This is where we live. This chapter is all about today. Not about what He did 2000 years ago. Not what we accepted when we came to Christ, but how we live in Christ today. Because, obviously, He did not take us home when we said, “I do”. So He expects some things out of us during this period of sanctification, during our period of Kiddushin, He expects some things out of us.
This is where we are and so it is a matter of upmost importance. This is the very heart of God for His wife, for His people, for His temple today. I want to start by looking at a passage out of Ezekiel 37:15-28:
“The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, `Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, `Ephraim’s stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand. When your countrymen ask you, `Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph–which is in Ephraim’s hand–and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on and say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. `My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’”(NIV)
The nations will know. I will make the two one, I will make a covenant of peace, an everlasting covenant with them. This is what I believe is the very heart of God, oneness with His people. He wants to be our God and for us to be His people and He accomplishes that through the marriage of His Son to His people.
As we start to look in the New Testament and our early church history, we see that the church was first thought of as a Jewish sect. That’s what we were. Most believers in that early first century were Jewish, they were Jews who recognized their Melech Yeshuah H’Messhia, their King Jesus the Messiah. So in that first century as Gentile believers started coming into the nation there had to be discussion about Jew and Gentile and so that is where we are going to start.
Ephesians 2:11-19 says, “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)– remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.”(NIV)
Members of God’s people, of God’s household. Church hear me, the word ‘church’, the Greek word for ‘church’ in the Greek Septuegant, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, is used in talking about the congregation of Israel. It is not exclusively a New Testament term. The church is the congregation or assembly of Israel. God seeks to make all His children, whether Jew or Gentile, one. That is His purpose, to create in Himself one man out of the two.
I want to say very clearly at this point, I know there is a lot of talk out there in theological circles about replacement theology, which says that the church replaces Israel. That is NOT what I am talking about. I want to make that very, very clear. The church did not replace Israel. We have the awesome privilege of being brought into citizenship in Israel and to share in their covenant promises.
Romans 9:6b states, “For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.”(NIV) What Paul means by that is that just because one has the physical lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob does not make them a member of the Spiritual nation of Israel. Because only in Christ, only in Messiah, does that happen. Even Jews must recognize their Melech Yeshuah H’Messhia, they must recognize their Messiah.
Romans 10:11-13 reiterates this, “As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile–the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””(NIV) He takes the two and makes them one. Remember we are talking about the heart of God and what God desires for His own people. This is God’s desire for us as we live out this life of following Him and awaiting Him.
We then find in Romans 11:12 & 15-21 & 23-26a, “But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!… For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted, but they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either…. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved”.
All Israel, the holy assembly of God’s people whether Jew or Gentile will be saved. The heart of God, oneness among His people. We have to be careful, the church has become awefully Gentile in the last 2000 years. True? True! But we must not forget our roots, remember it was already mentioned that in the first century we were Jewish. The church was Jewish. The Apostles kept going to the Temple, they continued to celebrate the Feasts. However as we became more and more Gentile we lost connection to the root. We must remember and not stand on arrogance that we are the Church. But remember that we stand on a root and they are our root and one day those branches that were broken off will be grafted back in. You see there are not two trees of the church and Israel. There is but one tree. And we will all stand together in that oneness and in His covenant of peace before God Almighty and marry His Son, those who have called on the Name of the LORD.
Later in that Romans 11 in verses 30-32 we find, “Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”(NIV) Jew, Gentile it doesn’t matter. We all broke the first covenant. We are all in need of a new covenant, every one of us.
I know we are discussing many terms that may be foreign to you. If that is the case the best thing I could recommend for you to do is to go back to the beginning of this topic and read your way to this one.
In Jewish weddings today one thing that you will see is that when the veil is pulled back it is often the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom that pull back the veil. It is the groom that actually covers her before the ceremony. They do this in remembrance of Jacob and Rachel. Can you think of why that may be? Maybe if Jacob had done it himself, he wouldn’t have gotten fooled by Laban. Who knows? But if we go back a generation we see Isaac and Rebekah again. Rebekah veiled herself when she saw Isaac, we veil ourselves with our sin, don’t we? Who would have unveiled her? Isaac, her husband.
