Betrothed To The Lord

Hosea 2:19 "And I will betroth you to Me forever,Yes,I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion. And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, Then you will know the Lord." NAS

We are betrothed to the Lord. We are His Bridegoom. The Church of Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom of the Lamb of God. In Jesus teachings, He used many parallels to the Jewish marriage customs. In our western society we often miss these because we are unfamiliar with the marriage customs of those times. During the time that Jesus walked on the earth, the Jewish father of the groom or the bridegroom himself would leave his father's house and travel to the home of his intended bride. He would negotiate a price with the bride's father and pay the price required for his bride. Then the bride and groom would drink from a cup of wine and seal a marriage covenant between them. The bride was then considered sanctified and dedicated to her groom and was to remain faithful to him. Likewise, Jesus left His Father's house in heaven and and came to earth, the home of His Bride. He paid the price for the Bride with His own Blood ( ICor.:6:20 "For you are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.") and we enter into a marriage covenant with Him. We are sanctified and dedicated to Him and are to remain faithful to Him. We symbolize our covenant with Jesus each time we partake of communion ( ICor. 11:25 " this cup is the new covenant in My Blood").
After the marriage covenant is established, the bridegroom leaves the bride at her father's home and goes to prepare a place for his bride to live. Jesus also left us to go to prepare a place for us. (John 14:1-3 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.")
While the bridegroom is off preparing a place for his bride, the bride is to keep herself sanctified and pure and she is to prepare her wedding gown. She does not know the day or the hour when her bridegroom will return for her so she must be on the alert and ready at all times. Her dress must be perfect without spot or wrinkle or blemish and ready to put on at a moments notice. When the groom has made all of the preparations for his bride, he gathers his wedding party and walks down the streets of the village with a shout "Behold the bridegroom cometh." When the bride hears his shout, she and her attendants must put their wedding garments on and be ready for the bridegroom to take them to the wedding feast. Likewise, Jesus will return for His Bride with a shout at a time that we know not of. (IThess.4:16-17 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God;and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord."
Whenever we hear the gospel preached, we are reminded that we are His Bride and have entered into a marriage covenant with Jesus and that we are to be faithful to Him and remain sanctified until He comes back for us.
Our wedding gown is to be spotless and without wrinkle or blemish - Eph. 5:27 "that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless". NAS
We must strive to keep ourselves free from sin. Num.5:5 "when a man or woman wrongs another in any way-- he is unfaithful to the Lord." NAS When we sin we are being unfaithful to the Lord because we are betrothed to Him and have entered into a marriage covenant. When we entered into covenant with Him we promised to be faithful to Him and to live a life without sin. Sin is unfaithfulness to our beloved Bridegroom. Lord, help us to live pure and undefiled before You, that we may be a glorious Bride when You return for us.