Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
Luke 1:26-28 NKJV
The whole betrothed thing has had me thinking this Christmas season. Back in those days being betrothed meant so much more than an engagement in today's terms. You actually entered into a legally binding contract of marriage the wife was given a ring or other gift as a token of the betrothal. The betrothal period on average was about 12 months during which the bride started gathering her things and preparing herself for part two of the process, the wedding day. This is when she would actually move under her husbands roof and became fully his wife. The groom during this time period was also doing things to prepare his biggest task was to finish his house and ready it for his bride. So when Abba decided it was time for the arrival of Jesus, His timing was interesting. You see Mary by law was Joseph's wife, but it had not been fully consummated. There are some things that are key here, it wasn't unheard of for betrothed couples to have sex prior to the final ceremony, but both Mary and Joseph held themselves to the highest standard waiting for the final ceremony. And Abba decides to enter into their lives with an unexpected gift. He chooses a time between the start of a legal contract and it's consummation (the Law and the new covenant). He gives Mary and Joseph an opportunity to partner with Him and His plan for salvation of the world and they both said yes.
Thinking about all of this also got me thinking about our position as "the bride" of Christ and where we are in that process. Many would say that we are in the betrothal stage preparing for some future event, but I think that sets us back and keeps us from the fullness of all He has for us. I believe that when we say yes to Jesus and agree to make Him our Lord we are also saying yes to Him as our groom, where we can step into full intimacy with Him, where we are full partakers in this new covenant that He provided, where we allow Him to indwell us and we function and partner together. You see before the betrothal process even happened He placed gifts in each one of us, for all intents and purposes He has impregnated us even before we were born. And being born again and coming into full relationship with Him allows for those things that He placed in us to fully come to life and be released to share with others so that they too can enter into their bride relationship with the Groom.
So as we celebrate Christmas we should take some time to look at where we are in our relationship with Abba. Are we in the pre-stages of entering into this relationship unsure if we are ready to commit? Are we in the betrothal stage where we have said yes but have not fully committed to making Him Lord? Or are we fully committed where we have jumped in being fully submersed into all He has for us? And we need to look at what gift has He placed inside of us that needs to be opened and released to bless others.
He has given us the greatest gift of all because He loves us in ways that we really will never fully comprehend.
So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One! Romans 8:38-39 TPT
