His Very Own

His Very Own

Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, "... You shall not go out from the door of the Tent of Meeting seven days, until the days of your consecration are fulfilled."
~ Leviticus 8:31-33 (WEB)

"Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also ..." Jacob agreed thus, and fulfilled Leah's bridal week.
~ Genesis 29:27-28 (author)

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
~ 1 Peter 2:9 (ISV)

The custom of Bible times was to isolate a bride for seven days in her husband's bedchamber, set apart as his very own. The festivities of a week-long wedding feast surrounded those intimate first days of dedication to each other.

The seven days of consecration for the priests set apart to God mirrored the bridal week. It appears that the Lord directed the priests to be isolated in the tabernacle for a week to become intimately familiar with the holy things, and to know themselves set apart as His very own.

Those chosen to belong to Christ are His royal priesthood. We are a people likewise set apart as His very own, designed to know Him intimately. The church's title of bride is not metaphor but reality.

Beloved Bridegroom, You promised that You left us only to prepare a place for us. Our time of waiting grows long and we grow weary. Please strengthen us that we'd be found awake and waiting, with brightly lit lamps filled with the oil of Your Spirit.

[More on this tomorrow. Marriage Part III has been planned for weeks. I realized only today that the above passage "coincidentally" precedes it.]

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