As we continue in our study of the names of God we are going to be looking at Numphios…

Numphios is the Greek word for Bridegroom.

Many times through out the gospels Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a wedding and Himself to the bridegroom at that wedding. It is no wonder that the enemy of our souls has waged such an attack on marriage. If we distort marriage then we distort the interpretation of the parables of Christ with it.

 

He who has the bride is the bridegroom;

but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him,

rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice.

So this joy of mine has been made full.

John 3:29

And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them,

the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they?

So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

and then they will fast in that day.

Mark 2:19-20

Now if Jesus is the Bridegroom who is His bride?

We are.

That is we, the church.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

Ephesians 5:25-32

As we look at this name of our Christ. We have to look at what the wedding looked like to the Jewish family in that day. When we do we see how beautiful this word picture that Jesus painted for us truly is.

The first major step in a Jewish marriage was betrothal. Betrothal involved the establishment of a marriage covenant. By Jesus’ time it was usual for such a covenant to be established as the result of the prospective bridegroom taking the initiative. The prospective bridegroom would travel from his father’s house to the home of the prospective bride. There he would negotiate with the father of the young woman to determine the price (mohar) that he must pay to purchase his bride. Once the bridegroom paid the purchase price, the marriage covenant was thereby established, and the young man and woman were regarded to be husband and wife. From that moment on the bride was declared to be consecrated or sanctified, set apart exclusively for her bridegroom. As a symbol of the covenant relationship that had been established, the groom and bride would drink from a cup of wine over which a betrothal benediction had been pronounced.

After the marriage covenant had been established, the groom would leave the home of the bride and return to his father’s house. There he would remain separate from his bride for a period of twelve months. This period of separation afforded the bride time to gather her trousseau and to prepare for married life. The groom occupied himself with the preparation of living accommodations in his father’s house to which he could bring his bride.

 

Do you see the beautiful picture? Our Jesus left His Father’s house to claim His bride. He negotiated the price for His bride…

 For you have been bought with a price…

1 Corinthians 6:20

The price for the bride was high… the price was high because the bride needed redeemed… and the redemption price was death.

knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things

like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 

but with precious blood,

as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, 

the blood of Christ.

1 Peter 1:18-19

At the moment that the price was paid and the dowry accepted we became His by betrothal…

 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy;

for I betrothed you to one husband,

so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin

2 Corinthians 11:2

Our Bridegroom left His Father’s house, betrothed His bride, He has sealed her with His Sprit of promise and now He has returned to His Father’s house to prepare the place for His bride…

“Do not let your heart be troubled;

believe in God, believe also in Me.  

In My Father’s house are many dwelling places;

if it were not so, I would have told you;

for I go to prepare a place for you.  

If I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and receive you to Myself,

that where I am, there you may be also.

John 14:1-3

There he would remain separate from his bride for a period of twelve months. This period of separation afforded the bride time to gather her trousseau and to prepare for married life. The groom occupied himself with the preparation of living accommodations in his father’s house to which he could bring his bride.

At the end of the period of separation the groom would come to take his bride to live with him. The taking of the bride usually took place at night. The groom, best man and other male escorts would leave the groom’s father’s house and conduct a torch light procession to the home of the bride. Although the bride was expecting her groom to come for her, she did not know the exact time of his coming. As a result the groom’s arrival would be preceded by a shout. This shout would forewarn the bride to be prepared for the coming of the groom.

 

During the time that the bridegroom was away preparing his place for his bride, the bride was busy making herself ready. Now imagine that you knew that your wedding day was coming… it could come at any second… but you didn’t know when… and you knew that you wanted to be perfect for this day… you want your hair done, your nails clean and clipped, you want to smell wonderful, you want your teeth bright and your breathe sweet… you want your eyes clear, your face unblemished, your clothes spotless…

Would you not be mortified if your beloved called out and knocked on the door and said, Baby I am ready to take you to meet my Dad!, and you were still in the bed after not showering for three days, with bed head, dried drool on your face, cheesy teeth, funky breath, stained and ratty pj’s, with chipped nails and crusty eyes?

Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come

and His bride has made herself ready.”

It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean;

for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Then he said to me,

“Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’”

And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

Revelation 19:7-9

Oh precious one are you making yourself ready?

If the Bridegroom came tonight to claim His bride would you be ready?

The Wedding Day
A Personal Yom Kippur

The holiest day of the year is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

It is a fast day on which each person reviews in depth all of his past actions.

Since on the day of one’s wedding G-d forgives the bride and groom of all their previous transgressions, it is seen as a private Yom Kippur for the couple.

They fast until the ceremony; add Yom Kippur confessions to their afternoon prayers; recite the Book of Psalms, asking for forgiveness for the wrongdoings of their youth, committed knowingly or unknowingly, before starting their new life together.

Previously, each had been but half a person.

Now, with the hour of marriage, they resume their original wholeness, a new and pure soul is again to be theirs.

Standing under the chuppah their life destiny is set, all past reckoning erased.

Jewish Wedding Guide

 

Have all your past reckonings been erased?

Have all your transgressions been forgiven?

Are you ready to begin a new life with your Bridegroom… finally whole… finally complete in Him?

 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 

and in Him you have been made complete…

Colossians 2:9-10

*(I cannot remember the online link that I found the info in green)

 

The last name of Christ that we looked at was Artos. Before that we have dug into the character of our Savior through His names, Aletheia, Phos, Xulon Zoe, Eschatos Adam, and Huios. The name of Christ that we will be digging into today is Krites. Krites is the Greek word for judge. This word in its form in 2 Timothy 4 means one who passes or arrogates to himself, judgment on anything, an arbiter.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;

in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,

which the Lord, the righteous Judge,

will award to me on that day;

and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

2 Timothy 4:7-9

One of the names of Jesus is Judge.

For not even the Father judges anyone,

but He has given all judgment to the Son,

so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father.

John 5:22-23

God the Father judges no one… and when God the Son, Jesus, came in the flesh neither did He judge any one. However, when He returns… that will be a different story. You know we can complain and whine about the “fairness” of God all we want… but the truth is you will never meet nor know nor be able to comprehend a more just person. So let’s take a moment and look at the why behind my last statement… why do I believe God is just and why has all judgement been rightfully given to the Son? What makes Jesus the only righteous Krites?

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word,

and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life,

and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is,

when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,

and those who hear will live. 

For just as the Father has life in Himself,

even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 

and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.“

John 5:24-27

Ah ha… did you see it?

Did you see the qualification of Christ to judge all things?

We live in a day of worshiped tolerance… no one wants to be judged for anything by anyone. From the professing Christian in the church to the vilest sex offender in the prison. Don’t judge me. How dare you judge me. You don’t know me. You don’t know what I have been through. You were not there when… and so on and on and on.

Here’s the thing… you can’t say that before Christ. You might can guilt another fallible, flesh of man into feeling unqualified to stand before you in rebuke, correction, and judgment… but before Christ? Nope He has all right and authority to judge you. Yes it is true, that no other fallible human being has ever walked in your exact shoes… no other fallible human being was there when… and that’s why our eternal judgment is not dependent on any man. We will all stand before Christ.

We will stand before the one who is the Son of God and the Son of Man. He is the One who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He is the One that put on this flesh and walked and lived on this earth tempted in every way that mankind can be, suffering all that mankind can suffer, and yet He did not sin. No one can ever look at Jesus, the righteous Krites and say, how dare you judge me, you don’t know…  because He does know. He was there. He saw. He sees your heart. He knows.

How greater is the knowledge in those of us who profess to be His. How dare we ever attempt to open our mouths before Him with excuses or accusations… because not only is His presence around us but His Spirit within us. This is why He says judgment will begin with the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

When we go to human court we have a plaintiff and we have a defendant. We have the accuser and we have the accused. We then have a jury and a judge. Below is a little snippet of an old kids tv show called Kids Court…

 

 

 

As these two kids stood there, they each wanted their will done. They could care less about the opinion or will of the other, they wanted the outcome to be their way, their will, in their favor. Then as the moderator took the case out to the jury what you saw was each person picking a side.