In II Corinthians 3:7-18 it says, “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”(NIV)
Tell me, what word do you see over and over again in this passage? “Glory”! Still many of the Jews today have not recognized the Bridegroom that the whole Covenant is talking about. They are reading their Ketubah and don’t even know the Bridegroom who gave it to them. That’s why their hearts are still veiled. We are unveiled when we come to Christ, to Messiah. The awesome thing to understand today is that many Jews are coming to faith in Messiah. Their veil is being pulled back by their Bridegroom. What a blessed day in which we live. Many in church history longed to see this day and that privilege is ours.
Let’s discuss that word “glory”. Glory means brightness, splendor, radiance, dignity, and honor. When we are unveiled we reveal His glory, splendor and radiance with ever increasing glory. When a bride is unveiled today everybody says, “Oh, look isn’t she so pretty, she’s so beautiful.” It’s all about her. But when we are unveiled it is not our glory we reflect, not our radiance. It is His. It is His glory, with ever increasing glory.
So now we share in His glory, the radiance of the Father. Now where did I get that? From Hebrews 1:2&3 which tells us that the Son is the very radiance of God. In John 17:5 Jesus talks about the glory (the radiance) He had before creation. Then in John 17:22 Jesus says, “I gave them the glory you gave me.”(NIV) Where did His glory come from that He gave to us? It came from the Father. Do you see that oneness, from the Father, to the Son, to the Bride? “I gave them the glory you gave me.” Romans 8:17 says we share in His glory.
You see only by the Lord Jesus the Messiah can the condemnation and the sentence of death announced by the law on the lawbreaker for breaking the Old Covenant be annulled and replaced by the free and life giving grace of the New Covenant in which He places His Covenant on our hearts and minds. We are unveiled by Him and are free to live life reflecting His glory. So let us live in the freedom of being unveiled and let His glory, His ever increasing glory, shine through us.
I know we are discussing many terms that may be foreign to you. If that is the case the best thing I could recommend for you to do is to go back to the beginning of this topic and read your way to this one.
That leads us to step five. Here comes the Kiddush, the cup. Remember our Kiddushin consists of the Ketubah, the Kiddush (the cup), the Mohar, and the seal. This is the Kiddush. In I Corinthians 11:25 it says, “In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.””(NIV) The blood of the New Covenant; that purchased us without money, this New Covenant is a Covenant of marriage.
I know we have already gone over it, but at this point we need to cover it again. Isaiah 54:10 says this, “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”(NIV) Then in Isaiah 55:3b it says, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.”(NIV)
I want to talk to you about that Covenant of Peace. The Hebrew word “shalom” means peace. It can also be translated wholeness or oneness. This is a covenant of oneness. “And a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two will be one.” A covenant of oneness was always God’s plan. This is a covenant of marriage, a covenant of oneness with Him, which is true peace.
The Kiddush or cup not only speaks of the Mohar or the sacrifice He made, yes we are to remember His Mohar when we take the cup because that is what purchased us, but it is also the New Covenant or Marriage Covenant, His Covenant of Peace. Remember it’s the “New Covenant” in His blood. He says that first, He reminds us of the New Covenant first, of His Marriage Covenant first. Then He says, “Do this in remembrance of me.” So remember the price I paid for you. This is a covenant of marriage and I purchased you. So when you take that cup remember my purchase, remember my love for you.
John 17:19 says this, “For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”(NIV) If He is already holy then He is not making Himself more holy, so what is He saying? He is setting Himself apart for us. He is telling His Father, “For them Father I have set myself apart that they too may be truly set apart. I set myself apart for them so that they can truly be set apart for me.” And right after this prayer we see Him, that very night, being arrested and giving His life. Spilling the blood of the Mohar, the blood of the cup.
In taking the cup we are accepting once again His offer of marriage and declaring ourselves set apart specifically and only for Him. As we remember the price He purchased us with. We are once again accepting that offer and continually declaring ourselves set apart for Him. Maybe that’s one reason why we do this more than once. We have communion in our churches all the time, don’t we? After all, we don’t just do communion once and that’s it. It reminds us that we are set apart for Him because of the price He purchased us with.
And then of course there is the blessing of the cup. “Holy One of Blessing your presence fills creation forming the fruit of the vine.” This is the blood of the covenant. And then the Birakat Eurasim or the Betrothal Blessing “Praised are you Adonai, Ruler of the Universe, Who have made us holy through your commandments and commanded us (the warning to the men) concerning sexual propriety forbidding us women who are merely betrothed, but permitting to us women who are married to us through Huppah and Kiddushin. Blessed are you Adonai, who makes your people, Israel, holy through Huppah and Kiddushin.
