I. 6. The Bridegroom

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king,

which made a marriage for his son...

Mattew 22:2

Up to now we have made ourselves generally acquainted with the everlasting covenant made between God and His Son. The inheritance of this Legacy (the Covenant) is all the nations of the earth. We saw that within this covenant the fall of man was foreseen and the Surety of his redemption was preordained. At the certain time the son of God came onto our planet and sealed the Legacy with His own blood, so that He may provide for the freedom of everyone who would accept through faith the promises of the Covenant. Receiving by faith the greatest promise of the Covenant – the Spirit of Christ, everyone could be adopted and to confirm his part in the heritage as a joint heir of the Son of God. The adoption is not just a formal act, but a moral synchronization to the everlasting principles of the heavenly kingdom – the Law of God.¹

The Scripture clearly shows, that Christ's first coming and His death on the cross purposed to ransom this inheritance, and with His second coming (which is still in the future) He will take those who are His. However, what has the Legacy foreseen concerning the time between these two phases divided by more than two thousand years? While we are searching for the answer of that question, let us look at another perspective, which the Bible gives concerning God's Legacy to His Son – the wedding.

Ruth

The charming story about Ruth, the Moabite as it is told in the biblical book with the same name has an illustration to both Christ's inheritance and His marriage. It deserves a special attention and therefore I am going to tell it shortly.

A Jewish family living during the end of the isralites judges' period of Israel (12-th century BC) immigrated to the land of Moab, because of the local famine. Shortly after the moving, the husband (Elimelech) died and his wife (Naomi) remained only with her two sons. They married Moabite women, but after ten years both died (the reasons are not mentioned) and Naomi who remained without her siblings made her way to the homeland, departing from this foreign country. When she decided to return to his native country her dead sons' wives wished to go with her. On the way home she exhorted them to return to their homes because she believed she could not be of any help for them in the future. Orpah returned, but Ruth decided to go to Judea with her mother in law because she was fond of her and adopted her faith in God. Naomi no longer wishes to be called by her people Naomi (pleasant), but Mara (bitterness) as she believed that God had dealt very bitterly with her. Ruth was good and hardworking and that was quickly made known among Naomi's relatives and acquaintances. Naomi wanted to take care of her widowed daughter in law. According to the requirements of Levirate, in order to retain the name and the legacy of a deceased man, his brother or his closest relative was to take the widow and their offspring should protect the name and the heritage of the deceased.² Right here we may find this illustration of the wedding and legacy o the son of God.

Ruth's husband had no other brothers and other close relatives a man named Boaz. Ruth worked work of harvesting and fall of work in subordinate of Boaz, and he already had a good impression of this hardworking woman and commanded his servants to leave enough food for her. Ruth listened to her mother, who advised her to do according to local custom by lying down to sleep at the feet of Boaz after the end of the workday. Evening when Boaz knew that his feet have a woman asked: "Who are you?" she replied, "I am Ruth thine handmaid; spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid, for you are a redeemer." 2 This Boaz responded positively impressed that this young woman had sought a young man, and prefers to keep the Lord's commandment. Boaz told Ruth that he would address the legal resolution of the issue "at the gate of the city" as they have done these things in those days. But Boaz added:

Ruth's late husband did not have any alive brothers and his father Elimelech's close relative was a man by the name Boaz. Ruth took part in harvesting with Boaz's servants, and he had already had a good impressions of this hardworking woman and commanded his subjects to leave enough wheat for her. Ruth obeyed her mother-in-law who advised her to do according to the local custom as laying to Boaz's feet at the end of the working day. In the evening as Boaz realized there had been a woman to his feet he asked: "Who are you?" she answered "I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman."³ To this Boaz reacted positively, touched by the fact that the woman had not sought for a young man but prefered to observe the command of the Lord. Boaz told Ruth he would immediately undertake with the juridical decision on the issue going to "the gates of the city" as they did things those days. However, he also added:

And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman’s part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the Lord liveth: lie down until the morning. Ruth 3:12, 13

On the next day Boaz invited the nearer kinsman in front of the witnessing elders to decide if he would buy Elimelech's field. Initially he wished to buy it, but when he saw he had to take Ruth as wife he refused:

Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day. Ruth 4:7-10

This moving story finished with Obed's birth – a child of Ruth and Boaz and Noemi's comfort. He is known by the genealogical registers as king David's grandfather, which sows that Ruth became a participant in family tree of Christ Himself.⁴

