Watch Therefore

Jesus is presented subtly, as are the Father and the Spirit, in Genesis 1:1 with the unique name “God” which in the Hebrew is ‘Elohim.’ What is unique is that, with the suffix ‘im’ which in Hebrew denotes plurality (think “seraph” versus “seraphim” and “cherub” versus “cherubim”). In Hebrew the name ‘Elohim’ is known as a uni (meaning single) plural noun. Somehow single yet plural. This is our first clue that God is more complex than meets the eye. Then with the phrase, “Let us make man in our image…” (Gen. 1:26) we see that plurality confirmed, though not yet defined, upon the page. By Genesis 3:8 we read of God walking with them in the garden. This is our first theophany or revealing of God in the form of a man, in the Bible. Many maintain this is more specifically a Christophany, God the Son, second person of the Holy Trinity.

With the fall of man in Adam and Eve we find the very first Messianic prophecy in scripture. Genesis 3:15 famously reveals God speaking with the serpent, Satan himself, and foretelling that “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Thus revealing the role of Jesus Christ, our Messiah, in his role as our ultimate Redeemer. But of all the following types the Lord paves before man on the road to redemption over the following millennia, perhaps the least understood role of Christ is Christ as the Bridegroom. And yet there are literally dozens of wedding typologies established from the Old Testament and in Christ’s sermons that set up for us a dynamic seldom introduced in Bible colleges or from the pulpit beyond the superficial.

There are a number of typologies in the scriptures and many of them are used as foreshadowing of what is to come, or prophecy. The Lord often repeats these to impress for our learning. We get that He is trying to tell us something.

In a 2001 article called “Pattern Not Prediction,” Chuck Missler noted:

“The western mind views prophecy merely as prediction and fulfillment. The Jewish mind saw prophecy as a pattern being recapitulated, where a pattern of events illuminates a thematic replay in the future. The “western” (Gentile) misunderstandings are crucial in understanding the errors of dominionism, restorationism, and preterism, which continue to confuse current eschatology (the study of “last things”).

“Among the illuminating warnings are the attribution by Matthew of the return of Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus from Egypt to the quote from Hosea. There is no rational way to view the Hosea passage as Messianic in the traditional sense. The academic overemphasis on context seems to break down when viewed too narrowly. The answer is pattern, not just prediction. Matthew’s allusion to Jeremiah regarding Herod’s murder of the babies in Bethlehem is another example.

“The richness and understanding that accompanies the rediscovery of the Midrashic hermeneutic is one of the most exciting aspects of studying the Old Testament.”

“Pattern Not Prediction” Chuck Missler

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. -Romans 15:4

In John 13:19 Jesus concludes a summation of his ministry as he prepares his disciples for his departure by telling them:

“I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.”

Then Jesus echoes similarly in John 14:29:

“And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.”

And with respect to the tabernacle and all the priestly activities, the writer of Hebrews tells us that:

They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” - Hebrews 8:5

And finally, Paul, in Colossians writes:

Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. - Colossians 2:16-17

Physicists have in recent years been baffled by mathematical results and data that demonstrate our world, our existence, is a construct. Some have taken that to mean that we live in The Matrix. At least two physicists have committed suicide over the implications.

Most have not made the leap yet that God is the Creator and that this is not a video game, but that we do live in a construct, with Christ and His realm as the substance and all that we know and understand is but a shadow. And as we shall see, even our wedding ceremonies are but a shadow of an alternate reality, with Christ in Heaven as the substance and what is to come.

God gave Adam Eve as a help-meet in marriage from the beginning. Knowing the plan of redemption before the heavens and the earth were created, God gave us this type of relationship so we would understand better the dynamic of His relationship to us. Hosea was told by God to marry a prostitute, Gomer, and have children with her, because God wanted this relationship to be a picture, a type, for us to comprehend His commitment to us, regardless our sin, so long as we have agreed to join Him in such a relationship. The prophets as well reveal this dynamic.

“For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you. ” -Isaiah 62:5

And how about this one:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might -Isaiah 62:5, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy [set apart] and without blemish. -Ephesians 5:25-27

The Holy Spirit tells us through Paul writing to the Ephesians Christ likens us, his church, to a bride, making him the bridegroom.

