The essential truth of our life is not physical, but spiritual – we are each created in the image of God to be the bride of God who is Spirit, which is the reason that we can never be completely fulfilled by the physical bodies and world we dwell in; we are in the physical, but not of the physical.
In John 17 when Jesus prayed for Himself, His disciples and all His believers He said: “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” — John 17:16
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This is one of the themes of Jonathan Cahn’s The Book of Mysteries.
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In the chapter Mystery of the Bride Cahn explains why we can never be complete in ourselves or be completely fulfilled by the physical world we inhabit.
Cahn says deep down, in the corner of our being, in the deepest part of our heart, we seek to be filled. For the bride is made to be married. So we can never find our completion until we are joined to the Bridegroom.
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“And that is why we go through our lives trying to join ourselves . . . to that which we think will fill the longing in our hearts — to people, success, possessions, achievement, money, comfort, acceptance, beauty, romance, family, power, a movement, a goal, and any multitude of things. For the bride was created to be married, and she can never rest until she is.”
None of those things can ever work, because none of those things are the Bridegroom, according to Cahn.
“The Bridegroom is God, the one for whom we were created.”
Furthermore, Cahn says that’s why no matter how much of the earthly realm you get, no matter how many earthly possessions you possess, it can never fill you or bring you completion, because that which belongs to the physical and earthly realm is finite, thus limited.
Whereas, the things of heaven are Spirit, infinite, unlimited and eternal, the physical is finite, limited and temporary.
Only that which is Spirit, the infinite, can fill the heart, for everything physical is temporary, which, in the end, we have to let go of.
However, Cahn emphasises that we have to do more than merely find God, for: “A bride doesn’t just find the Bridegroom; she marries Him”.
So it’s not enough to find God, according to Cahn we must marry Him by joining every part of our life and being — our deepest parts, our hearts, our souls, our wounds, our longings, our desires, everything to Him.
“Only then can you be complete. Only then can your deepest needs and longings be fulfilled. For the mystery of our hearts is the mystery of the bride. And the bride can only find her completion in the Bridegroom. And the Bridegroom of our souls . . . is God.”
In a chapter dealing with the mystery of Ani Lo”, which is what the bride says to the bridegroom and means “I am His” or literally “I am to Him”, Cahn explains that if you belong to God, you must give yourself “to Him”.
“In other words, you can’t just belong to God, any more than a bride could just belong to a bridegroom. The bride is only his if she gives herself to him. It’s her choice.
“So to belong to God, you must choose to give yourself to Him, your desires to Him, your heart to Him, your burdens to Him, your everything to Him. And you must do this freely and every day of your life. You must live an Ani-Lo life, a life that is to Him, in which everything you do has one aim and direction . . . to Him.
“And you must do this as does the bride.”
Cahn reminds us that when the bride says “Ani Lo”, it is her joy to give herself to the bridegroom and be His.
“She’s overflowing with the joy of love. It’s her joy to be His and her joy to give herself to Him. To give yourself is not a burden when you are filled with love – it is a joy. Live your life this way, giving yourself in love to Him in the joy of Ani Lo.”
A life focused on the physical is a life filled with limitations, but if you empty your heart of physical things, then you empty yourself of limitations, according to Cahn in a chapter on the mystery of “the Shamayim and the Aretz”.
While you can’t escape living in the earthly realm, Cahn says you can escape living of the earthly realm – although you must deal with the earthly things, you don’t have to fill your heart with them.
He advises us to set our hearts on that which is heavenly, to fill up your heart with that which is spiritual, for heaven and spirit have no limitation and, therefore, a heart filled up with that which is spiritual and that which is heavenly is unlimited, for God is Spirit.
In the mystery of the “Cosmic Bridal Chamber” Cahn says: “Your days in the world are temporary”.
“You’re not in the world to grow more attached to it, but less attached. Now is the time for letting go, of treading lightly, of saying good-bye. So use every part of this life to prepare yourself for the life yet to come. Use the time you have in this world to prepare yourself for the days of eternity.”
As the bride, our objective is to free up our hearts of our physical, earthly possessions, which are finite, and fill them up with our spirit, heavenly possession that is infinite, eternal and unlimited, “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” — Galatians 6:8
Our mission is to “live as one totally belonging to your Beloved. Make Him the aim and purpose of all you do. Give yourself to Him,” says Cahn.
He emphasises that as His bride, we should prepare ourselves for the wedding by focusing on the eternal and infinite, by freeing ourselves of the temporary and finite.
God is our only true infinite, eternal and unlimited possession, and we are His possession.