There are four major elements in this story which can help us to distinguish in the illustration of the Everlasting Legacy of God the Father to His Son: (1) death, (2) ransom (3) inheritance and (4) wedding. The death of humanity happened at the fall of Adam and Eve.⁵ The humanity then lost its part into the everlasting inheritance. In order for the rights to the inheritance to be restored, someone had to pay a ransom. But the inheritance in the story of Ruth has two portions: (1) the material property of the passed husband, and (2) his widowed wife. It is interesting that God's promise to His Son also embraces these two aspects:

Ask of me, and I shall give thee (1) the heathen for thine inheritance, and the (2) uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Psalm 2:8

“The uttermost parts of the earth” cover the teritory promised by God, while the heathen (nations) are the “living” part of the Son's inheritance. In order for the Son of God to become “a near kinsman” (as Boaz was a near kinsman to the passed husband), He took upon Himself humanity and therefore He was called the Son of Man.⁶When He died on the cross, He paid the value for the restoration of Adam's rights (the passed kinsman) over the inheritance. However this inheritance includes also the wife of the husband that passed.

The Wedding

Here is how one of Jesus' parables start:

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son. Matthew 22:2

In this parable, Jesus compares God with a certain king, who makes a marriage for His Son. It was told by Christ, immediately after the parables about the husbandmen who killed the householder's son, and the builders of the house who rejected the cornerstone of the temple.⁷ God is that householder of the vineyard, and Christs is His Heir that was sent to death by the Israel's religious leaders, driven by envy and jealousy. They are also the builders, that despised “the Stone” chosen by God in their ambition to build a temple. In this way, Christ presents the significance of His Person and His work by two different ways. Through the parable that followed, He introduced one more perspective so that He might give additional details concerning the kingdom of God. The symbol of the wedding represents the union of the Divinity with His people:

For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. Isaiah 62:5

The Woman in heaven

When God created the universe through His Son, all creatures in it were in harmony with their Maker's will. All the community of the created bengs was part of the Bride of the Son of God:

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: Col. 1:16

The Bride of the Son of God is the heavenly Jerusalem:

But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. Gal. 4:26

...Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Rev. 21:9, 10

God bestowed upon all created beings the gift of freedom of choice. This means that they could really exercise their will by choosing if they would remain part of the Son's Bride. When Lucifer decided to follow his will instead the one of God, he deceived a third of the angels to do the same and so they could also loose their rights to be part of the Bride:

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth... Rev. 12:1-4a

We find the interpretation of that picture a little bit further in the same chapter:

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Revelation 12:7-9

Even since heaven Lucifer succeeded with robbing a part of the Son of God’s inheritance, and to rule over the stars of heaven.⁸Thus he deprived both himself and the angels that followed him from the opportunity to remain a part of the Son of God’s Bride. With was even then when the Woman’s travails started:

And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. Rev. 12:2

In a certain sense, the Woman’s travails started even in heaven, because they express the faithful angels’ suffering, who after the fall of man knew that in order for the problem of sin to be solved, the Son of God (Michael), would have to leave heaven and expose His life at risk so that He might become a Surety for His inheritance by God. In this way, Revelation 12 establishes the principle, that on earth is revealed only what already had happened in heaven. The principles of the Great controversy do not change, but they are only unfolding themselves.

One of Jesus’ parables shows the exact measures into which the Woman’s history develops itself on the earth:

Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. Matt. 13:33

As we are about to see, indeed the Woman’s history develops itself in three main phases: (1) from the fall of man to the Flood, (2) from Abraham to the first coming of Jesus, and (3) from the beginning of the history of Christianity to Christ’ second coming.

The Woman before the Flood

After the creation of humankind, the history of the Woman and her seed proceeded down on earth.

Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. Rev. 12:12

There, in the garden of Eden, the serpent managed to poison the Woman (Ева), but then God made that promise concerning the seed which would come through the same woman herself.

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;… Genesis 3:15, 16

As a reflection of what had happened in heaven, here we find the same participants in the conflict: the serpent, the woman, the transgression of the covenant, the promise made concerning the Seed and the announcement about the coming travails.⁹ The Seed that God promised to the Woman was the Son of God, who would be born as a man on the earth:

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Gal. 4:4, 5

Likewise Eve was taken from Adam, when he had been put to sleep, so the church was also brought into existence through Christ’s death; and as through the woman all are being born on earth, similarly Christ would come through the Woman. Paul writes about that double symbol:

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:23-32

For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. 1 Cor. 11:12

The history of the pre-flood world(0-1657 AM) represents whole the history of the world in a miniature.¹⁰ This is the first phase of the Woman’s mundane history. Eve hoped that the promise about the Seed would be fulfilled in the birth of her firstborn son:

And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Genesis 4:1

The irony of this event was that instead of this son fulfilling his parent’s expectations concerning the coming of the Seed promised that would bring life¹¹, Cain became the first murderer. Cain’s personal choice made him part of the serpent’s seed.¹²Thus Satan tried to prevent the promise about the Seed, but God appointed a substitute for the dead Abel:

And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.*n15 26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. Gen. 4:25, 26

Abel and Seth represent Christ as the Seed that dies but then gives fruit.¹³ In the process of time Seth’s offspring multiplied and started the formation of the pure image of Christ’s Woman on earth. The descendants of Cain were also multiplying and were exhibiting more and more the principles of Satan’s kingdom, ascribing to themselves instead of to God, all talents and skills, and acting in contrary to the principles of God’s family kingdom.¹⁴When Satan saw that he would not be able to kill the Seed, he put his efforts toward the Woman to poison her by his influence. Notice carefully what exactly happens here:

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. Rev. 12:13, 14

This passage tells us that during a period of1260 literal years,¹⁵ the woman was fed(influenced)of the presence of the serpent? The crisis of the pre-flood world came when the seed of the womanbegan mingling with that of the serpent:

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. Genesis 6:1-4

When a big part of the Woman’s seed adopted the principles of Satan’s kingdom¹⁶ (eating from the serpent’s food), that measure man’s worth according to his outer qualities (beauty and power)¹⁷, then the light gown that the Woman was clothed with (es Eve’s garments), was taken from her.¹⁸

And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev. 12:15-17

God preserved the righteous seed in the face of Noah and his family in order for the Bride of Christ on the earth to be reproduced through that seed. Noah was born 600 years before the flood. His father had a special expectation fro his son:

And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. Genesis 5:28, 29

Like Adam and Eve, Lamech also thought that the time for the coming of the promised seed had come. Noah was not the promised Seed but he had the responsible task to preserve the family line for that Seed and to keep God’s commandments for the next generations.

And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. Rev. 12:16

And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. Genesis 8:13

After the flood, the Woman’s offspring again began to multiply in the face of Shem – one of Noah’s sons. In a period of about 700 years, she restored all her 12 stars.¹⁹Unfortunately the defying influence over the Woman and her offspring continued after the flood. Nimrod – one of the sons of the cursed Ham married his mother Semiramis, built Babylon – the antipode of the heavenly Jerusalem and dispersed the satanic philosophy among the inhabitants of the world.²⁰Although God confused the language of the participants in the Babylonian project, the influence of this Babylonian philosophy poisoned the whole earth even after Nimrod’s death. Shem was that son of Noah that the following words were written about:

Blessed be the Lord God of Shem...; Genesis 9:26

Through Shem and his seed, God preserved the truth for several generations. Sadly the philosophy of Babylon poisoned them an the end. In such settings God could preserve only a remnant of the Woman’s seed:

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev.12:17

Second phase of Woman’s history on the earth

It became necessary that God would brought out a remnant from the Woman, that could restore the principles of God’s family kingdom:

And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran. Genesis 11:31, 32

And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. Joshua 24:2

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all familiesof the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:1-3

Through the seed of Abraham, God would restore the Woman’s pure image. The nation of Israel that came from Abraham’s grandson (Jacob), was made of 12 tribes – the Woman’s restored stars. When God chose Israel in the face of their father Abraham, it was predicted that they would serve another nation but that they would be set free by God²¹. Notice what happened when Moses was on his way to Egypt without being fulfilled the rite of circumcision – the sign of the covenant²²:

And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, Israel is my son, my first-born: 23 and I have said unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me; and thou hast refused to let him go: behold, I will slay thy son, thy first-born. 24 And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that Jehovah met him, and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, Surely a bridegroom of blood art thou to me. 26 So he let him alone. Then she said, A bridegroom of blood art thou, because of the circumcision. Exodus 4:22-26

In the context of Israel’s redemption, Zipporah called Moses “a bridegroom of blood” because of the undone circumcision. Moses is here a representative of Christ who redeems His people through His own blood.²³ It is not a coincidence that just when God was about to free His chosen people out of bondage, so that He might restore His covenant with them, Moses was titled “a bridegroom of blood“.

