INTRODUCTION
The New Covenant is a blood covenant.
What is the immediate and ultimate significance of the blood covenant?
The immediate significance of the blood covenant is that we (who embrace Jesus as the Messiah) are cleansed from sins, and are betrothed (promised) to him (Christ), and the ultimate significance of the blood covenant is that we shall be gathered into Heaven and shall be married to our Lord for eternity.
As given to us by John and Paul, a divine union between Christ and the church shall come to pass in Heaven, and, these prophecies find their precedent in the Torah: the writings of Moses. To state it another way, the last book of the Bible—the Book of Revelation—marks the fulfillment of what God initiated in the first book of the Bible, Genesis.
THE BLOOD COVENANT
During his earthly ministry, Christ shed his blood on the Cross for us, for the cleansing of sins, but the significance of the shed blood didn’t stop there.
What has yet to be fulfilled for the church?
Who was/is the bride of Christ?
Mary Magdalene?
Israel?
The church?
What did Paul say?
Wherefore, my brethren, ye [the church] also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him [Christ] who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Rom. 7:4 KJV)
What did Christ say?
At the time of the “last supper,” the Son of God sealed the bond between himself and his disciples when he told them, “This is my blood of the [new] covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 14:24).
For those of us who believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the blood shed on the Cross cleanses our sins. How many of us have remembered Christ’s shed blood by sharing in the cup (of wine)? The shed blood is what it cost Heaven to reconcile us.
What is the glory found in this reconciliation that has yet to be fulfilled?
The divine union in Heaven, between the bride and the bridegroom, shall come to pass as prophesied. How did Heaven set this motion? Christ paid the bride price.
The bride of Christ would be “bought at a price” (1 Cor. 6:20). Hebrew law required that a payment be made for the bride; the Son of God paid the “bride price” with his own life—his own blood.
Now, Christ is our high priest (who continues to baptize from Heaven).
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. (Heb. 4:14)
What did Moses say about the high priest?
The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not . . . tear his clothes. . . . “The woman he marries must be a virgin. He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people.” (Lev. 21:10, 13, 14)
What did Paul say about the church?
I have espoused you [the church] to one husband, that I may present you [the church] as a chaste virgin to Christ [the high priest]. (2 Cor. 11:2 KJV)
In Old Testament times, betrothal meant a legal agreement whereby the bride and bridegroom were bound together in a marriage contract, but the two were not yet physically together. An obvious example of this is Mary and Joseph: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 1:18 KJV).
When will the (espoused) church be presented to Christ as a “chaste virgin”?
When the bridegroom (Christ) returns for his bride (the church) and transports his bride (us) to Heaven.
THE SALVATION OF THE CHURCH
The church shall be saved—transformed and transported to Heaven—exactly as prophesied by John, Paul, and Peter: When the suns turns black and the moon turns red (Acts 2:20, 21; Rev. 6:12), when Christ appears in clouds (1 Thess. 4:16, 17; Rev. 1:7; 6:16), which is when the sixth seal opens (Rev. 6:12), the sky—filled with the church—shall roll up to Heaven (Rev. 6:14). It is then that the church shall be gathered before the throne of Heaven (Rev. 7:9-17), which is before the seventh seal opens (Rev. 8:1), and before the first trumpet of wrath ever sounds (Rev. 8:7).
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Rom. 5:9 KJV)
The blood of Christ justifies us, and this translates into a prophecy: the church is saved from the wrath to come. The church will not be on the Earth during the wrath but it shall be transformed immortal and transported to Heaven—saved from wrath.
What prophecy speaks of our time in Heaven that pertains to the shed blood?
Where in the Bible did God first reveal the significance of shed blood?
The Law.
What is stated about the Law in the New Testament?
The law is . . . a shadow of the good things that are coming. (Heb. 10:1)
What are the “good things that are coming” for the church that are found in the Law?
What is the end-time, seven-year prophecy—found in the Torah—that applies to the church—that pertains to the shed blood?
What did God set forth as his standard for a bridegroom and his bride?
The “bridal week” is God’s standard. As recorded by Moses, a wedding for God’s people spans seven days; it is known as the “bridal week” (Gen. 29:27).
Are we as the bride of Christ supposed to believe that God’s own vision for the marriage union—the “bridal week”—won’t apply to his own Son?
No we are not supposed to believe this. The “bridal week” foreshadowed what would ultimately come to pass for the bride of Christ.
The Hebrew word for “week” means “seven,” and can mean seven days or seven years. The “bridal week” for the Son of God and his bride will span not seven days, but seven years. The prophetic “bridal week,” and the glory of the seven-year divine union that will follow for us in Heaven, shall come to pass as given.
God preordained our time in Heaven—in Genesis—and Genesis is in agreement with Revelation. In Revelation, Christ revealed a seven-year prophecy: 3.5 years of God’s prophets (Rev. 11:3) followed by 3.5 years of Satan’s prophets (Rev. 13:5, 11). This is what awaits Israel on the Earth during Daniel’s seventieth “week.” This is in sharp contrast to what awaits the church in Heaven during the “bridal week”—which is the fulfillment of the blood covenant.
THE CHURCH IN HEAVEN: THE BRIDAL WEEK
What is the ultimate end of the blood covenant for the church in Heaven?
Then I [John] heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” (Rev. 19:6–9)
What is the church given to wear?
“Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her [the church/the bride] to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)” Our fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints for the entirety of the 20 centuries the saints have exhibited righteous acts.
God bless.
