So what was the plan?

When Jesus ate with His disciples in the upper room on Passover. It seems very normal, and yet there is a strike difference than a normal Passover meal. Jesus in an unusual way takes the cup of wine and says :”Likewise also the cup after supper, saying , this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you “(Luke 22:20). The disciples knew the meaning behind such common language, you see to them it was not foreign as it is to us. They would have understood this language to be different from a normal Passover meal. After all these were Jews who had many a Passover meal, and Jews some of which we know to be married and who would have had first hand knowledge of what Jesus was saying and doing. We looked earlyer as we studied the history of the Jewish wedding, that when a groom wished to take a bride, he would take a cup of wine from His father and say "this cup of wine represents my blood that I freely give to you". Another words what the groom was saying is that "I am willing to lay my life if I have to in order to make sure you are safe" This cup is known as the cup of the covenant. This completed rite is known in Hebrew as Kiddushin, which means “Sanctification: Now when you read Luke you will see that Jesus states "this is the New Testement"...the word Testement is the same word in the Hebrew "Covenant" You find in the Old Testment that this new Covenant was told to us in the book of Hosea. "And at that day, says Jehovah, you shall call Me, My husband; and you shall no more call Me, My Baal. For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth; and they shall no more be remembered by their name. And in that day I will cut a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and the creepers of the ground. And I will break the bow and the sword, and the battle out of the earth, and I will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth you to Me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in compassions. I will even betroth you to Me in faithfulness. And you shall know Jehovah. And it shall be in that day, I will answer, says Jehovah. I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth. And the earth shall hear the grain, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her to Me in the earth. And I will have mercy on No Mercy. And I will say to Not My People, You are My people! And they shall say, My God!
(Hos 2:16-23)You see this was much more than a Passover, it was a marriage proposal to his new bride. A proposal that was written about in Hosea and is seen in Jeremiah and was proclaimed by Jesus him self.

This scripture describes the situation perfectly. “Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him”. (2 Samuel 14:14) God procured a plan to bring mankind who had been estranged from Him since the Garden of Eden, so that we do not have to face death. This plan is so wonderful and incredible that Satan wouldn't even see it coming. “No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Corinthians 2:7-8 )
So we see the prospective husband came down from heaven and paid the bride price, by offering his life to God on the cross. What we see is Jesus demonstrating his love for God and for mankind through his complete submission and obedience. Obedience to the point of affliction is something that Satan would never comprehend. Jesus allowed God to orchestrate events that bought him before the ruling bodies and saw him condemned to death by crucifixion(Isa_53:7).

While Jesus was on the cross God covered him with our sin. Jesus became sin. Jesus died spiritually as well as physically on the cross and cried out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Just like with mankind, God was forced to turn his face from him. Now God asked Satan: "Why did you cover my servant in death? You who point your finger at me and accuse my beloved mankind. You now tell me, what sin did my Son, Jesus has committed! For he did not sin (IICor 5:21), and because he did not sin, there was no wage he had to pay (Rom 6:23), and so there was no death that could contain him. Satan, the Accuser of the Brethren, was dumbfounded. He never saw it coming. It was CHECK MATE!

As the scriptures say: “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous”. (Romans 5:18-19) God stripped Satan of the keys to death and gave them to Jesus because He did not deserve death (the punishment of sin)for there was no sin found in Him (Rev 1:18).So we see in all this, Jesus paying the bride price of death, with the unexpected resurrection from the dead, unexpected by Satan that is. God demonstrated through all this, to the powers and principalities in the heavenly realms, his awesome wisdom (Eps 3: 10-11).

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)

What this is saying is that so long as our independence from death was dependent upon our perfection we were condemned. But thanks be to God, Jesus conquered death and provided a way to life through a union with him, who was resurrected from death.

A marriage is based on faith. A man and a woman have faith in one another and make a verbal profession of that faith before God and man. This union results in the creation of a new being, the husband/wife, and lasts until death separates them.Our union with Jesus Christ is exactly the same. We come to know him, we believe his proposal and we make a verbal profession of our faith before God and man. We enter into a new creation that lasts forever, because death will never separate us because he who has entered into life is free from death (John 5:24; IICor 5:17).A relationship with God is based on faith. This is true now and has always been true. (Heb 13:8) Mankind couldn't fix the fact that they rebelled since the Garden of Eden. But God, through Jesus Christ, paid the price of rebellion, and provided a way that through faith in what Jesus did, and faith in his promised union with us, we can once again stand before God in holiness and righteousness, because of the sacrifice that was paid on the cross of Calvery (Luke 1:74-75).

Looking back to the description of the biblical marriage we can see that Jesus paid the bride price and he has gone back to his Father's house to prepare a place for us "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
(John 14:1-4).

It is not coincidental that it was during the betrothal phase of their marriage that the Holy Spirit conceived in Mary the Holy Child. It is during the present age, the betrothal age, the Church age, that the Holy Spirit enters into the heart of the believers marking them as the Lord's betrothed. The Holy Spirit is a pledge sent from God promising and guaranteeing that he will return for us and receive us as his own (Eps 1:13-14, IICor 1:22).

We see that the Study of the Bride of Christ contains with in it many other aspects of theological relivence. We see that contained with in the Jewish marriage custum we find a wonderful love story from our Creator to mankind. However it is just the begining of a wonderful jorney, and explors the fantastic truths that the bible holds for the betorthed.