“Let us rejoice and be glad an
d give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. And 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. And 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 19:7-9
In Biblical Days, the wedding feast marked the culmination of a long process of uniting a couple as husband and wife. The road to marriage took a far different path for the Jewish couple in New Testament times than for couples in our current culture. In that day, fathers arranged the union without consulting either the boy or the girl. The rabbis fixed the minimum age of 13 for boys and 12 for girls for marriage contracts to be entered into by the fathers. The fathers negotiated the marriage price, which compensated the bride’s father for the loss of her services in his home. At this point, the couple was considered betrothed, and in Biblical times, this meant that they were married but not allowed to be sexually intimate. To break the betrothal, a divorce was required. The time between betrothal and the wedding feast varied. The family would send two invitations, one well in advance to announce the pending nuptials and one when the arrangements were in place and the feast was set to start. It was considered an unpardonable social faux pas to decline the invitation or to arrive in inappropriate attire.
On the Jewish wedding day, the groom along with his friends went to the bride’s home and whisked her away with her attendants, and there was a great processional of singing, music and dancing back to the groom’s home. While awaiting her groom, the bride prepared herself and her finest dress and adornments, and she veiled her face. The groom wore his best clothes and a garland of flowers around his neck. Once they reached his home, the festivities began and usually continued for a whole week. Finally, the happy couple was escorted to the bridal chamber to consummate their union, and often afterwards, proof of the bride’s virginity was presented to the family.
In Ephesians 5:22-33, Paul compares the union of a husband and wife to the union of Christ and the church. Jesus is said to have died for the church in order to sanctify and cleanse her by the washing of water with the word in order to present her to Himself holy and blameless, without spot or wrinkle. Regarding the bride’s wedding clothes, J. Oswald Sanders states, “The wedding garments were customarily provided by the host who gave the feast. Even so, our heavenly Bridegroom provides the wedding attire, and the bride wears it”. The bride price He paid was His own shed blood, and He took our filthy rags and gave us His robes of righteousness. Now, every believer can look forward to participating in the greatest wedding feast of all time!
We know that the typical Jewish wedding feast lasted seven days. We also know that Daniel’s 70 weeks were really 70 seven year periods. The 70th week of Daniel is actually a seven year period, with the later 3 ½ years being what is called the great tribulation. Many scholars argue over the timing of the rapture in regard to this ‘week.’ Some say it is in the beginning; some say it occurs at the midway point; and still others say it happens at the end of the ‘week.’ I would propose that believers are ‘caught up’ to be with their Husband at the beginning of the week and get to enjoy the whole ‘week’ of celebrating the wedding feast with Him. Then, we get to return with Him as He sets up His Kingdom, and we rule and reign with Him for 1,000 years.
After celebrating for seven years in Heaven with Jesus and the saints, we get to move with Him into His new Kingdom and rule and reign with Him for the millennium! Wahoo! Let’s get on with it!*
*(An excerpt from my book Loved and Accepted.)