Hi all,
I hope my series on the Feast of Trumpets is pulling verses together that before had been pieces of a puzzle that didn’t seem to fit, but now do. Today we’ll continue putting the pieces together, for within the Feast of Trumpets is the coronation and wedding of Messiah…
The wedding of Messiah
Revelation 19:1-14 shows us the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in heaven and the return of Jesus:
“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters….saying, Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted to wear fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he said to me, Write ‘Blessed are they who are invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb…”
“And I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse; And He that sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war….and the armies in heaven who followed Him on white horses were clothed in fine linen, clean and white…”
The key to notice is the fine linen, clean and white which is given to those in heaven participating in the Marriage Supper AND worn by those accompanying Jesus at His return – they are the same people.
We who participate in the Marriage Supper return with Him because Jesus is returning to set up His government on the earth, and I Corinthians 6:3, Hebrews 2:5 and 6:5, and Revelation 20:6 tell us those who take part in the first resurrection (Feast of Trumpets) will reign with Christ for 1000 years on the earth in a forced righteousness age, governing by the gifts of the Spirit.
The coronation and wedding of Messiah in the Feast of Trumpets
The concept of ‘Ha Melech’ which means ‘the King’, and the coronation and wedding of Messiah are wrapped up together in the Feast of Trumpets. The dead in Messiah and those alive who are changed, are changed and hidden with Messiah for a reason. That reason is those in Messiah have been His betrothed and now the Groom is coming for His bride for the wedding which takes place in heaven.
The Marriage of Messiah – Understand the betrothal
A marriage supper then lasted 7 days as it does sometimes today in Jewish weddings. The 7 day celebration is a prophetic type of a future Marriage Supper, with each day standing for a year, therefore a 7 year celebration in heaven. So we shouldn’t read Revelation 19 which is right before Christ returns, as if it had just happened and we were all getting a quick snack before accompanying Him at His return.
Revelation 19 is informational, a view of what has been happening in heaven while other things have happened on earth, and understood in the context of the Feast of Trumpets, we know it to be a 7 year celebration that has been going on, not a box lunch eaten quickly right before His return.
We are right now in the time of betrothal. We aren’t yet ‘married’ to God. The consummation of the marriage will occur when we depart and celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven when the Groom comes to get His bride.
When a prospective groom wanted to propose to a young lady he would go to her home and talk to her father. He carried 3 things to her home: A large amount of money in order to pay the price for the bride, the ‘bride price’, a betrothal contract called the Shitre Erusin, and wine.
IF the father agreed, the young lady was called out, and if she agreed, she drank the cup of wine. The contract was signed, the price of the bride was paid, and they were now betrothed, requiring a divorce to break off the engagement – but they didn’t consummate the marriage until the 7 day wedding celebration.
What Jesus said
The groom would then say this to the bride: “In my father’s house are many rooms, and I am going to prepare a place for us, that where I am you may be also.”
Jesus used the betrothal ceremony words in John 14:1-2 to his disciples. “In my Father’s house are many places to live*, and I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you may be also.” (*The word ‘mansion’ is not in the Greek and was inserted by King James translators so King James would think he would have a mansion in heaven. It is the Greek word ‘abode’ or ‘places’ used also in 14:23)
In the regions even today where homes are made of mud-brick, they are easily added on to, and this is what the groom would do until the day his father declared enough preparation had been made, the rooms for the bride and groom were complete, and then he would give the order for the groom to go get his bride.
In ancient days the groom’s response to when he thought the father would give permission would be: “No man knows the day nor hour but my father”, which Jesus again pulled from the context of betrothal in Matthew 24:36 (Sketches of Jewish Social Life, Edersheim)
Once under contract as the betrothed, she would spend her time getting to know her groom and how to become a wife. This is a beautiful type of our discipleship in Christ, knowing Him better each day and preparing ourselves to one day be with Him at the Marriage Supper celebration. All these things are part of the Feast of Trumpets, so every reference in the gospels and epistles reference this feast.
Now I see it
The disciples would have understood Jesus’ use of the betrothal ceremony in John 14 when He said He is going to prepare a place for us, they would have understood the ‘no man knows but my Father’ in Matthew 24, but we miss it because we don’t know the Feast of Trumpets.
And when Paul said in I Corinthians 6:20, “You have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s”, and repeated it in 7:23. They would have understood his references to the betrothed being bought with the bride price, and her expected faithfulness to the groom.
This is also addressed in the betrothed context in James 4:4: “You are like unfaithful wives, flirting with the glamour of this world, and never realizing that to be the world’s lover means becoming the enemy of God!” A betrothed woman was considered married as a divorce was required to break the engagement as you’ll recall with Joseph and Mary in Matthew 1:19 (Phillips translation)
All these references to being betrothed, to being bought with a price, to being faithful, all tie back to the Feast of Trumpets and the Groom coming for His faithful and pure bride. And like an infomercial on TV, ‘But wait, there’s more…’
The Lord’s Supper therefore…
And now we understand the double meaning of the Lord’s Supper as well because of the cup of the covenant drunk by the bride at the betrothal ceremony.
Drinking the cup of covenant meant she not only accepted his proposal of marriage, but she would eagerly look for and prepare herself, looking towards the day he came to get her for the marriage celebration. Paul said when we receive the Lord’s Supper we do so in remembrance ‘until he comes’, which is a reference to the Feast of Trumpets as Messiah comes for His bride. (I Corinthians 11:26)
Therefore we not only celebrate the Last Supper as a Passover event, marking His death, but we do so also looking for His return, and we do so as the betrothed bought with the price of His blood, committing each time we partake of the Lord’s Supper to forsake all others, saving ourselves in faithfulness to Him alone, until the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!
It all ties together with the Feast of Trumpets
Now we see the many references to this amazing Feast of Trumpets in scripture. From Jesus using words from the betrothal ceremony about preparing a place, to His reference to no man knowing the day, to Paul’s references of being bought with a price, to the cup of covenant, to the Last Supper, the Last Trump, to John seeing the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in heaven that has been going on for 7 years ever since the bride was changed…wow…but what is happening on the earth while the Marriage Supper is happening in heaven?
The Feast of Trumpets begins what is called ‘The Days of Awe’ on the earth. And that is what we’ll cover next week – Until then, Blessings,
John Fenn
