I. INTRODUCTION A. The bridal paradigm in the Kingdom is what Jesus pointed to.
1. In the days ahead the body of Christ will have a fierce and determined spirituality, yet we will have little or no tolerance for traditional ‘religion’. Passion for Jesus with extravagant obedience to Him will be the heartbeat of the church in this coming generation. This passion is imparted to us most powerfully in context to what I term the ‘bridal paradigm’ of the Kingdom of God. The ‘bridal paradigm’ is not a precise theological term commonly used by scholars. Rather, it is a practical term that communicates a cluster of truths drawing us into the experience of the ‘superior pleasures’ of the gospel. God’s main strategy in freeing us from the ‘inferior pleasures’ of sin is by introducing us to deeper and superior ‘spiritual pleasures’ of the gospel. 2. These superior pleasures are experienced as the Holy Spirit makes known to us specific truths related to seven longings of the heart that are common to all. In other words, we are best equipped to resist the lesser pleasures of sin as we experience satisfaction in intimacy with God. In this study, I will present truths related to seven longings of the human heart that I associate together. These comprise the theological core of my understanding of the ‘bridal paradigm’ of the Kingdom. As we experience God’s Presence related to these seven themes, we sill increasingly experience superior pleasures empowering us to extravagantly follow the Lamb wherever He goes including even martyrdom. B. These longings fulfilled describe seven different unique privileges of the bride. 1. We all have access to grace in order to have exhilarated, fascinated and awestruck hearts. 2. These seven longings of the human heart can all be traced back to expressions of God’s own personality. They are expressions of His own image. We feel delight because He is filled with delight, we have happiness because He has happiness. These describe our design in creation. 3. These seven longings are expressions of what is meant by being exhilarated by the holy romance. It is how we live exhilarated – how we live in the fullness of happiness. How we enter into these seven superior pleasures. 4. One more thing is that these seven are the seven primary definitions of success. We have secondary definitions of success like a big house, big car, big ministry, with many friends. 5. When we touch the primary definitions of success we feel powerful on the inside. II. FIRST, THE LONGING FOR THE ASSURANCE THAT WE ARE ENJOYED BY GOD A. God built us with the longing for the assurance that we are enjoyed by God. This is where we begin our introduction to the romance of the gospel. There is a craving in every heart to be pursued, delighted in, and enjoyed first by God then by our families and friends. We become nearly crippled with emotional impairment as we feel rejection and shame from God or people. B. Our study will be limited to focus on this longing as it relates to Jesus without going into the vast subject of feeling rejected by these we love. I believe that the most prevailing stronghold of the mind is related to the fear of rejection and the trauma of shame. This most fundamental longing to be enjoyed and loved is initially satisfied by the revelation of the finished work of the cross. However, God wants to touch this vital area in an ever deeper and abiding way. The Godhead has chosen to do this through the revelation of God’s emotional capacities as both a Father and Bridegroom. We will only be satisfied by experiencing revelation of the affections of God. In our natural lives, most of us know what it means to desire romance. C. Such desires are so powerful and even sometimes dangerous. There is nothing as dangerous as a bruised lover. However, God wants to use our disappointments in love to drive us into His holy romance. In the gospel, we are invited to be embraced with bridal affection, so as to be enjoyed by the Godhead beyond even the angels. It is not so difficult to believe that God enjoys and loves us in heaven or even on the earth as long as we are very mature in the Holy Spirit. However, God now enjoys and delights in young believers even in the midst of spiritual immaturity! (Luke 15:4-5, 8-10, 20). He wants to marry us. Yes even us. He enjoys us even now. D. When Jesus corrects us in Divine discipline He does not reject us. Rather, He corrects us because He so desires us. We often mistake correction with rejection but in Christ it is simply not ture. One of the most fundamental realities in the Spirit is that our Bridegroom King so desires, pursues and enjoys us as His Bride. When the human heart i s assured through the revelation of the Spirit that we are deeply enjoyed, then something powerful is awakened within us. This is truly the beginning of our experience of the Divine romance. Eventually this significantly changes our emotional chemistry. E. This seems too good to be true but it is gloriously true. The Rod of God declares that, “I am my Beloved’s, and His desire is toward me.” (Song 7:10). Many believers automatically resist this spiritual realty with their unrenewed minds and religious paradigms. However, in the bridal paradigm of the Kingdom, the Lord satisfies our deep longing to be enjoyed, loved and romanced. He does this by imparting to us the revelation that we have been pursued and desired by Him. In this revelation, our hearts will be set afire. The assurance of enjoyment! F. The absolute strongest emotion in our being is the craving to be assured that God enjoys us. The power of feeling enjoyed. We can image God will enjoy us when we are in heaven; we can even imagine God will enjoy us if we are spiritually mature on the earth. But the idea that He enjoys us while we are spiritually immature is unthinkable for many people. G. The first expression of the romance of the gospel, is feeling enjoyed by God. God answers it by a revelation of His extraordinary desire for us. His extraordinary passion for us as a Father and a Bridegroom. The Father’s passion for us as children and the Bridegroom’s passion for us as a bride. God answers this longing by the revelation of His extraordinary passion and desire for us.
