The Bride & Her Groom
From the beginning of Jesus' ministry, while proclaiming He came for the Jews first and then the Greeks next, He continued to allude to those who would receive Him as His Bride. It seemed symbolic at first, but then more apparent by the end of His time on earth.
His 1st miracle was at a wedding where He turned water into Wine. The Galilean Wedding was full of customs and rituals that we don't know about today, but they were well known back then and Jesus used that to make a point during the Last Supper.
The tradition of the Galilean Wedding was that the man would offer a cup of wine to a woman which symbolized his proposal of marriage. It came with a contract, a covenant of all that she could expect from being married to this man and all that was expected of her. It was a covenant. She had the power to receive it or reject it. When and if she received the cup and drank from it, the man would then take it and drink it also and then say, "I shall not drink from this cup again until I drink it with you in my Father's estate." Then the man would leave his fiance behind while he went back to his father's estate and added on to it for a place for he and his wife to dwell together. The Bride never knew when her fiance would come to get her, but she was always to be ready at any moment. When the Groom finally came, it was often at night and the procession came with the blast of a trumpet. Then, the Groom's wedding party would literally place the Bride onto a fancy cart and LIFT HER UP and CARRY HER all the way to her Fiance's estate. They actually did this over and over and over again so it was a very well known custom.
During one of Jesus' sermons, He made the statement, "In my Father's estate, there are many dwelling places. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go away to prepare a place for you, then I will come again and receive you unto myself so that where I am, you will be also." We don't catch the symbolism like they did, but ancient historians comment over how shocked the listeners were because Jesus was speaking of Himself as the groom and his followers as the Bride.
It didn't stop there.
The night before Jesus was arrested, at the famous last supper before Jesus went into the Garden to bear the weight of our sins, He first took some bread at the table, broke it and said, "Take this. This is my body." Then he took His cup of wine and said, "Drink it. This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I shall not drink from this cup again until I drink it with you in my Father's Kingdom." And when He said that, His disciples knew, drawing from the ritual of the Galilean Wedding, He was again referring to Himself as the Groom and those who drank from the cup as His betrothed Bride.
Once recognizing this, readers can't help but notice a pattern throughout the Old Testament of a Jewish man who sought out a Jewish Bride, but then first married a Gentile Bride. The story of Abraham's son Isaac marrying a Gentile woman is filled with the symbolism of Isaac being a symbol of Jesus and his bride being a symbol of the church.
Paul made a crazy statement in one of his letters about how men should really treat and love their wives and then at the end, Paul said that men should love their wives in the same way that Christ loved the church and then he said, "A man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become one flesh, this is a great mystery, but I'm talking about Christ and the Church." WHOA!!!!!
This is what it means when you here of the title: The Bride of Christ. It's a very special privilege to be in this group. Not everyone called a believer in Scripture is the Bride. Not everyone called a Saint in Scripture is the Bride. The Bride has a specific destiny that was born on the Day of Pentecost and will end when her Groom finally comes back to pick her up and carry her home to their honeymoon suite. The Bride is told to watch and be ready at a moments notice. It could happen at any time. Jesus said the date could not be predicted, but to watch closely because WE WILL recognize the signs for when it's upon us.
And it's upon us.
His 1st miracle was at a wedding where He turned water into Wine. The Galilean Wedding was full of customs and rituals that we don't know about today, but they were well known back then and Jesus used that to make a point during the Last Supper.
The tradition of the Galilean Wedding was that the man would offer a cup of wine to a woman which symbolized his proposal of marriage. It came with a contract, a covenant of all that she could expect from being married to this man and all that was expected of her. It was a covenant. She had the power to receive it or reject it. When and if she received the cup and drank from it, the man would then take it and drink it also and then say, "I shall not drink from this cup again until I drink it with you in my Father's estate." Then the man would leave his fiance behind while he went back to his father's estate and added on to it for a place for he and his wife to dwell together. The Bride never knew when her fiance would come to get her, but she was always to be ready at any moment. When the Groom finally came, it was often at night and the procession came with the blast of a trumpet. Then, the Groom's wedding party would literally place the Bride onto a fancy cart and LIFT HER UP and CARRY HER all the way to her Fiance's estate. They actually did this over and over and over again so it was a very well known custom.
During one of Jesus' sermons, He made the statement, "In my Father's estate, there are many dwelling places. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go away to prepare a place for you, then I will come again and receive you unto myself so that where I am, you will be also." We don't catch the symbolism like they did, but ancient historians comment over how shocked the listeners were because Jesus was speaking of Himself as the groom and his followers as the Bride.
It didn't stop there.
The night before Jesus was arrested, at the famous last supper before Jesus went into the Garden to bear the weight of our sins, He first took some bread at the table, broke it and said, "Take this. This is my body." Then he took His cup of wine and said, "Drink it. This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I shall not drink from this cup again until I drink it with you in my Father's Kingdom." And when He said that, His disciples knew, drawing from the ritual of the Galilean Wedding, He was again referring to Himself as the Groom and those who drank from the cup as His betrothed Bride.
Once recognizing this, readers can't help but notice a pattern throughout the Old Testament of a Jewish man who sought out a Jewish Bride, but then first married a Gentile Bride. The story of Abraham's son Isaac marrying a Gentile woman is filled with the symbolism of Isaac being a symbol of Jesus and his bride being a symbol of the church.
Paul made a crazy statement in one of his letters about how men should really treat and love their wives and then at the end, Paul said that men should love their wives in the same way that Christ loved the church and then he said, "A man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become one flesh, this is a great mystery, but I'm talking about Christ and the Church." WHOA!!!!!
This is what it means when you here of the title: The Bride of Christ. It's a very special privilege to be in this group. Not everyone called a believer in Scripture is the Bride. Not everyone called a Saint in Scripture is the Bride. The Bride has a specific destiny that was born on the Day of Pentecost and will end when her Groom finally comes back to pick her up and carry her home to their honeymoon suite. The Bride is told to watch and be ready at a moments notice. It could happen at any time. Jesus said the date could not be predicted, but to watch closely because WE WILL recognize the signs for when it's upon us.
And it's upon us.
