Pastor Lloyd

The Ancient Jewish Wedding Ceremony – Understanding Christ & His Bride, the Church

It’s been said, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  To illustrate some of the truths of the Scriptures, there are different pictures we can point to that bring fresh understanding to previously known facts.  Though no illustration is perfect, some are very helpful.  One such picture is that of the ancient Jewish wedding.  Though only a picture, a look at the different parts of the Jewish wedding ceremony will greatly enhance our understanding of Christ and His bride, the Church.

The Jewish wedding is comprised of three parts:
I. Before the Betrothal
II. The Betrothal
III. The Marriage

I. Before the Betrothal
Customarily, the Father of the groom would be responsible for arranging the marriage of his son and bride to be.

God the Father is responsible for bringing Christ’s bride, the Church, to Him (Ephesians 2.4,5).

II. The Betrothal
At the appointed time, an official betrothal ceremony would take place.  This would be a public ceremony in which family and friends gathered together to witness the betrothing of this man and woman.

There were three main parts of the betrothal ceremony:

1. The couple would publicly express their desire to be engaged with one another.

Christ has publicly demonstrated His love for us, revealing His desire to be united with us through His death on the Cross (Romans 5.8).  We also are encouraged to publicly show our love for Christ by confessing Him before men (Matthew 10.32).

2. After the vows were read, a cup of wine was tasted by both the bride and groom.

Christ Himself drank that cup of wine with His disciples during the last supper (Luke 22.20).  We also are encouraged to remember the covenant He made with us through partaking of the Lord’s Supper (1st Corinthians 11.25).

3.  The groom would then present the Bride with a gift that would be for her a tangible reminder that though they were not officially married yet, they would be.  During the betrothal period, this gift would always be the reminder that she was betrothed, and one day her groom would come and marry her.

Jesus has given us His Holy Spirit, which is the tangible reminder that we are betrothed to Christ and one day, the marriage we are longing for will come (Ephesians 1.13,14).

After the ceremony, the time of betrothal would formally begin.  During this time, both the bride and groom each had their own responsibilities:

1.  In Jewish culture, traditionally the bride and groom, once married, would move into the home of the groom’s parents.  Thus, during the betrothal period, the groom would be preparing a place in the father’s house for the bride and groom to live.

When leaving His disciples, Jesus said that He was going to His Father’s house to prepare a place for them.  Currently, Jesus is preparing a place in His Fathers house for His bride (John 14.1-6).

2.  The Bride was responsible to prepare her attire for the wedding celebration.

Knowing that the Lord could come at any time, we are called to be preparing ourselves by holy living (Titus 2.12).

III. The Marriage
Once the Father deemed the home was ready for both bride and groom to live in, the father of the groom would give permission for the groom to go and get his bride and bring her to his home.  On the appointed day, the groom would make his way to the bride’s home.  Though she knew the approximate time of the grooms arrival, the exact day and hour was unknown (Matthew 25.13).  She needed to be always ready.  Once the groom began his journey, the marriage ceremony began.  Some specific parts of the marriage ceremony were:

1. The sounding of the Shofar (trumpet) to signal the grooms approach to the Brides house.

Our official marriage ceremony with Christ will begin with the sounding of the Trumpet, the Rapture of the church (1st Thessalonians 4.13-18).

2.  A procession from the Bride’s home to the Groom’s home

3. The official marriage ceremony took place, in which the vows and contract of marriage were established.

4. The marriage supper took place, in which all members of the family feasted and celebrated the union.  This feast sometimes lasted for a period of seven days.

We look forward to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb that we, Christ’s Bride, will celebrate with Him (Revelation 19.7-9).