The Exodus Motif and the Marriage Covenant of 1 Corinthians 15

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the All Things Fulfilled broadcast. This is William Bell, and this morning we're going to be continuing on the theme that we introduced on last week, which is the Exodus Motif of Marriage. This is part two, and the reason that we're covering this is because it is so very, very important in the study of the resurrection. I know that I have more than enough material to get into this brief time frame, but we're going to get as much in. There are some other points that I want to bring in, and I'm trying to decide now, even as I begin the lesson, whether I want to cut some of the material and just go on to what I need to share with you about this, what I want to share with you about this. But this background is so important for us to see the connection, and so this is why we want to do it. I can see the Facebook page is loading up pretty good here. Good morning to Ron, to Julie, Michael, Mark, Eric, Haymaker, and Connie. And I know that there are some others who are on the Zoom, and so we appreciate your being with us this morning as well. So let's go ahead and begin, because our time is going to get away from us very, very quickly in the process. Now, last week, we introduced the concept of the Exodus motif of marriage, which is found in 1 Corinthians 15, because if we have established that 1 Corinthians 15 is about the Passover, which it is, 1 Corinthians 15, and verse 3, Christ died for our sins according to scriptures, and he died as the Passover lamb. Well, that means that 1 Corinthians 15 is about the Exodus, and that is true, whether we look in the book of Corinthians or the book of Romans, because it was established in both of those contexts. But it also permeates the entire New Testament, including the book of Revelation. And for that reason, you will see these recurring themes throughout all of the epistles, so pretty much most of the major epistles of the New Testament, as well as the book of Revelation. And once we get into this, you should have no problem seeing that. I've continually received very positive comments from people on the lessons, and I appreciate that. And before I forget, I do want to encourage you, if you have not subscribed to our YouTube channel, please go there and subscribe, and that way you get a notification every time we upload new videos, and also visit us on Saturdays at our Now Network for the 6.30 to 7 p.m. Central Time broadcast of All Things Fulfilled. And our website is All Things Fulfilled as well. So, saying that, let's go ahead and continue. Now, it's clear from the study of the Exodus that the following points are evident. We know that God entered into a covenant with Israel at the time, and you have Deuteronomy 5 and verse 2, but you also have the 19th chapter of the book of Exodus. He protected them. He provided for them and appeared to them as king. And in addition, they became his special treasure. So, let's go and look at Exodus 19 for a moment. Pick out some of the key phrases that are used in the text that support this concept of the wedding that occurred there. The Bible says in Exodus 19, beginning at verse 4, you have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. So, Moses came and called for the elders of the people and laid before them all these words, which the Lord commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. So, Moses brought back these words to the Lord. So, what we have as we break this down just a bit is the people saying that, first of all, you have God saying that he had provided for them, he had protected them and would continue to do so, which was his stepping into the role of their husband. From that perspective, he asked them to submit to him and to obey his covenant and obey his voice. And he said they will become his special treasure. Then they said all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. All that he said, we will do. So, that was their acceptance of the covenant. It was their willingness to submit themselves to the covenant and to enter into that relationship with him. And at that point, we see in the latter part of the book of Exodus, where he chose or whether he, where he called them to the Mount to meet with him at the in which he would appear to them. Now, when we look in Jeremiah 31, and we've covered these points before, but I want to reiterate them. When we looked at Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah talked about the new covenant. And when he introduced the concept of the new covenant, of course, he talked about the old covenant. He says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt and watch my covenant, which they broke, although I was a husband to them, says the Lord. So, there we have this relationship between covenant and between the, and between marriage that is directly related to the Exodus motif. And because of that, we will see the connection between the language, which is found in 1 Corinthians 15, that is also marriage language as well. Now we also pointed out from Ezekiel chapter 16, where the Lord enters into this covenant. Ezekiel also reiterates this point and talks about Israel in the day that they were born in the day of their nativity, which is going back to Exodus chapter 19. And God said to them in Ezekiel 16, that no, I pitted you to do any of these things for you to have compassion on you, but you were thrown out into the open field. And when you yourself were loathed on that day, that you were born. And so, he begins to share with him, share with him this information about how it came to be that he entered into this relationship. And so, he says in verse