Kallah: The Chosen One
(Used by written permission of the artist with our deepest thanks!)
I Choose You by Ryann Darling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXN-m49MHO0
Engaged
A new colleague posted pictures on FaceBook of her new status: ENGAGED! She has been chosen by her special man. Someone wants her for always–warts and all!
Meat Market
The Hebrew word for chosen is bachir. It means choice, select, exclusive. I like the word exclusive. Somehow “select” and “choice” sounds like a cut of meat and that is as degrading as “trying on a shoe.” This is what modern uses of words does for us, so I will stick with exclusive though select and choice really are the top cuts–the best of the best…..
Chosen
To be chosen is an honor and a privilege. To be selected above all others, to be made exclusive in the heart of another is no small event. The place of belonging our heart yearns for is filled, satisfied, and complete. This is what being chosen is all about!
The Proposal
Jesus, our Bridegroom, (yes, it is present tense and future-eternity tense) has picked, selected, chosen us, the Church, to be His Bride. We are His exclusive choice and His Father made it possible!
Kallah “the bride”
In the Jewish wedding, the kallah or bride is chosen by the bridegroom. The bridegroom’s father approaches the father of the bride and sets the terms of the marriage (ketuba). If the father of the bride agrees, then the bride is presented to the bridegroom. BUT, in the Jewish tradition though her father has said yes, the bride has the final say. SHE GETS TO CHOOSE whether or not this bridegroom is to her liking!!!! Contrary to many cultures with “arranged marriages’ ‘ where the bride has NO say, in Israel, the Promised Land, the bride alone must decide to accept or reject this proposal of marriage.
Jesus asks, “Do you choose me?” “I choose you!”
In essence, Jesus gets down on one knee and asks us to be His Bride, with all the rights and privileges of His kingdom and family (Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and hosts of heaven).
The ring He places on us is a crown of thorns He wore, He gives us a cloak of royalty, stained with His blood. He pays our ransom (Bride price or dowry) with blood spilled from His side, and He presents proof to the Father that we are indeed a pure virgin bride (and we know we are not!). He gives us His name and promises to NEVER leave us or forsake us, to protect us, heal us, give us His riches and glory, to be our advocate, and to build us a mansion and come and get us, as soon as it is ready. He was willing to lay down His life for this creature He loves above all (the mohar).
The Wedding
God uses the Hebrew wedding analogy to help us grasp the beauty of this gift of being chosen. We become a child of God through His adoption after we accept the proposal of His Son.
The Father’s Acceptance
My Daddy died before I met my officer and gentleman. A hole in my heart that needed filling. The officer and gentleman had a giant of a man for a dad. He shared his name with me on the day we married and after he bestowed on me the gift of calling him, Dad. He adopted me as his daughter since my own was gone. I joined a family far different from my own. Poor to rich. Blue-collar to white-collar. Common citizen to the socialite of the community. Common to regal. Plain to beautiful. You get the picture. For 34 years this was my place. But when the officer and gentleman died, I no longer truly belonged. This is the way of the world but it is not the way of God. For once He adopts us into HIs family we can NEVER, EVER be disowned!! True sons and daughters can be rejected but adopted ones can never be rejected again. (Thank you Lord we don’t operate under the levirate tradition of widows being passed down to the brothers for the purpose of procreation!)
Adoption by the Father
Not only did the Son choose us to be His forever Bride, His Father adopts us and makes us heirs of the kingdom with all its rights, privileges, protections, and property!
The Chosen One’s Choice
Are you a kallah? Are you the Chosen One? Are you selected out of a crowd of eligible contenders? Are you willing to be exclusive to Him? Does His choice of you bring tears of joy to your eyes?
The kallah, Bride of Christ
Vow-Do you take this Bridegroom?
Do you long to be chosen? To never again be picked last, overlooked, taken for granted, forgotten, or left out but to be seated at the right hand of Jesus at the wedding supper? It requires only a simple answer to the question: Do you take this BRIDEGROOM to be yours for eternity, to have, to hold, to love, honor, and obey? It is a one word reply: YES or no.
Hear the Lord of Love sing this to you!
The choice is yours as the potential Bride. I checked “Yes!” What was your answer????
Yvonne Jones