The entire history of Israel as an organized nation (the Woman) is shown in Ezekiel 16:

And say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. 4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. 6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. 7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. 8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine...

But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was... and thus it was, saith the Lord God. 20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured... And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood... 26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way. 28 Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. 29 Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. 30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; Ezekiel 16:3-8, 15-30

Firstly, because of the unbelief in the trues God, Israel did not succeed with freeing themselves from Egypt’s heathen influence. Although they were brought out of Egypt physically, their hearts were still in slavery²⁴. During the time of the Judges, the apostasy continued (XIV-X c. BC). Because they worshiped strange gods, Israel recurrently lost their protection from God and served the surrounding nations among who Philistines tormented them the longest and the most bitterly²⁵. Later, in the period of the kings (X-VI c. BC), Israel was influenced by the pagan culture of Assyria, which finally dispersed 10 of their 12 tribes (723 BC), and before long the remaining two tribes (606 BC) were captured by Babylon (Chaldea).

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. Jeremiah 3:8

After their dispersion by Assyria, the ten tribes of Israel gradually lost their identity, but even this did not restrain the rest from their apostasy. The “bill of divorce” means the abolition of the covenant.

For the reason of revealing what stood ahead, God instructed Hosea to take a woman in adultery and have children from her. The first child was a girl and God commanded that they should call it Lo-ruhamah (not acquired mercy), and the second child was a boy and it should bear the name Lo-ammi (not my people). It was an object lesson concerning the nature of Israel’s apostasy, its fatal consequences and the possibility to preserve the remnant:

… for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God,... Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband:… Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. 15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16 And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.... And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. 19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord…. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God. Hosea 1:6, 7-2:2, 14-16, 18-20, 23

Only a remnant would left from Israel.²⁶ It was a last invitation to survived so that they should enter through faith into the everlasting covenant of the heavenly Jerusalem. This is also a prophecy about the heathens’ conversion after the first coming of Christ on the earth:

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:31-33

The third phase of the Woman’s earthly history

Jesus was coming on the earth to renew His covenant with the few in Israel that would accept Him, and to seek for those who had never been a chosen people before.²⁷

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: Rev. 12:1

The Moon is a symbol of literal Israel, to whom those sacrificial services of the law were entrusted that reflected the light of the coming Christ.²⁸The woman stands on it, and she is clothed in the light of the gospel which could be enjoyed also by the other nations beside Israel. Because „the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”,²⁹ the heathen believers would not substitute Israel but rather they would be „graffed in their root“, in the place of the „broken of branches“³⁰. In Christ - “t6he new man”, all dividing walls fell down³¹. Along with Paul, who speaks about the mystery of this union in Christ, we could also say „O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!“³²

The final unfolding of the principles laid down in the picture of Revelation 12, we find at the time when Jesus was born, lived, died and was resurrected as a man on the earth.³³Therefore though initially the symbol of the dragon should represent Satan, then in the time when Jesus came in the world it was the power used by Satan to persecute and kill Christ, and this power was Rome.³⁴Despite the murder, the history of the Woman’s Child proceeded triumphantly:

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. Rev. 12:5

The ruling with an iron rod echoes the message of the Legacy which the disciples of Jesus experienced as representatives of the Woman³⁵. After His ascension in heaven, Jesus became unapproachable for His enemies. Beside this, due to the fact that the sealing of the Legacy by the blood of the Son of God, fully revealed Satan’s hatred before the eyes of the loyal angels, now he was juridically deprived from his access to heaven:

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Rev. 12:10

Our heavenly Father is just and very patient; although Lucifer had been initially driven out from heaven, God did not fully limit his access until the entire universe should see indeed that Satan in the very beginning had been a spiritual murderer of the Son of God, and physical one, too.³⁶

Now the serpent’s kindled wrath was directed towards the Woman herself:

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. Rev. 12:13

Initially Satan tried to destroy the Woman physically. It is reflected in the violent persecutions of Christians at the early centuries of the history of the Christian church. As Satan tried through Herod to kill Christ even at His birth on the earth, so he tried tried to destroy Christians through the imperial Rome.³⁷These attempts of Satan were unsuccessful, because of the example of the Christians who were perishing for the sake of their faith only served to inspire many more people to decide and become subjects to the kingdom of God.