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. -2 Corinthians 11:2

This plays out in future history in the Book of Revelation:

7 Let us rejoice and exult

and give him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his Bride has made herself ready;

8 it was granted her to clothe herself

with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” -Revelation 19:7-9

Then I saw ya new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. -Revelation 21:1, 2

The city is where the people dwell, therefore it is identified with the people. Jesus would not die for a building of any sort, but Jesus said:

“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” -John 14:2, 3

Most of the Hebrew wedding tradition is peppered throughout the Old Testament, but Jesus offers credibility to the examples and truth drawn from them by virtue of his use of them to inform his disciples of the nature of his return. This is particularly significant because if the Lord has set this example up for us in order to recognize this dynamic with respect to us and our relationship to Him and how the Second Coming will be, we would do well to pay attention to this pattern because this pattern will have great meaning and application to our understanding of the end.

There are no allegories in the Bible. Well, there is one Paul offers and tells us he is giving us one, to paint a picture, but none we need concern ourselves with hermeneutically. There is symbolism, obviously and there is typology and there are metaphors and the Hebrew mindset in particular will engage in hyperbole. The more liberal mindset will allegorize away passages of Scripture he finds difficult to mesh with his theology. This sort of dismissiveness is disingenuous and worse, dangerous where adherence to sound doctrine is concerned. Such is the stuff from whence comes cults.

Well, what says the Scriptures with respect to the wedding imagery with respect to the End Times? Jesus in his discourse on the Mount of Olives dipped into this tradition liberally. In chapter 25 of Matthew we read:

1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins [bridesmaids] who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
… 13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

Attending the wedding feast will be not only the Church as the bride of Christ, but others as well. The “others” include Old Testament saints who are going to be raised at the Second Coming, as well as the martyred dead of the Tribulation. As the angel told John to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). The marriage supper of the Lamb is a glorious celebration of all who are in Christ!

How might knowing Jewish wedding customs help us better understand this?

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” -John 4:1-3

How Is The Church A Bride?
We touched on this before, but by way of quick review:

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. -Ephesians 5:25-32

2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son…” -Matthew 22:2

6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’…10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut… 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
-Matthew 25:6, 10, 13

2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. -2 Corinthians 11:2

7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 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 19:7, 8

17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. -Revelation 22:17

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. -Revelation 21:2

As New Jerusalem will be our new home, she is identified with we the saints as the bride. Because we live in the here and now in our existence, we tend to lend substance to the flesh, this life. Although, if we think about it, the Lord’s realm has existed eternally. Ours is but the shadow and His realm is the substance. Our marriage relationships are but the type; a metaphor for our marriage to Him in His universe, the real world. He continuously offers us these examples so that we might easier connect the dots in our understanding.

1. Betrothal (Erusin)
   A) The Shiddukhin – Preliminary Arrangements
   The shiddukhin starts with the father’s selection of a bride for his beloved son. So too are we selected by the Father to be His beloved Son’s bride.

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love. -Ephesians 1:4

It was common in ancient Israel of the father of the groom to select a bride for his son. At least that was so, formerly. The process might also be simply that the young man sees or knows a young lady to whom he is attracted and express this to his father. The young man’s father would then take the formal initiative, even if the two youngsters have already been discussing and plotting the arrangement themselves. An early example is Abraham’s arrangement for son Isaac in Genesis 24.

1 Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way.
2 Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh,
3 and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live,
4 but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

Jesus left His Father’s house in heaven and traveled to earth, the home of His prospective Church, about 2000 years ago, just as the groom and his father travel to the home of the bride.

For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. -John 6:38

As well, the father may opt for assigning the responsibility to another as with a matchmaker, just like Fiddler On The Roof.

B) The Ketubah
Ketubah is simply the marriage contract. The Groom goes to his father and gets approval of the girl he wants to marry. Now he must get approval from the father of the Bride. This is the prospective groom’s traveling from his father’s house to the home of the prospective bride, paying the purchase price, and thus establishing the marriage covenant.

Usually arranged by the parents. Binding and could only be broken by a form of divorce. Any unfaithfulness during the engagement was considered adultery. At this point they are officially married, though the marriage is not yet consummated.

The ketubah, the contract, is the “New Testament” aka “New Covenant” or our new contract. So we see the commitment of a contract and the price of the mohar (the dowry) is his own life. (Isa 61:10; Judges 14:10-11; Jer 2:32; Isa 49:18; Ps 45:8-15).

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” -Luke 22:20

The groom promises love and care for His bride. As a symbol of the covenant relationship that had been established, the groom and bride would drink from a cup of wine over which a betrothal benediction had been pronounced.

