The Marriage Supper of the Lamb – Part Two
The Hebrew wedding ceremony gives us a picture of what is meant by the terms describing the Rapture of the church. The steps taken in the Hebrew wedding show us that Christ is close to returning for His Bride; He is just awaiting His Father’s command to do so.
1 – The Bridegroom, or an agent of the bridegroom’s father, went out in search of the bride. The bride would often agree to the marriage without ever seeing her future groom. I Peter 1:8 says, “You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.”
The Holy Spirit is the agent of the bridegroom’s Father who has been sent to secure a bride for Christ. John 6:44 says, “No man can come unto me unless my Father who has sent me, draw them.” Acts 16:14, “One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”
2 – A price was established for the bride: 20 camels, jewelry, or whatever the groom had to offer. This price was called the Mohar. The bride and groom were then Betrothed and legally bound to each other, even though they did not, and could not, live together until the actual marriage ceremony. A scribe would draw up a Ketubah, or marriage contract, stating the bride price, the rights of the bride, and the promise of the groom to honor, support and live with the bride.
The Mohar paid for the church was the Blood of Jesus Christ; “For you are bought with a price.” I Corinthians 6:20. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” Revelation 5:9-10
3 – The groom would present the bride with gifts. Today grooms give their brides a ring, but in ancient times the gift could be almost anything. If the bride accepted the groom’s gift, they shared a cup of wine, or the cup of covenant, and a betrothal was complete. Before leaving her home, the groom would tell her, “If I go, I will return again for you.”
The ring Jesus gives the church is eternal life and His Holy Spirit, ‘sealing’ us as His own engaged bride. “And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.” Ephesians 1:13
4 – The groom prepares a place for his bride and then journeys back to her father’s house to bring her to her new home.
“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And 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 14:2-3
5 – The betrothal period could be a year or more; and during this time the groom is preparing her new home and she, as the bride, is preparing herself for her new husband.
The scoffers say, where is the promise of His coming? Believers know that He promised to come, and His Word always comes true. “And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him-“ II Peter 3:15 “In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door.” Matthew 24:33
6 – The groom built a chupah, or a wedding canopy, and the father of the groom was the one who decided when everything was in place and released his son to go and fetch his bride.The groom arrived at the bride’s house with a Shout, and the blowing of a Trumpet, or shofar. This announced the groom’s arrival, and he then presented the Marriage Contract to the bride’s father, claiming his wife and taking her back to his father’s house.
A minister friend of mine years ago had a vision and saw his dad, that had passed away several years earlier, in a pair of overalls; the kind of overalls that builders and carpenters wear. His father was a carpenter. In the vision, his dad appeared to him and was smiling at him. When asked why he was wearing overalls, his dad replied that he had been busy working on the marriage hall for the marriage supper. “I go to prepare a place for you” is what Jesus is doing now. When the Father says it is constructed correctly and all things are in order for the wedding, He will give the permission for the bridegroom to return for His bride.
7 – The bride, in preparation for the groom’s return, set herself apart and consecrated herself with a cleansing bath called a mikvah. She purified herself for the coming wedding. She had to make herself ready and she had to stay ready, for she had no idea when her groom would return. She often kept a lamp burning in the window and an extra jar of oil on hand, lest the bridegroom come in the night and find her unprepared.
The parable of the ten virgins was given by Jesus to help His church to be ready for His return. They didn’t know when He would return, but they had to be ready at any hour of the day or the night. They had the oil of the Holy Spirit in their lamps, but they had to keep that oil fresh and burning at all times. The fine linen the bride is clothed in at the Rapture is the righteous acts of the saints. When the church prays and reads the Word, and obeys its teachings in separating herself from the world in thought and behavior, she is setting herself apart for the Holy Spirit to cleanse her as the bride of Christ.
1 Peter 3:21 “Baptism [of the Spirit], which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”
Titus 3:5 “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,”
1 Peter 1:2 “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
8 – There was no day set for the wedding. When the bridegroom was asked for the date of his wedding, he could only reply, “No man knows except my father.” The father had to approve of his son’s preparations to receive his new bride.
Jesus said, “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.” Matthew 24:36
9 – When his son arrived back with his bride, the father would be waiting to receive the couple, and then he would take the hand of the bride and place it in the hand of his son. At that moment, she became his wife. This was called the Presentation.
When Christ returns to His Father with His Bride, the Father will judge the bride based upon the Blood of His Son and our obedience to the Son’s teachings. Ephesians 5:27, “He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.” Because of the Blood of Christ covering our sins, we will be declared righteous and given to Christ as His bride for all eternity.
10 – After the presentation, the groom would bring his bride into the bridal chamber he had gone to prepare. There he would introduce her to all the society of his friends who had heard the trumpet and had come to celebrate the marriage at the marriage feast.
When God has judged the world for their unbelief, and cleansed the world of evil, then He will present her to all to be admired for what He has accomplished to make her His bride.
“it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” Revelation 19:8