Before Jesus officially started His mission (the baptism in Jordan), He had been tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Likewise when Satan saw that he would not be able to destroy the Christian church through the persecutions, he began tempting her in the wilderness:

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. Rev. 12:6

Here we can see the difference between the Seed’s story (Christ) and that of the Woman. Christ was for forty days in the wilderness and then commenced His mission that lasted 3 ½ years (1260 days).³⁸The Woman run into the wilderness to hide herself there but her stay at that place lasted not 40 days but 1260 prophetic days, which reflects the period of Jesus’ mission. It looks like the church was not so successful in encountering Satan’s temptations as was her Seed – Christ; she remained in the wilderness longer than it was necessary; in fact she spent there all the time of her mission.

When Satan saw that he would not be able to destroy the Christians through the empire of Rome, he raised from its ruins a power (papal Rome) that contained a mighty spiritual element. In the previous chapter we have mentioned about the four empires in the Nebuchadnezzar’s image (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome). Those same powers Daniel saw in a vision and he presented them in 7-th chapter 7 as four beasts (a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a terrible beast). In this vision of Daniel, it becomes clear that the papacy sprung up from the terrible beast (Rome):

And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. 5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. 6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things... I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;... And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. Dan. 7:3-8, 21, 24, 25

The papacy indeed came up from the ruins of the violent imperial Rome. It managed to „prevail against“ the saints, and acted for „a time, times and the dividing of times“³⁹ - exactly as many as the number of time while the church was in the wilderness. To John, the apostle, it was also shown that power in a vision:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.… And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. Rev. 13:1, 2, 5-7

The leopard (Greece), the bear (Medo-Persia) and the lion (Babylon) are mentioned here exactly in a reversal order to the one that we have seen in Daniel 7, and this allows for the identification of the beast’s origin. Now those powers turned to that beast’s (the papacy) attributes. The dragon is the fourth power, which Daniel called the terrible beast. As we have seen, the dragon is a symbol with a double application. In the heavenly history of the Woman, he symbolizes Satan, but at the time when Christ came on the earth, he is a symbol of Rome – the power used by Satan in his attempt to destroy Christ. This same power of the imperial Rome is here described as giving its authority to the papacy.

During the 1260 years period (538-1798), the papacy was that dragon’s representative (Satan) since the former is invisible for humanity, similarly as the Son of God is a visible representative of the invisible God. Through this visible presence of himself the dragon managed to influence the Woman while she was in the wilderness:

And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. Rev. 12:14

The serpent’s visible face during the 1260 years period⁴⁰was the papacy through which he managed to poison a part of the Woman’s descendants. The wings of the eagle could symbolized God’s protection in case that He was the One that bore her on them, but they, in combination with the food that was given to her, could also mean something mysterious and vary dangerous⁴¹. Symbolically the beast relates to the papacy’s political power, but the Revelation also shows his religious character by comparing him to the apostate Ahab’s wicked wife (Jezebel) in the time of Elijah, the prophet:

And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; 19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. 24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. 25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. 26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.Rev. 2:18-29

The woman Jezebel is that same religious element in the papacy that was in alliance to the political authority – king Ahab. The story about king Ahab relates to one of the darkest periods of the northern kingdom of Israel. It was right then when God sent Elijah the prophet, who stated that for the sake of people’s idolatry there would be no rain for the period of 3 years and 6 months.⁴²Once again we find the same period of time (3 ½). Like the Woman, Elijah was also fed and protected by God during those years. However Elijah does not represent the whole church but only one of her faithful members who tried to turn the people back to God. The Revelation tells us the following about that Elijah of the Middle Ages:

And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. 2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. 3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. 6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. Rev. 11:1-6

Here is presented the double witness of Scripture (Old and New Testaments), through its faithful bearers during the Middle Ages. God’s faithful in the Middle Ages are also shown in the message to Thyatira as the „rest“, who „have not this doctrine“. The call of Christ to them was to hold upon His teaching until He comes. What He promised to them is a direct quote from the psalm of the Legacy:

And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. Rev. 2:26, 27

We scarcely imagine how much we owe to this minority of faithful Christians living in the Middle Ages– a time of massive apostasy. For the period from 538 to 1798,while the beast was ruling(papal Rome), the people of God were in a great anguish. Gabriel, the angel, gave Daniel the following succinct description for the work of the apostate nominal Christianity during that long period:

And such as do wickedly against the covenantshall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. 33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. 34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. 35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed. Dan. 11:32-35

