Jewish Wedding Customs & the Rapture of the Bride!
| Jewish Custom | Christ & the Church (Bride) |
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Step 1--The Arrangement |
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| The first step in the Jewish wedding system was the arrangement, in which the father of the groom arranged the match with the father of the bride and paid him the bride price. This stage could occur when the bride and groom were yet children, and often the betrothed would not even meet each other until the day of the wedding. | God the Father, the Father of the Groom, made the arrangement and, then, paid the bride price. The bride price was the blood of His Son. 1 By giving up the Son and shedding the blood of the Son, the bride price was paid and, so, the arrangement was sealed with blood. |
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Step 2--The Preparation |
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| This was the period of the betrothal. It lasted for at least 1 year but could last much longer if, for example, the arrangement was made when the bride and groom were children. During the period of the preparation, the bride was prepared to be a fitting wife for her mate. It was also the period of time in which she was observed for her purity, which is why the betrothal always lasted for a minimum of one year – to allow at least a full nine months to pass to make certain that the bride was a virgin at the time of the betrothal. If she gave birth before the year ended, then it became known that she was in a state of immorality. | The application of the stage of the preparation to the Bride of Christ (the Church) is that the Bride is even now in the process of being perfected for the Groom. 2 & 3 |
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Step 3--The Fetching of the Bride |
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| On the wedding day, according to the Jewish wedding system, the groom would leave his home and go to the bride’s home to fetch her. As the groom returned to his own home with the bride, this would lead to a bridal procession such as the one found in Matthew 25:1-13. (As described in this passage, the virgins – who go out to meet the groom as he is returning home with his bride – do not represent the Church.) | The application to the fetching of the Bride of Christ is the Rapture of the Church. 4 |
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Step 4--The Ceremony |
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| The Jewish ceremony was conducted in the home of the groom. Only a few – usually the immediate family and two witnesses – were invited to come in and observe the wedding ceremony. | The application of this fourth step to the relationship of the Church as the Bride of Christ is that there will be a ceremony in Heaven, and the few that will be invited to this ceremony are the few that will already be in Heaven. Only those who have already been resurrected will be able to participate in the wedding ceremony. 5 |
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Step 5--The Marriage Feast |
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| Whereas only a few were invited to the Jewish wedding ceremony, many more were invited to the marriage feast – to celebrate the marriage of the son. | The divine invitation to the wedding feast is sent out as the Tribulation comes to an end, just before the Second Coming. Following the Revelation 19 passage referred to earlier in regard to the wedding ceremony, we learn about the invitation. 6 The marriage supper of the Lamb is not served at this point, but the invitation is issued. Then, the Second Coming 7 is followed by a 75-day interval 8 during which both the Old Testament and Tribulation saints (the “many more”) will be resurrected to partake of the wedding feast. |
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Step 6--The Home of the Bride |
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| In the Jewish context, the groom was responsible to provide a suitable home for the bride. He did so during the preparation stage, the second stage, as described earlier. | One of Yeshua’s purposes when He returned to Heaven at the Ascension was to prepare a place for the Bride. 9 That place is elsewhere known as the New Jerusalem. And herein lies the application: that Jesus is even now preparing a suitable home for the Church, and the believers will move into that home in the Eternal State, in the Eternal Order, 10 where John is able to see the home of the Bride. 11 |
Scriptures (footnotes):
| 1 |
For
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one
husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. |
| 2 |
For
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one
husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. |
| 3 |
...so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. --Ephesians 5:26-27 |
| 4 |
But
we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep,
so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him
those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word
of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the
Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself
will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and
with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we
who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the
Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
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| 5 |
Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. --Revelation 19:6-8 |
| 6 |
Then he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he said to me, "These are true words of God." --Revelation 19:9 |
| 7 |
And
I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is
called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His
eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a
name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with
a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the
armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were
following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that
with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod
of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the
Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written,
"KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
--
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| 8 |
"From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. "How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! "But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age." --Daniel 12:11-13 |
| 9 |
"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. --John 14:1-3 |
| 10 |
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall. The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements. The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. --Revelation 21:9-22:5 |
| 11 | Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God... --Revelation 21:9-10 |