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SignUp Now!Is there scripture that talks about the "when" the wedding will take place?? I know I have herd many say it takes place during the 7 year tribulation, but is there scripture for that?
thanks
I'm a pretrib rapture believer....I also believe that the marriage feast of the Lamb is during the tribulation period, and before we follow our Jesus to Earth at His second coming, when Jesus will gather together all His people who missed the rapture and missed being the bride.
Dovegiven....you have a wonderful way with words. You are right...We are not a bride in the way of a woman with a man but we are in the similitude of a wedding couple. Many Christians, I would hope the vast majority, will be part of that 'bride' but many too will miss out, and be part of the party. Being part of that bride is not automatic with being born again either....For example.....The 'bride' is one who has made 'herself' ready... The bride is one who is watching for Him.....I think we are mature enough to explore that. I have to wonder why Jesus never told the men traveling with him they would be his bride someday, then assumed to be a feminine man marrying a male. According to what I have learned of ancient Jews, that would have either immediately netted Jesus no Jewish disciples at all, or be subject to another stoning attempt by Jews. What Jesus did teach was the simile of the beauty of a Jewish wedding being like the beauty of being a born again child of God in Christ. He never came out saying the Jewish wedding of a man and woman simile was the way the kingdom of heaven is literally like.
There are other similies Jesus used that obviously were not the actual case of life in heaven. He never once declared those men as wives, but instead of
"servants", called them "friends".
John 15:15 (KJV)
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
The Friends of a Jewish bridegroom were never equated to the "Bride" here on earth. We Christians remain, according to Jesus' determination, friends of the Bridegroom. That's a high honor in any Jewish wedding. Us friends party with the the groom before and after the wedding itself. Even gentile friends, these days, are invited to the groom's party where no female attends the best "bachelor's party" affordable.
The grooms' friend party is before the actual wedding ceremony that immediately follows, between the bride and groom only. That's why I accept that the Lamb's wedding feast comes a little later (an hour or two), the Friends attending, witnessing what follows, the physical union of friends of Christ (brethren) and the groom Jesus. That leaves the question of who the Bride is. The Bride was never equated to the company of her friends of the Bride or the Groom. The Bride is then once equated to the concept of the union of the friends concerning the bride (Heaven, representing all saints of OT and NT and current) and the Groom, Jesus, with Heaven, a place called the Lamb's Bride. It was never taught to be an ideal marriage like between a physical man and woman. It was a similar husband/wife scenario as depicted in Hosea. Heaven is not accessible to anyone even visiting there who is corrupted, so all there must be earlier cleansed by the blood of Jesus, coming in clothed in the robe of righteousness, identifying each member as a true friend of Christ. All such folks are then part of the population of Heaven, the whole of which is the Bride by association with the PURE inhabiting the land of the pure.
When the simile Jesus taught by came to the end of it, the door was closed to any others wanting inside the party. That would exclude all those later found eligible. A primay concern of God is the salvaion of Israel. That intent would keep the bridegroom's door open as long as possible, while the bride's friends are scrambling to refill their lamps. That, to me, pushes the opportunity to attend closer to the end of the tribulation, even on the last day of it.
Dovegiven....you have a wonderful way with words. You are right...We are not a bride in the way of a woman with a man but we are in the similitude of a wedding couple. Many Christians, I would hope the vast majority, will be part of that 'bride' but many too will miss out, and be part of the party. Being part of that bride is not automatic with being born again either....For example.....The 'bride' is one who has made 'herself' ready... The bride is one who is watching for Him.....