The single covenant that the spiritual Rome fought against during the Middle Ages was the Father’s Legacy itself into which all the Son’s joint-heirs would have part in case they endured his attacks until the end. The papacy successfully deceived those who did not appreciate the Son’s inheritance. The statement „many shall cleave to them with flatteries“ reveals the crisis in the struggle for the preservation of the true joint-heir’s identity. The Woman in the wilderness repeats the history of the crisis in heaven, and therefore immediately after the statement that she ran out in the wilderness, we find a description that brings us back to the great controversy in heaven, where 1/3 of the angels followed Lucifer and were casted out from heaven. This implies the idea that the Woman’s history in the wilderness repeats the tragedy with the angels who had lost their part in the Son’s inheritance. Then the text goes on and says:

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. Rev. 12:13, 14

We can see that Satan emulates the work of God. The papacy appears as the son of Satan, as Christ is the Son of God. God is invisible for us but Christ revealed Him completely.⁴³Similarly Satan (the dragon) used the papacy for his purposes and even made the attempt to ravish the Woman, in order to make her his son’s wife. At what degree he managed to do that, we are going to see in the second part of the series („Four Seasoned Messages“), where we are going to explore the events at the close of human history.

And so, the papacy was persecuting and killing the true followers of God. By the end of the period (1517 AD) a hand was given to them through the Reformation in Europe, but even then “some of the wise” fell. In Revelation 12, this help is illustrated through the following situation of the Woman:

And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. Rev. 12:15, 16

The water symbolizes peoples.⁴⁴Thus are the persecutions and the crusades of the nominal church against the true Christians presented, and the help of the earth begun with the Reformation and proceeded with the settlement of the New continent. A great number of the settlers in America were those persecuted protestant Christians of Europe who were seeking for freedom to live according to their biblical views.

The period after Thyatira (538-1517) was that of the Reformation in Europe (1517-1798). The protestants begun well but then sadly they did not lead the reform to its end and did not get rid themselves of the deceiving teachings of the papacy. Therefore the Son of God spoke about that period in the following manner:

And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. 4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. 5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Rev. 3:1-6

The Two armies

The Woman in the wilderness contained two companies within herself:

Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an armywith banners… Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible asan armywith banners?... Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies. Song of songs 6:4, 10, 13

Those two armies are the faithful and the unfaithful in the church during the Middle Ages. Like the twins in Rebekah’s womb, they were the subjects of two covenants.

And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. 24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. 26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. Gen. 25:21-26

The red Esau is a symbol of the red dragon’s children that seek for the earthly things and despise the birthright of the Legacy. Jacob is a representative of the sons of the promise, who depart from their sins and receive the Son of God’s obedient Spirit.

The Woman’s two epochs

Both Hebrews and Gentiles were always, one way or another, the object of God’s care and His message of salvation, but as an organized body, the Christian age was „the times of the Gentiles“⁴⁵. During the wilderness period (538-1798 AD), however, the Gentiles, as a whole showed that they did not appreciate the gospel.⁴⁶In this way, the history of the Christendom to a great extend repeats the one of the ethnic Israel, that departed from God. This is the reason for the Woman of Revelation 12 to embrace both the literal and the spiritual Israel. The Moon points to the Old Testament, and the Sun to the New Testament. Her twelve stars remind both for the founders of the literal Israel – the 12 sons of Jacob, and Christ’s 12 disciples – the founders of the Christian church.

Even the wilderness period (3 ½ times) is only the half of the seven times indignation against Israel who had not kept the covenant:

And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. Leviticus 26:18

Those seven times of 360 years each totaled 2520 years. The punishment of Israel begun at their dispersion by Assyria in 723 BC. From this date, the 2520 years bring us exactly to 1798 AD, when the papacy was captured.

This prophecy confirms the Woman’s monolithic character that encompasses the believers both from the time of Israel, and also from the time of the Christian church. Unfortunately, the continuation of both stories accomplished only into a remnant from the Woman’s posterity.

The remnant of her posterity

Even the Protestantism has not managed to free itself from the teachings of Jezebel, and therefore they are shown as spiritually “dead”. The faithful from this period were only a remnant, and they were the only one who would follow the heavenly Bridegroom through faith, in order to take part in His marriage, because Christ’s righteousness (His character) was freely given to them as wedding garments.¹ They are shown in the next period, that is called Philadelphia.