six, when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, live. Yes, I said to you in your blood, live. I made you thrive like a plant. These are key words used here. It's not to be overlooked when he says, I made you thrive like a plant. And we'll say more about that as we move on. In the field, and you grew, matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare. And when I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed, your time was the time of love. So, I spread my wing up over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you and you became mine, says the Lord. Then I washed you in water. Yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you with embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin. I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. Now, what this language is all about, when God says he found them naked, he found them in their sins. That's the idea. It's the same idea of Adam and Eve who had to be covered once they sinned. And so, what God is doing here is he's covering them, but the materials that we see in the context with which he covered them was the tabernacle. And these are the materials which are found in the tabernacle. In other words, this is covenant clothing. Why? Because it was through the tabernacle that they had atonement for their sins through the work of the high priest. And therefore, that was their covering for sin. Now, when we start talking about the resurrection in first Corinthians and we start seeing the clothing in the chapter, in chapter 15 and in also second Corinthians chapter 5, but it's also in Romans and other passages, the book of Revelation, we should be thinking about a covering for sin. See, that ties right back into the theme and the purpose of the chapter, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. There's nothing about physical bodies in terms of the applied meaning of Jesus' death being focused on in first Corinthians 15. And that's where people are losing it on the chapter. This is where they put blinders on their eyes and they say they can't see these things, but it's because they're not focused on the language of the apostles or the language of the prophets. And therefore, they make these errors and these blunders when it comes down to first Corinthians 15. And so not only that, but he is saying that his bride ascended to royalty. Remember over in the Exodus, when he said, you shall be a kingdom of priests to me. Well, to be a kingdom implies that they had a king and therefore they're stepping into the role of a bride indicated that they became his queen. And that's what's indicated here. So let's see if that is true in Ezekiel. He says in verse 10, I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin. And by the way, if you want to see all these elements and materials, just go to Exodus 25, 8, when God said that he wanted them to bring an offering so that they could build a sanctuary where he could dwell with him. And then he tells them what materials to bring for the sanctuary and all of them, or the temple, the tabernacle, all of them are listed in Exodus 25 verses one through eight. So he says, I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrist and a chain on your neck. And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, all of the elements, the materials out of which the tabernacle was built. And your clothing was a fine linen and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry and fine flour, honey and oil. You're talking about the show brand and all of those things that were related to Israel's tabernacle and the service of the, of the priest. You were exceedingly beautiful and succeeded to royalty. Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty for it was perfect through my splendor. So their clothing came from God. And he says, which I bestowed on you says the Lord. Now that being the case, we can see this correlation between, um, um, and that is true. Holger, he says, futures have, have God marrying an infant bride in acts two, but that was the betrothal. The marriage takes place in revelation 18, seven over is correct. He has a book on that goes into some detail on that. I would encourage you that if you haven't purchased this book, look it up. He's right there online and get that. He has an excellent section in there about the betrothal, um, as Israel is concerned. And I'm going to be talking a little bit about that, uh, today, if I get to it now, what was the marriage covenant about, as we mentioned to you, the tabernacle was there for atonement for Israel to receive atonement for their sins. It was a covering for sin. That's what the mercy seat and everything was about in the high priest entering into the most Holy place once a year, not only for his own sins, but also for the sins of the people. So it was typical of the manner in which God was making them righteous. That's what we need to see in the marriage covenant. Holger also has some good comments in terms of forgiveness as related to, to marriage, but this is very, very important. So what I want to do now is turn to the 61st chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 61. And we'll pick up some comments in this chapter that again, focus on these points. Yes, Holger, I see revelation 19, seven, we're going to get there, but we want to lay the foundation before we get to revelation 18, seven, hopefully by the time I'm done, people will just, they'll just fall into revelation 19, seven, because it is so very, very important. Thank you, Robert. And Cindy, good morning, Israel as well. Now in Isaiah chapter 61, what we have is the emphasis on becoming righteous, but that is interconnected to the marriage covenant, which is also connected to another very important concept in first Corinthians 15, that I think we butcher as a whole. And I'm not saying those who are predators, but I'm talking about those who are futurists, particularly, uh, is, is just totally butchered because it's not seen in the proper context where it should be as it relates to the marriage covenant. So let's see if we can show a correlation there. Now in Isaiah 61 verse one, the Bible says the spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty, to the captives and the opening of the prison, to those who are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for morning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified. Now let's notice some of this language here. What we're dealing with is the year of Jubilee. All right. The year of Jubilee where the captives were released and where you had the covenant reset, which you could call a worldly reset as well in terms of Israel's covenant. You know, people are talking about today the great reset that's going on, which is really, well, I don't even want to get into coming in on that because I'll just waste some time, but the real reset took place in scripture from the old covenant to the new covenant. That's really what was involved in the great reset in setting people free, giving them liberty rather than taking liberties. That's all I'll say about that. But nevertheless, the point is it was to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, which is a reference to Jubilee and the day of vengeance of our God. If you go to Luke chapter four, I'm not sure exactly what the verse is. I'm thinking verse 16 and following, but nevertheless, you can go to four as the old preachers say, read the whole chapter and you'll find it. But he talks about this in Jesus. He doesn't mention the day of vengeance, but the very fact that he cites the text implies that that is what he was getting at as well. But, and that's the time that they wanted to throw him off a cliff because of some of the things that he was saying. But he says it was the day of vengeance in the year of God's redeem. That's Isaiah 63 and verse four and redemption, as I've said before, is an Exodus motif. And therefore we see what's involved in this day of vengeance, but he said it was to comfort all who mourn to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, et cetera. Now notice this purpose of this was in order that they would be the planting of the Lord. Let that sink in for just a moment in order that they may be called what trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. So the whole purpose of this jubilee of this day of vengeance, et cetera, was in order that they would become the trees. They would be called trees of what righteousness, the planting of the Lord in order that he might be glorified. Now the planting to plant means to sow. Just think about it. Planting means to sow. It means therefore that if they become trees after having been planted, that implies they have been sown in order to do that. You cannot get a plant apart from sowing the seed. Now what else would take place in verse four? He says, they would rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. And then he says to them that he was going to make an everlasting covenant with them, which is the new covenant that again is marriage. So now what do we have involved here? We've got jubilee involved. We've got the planting of the Lord or the sowing, and we got marriage all tied together in the same context. Notice in verse five, strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and the sons of the foreigners shall be your plowmen and your vine dressers, but you shall be named the priests of the Lord. They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles. This is a time when this sowing or planting is taking place. The Gentiles are also coming in and he says, verse seven, I'll skip the first part. Start with therefore in their land, they shall possess double in joy or everlasting joy shall be upon, shall be theirs. And then he says, and I think I'm, let's see. Yes. I think I got a page here out of place. No, no, no. There we go. He says, well, I, the Lord love justice. I hate robbery for burnt offering. I will direct their work and truth and will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them that they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed. Now, a couple of other things. The chapter hasn't ended just so you can see the marriage relationship between all of this. He says in verse 10, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul should be joyful in my God for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. So when we're talking about the clothing that's related to the sowing related to marriage and related to the jubilee, the day of vengeance of our God, all of which is incorporated in first Corinthians 15, it is salvation with which they are clothed. There's a hint to revelation 19 as well. But then he says he has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bride groom, look at the connection between righteousness and marriage as a bride groom decks himself with ornaments as a bride adorns herself with her jewels for as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are what that are sown into it to spring forth. So the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations. In other words, God is going to sow them. Timothy, I'm reading from Isaiah 61 verses 10 and 11. So God was going to sow them in order that he could produce trees of righteousness, but they would be called the planting of the Lord. So there is sowing involved with the marriage covenant. Very, very key, very important. And it doesn't end there. It goes even