As we come to Day #46 in counting the Omer, we may be reminded that we are coming near to the end. What does "the end" look like? Some people get fearful when they hear this but those of us who are the Bride of Christ understand that "the end" actually means "happily ever after" is about to begin.
In the movie, "
Pretty in Pink," the main character, portrayed by actress Molly Ringwald, predictably ends up with the popular, rich, and handsome guy. The movie producers originally filmed an ending in which she selected the geeky, loyal, but average-looking friend first. However, in the pre-screening they found that audiences reacted unfavorably to it. Apparently Western Culture requires that the prince be flashy, wealthy and desired by all for the Hollywood "fairy tale ending" to occur. This is exactly why the anti-Christ will be readily attractive to so many people. They are looking for the wrong person. Here is what scripture tells us about our REAL Bridegroom:
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
~ Isaiah 53:2
Just as any Bridegroom would desire, He wants the Bride to love Him not based on superficial appearances' sake.
The number
46
is often associated in scripture with "New Garments." In Luke Chapter 8, verse
FORTY-SIX
, we see Jesus acknowledging that someone had touched the hem of His garment.
But Jesus declared, "Someone touched Me, for I know that power has gone out from Me."
~ Luke 8:46
In the Greek, if we were to study the word "hem" used to describe a rabbi's garment, it was known as the "fringe" or the "border" or the "tassel." In Hebrew it is known as the "tzitzit." It has a meaning similar to "wings."
But to you who fear My Name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His Wings. ~ Malachi 4:2(a).
In this chapter, where the woman with the issue of blood was healed, we literally see the Malachi prophecy in full action. Indeed, there was literal healing in His tzitzit, the "wings" of His garment!
In Strong's Concordance,
G46 is the Greek word "agnaphos" which means "unprocessed," or "unmilled" and by implication associated with a NEW CLOTH. As a bride on earth dons a new wedding dress, the Bride of Christ is going to put on a new garment also.
No man also seweth a piece of new [
G46] cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.
~ Mark 2:21
Scripture is clearly showing that we are woven together with Christ just as in a wedding process when the two become one. This symbolism of two partners being woven or sewn together has a temporal analogy in a strand of DNA which is graphically depicted in a diagram of a spiraling double-helix. In the process of creating a new birth, the man contributes 23 chromosomes and the woman contributes 23 chromosomes. 23 + 23 =
46 total human chromosomes.
Thus, the Number
4
6 literally creates a new "skin bottle" or "outer garment" for each new soul that is born into the world. God always gives us a temporal example for a spiritual concept. When we are born again, our union with Christ creates a new being as well!
Neither do men pour wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. ~ Matthew 9:1
7
The word "skin" is etymologically linked to the Greek word "skene." A "skene" in Greek, is an area behind the stage, which was originally built for changing masks and costumes, but then also functions as the background staging for the ensuing drama being performed. We also find a variation of this word in knitting parlance where a "skein" indicates the raw materials for creating a new blanket or covering.
In God's Epic Drama stage, we are preparing for our final performance behind our "skene." This twirling dance of our earthly contribution combined with Christ's direction becomes a passion-play much like the DNA strand, each contributing to the other to become the new dwelling site for the Kingdom of God.
Interestingly, the number 23 (as seen in Devotional #23) is the number meaning DEATH. It is not good for Man to be alone. Alone = NO NEW LIFE. But add the death (23) of Christ to the death (23) of Self (Woman/Church) and we get a NEW garment, a new "skin." This is the revealed mystery of the Incarnation:
...that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the Mystery of God, namely Christ.
~ Colossians 2:2
Literally, prophetically and spiritually...This "mystery" is God INFUSED with mankind! Hallelujah!
Behold, I tell to you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.
~ 1 Corinthians 15:51 (Berean Literal Bible)
Upon Christ's Second Coming, we will see the MYSTERY revealed in a "twinkling of an eye!" The utter transformation of mind, body and soul!
In an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and this mortal with immortality.
~ 1 Corinthians 15:52-53 (Berean Study Bible)
Now, here's what the WRONG attire looks like:
Beware of the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes, and they love the greetings in the marketplaces, the chief seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets.
~ Luke 20:46
(note this is verse
46
, another reference to garments).
But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So, he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
~ Matthew 22:11-13
Instead of being properly dressed, it seems as if many in the church world today are in the business of telling God what they prefer to wear...which old sinful, stained garment they plan to put on.
This is just my opinion, (so please don't make a conspiracy theory around it) but I believe the anti-Christ will, in some way, be "genetically modified." Just as God has a GOOD spiritual plan, the devil will MIMIC God's "spiritual modification" with an evil counterfeit. Some are already saying that the COVID-19 vaccines will insert some sort of genetic modification into the flesh.
Click Here for News: Advancing Experimental Gene Based Covid Vaccine
The Theme song from "Pretty in Pink" is appropriately titled "If You Leave." The name of the band is also aptly named "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark." Here's a snippet of the lyrics:
We've always had time on our side
Now it's fading fast
Heaven knows what happens now
Yes, Heaven DOES know what happens now! We must be dressed in the right attire or we will be thrown out where there is weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. He's coming for a Bride without spot or wrinkle. It's the season for wearing white. Are you properly dressed?
so that He may present the Church to Himself as glorious--not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
~ Ephesians 5:27
Prayer:
