He is the Bridegroom

By Yolandie Mostert (July 2023)

 

His mouth is full of sweetness (Songs 5:16a) 

 

I would like to provide some context again on where we are in Song of Songs. The girl, representing the bride of Jesus is busy testifying. She is telling the daughters of Jerusalem about her beloved.

This young girl represents each one that stepped onto a road of deep intimate friendship with God. She is not satisfied with nominal Christianity, but is pressing in, deeper and closer towards Him. The daughters of Jerusalem are exactly what the word says: daughters. They also belong to the Father and were purchased by the Blood of the Lamb. The daughters are satisfied to be just a ‘good Christian’. They read their Bibles, pray, can even hear God’s voice, but they still live in fleshliness and not by the spirit. Paul calls them spiritual babies, dependant on milk. Off course there is nothing wrong with being a baby, all of us were babies at the beginning of our spiritual journey. But being a baby consists of a very short period of our life. We have to grow towards spiritual maturity which comes at a price. That price is the taking up of our cross in order to lay down the flesh by being continually conformed to His death.

 

The daughters asked her about Him; hence she is busy testifying of all His different facets. In verse 16 we are reaching the pinnacle of her testimony. Her description of Him is becoming more intimate and personal. There is a vast different between when we describe a stranger compared to someone we know very well.

Let me use a celebrity as an example. Picture a fanatic fan of a certain celebrity. This person will read everything that is possibly written about that person. They will be able to tell you about the celebrity’s birthday, childhood, history and even culinary taste. It will sound as if the person knows the celebrity very well. But that is not what knowing someone means, it’s to know of someone. To really know someone is first-hand. That happens when we get to know the person by spending time together. I don’t have to read in a book or hear from someone else what my husband likes and doesn’t like. Because I live closely with him, I’ve come to know these things.

 

There is even a deeper level of knowing and that is to know the heart of a person. No matter the number of articles about a celebrity, deep matters of the heart are protected and don’t get published. Our relationship with the Lord works the same.

We can read every possible teaching, prophecy, revelation and message of the Lord and may think that we know God. We may feel that we know everything there is to know. He reveals His heart to those that spend time with Him and walk in friendship with Him. Heart type of knowledge are shared first-hand. Why do we want to hear from others who are dwelling with Him, what He says and how He is, when it’s available to each one of us?

The girl describes her beloved’s mouth. This speaks of deep intimacy and friendship. In this symbolism she says: ‘this Jesus who is every facet of what I’ve described so far, I know Him personally’. She didn’t just hear of Him. She doesn’t just read about Him. She tastes His sweetness on a daily basis as she spends time with Him.

 

I want to talk for a minute about spending time with Him.

I’ve come to realise that a lot of people have a wrong impression of this. Everything that I’m now going to list are wonderful things for our spiritual growth. Please don’t think that I disregard or reduce it. I’m simply listing it because people see it as spending time with God and it’s not. To listen to a daily morning message is not spending time with Him. Sometimes He uses it to speak to us, but it’s not direct communication. It cannot replace our time with Him. The same goes for daily devotions and listening to music. Even listening to prophetic word or messages like this one are not spending time with Him. These are beneficial, but supplementary.

 

Picture an engaged couple. The two of them are sitting on a blanket in a garden to spend some time together. All of a sudden, the girl pulls out a book and starts to read a description that someone wrote of her fiancé. Before he can gets a chance to comment, she plays a voice note of someone else that recorded his words the previous day. She doesn’t even ask him about it, instead she continues to read a message about how to spend quality time with your beloved. And so an hour passes. She gets up and feels satisfied that she was able to spend a full hour with her beloved.

This sound ridiculous. Unfortunately this is the reality of many people’s time with the Lord. There are very little two-way conversations. Their time consist of books, teachings, prophetic word and daily devotionals. The more our time and thoughts are filled with other voices, the more difficult it becomes to hear the voice of our Bridegroom.

