WHEN THE BRIDEGROOM COMES

The Rapture, The Galilean Wedding, and the Promises of John 14

R.T. Kendall once made the observation, “There are Word churches, and there are Spirit churches. There has been a great divorce in the Church between the two. Revival happens when you bring the two back together.”

I thank God for churches that still believe this Book is the inspired, inerrant, authoritative Word of the living God. We desperately need churches anchored to the Word. But it is possible to know the Word intellectually while losing the Spirit of the God who gave us the Word. We do not need the Word without the Spirit, and we certainly do not need some supposed movement of the Spirit divorced from the Word. Real revival happens when God’s people become so convinced that His Word is true that they begin living as though they actually expect God to do exactly what He has promised.

Nowhere has that divorce become more apparent than in what Scripture calls our “blessed hope.” Paul described the Thessalonian believers as people who had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10). Notice those three movements: they turned, they served, and they waited. The Gospel is incomplete without the imminent return of Christ. We are a people living between two great horizons—the Cross behind us and the Rapture before us.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–18 ESV

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Paul says we meet the Lord “in the air.” This is not the scene described in Zechariah 14:4, where the feet of Messiah stand upon the Mount of Olives. This is not Revelation 19, where heaven opens and Christ comes to earth as conquering King, followed by the armies of heaven. At the Rapture, believers rise to meet Christ in the air.

Paul uses the Greek word harpazō, meaning to seize, snatch, catch up, or carry away. When Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translated this passage, the Latin form rapiemur, which is where our theological term “Rapture” ultimately comes from. Occasionally somebody says, “Well, the word Rapture isn’t in the Bible.” Neither is the English word Trinity, but Father, Son, and Holy Spirit certainly are.

Paul explains the transformation accompanying this event in 1 Corinthians 15:51–53

1 Corinthians 15:51–53 ESV

51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

I believe we very well could be the generation of believers who will never experience physical death. Think about that. Every generation of Christians for nearly two thousand years has lived with this hope. But Paul reveals a mystery: there will be a generation for whom that will not happen. They may be working, sleeping, driving, boarding an airplane, sitting in a church service, and suddenly, in a moment, mortality will be swallowed up by immortality.

KEPT FROM THE HOUR

Now add another promise, because Jesus Himself speaks directly to a church in Revelation 3:10

Revelation 3:10 ESV

10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.

The Greek construction translated “keep you from,” tēreō ek, is important because Christ’s promise concerns preservation from that coming hour.

Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). Paul said, “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). There are believers all through history who have experienced persecution.

Revelation 3:10 cannot mean Christians escape ordinary suffering. But Scripture does distinguish ordinary tribulation from the coming coming wrath of God, and Paul says explicitly in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Church is never promised exemption from persecution by the world, but she is promised deliverance from the eschatological wrath of God. That is one reason I believe Scripture consistently points toward a pre-tribulational Rapture of the Church.

But now I want to show you something beautiful. Paul tells us what will happen. Years earlier, Jesus told His disciples why He was coming back.

“LET NOT YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED”

John 14:1–6 ESV

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

We hear those words through two thousand years of Christian theology. But the men sitting around that table were first-century Jewish men, most of them Galileans, and the language Jesus used would have resonated with something woven deeply into the culture surrounding them. They knew the language of the Galilean Wedding Traditions

THE COVENANT AND THE BRIDE

Marriage in the Jewish world of Jesus’ day was far more covenantal than today. Betrothal established a binding relationship. We see this plainly in the story of Mary and Joseph. Matthew 1:18 says Mary “had been betrothed to Joseph” before they came together, yet when Joseph discovered she was pregnant, verse 19 describes him as “her husband” and says he considered divorcing her quietly. Why would an engaged man need a divorce? Because biblical betrothal was not simply, “We hope to get married someday.” A covenant relationship had been established. The marriage had not yet been consummated, but the commitment was real and binding.

2 Corinthians 11:2 ESV

2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Paul deliberately places the Church in bridal language. We belong to someone. The Church is not spiritually unattached. Christ has covenanted Himself to His people.

The Ketubah

In the Jewish wedding tradition, the ketubah was the marriage covenant. The picture of covenant is powerful when we think about Christ and His Church. In a very real sense, the Bride of Christ has been given the promises of her Bridegroom in writing. We hold them in our hands every time we open the Word of God. Jesus has told us who He is, what He has done for us, what He has promised us, and what our future with Him will be. He has promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). He has promised that no one can snatch His sheep from His hand (John 10:28). He has promised that nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38–39). And perhaps most beautifully for the Bride who is waiting, He has put this promise into words: “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3).

THE PRICE HAS BEEN PAID

Then there is the mohar, the bride-price, because the covenant carries a cost. Something of value is given; a price is paid. And Church, when you begin to see the biblical picture of Christ and His Bride, suddenly these ancient images become extraordinarily vivid.

Peter says we were ransomed “not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18–19), and Paul reminds us, “you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20). There is the mohar. The Bridegroom did not purchase His Bride with silver, gold, land, or livestock; He purchased her with His own blood.

