Tag Archives: wedding

Jesus Saved The Day

Bible Study, , , ,

JESUS SAVED THE DAY 

“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to Him, ‘They have no more wine.’

“‘Woman, why do you involve me?’ Jesus replied. ‘My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever He tells you.’

“Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

“Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’; so they filled them to the brim. Then He told them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.’ They did so and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

“Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.’

“What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which He revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.” John 2:1-11 (NIV).

What a story — full of interesting imagery if one reads it from a Hebrew perspective!

Just as John began his gospel by taking his readers right back to Genesis 1 and linking the human Jesus with His eternal existence and creative work before He appeared on earth, so now he takes us back to Genesis 3 — the first wedding and its significance for revealing the glory of God.

Is there a subtle hint that the first marriage ran out of the heady wine of pure love and the powerful bond of unity because sin intruded and ruined God’s intention for marriage.   It was intended to reflect the ecstasy of the loving unity in the Godhead which is the essence of God’s glory…

Why did John begin his story with “On the third day”? Was this just a chronological detail or was this a subtle reference to the outcome of His resurrection “on the third day”– the promise of the “new wine” of the Holy Spirit who would be poured out on the church in the abundance which the 120 to180 gallons of miraculously-produced wine symbolized?

Was this chronologically the first of Jesus’ miracles; the first of the recorded miracles according to John; or the first in importance because it summed up in a graphic story the purpose for His coming — to provide in abundance the “new wine” of Holy Spirit, transforming life into a perpetual celebration?

If we try to stick rigidly to a literal time line, we can easily accuse John of inaccuracy. However, if we understand how John used his material to serve his greater purpose — to present Jesus as the Son of God in order to spur his readers to putting their trust in Him — the whole incident comes alive and begins to make sense.

John concluded this story with his interpretation of the episode so that his readers would be in no doubt about the meaning of the miracles he reported. He called it “the first of the signs.” This tells us, first of all, that there would be more to follow. It also points us to the reason why Jesus responded to His mother’s request. It was not just to bail the bridegroom out of an embarrassing situation.

Everything Jesus said and did was intended to put His Father’s glory on display. Since He insisted that He and the Father were one, that meant that whatever He was, the Father was. Both His compassion and His power are reflected in His action, God stepping in to save the day and to bring in the hope of a better day for all who believe in Him.

His disciples did! Do you?

Doomsday Deceivers

Christian Life, , ,

DOOMSDAY DECEIVERS

“They asked Him, ‘Teacher, when is this going to happen? What clue will we get that it’s about to take place?’

“He said, Watch out for the doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, ‘I’m the One,’ or, ‘The end is near.’ Don’t fall for any of that. When you hear of wars and uprisings, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history and no sign of the end.'” Luke 21:7-9 (The Message).

Every generation has its doomsday prophets and its reasons to believe that the end is near. Wars are one of them. But, if we are honest, has there ever been a time when there have been no conflicts in the world? Wars are not so much a sign of the immanence of Jesus’ return as a reminder of the nature of man. Jesus called it “routine history”.

Greed for money and power has driven men and nations into conflict since the beginning of time, from strife in the family to the two world wars of the twentieth century and the localized tribal struggles that result in genocide, in between.

A far more subtle problem is what Jesus called “doomsday deceivers.” They are often unwittingly a tool of Satan. His most potent weapon is deception, and his tactic, distraction. These false prophets arouse fear through their Biblical misinterpretations and draw our attention away from our Master. They draw a following by their plausible explanations about what is happening in the world.

Jesus’ earnest counsel: ‘Don’t pay any attention to them.’ Instead He gave us His take on the ‘end of the world’, watch and be ready! There is no question about the fact of His return. It’s the ‘when’ bit that bothers us but, if we heed His counsel, when He is to return should be of less importance than whether we are prepared no matter when it happens.

‘Watch’ does not mean resign your job, leave home and sit on a mountain waiting for Jesus to come. Jesus told us how to watch — be faithfully carrying out His instructions when He returns. Don’t get lazy or sloppy. You’ll be caught off guard.

Be ready does not mean holing up underground with enough provisions for a siege! It sounds funny but some of the latest books and movies portraying the end of the world give us that impression.

We have to turn to the Bible for answers. Since the Bible is the story of a betrothal and a wedding, the answer to the question, ‘How can I be ready?’ is found in the imagery of Jewish wedding culture. I cannot go into detail here except to focus on the purpose of marriage and the interval between the betrothal and the wedding ceremony.

God intended marriage as a picture of the unity in the Trinity, and His purpose for creating man – that we would be one with Him. God’s plan for marriage is expressed in three words (Genesis 2:24), “leave…cleave…one”. Union of man and woman in marriage mirrors the essence of God’s image – “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

The purpose of the betrothal was to separate the bride from all other men in preparation for the wedding when she was joined to the bridegroom to become one with him. The interval between betrothal and the wedding had two purposes; the groom prepared the bridal chamber and the bride prepared herself.

