Get Ready for the Groom

Wedding Excitement

Cindy and I were able to attend the wedding of Zach and Kayla Caviness this past week. Zach is Jimmy’s son. It was a beautiful ceremony in the Hill Country near Canyon Lake. Zach and Kayla make a beautiful couple, and we are excited about the life they are beginning together.

Weddings naturally bring excitement. Two lovers are being united. I remember 43 years ago when I proposed very unceremoniously in the kitchen of Cindy’s parent’s home. I had nothing prepared…no speech, no ring even, no financial plan, not even a career path at the time. I just knew that I loved her and I was afraid to lose her because of the 1600 miles between us. I wanted to commit and hoped she would too! (She did btw)!

Our wedding followed 7 months later. I went home to NY and began work as a carpenter. Cindy stayed in Louisiana, worked at Kmart. We wrote letters and called as often as we could afford (long distance calls were expensive) and counted down the days until the wedding.

July finally did come around. I flew down to Houma and helped prepare for a few days before the wedding. Here is a picture from our wedding day. It was exciting, terrifying, and filled with joy. Our lives had come together! We became the “One Flesh” that God had planned from Genesis between a man and a woman.

As exciting as our wedding day was, every earthly wedding is really pointing to a greater wedding. Every bride waiting for her groom, every groom preparing for his bride, every wedding feast is ultimately a shadow of God's eternal plan. The Bible tells us that history is moving toward a wedding—the wedding of Christ and His Church.

Jesus, Our Groomsman, Is Coming Soon

I think we often get weirded out by the idea of the Return of Jesus. I don’t think that we would if we really understood what the Bible reveals to us about it. It is really something to get excited about. It is something that should bring joy to our lives…just like the joy Cindy had as she awaited my return to Cajun south Louisiana for our wedding (smile).

When the disciples of John the Baptist were confused about who Jesus was, John the Baptist made it plain to them.

John 3:27–30 NIV

To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.”

Jesus is the Messiah, and when the Groom shows up, there will be wonderful joy. That is what we need to remember most about the return of Jesus. It will be a celebration…the fulfillment of God’s plan. It is described to us this way in Revelations:

Revelation 19:7–8 NIV

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

We need to isolate on the fact that the Return of Christ is the beginning of an eternity of unimaginable and unspeakable joy. The greatest experience of this life is only a shadow of what we will experience in Heaven.

Get Ready for the Groom!

For those who’ve been in the Wednesday evening Bible Study, a lot of this will be review but I wanted the entire congregation to get excited with us about the Return of Christ. I think it would add to your excitement if we, first of all, talked a little bit about the Hebrew wedding, or…

The Wedding Jesus Talks About

The Hebrew wedding began with the ketubah. This was an agreement between the father of the groom meeting with the parents of the bride and providing a written contract along with a gift, or bride-price. Abraham’s servants brought a gift for Isaac’s bride. David paid a bride-price for his wife, Michal.

We (the bride of Christ) were bought with a price. Our Heavenly Father made a covenant with us.

Revelation 5:9 NIV

And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

The next thing that would happen in a Hebrew wedding is the betrothal. This was the result of the ketubah. The couple was officially betrothed although the actual wedding and the consummation of the marriage hadn’t taken place yet. The most famous example of this was Mary’s pregnancy during the betrothal period. Joseph almost divorced her except for the announcement by an angel.

After the betrothal the groom would return to his home for an indefinite time period and begin to build the chamber the young couple would live in together. It was usually a room connected to his father’s house.

This was his primary responsibility in the separation time, and once his father approved of the dwelling, he would commission his son to return to snatch away his bride. The separation normally spanned a year, give or take a few weeks. The exact moment wasn’t know; however, there was a keen awareness of the time frame. The final decision was solely in the hands of the groom’s father.[1]

You may be seeing how understanding the Hebrew wedding helps us interpret the Scripture. For example, look at how this lines up with what Jesus said in John 14:

John 14:1–4 NIV

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

My friends, this is where we are today. Jesus has paid the bride price. He has gone ahead of us and is preparing a place. We are simply awaiting the Father’s approval.

