The Bridegroom

Messiah is indeed coming for His Bride, but do we know who she is? Do we know anything about His wedding plans?  Most of us know to plan a wedding requires both intention and attention to every detail. One would do well to sit down and scribble those details, such as: the wedding announcement, the invitation list, the coordination and sequencing of various events before, during and after the wedding, delegated tasks and responsibilities, food preparations, apparel, gifts, the rehearsal -- all within a budget, the considered cost willing to be paid. It would not be an exaggeration to say that much of Scripture is a wedding plan!

The Seven Feasts of The Lord are an extraordinary outline, not a side note or marginal topic, but the very construct of the Lord’s wedding plans! The very fact that God would illustrate and communicate His salvation for us in marital terms is at first glance intriguing, but for those of us who gaze into the wonders of His truth we find ourselves as the very object of His gaze, His fixed and passionate gaze. When we realize we are beholden by His desire for us, it becomes clear that there is virtually no greater or appropriate illustration than the concept and pictorial of marriage itself.

For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Eph 5:30-32

In Section One, The Law 101 Christians, we established the significance and relevance of the collective Body of Scripture, both the Old and New Testament, as one narrative. Hopefully, we gained a better understanding of the intrinsic value of origins. The Scripture tells us that Gentiles are adopted into the Family of God. If we are to understand the bed-rock foundation of our identity, then we need to understand our salvation through the Hebraic origins of the family we have been adopted into.

In this section, we will review an outlined summary of the Seven Feasts of the Lord which are parallel to the Jewish Wedding which together illustrate God’s progressive revelation of salvation. We will define the processional individual parts of the Jewish Wedding and then provide an illustration of the corresponding Feast of the Lord. As we remain true to the principle of origins illustrated in the multiple types and shadows we will see the very doctrines of our faith illustrated in marital terms. We will then close the section with numerous Scriptural story-lines of the Lord’s Romeo pursuit of His Juliet gal!

However, to appreciate the fullness of God’s passionate and vast intention, we have to understand that He first considered what it was going to cost Him and, with an ardor that never cools, our God paid it ALL upfront!

…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Rev 13:8

Paid in FULL! I can only imagine our benevolent Father sitting at Heaven’s kitchen table saying, “Son, let’s plan a wedding!”

And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:

‘The kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son..’ 

Matt 22:1, 2