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. -Matthew 26:39

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. -1 Cor 11:25, 26

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. -1 Peter 1:18, 19

Then, negotiations begin over a dowry. Everything they agree to is put in writing. The groom promises to support his wife to be, financial status is disclosed and how it pertains to the dowry is written down and there will be a “mohar” or Bridal Payment.

Again, as far back as Genesis we see this tradition play out in the same passage. Let us continue and observe what happens later in chapter 24:

10 Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and set out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. 
-Genesis 24:10

By verse fifteen we learn that Rebekah is chosen. The entire chapter is well worth the read at this point. Later we read:

57 And they said, “We will call the girl and consult her wishes.”
58 Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.”
59 Thus they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men. 
-Genesis 24

In the intervening verses what we see is the mohar is taken care of right away and we see that the bride is very much a part of the process in the arrangement and not without her consent as with many other cultures, including more recent European and oriental customs. What is absent is the romanticized modern notions of dating and “falling in love” first.

C) The Mohar – or Bridal Payment
This gift paid by the groom to the bride’s family ultimately is the bride’s. She is then free from her parent’s household. Again we see this in Genesis 24 with Rebekah.

53 The servant brought out articles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.

By Jesus’ time they would seal the contract by drinking wine from a cup as a common practice, like today’s toast:

And he said unto them, “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.”
-Luke 22:15-18 (cf. Mk 14:25; Mt 26:29)

The bride promises to pay her dowry, that of her yielded life and to keep herself for the bridegroom.

19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. -1 Corinthians 6:19, 20

Once the bridegroom paid the purchase price, the marriage covenant was thereby established, and the young man and woman were regarded to be husband and wife. Jesus redeemed us by paying the penalty for our sin on the cross. From the moment the price was paid for the bride, she was declared to be consecrated or sanctified, set apart exclusively for her bridegroom. The couple are at this time considered married, although not yet consummated. The Church has been declared to be sanctified or set apart exclusively for Christ, just as the bride to the bridegroom.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. -Eph 5:25-26

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 
-Hebrews 10:10

“Once for all” is aorist tense and in this verse means once for all time. This speaks to our eternal security. It is the offering of the body of Jesus Christ that sets us apart for him, once and for all time. We are fully justified, washed in his blood, but the separation process continues until we go to be with Jesus and are finally glorified.

D) The Mikveh
Mikveh generally means a collection of water. It is a ritual immersion, in this case. It was common for the bride and groom to separately take a ritual immersion. The ritual immersion was prior to actually entering into the formal betrothal period, and was symbolic of spiritual cleansing. It is unclear when this tradition began with respect to the marriage tradition, but it was also a practice with respect to the priesthood prior to entering into the temple rituals. They were required to be ritually pure in order to enter the Temple.

In order, God told Moses that the people were to take a mikvah upon being cured from certain skin diseases (Lev. 14:8, 9) after contact with some bodily fluids (Lev. 15:16, 18; Deut. 23:11). Also after the menstrual time (Lev. 15:21, 22, and 27), after exposure to some diseases (Lev. 15:5-13) and as part of the Yom Kippur ritual (Lev. 16:4, 24, 26, and 28). We also saw this if there were contact with a dead animal (Lev. 17:15-16) or dead human (Num. 19:7-8, and 19) and upon becoming a priest (Ex. 29:4 and 40:12).

Interesting to note that this as a precursor to baptism is used with respect to Moses, as Paul alludes to in 1 Corinthians 10.

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. -1 Corinthians 10:1, 2

The rite of passage through the water in the parted seas was a form of baptism or mikveh. This sort of cleansing ritual, by the way, may help clear a good deal of misunderstanding with respect to the future resurrection Paul was addressing in 1 Corinthians 15, the famous resurrection chapter. From the Law we read that contact with the dead required mikveh or ritual water cleansing. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. Paul says, if you don’t believe in the resurrection, why are you then mikvah’d for the dead?

Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? -1 Corinthians 15:29

This much confused and misunderstood text now becomes clearer when the Hebraism is understood. Baptism is simply the Greek term for how the Greeks understood the pools and the process. Once Alexander the Great conquered that part of the world, Greek became the new universal language of trade. The Jews began to use the Greek word for dipping, “baptizó” (bap-tid’-zo) which transliterates into English as “baptism.” The meaning is to submerge or dip. It means to immerse (literally, “dip under”). The meaning (baptízō) implies submersion (“immersion”), in contrast to antéxomai (“sprinkle”).

So there is a purification element for the bride of the bridegroom. Jesus did so at the beginning of his ministry.

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” -Matthew 3:13-17

We too as the Bride of Christ have a mikveh in our water baptism.

Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. -1 Corinthians 6:11

26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 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

As we indicated, the betrothal prohibits the bride to all other men and cannot be dissolved without a religious divorce (get). This might happen if the couple are betrothed (really considered married) and she does not keep herself sanctified, perhaps even marrying another. The wedding ceremony releases the bride to the bridegroom. After the initial betrothal, the bride lived usually with her parents until the day the actual wedding ceremony arrived.

2. Separation
   But before that day is a time of Separation. Typically this can be about a year. In Jacob’s case he had two stretches of seven years each. Recall that he can asked for Rachel’s hand in marriage but was tricked by her father Laban. It seemed a just humbling for Jacob who had tricked his father Isaac into giving him Esau’s blessing. After working seven long years Jacob entered into his marriage ceremony, bride appropriately veiled. He then entered the chamber with his wife only to wake up next morning and find Rachel’s older sister Leah.
   
   When he confronted Laban on his deceit, Laban pointed it out was a tradition that the eldest on down in age marry first and that he would have to work another seven years for Rachel. This was, of course, prior to any direction from multiple wives. It’s a complicated and at time entertaining story and for another time, but point being, in poor Jacob’s (later renamed Israel’s) case, the separation period from his beloved was an unthinkable fourteen years!

During this time of separation, as verses above indicate, the bride is making herself ready. She is making plans and prepares her trousseau.

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. -Matt 6:20

A) Matan
Before the bridegroom left, it was customary to leave a parting gift. Today it is our engagement ring. This Matan or bridal gift was his pledge of love for her. The purpose was to be a reminder during their days of separation of his love and that he would be thinking of her, and that he would return to receive her as his wife. But are you aware Jesus left us with a parting gift?

It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. -John 16:7

3. Preparation
   During this one year period, the bride would consecrate herself. She is preparing holy garments for the upcoming marriage. Paul puts this preparation in very clear terms (Eph 5:25-27; 1 Cor 1:2; 6:11; Heb 10:10; 13:12). She is set apart (sanctified) for the bridegroom. Meanwhile, the bridegroom is making preparations to return for His bride and she is preparing her dress and keeping our garments clean.

After the marriage covenant had been established, the groom would leave the home of the bride and return to his father’s house. Jesus left the home of the Church and returned to His Father’s house in heaven after establishing the new covenant. The groom returns to his father’s house and remains separate from his bride, during which time he prepared the living accommodations for his bride in his father’s house.

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’” 
-John 20:17

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? -John 14:2

This is key:
In Biblical times, it was not customary for the bridegroom to run off and build a home on a new piece of property. On the contrary, he would build a room addition to the family home. And, it was not up to the bridegroom to determine if the room was suitable. Rather it was his father’s decision. The groom occupied himself with the preparation of living accommodations in his father’s house to which he could bring his bride.

The father would check out the room addition and suggest any changes or additions, if any, prior to giving the son permission to go take his bride. Therefore, the son never knew for certain when the day or the hour would be because the father might as for alterations. Thus a parallel with the Feast of Trumpets, the feast that no man knows the day or the hour. Jesus said on the Mount of Olives:

36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only…” -Matthew 24:36

The disciples did not question his meaning because they knew exactly what he was alluding to.

The Wedding!
The culminating step in the Process of the Jewish Wedding.

4. Fetching (Nissuin)
   It was the father of the bridegroom who determined whether the room addition was suitable for the bride. Then and only then would the father say, “Go and get your bride.” The new home that Jesus is preparing is the New Jerusalem.

The final step in the wedding process is called Nissuin. Also known as “the taking.” The word comes from the Hebrew nasa which means “to carry.” The bride would be waiting for her groom to come to carry her off to her new home. One of the unique features of the ancient Hebrew wedding was the time of the groom’s arrival. It was to be a surprise. The bride took the betrothal most seriously. Great anticipation and expectation after a year long period of betrothal.

She knew the approximate timing, “the season,” but she would not know the exact day or the hour of the taking. (Surprise gathering: Jer 7:34; 16:9; 25:10; Ps 45:8-15; Mt 25:1-13).

Jesus told his disciples that He did not know the day or hour of his return (Mat. 24:32-36). During his first incarnation, he came in humility and Philippians tells us, as well as Hebrews, that Jesus came first time to forgo all his knowledge, wealth (2 Cor.8:9), authority and power, but for what the Father gave him. Certainly upon his resurrection he had all knowledge, just as at his ascension he is again seated at the right hand of the Father. But as with any Jewish bridegroom, Jesus must wait for His Father to give the word that the set time has come.

