My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

60
 
BRIDEGROOM
 
Luke 5:34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
Was not Jesus a single man? For Him to speak of a bridegroom must have been somewhat surprising for those who heard Him. Some may not have connected Him as the bridegroom, but they surely refused to connect any importance to this Rabbi, for it seems obvious that He is referring to Himself.

So a single man refers to Himself as a bridegroom. One more time where the Master teacher shocks our sensibilities, our expectations, our assumptions.

To be a bridegroom brought with it a number of assumptions that the Jewish culture accepted.

A bridegroom would provide a gift to initiate a betrothal for His bride. Well, that is not quite accurate. The Father of the Bridegroom would provide this gift, called a mohar in the Old Testament, for the bride. Once this transaction occurred, the betrothal was entered into, and a wedding was planned for. This time period between betrothal and the formal wedding was as binding as the formal wedding, but lacked in the intimacy the formal wedding would allow.

An example of this expectation of the betrothal is the Lord’s earthly mother and father. When Joseph was informed of Mary’s pregnancy, he considered divorce, since they were “merely” betrothed, and she could not be having his child as they had not been intimate yet.

Since the Bridegrooms family paid for the bride, it was understood that the newly founded family would live with the Bridegroom’s father/family.

One other interesting tidbit regarding this practice was the negotiating between families for the betrothal. The future bride had very little, if any input in the negotiations. The betrothal was a period of time where the bride would become acquainted with the Bridegroom

Can we see the Father and the Son working out the picture of the betrothal and wedding for His bride?
Did not the Father provide a gift to the bride in the sacrifice of the Son?
Is not our current time of knowing the Lord reminiscent of this betrothal period?
Finally, when the marriage occurs, as the bride we will be taken to the Father’s house.

How often the disciples must have marveled at the teaching of Jesus, possibly confused at first, maybe somewhat frustrated, but they continued to seek truth. When this picture of the betrothal and wedding was understood spiritually, it must have been a tremendous blessing to those disciples.

He is our Bridegroom, and He has bought us. Take time getting “acquainted” with Him.

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.


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