 

Where do we read of Jesus as the Bridegroom?

He tells a parable in Matthew 22 where He compares the kingdom of heaven to a king that arranges a wedding for his son.

The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son (Mat 22:2) 

This is one of the clearest and most beautiful comparisons that just overwhelms me each time I read this passage in Scripture. How is it possible that El-Elyon, the Most High, chooses a bride from mankind for His wonderful Son? There is absolutely no greater privilege.

 

When will the wedding feast take place? At the end of this age. We read of the wedding feast in Revelation 19. There is a false doctrine making rounds that the bride will be raptured and celebrate at the wedding feast during a time of tribulation. The Bible doesn’t teach this anywhere. Also, not everyone that says he or she is a Christian will be part of the bride. The bride consists of those that made themselves ready.

Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. (Rev 19:7) 

The bride purifies herself from every form of fleshliness, bondage and darkness. She washes her clothes in the Blood of the Lamb (compare Rev 7:14)

For I am jealous for you with God’s kind of jealousy; since I promised to present you as a pure virgin in marriage to your one husband, the Messiah (2 Cor 11:2 CJB) 

 

As I was preparing for a Song of Song conference a while back, the Father started to speak to me. His words were more or less the following:

“How presumptuous are man to think that I will give My Son to an unholy, unclean and fleshly bride. My Son is holy and His bride will also be holy.”

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. (Eph 5:27) 

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Eph 5:31-32) 

 

It’s not only the bride that must be holy and without spot or wrinkle, the guests must also be robed with righteousness. We read in the parable about the wedding feast in Mathew 22 that the guests who were not properly dressed, were cast out.

The Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God is holy and His wedding feast will be holy. There will be no place for any form of uncleanness.

 

What should be our reaction to this message?

Firstly, we have to ensure that we know the sweetness of His mouth personally. Together with the Holy Spirit, we must search our hearts. Where we’ve maybe misunderstood spending time with Him, we have to implement changes. Prayer and worship should take the central place in our time with Him.

If we’ve wrongly believed that the bride consists of every single person in the church, we have to repent and renew our minds to the truth. Fall in love with every facet of the character of our Bridegroom King. Do your own study about who He is and pray for intense love. Our Bridegroom-bride relationship with the Son of YHVH is spirit and there is no place for flesh.

Beware of fear that leads us to works. It’s the Holy Spirit that will finish the good work in us. We cannot sanctify ourselves by obeying a set of rules and regulations. Only a life of listen and obey, the laying down of all fleshliness andan  intimate friendship with Him will allow us to be the bride.

Our focus should not be on being a perfect bride, but on daily friendship from a place of total love and surrender. Then holiness and the rest will follow. The more time we spend with Jesus, the more we will be transformed into His image. What we gaze upon, we become.

 

A bride is not invited to her own wedding. She is the one sending out the invites.

Let the voice of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the bride of Jesus Christ echoes louder as they are inviting the guests to the wedding feast.

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. (Rev 22:17) 

 

Links

To listen to the introduction, as well as the Word I’ve received by the Holy Spirit concerning this series, please click here.

The audio version of this message is availalbe on our telegram channel: https://t.me/+1hYU7h46Jj1hZDc8

Part 1 – Who is the Bridegroom (background)

Part 2 – Who is your beloved?

Part 3 – He is my beloved

Part 4 – Hy is Light

Part 5 – Hy is Holy

Part 6 – Hy is the Warrior and Avenger

Part 7 – He is the Conqueror

Part 8 – He is the Head

Part 9 – The Set-Apart One

Part 10 – He is Unchanging

Part 11 – He is the Zealous One

Part 12 – He is the Judge

Part 13 – He is Love

Part 14 – He is Unfathomable

Part 15 – Hy is the High Priest

Part 16 – He is the Creator

Part 17 – He is the Lamb of God

Part 18 – He is the Son of YHVH

Part 19 – The is the Eternal One

Part 20 – He is the Truth

Part 21 – He is Worthy