“…that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (John 17:23) “…that the love with which You loved Me may be in them…” (John 17:26) Jesus is how the Father feels about us; and the love the Father feels for Jesus is how we will love. III. SECONDLY, THE LONGING TO BE FASCINATED A. There is a craving in every human spirit to be marveled and fascinated. We long to be awestruck and filled with endless wonder. The secular entertainment industry has identified this human longing and has targeted it commercially. They have exploited this foundational craving to their own profit and to our ruin. Without having a sense of awe, we live aimless and spiritually bored. This makes us vulnerable to satan’s tactics. A spiritually bored church is a weak and vulnerable church. The Father will change this. B. A satisfied believer is a spiritually strong believer who lives protected from satan’s schemes. So many of us search endlessly through worldly entertainment and recreation to fulfill this God-given craving to be fascinated. Because of this Divine design, we really do need to experience a sense of wonderment in the very core of our beings. The Lord will answer this longing by an unprecedented unveiling of the beauty of Christ Jesus. In Isaiah 4:2, God declares that in the last days the Branch of the Lord will be manifested as beautiful. The Branch of the Lord in none other than our Messiah Christ Jesus. God will fascinate His people beyond anything they have ever known by the unveiling of the beauty of Jesus in the last days. This is “divine entertainment” at its highest as God the Father reveals God the Son to us through the Holy Spirit. This brings us to our ultimate exhilaration! The Holy Spirit through the Word escorts us on this Divine treasure hunt into the beauty of Jesus. C. Throughout church history most believers have not been deeply fascinated by the Lord, but they have simply grit their teeth as they seek to avoid evil. However, a new anointing is to be released on the church worldwide. Perceiving Jesus’ beauty results in being supernaturally strengthened in the inner man. Within the bridal paradigm, God will answer our craving for awe and wonder by revealing to us the beauty of the Bridegroom. In this way, He will liberate people from the domination of the inferior pleasures of sin by introducing us to the superior pleasures of the gospel. The fullness of the gospel involves healing and forgiveness, but it also includes His splendor filled personally. We worship One who possesses transcendent beauty! The overwhelmed seraphim gazed on His transcendent beauty. These ‘burning ones’, cried out, “Holy! Holy! Holy!” as they are stunned by the beauty of God. We will be preoccupied by One so outstanding in excellence that we will count all else as rubbish in comparison! (Philippians 3:8) IV. THIRDLY, THE LONGING TO BE BEAUTIFUL A. Every one of us longs to possess beauty and to feel beautiful. Our culture has an obsession with physical appearance and vanity as it seeks to answer this legitimate longing in a wrong way. The glorious news is that the beauty of God is not just something He possesses but it is something He imparts through redemption. His beauty is transferable to human beings through Jesus! This is a staggering concept! B. God transfers His beauty through redemption to formerly demonized, hopeless, sin-ridden people. In Psalm 90:17, Moses prayed that Lord would release the beauty of God upon the redeemed. David prayed in Psalm 149:4 that God would beautify the humble with salvation. C. A beautiful God created us in a way that we long to possess and feel His imparted beauty. Most people pursue beauty at great lengths because we feel so unsettled and unhappy when we feel ugly. Our heart vigorously chases after the realm of beauty. V. FOURTHLY, THE LONGING TO BE GREAT A. In the core of our being, we long to be successful and noble. The great God created us with a pursuit of greatness deep within our emotional genetics. Sometimes we misunderstand this longing and assume that we must repent of it, but this isn’t true. We cannot repent of the God given longing to be great, but only of pursuing it in a wrong way. We were made for greatness and honor. B. Jesus declares that His people would one day be exalted to His very right hand. “As