Matthew 24:36 NIV

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

This is so rich! We could go on and on looking at passages in the OT and NT and maybe we’ll come back to it later on. Right now, let’s just agree…

Invitations Have Already Been Sent

Although we don’t know the day of His Return, we do know that we are living in the season of His coming:

1 Thessalonians 5:1–6 NIV

Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.

Check Your Mailbox (Inbox) Because:

1. Every fulfilled prophecy points to the nearness of Jesus’ return

As Jesus prophesied, Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70

We see the Gospel being proclaimed. Modern telecommunications and transportation have made this possible and modern missions movements continue to reach more previously unreached groups.

Spiritual and moral decline. Teens are defying the police across the US. Marriage is no longer defined as a man and a woman. Birth gender is considered arbitrary…we could go on and on.

Political and social upheaval. Simply watching the events unfold around the world is watching prophecy unfold. In the Middle East it seems there is a historic agreement between the Muslim nations into what is likely a broadening of the Abraham Accords. I am for peace, but is this the peace before the end?

Economic change. It is possible that the world’s economy is moving to a common exchange called crypto currency. The gold standard, the power of Wall Street financing, could shift very quickly in the upcoming months and years.[2]

2. Israel’s rebirth as a nation marks the prophetic shift into the final time frame

In 1948 a remarkable thing happened. Israel was born in a one day.

Isaiah 11:11–12 NIV

In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.

There are certainly more signs of the times, but I think you’d agree with me that we are waiting for just one more thing…

The Father’s Approval

Remember, it is the Father who gives the “ready signal” for the wedding. There are many views of whether this will be pre, mid, or post tribulation. I trust the Heavenly Father to make His gracious and merciful decision.

Matthew 25:1–6 NIV

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

The parable goes on to point out the necessity of staying ready for the return of the groom and the wedding. None of us know the day or the hour but we are told to be ready.

Right now, heaven is not waiting because Jesus has forgotten us. Heaven is waiting because the Father knows the perfect moment. Every generation of believers has looked toward the eastern sky. Every generation has hoped. And one day the Father will look at the Son and say, 'Go get your bride.'

Are You Ready?

1. Live Expectantly

Brides who know the wedding is approaching don't forget about it.

They talk about it…They plan for it… They think about it.

The church should live with the same expectation. "Do I think about Christ's return as often as I think about retirement, vacations, sports, politics, or my next purchase?"

2. Live Purely

Revelation says: "His bride has made herself ready." A bride doesn't prepare for her wedding by ignoring the wedding. She prepares herself.

Ask:

What habits need to be surrendered?

What sins need to be confessed?

What relationships need reconciliation?

3. Live Missionally

The invitation has gone out. But there are still people who have never responded. "If Jesus returned this week, who would I wish I had spoken to?" This is a powerful bridge to evangelism.

4. Live Hopeful

Many believers are weary. Some are grieving. Some are discouraged. Some are fighting illness. The return of Christ reminds us:

"This world is not our home. The story does not end in suffering. The Groom is coming."

Let’s Get Excited!

Forty-three years ago I stood waiting for Cindy to walk down the aisle. It felt like the longest wait of my life. Every minute seemed like an hour. Then the doors opened, and there she was.

In a much greater way, history is moving toward a moment when heaven's doors will open and the King will come for His bride.

One day the Father will give His approval.

One day the trumpet will sound.

One day faith will become sight.

One day the waiting will be over.

And on that day, nobody who belongs to Jesus will say, 'He came too soon.' We will say, 'At last.'

So don't fear His coming. Long for His coming. Prepare for His coming. Get ready for the Groom.

[1]Bevere, John. The King is Coming. Electronic copy, pg 35.

[2] From Logos Bible Software. “What are the prophetic fulfillments leading to the Return of Christ” (paraphrase)