The Betrothed Bride Of Messiah

From the very beginning, God planned an eternal marriage with redeemed man. There are seven holy rehearsals that God has given mankind to learn and experience His plan. The material covered in this book is based upon the Scripture coupled with ancient rabbinic commentaries and interpretation. (Biblical Studies)

This book sheds new light on the women in the Fourth Gospel. Unlike most works that approach the topic from a historical-critical perspective, this book approaches the topic from a historical-literary perspective and attempts to illustrate for the modern reader how a first-century reader would have understood the characterizations of the women, given first-century cultural and literary norms and the theology of the implied author. The thesis of this book is that the primary purpose of the women in the Fourth Gospel is to support the portrayal of Jesus as the Messianic Bridegroom and further the plot of Jesus' giving the people the power to become children of God (John 1:12). This historical-literary analysis exposes a highly androcentric and patriarchal text, which leads the author in the end to question current assumptions that behind the text exists a community or school whose egalitarianism extended to women.

"Dear Bride" is a series of letters written in the First Person from Jesus, the Bridegroom, to His Church- His Bride, for this very hour. Each letter was inspired by the Holy Spirit to draw you closer to Jesus, so you may receive a deeper revelation of His love for you and live as His Bride in greater oneness with Him.

Applying a comprehensive theory of character to the Gospel of John, Cornelis Bennema provides a fresh analysis of the characters and their responses to Jesus. While the majority of scholars view most Johannine characters as flat, Bennema demonstrates that many are complex, developing, and round. Johns broad array of characters correspond to people and their choices in real life in any culture and time. This book highlights how Johns Gospel seeks to challenge its readers about where they stand in relation to Jesus.

Exploring six Gospel texts in which women encounter Jesus, Frances Taylor Gench encourages us to view these stories anew through the eyes of contemporary biblical scholarship. Summarizing and making accessible the work of a diversity of feminist scholars while also engaging many of the more traditional voices of the past, she examines each story's language, structure, and literary and socio-cultural context, and recounts many traditional and contemporary interpretations. In the process, she opens up new possibilities for reading these texts. Includes helpful questions for discussion.

Four thousand years ago God chose a people for a specific purpose, which has remained constant to this very day. That purpose was to reveal His desire for an intimate relationship. Through their language, history, and culture we can come to an understanding of God's nature as He reveals how to walk in a holy lifestyle. In Betrothed we see this plan of God revealed conceptually through the entirety of Scripture, that His ultimate goal is to select and prepare a bride for His Son. Many Christians today talk about being the Bride of Christ, but few realize the extent that God has gone to in bringing this reality to the heart of the believer. This is not only a place of position but a valid and real place of experience. We spend our Christian journey in the maze of performance and never fully realize that the major work for this intimate relationship has been provided through Jesus Christ. It has been lost to us through doctrines and theologies that have little or nothing to do with relationship itself. In Betrothed we understand, from God's perspective, what it means to be married to His Son. Jesus spent much of His earthly ministry teaching us about His upcoming marriage. This understanding, however, has been clouded by the Western mindset to the point that marriage to Jesus has become simply a theological term with no real meaning. As we move back into a Hebraic understanding of the New Testament, the revelation of marriage to Jesus becomes remarkably clear. Statements of intimacy such as "Thou shalt have none other gods before me" (Deuteronomy 5:7) and "I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2) take on new and exciting meanings. Betrothed will leave the reader with a clearer picture of how to walk in a more intimate relationship with the Father. Many old beliefs will be challenged as one truly understands what it means to be the Bride of Christ. Betrothed is the experiential walk of an average believer who desires to find fullness in intimacy with God. Douglas A. Wheeler, PhD, ThD, is a pastor and professor teaching the Scriptures from the original Hebraic language, history and culture. Dr. Wheeler has authored other works, including The Menorah: A Picture of the Christian Life, Hebrew Bible Study Methodology, Benching and the Early Christian Meal, The Salt of the Earth, The Law of the Fringe, The Echad of God, and For the Love of God. Dr. Wheeler travels extensively, teaching on these and other subjects. He is currently senior pastor of Grace Fellowship Church. He is also president of Jubilee Christian College and Jubilee Graduate School of Jewish/Christian Studies. He is married to his wife, Joyce, of twenty-five years and has two sons and three grandchildren. The ultimate goal of his life is to walk in an ongoing personal, intimate relationship with the Lord and to teach others to do the same.

Many interpreters of the Fourth Gospel detect allusions to biblical texts about marriage, but none offers a comprehensive analysis of these proposed allusions or a convincing explanation for their presence. Building on the work of Richard Hays, Donald Juel and Craig Koester, in this 2006 book Jocelyn McWhirter argues that John alludes to biblical texts about marriage in order to develop a metaphor for Jesus and how he relates to his followers. According to McWhirter, John chooses these texts because he uses a first-century exegetical convention to interpret them as messianic prophecies in light of an accepted messianic text. Specifically, he uses verbal parallels to link them to Psalm 45, a wedding song for God's anointed king. He then draws on them to portray Jesus as a bridegroom-Messiah and to depict Jesus' relationship with his followers in terms of marriage.

In Nuptial Symbolism in Second Temple Writings, the New Testament and Rabbinic Literature, André Villeneuve examines the ancient Jewish/Christian concept of the marriage covenant between God and his people, moving through salvation history from Eden to Sinai, the Temple and the eschaton.