Going To Prepare A Place

Commentary

The topic of the end times and even the daily troubles that we face can be difficult to handle, not something that most people want to talk about, sadly even many Christians. But in the prophetic passages of the Bible, God gives us understanding of His plan and in the midst of those graphic and, at times, hard-to-digest details, is a powerful message of hope for those of us who love Jesus.

While this life is rife with trials and the tribulations of mankind’s making, with even Jesus promising that those of us who live for Him will certainly face persecution and trouble in this life; He has a message of hope for us to focus our hearts and minds on. In the New Testament, the body of believers is compared to and even referred to as the “bride” of Christ (Revelation 21:9). We as believers are precious to Jesus and we know that He is coming to take His bride at some point. While Scripture needs no extra-biblical content to be truly understood, there are ancient Jewish wedding traditions, namely the Galilean tradition, that might help us to better understand the promises that Jesus has made to us, His bride.

There is an excellent film about this called, Before the Wrath, which I recommend watching.

Commentary

There isn’t much that we know about Heaven, but the Bible does provide a few details to us, scattered throughout its pages. One detail that we get from this passage, and confirmed in Revelation 7, is that Heaven is big — large enough that Jesus is preparing a place for each and every believer. This preparation is a lot like what a man would do who was betrothed to a woman in ancient Israel.

Wedding traditions of that time are said to have started out with the covenant made between a man and woman, the betrothal or engagement as we know it today. In one tradition, the man would offer a cup of wine to his chosen bride and if she accepted it and drank from it, then she said “yes”. The choice to accept the covenant was made by the bride, just as it is our choice to accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. Jesus has made a covenant with each one of us and through your decision to follow after Him and trust in Him for salvation, you have in turn made a commitment to Him, saying “yes” to your Bridegroom. All believers in this age are betrothed to Jesus as his bride-to-be. The following passage from 1 Corinthians recalls Jesus’ words at the Last Supper, the moment that Jesus made known His covenant with us.

As we study the promise of Jesus in John 14, along with other passages, we will start to see a picture painted that resembles a pattern of these ancient Jewish betrothal and wedding traditions.

Commentary

The next stage is the purchase price. It was common practice for the bridegroom to pay the father of the bride a price for the right to marry his daughter. The father was the one who held authority over his unmarried daughters, as God the Father is the One who has authority over us. Jesus paid the price for us by taking God’s wrath upon His own body on the cross. In that way, Jesus has purchased each of us, who love Him, with His blood.

Paying a great price for something means that you are serious about your commitment. Jesus was obedient to do the will of Father God and give His life for ours. Though we are flawed and as a result many marriages don’t last in this day and age, we can rest assured that Jesus is coming for His bride and our marriage to Him will be eternal, never to fail.

Commentary

Just as a young woman was promised to her fiancé, we as believers are promised to Christ. The Church of Jesus is a marked group, consisting of all believers who have placed their trust in Him, from His first coming through to right before His second coming. In this time, we are being renewed and prepared for Him as a bride is preparing herself for her groom’s return and their wedding day.

The work of the Holy Spirit, who resides in each born-again believer, is to sanctify us, to make us beautiful for that great wedding day. No longer are we the person we used to be before coming to the Lord. As we live out the remainder of our days on Earth, we are being transformed to be what the Lord wants us to be. This is a time for us, as the bride, to prepare ourselves for the return of our Groom.

What are some ways that we can best prepare ourselves?

• Read and study the Bible daily. God’s Word is the primary method by which the Lord speaks into our souls.
• Make time to pray every day and be thoughtful in the time you spend with Jesus.
• Find sound Bible teachers to help aid in your learning.
• Be willing to hear the Lord and take anything in your life that hinders your walk with Him to the cross. It’s part of taking up our cross daily and denying oneself, as Jesus taught.

Commentary

As we’ve seen so far, Jesus’ actions seem to resemble these Jewish wedding traditions. We’ve explored Him making a covenant with us, we’ve looked at the fact that He paid a price for us, and we learned that believers are set aside as special, like a bride-to-be preparing for her wedding day.

We’re now at the step which this study is focused around: Jesus preparing a place for His bride. In the traditions, the man would leave his fiancée for a period of twelve months. He would go back to his father’s house and build out a place for him and his bride, a wedding chamber. It’s said by some that this duration of time was also used to make sure his fiancée did not end up being pregnant, a sure indicator of infidelity and lack of commitment to the engagement.

It’s been nearly 2,000 years since Jesus ascended into Heaven, leaving His bride on this Earth. During this time, He has been preparing Heaven for us and through His Holy Spirit, preparing us for Heaven. After we come to faith in Jesus, God leaves us here for some length of time. The main reason is that we have work to do, being salt and light to this world in order to bring others to Jesus. But also, this is a time of sanctification, to test our commitment to Him. I’ve seen people who thought they were saved, only some years later to turn away when the fire got too hot. But, there have been many others who realized after 20-30 years that their faith wasn’t real and as a result truly accepted Jesus. The Bible teaches that God is patient and would rather that we all accepted Jesus, than not. God’s patience is certainly on display through this current age of grace.

Jesus’ promise here gives us great hope for our future.

Commentary

In these traditions, the groom would come back for his bride after that roughly year’s time, bringing along his part of the wedding party. He would come back for her at an unexpected time, once he was finished preparing their place. Jesus promised that one day He would return again for His bride, which is the rapture of the church or the catching away, harpazō in the original Greek. While this study is not the place to get into the differing opinions, I think you’ll find that by studying Scripture and applying the proper hermeneutics, you will see that Jesus is coming again for His Church (bride), that part is clearly taught in Scripture, and that the Bible also teaches that He will do so sometime before the Tribulation begins.

Paul stated that this is our Blessed Hope, in his letter to Titus. Those of us who are alive at that time, we will be spared bodily death and will be transformed in a twinkling of an eye, snatched from this earth by our Lord, who will bring along, in spiritual form, those who previously died believing in Him. Together we will all be transformed and be with Jesus in a perfected state of body, soul, and spirit, remaining with Him from that moment onward.

Below are verses which speak of the rapture and/or the promises made around it.

Promises to be kept from God’s wrath:

The first Christians found great comfort in these promises, and we should too, especially as current world events seem to indicate just how much closer we are to the time of the end.

Commentary

Now comes the wedding. The man and woman would go into the marriage chamber for some time to be together and consummate their union. Then, after that time, they would present themselves to the guests of the wedding feast as man and wife — the bride rejoicing with her groom — and then commencing with celebration and a feast that would take place.

As we read the book of Revelation, chapter 19 reveals to us a coming marriage feast to celebrate the coming together of Jesus and His bride. It’s hard to place exactly when and where this feast takes place. It could be in Heaven during the Tribulation, or it could be on Earth after we return with Jesus. Ultimately, the Bible doesn’t give that detail to us. What is clear is that this event will be a blessing to those who are invited, those who love the Lord. As John was told to write, “Blessed are those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb!”. You definitely want to be at that feast, and you will be if you’ve placed your trust in Jesus for eternal salvation.

Though there is debate inside the Church about these prophetic events, they should not be a point of contention or division among us. Rather, we should look forward to the promises of our great God and Savior, who died for us and rose again, so that in our faith in Him, we would be cleansed of all unrighteousness, dressed in fine bright white linens, and presented as holy to our Lord — for a day that is quickly approaching, when mankind will no longer be allowed to destroy what God has made; and an eternity of pure joy and love awaits all of us who trust in our Lord and Savior.