Please take note that since the website has been hacked, all of the links have an added “features” extension, which is not suppose to be there. If you would like to read/listen to the messages, you would need to remove any extension with the “features” in the link file.
For example of a virus link: http://lovehop.org/features/mp3/3.4.12call4awakening.MP3
To get the correct link: http://lovehop.org/mp3/3.4.12call4awakening.MP3
So many times believers still have the perspective that Jesus Christ is our Bridegroom in the context of our culture but He is not! We are the friend of the Bridegroom, but He is our Husband right now. If He has drank of the “marriage cup” (1 Cor 11:24), then we are already married with Him (In the Jewish culture, if you drink the wine cup, you are agreeing to the marriage.). We do not need to pray to be “married” at the second coming because the Kingdom of God is already in us right now (Luke 17:21 “…the Kingdom of God is within you.”). We do not need to pray to be married with the Son when He instructs us to live out the Kingdom of God right now and to pray that His “kingdom come [His] will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).
In the Old Testament, taking the sheets with the blood stain on it is a proof of the woman’s purity (Deut 22:15) in the consecration of the marriage with her husband. This is the same prophetic image of Jesus’ blood for us to prove of our purity and our innocence in our marriage with Him. Jesus Christ has already lifted the veil at the time of the marriage proposal at our salvation when He died on the cross (Matt 27:51 “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split”).
The Kingdom of God is not distant from us. That is the same reason why Jesus tells us, “7 preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick…”(Matt 10) “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” is a present reality, not just a future glory.
When Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” in 1 Corinthians 11, it is something that Christ already has done for us in the past. It is in the same chapter written in the context of marriage. Ephesians 5:25, 26 (“25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish) is also written in the context of marriage. Verse 31 ( 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”) is speaking also about Christ being one in us through the Holy Spirit (John 14:16,17).
The Bridegroom reality is for those that will partake in His kingdom. It is not for believers. The Bridegroom message is for nonbelievers. The friend of the Bridegroom (John 3:29 “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.”) is a believer who prepares the heart of the nonbeliever to meet their Savior. John the Baptist was a friend of the Bridegroom because he prepared the hearts of the nonbelievers to know Jesus.
So if we are already married with Christ (2 Cor 11:2 I promised you to one husband, to Christ…), then we got a LOT of things that God has entrusted to us. How will we lead our lives now? Will anything change?