Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: Stay with us as Dr. Gary Hedrick focuses on prophecy and the marriage supper of the Lamb. Today, right here, on Messianic Perspectives.

Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Today, Dr. Gary Hedrick begins a series of studies on the marriage supper of the Lamb.

He'll be discussing the many striking similarities between ancient Jewish wedding customs and the events of the second coming. I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. Now with today's study, here is Dr. Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: All right, thank you. And welcome to another edition of the program, listening friend. It's good to have you with us today as we begin a brand new series of prophetic studies. We're going to be looking at the second coming of Jesus Christ in a way that you may never have seen it before, because we're going to be looking at this wonderful truth from a Jewish perspective.

You might say, well, I'm not Jewish. Why should I look at the second coming from a Jewish point of view? And the answer's very simple, my friend. You and I need to look at the second coming from a Jewish perspective because that's the only way we'll ever understand it properly. After all, Jesus himself was Jewish. His first followers were Jewish. Most of his listeners were Jewish.

The culture was Jewish, the context was Jewish, and in his teaching ministry, the concepts and illustrations he used were drawn from Jewish life. So if you and I are going to understand the teachings of Jesus and the other New Testament writers who were all Jewish, we have to learn to listen with Jewish ears and to see through Jewish eyes.

And what we're going to be doing in this series of programs is zeroing in on one aspect of the second coming. And that's an event the Bible refers to as the marriage supper of the Lamb. And again, the concept of a marriage supper or a marriage feast has its origins in ancient Judaism.

And what we're going to see before we're done is that many of the ancient Jewish wedding traditions were actually based on God's prophetic plan for the end times. Every time a Jewish wedding took place, it was a beautiful foreshadowing of the marriage between Jesus Christ and his bride, the church.

And we'll talk about that in a lot more detail later, but first, let's turn to Revelation chapter 19. This is where we read about the marriage supper of the Lamb, verse six. Here's what it says. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

Now let's stop there for just a moment and talk about who this is. It says the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Who is that? Well, there's a disturbing trend today in some messianic circles to compromise the deity of Christ. They say maybe he wasn't really God. They say he's still the Messiah, still anointed by God, still coming again someday, but he's not really God.

Basically what they're doing is compromising with traditional Judaism in an effort to make messianic Judaism more palatable to the rabbis. Because that's the main point rabbinic Judaism cannot accept and never has accepted. Some of the rabbis will gladly entertain the possibility that Yeshua of Nazareth was a great man or even a prophet.

Some of them acknowledge that he may have been the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Some of them will even entertain the possibility that he was Mashiach in some special sense, and that he was resurrected from the dead and that he'll return someday. But the one thing the rabbis will not tolerate is the idea that Jesus is God.

This is the watershed between true historic Christianity and all other religions. The deity of Christ. Was he God or not? The Mormons say no. The Jehovah's Witnesses say no. The Christadelphians say no. The Muslims say no. And the rabbis say no, he was not God.

But the New Testament answers with a resounding affirmation that yes, Jesus Christ was and is God Almighty. Look at it here in Revelation 19. What does it say? Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Now who is that? The Greek word for almighty is pantokrator. It's used nine times in the book of Revelation.

So let's take a look and see if it's ever used to refer to Jesus Christ. Turn back to Revelation chapter one. John introduces this book as the Revelation of Jesus Christ, who says in verse seven, I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come. Now watch this. The almighty.

In the Greek, pantokrator. The almighty. Now who's doing the talking? It's Jesus Christ. So who is the almighty? Jesus Christ. He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is and which was and which is to come. The almighty. So when it says here in Revelation 19:6 that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, it's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now let's go on. We're back in Revelation 19, verse seven. He says, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. The marriage of the Lamb is come. Two symbols of the Messiah are drawn from the animal kingdom in the Bible. First, he's the lamb.

That's a sacrificial lamb like the countless lambs that were sacrificed back in the Old Testament dispensation. You see the lamb in Isaiah 53:7 where it says he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a what? As a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, speaking of those of us who have become children of God by faith in the Messiah. He shall see his seed or his offspring.

He shall prolong his days, Isaiah says, prophesying the resurrection, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Now notice what Isaiah says. The life of the lamb will be an offering for sin. That's the sin offering from the book of Leviticus. There were five basic offerings.

Number one, the olah, or the burnt offering. Number two, the mincha, or the meal offering. Number three, the shelem, or the peace offering. Number four, the asham, or the trespass offering. And number five, the chata, or the sin offering. You'll find the sin offering in Leviticus four, five, and six.

In the sin offering, different animals were used depending on who was bringing the offering. If it was for the high priest, it was to be a bullock. If it was for the congregation as a whole, it was to be a bullock. If it was for a ruler of the people, it was to be a male goat.

But the sacrifice for the rank and file, for the common people, was a female lamb, or sometimes a goat. So the Messiah is portrayed in the scriptures as a lamb, God's sacrificial lamb. The lamb slain before the foundation of the world as the atonement for our sins. John the Baptist saw the Messiah coming and what did he say?

Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29. Notice what John said. The Messiah takes away the sin of the world. The Jewish concept of atonement was always that of a covering from one year to the next. Those Old Testament sacrifices just covered over those sins.

But when the Lamb of God came, he made it possible for our sins not to be just covered up, but to be completely done away with. Our sins were taken away. Psalm 103:12 says, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

And that's possible because of the atoning work of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's another metaphor that's used to describe the Messiah. He's also a lion. In Genesis 49:9 you have the Messiah described as the lion from the tribe of Judah. In that passage, he's the king with the scepter.

He's the one who will come to rule and to reign from the throne of his father David. In Hosea 5:14 the lion of the house of Judah is not only a king, but he's also a judge. And it says there in Hosea that he will pounce on his enemies and devour them like a lion. That's the lion of the tribe of Judah, king and judge.

Revelation 5:5 says, and one of the elders saith unto me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. You see, he came the first time as the Lamb of God. But he'll come the second time as the lion of the tribe of Judah.

The King Messiah of his people Israel. And nobody will spit on him when he comes the second time. Nobody will mock him when he comes the second time. Revelation 19:11 says, and I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

His eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns. Verse 16. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. That's the lion. So in Revelation, he's portrayed in both ways, as a lamb and as a lion.

And in Revelation 19:7 it says let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. Well, that's all of our time for today. We'll continue next time with our lessons on the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. If you liked what you heard today, you'll be pleased to know we've taken all of the programs in this series and placed them on one convenient CD entitled "The Marriage Supper of the Lamb."

It's available for your contribution of just six dollars or more to help us keep this program on your station. Most of us already know how the traditional Passover observance points to the Messiah in so many ways. Like the three pieces of matzah representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And the breaking of the middle piece symbolizing the death of the Son. So the Passover traditions point to the Messiah, and so do many of the Jewish wedding traditions. For instance, the ancient marriage feast lasted for seven days. And the New Testament teaches that there will be a wedding feast in heaven for the bride of Christ, and it will last for seven years.

Seven days and seven years. The parallels are amazing. That's what this series is all about. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, PO Box 345, San Antonio, Texas, 78292.

To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too.

I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of prophetic studies on the marriage supper of the Lamb, right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Guest (Male): Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the free will contributions of our listeners in this area.