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A Worthy Bride for Jesus

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A Worthy Bride for Jesus Session 9 A Worthy Bride for Jesus This session covers: • The Church’s identity as the Bride of Christ • Jesus as a Bridegroom God • The importance of intimacy with Jesus • The need to make ourselves ready • The need to ask Jesus to return This session corresponds to: • Session 9 of Prophetic Vision for the End Times CDs The Kingdom Is Like a Wedding 1. The gospel is a romance between Jesus and broken humanity. • In the parable of the wedding feast, Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a…wedding” (Matt. 22:2, NIV). • The gospel is so much more than agreeing to a set of facts that will keep us out of hell. It is a romance with God. Jesus is a Bridegroom and we are His cher- ished Bride. • Once you realize that you are the Bride of Christ, an amazing thing happens when you read the Bible. You begin to see how frequently the Scriptures allude to weddings, brides, bridegrooms, wedding feasts, and wedding attendants. • The Bible begins with a wedding (Gen. 2:18-25) and ends with a wedding (Rev. 19:7). God clearly com- municates that the kingdom of heaven is like a wed- ding by what He does first and last in His Word. • Make no mistake about it—Christianity is much more than a set of facts, principles, and ordinances that 125 126 Prophetic Vision for the End Times keep us out of hell. The gospel is a romance between Jesus and bro- ken humanity. Jesus is a Bridegroom God who has burning passion, wholehearted affection, and deep desire for us. 2. The bridal relationship between Jesus and His Church is woven throughout the Bible in types, shadows, allegories, prophecies, and eternal truths. • In Ephesians 5:22-33, Paul revealed that marriage between a man and a woman pictures the relationship between Christ and the Church. • With see this foreshadowed in Adam and Eve’s marriage. Just as Eve was made from Adam’s side, the Church was birthed out of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. And just as it was with Eve, through the Holy Spirit, we are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. We are Jesus’ perfect helpmate. We are called to partner with Him as He takes dominion over the earth. • Esther is another picture of the Bride of Christ. In Esther, we see how the Bride of Christ will be prepared for the King and how we can part- ner with God through intercessory prayer to overthrow the antichrist kingdoms of this world. • Ruth foreshadows how the Bride of Christ will mature in bridal love as we transition from the ways of the world into the harvest fields of our kinsmen Redeemer. • The Song of Solomon is more than a natural romance between Solo- mon and the Shulammite maiden. It is an allegory of the Bride of Christ’s journey into deep intimacy and partnership with Jesus her be- loved Bridegroom. • Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding because His best wine is truly saved for last when He marries His people (John 2:1-11; Rev. 19:7-8). • John the Baptist saw his role as a friend of the Bridegroom who was called to prepare the Bride for Jesus (John 3:29). • Both the parable of the wedding feast (Matt. 22:1-14) and the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13) clearly reveal that the kingdom of heaven is like a wedding. • In John 17:24-26, Jesus prayed that we would be with Him, see His glory, and love Him like the Father does. • In Revelation 19:7, we see that “the marriage of the Lord has come” and “His bride has made herself ready.” • The Bible even ends with the Spirit and the Bride asking Jesus to re- turn as a Bridegroom (Rev. 22:17). God’s eternal purpose of creation was to give His Son a Bride from the human race—an equally-yoked Bride that would part- ner with Him for all eternity. A Worthy Bride for Jesus 127 The Parable of the Ten Virgins 1. The parable of the ten virgins speaks prophetically about the end- time Church. • Curious about the end times, the disciples asked Jesus, “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3). • Jesus answered their question with a detailed description of end-time events (Matt. 24-25). These two power-packed chapters contain some of the clearest information about what will happen just prior to the Lord’s return. • Matthew 24 describes the tribulations that will take place on the earth. As we have seen in this class, there will be famines, earthquakes, wars, upheavals, offenses, apostasy, persecution, and the worship of the Antichrist. • What many people don’t notice, however, is that Matthew 25 is a con- tinuation of the Lord’s answer to the disciples’ question about the end times. • Because Bible translators inserted a chapter break between Matthew 24 and Matthew 25, we falsely assume that these two chapters are unrelated. But nothing is further from the truth. In fact, Matthew 25 describes how the Church should live and function in the end times. • Jesus said, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom” (Matt. 25:1). • Whenever we see a “then” in Scripture we should always seek to know “when.” When will the kingdom of heaven be like virgins seeking the Bridegroom? In the end times just prior to the Lord’s return. • The parable of the ten virgins is a prophecy of what the end-time Church will look like and how it will function (Matt. 25:1-13). • Before the Lord returns, the Church will know her identity as a Bride and she will be seeking Jesus as Bridegroom. 2. The end-time Church will be just like a bride in an ancient Jewish wedding. • In the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus used the common Jewish mar- riage custom of the day to describe how the end-time Church should await His coming. • This ancient custom consisted of five main phases: 1. The arrangement of the marriage 2. The betrothal 3. The preparation period between the betrothal and the wedding 4. The wedding ceremony 5. The wedding feast The Arrangement The arrangement was the first step in the Jewish marriage 128 Prophetic Vision for the End Times process and refers to the arrangements that were made prior to the legal betrothal. The arrangement was the time of matchmaking, often decided upon between the father of the groom and the father of the bride. Once the selection had been made, the parents prepared a written contract that depicted the terms and conditions of the marriage arrangement, the price to be paid by the groom, the responsibilities and obligations of both parties, and the dowry to be offered by the bride. The Betrothal Once the arrangement was made and the contract agreed to by both parties, the couple would move on to the betrothal cere- mony. The ceremony would include vows promising to be mar- ried, the exchange of rings or something else of value, and the sealing of the agreement by sharing a cup of wine. After this ceremony, the couple was legally married even though they did not live in the same house or consummate the marriage. Because a betrothed couple was legally married, a separation or parting of ways for any reason would require a legal divorce. The Preparation Period The next phase of the Jewish wedding was the betrothal pe- riod, known as a time of preparation. The preparation phase normally lasted about a year, even though neither the groom nor the bride knew when the wedding would take place. The only one who knew was the groom’s father, who determined the specific time for the groom to go and get his bride. During the betrothal period, the groom remained at his father’s home and prepared a place for the two to live. This was nor- mally done by adding a room to his father’s house. While the groom was busy building, the bride was preparing herself for the upcoming wedding. This usually involved three things: 1. The bride was observed for her purity. This custom re- quired at least a full nine months to pass in order to en- sure that the bride was not pregnant and to attempt to assure that she was a virgin. 2. The bride consecrated herself. She examined everything in her life and changed whatever was necessary in order to be ready for the holy covenant of marriage. 3. The bride made her own wedding garments. Ancient Jewish women did not have the luxury of going to the nearest bridal shop and purchasing a premade dress. They had to spend hours and hours making their wed- A Worthy Bride for Jesus 129 ding garments and adorning them with the special touches to make them beautiful. The Wedding Ceremony Toward the end of the year-long betrothal period, the bride waited with great expectancy for the groom to come and for the ceremony to take place. Even late in the evening the bride and her wedding party would keep their oil lamps burning in case it was time for the wedding to take place. The day of the ceremony was a surprise to both the groom and the bride. When the bridegroom was asked the date of the wedding, he could only say something like, “No man knows ex- cept my father.” When the time was right, the groom’s father would issue the approval for the ceremony to begin.
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