Death where is thy sting?...
Death is "swallowed up" in immortality.
What Israel was has been is being "swallowed up" by what the Bride is becoming. That which "swallows" includes that which it swallows even as that which it swallows gave birth to it.
Like so many other seeds, this seed grows into something that becomes the fulfillment of the promise within the fruit from which it fell.
Abraham sowed the seed of Christ through Isaac, Jacob/Israel(patriarchs...seed sowers).... Moses(lawgiver...foundations)..... David, Solomon(kingdom....glory)........the Prophets(Logos....rhema.....fire). The natural and the supernatural united all the way along the process by the natural seed(root of Jesse)- there was never any deviation.
When Christ was exalted to the right hand the promise that was proclaimed through Joel was fulfilled, swallowing the former promises and extending them to the Gentiles who would believe, and ultimately, to every being in the whole kosmos.
It will come to pass in that day that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh..... (Joel)
This Is That which was promised by the prophet Joel......(Peter at Pentecost)
It is the Spirit in us whereby our adoption is sealed and confirmed and delivered(manifested)-it is intrinsicly related to "the subjection of every adversary" and the Spirit proclaims it through Peter.
Acts 2:32-38 Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says:
'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,
"SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
35 UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET."'
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified."
The exaltation of Christ to the right hand initiated a new priesthood based on a better promise- a covenant based in an EXCHANGE OF LIFE, the Spirit in us, Christ in you the hope of glory.
"... in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."(Gal 3)
The part I am going to share here might be controversial, so take with a grain of salt, but we can receive the "promise" of sonship through the Spirit.... we can receive the "authority to become sons of God" - but refuse the "manifestation" of it.
1 Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. 3 So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law,
Believers who are under the law are like slaves, even tho they have the "inheritance" of sons within them in the seed- they do not "walk in the Spirit" and they are not "led by the Spirit". So they are like little children. They must be "managed" and "kept under tutelage". The reason for this is that they have not come under the "perfect law of liberty". The whole point of everything is that the creation is being set free into "the glorious liberty of the sons of God". This is the love of Jesus for the Father, igniting and overcoming in us-transforming us. This is the glorious gospel.
And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 30 But what does the Scripture say?
"CAST OUT THE BONDWOMAN AND HER SON,
FOR THE SON OF THE BONDWOMAN SHALL NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN."
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.
Therefore, all we who are free from law/letter- the word held in the flesh of man by children/babes.....will be persecuted by those who are still under it, because they fear the freedom, "For freedom Christ has set you free". The law is the only handle the flesh can put on believers- to get them to support organizations and the agendas and ambitons of men who cannot(or will not) see the ultimate plan of God.
Thus, they cannot be priests, because in order to be a priest you must forsake earthly reward/inheritance. Only those who have forsaken the world and been "swallowed up" by the glory of God can "inherit all things" and "sit with me on my throne".
So, lastly, the Spirit falls and consumes the acceptable offering. The fire burns but the bush is not consumed. "Here I am, I and the children you have given me. We are set as signs and wonders in Israel."
5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne(rapture dream).
The purpose of the Bride is to generate sons. She gestates the SEED which is Christ, and sons grow in her who can be "Seated in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus above all principality and powers. They are "walking in" the glorious liberty of utter devotion to the Father and no law can hold them captive in immaturity. The letter of Paul to the Ephesians is a blueprint of this whole "purporse".
Eph 1, the plan(ultimate universal reconciliation), the spirit of revelation and the body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all
Eph 2 The Jews and the gentiles a "tabernacle of God in the Spirit" fitly joined together in Messiah, the "chief cornerstone
Eph 3 The mystery and the means of its fulfillment in the church..".that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. THIS IS THE HEART OF IT ALL
Eph 4 An introduction into priesthood, serving one another in the "One Spirt and the One Body under One Lord and growing as we speak the truth in love, through "the effectual working of each individual part"..........................
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ(sons born). 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children....tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and the deceitful scheming of men(dragon's tail and flood of water)
we have a long way to go :o)
Eph 5 Staying in the fire and the mystery of the Bride(a woman clothed with the sun)
Eph 6 Warriors/priests/sons fully equipped to destroy the works of the dragon and preserve the cycle, faithful husbandmen, gently raising children, to increase the reconciliation/restoration of all things, as Lamps shing in a dark place.