Marriage Supper of the Lamb

 

Marriage Supper of the Lamb

 

 

Awesome! The whole process of the Jewish marriage and how Christ used it to illustrate the relationship between Him and the His Church is very revealing to me and helps me to understand the Gospels and meaning of The Marriage Supper of the Lamb, better. In the book of Revelation, chapter 19, verses 6-10 in the Bible, a person can read about, The Marriage Supper of the Lamb. My article deals with the background and the importance of this supper, not the date or time since this is a very controversial matter, and there is no consensus as to the date of time.

 

To understand the full concept of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, it is necessary to understand the marriage requirements during Christ's time.

 

The contract was made, and this started the marriage process. This contract was negotiated between the families - it could be between the parents of the son and the girl's parents or the perspective husband and the parents of the bride-to-be. A cup of wine was then served in a goblet to be shared between the bride to be and the groom to be, IF she accepted the suitor as her potential husband. If she didn't share the wine with him, the contract was cancelled. Up until the contract has made she did not give her opinion of him. Once this contract was approved and the wine shared between them they would move onto the second step.

 

Second, there was betrothal. Some compare it to being engaged - this is a WRONG concept, although it may convey some of the attributes of a betrothal. A betrothal had much more meaning than an "engagement" of today. Unlike today's engagement, this was a done deal and was legally binding. There was no changing of the mind, except though divorce.

 

After the betrothal, the son would return to his parent's house and start getting prepared for the marriage. This would include the building of a new section to the parent's house in preparation of the marriage where they would live. Back at the bride-to-be's house, she would be given instructions from the mother as what would be expected of her as a wife. (The common age of a new bride was in the area of 13.) During the betrothal period, the betrothed would not meet again until the marriage. This could be as long as 12 months.

 

The bride-to-be never knew when the marriage would take place, although he came sometime in the night to claim his bride. Each night she and some of her close girl friends would keep watch in anticipation of the groom's arrival to take the bride-to-be to the marriage ceremony. Sometime during the night the prospective husband would come for his bride, who was staying with her parents.

 

When all was ready, the "boyfriend" would take some friends and sneak up to the "girlfriend's" house. He would shout, once he arrived, and she would join him outside with her girl friends (who were virgins) and walk back to groom's house, where the marriage ceremony was to be held. Along the way, they would be joined in this walk by anyone who wanted to be part of the procession. (It could be friends, neighbors and even strangers.) Once in the house, the marriage ceremony took place, follow by loud shouting and seven days, or more, of feasting and shouting. During this time, the new bride did not participate in the festivities and was, "hidden".

 

This will all be documented at the end of this writing.

 

Here is my personal opinion on how this relates today. This is strictly my personal opinion and if you disagree, that's fine.

 

It all started with Adam in the garden Eden. God made the proposal and established what should have been a marriage between His human creation and Himself. But, Adam did not seal the contract by sharing a cup of wine. The contract was broken. Now to "bottom line" summarizing the Old Testament in one statement - from the time of Adam breaking the contract until the time of Christ, man (this includes women too,) tried in vain the make the contract valid, but without success.

 

God, the Father, Christ, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, The Comforter, had a meeting and decided man would never be able to meet the demands of the contract of the OT. So, they decided to send Christ who could meet the demands. NOTE: Christ fulfilled the terms of the contract, not replace them. Christ made it possible for us humans, (including the women) the join Him as His bride at, "The Marriage of the Lamb" at some future date. Drinking of wine at The Last Supper was man accepting this new contract and Christ as a suitable "groom". Christ has now returned to His father's home to prepare a place for us. When He will come to claim His bride, (Christians) is not known, but we are told He will come to claim his "bride", and we are to be prepared because he may come at any time. Like the marriages in the time of Christ, there will be a feast at The Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and a time of celebration.

 

End of personal opinion. Now the documentation of the marriage of the Jewish girl in the time of Christ.

 

The King James Bible, The New American Standard Bible, The Holman Bible, Zondervan Handbook to the Bible, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, The New Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Naves Word Study of the Bible, Various Internet sites.