Jewish Wedding Symbolic of Rapture

The groom or Christ and the bride’s father or God come to an agreement on the cost to purchase her or mankind as his bride.

The bride must of her own free will consent to the marriage proposal of the groom.

The groom must first pay the agreed upon price to her father in order to consummate the covenant.

The bride sometimes trusted in a groom she had never actually met but was only told about.

The marriage covenant signified that the bride was now sanctified or set apart from her community and was expected to be exclusively devoted to her groom.

He guarantees her that he will return and to patiently wait for him.

She receives a gift from the groom that will strengthen her faith in him and remind her of his love and the promise of the wedding to come.

The bride is promised a wedding but its exact date and time is known only by the father of the groom who will host the marriage celebration.

The groom returns to his father’s home to prepare a place for he and his bride to live together.

The bride is now expected to wait, watch and be prepared for his return at any moment no matter how long it takes.

The bride is to assume that his return may be imminent.

His appearance is often at midnight when it would be least expected.

When the father decides it is time for the wedding, he orders the sounding of the shofar or trumpet.

The groom accompanied by an entourage of friends arrives suddenly and unexpectedly at the bride’s home.

He wakes up his bride with a shout.

The groom enters her home, presents her with a crown to wear, picks her up and carries her across the threshold of her home and away into his father’s home.

The bride is then dressed in a gown of fine, clean, white linen and the wedding ceremony begins.

The bride and groom go into a private chamber to be alone and talk, it is then that the wedding ceremony takes place.

The two are now considered as one in the eyes of God and man. All that the groom has is now hers as his wife. She has now been officially adopted into his family with all the rights and privileges this entails.

The wedding supper or reception now begins and the couple has seven days of feasting and celebrating with family and friends.

The groom brags to his father concerning the goodness and faithfulness of his beloved wife.

After seven days of celebration the groom takes his wife to their new home he has prepared just for her.

There they live together as one in wedded bless.