I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Rev. 3:8-11

Similarly as Israel, the Christian church at the end of her period in the wilderness was given the door of Achor for hope.²The Lord Jesus opened the door of the Sanctuary in heaven which lead to the Holy of Holiest. Through faith, the faithful of God, could follow Him and participate in the Wedding. The rest, who rejected the truths concerning the heavenly Sanctuary and the Judgment, the Law of God, the Sabbath and the soon return of the Bridegroom are here represented as the lying Jews.

The Woman’s Beloved (Christ) had not left her while she was in the wilderness, and when she was coming out of there, she was leaning upon Him:

Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Song of Songs 8:5

God did not leave this woman without faithful descendants; and it was just against this seed that the dragon would put his efforts after the wilderness period (after 1798 AD):

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev. 12:17

The seed of the Woman, spoken of by the verse above is the remnant called by God to prepare a people that could be accepted for the day of the Wedding. In this sense, they correspond to the faithful during the Philadelphia period – after the Sardis period. The opened door symbolizes Jesus’ entering into the Most Holy place of the Sanctuary in heaven. On the earth, that opening was reflected through the energizing of Christian missions and the establishment of the many Bible societies along with the increasing interest to Scriptures, that thanks to the Gutenberg’s press, had already been massively circulated. The prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation were intensively studied and with deep interest. The faithful realized that the Bridegroom would soon return and begun proclaiming it around the whole world. Their bitterest enemies turned out to be their protestant brothers, who did not like the idea about Christ’s soon return, because they had become accustomed to the world and loved it. In this period, Christ presents them as lying Jews.

Satan knew from the prophecies that the time of the Wedding in the heavenly Sanctuary was approaching, and he made his best to turn the believers’ attention from that crucial event. However God did no leave even one of His faithful children and He would highly lift up the banner of His Son, so that He might gather them again. Through the Woman’s seed He would restore all the truths trampled by the papacy. The truths about the Law of God, the Sabbath, and the state of the dead were coming directly from the holiest place of the Sanctuary in heaven and served for the preparation of Bridegroom’s wife.

The Time of the Wedding

I have seen that the papacy dominated until 1798 AD, when the pope Pius VI was captured by the armies of Bertie. In the seventh chapter of Daniel, this same period is presented as the prophetic time: „time, times and half a time“³. At the end of that time of blasphemous papal ruling, something very crucial transpired In heaven:

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. 12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. 13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Daniel 7:9-14

The passage does not tell us exactly when but around after the end of 1260 years of papal dominion, a ceremony is conducted in heaven where it is decided that „dominion, and glory, and a kingdom” shall be given to Christ¹. It is not a coincidence that He is presented here as the Son of man, because only in this capacity, He is the believer’s Brother and they are His joint-heirs with Him in the kingdom. Because of the same reason we read further through the same chapter:

But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever… And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Daniel 7:18, 27

This ceremony is described in more details in the next chapter in Daniel, wherein this event is presented as the cleansing of the Sanctuary in heaven. Up to that point Christ served in the first compartment of the Sanctuary in heaven (the Holy place), and now He would enter into its second and most inner compartment (the Most Holy place). In the first compartment of the earthly sanctuary, the priest entered every day of the entire year for the transference of the sinner’s sin, through the sacrificial blood into the sanctuary; and once in the year, on the tenth day of the seventh Hebrew month², he would enter into the most holy place for the purification of the Sanctuary and the atonement for the sins of all the people, done through the year³.

The Judgment, described in Daniel 7, and the cleansing of the Sanctuary in heaven in Daniel 8 are the same event. It aims to cleanse the registers in heaven from the believers’ sins, that they had repented of, so that Christ could finally receive juridical rights over His inheritance. Daniel heard that the Sanctuary would start to be cleansed after 2300 days (2300 real years⁴), but he did not know the starting point for this period⁵. After some time, Gabriel brought him the answer, along with the news that for the ethnic Israel had been determined 70 prophetic weeks probational time, as part of this period (490 real years). Then he made it clear that the beginning should be counted „ from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem“⁶. The last of the three decrees, that issued in relation to the restoration of Jerusalem, was that of Artaxerxes Longimanus in 457 BC. Therefore, the celestial ceremony had started in 1844 AD.

