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 continues our current series 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 continue our series of studies on the marriage supper of the lamb. What we've been doing for the past several days is studying some of the key prophetic passages in the New Testament. What we've discovered is that if you take these passages that talk about the rapture and the tribulation and the second coming of Jesus Christ and you interpret those passages in the context of the Jewish customs of the day and especially the Jewish marriage customs, then suddenly the whole prophetic scenario becomes crystal clear and the pieces of the puzzle all fall into place.

The reason for that is that when God ordained marriage in the beginning, he designed it to be an earthly model of his relationship to his people. In the Old Testament, Israel is described symbolically as the wife of Jehovah. In the New Testament, the church is described symbolically as the bride of Christ. So from the very beginning, the earthly marriage relationship was designed by God to model our relationship to him.

Now we've come to the second stage of the Jewish wedding: the presentation of the bride to the bridegroom. Remember, we said that in ancient times a typical Jewish wedding took place in three stages: initiation, presentation, and celebration. This second stage was where the bridegroom took his bride back to his father's house, and the actual wedding ceremony took place. In Hebrew, it was called the nisu'in, and this was actually considered the marriage ceremony. This was where the marriage was actually consummated.

Interestingly enough, the most important part of the nisu'in was the procession itself as the bride and groom, along with their attendants and family members and well-wishers, wound their way through the streets of the city to the house of the bridegroom's father. Some led the way with torches, while musicians followed with harps and tambourines and trumpets. Other members of the wedding party were carrying items of furniture and other housewarming gifts. The bride and the groom themselves were dancing and laughing and having a great time with their friends.

In fact, the Talmud tells us that in ancient Israel, a wedding procession had precedence over a funeral procession. If a wedding procession met a funeral procession in the street, the funeral procession had to pull off to the side until the wedding procession had passed. That was the law. That was how important this wedding procession was to the Jewish people. It was a central feature of Jewish life.

That's why when Jeremiah prophesied about the coming of judgment on Judah, what did he say? Listen to this. Jeremiah 7:34: "Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall be desolate." What's he talking about? He's talking about the wedding processions that were seen and heard so often in the streets of Jerusalem. But once the Babylonians invaded in 586 BC, the city would be laid desolate. The streets would be empty and quiet. The sounds of joy and gladness and rejoicing would be no more. That was Jeremiah's picture of judgment. There would be no more wedding processions.

So the wedding procession was the highlight of the presentation stage. Once the procession arrived at the father's house, they had a brief ceremony, exchanged vows, and shared a ceremonial cup of wine. Remember, at the betrothal, the bridegroom told his bride that he wouldn't drink again of that fruit of the vine until he shared it with her in his father's house? Well, this is where they would share that cup.

Then the bridegroom escorted his bride to their private quarters where the marriage was consummated. They came together as one flesh according to the mitzvah of Genesis 2:24. Then according to the purity regulations of the Mosaic law, the bride remained in seclusion for seven days. During those seven days, the bridegroom and the rest of the bridal party, along with their family and friends, feasted and celebrated.

This week-long celebration was the final stage of the Jewish wedding. It was the marriage feast or the marriage supper. It was a party that lasted for seven days. There's an example of a marriage feast in the New Testament. It says in John 2:1 that there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage.

Jesus and his disciples were invited to this marriage feast. After they arrived, someone told Mary that they had run out of wine. Well, this was a catastrophe. You can imagine how you would feel if you had two or three hundred people over for a dinner party and you ran out of drinks or you ran out of hamburgers or whatever. It would be very embarrassing. In those days, transportation was very slow. It could take hours to send servants to purchase enough wine for a crowd that size.

So Mary said to Jesus, "They have no more wine." The fact that she told Jesus about their predicament shows that she knew he had the power to do something about it. We don't know how she knew, but somehow Mary knew that her son possessed supernatural powers. Jesus said, "Why are you involving me in this? This is not the right time. Mine hour is not yet come," he said.

But a Jewish mother doesn't take no for an answer. She called the servants and she said, "You do whatever he tells you to do." Jesus deferred to his mother out of respect for her, and he told the servants to fill six large stone containers with fresh water. Then he miraculously changed the water into wine, about 150 gallons of it, as a matter of fact. The governor of the feast comments on the superb quality of the wine. That was a marriage feast in Galilee where the bridegroom, the bridal party, their family, and friends all celebrated for seven days.

At the end of the seven days, the bridegroom would enter the bridal chamber and bring out the bride for everyone to see. This was their first glimpse of the bride without her bridal veil, and the unveiling marked the climax of the week-long celebration. So those were the three stages of the Jewish marriage: one, the initiation or betrothal; two, the presentation of the bride to the groom; and three, the celebration or the marriage supper.

Now we're ready to zero in on our main subject: the marriage supper of the lamb. What is it? When does it occur? Who will be there? First of all, let's return to our key passage in Revelation 19, beginning in verse 6. 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."

Verse 7: "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." Verse 8: "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." And he saith unto me, "Write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the lamb." And he saith unto me, "These are the true sayings of God."

Now this prophetic passage describes two distinct end-time events. First, in verse 7, there's the marriage of the lamb. It says, "The marriage of the lamb is come." Second, in verse 9, there's the marriage supper of the lamb. It says, "Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the lamb." Two future events: first the marriage, and then the marriage supper.

Now let's apply what we've learned about the ancient Jewish wedding procedure. Once again, there were three stages: the betrothal, the marriage, and the marriage feast. The church is referred to as the bride of Christ, and just like there were three stages in the ancient Jewish wedding procedure, there are three stages in the church's relationship to Christ.

First of all, we are in the betrothal period right now. Christ drank the cup with his disciples in the upper room, and he said, "I will not drink this cup again until I share it with you in my father's kingdom." The church at that point became his betrothed bride. After promising that he would return someday, Jesus left and went away to prepare a place for us in his father's house.

So far, the betrothal period has lasted for almost 2,000 years. But one day, it'll end. At the time that's appointed by his father, the bridegroom will return. That's when these two prophetic events will occur: the marriage of the lamb and the marriage supper of the lamb. The rapture of the church is like the catching away of the bride from her father's house.

Then there will be a grand procession from Earth to heaven where the marriage will take place. That will be the marriage of the lamb referred to by John in Revelation 19:7. That's when the bride is presented to Christ. Then the marriage of the lamb is followed by the marriage supper of the lamb. That's the celebration.

In ancient Judaism, the celebration typically lasted for seven days. The marriage supper of the lamb will last for seven years, the duration of the tribulation period. That is one week of years. On the next program, we'll talk about the precedent in the prophetic scriptures for having weeks of years or one week representing seven years. But that's going to be all for now because we're out of time. Thanks for being with us today, listening friend. It's always good to have you join us. I'll see you next time. You take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. If you liked what you heard today, you will 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, P.O. 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.