My Wedding Ring
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?
I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there
she brought thee forth that bare thee. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal
upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the
coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man
would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
Song of Solomon 8:5f (Spoke 22, Cycle 1)
My Wedding Ring |
The Circle and the Cross. I wear the symbol of the seal of my solemn oath
to be faithful and true to my wife "as long as we both shall live" in the ring upon my finger.
The true meaning of the Bible Wheel and the purpose of all creation is revealed in
the great themes of Spoke 22, which involve the
Seal of God, the
Consummation of Creation, and the
Marriage of the Lamb.
In a large and true sense, the Bible is the divine Marriage Certificate testifying to God's
Covenant with the Church, His Bride,
sealed with the Cross!
Indeed, the Bible is composed of the Old and New Covenants, and the essence of these covenants is expressed
by God in terms of marriage, as it is written in Jeremiah 3:14:
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and
I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with
knowledge and understanding.
Jeremiah 3:14
And in Ephesians 5:30f:
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
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. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ
and the church.
Ephesians 5:30f
And in Isaiah 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.
Isaiah 54:5
God's Wedding Ring
God applied this truth to my heart and amplified it beyond measure on November 29th, 2003
when He gave Rose to be my wife. I didn't realize it at the time, but the rings we chose
(our bands are identical) form an image of God's Holy Word.
Rose found them serendipitously when the
Christmas 2003 JC Penny catalog happened to fall open to the jewelry section.
She instantly knew they
were perfect, because it is through the Cross that Christ saved our souls, and it is Christ that
unites our hearts in love. We both really liked the way that the wedges pointed to the Cross as
central.
The day after our wedding, I was looking at my ring and thanking God for Rose when He opened my
mind to the depth of its divine meaning.
First, there is the natural and universal understanding of the ring as a perfect symbol of
the unbroken unity of marriage. Our
Pastor spoke of this during our vows, saying:
Gold, precious amongst metals, fittingly represents the precious ties that unite husband and
wife. These rings, endless until broken by outside forces, are fit symbols of the unbroken partnership
of marriage, which should continue until broken by death. Let them be unto you constant reminders of your
obligations to each other, and mute incentives to their fulfillment.
As a perfect and unbroken circle, the symbol of the ring naturally carries the idea of unity and
wholeness, the essence of true and godly Marriage, where the "two shall be one flesh."
The circle must be closed,
excluding all other people or desires "as long as we both shall live." I experienced this
truth when I made my vows to Rose. As long as there remained the slightest possibility
that I could leave Rose and go my own way, our relationship was "open" and "unsealed." But when I
gave my true word and vowed before God and man to remain faithful "as long as we both shall live",
God closed the gap and united our hearts as one in perfect and complete unity.
The link between Marriage, Death, the Seal of the Covenant, and the Cross of Christ is as deep as
deep can be. It comes from the very Heart of God and defines the essence of the Gospel. Christ sealed
God's new covenant of our salvation with His blood on the Cross, as prophesied in
Psalm 22, the Psalm of the Cross, and
Genesis 22, the Genesis of the Cross.
This then manifests in the structure of the Bible Wheel.
The Cross
on the ring is identical to the ancient form of the
22nd Letter Tav (cf.
The Seal of God). It naturally represents the idea of a Seal,
so God's use of it in the design of His Holy Word safeguards against all
adultery, corruption, addition, or subtraction from the Bible's pure content.
And now, to my utter amazement I see that my wedding ring is an
image of the Bible Wheel - a perfect Circle sealed with the
Cross . It unites
everything I have learned about the
geometric structure and spiritual meaning of God's Word.
The ramifications are as overwhelming as they are obvious. The 22nd Book of the Bible is
the Song of Solomon, the Marriage Song! (Cf. [Inner Wheels] > Matthew 22). Note also that the
whole Bible is triply sealed by the Cross:
- The Bible Wheel is sealed on Spoke 22 with Tav = .
- The tri-radiant cruciform structure seals the whole Bible.
- The last Book on Spoke 22, Revelation, forms an Inner Wheel of 22 Spokes
that reiterates the whole Alphabetic Circle, from Aleph to Tav = .
All this conspires through the Spirit of God to declare that the Bible Wheel is even more than the
Divine Seal and Capstone of the Holy Bible;
it is God's Wedding Ring to His Bride
the Church. Eternal Fidelity. Endless Glory! Such
grace He has poured out upon us. Every time I look at my wedding ring, I see not only my vows to love and
cherish my wife Rose "as long as we both shall live" but I also see God's Holy Vow to us to save our
souls and to bring us into everlasting life through the shed blood of Jesus Christ upon the Cross.
This is the everlasting Gospel - the Truth of God that touches the utter depths of my
soul, down to its very root - "as long as we both shall live." Praise His Holy Name. Amen. Amen. Amen.
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My Wedding Ring
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