into chapter 62. That's why I say ignore these chapter divisions all the time. But notice he says, for Zion's sake, I will not hold my peace. And for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns. The Gentiles shall see your righteousness and all kings, your glory. So we're talking about the time the Gentiles are coming in. Now, those people who are waiting on future resurrection, are they still waiting on the Gentiles to come in? That happened a long time ago. See, if we don't understand the correlation in these passages, our entire system, theology, eschatology is going to be off. Even our soteriology. In verse, as we continue on, he says, you shall be called by a new name. I think that's marriage covenant language to which the mouth of the Lord will name. You shall also be a crown of glory. So there's the royalty involved, just like we saw in Ezekiel 16. In the hand of the Lord and the royal diadem in the hand of your God, you shall no longer be termed forsaken. Now look, when Israel was in sin under the old covenant, they were not serving God in terms of their being under the old covenant. In other words, in terms of as Romans chapter six says, they were the servants of sin. This is why the body of sin had to be destroyed. But when they obeyed the gospel, they became servants of righteousness, servants of God. And so he says, you should no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land anymore be termed desolate, but you should be called Hezbollah, which is my delight. And your land, Beulah, which is married for the Lord delights in you. And your land shall be married for as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you. And as a bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. So this is marriage covenant language, but it is tied to the sowing and the planting of Israel and therefore very, very key in our understanding of this particular text. Now, when you talk about the marriage covenant, there were three essentials which are found in, that is correct, Stephen, I will plant them in and no longer shall it be pulled up. As a matter of fact, I was just about to get into that point that you raised, but I was going to do it from Jeremiah and thank you for introducing the text in Amos. All right. And you're welcome brother Timothy. All right. So he says in Jeremiah, now, if you go to Jeremiah chapter 31, you will see three points. And I'm going to bring this up later when we do get to the sowing text in first Corinthians 15, but you might as well get a little bit of it. Now I have learned from experience, you got to repeat these things over and over and over again for them to sink down sometimes into people's minds. But in Jeremiah 31 and verse 27, let's look at what the text says. Now, three times in the chapter, he introduces something very key by the phrase, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord. Now, one of them we're very, very familiar with, and that is behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, but I will make a new covenant, right? We can quote that. We know that, et cetera, but that's not the only thing in the chapter. And it's not the only thing connected with those days that were coming. Just as Stephen had just placed the taxes up in Amos 9 and verse 15, excuse me, I'm trying to go too fast because I know I got a lot to cover, but in verse 27, he says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord that I will sow, notice that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down and to destroy and to afflict. So I will watch over them to do to build and to plant, says the Lord. So in those days that were coming, the Lord was going to sow. Now I've asked people when we're talking about the resurrection, what does it mean to sow the body? And you would be amazed at the responses that we get. And almost none of them really, none of them actually go to the scriptures to tell us what sowing the body means. They will say, well, it means the day that you were born. So you were sown when you were born. Why? Because they're trying to tie it to your physical body. Some of them say, well, you're sown when you physically die. Well, that presents a real problem with first Corinthians 15. You don't sow dead seed, ladies and gentlemen, but you see, the Bible says that they would be sown. And it says, I'm going to sow the house of Israel with the house of Judah. Notice those are the same two that God said he was going to make the new covenant with, but the new covenant began in the first century. So where does that tell you the sowing began? It had to begin in the first century. And these things have to correlate one with the other. I'm saying to you, I've already shown you the correlation between sowing and marriage, but I'm also saying to you that sowing and the covenant goes together as well, because we saw that the covenant was related to the sowing, the everlasting covenant, and that relates it to the marriage and therefore to the Exodus motif, but let's go on. And so notice what would happen when he sows them in those days, they shall say no more. The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on the edge, but everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on the edge. And so that tells you what this was all about. It was all about sin being removed through this process of sowing and the process of marriage, because in that marriage, they were going to get a covering. They were going to get some clothing, but it was going to be the clothing of righteousness, not a replacement for a physical body. But let's go on in verse 30. He brings up the text 31. He's using the phrase again. This is the second important element that needs to be understood in the context. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Well, I submit to you that the days in which they would be sown and the days in which he would make the new covenant are the same days. And then he says, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant, which they broke, says the Lord, although I was a husband to them. You see, we haven't deviated from the motif at all as we're talking about these things. And then he talks about the covenant that he was going to make in that covenant was about covering Israel, covering the people, Israel, Judah, and the Gentiles from their sins or covering their sins. That's what it's all about when he says, I'm going to remember their sins no more. Why? Because he was going to raise up a new tabernacle, a new temple. And that's what first Corinthians 15 and second Corinthians five is about. It's not about bodies. The nakedness in those chapters is about the righteousness that God would clothe them with as a result of entering into a covenant with them. Just like he clothed Israel with the tabernacle in the old Testament. But you see, when you're focused on individual bodies, you don't get it. When you miss the applied meaning of Jesus's death, which says that he died for our sins and he was raised for our justification. I challenge a person to bring me a text that says Jesus died for our physical bodies and he was raised for the transformation or change of our physical bodies. Show it to me. It's not there, but I can show you dozens of passages from the Bible that says he died for our sins and he was raised for our justification or salvation or redemption or however you want to look at that. But that's very, very important. And the next thing that we see in the context is the same phrase again, and that is in verse 38, but watch what he says. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, this is verse 38, that the city shall be built for the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the corner gate. So there are three things that we have here. We have the sowing number one, we have the new covenant number two, and we have the city number three. Now, those of you who say that you were sown when you were born, where's the city? Where's the new covenant? They all happened in the same timeframe, but I guarantee you, you can go to the new Testament and you can find all three together in the same timeframe, but let's finish reading. He says the surveyors line shall again, extend straight forward over the hill, Garrett, and then it shall turn toward and the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes. Now some people are going to get, oh, there it says dead bodies, the whole valley of the dead bodies. Here's what I'd like you to think about when you see that text. How about Ezekiel 37, the valley of dry bones and in the context of the valley of dry bones, when God says he's going to make these bones live, what does he say it is? He said, these bones are the whole house of Israel. And here's something interesting. When you talk about the house of Israel back in second Samuel chapter five, when David was made King over Israel, all the tribes came to David and said to him, we are now bone of your bones and flesh of your flesh. In other words, they said the same thing that God was saying to Israel when he was their King. And they said, all that you say we will do. They were saying, we have entered into a marriage covenant with you. That was the relationship of the King and his people. He coming into to protect them, to provide for them. And they come in into to obey him, to submit to him. And that's what Israel will say. We are now bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. And so when we look at this, you have them, their bones are dry. They're uncovered. They had been removed from the land, from the tabernacle. And God is saying, I'm going to gather you back into the land and cover you with the tabernacle and with the new covenant. That's why you go into the two sticks in Ezekiel 37 15. But what does that chapter end with? It ends with God saying that through David, and that is the Messianic David of Ezekiel 37, it ends with the new covenant and new tabernacle. And that is precisely where Paul is drawing his language from in second Corinthians chapter five, and as well in first Corinthians 15. So in chapter 37, let me just read the last few verses, starting in verse 24. Now let's, let's read 23, because 23 is about cleansing. The Bible says they shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions, but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places, which they have sinned and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people and I will be their God. You see, it's about cleansing them from sin. David, my servant shall be king over them. So what's that relationship? It's a marriage relationship and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them just like Israel covenant covenant to do in Exodus 23 verses, verse eight, then they shall dwell in the land that I've given to Jacob, my servant, where your father's dwell. And this can't be the physical land of Canaan, because remember it takes place in those days when the Gentiles come in and there are people still crying the day that they want to go back into the land has nothing to do with it. And they shall dwell there. They, their children and their children's children forever. And my servant, David shall be their prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them and it shall be an everlasting covenant. How many everlasting covenants is God going to make with them? It's the same one we were reading about in Isaiah 61. I will establish them and multiply them and