BEHIND THE CLOSED DOOR
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This is the last in the series on our journey through the Tabernacle. The journey has been about experiencing the intimacy of the love relationship between God and His covenanted people, the Bridegroom and His Bride. We were created for intimacy with God. We have been given a spirit that can communicate with His Spirit. His love for us is intense, passionate and stronger than death: a love that nothing but Love alone can quench. As a husband does, He has chosen to love and ravish His bride with beauty, glory and splendour. As we understand this imagery our perspective of who God is to us, changes and we understand why He so desires us. We are created for His pleasure. The Invitation To Intimacy The Lord invites us to identify with the words of King Solomon “Arise, my love, my fair one and come away” (Song of Songs 2:10), as a Bridegroom would speak to a bride. The time has come for the Bridegroom to take His bride to His Father’s house, to the wedding bed-chamber and the ceremony. Preparation For intimacy Preparation is so important.
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Revelations 19:7 says, “The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.” So how does one prepare for this wonderful invitation from the Bridegroom? For me, I prepare myself in several ways. I like to adorn myself with the jewels of God’s word (Isa 61:10). I like to think of my wedding gown dazzling with the attributes of pure love, obedience, and personal holiness. And, with excited expectation. Can I say as King David said, “my flesh yearns…thirsts for You” (Psalm 63:1-8). Am I consumed with passion, like David, with a heart full of desire for his Lord? Am I so in love with my Lord, that I experience an aching for more of Him? Do I yearn to walk, and live and breathe His presence all day long? Getting to know Him—who He is, what He does, how He thinks, and what He desires – becomes the centre of my affection. I have longed realised that knowing Him is much more than knowing about Him. Intimacy with the Lord comes from knowing Him and His word. Out of that intimacy flows security, dependency, and a willingness to submit to His will,
October - December 2020