This is His marriage ceremony and we live out every day, especially when we partake in communion. Of course, with the drinking of the cup the veil has to come back. We will talk about this next time.
To accept His pursuit and His Mohar is to call on the Name of the Lord and, of course, everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved. When we believe and confess and call on His Name He gives us His promised Holy Spirit, the promised seal. Again, let’s look at Ephesians 1:13-14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession–to the praise of his glory.”(NIV)
II Corinthians 5:5 puts it this way, “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”(NIV) What is to come? There is more yet to come. He is not done with us yet. Our seal, the Holy Spirit, is our deposit guaranteeing what is to come.
There is something else that is important for us to see. His seal is connected to His Name. We see in I Kings 8:10-11 when the ark of the covenant was brought into Solomon’s Temple it says, “When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.”(NIV) Now let’s look at I Kings 9:3 where the Lord is responding to the prayer of Solomon dedicating the Temple, “The LORD said to him: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.”(NIV) Where did He put His Name? On the Temple!
In I Corinthians 3:16 it says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”(NIV) That cloud was God’s presence that filled the Temple. Yes, His Spirit filled the Temple. He made it Holy and placed His Name upon it. Again, later in the book Paul writes in I Corinthians 6:19-20, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”(NIV)
Your not your own, you’ve been bought with a price and your very body is a temple. II Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”(NIV) What did He fill the Temple with? His Spirit. It was called His Glory in I Kings. The Glory that comes from the Spirit, which is in us, and He is giving us an ever increasing Glory, He continues to fill us with His Glory. With ever increasing Glory, that’s what He’s doing in us. If that doesn’t excite you I don’t know what will. So be filled with the Spirit.
Alright, Revelation 2:17 says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.”(NIV) What might that white stone be? A seal. We receive that name. He is going to give to us a new stone, a white stone, a pure stone, with a name on it. When we receive Him, when we receive His Holy Spirit He literally marks us with His Name, the Name upon which we call upon. He Marks us with His Name.
And of course, that Spirit according to II Thessalonians 2:13 sets us apart for Him, “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”(NIV) The Spirit continues to sanctify, it continues to set us apart.
Remember our Kiddushin, it is a ceremony and period of sanctification. He sanctifies. We who are believers in Yeshua the Messiah are living our lives in a period of sanctification. That is where we are at, we are being set apart for that awesome day. That day when our faith is made sight and we see face to face our beloved Bridegroom.
So let’s recap this amazing segment. When we accept His pursuit and His Mohar He seals us with His Holy Spirit and His Name so that our future is guaranteed. That future is with our Beloved Bridegroom forever and we will forever bare His Name.
We have already discussed how Jesus went through the Kiddushin, the ceremony and period of sanctification or a time of setting oneself apart for another. As we said the Kiddushin consists of the Ketubah (marriage contract), Mohar (bridal price), Kiddush (the cup), the seal (The Holy Spirit), and the removal of the veil. Remember that for us the order is a little different and this post will begin the process of us looking at our part of the Kiddushin.
Our first step within the Kiddushin is our response to Yeshua’s Mohar, His bridal price. We must accept His acquisition, His payment, in order for it to be applied to our lives. We see this played out in Genesis when Rebekah had to be willing to accept the price offered for her and go with Abraham’s servant to her husband Isaac.
Jesus has bought us with a price and it was not a price of money, yet it cost Him everything. Remember, we have already looked at Isaiah 52:3, which tells us we were redeemed without money.
In Hebrews 9: 12 & 14-15 it says, “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption…How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance–now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”(NIV)
When we went through these steps as Yeshua our Messiah went through them we spoke of the communion cup that He gave to His disciples and that it was the third cup, the cup of redemption. We are all guilty of breaking the first covenant with our sin and so there needed to be a new covenant for everyone, Jew and Gentile alike. I Peter 1:18-19 told us that He redeemed us with His blood and Romans 3:22-25a again said, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”(NIV)
We must have faith in His blood. We must accept His Mohar. We must believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We must believe in Him!
Galatians 3:14 says, “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”(NIV) Also, in Romans 10:13 it says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”(NIV)
Therefore, when we accept His Mohar it redeems us and cleanses even the filthiness of our conscious. We then receive the inheritance promised to those who believe and are saved. Never forget, that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22 & Leviticus 17:11). So that by faith, by calling on His Name we (both Jew and Gentile) might receive the Spirit. The Spirit is our seal. This leads us directly into our next post where we will be discussing The Seal.
