I want to share with you the details of a Galilean wedding. This is from the region of Israel around the sea of Galilee. Why? Jesus was a Galilean. Most, if not all, of His disciples were from the Galilean area. Two-thirds of Jesus’ ministry was in Galilee. Therefore, in much of His conversations He used topics and illustrations from their subculture.
Their weddings had some elements in it that were not found in any other weddings in the world. When you hear this there will be some things that will make sense.
These details on the Galilean wedding have everything to do with prophecy. Did you know that 27% of the Bible has to do with prophecy? Jesus said this:
John 14:29 And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.
Yet, it is estimated that maybe 2% of pastors preach on prophecy. It has become an unpopular subject.
It means something that the leaders of Russia, Iran, and Turkey have formed an alliance. It sets the stage for a war described in Ezekiel 38. Most believers are not aware of this.
It means something that the Euphrates River has been drying up over the past 5 years for the first time in history and is just about gone. It begins events that will happen during the tribulation as described in Revelation 16. Most believers are not aware of this.
It means something that democracy has become so unpopular throughout the world. You can not have a one world government with democracy.
These are just since 2020.
But, when prophecy is not taught, then a generation rises up who places the Bible on par with all the other religious books and becomes obsolete. From what Jesus said, when people do not hear prophecy then they will not believe. Therefore, Paul said that in the last days there will be a GREAT FALLING AWAY in 1 Thessalonians 2.
Today, more than 85% of Americans no longer believe that the Bible is the complete inerrant word of God.
Luke 18:8 …when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?
Our culture thinks that the rapture is too unreal to imagine. But, those same people believe in aliens and have no problem going to the psychic and hearing from the dead.
2 Peter 3:4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.
So, let’s dive into this Galilean wedding.
The father chooses the bride for his son. It could be as early as a toddler. Covenant is drawn up between the two fathers. John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you., Ephesians 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love
At age 13 or 14 the bride and groom meet with their fathers for the betrothal where the covenant is read under a canopy called a Hoopah. But, before the meeting the bride and groom went to the synagogue for a ceremonial cleansing, to be submerged into water, but not together. At separate times. Then the fathers presented their son and daughter under the Hoopah. Matthew 3:13-17 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” 15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The father of the groom pays for the bride an agreed set amount such as 50 camels and 20 sheep and a dowry is given to guarantee that the bride will be taken care of. This is a bride price and our bride price has been paid, Acts 20:28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood., John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends., Ephesians 1:13-14 NLT And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
The groom will offer the bride bread and a cup of wine, Luke 22:20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. If she accepts the covenant she will sip from the cup and return it to the groom.
The groom will sip from the same cup and say, “I will not drink from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s house.” Matthew 26:29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom., 1 Corinthains 11:25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.
This technically makes the bride and groom one in the covenant. They are family, to the point of being brother and sister without being brother and sister. Matthew 12:47-50 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.” 48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
The groom leaves to begin preparing a place for his bride at his father’s house. John 14:2-3 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And 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.
During this waiting time the bride has to remain pure for her groom. Ephesians 5:27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Once the house or room is finished the groom waits for his father to tell him when to get his bride. Neither the bride nor the groom knew the day nor the hour when the groom would return for his bride. The Jews, the Arabs, the Romans; everyone knew the wedding date. Only in the Galilean wedding was it a surprise, Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
When the father determines that it is time, he will wake the groom in the middle of the night. The groom will take a rams horn or trumpet and sound it to wake everyone to go get his bride in the middle of the night, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Matthew 24:43-44 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
We are not to worry about the DATE, but focus on the preparation. For a year the bride will slowly collect material to make her gown and decorate herself. For the same year the groom will build the place and begin collecting everything that will be needed for a 7 day wedding feast. A year after the original betrothal, the bride will sleep in her wedding gown with her bridesmaids. Luke 12:35-37 35 “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; 36 and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.
The bridesmaids will have their lamps and extra oil to light the way when the groom comes. Matthew 25:1-13 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
The groom will have a cart known as a LITTER which is carried by two men. They will set the litter down and she will sit in it. She is then LIFTED into the air to be carried back to the home of the groom. They referred to this as “flying the bride to the father’s house.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. The word “Rapture” means to be carried away. The Galilean bride is carried away and it is described that we will be carried away.
After the bride has been flown to the father’s house the wedding begins. It is a wedding feast joined by only those who were prepared, heard the call at night and joined the precession to the father’s house. Revelation 19:6-9 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 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. 9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
All of the wedding guests are given a white robe to wear. Revelation 19:8 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. If someone comes in without a robe they are not welcome. I’m really not sure how this would happen in heaven. Matthew 22:11-13 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Many will not accept the fathers offer to attend the wedding feast. When the guests enter the father’s house the door is shut behind them. No one leaves or comes in for 7 days and nights. In Galilee, if you were locked out there was no getting in. Isaiah 25:20-21 Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past. 21 For behold, the Lord comes out of His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, And will no more cover her slain. Those shut out will experience the bath of God upon the earth for a 7 year period.
Those at the Marriage Supper will be spared from God’s wrath poured out upon the earth. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
To understand the Galilean wedding does not give us details as to when Jesus will return. It just illustrates that if everything up to this point has referred to this wedding then the wedding must be complete. That will only happen when Jesus returns and takes us away.
We, the church, are His bride. Are you ready?
If you can, it would be well worth the investment to purchase the movie "Before The Wrath." It is a 90 minute documentary/drama that will give most of the details I have given here. But, to watch it is impactful and worth sharing it with others - https://beforethewrath.com//
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