This event is described in the Revelation:

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever... And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. Rev.11:15, 18

Do you remember the kings of the earth who fought against the Lord and His Anointed¹ from Psalm 2? Yes! Here is how the Lord establishes His Son’s authority over the stolen inheritance! Yet, what does this event mean from the stance of the Wedding? When Christ spoke to His disciples concerning the preparation for His second coming on the earth, He explained what the believers should do then:

Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Luke 12:35, 36

In order for them to„wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding“, it would require the He had gone to the wedding before. It was exactly what happened in heaven after 1844 AD. But whom exactly would Christ merry during the time of the Judgment in heaven? The parable about the kingly wedding that we had started with will help us understand that:

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few are chosen. Matthew 22:2-14

The first invited to the wedding were the ethnic Israel. God chose Abraham, made him a people, brought them out of the Egyptian bondage, and made a covenant with them on Sinai; there He gave them His law - „the words of the covenant“². For a time span of a millennium and a half, He was looking after them expecting the fruit of righteousness, but instead of that, they were killing His prophets and eventually they even murdered His own Son. Then God broke His covenant with the ethnic Israel and invited the Gentiles to be part of the spiritual Israel (those from “the highways”) giving them equal time to manifest the excellences of His kingdom.

When the marriage feast became full of guests gathered from the entire human history, among them would be found "good and evil". How could be known whoever of them corresponds in reality to the standards of heaven, and who is only a pretender? It was exactly for this reason that the judgment in heaven begun in 1844 AD – a judgment for the believers. All this is presented in the parable by the statement „the king came in to see the guests". When the King (God), enters "to see the guests", then it is established who is really part of His Son’s inheritance, i. e. His pure Bride, covered with His righteousness. At the time of the judgment, the believers are present as “guests” to the wedding (through faith and not physically), and they are not the Bride of Christ herself. This is so because the judgment would have to make clear who is part of the true Bride of the Lamb – the heavenly Jerusalem. Up to that point she had not dressed her wedding gown yet - „the righteousness of saints“³.

The heavenly Ledger preserves faithfully the information concerning each human being⁴. If against his/her sins would not be found repentance they remain there a witness for his self-exclusion from the Son’s inheritance. Not the “called“ (guests), but only “the chosen” will become part of the Son of God’s Bride. Therefore Asaph the singer exclaimed under the inspiration of the Spirit of God:

Rise, O God, judge the earth, For Thou hast inheritance among all the nations! Psalm 82:8 (YLT)

When the judgment in heaven should end, Christ will say:

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. 12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Rev. 22:11, 12

At that point, the people’s destiny will be forever sealed, no matter that nothing on the earth will show that. There will be only two classes then – these who are on the sight of Christ’s Bride, and those who are part of the harlot of Babylon. In the second part of the series we are going to explore the identity of Babylon in the Christian age and how it was instituted.

Christ told one more last wedding parable wherein we see what should be the preparation of those who wait for the Bridegroom’s return:

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. Matthew 25:1-13

The expecting virgins are not the Bride of Christ. They represent two classes believers, living at the time when the judgment in heaven will be about to cease. One class – the foolish, do not have enough from the covenant blessing,⁵so that they may endure the last hour of human history. Because of this, they do not have the light of the Word for that time, but have only the light from their experience in the past. However, this light will turn to be so insufficient for that time, that Christ will not recognize them as His. Unlike them, the wise virgins enter into the wedding feast, because they followed through faith the Son of God until the end. This parable was fulfilled historically in the events surrounding the year 1844, but it also has a specific application for the believers living just before the Bridegroom’s return. This application for the very end of human history is going to be explored in details in the second part of the series.

As conclusion for this chapter we can only say that in the very end of the plan of salvation, the Bride of Christ is presented as triumphing and fully clothed in the attributes of His righteousness:

And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb… And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. Rev. 21:9-14, 17

The inheritance of the Son of God is both property and of living people⁶. This Jerusalem is so constructed, that it could contain within itself the chosen of God, presented here as the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles of Jesus. Let us remember that the Revelation describes God’s people of the heavenly Jerusalem through 12 gates, 12 angels, 12 names, 12 foundational stones, 12 000 furlongs and 144 cubits. It is interesting that in the only one book in the Bible (Psalms) which contains more than 100 chapters, in the 144-th chapter, verse 12 we find the following words:

That our sonsmay be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace! Psalm 144:12

We can clearly see that Christ’s promise is completely fulfilled in the new Jerusalem:

Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. Rev. 3:12

Thus the two aspects of God’s Legacy to His Son – property and alive will be forever gathered together, so that they might finally reveal the Bride of the Lamb.

The appeal found in the end of the Legacy Psalm is to all of us who desire to become part of the Bride of Christ:

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Psalm 2:12