220319 The Coming of the Bridegroom

A Wedding day is exciting to both the bride and the groom. it is the day that has finally comes when the two becomes man and wife.

We think of how exciting it will be for us His church His bride when we leave to meet HIm in the air. Have ever considered how excited Jesus himself will be to receives us His bride.

How do we view the rapture?

is it leaving this old world behind with all its problems

or

are we looking ahead to be united with our Lord Christ and Savior.

The title of this message is the Coming of the Bridegroom pt 2

Our study will be on the Marriage Motif as it relates to the coming of the Lord for His Church.

Much time is spent of pinpointing at what point the rapture will take place. There is at least 3 positions one can take

Pre Trib

Med Trib

and

Post trib

Trib being the Tribulation.

There are good and reputable expositors of the God’s word that will fall in each of these Categories.

I began to realize that with as much debate on the timing, maybe its me, but I may have missed exactly what the rapture is. Is there something more to it than the church disappears, millions of people disappear all over the world. Plane crashes, car wrecks and all the sorts. At least that is the popular view.

Don’t mean to sound skeptical, because many who teach these things are great teachers.

Prophecy is 20/20 looking backwards and regardless how eschatology plays out, it will fall perfect in line with the prophecy of the bible.

Tonight I do not want to lean so much on prophecy of the rapture but on what it is, and why it is.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (NASB95) — 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.The Lord Himself

Not to difficult to understand that it is the Lord who comes to receive the Church, His bride, to Himself. It is not a representative. He does not send an angel. He does not send Moses or Elijah but it is He himself.

The exit resurrection is the second coming. It is not the great and terrible day of the Lord. It is Christ returning for His Bride.

this is not the 2nd advent. this is not the great and terrible day in the Lord. the Lord does not come back to earth but we go to Him.

The Exit Resurrect is part of the larger picture narrative of the Jewish wedding,

The formalities of the wedding which there are a number of times in the gospels which speaks of the wedding and points to this period of time here.

Point of Doctrine

What is the Rapture?

it is the bridegroom coming to receive His bride per Jewish wedding custom.

3. When does it occur?

4. when the Church is completed. that is when the last convert says; I Do.

5. the Church Ekklasia ἐκκλησία [ekklesia /ek·klay·see·ah/] is the bride of Christ

1. Jesus is the bridegroom.

Ephesians 5:22–28 (NASB95) — 22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;

Matthew 9:15 (NASB95) — 15 And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

John 3:29 (NASB95) — 29 “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.

Let us now take a look at the Jewish marriage motif related to the relationship between Christ in the Church. There is much to talk about beginning with the Royal couple. that Is Christ and His bride.

for this we go back to the first Married Couple in history

Adam and his bride.

This Royal couple, Adam and Esha we the dominion rulers. God’s purposed that this creation would be ruled by man with the woman as coheirs to God’s Kingdom plan.

Genesis 1:26–28 (NASB95) — 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Yes, Man was designed to rule. both Male and female. but they would be submissive to the sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of God which is God. God never made independent agents.

When man sinned against God two things were lost

a. the soul of man

b. Perfect environment ( as goes man so goes his environment)

this in part is why the world is in the Chaos that it is in.

After the fall, Satan steps in to fill the void of rulership which Adam left.

But what God had purposed from the beginning, the Lord is at word to bring back to its full conclusion.

We discussed this morning during Worship Call in reference to John as Jesus takes Nicodemus back to the raising the serpent on the pole in the wilderness.

Victory was had on the cross. Jesus died for our sins. His body was taken down and put in a tomb. Three days later he arose in His resurrected by having defeated death. 40 days later Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father.

Jesus is the Last Adam. Jesus in His hypostatic union will fulfill that which the first Adam failed to accomplish, rulership while under perfect submission to the God of all creation.

Now Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father.

But remember

Genesis 1:27–28 (NASB95) — 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

We have our Adam but where is the bride?

10 days after the ascension of Christ during the feast of Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit the church age begins as the Holy spirit begins his work to call out those who would believe in Christ. they will be His bride and coheirs to the Kingdom.

2. The Marriage is arranged.

John 6:44 (NASB95) — 44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

John 10:28–30 (NASB95) — 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are one.”

It is the Father in an arranged marriage that chooses a bride for His son.

Ephesians 1:1–4 (NASB95) — 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love

Whose the subject? The one doing the calling? God the father or God the Son?

certainly the Father who chose us in eternity past and gave us to his Son.

3. Bride price and dowry to be paid.

a. The pride price can be from the Father’s wealth.

