Comparing The Pre Tribulation Rapture and The Jewish Wedding Tradition

Shalom,

First of all, I must say for the opponents of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, that they  fall short in consideration of several aspects in the study of eschatology. They fail to see the "big picture".

Consider this…when Yeshua Ha Mashiach (Jesus Christ) walked with the apostles what was His main method of teaching?

He used parables!

Timeless stories relating to real life that would be applicable to all ages. Let's now take the next logical step in this progression of thought. Students tend to emulate their teachers. It only makes sense that the apostles, when relaying the Gospel, would use the same parables and possibly (as we will show) some of their own.

One of the best examples of this is the consistent referral to the Church being the Bride of Christ and Christ being the Bridegroom. When you compare the Jewish tradition of the marriage process and the Scriptural account of the Rapture the parallelism is uncanny.

It is remarkable!

The Jewish tradition of marriage is a several step process. At each step of the marriage process we will see the appropriate verses aligning with the doctrine of the Rapture.

First is the acquisition or purchase of the Bride. This is normally done by money, and the Bride must know the value of the purchase price, AND she can only be acquired with her consent.
(The Scripture here is numerous, salvation, the crucifixion etc.)

1Co 6:20  KJV
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
1Co 7:23  KJV
Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
1Pe 1:18  KJV
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19  KJV
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Secondly, the next part of the ceremony is when the bridegroom gives the wife a ketubah, or marriage contract. The ketubah spells out the bridegroom's obligations to the wife during marriage, conditions of inheritance upon his death, and much more.

Jer 31:31  KJV
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Joh 14:2  KJV
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3  KJV
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Thirdly, next comes the process of the marriage, the kiddushin and nisuin. The kiddushin (commonly translated as betrothal) occurs when the woman accepts the money. At that point the bride is the bridegroom's. The nisuin (from a word meaning "elevation") completes the marriage. In the past the kiddushin and the nisuin would routinely occur as much as one to two years apart.
(Again, look at the concepts of salvation and Christ's work on the cross, in regards to the waiting period)

Luk 5:33  KJV
And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?
Luk 5:34  KJV
And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

Fourthly, following the kiddushin, the bridegroom will leave to prepare a home for the new family. Along with the new home, he is also preparing the chuppah or bridal chamber which is located in his father's house. There was always the risk that during this long period of separation, the woman would discover that she wanted to marry another.

Joh 14:1  KJV
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Joh 14:2  KJV
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3  KJV
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Joh 14:4  KJV
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

The other aspect of the ceremony between the kiddushin and nisuin is that the bride is to always remain ready as she does not know when her bridegroom will come for her.

2Co 11:2  KJV
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Mat 24:44  KJV
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Luk 12:40  KJV
Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

Apparently during this period the bride will also participate in the mikvah, which is a ritual immersion. Women are immersed for various reasons. This is an ancient Jewish practice dating back to the time of Moses.

Mat 3:11  KJV
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Mat 3:15  KJV
And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
Take a note here is the bridesmaids. Tradition has the bridegroom arriving to collect his bride at night and the bride's unmarried friends who attend to the bride provide light for the groom who comes at night. This is a traditional custom for friends to light candles in the processional or during the veiling ceremony. (Matthew 25:1-13)

Also, the bridegroom does not know when he will return…only his father did. When the bridegroom's father is satisfied with the work on the new home and the chuppah done by the bridegroom will he release his son to gather up his bride…he does this with the sounding of trumpets. The groomsmen will run ahead fo the groom, sound the Shofar, and shout that he is coming. While the father's head is turned, the groom will steal his bride and carry her back to his father's house where he prepared the bridal chamber.

Mat 24:36  KJV
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Joh 3:29  KJV
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
1Th 4:13  KJV
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 1Th 4:14  KJV
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 1Th 4:15  KJV
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 1Th 4:16  KJV
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 1Th 4:17  KJV
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1Th 4:18  KJV
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
At this point comes the Nisuin or ceremony. The word Nisuin also can mean "to lift up" or "carry".

Interesting isn't it?

The Nisuin is a symbolic of Rapture.

Lifting up the bride is an ancient wedding custom of carrying the bride to the ceremony in a carriage lifted by poles. Although seldom done today, the ceremony still bears the name. The Chuppah is not only related to the bridal chamber, it is also "lifted" by poles like the ancient carriage. Both the bride and groom are then lifted up in this processional.
1Th 4:13  KJV
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14  KJV
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15  KJV
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16  KJV
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17  KJV
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18  KJV
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Following the ceremony the bride and groom enter the bridal chamber (chuppah) where the marriage is consummated. They remain in the chamber for 7 days.

Days are interchange with years.

Num 14:34  KJV
After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.

7 days are identical to 7 years which reminds us about 7 years Tribulation in the future. It is clearly shows that the Church will not be on the earth during 7 years Tribulation.