It was the father of the groom who would give the final approval for the marriage to begin. Then, according to the tradition, one of the groom’s men (usually the Best Man) would go before the arrival of the groom and shout, “Behold the groom comes!” We see this foretold in I Thessalonians:

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. -1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17

Notice this is not the Bridegroom returning all the way to earth to touch his foot down on the Mount of Olives. This is not the Second Coming. So we see an archangel will shout, and we see in John 3 that John the Baptist is the Best Man (Friend of Bridegroom, not the Bride): Jn 3:29; Lk 16:16; Mt 11:11-13.

“Caught up” is in Latin “rapture.” In the Greek it was harpazo. In the Wedding Tradition it is “The Taking.” So next time someone tells you there is no “rapture” in the Bible, now you know. By the way, ever notice the word “Bible” is not in the Bible?

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. -John 3:29

Typically, according to the wedding tradition, the best man and the entire wedding party of the bridegroom would come down the street in a large processional, shouting, making noise and blowing the shofar. Just as we are to meet the Lord in the air, this processional would not go all the way to the home of the bride. Rather, they would meet her partway. As roughly the year-long season of waiting has passed, the bride’s dress will have been set out for days in anticipation, clean and white as she has made herself ready. It was common that the bridegroom’s party would come for the taking at about midnight.

Just as with the Parable of the Ten Virgins of Matthew 25 (bride’s maids), the bride’s wedding party would be outside watching. They had tall sticks, like a staff, with lamps mounted upon them, and oil for the lamps in preparation. As the bridegroom’s party, with their torches, shouting and shofar in the distance, the virgins of the bride’s party would alert the bride and they would light the lamps. The bride’s entire household, now awake, would run out and meet the bridegroom and his party partway, then the expanded parade would make their way back to the father of the bridegroom’s home for the Wedding Ceremony itself, and a week long celebration of feasting. This Banquet (Isa 25:6-10; 26:1-4,19; cf. Lk 22:15,16; Mt 26:39) included seven full days (Judg. 14:12; Mt. 9:15; 22:11-14; Jn. 2:1) of food, music, dance and celebration, while the bride is veiled and hidden.

5. Chuppah
   According to Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, “The wedding ceremony would then take place in a room or tent that the groom had set up for her. After the ceremony the bride and groom would spend an hour together in an ordinary room, and then the bride would enter the chuppah and, after gaining her permission, the groom would join her.”

The groomsmen would set up the chuppah (or huppah). The couple would say a blessing over the cup of wine. The ceremony finalized the promises and vows. The bride would remain hidden away for the week long celebration as she and the bridegroom more intimately got to know one another.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. -1 Corinthians 13:12

At the conclusion of this seven day banquet and celebration, the bride would then be presented, publicly, as she is announced and unveiled.

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. -Revelation 21:2

9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.” -Revelation 21:9, 10

6. The Marriage Supper
   The pinnacle of this joyful celebration was the Marriage Supper. It was much more than just a sit down dinner for all the guests. The bride had been revealed and it is the conclusion of the week of celebration. John reveals this event announcement in Revelation 19, which is coincidental with the conclusion of The Day Of Wrath, the Great Tribulation as Gabriel also foretold Daniel and Jesus also spoke of on the Mount of Olives:

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;

8 it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

After the festivities the husband was free to bring his bride to their new home to live together as husband and wife in the full covenant of marriage.

While the conclusions with respect to timing may be a subject of some discussion, we must clearly conclude beyond the shadow of doubt that God fore-ordained the structure and activities behind the ancient wedding traditions as a type of our relationship with Jesus Christ, the Substance of all that is but a Shadow in this world. He did so, so that as history unwinds before us we might understand better the dynamic of His workings, for His glory. All indications are, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. Amen!

Works Cited

New Living Translation. 1996, 2004, 2015. Tyndale House Foundation.

Pattern, not Just Prediction, Midrash Hermeneutics. Chuck Missler. May 2001. Koinonia House.

Made in Heaven, A Jewish Wedding Guide. Kaplan, Rabbi Aryeh. 1983. Moznaim Publishers

1 The Bride enjoys a unique relationship (John 17:23-26). The Virgins of Mt 25:1-13 are not the bride, as the bride is already within. Some suggest that the Old Testament saints are not in view. Some see Israel and the Church combined here. Israel is also figured in Hos 2:14-23; Isa 62:5. Others suggest that both are in view. They certainly appear to be combined in the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21 and 22.