In Genesis we see that Abraham sends his servant out of the land to Haran to seek out a bride for His son

Genesis 24:10 (NASB95) — 10 Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and set out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.

As an added note: Abraham sent his (unnamed) servant out of the land to seek a bride for His son. Oh, did I say that this one is the promised son to Abraham? Just as the Holy Spirit is currently calling out the bride of Christ.

Jesus paid the brideprice with His own blood.

1 Peter 1:18–19 (NASB95) — 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 5:25 (NASB95) — 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

b. The bride price can be in the form of labor,

Jacob worked 7 years for His beloved Rachel.

Genesis 29:18–20 (NASB95) — 18 Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” 19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.” 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.

Jacob had nothing when he came into the land just as Christ had nothing when he came into the world. Jacob’s only form of payment was him being and indentured servant and a suffering one at that. Jesus labors himself for His bride, enduring the trials and the testing.

4. Betrothal (engagement)

Once the contract was sealed the betroth or engagement begins.

The bride and the bridegroom are considered legally married but the marriage is not consummated. The bride continues to live with her parents for the time of the engagement which was about a year. The bridegroom goes to build a room on the family house to bring his bride.

Sound familiar?

John 14:2–4 (NASB95) — 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 4 “And you know the way where I am going.”

During this time They could not break the engagement except through a Divorce they were considered legally married. We are considered the bride of Christ though we have not even seen Him face to face.

The man was exempted from Military Duty

Deuteronomy 20:7 (NASB95) — 7 ‘And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her.’

Note: This world has not seen the militaristic side of the Son who comes on the battle horse yet.

John 3:17 (NASB95) — 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

It is asked why does the Lord come and deal with this current evil.

why?

because this is the time of His betrothal.

5. Wedding

The formal wedding had no formalities such as a Priest or a rabbi pronouncing them man and wife in the day. For Joseph and Mary it was enough to come and receive the bride, though Joseph had no sexual relation with Mary it was enough for Joseph to perhaps give a gift and say to Mary...

“By this you are now set apart for me according to the Laws of Moses and of Israel”

There would be the coming for the bridegroom

both would be dressed for the occasion in their finest apparel. there was always the one time and the only time to get right and to make the first great first impression. The Bride would be washed and made ready and remain ready for she did not know the day or hour that her bridegroom would come for her.

Matthew 25:1–13 (NASB95) — 1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 “Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. 3 “For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. 5 “Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. 6 “But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 “Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 “The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 “But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 “And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. 11 “Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ 12 “But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

Should we, His church, He our bridegroom be disappointed with our appearance when he arrives?

Jeremiah 2:32 (NASB95) — 32 “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me Days without number.

Now where all this leads to the exit resurrection is here.

6. The Procession

It occurred at the end of the day. this is why the virgins had to have oil for their lamps. though the bide did not know the day or hour, she would know that with a passing of a year that the time was soon. we may not know when the exit resurrection is going to take place the day or hour we can know that it is soon.

Revelation 1:1 (NASB95) — 1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,

The bridegroom would leave his Father’s house dressed in His best clothes and decorated in jewels walked with his friends from his home to his brides Home to fetch his bride from her parents home. there would be a loud commotion a celebration.

coming near the bride house There would a shout a blowing of the shofar it is the bridegroom coming for his bride.

Matthew 25:5–6 (NASB95) — 5 “Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. 6 “But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’

a horn is sounded and there is a shout to awaken the bride for her to come. this would be so sudden the bride would have to be up within the moments noticed dressed, lamp lit, her best clothing and her head dress on.

So it is with our Lord.

the Exist resurrection is not just bunch of christian disappearing and the events on earth that happens afterwards. the emphasis should be on the celebration that the Bridegroom and the bride are now joined.

What is your view of the rapture of the Church and what is your hope?

Is it simply to leave this broken world. Are you just fed up with it all and seeking for the return of the Lord just to alleviate your discomfort in it?

“Lord, Come quickly and take me away from this mess.”

or is it

Celebration. not what you are leaving but where you are going. Your bridegroom in whom you love and who loves you have come to receive you to himself.

The Hope of the exit resurrection is not the hope to get us out of our current world circumstances. Ours is to live, and even persevere through the trials if called to do so. Ours is not to simply wait dormant around waiting for the event to happen.

the bride did not know the day or hour but she had to carry on with whatever her circumstances and responsibilities knowing that there would come that day when she would see her bridegroom.

What Paul tells the Thessalonian believers is that your loved ones did not get left out. If they lost hope in the resurrection of Christ, there whole spirit life would go down the drain.

1 Corinthians 15:17–19 (NASB95) — 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.