The party waits outside and rejoices until the groom tells the best man that is consummated. After 7 days is the wedding supper.
(Daniel 9:27 - 7 days, one week, Daniel's 70th week clearly showing the bride (the Church) will not be present for the Tribulation; Revelation 19:5-10)

At the completion of the marriage supper the bride and bridegroom would then depart for their new home.
(Revelation 19:11; Revelation 21)

In sum, what we have is the Lord, who provided us with the Scripture, speaking through the apostles and Christ Himself showing us the reliability of the concept of the Rapture.

Nothing is a coincidence. What is also significant is how the blowing of the trumpets in the marriage process following the "waiting period" aligns with the Feasts of Y-H-V-H found in Leviticus 23…in particular is the Feast of Trumpets in which the Shofar is blown as a "wake-up call" at the beginning of the feast.

Again, nothing is a coincidence.

Below, we can see the details from Perry Stone when he was elaborating Pre Tribulation Rapture and The Jewish Wedding Tradition. It is a must see video!

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4



Part 5



Part 6



Keep in His Words. Keep holy. We are His Bride. Behold, The Bridegroom is coming.

Blessing in Yeshua's Name,
Andre

Why Christians Should Study Torah?

Shalom,

It is very often for Christians to think that the "Old Testament" is virtually irrelevant today, since the doctrines of the Church are made explicit in the New Testament writings.  However, this is a serious mistake, as the following facts will demonstrate:

1.
Yeshua (Jesus) and all his disciples were Torah-observant Jews. The Scriptures which they studied, loved, and quoted were the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings (example : the Jewish Tanakh).  Indeed, Yeshua quoted from the book of Deuteronomy (from the Torah) more than any other book in the Scriptures. As a child, Yeshua would have studied the Torah and memorized it with other Jewish children. He would also have been familiar with the teaching of the earlier Jewish sages of Israel.

When asked what was the greatest commandment of the LORD, Yeshua quoted the ve'ahavta portion of the Shema : ve'ahavta et ADONAI (Y-H-V-H) eloheykha be'khol-levavkha, u'vekhol nafshekha, u'vekhol me'odekha.

Deu 6:5  KJV
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Then He added the commandment, v'ahavta l're'akha kamokha - ani ADONAI (Y-H-V-H).

Lev 19:18  KJV
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD.

Both of these commandments come directly from the Torah.

Indeed, Yeshua said that He did not come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets, but to fulfill them.

Mat 5:17  KJV
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
Mat 5:18  KJV
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19  KJV
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Later, He told a prospective follower of His, "if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments" (Mat 19:17).

Mat 19:17  KJV
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

What kind of commandments did Yeshua mean in Mat 19:17? Surely, it was the Torah.

When He was further asked which ones, Yeshua replied by citing the Ten Commandments and appealed to the man to follow Him (Mat 19:18-21).

Mat 19:18  KJV
He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Mat 19:19  KJV
Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Mat 19:20  KJV
The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Mat 19:21  KJV
Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
In other word : in order to enter eternal life, we must keep the Ten Commandments and follow Lord Yeshua Ha Mashiach.

2.
Yeshua said that the Jewish Scriptures plainly testify of Him (John 5:39).

Joh 5:39  KJV
Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

As His followers, we should understand what this means and how they indeed bear witness of Him as the King of the Jews (Mat 2:2; 27:11).

Mat 2:2  KJV
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
Mat 27:11  KJV
And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.

In addition, by studying Torah, we can more fully appreciate the glory and grace as revealed in the Person and Work of our beloved Mashiach.

For example, we can more fully savor the role of the sacrificial system and how Yeshua fulfilled all of God's holy requirements on our behalf as the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) of the new covenant.

3.
When two disciples were on their way to the town of Emmaus discussing the implications of the crucifixion of Yeshua three days earlier, who but the Master Himself appeared alongside of them and taught them from the Jewish Scriptures? "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luk 24: 13-36).

Luk 24:25  KJV
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Luk 24:26  KJV
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Luk 24:27  KJV
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Again, as His followers, we should likewise be able to recount how Yeshua is revealed in the Jewish Scriptures.
  
4.
The "Church" was born on a Jewish holiday of Shauv'ot (Pentecost) among the Jewish people in Jerusalem.  Peter's sermon during that festival (Acts 2:1-41) was entirely Jewish, copiously quoting from the prophets and David, which would have meant little to any Gentiles in earshot (if there were any). It is likely, therefore, that the 3,000 people who were saved that day would have been all Jewish. The earliest members of the new church met regularly in the Temple, where Gentiles were explicitly excluded (Acts 2:46).

Act 2:46  KJV
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Note that the apostles Peter and John are recorded to have gone to the Temple for prayer during the time of the minchah (afternoon) sacrifices (Acts 3:1).

Act 3:1  KJV
Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
And then, their ministry continued exclusively among the Jewish people, "how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law (Torah)" (Acts 21:20).