There are two things that speak of the blood of Christ in the Kiddushin, the first was the cup (the Kiddush) and the second is the Mohar. We looked at the Kiddush as part of the last post. This time we are going to concentrate on the Mohar. The Mohar is the bridal price or literally the acquisition of the bride. Jesus paid this on the cross.
As to the history of the Mohar we can go all the way back to the Garden of Eden where God provided a bride for His son Adam. For Eve Adam had to pay a Mohar. He had to be put to sleep and have surgery, a shedding of blood, to remove a rib in order to have a wife. If that’s not a bridal price I don’t know what is. My husband has had surgery before, but it wasn’t to get me. We see Isaac paying a Mohar when money and gifts were sent along with a servant in order to acquire Rebekah. Jacob paid a Mohar, in fact, he paid it twice for Rachel. When he came to his father-in-law he did not say, “OK it is time for me to get married, give me my bride.” He said, “Give me my wife”.
Jesus did not pay with silver and gold, He paid the ultimate price. Isaiah 52:3 states, “For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.””(NIV)
We sold our selves at the Fall. We didn’t get anything out of it. We lost. “Without money you will be redeemed” the LORD said. That’s Isaiah 52, the next chapter is Isaiah 53, the chapter of our precious suffering servant.
Starting in Isaiah 53:5 if says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”(NIV)
That is holy ground. That is the sacrifice of our beloved Bridegroom, His bridal price. The price it took to acquire us.
Let’s look at Luke 22:19 which says, “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.””(NIV) Here Jesus’ body is being broken for us, it is being given for us. That’s Jesus at the last supper. So His body was broken, while we know that His bones were not broken, His body was broken. Not a joint remained in place. Then, of course, we have the blood since with that broken body came blood.
In Leviticus 17:11 and Deuteronomy 12:23 we are told that life is in the blood. Do you believe that? Life is in the blood. So His blood needed to be shed. We see in I Peter 1:18-19 that scripture states, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”(NIV)
Did you catch it, “Without money you will be redeemed.”(NIV)
In Revelation 1:5b we read, “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.”(NIV) Then in chapter 5:9 we are given this about Jesus, “And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”(NIV)
Yes, it is His blood that redeems and it redeems completely. He didn’t just pay part of the price, He paid all of it.
At the crucifixion in John 19:30 it reads, “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”(NIV) It is finished! Tetelistai is the word in Greek. It means paid in full.
He paid His mohar completely. He purchased His Bride and He paid for her in full. He purchased her for His Father and she is His.
The Mohar was paid by Yeshua Himself as yet another part of the Kiddushin and His responsibility in it. In our next post we take a look at the final part of the Kiddushin, the giving of the seal. Is not our Lord and His gift of salvation marvelous.
The betrothal ceremony is known as the Kiddushin, which is both a ceremony and period of sanctification. It is a legal ceremony. It is the legal ceremony. The betrothal designates the bride and groom only for each other and forges the connection between them.
Many of us know that Joseph and Mary were betrothed and would have needed a certificate of divorce in order to break it off. Why? Because they were betrothed. Since this betrothal was a legal action and not just a promise of marriage, as we think of an engagement today, it was legally binding. Once they went through the kiddushin they are legally husband and wife.
So let’s learn what all this Kiddushin entails, shall we? The first part of the Kiddushin, or betrothal ceremony, is the signing of the Ketubah. The Ketubah is the contract for the bride, the bride that was chosen by the father of the groom.
In the mind of the Jews, the Torah, the books of Moses, is a marriage contract between God and the people of Israel.
Now isn’t that interesting? They see the Old Testament as a marriage contract between God and His people, Israel.
In Matthew 5:17-18 Jesus says this, “”Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”(NIV)
He is saying “I did not come to abolish my Ketubah. I came to fulfill it. It’s mine. My contract for my bride. It’s mine! And I came to fulfill it. I am under contract to do so.” You see He came to fulfill His Ketubah.
Consider if Jesus had come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. He would require a certificate of divorce. He would be breaking His covenant, unwilling to fulfill His role as the Bridegroom. If that were the case, there would be no need for the Cross!
Let’s take a look at Jeremiah 31:31-34 where it says, “”The time is coming,” declares the LORD,”when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, `Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.””(NIV)
Not only did Jesus come to fulfill His Ketubah, He also came to write a new one. A new covenant that would be precious and holy. In John 17:17 Yeshua says this, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”(NIV) Now the word “sanctify” means “to make holy”. It also means “set apart”. Jesus is asking that we be set apart by our Ketubah, by His word. Set His Bride apart for Him.