This is what we usually do… we stand up wanting our will done and we come up against someone else wanting their will done… and then we recruit people to take our side… and then a judge stands there and decides whose side will win or we simply divide and never unite again.

Jesus is a righteous Judge because He is not picking sides… He is not here to pick between your will and my will, your way and my way… He is there to bring us all under the authority of God’s will.

“I can do nothing on My own initiative.

As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just,

because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

John 5:30

Jesus stands before us all, as fully God and fully man. He knows exactly what it is to be God and He knows exactly what it is to be man. So He stands there in full knowledge and authority and right to judge, to mediate, to arbitrate, between God and man.

And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world…

John 9:39

 

It was for judgment that Jesus came into this world. Now hang on to that verse, that thought, that truth as we look at  another passage of Scripture.

 

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world,

but that the world might be saved through Him. 

John 3:16-17

Ummmm wait a minute. John 9:39 says that Jesus came into the world for judgment and here in John 3:17 it says that God did not send Jesus into the world to judge? Is the Bible contradicting itself?

No it’s not. Jesus did not come into the world as a man to judge it… but he did come for judgment. Let’s keep reading…

He who believes in Him is not judged;

he who does not believe has been judged already,

because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world,

and men loved the darkness rather than the Light,

for their deeds were evil. 

For everyone who does evil hates the Light,

and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 

But he who practices the truth comes to the Light,

so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

John 3:18-21

 

Jesus came for judgment. He came as the living breathing Law of God. The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. And when the world beheld His glory, when men beheld His truth and love and light they could not help but see their sin in comparison… so they either cried out to God in their sinfulness and cried out for His forgiveness… or they wanted to destroy the One that exposed their sin… because they loved their sin and would not accept any condemnation concerning it.

You see Jesus didn’t have to open His mouth… His presence was enough. His presence on this earth exposed and exposes the presence of Satan and his darkness and his lies and his deeds.

Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

John 12:31

And guys here’s the thing… pay close attention… this is huge.

Jesus gave us His Spirit, His Light, His love, His grace so that His presence would remain on this earth always casting out the ruler of this world.

 

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

If the world is judged by you,

are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?

Do you not know that we will judge angels?

How much more matters of this life?

1 Corinthians 6:2-3

Now precious one, I don’t believe this means that in the end days we who believed will all have our own little thrones and give out our “I told you this would happen if you didn’t believe in Him, see He was the only way! Now you are going to hell just like I said you would, so there!” 

Here’s the thing… does your presence make the ungodly uncomfortable without you ever saying a word? When you walk in the room do the dirty jokes stop? If someone speaks a profane word in front of you do they apologize or catch themselves before they say it? Does the gossip and the tales of the weekend club/bar hopping stop when you walk into the discussion?

This is how the saints judge the world.

This is how the saints judge angels.

Does your life shine the Light and expose the death and darkness of the evil one and his deeds?

If not… why?

 

The last name of Christ we looked at in our names of God study was Aletheia and today we are going to be introduced to our Savior through His name Artos.

Artos is the Greek word for Bread. It means, food composed of flour mixed with water and baked. The Israelites made it in the form of an oblong or round cake, as thick as one’s thumb, and as large as a plate or platter hence it was not to be cut but broken. Loaves were consecrated to the Lord and it also speaks of the bread used at the love-feasts and at the Lord’s Table. It can also mean food of any kind.

We have this name of our Savior revealed to us in John 6. This chapter begins with the miracle of Jesus feeding a multitude with the five barley loaves and two fish of one young boy. Jesus gave them bread to fill their bellies and a miracle to fill their eyes… but what He desired was to fill their souls with eternal life.

Jesus saw that the people where not responding to the miracle of the bread in the spirit… they were all flesh. They wanted more bread and they wanted this Jesus to be King over them now… I mean really a man who could feed the nation with the breaking of a few loaves of bread. So Jesus retreated to the mountains alone. He was not after an earthly political kingdom… His kingdom was not of this world.

