To be espoused to be married .... is to be betrothed .... to be promised.
During that time, a man and woman were already called husband and wife:
Matt 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away (divorce) privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. (also see Luke 2:4-5)
Under the Old Covenant/Testament, the LORD was a husband to Israel .... and the LORD will be Israel’s husband in the New Covenant/Testament:
Jer 31:31-33 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts (also see Rom 2:14-15, expanded to the Gentiles); and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (also see 2 Cor 6:16-18; Heb 8:10, 10:16; and Rev 21:2-3)
Israel was an unfaithful wife:
Jer 3:20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
But God will tenderly draw her to Himself:
Hos 2:14-16 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness (Rev 12:6,14), and speak comfortably unto her.
15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. (as Jer 31:32 that we just read)
16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi (affectionately, lovingly, my husband); and shalt call me no more Baali (my lord, master).
Hos 2:19-20 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever;
yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.
The LORD is Israel’s husband:
Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
In the Old Testament, the LORD described His relationship with Israel as a bridegroom and a bride:
Isa 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Isa 62:5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
John the Baptist (the friend of the bridegroom) identified Jesus Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11, Acts 2:36, 15:11, 16:31, 20:21, 28:31) as the bridegroom:
John 3:28-30 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
Now under the New Covenant/Testament (of which we are able ministers - 2 Cor 3:6), PAUL applied the espousal of Christ the husband .... to the church:
2 Cor 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy:
for I have espoused you to one husband,
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
Paul quoted Gen 2:24, Matt 19:5, and Mark 10:7, of a man cleaving to his wife, and called that holy union a mystery .... of Christ and the church:
Eph 5:31-32 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,
and shall be joined unto his wife,
and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery:
but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Again, Paul used the analogy of us (the saints) being married to Christ:
Rom 7:1-4 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
We were under the law (Rom 3:19), but now that we have faith (Acts 15:9-11), we are children of God and Abraham’s seed because we are in Christ:
Gal 3:23-29 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
PAUL told the churches of Galatia (Gal 1:2) that the holy city in heaven (new Jerusalem) is the mother of all of us saints:
Gal 4:26-28 But Jerusalem which is above is free,
which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate (same Greek word as translated ‘the wilderness’) hath many more children than she which hath an husband. (also see Isa 54:1-8, Psa 113:9)
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
The holy city, new Jerusalem is like the bride coming to the bridegroom:
Rev 21:2-3 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (also see 2 Cor 6:16-18 and Jer 31:31-33)
The holy city is the Lamb’s bride and wife:
Rev 21:9-10 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
It is evident, that as saints of the Most High God ....
we can sing, "We’re all in this together!"
This is David Dowell, saying, "Think about it!"
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