Her preparation was reflected in the feasts God commanded His people to celebrate every year. They were a prophetic picture of Messiah, the Bridegroom who would win His bride by self-sacrifice, and the bride, who would make herself ready to become one with Him. In the interval between Pentecost, the last of the spring feasts and the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) the people were called to do three things:

1. Tephillah – prayer, not asking God for things but changing their awareness from self-awareness to God-awareness.
2. Teshuvah – repentance, not from sin but returning to their original state of goodness; in other words, changing the way they thought about themselves to think God’s thoughts about them.
3. Tsidaqah – acts of righteousness, practising generosity because it is the right thing to do as a duty towards God. Whatever we have has been given to us by God and we have a duty to share our resources because God has been generous to us.

Now consider this Scripture: “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

‘Hallelujah!
For our Lord God almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
And give Him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and His bride has made herself ready.
Fine line, bright and clean
was given her to wear.’
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)” Revelation 19:6-8 (NIV).

What Does the Bible Say About the Rapture?

Apologetics, ,

What Does the Bible Say About the Rapture?

First of all, to understand the Biblical concept of the rapture, we must put it into its Jewish cultural context. How would the Bible’s readers have understood what it is saying? Many believers today have the tendency to dismiss the Old Testament as irrelevant, preferring to focus on Jesus as though He was not born into a family with a history and cultural background. That leaves us open to all sorts of misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

Would it surprise you to discover that the Bible is about a wedding? When God met the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, His intention was to invite them into a marriage relationship with Himself. He spoke marriage talk to them. His language followed the Hebrew courtship process exactly:
Step 1: Exodus 6:7 – “I will take you as my own (segula) people …”
Step 2: Exodus 19:5 – “…out of all the nations you will be my treasured (lachah) possession.”
Step 3: Exodus 19:10 – “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash (mikvah) their clothes…’”
Step 4: Exodus 20:1-17 – The marriage contract (ketubah).
Step 5: Exodus 19:18 – “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace; the whole mountain trembled violently.” The wedding ceremony took place under the canopy (chuppa) provided in this case by fire and smoke.

In a Hebrew wedding ceremony, after the marriage has been contracted under the chuppa, the bride and groom are escorted to the bridal chamber, prepared by the bridegroom at his fathers’ house and approved by his father. The groom picks up (raptures) his bride and carries her over the threshold into the bridal chamber where the marriage is consummated. Then the bridal couple return to their waiting guests to enjoy their wedding feast.

At Mount Sinai, God invited His people into a marriage bond with Himself and treated them as His wife, even though they rejected Him and were unfaithful to Him. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell on the believers, the same phenomena occurred as at Mount Sinai, noise and fire. This time the people responded to God, and the church – the bride of Christ – was born. The consummation of that marriage awaits Jesus’ return for His bride – “I am going there (to my Father’s house – understood) to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2b,3. NIV).

When Jesus returns He will pick up (rapture) His bride and consummate His eternal spiritual union with her, followed by the marriage supper of the Lamb – Revelation 19:7,9. – “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready…Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’”

In contrast to the theory that Jesus will come secretly to snatch His bride away, the Biblical picture is clearly that of a noisy affair. At Sinai there was the blowing of trumpets and the noise of shouting (thunder – which should be translated ‘voices’) – Exodus 19:16, which accompanied God’s proposal of marriage. At Pentecost there was the noise of a violent wind and tongues of fire when the believers responded to His proposal of marriage.

When Jesus returns, His coming will be announced by the blowing of trumpets and the shout of the archangel, hardly a quiet affair according to Scripture! “For the Lord Himself will come down with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up (raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17.

Scripture is clear that everything will happen simultaneously on Jesus’ return. “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power on the day He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed.” 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10a.

There is never a hint of a third return of Jesus in Scripture. Two comings, yes! The first time Jesus came, He introduced us to His Father and prepared the way for us to be reconnected to Himself by His death. He invited us into a marriage relationship with Himself and the engagement period began at Pentecost. In the interim the bride is being prepared for her wedding day and the bridegroom has returned to His Father’s house to prepare the bridal chamber.

When He returns to claim His bride, that’s it! Like the five foolish virgins who were not ready, all who have not been made righteous by His blood and have not lived out that righteousness as a reflection of Him, – “…fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints)” – Revelation 19:8 – will be shut out of the presence of the Lord and consigned to eternal separation from God.

Once again, if we understand Scripture correctly, we are never encouraged to be apathetic about living out our faith because there will be a second chance for those who miss it the first time. There is no second chance. When Jesus returns, all creation will know it and all humanity will be judged; the righteous reputed into the bridal chamber with Jesus and the unrighteous consigned to eternal fire – instantaneously. Too many people have been lulled by this false teaching into believing that they will have time to respond – a typical Satanic deception to lure people off course. Jesus had spoken – “Watch and pray. Do not be deceived.”