0410

CONTENTS

| * 4.10.1 - The Jewish Wedding Analogy

4.10.2 - Roles in the Wedding Party
4.10.3 - Israel Married to Jehovah

| * 4.10.4 - Jerusalem Married to God

4.10.5 - Church Betrothed to Christ
4.10.6 - Israel, the Church, the New Jerusalem

|

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. (Rev. 19:7+)

To understand the marriage of the Lamb, it is helpful to review what Paul said concerning the role of the Jews in relation to the things of God:For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. (Rom. 9:3-5)

Even after the rejection of their Messiah and His subsequent crucifixion, Paul emphasizes the Jewish aspects of all that God has done. Paul indicates that the Jews, as a nation, had the greater connection with God than the Gentiles because of all of the following: #. The adoption of the nation of Israel by God.

The Abiding Presence of God dwelt in Israel's midst.
The covenants (Abrahamic, Mosaic, Land, Davidic, New) were given to Israel.
The Law of Moses was given to Israel.
The service of God in the tabernacle and the various Temples was Israel's.
The OT promises of restoration and blessing were to Israel.
The fathers of the faith (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) were Jews.
Jesus Christ, according to the flesh, came in the line of the Jews.

Since all of Scripture, with the exception of the books written by Luke,1 was written by Jews and Jesus was born in a Jewish lineage, it is not surprising to find that the marriage of the Lamb is patterned after a Jewish wedding. By becoming more familiar with Jewish wedding practices, we are in a better position to appreciate aspects of the marriage of the Lamb as taught in Scripture:In order to fully comprehend what is happening in Revelation 19:6-9+, it is first necessary to understand the Jewish wedding system that was common in Jesus' day and was still used among Jews until the beginning of the twentieth century.2

Notes

1 Some suggest even Luke was Jewish, although evidence seems to point to his Gentile identity.

2 Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, rev ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003), 595.

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