THE FRIEND OF THE BRIDEGROOM
January 4, 2009
by Jimmie Altman – New Castle, PA, US
Mark 1:1-3
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in the Prophets: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.”
3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.’ ”
Hallelujah! If the Body of Christ has never gone through so much preparation before, we are truly seeing it happen now. The Fathers and Mothers are being released together, and sons and daughters are being raised up and the Bride is being drawn to Her Lover, Jesus! Mark 1:1-3 is a prophetic and apostolic calling to the church, but more specifically it is a call to the Friends of the Bride groom, which are the Fathers of the church. The Friends of the Bridegroom, like true Fathers, are the ones who present the bride to her groom. Friends spend intimate time with the Bridegroom and it is their job to “run” and pass messages back and forth between the Bride and the Bridegroom until the day that they get married. and on that day the friend becomes a “witness” to the marriage.
This type and shadow of the friend of the Bridegroom can be seen in the person of John the Baptist who came in the spirit of Elijah as a messenger of the covenant, or marriage of the LORD. This means that the spirit of Elijah rests on those who are sent before the presence of the Lord to prepare His way. They are the friends of the Bridegroom. When you understand the meaning of this word prepare you will see a greater function of the Friend of the Bridegroom.
The word prepare in the Greek
2680 Kataskeuazo from 2596 and a derivative of 4632; to prepare thoroughly (properly, by external equipment; whereas 2090 refers rather to internal fitness); by implication, to construct, create: KJV– build, ordain, to furnish, to equip, to prepare, used of one who makes anything ready for a person or a thing, used of builders, to construct, with the included idea of adorning and equipping with all things necessary
4632 skeuos: of uncertain affinity; a vessel, implement, equipment or apparatus (literally or figuratively [specifically, a wife as contributing to the usefulness of the husband]): KJV– goods, sail, stuff, vessel
The key thing that I want to point out is 4632 which is a derivative of 2680. This word means a wife is being prepared so that she could contribute to the usefulness of the husband. The wife is the Church, the husband is Jesus, and those who are preparing the wife are the Fathers or the friends of the bridegroom. They are those who were sent in the spirit of Elijah. The wife contributes to the usefulness of her husband by manifesting the nature and the character of her husband. Christ wants to manifest his nature and His full character in His Bride, but there has to be apostolic fathers who function in the spirit of Elijah as John did to prepare a vessel or a people who are desiring to be filled with the fullness of His nature!
John 3:29-30
29 “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. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.
30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.
If you read a few scriptures prior to these, a few of John’s disciples had just come to him with a dispute about purification. The reason of this dispute was because Jesus was in Judea baptizing, but John, who had baptized Jesus, was also near Salim Baptizing as well. The dispute that John’s disciples had was not about how purification happens, but the dispute was about “who,” John or Jesus, is supposed to purify the people because all of the people were now being drawn to Jesus. John’s response was that He who has the Bride is the Bridegroom, and that the friend of the bridegroom stand and hears his voice. Hallelujah! The friend of the bridegroom moves in the function of an intercessor as well because he stands and hears the voice of the LORD and then runs to pass the message to the bride so that she will be drawn to her lover. That is why John’s joy was fulfilled; he saw the bride being drawn to her lover. It was never meant for the people to be drawn to him, but to Jesus.
John was one who was sent to prepare the Bride, not the one that the Bride was prepared for. That is why he said “He must increase, and I must decrease.” Those who were sent are those who have died to themselves and their purpose is to pull the Church to the LORD. Those who just went are those who have not died to themselves, so they live for themselves, and they are always pulling the church to their themselves, their ministry, their religion, and their denomination.
But now it is time for Church to see that we were always meant to be drawn to the LORD and not a man, not a ministry, not a religion, and not a denomination, but to only fall in love with the king of Kingdom and to seek Him and all His righteousness FIRST!
Bless you all!