This new covenant would allow the old covenant to be written on our hearts. Remember He did not come to abolish but to fulfill. Also remember that on the road to Emmaus He spoke of how the Old Covenant was really about Him. The New Covenant would take the Old and put it on the hearts of His people thereby sanctifying them, setting them truly apart for Himself.
The signing of the Ketubah is also very important because it has to be witnessed. It is not valid if He only signs it Himself. It has to be signed by witnesses, ie. He has to have co-signers.
Look at John 5:31-39 where Jesus says, “”If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.””(NIV) (The KJV uses the word witness instead of testify).
So in the signing of the Ketubah, the witnesses testify in essence saying, “This is who your bridegroom is, this is the one your Ketubah is about.” As we see in the text, the two witnesses are John the Baptist and the Father Himself.
John the Baptist was strictly for our benefit. He is the one, as far as earthly terms are concerned, that helped start the story of the bridegroom. So, that is the first part of the Kiddushin, the Ketubah or the marriage contract and it’s signing.
The second part is the Kiddush, you can see where they got the word Kiddushin, from the Kiddush or the cup. The cup is a prayer of sanctification.
Remember the Kiddushin is a ceremony and period of sanctification. The cup is actually a prayer of sanctification. What’s the cup all about? His blood. His blood.
So let’s take a look at the cup. Exodus 24:6-8 talks about the blood of the covenant, the Old Covenant. The blood of the Old Covenant was the blood of goats and calves.
But God said that the Old covenant was broken. So He was going to make a New Covenant. Oh the precious cup that it will take to bring sanctification.
Matthew 26:27-29 states, “Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom.””(Matthew 26:27-29 NIV)
In this passage, Jesus is referring to the third cup of the Passover meal which is called the cup of redemption.
The 4th cup is the cup of Praise. Jesus had to fulfill the cup of redemption first. It was the blood of the Covenant. His blood is the foundation of the Covenant. Hebrews 10:29 tells us that the blood of the Covenant sanctifies, it sets apart.
However, within the Passover ceremony – which Yeshua was celebrating that particular night – there is also a cup of sanctification. Remember, the Kiddushin is a ceremony of sanctification or a setting apart, complete with the cup of sanctification, the Kiddush. This is the first cup.
The cup of Plagues – representing the judgement of sin – is the second cup. The cup of sanctification, the first cup, is the one in which Jesus says, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”(Luke 22:17-18 NIV)
At this time of the Kiddush, at the taking of the cup, they have the blessing of the cup and it reads like this within the Kiddushin ceremony:
Holy One of Blessing, Your presence fills creation forming the fruit of the vine.
And then directly following that is the Birakat Yirusim or Betrothal Blessing and it reads:
Praised are you Adonai, Ruler of the Universe, Who has made us holy through your commandments and has commanded us concerning sexual propriety (a warning to the husbands) forbidding women who are merely betrothed, but permitting women who are married to us through Huppah and Kiddushin. (This is the part I love) Blessed are you Adonai, Who makes Your people Israel holy (sets them apart, makes them holy) through Huppah and Kiddushin.
At this point, finally at this point, we have the actual drinking of the cup. There is the cup of sanctification with the blessings and after the blessings comes the drinking of the cup or the taking in of that prayer of sanctification, that is only accomplished by His blood.
And of course, I’m going to say a word at this point about the Bride because it is at this point that the veil comes back. She has to drink of the cup and so the veil must come back. Guess what… we have an unveiling and there is someone specific who does it.
II Corinthians 3:13-16 says, “We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”(NIV)
Jesus removes the veil. That is His privilege. And of course, as soon as He died on the cross and shouted, “It is finished. Father into your hand I commend my spirit.” The veil at the holy of holies was ripped in half, literally ripped in half.
He removed the veil. So that when we come to Scripture, when we read our Ketubah, it’s precious to us, it is now a part of us and on our hearts and minds. It’s our marriage contract that He must fulfill, that He will fulfill. Not only is it precious to us, but He has also given us the ability to understand it. The veil no longer covers our hearts.
So we see that the Kiddushin so far includes the signing of the Ketubah, the Kiddush (the cup of sanctification), and the removal of the veil. We have two more parts of the Kiddushin to look at. We will do so in two separate posts.
Esther's Legacy 