Do you see the picture forming? The ketubah—the covenant has been given. The mohar—the price has been paid. The washing—the Bride is being sanctified. And then the Bridegroom departs to prepare a place.

Think about that the next time Satan whispers that you are unwanted. Think about that the next time the world tells you that your identity is found in your failures, your past, your bank account, your achievements, your politics, your sexuality, your popularity, or your social-media profile. If you have trusted Christ, your deepest identity is settled: you belong to Jesus Christ. Paul says, “you were bought with a price.” The Bride belongs to the Bridegroom.

THE WASHING AND PREPARATION OF THE BRIDE

Ephesians 5:25–27 ESV

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Archaeologists have uncovered mikva’ot, ritual immersion pools, and the concept of cleansing was familiar throughout Jewish religious life. As the anticipated wedding drew close, the bride would take a ceremonial bath, a mikvah, to cleanse herself for her groom's arrival. Christ purchases His Church, sanctifies His Church, cleanses His Church, and ultimately presents His Church to Himself.

Bible prophecy is supposed to produce Holiness. Not fear or endless date-setting. It makes us long for our bridegroom and to be ready for him.

“I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU”

Now we return to John 14, because this is where the imagery becomes extraordinary.

John 14:2 ESV

2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

In the Jewish marriage world, the bridegroom’s departure did not mean the relationship had ended. The covenant had been established, but preparations remained before bride and groom would dwell together. Now listen to Jesus again. “I go.” His departure is not abandonment. His departure has a purpose. He is going to the Father. He is preparing a place. And He promises to return.

And when He does, He will receive His Bride to Himself, take her to the place He has prepared, and ultimately bring her to the celebration Scripture calls “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). The covenant has been made. The price has been paid. The Bride is being prepared. The Bridegroom has gone to the Father’s house. And now the Church waits for the sound that tells her the Bridegroom is coming.

THE CRY, THE TRUMPET, AND THE BRIDEGROOM

Ancient Jewish wedding celebrations could include a procession involving the bridegroom, attendants, lights, celebration, and the bringing of the bride into the wedding festivities. Jesus draws upon that familiar cultural world in Matthew 25 when He describes the ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom. At midnight comes the cry: “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6).

Now listen again to 1 Thessalonians 4:16: “The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.” Sometimes prophecy teachers connect this directly to claims about Galilean groomsmen blowing trumpets to announce the groom’s arrival.

Can you imagine that moment? For two thousand years the Church has waited. Missionaries have carried the Gospel across oceans. Martyrs have shed their blood. Pastors have preached. Mothers have taught their children. Believers have gathered around communion tables and repeated the words, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

And then Paul says, “we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” And the Bride finally sees the Bridegroom.

“I WILL TAKE YOU TO MYSELF”

Now go back one last time to John 14 because this may be the most beautiful part of the entire passage. Jesus does not merely say, “I will come again.” He says, “I will come again and will take you to myself.” Why does Jesus come for His Church? Because He wants His Bride with Him.

Sometimes our discussions about the Rapture become so dominated by escape that we miss intimacy. Yes, I believe the Church will be delivered before the eschatological wrath of God. Revelation 3:10 matters. First Thessalonians 5:9 matters. Daniel’s seventieth week matters. The distinction between Israel and the Church matters. But Jesus doesn’t describe John 14 primarily in terms of what He is taking us from.

He describes it in terms of Who He is taking us to. “I will take you to myself.” That is the heart of the Rapture. Jesus wants us with Him.

THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB

And Scripture does not leave the story unfinished. Revelation 19 takes us into heaven and says, “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready” (Revelation 19:7). Then the angel says to John in verse 9, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

The Bible begins with a marriage in Genesis 2. Jesus performs His first public sign at a wedding in Cana of Galilee in John 2. John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the Bridegroom in John 3:29. Jesus repeatedly uses bridegroom imagery in His teaching. Paul describes the Church as betrothed to Christ. John 14 records Jesus promising to go to the Father’s house, prepare a place, return, receive His people to Himself, and bring them where He is. Revelation 19 announces the marriage of the Lamb. And then near the final words of the entire Bible, Revelation 22:17 says something extraordinary:

Revelation 22:17 ESV

17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

suddenly the Rapture isn’t something written in a doctrinal statement.

We want Him to come.

LIVE LIKE THE BRIDEGROOM MEANT WHAT HE SAID

Maybe that is what the Church needs to recover. Not another prediction. Maybe we need to recover the heartbeat of the early Church expressed in one simple Aramaic prayer preserved for us in 1 Corinthians 16:22:

Maranatha.

“Our Lord, come.”

Someday—and perhaps much sooner than any of us imagine—the waiting will end. The promise made in that Upper Room will become reality. The Lord Himself will descend. The trumpet will sound. All believers who have died and those who are alive will be caught up together. And for the first time in nearly two thousand years, the Bride will see the Bridegroom. Faith will become sight.

Church, we should study the Rapture, but also expect the Rapture. Live like the Bridegroom meant what He said.

He told us to be ready.

The last promise of Jesus Christ recorded in the Bible is this:

Revelation 22:20 ESV

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!