Act 21:20  KJV
And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
Even after they were imprisoned but miraculously escaped, an angel told them to "Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life" (Acts 5:20).

Act 5:20  KJV
Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

Peter's vision and visit to the house of Cornelius, a ger tzeddek ("God fearer") who attended synagogue and observed Jewish customs and traditions (Acts 10), was subject to a crisis of conscience for him.

First, in his vision he said that he never would eat of the "unkosher" animals shown to him, and second, he had qualms about even entering the house of a non-Jew. This indicates, among other things, how steeped Peter was in the Torah, even after spending three years under the teaching of Yeshua.

5.
Later, when the Jerusalem Council wrote their letter to the Gentiles regarding their relationship to the Torah, they advised them to at first abstain from those things that would make them abhorrent to the Jews, with the assumption that they would later go on to study the Torah of Moses and the other Jewish Scriptures (Acts 15:19-21).

Act 15:19  KJV
Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
Act 15:20  KJV
But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Act 15:21  KJV
For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

6.
The Apostle Paul was raised a Torah observant Jew who studied under the famous Rabbi Gamaliel in Jerusalem (Acts 22:3).

Act 22:3  KJV
I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
Rabbi Sha'ul (as he would have been called) was well-established in the Jewish leadership of his day, and even had a relationship with the Sanhedrin and High Priest of Israel (Acts 9:1-2).

Act 9:1  KJV
And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2  KJV
And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
But even after his conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-21), he still identified himself a Jew.

In Acts 23:6 he confessed, "I am (not "was") a Pharisee."

Act 23:6  KJV
But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

He even declared that concerning the observance of the Torah he was "blameless," which indicates that he observed a Jewish lifestyle to his dying day (Php 3:6).

Php 3:6 
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Paul testified that he kept the Torah throughout his life (Acts 25:7-8, see also Acts 28:17).

Act 25:7  KJV
And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove.
Act 25:8  KJV
While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.

Act 28:17  KJV
And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

Paul took the Nazirite vow (Acts 18:18), lived "in observance of the Torah" (Acts 21:23-24),

Act 18:18  KJV
And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.

Act 21:23  KJV
Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;
Act 21:24  KJV
Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.

and even offered sacrifices in the Jewish Temple (Acts 21:26).

Act 21:26  KJV
Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.

Notice that Paul not only paid for his own sacrifices in order to be released from his Nazirite vow, but also paid for the sacrifices for four other Jewish believers!

Notice also that this was performed at the explicit request of James, the head of the Jerusalem Church (and half-brother of Yeshua).

Paul regularly attended synagogue and kept the Sabbath (Acts 17:1-2).

Act 17:1  KJV
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
Act 17:2  KJV
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures,

When Paul wrote to the Gentile churches, (2 Tim 3:16-17), he was of course referring to the Jewish Scriptures, since the New Testament had not yet been compiled for the church.

2Ti 3:16  KJV
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17  KJV
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Indeed, in order to understand Paul's writings, we need to remember his training as a Rabbi when he quotes the Scriptures in his writings. For example, when he wrote,  (1 Cor. 10:4), he was quoting from a story later written in the Talmud (i.e., that from the time that Moses struck the rock at Horeb and brought forth water until the death of Miriam (Ex. 17:6), this water-giving rock "followed the children of Israel through the desert and provided water for them each day" (Taanit, 9a and Bava Metizia, 86b).

1Co 10:4  KJV
And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

Exo 17:6  KJV
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.


7.
Many Christian denominations profess to believe in the authority of both the "Old Testament" and the New Testament Scriptures while functionally relegating the study of the Torah to the dustheap of history. If the Jewish Scriptures are taken seriously at all, these denominational traditions attempt to explain away their clear reading (for example, the covenantal promises made to ethnic Israel) and arrogate the intent of the text as being applicable solely to the Church.

This is both shortsighted and inconsistent, since it is impossible to understand the New Testament writings (including the very Church itself) while ignoring the cultural and theological context of which it is a part.

Moreover, it must be remembered that the Greek text of the New Testament derives its authority and veracity from the Jewish Scriptures, and not the other way around.

In other words, while it's possible that the Hebrew Scriptures are true and the Greek Scriptures are not, it's impossible for the Greek Scriptures to be true if the Hebrew Scriptures are not.

Too many Christian theologians go at this backwards, reading the New Testament (and particularly certain ideas ascribed to the Apostle Paul) as the interpretative filter for the study of the Hebrew text.  Theologians of the Western traditions must consciously remember the dictum, "a text without a context is a pretext" and repent of their heresies of replacement theology and implicit anti-Semitism.

So yes, for these (and many other) reasons, it is important, even vital, for Christians to study the Torah as part of the whole counsel of God (2 Tim. 2:15).

2Ti 2:15  KJV
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Blessing in Yeshua's Name,
Andre