I have sat upon My father’s throne, you will sit with Me on My throne” (Revelation 3:21). He meets this longing for greatness and nobility by granting His Bride such a position of authority that surpasses even the highest ranking angels. In the embrace of our Bridegroom King, we co-rule with Him. Believers are at the very pinnacle of power in the created order. You are a part of the aristocracy of eternity. Yes! You are a part of the ruling class. In Jesus, you married into indescribable wealth and power. As the church takes hold of the truth of who we really are as honored and esteemed heirs of the God’s throne, then our lives will portray a divine inner strength and a fierce determination to be wholly His. VI. FIFTHLY, THE LONGING FOR INTIMACY WITHOUT SHAME A. We long to know and to be known before the Lord. Jesus will entrust to His bride the unique secrets of His transcendent beauty and Divine strategies. He has many secrets that He will reveal to His bride, ones that the principalities and powers do not know (Ephesians 3:10). Because of our value to Him we are invited into this mysterious realm of Divine knowledge. God put this longing in us because He wants ut to find our deepest satisfaction in experiencing intimacy with the Divine. God will allow us to know Him more fully than the rest of His created beings. This spiritual intimacy is available to the redeemed both in time and eternity. B. Intimacy involves not only our knowledge of His secrets but also, His knowledge of our secrets. He understands all the secret aspects of our life that are unknown, unnoticed and misunderstood by others. Jesus feels our pain and struggle. He knows our sin and shame. Yet He believes in us and treats us with honor as He walks with us through every season of life. C. Also, He is intimate with us in our victory and prosperity. He rejoices and celebrates with us as He shares our triumphs. He knows our true greatness and He sees the heights of our nobility in redemption. D. He is intimate with us in our heart passions. He knows the depths of our longings, dreams and intentions to love Him. Even our failed intentions to love Him are seen in His love. We have great strength in knowing that He recognizes our sacrifice. To be fully known without shame and to have no fear of being left to experience the mysteries of life alone is very exhilarating. I refer to the generation that the Lord returns as the Bridegroom generation. In the Bridegroom generation God will answer our longing for ‘intimacy without shame’ in an unprecedented way! VII. SIXTH, THE LONGING TO BE WHOLEHEARTED AND PASSIONATE A. We long to possess the power to be abandoned to Him so that we might never be dulled b spiritual boredom, disloyalty or compromise that leaves us broken and discontent. We desire the ability to give the deepest affection of or heart back to God (Matthew 22:37). B. We cannot function properly until we have passionately given our heart to a Person and purpose beyond ourselves. If we don’t have something to die for, then we don’t have anything to live for. We don’t work right halfhearted. The passive heart is vulnerable to every lust of the flesh. In order to be emotionally whole, we must reach for wholeheartedness as the Lord graciously imparts it to our weak hearts. God will restore the First Commandment to first place. C. The ‘joy of lovesickness’ is exhilarating. Oh the joy and power of being lovesick for Jesus. Such loyal love frees us from the burn out of spiritual boredom. He imparts to us the power to be passionate because He is a passionate God. VIII. SEVENTH, THE LONGING TO MAKE A DEEP IMPACT A. We are desperate for a life of meaning that is filled with relevance and significance. We so want to make a contribution to the lives of those we care about. We enjoy bringing good news to others. We delight to exhilarate others. This longing is fulfilled by anointed service resulting in rewards that literally last forever. B. God designed His people to make a relevant impact in the lives of others (Matthew 10:42; 3 John 4). Jesus wants us yoked together with Him in the holy mandate that the Father has gave Him to disciple the nations (Matthew 28:19). We find great pleasure in walking out the Second Commandment instead of continuing in self centered isolationism. |