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The Rapture Wedding Event

This page has been created to help you understand how ancient Jewish wedding traditions, from the region of Galilee in Israel, parallel Jesus coming to rapture his church to His father’s house in Heaven for a coming wedding celebration and feast. And when you see it through this lens, it will help you to unpack a prophetic parallel to the “bigger picture” of the Bible, and to see how this marriage covenant in Christ is made complete, sealed with new wine in heaven, at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

The Wedding Party

Before we dive into the actual Galilean wedding tradition, let's first look at the wedding party themselves, to see where they are defined in scripture.

Jesus is the Bridegroom | Mark 2:19

¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. ( Jesus is speaking about himself, as the bridegroom, to his disciples. )

The Church is the Bride | Eph 5:25-32

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her. ³⁰ For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ³¹ “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. ( The Apostle Paul is saying that a man and a woman shall be joined to become one, referring to how Christ will be joined (ie. married) to the Church, to become one flesh. )

God is the Father of the Bridegroom | Matt 22:1-2

¹ And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son. ( Jesus is speaking to a crowd and referring to His Father in heaven, as the one who has arranged a marriage for Him. )

The Galilean Wedding Tradition

Now that we have defined the wedding party, let's now take a deeper look into each step of the Jewish wedding process that was used in ancient days, in the Galilee region of Israel. What you will quickly realize is that the entire marriage process, from selecting a bride, acceptance of the marriage proposal, the ceremony and the wedding feast itself is a mirror image of the process which Jesus, our Jewish bridegroom, uses to gather His church here on earth and will ultimately conclude with a wedding ceremony and feast in Heaven.

The Marriage Covenant

A father chooses a bride for his son. -- Likewise, God, the Father, chose the Church (as the bride) for Jesus. (Eph 1-4)
A price for the bride is paid (mohar). -- Likewise, Jesus paid the price for His bride (the church), with His blood. (I Cor 6:20)
A marriage covenant is established (ketubah). -- Likewise, Jesus promises believers that He will never leave them nor forsake them, once they accept Him. (John 6:37)

Note: In ancient Jewish days, the price paid for a bride (mohar) was often made in silver, livestock, or valuable service.

The Cup of Acceptance

A cup of wine is given to the bride. If she drinks it, she accepts the marriage covenant. -- Likewise, at the Last Supper, Jesus held up a cup of wine and said “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, shed for you." (Luke 22:20) Jesus did not drink of it himself, but the disciples shared the cup amongst themselves, to partake. When we drink of that cup, via communion, we’re saying “Yes” to Him, and to the marriage covenant, which also includes salvation.
If the bride drank the wine, the bridegroom would not drink any more wine until the official wedding ceremony at his father's house. -- Likewise, at the Last Supper, Christ said "I will not drink of this fruit of the vine (ie. the wine) from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom." (Matt 26:29)

The Bridegroom Goes to Prepare a Place

The bridegroom then goes to build a bridal chamber onto his father's house. -- Likewise, Christ said "In my Father’s House are many rooms, I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:2–3)

Note: It typically took one year to add the room onto the Father's house and the bridegroom could not return until his father said to. Also, this is the waiting period we’re in now — the church age, as we are waiting for Jesus (our bridegroom) to rapture His bride (the Church).

The Midnight Call

When the father of the bridegroom gave the call, his son would go to get his bride, often at midnight, with the blast of a shofar (a ram's horn). -- Likewise, when God the Father gives the call, with the trumpet of His voice, Jesus will come and snatch away (ie. rapture) His bride into heaven. (1 Thes 4:16-17; Matt 25:6.)

Note: The bride always had to make herself ready, dressed and with her lamp full of oil, or she would miss the wedding. The lamp filled with oil is a metaphor to being filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Wedding Ceremony & Feast

The bridegrooms takes his bride to his father’s house, where a wedding ceremony and celebration take place over 7 days. -- Likewise, Christ will "catch up" and take His bride to His Father’s house in heaven, where a wedding ceremony takes place followed by a 7-year celebration. (Rev 19:7-9) The wedding feast is also when Christ will share new wine with His church in heaven, to legally seal the marriage covenant with them, which He made during His 1^st coming.

The Bride Becomes the Wife

After the wedding ceremony and feast, the bride officially becomes the wife. -- Likewise, after the wedding ceremony and celebration in heaven, the church will officially become the wife of Christ.

Rev 19:7-9

⁷ Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. ⁸ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

So What Happens Next?

Great question! As the church has now transitioned from being the bride of Christ to the wife of Christ, you might be curious to learn what happens next. Keep scrolling down...

Christ Returns to Earth at His 2^nd Coming, with Us (His Wife)

At the end of our 7 year wedding feast and celebration in Heaven, Revelation 19:14-16 tells us that Christ Returns to earth (at His 2^nd coming) with us, His wife, behind Him, on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, as He makes war with the nations who have come against Israel during the 7 year Tribulation, and puts them to death, once and for all, via the wrath and fierceness of God.

Rev 19:14-16

¹⁴ And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. ¹⁵ Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. ¹⁶ And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Chart:7 Year wedding celebration in Heaven

Christ's 2^nd coming officially concludes the 6th day (or 6,000 years) of man on God's timeline. Next, the 7th day begins, also called the Millennial Kingdom, where Christ will rule over the earth for 1,000 years from Jerusalem in a coming 4^th temple. Also, for those persons who were martyred for their faith in Christ during the tribulation, and did not take the mark of the beast, they will be resurrected from the dead in the 1st Resurrection, to reign with Christ, alongside us (His wife) during these 1,000 years.

Rev 20:4-6 | The Saints Reign with Christ 1,000 Years

⁴ And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ⁵ But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

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