will set my sanctuary. That's their covering. That's their clothing. I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My tabernacle also shall be with them. Indeed. I will be their God. You see his tabernacle. What was it for? It was their covenant clothing. My tabernacle shall be with them. I will be their God and they should be my people. The nations will also know that I, the Lord sanctify Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forever. That's right, Ron, new covenant, new life, new city, all three. Ron got it. He was there when I taught him. Now this being the case, I want to go and show the correlation between all the things that we tied together. And I'm out of time by the way, but I'm going to fudge a little bit this morning because I want this part in there. So we're going to go to Hosea and that will give me the proper foundation to take this further on next week, which will be part three of the Exodus motif of first Corinthians 15. But let's now go to Hosea chapter two, and let's see all of these elements tied together as we close for this morning. Now in Hosea, we have again, the recounting of the Exodus. I mean, it's just absolutely amazing. It's absolutely powerful, but you can't touch it. Like MC Hammer says, you can't touch this. It's just too powerful. Look in Hosea chapter two, let's start in verse 14. The Bible says, therefore, behold, I will allure her. Now, what does he mean when he says I will allure her? He means he's going to entice her. He's going to persuade her. He's going to flatter her, to woo her, to sweep her off her feet, to sweep talk her. In other words, this is God calling his bride. He's trying to bring his bride to him. So he's going to become, I don't even want to use the term. Nevertheless, that's what he's doing when he says, therefore, I will allure her. Now he's talking about his bride that had gone off to these lovers, these idols, et cetera. But he says, I'm going to call her back to me. I'm going to allure her. I'm going to cover her. Look, I will bring her into the wilderness. Wait a minute. Isn't that what God did to Israel when he called them out of Egypt? The first thing he did was call them into the wilderness. He says, I'm going to bring her into the wilderness. Now what's the wilderness? Well, that's that period of trial and persecution that the first century saints went through. Just like in Acts 14, 22, through much tribulation, we must enter into the kingdom of God, Romans 8, 18. But the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, which is about to be revealed in us. And when he said that present time, he was talking about the eschatological sufferings that were taking place, that they were going through. That's the wilderness that they were called through. And that's why you have the language in Hebrews chapter three verses seven through the end of the chapter 14, I believe is the verse seven through 14, but nevertheless read that and you will see the correlations between them. But he says, I will bring her to the wilderness and speak comfort to her. I will give her vineyards. You see, here's the second Exodus. This is the new land flowing with milk and honey. It's a recounting of the Exodus. I will give her vineyards from there and the valley of Acre as a door of hope. Remember what happened in Joshua 7, 26, with those who were related to the, uh, who had stolen the Babylonia's garment, et cetera, and God brought judgment on that entire, uh, household. But he says, I will give them value of Acre as a door of hope. She shall sing there. Now, um, there was a passage right before in Isaiah 61. I think it's Isaiah 61. Let me go back there very quickly. And, um, it's not, it's not 61. Uh, but anyway, I won't, uh, maybe I'll bring it in at another time, but here he says, she shall sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. Why does he throw it in there? Because it's the second exits because it's based upon the Exodus motif, but what is he doing in the context? He's alluring his bride to him, enticing her, wooing her to him from her former lovers from the old man. From unrighteousness from sin. So let's see. And it shall be in that day says the Lord that I will, that you will call me my husband, just like in the Exodus and no longer call me my master. Think about rolling six, 16, uh, through 18. No, you're not that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey his servants. You are to whom you obey, whether a sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But God, we think that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine, which was delivered you. And you have become the servants of righteousness. So there you have it no longer under the dominion of a cruel master that couldn't take away sin, but now under the loving care of the husband who has taken to himself, his bride. And so he says, you will call me your husband. Well, I will take from her mouth, the names of the balls payoffs. We'll learn how to pronounce that word one day and they shall be remembered by their name. No more. He's going to take the very name out of their mouth in that day. I will make a covenant for them with the beast of the field, with the birds of the air, with the creeping things in the ground. That's the recreation. That's a Genesis motif of Eden in paradise that he's recreating. Bow and swords of battle. I will shatter from the earth to make them lie down safely. Watch this next verse. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I will be you to me forever. You see, that's what's taking place in the new covenant. I will betroth you to me forever. And that's the relationship. Second Corinthians 11 and verse two, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you as a chaste virgin that I may, or for I've espoused you to one husband, excuse me, that I might present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. You see, that was the relationship of the church and Christ in the new Testament from the beginning when they were sown. It was a betrothal, but the betrothal consummates in the marriage. And that's what we're going to talk about next week. We're going to show you how it's pulled together in time, but he says, yes, I will betroth you to me in what in a new physical body. Nope. In righteousness and justice in loving kindness and mercy. These are resurrection things. I've shown the connection between the sewing, the covenant, the marriage, the Exodus motif, et cetera. He says, I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall what know the Lord right out of Jeremiah saying concept. They all shall know me. You will know the Lord that comes after forgiveness of sin. It shall come to pass in that day that I will answer says the Lord, and I will answer the heavens and they shall answer the earth or the land. The earth shall answer with grain, with new wine, with oil. That's a reference to the feast days, by the way, the feast of tabernacles, which was associated with the harvest festivals. That's also associated with first Corinthians 15, as we indicated before. And so he says, they shall answer Jezreel, which is Israel. Then I will sew her for myself in the earth. Now watch this. This is a key point so that we understand when this is taking place. And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy. Then I will say to those who were not my people, you are my people and they shall say you are my God. Now, let me close on this point. When we turn to first Peter chapter one, we have a text that indicates the sewing. The Bible says in first Peter chapter one, and the verse is 22. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit in sincere love, the brethren love one another fervently with a pure heart fervently. Now watch this. Having been born again, not of corruptible seed, which is the seed that you were born physically with, but of incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. Now the seed by which they were born was incorruptible seed. That's the kind of trees of righteousness. But notice he says, because all flesh is grass and all the glory of man is the flower of the grass, the grass withers and falls away. The word of God, the word of which by the gospel was preached unto you. So that's the seed. That's the sewing that was being done through the gospel in the first century. But this was also taking place. Now, when we turn to second, I mean, to the second chapter of Peter, remember the text we left off with in Hosea, I will have mercy on them over whom I've not had mercy. And I will say to them, you are my people and they will say, you are my God. So here's first Peter two in verse nine, but you are a chosen generation, a Royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. That's Exodus terminology. It's the same language of Exodus 19 that you may proclaim the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Who once were not a people. Now, wait a minute. This is when he betrothed them. This is when he makes them righteousness, a righteous, when he betrothed them in righteousness and in faithfulness, when he has mercy upon them. And he says, who are not a people that are now the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. That means they've and that means they're already being raised and being covered with righteousness. Let me end up on this text and then I'm done in Romans chapter six. Now we're going to tie it right back to Romans chapter six, because the whole point there was their deliverance from the body of sin to the body of righteousness. And so how do they accomplish that? How has that accomplished in verse four of Romans to save a little time? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death that justice Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father. Even so, we also should walk in newness of life for if we have been united together in the likeness of his death. Now, some translations actually say planted for, we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, which means there was the sewing process right there. They were sewn when they were placed where they could die to sin. That is a parallel to what first Corinthians 15 teaches that what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And so the scripture says, for we have been united together in the likeness of his death. Certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Now you think about what kind of resurrection that is in light of all that we've said about the marriage, the Exodus motif, et cetera. But what I wanted to lay on your minds this morning, most of all was that correlation between the Exodus motif, the marriage, the covenant, and the sewing, and even the new city, but particularly the sewing. So that when you read about sewing in first Corinthians 15, you will understand that it is in counts in marriage terms, in marriage covenant terms. And that is the point. That is the key. And I hope that you get that. And we will pick up on part three of the Exodus motif and move us a little forward, because that's where Paul is going in Romans chapter seven, when he talks about the marriage and we want to tie it into a timeframe so that you can see that you can't project first Corinthians 15 out into the future on any one of these points and concepts. With that, I'm William Bell. This is the All Things Fulfilled broadcast. And I want to say good morning to you. God bless. And we'll see you in the next broadcast.