The very next day the crowd returned to get more free food from Jesus. Where there is free food the people will come. That has never changed. The crowd discovers that He is not where He was… (God rarely lingers in the past, He is a moving forward kinda God)… and well they chase Him down in Capernaum.

When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” (John 6:26-28)

Oh this, is so funny to me… can you see it…

Have you ever had a child (or even an adult) who was wanting something, a toy, a happy meal, to go somewhere… and they knew the people who could make it happen… like Grandmothers and Papaws… and they walk in the door and they see them and it’s like “Hey, when did you get here?” And you know that tone, you know that this child has just seen the ones who can get them exactly what they want…

Here is the crowd… Hey, Jesus, when did you get here? Ummm hello. They were searching Him out, but they speak to Him as though they had been there all along and Jesus just showed up. And you know what they are thinking is, Dude we’re hungry and we know you can like break bread like crazy! And well we want you to show us how to do cool stuff like that!

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” John 6:29-31

Really? The crowd had just searched Him out and followed Him across the river to another town because they knew about the miracle of the bread and the multitude and then they come and have the audacity to ask Jesus to show them a sign… to prove Himself to them… when my guess is that it really had nothing to do with Jesus proving Himself, they just wanted to try and manipulate Him into some more free bread. Our God just does not fall for the tricks of man…

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, 

it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven,

but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

John 6:32

Jesus takes this opportunity to remind these people that Moses was not the one who gave the bread in the wilderness God was… and He is letting them know that He is not just a prophet… He is not just a man doing works for God. He is God.

For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven,

and gives life to the world.

John 6:33

The bread of God is that which comes down out heaven… which means its origin, its home, is not of this earth. That which is of this earth can never give life because this earth is dying, only that which is of God has life and can give life. Only that which is of God can truly satisfy.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;

he who comes to Me will not hunger,
John 6:35

Jesus looks at the crowd and he looks at us and He says I am the Bread of Life. I am the Artos.

You know we live in a day we are surrounded by fakeness. We have fake hair, fake faces, fake clothes, fake boobs, and we have fake food.

You know I can be hungry. And I grab me a handful of the skittles pictured above and it will stop my stomach from growling. I can taste the rainbow and get filled up on the fruity flavors, but how beneficial is this handful of skittles to the health and life of my body? If this was all I ate, what quality of life would I have?

If I take these handful of skittles and plant them in the earth can I come back weeks later and see a new birth of skittles springing forth?

No, I can’t. I can’t because skittles are dead. They are fake food. This food is man-made. It is not God-made. God-made food is made with life. It is made with seed. it is made to produce life after itself. If we eat living food… we receive life.

Not only do we have fake food… but we have fake gods.

Jesus, however, is not a fake. He is the Living God. If we eat of Him we will have life because He is life. He is the Bread of Life.

Now lets look at the process of bread becoming bread…

Bread begins here. It grows up from seeds planted.

And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.

Genesis 3:15

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.

He does not say, “And to seeds,”

as referring to many, but rather to one,

“And to your seed,” that is, Christ.

Galatians 3:16

Then that wheat is cut down.

Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing

Daniel 9:26

 Then that wheat is beat…

 

 

and threshed and slung…

 

and beat and beat and beat.

The wheat goes through all this in order that from it we might receive life.

 

But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him

Isaiah 53:5

After the wheat is cut down, threshed, and beat it is ground

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium

and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him.  

They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 

And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head,

and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him

and mocked Him,

saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 

They spat on Him,

and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 

After they had mocked Him,

they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him,

and led Him away to crucify Him.

Matthew 27:27-31

…and then the broken, beat, threshed, ground wheat is mixed with a liquid and its placed in an oven… shut up in a hot tomb to wait until it’s ready.

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph,

who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 

This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 

And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 

and laid it in his own new tomb,

which he had hewn out in the rock;

and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.

Matthew 27:57-60

Then the bread comes out of the oven and it comes ready to give life to all who will eat of it.

I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

This is the bread which comes down out of heaven,

so that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down out of heaven;

if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;

and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
John 6:48-51

 

So when Jesus says that He is the Bread of Life.

He is the Artos.

He gives life because He is Life.