because resistance is rebellion against the King of kings.    HUMAN GOVERNMENT WILL END.  

These illustrations show the close association between the Borg Cube and the Bride:

THE BRIDE IS DESCRIBED IN VARIOUS WAYS

Various terms and phrases are used to describe the same thing.  All of these refer to the redeemed.  The foremost term used throughout Scripture is “ISRAEL”.  Those in the Covenant (and many descendants who are yet to be recalled to it) are referred to as: 

The camp of the set-apart ones, the Beloved City, the Bride, living stones, the Great City, a spiritual house, a set-apart priesthood, sons of light, Dwelling Place, Hekel (Temple), etc.,.

The bride will literally be “living stones”, making up the structure of the new city in their new immortal bodies.  Notice carefully what is declared to us in the message to the assembly of Philadelphia:

  “Because you have guarded My Word of endurance, I also shall guard you from the hour of trial which shall come upon all the world, to try those who dwell on the Earth.  See, I am coming speedily!  Hold what you have that no one take your crown.  He who overcomes, I shall make him a supporting post in the Dwelling Place of My Elohim, and he shall by no means go out.  And I shall write on him the Name of My Elohim and the name of the city of My Elohim, the new Yerushalayim, which comes down out of the heaven from My Elohim, and My renewed Name.” Rev 3:10-12

  The prophet Daniel was told about the Great Tribulation, the first resurrection, and given a description of the “shining” of those who have “insight”:

“Now at that time Mikael shall stand up, the great head who is standing over the sons of your people.  And there shall be a time of distress (Great Trib), such as never was since there was a nation, until that time.  And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the Earth wake up, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches, everlasting abhorrence.  And those who have insight shall shine like the brightness of the expanse, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”  Dan 12:1-3    WE WILL HELP LEAD MANY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS DURING THE DISTRESS;  THERE IS NO “PRE-TRIB” RAPTURE.

Kepha (Peter) speaks of us as living stones, and the reason for stumbling:

“Drawing near to Him, a living Stone – rejected indeed by men, but chosen by Elohim and precious – you also, as living stones, are being built up, a spiritual house, a set-apart priesthood, to offer up spiritual slaughter offerings acceptable to Elohim through Yahusha Messiah.  Because it is contained in the Scripture, ‘See, I lay in Tsiyon a chief corner-stone, chosen, precious, and he who believes on Him shall by no means be put to shame.’  This preciousness, then, is for you who believe; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner-stone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock that makes for falling,’ who stumble because they are disobedient to the Word, to which they also were appointed.”  1Pe 2:4-8 

(The “Word” is the Covenant, or Ten Commandments). 

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