Proverbs 12:4
A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband:
But she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.
Let us for a moment return to the beautiful institution of marriage as God taught it to the ancients. Let us for an instant travel back to a time free from the modern pollutions of humanism, of feminism, and of atheism. Yes there was a time free from the modern curse of atheism. People did not always obey God, but they at least were intelligent enough to know He existed, and they even knew what He basically stood for.
In ancient Israel, a would-be bride was promised to her husband through a transaction sealed with a glass of wine with her parents. Wine is the Bible representation of blood; it is called the ‘blood of grapes’. This transaction was therefore sealed in blood. The would-be groom also redeemed his future bride from her parents’ house with a substantial dowry. This betrothal was a union legally as binding as the marriage itself. After this betrothal agreement, the future husband went to ‘prepare a place’ for he and his future wife to live in. He spent a year building a house for them. This was also a time of ‘preparation’ for the future bride. She was meant to learn everything possible about her future husband so she could be a wife he could be proud of. She knew that as she moved in with him, she would not anymore be a representative of her father’s house, but she was expected to become the reflection of her new husband. She was to reflect his desires, his hopes, his beliefs and his expectations. When people would see her, she would bear his name and her lifestyle was a perfect picture of her husband’s ideology, philosophy and faith. In ancient Israel, and even today, the Jewish idea of marriage was messianic: the husband was representation of the Messiah, and his wife represented the assembly of His people that he was coming to marry out of this world soon.
Two thousand years ago a betrothal transaction was signed in the blood of the Messiah. His shed blood and suffering was the dowry, the redemptive price presented to redeem us from the one who keeps us prisoner in this world. Even now our beloved betrothed, the Messiah, has gone ‘to prepare a place for us’. We are therefore in a time of preparation. We are now meant to learn everything about our future husband. We are to learn His Torah and His ways. We are to learn to become a ‘virtuous wife’, a crown of joy to Him as He is assured that our only joy is please Him, our only desire is to do things His ways. Because of our perfect reflection of His ways, when people see us, they are supposed to see Him.
There is a wedding banquet coming soon. At that time our marriage with the Messiah will be consumed. Will we have learned to live according to His expectation? Will He look at us as the crown of joy on His head because we have left everything to become the reflection of His heart? Will He know that as the moon reflects the light of the sun, we are able to reflect Him to the world, shining with His life, His ways, and His Instructions written in the Book?
A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband:
But she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.
Let us for a moment return to the beautiful institution of marriage as God taught it to the ancients. Let us for an instant travel back to a time free from the modern pollutions of humanism, of feminism, and of atheism. Yes there was a time free from the modern curse of atheism. People did not always obey God, but they at least were intelligent enough to know He existed, and they even knew what He basically stood for.
In ancient Israel, a would-be bride was promised to her husband through a transaction sealed with a glass of wine with her parents. Wine is the Bible representation of blood; it is called the ‘blood of grapes’. This transaction was therefore sealed in blood. The would-be groom also redeemed his future bride from her parents’ house with a substantial dowry. This betrothal was a union legally as binding as the marriage itself. After this betrothal agreement, the future husband went to ‘prepare a place’ for he and his future wife to live in. He spent a year building a house for them. This was also a time of ‘preparation’ for the future bride. She was meant to learn everything possible about her future husband so she could be a wife he could be proud of. She knew that as she moved in with him, she would not anymore be a representative of her father’s house, but she was expected to become the reflection of her new husband. She was to reflect his desires, his hopes, his beliefs and his expectations. When people would see her, she would bear his name and her lifestyle was a perfect picture of her husband’s ideology, philosophy and faith. In ancient Israel, and even today, the Jewish idea of marriage was messianic: the husband was representation of the Messiah, and his wife represented the assembly of His people that he was coming to marry out of this world soon.
Two thousand years ago a betrothal transaction was signed in the blood of the Messiah. His shed blood and suffering was the dowry, the redemptive price presented to redeem us from the one who keeps us prisoner in this world. Even now our beloved betrothed, the Messiah, has gone ‘to prepare a place for us’. We are therefore in a time of preparation. We are now meant to learn everything about our future husband. We are to learn His Torah and His ways. We are to learn to become a ‘virtuous wife’, a crown of joy to Him as He is assured that our only joy is please Him, our only desire is to do things His ways. Because of our perfect reflection of His ways, when people see us, they are supposed to see Him.
There is a wedding banquet coming soon. At that time our marriage with the Messiah will be consumed. Will we have learned to live according to His expectation? Will He look at us as the crown of joy on His head because we have left everything to become the reflection of His heart? Will He know that as the moon reflects the light of the sun, we are able to reflect Him to the world, shining with His life, His ways, and His Instructions written in the Book?
Something to think about.
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